Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
You’re tired.
Not just physically; though yeah, that too.
You’re tired in your bones. In your soul.
Trying to be a steady husband, an intentional dad, a man of God… but deep down, you feel like you’re falling short. Like you’re carrying more than you know how to hold.
Dad Tired is a podcast for men who are ready to stop pretending and start healing.
Not with self-help tips or religious platitudes, but by anchoring their lives in something (and Someone) stronger.
Hosted by Jerrad Lopes, a husband, dad of four, and fellow struggler, this show is a weekly invitation to find rest for your soul, clarity for your calling, and the courage to lead your family well.
Through honest stories, biblical truth, and deep conversations you’ll be reminded:
You’re not alone. You’re not too far gone. And the man you want to be is only found in Jesus.
This isn’t about trying harder.
It’s about coming home.
Alright guys, I want to jump back in with you and just kind of pump through a pretty simple thought, but a thought that I return to pretty regularly as I'm thinking about life and wisdom and friendship. Um, Luke 10. Um, we actually get this in all of the gospels when you see this principle on several occasions in the gospels, but I'll just read to you from Luke 10 verse one.
Uh, it says, after this. The Lord, the Lord being Jesus appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and he sent them on ahead. Two by two. So he gets to this principle several times in the gospel that Jesus always sends the disciples in pairs, never alone.
Um, that actually is worth pondering. I know it seems simple enough. It seems like an obvious kind of thing, uh, but it's worth thinking through. Archie Spro said this. Which I thought was a bit profound. He said, it seems to me that he would get more reach by sending them one by one. Each could go to a separate village that would double the missionary outreach, but two by two involves companionship and partnership and hearkens back to the Old Testament principle where someone or something was established as true if the testimony was given by two witnesses.
Okay, follow that line of logic that he's giving there. RC Sprole is saying that if Jesus', um. End goal or ultimate priority was to have as many. Um, cities reached as po as quickly as possible, then he would've sent his disciples out, um, as individuals. But because Jesus's goal, um, is, um, also companionship and partnership and to establish a thorough testimony, and because Jesus.
Doesn't set up a model where disciples minister individually, or the idea is not about being the supreme or being the sole man who does the miracles, but we see over and over like Peter and John, um, healing the sick and uh, and acts in the early chapters of acts. You just work your way through the scriptures and you just keep seeing this pattern of.
Two by two. They're always sent, disciples are always going two by two. And so I just wanna work you through several, just four, essentially four arguments as to why you should have partners in ministry, why Jesus sent partners in ministry. But the, the follow through of the argumentation is how this principle actually applies to our lives and to, um, our parenting and our work and our, our.
Call or vocation to bring the gospel to our local regions through our day-to-day living. Okay, one. The first reason I would say that Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs rather than in, uh, isolation. Is for safety and accountability, right? Like ministry in the New Testament is never an individual endeavor.
Uh, even when you think about the spirit and the Church of Antioch has gathered together and praying, and the the acts, the book of Acts says that the spirit says to the church set apart, Paul and Barnabas. And so the, the. Prophetic word that came forward was that Paul and Barnabas said to be set apart together to go and accomplish the work that God had called and prepared for them.
And so again, we see that play out even when Paul and Barnabas separate, right? When they have their frustration, they still choose partners. So Barnabas takes John, mark and Paul takes Silas. Then later Paul will travel with Timothy. There are always this, this, this concept of Paris. Um, just kind of quickly, and obviously we see in one Peter five, eight that we need to be watchful because our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lying seeking someone to devour.
You're likely familiar with the scripture. You've likely been taught this principle, but predators. Primarily seek the isolated or seek the weak who have withdrawn from the pack. There is, in other words, strength in numbers, and so when you're struggling with sin, if you're constantly traveling alone for work or always withdrawing from community to be alone, you are actually.
Isolating yourself, and you are making yourself more vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. You are more vulnerable in isolation and less vulnerable in community. And again, this is just biblical principles. So Eccles AEs four nine through 12 two are better than one because they have a good reward for their T.
In other words, they accomplish more. If they fall. One will lift up his fellow, but woe to him. Listen to that. Woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Woe to you when you are alone and don't have the safety, the protection, the covering, the accountability of a friend who has a similar aim in life to serve Jesus, to make him known.
And so the first reason. Jesus sends the disciples in pairs for safety and accountability. Secondly, he sends the disciples in pairs, I think for encouragement, right? Um, ministry. And likewise, life can get lonely and hard and frustrating, and you see in the scriptures that people need in encouragement.
John Christo and early church father said that he sent them to and to, to make them more courageous. That's actually the idea of encouragement, is that you're putting courage into someone else to make them more courageous. For there was war to be against both demons and men. In other words, they were gonna face hardship, they were gonna be run out of towns.
They were going to experience demonic attacks. They were gonna experience demonic manifestations as they preach the gospel, and they needed courage to continue to march forward. So. Christ says God sends them two by two for the sake of courage that they'd be more courageous. I love this In one Samuel 23, verse 16 through 17, this is one of those instances where Saul is kind of steadily after David.
David's feeling discouraged, and the scripture says this, and Jonathan Saul's son Rose and went to David and strengthened his hand in God. He said to him, do not fear for the hand of Saul. My father shall. Not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul, my father knows this. I love that picture.
You shall be king over Israel. Don't fear Saul will not find you, will not overcome you. You'll be king. And then, and then, uh, Jonathan says, and I'll be next to you. Um, there's a hebraism there when he says he strengthened his hand in God. The word hand in Hebrew can imply a person's strength, their grip, their ability to hang on.
And so when Jonathan strengthens David's hand by giving her encouragement, David has more grip, uh, better ability to hang on to the promises of God and to his call. So when David's feeling crushed, God sends Jonathan. To strengthen his hand. You're gonna need encouragement as you continue on. Um, life ministry, the call of God is not going to just kind of automatically, easily without struggle, be fulfilled in your life.
You have a call, there's a vocation, there's a work, there's a ministry that God has assigned each of us to, and each of us will experience resistance. Okay? Discouragement, frustration, attacks. From the enemy, spiritual warfare and God's plan to help us thrust or fight through those things. As friends. As friends who bring encouragement.
Proverbs 12, verse 25, anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down. But a good word makes him glad, but a good word makes him glad. So two, God sends us in prayers for the sake of encouragement. Three. This is actually an interesting principle that I don't think we ponder much. God sends us in prayers to strengthen our testimony.
So an Old Testament law, a matter had to be established by at least two witnesses. Um. And this principle is appealed to in the New Testament on several occasions. So Paul, for instance, in Second Corinthians 13, one says, this is the third time I'm coming to you, and he says, every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Why do charges, why does testimony require two or three witnesses? The idea is that the consistent testimony of. Two brings credibility to a message. And so one individual may be confused, one individual may have a subjective experience, but two, bring consistency and clarity. When one says to a coworker, Jesus has transformed my life, the coworker may dismiss him as, um.
Emotional or having a, a spiritual experience that's unique to him. But when the second says no, Jesus really changed my life too. There is now a, a thrust or a momentum to the two testimonies in agreement. There's a power and authority when two proclaims something. Um. There's also this thing that's happening there where again, one individual can confuse their story.
One individual's experience can be subjective. You can misunderstand principles. One individual may have heard a message and then relayed that message in a way that didn't completely capture the heart. But when there are two, the two are able to say, no, he, he said this. No, he meant this. Two individuals bring clarity to the message, and so.
And this is a little bit of a sweeping thought, but in your life there will be times of confusion. There will be moments where you get a bad diagnosis, where the business fails, where there's strife in your home, and it's easy to say, God, where are you? Like, what is happening? But friends, help us to find the thread of God's faithfulness, his hand upholding us in his own mysterious ways, at times, even in really messy seasons.
And so you could have the. Poor diagnosis or the awful traumatic experience, but friends help you see where God was, how God upheld us. And so not only do our testimonies bring strength, that what has happened to us in crisis. Not a subjective personal experience, but it's an experience that happens to several.
So there's. Strength there. But when we are downcast, confused, frustrated, the other helps us to remember to find clarity, to fully grasp what is being said. So three, there is strength in our testimony when we go in pairs four. Um, and I think, um, RC Spro was getting at this for companionship, friendship, love.
Is God's value, life is better with friends. I think it's clear that Jesus sends disciples and pairs, um, even though they could have been, quote unquote, more effective if they traveled solo because community is a value of the kingdom of God. Friendship matters to God things. Okay, I'm gonna be a little bit practical here.
Things are not funny or as funny when you are alone, when you trip and there's no one there to laugh at you, it's just not as good of an experience, right? Like food shared with friends is so much more enjoyable. Seeing God work and transform lives and heal and bring deliverance is so much more thrilling when you get to see it with a friend.
And so. That matters to God. Like you enjoying your life, enjoying ministry, having community and friends to share life with, that matters to God. Henry Nowan said this, it is God's glory that becomes visible in a loving community. In loving community, God's glorious, visible, and, um, Piper and, and Jonathan Edwards.
Um. Oh, echo is kinda a similar, similar sentiment, but John Piper would always say God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. I'm suggesting today that you are most satisfied in God when you are enjoying life, enjoying God's hand, uh, experiencing God's goodness in community. When we are most satisfied in community, we naturally exalt God with a greater fervor.
So the four reasons why God would send the disciples in Paris, Christ would send them in Paris is for safety and accountability, for encouragement to strengthen our testimony and for the sake of companionship, which is, uh, better, makes life sweeter. So from there, you could say, okay, Caleb, but I'm not an itinerant minister.
I'm not a first century disciple. I'm not traveling from town to town to share the gospel and to pray for the sick and drive out devils. I am. Just a dad who builds houses, a dad that drives a truck. I'm a dad and a plumber. My day-to-day life is not that. And of course that's true. You're not an itinerant minister most likely.
Um, I. But the undergirding principles that are established in this concept of sending disciples out in pairs still bear weight upon your life. Um, you are still called to disciple. You still have a work that God has assigned to you, and I would expect that in your work in which God has assigned you to that, he probably has people around you who are f.
Intended to carry out the same mission. In other words, when Paul is called, he's called with Barnabas, um, when Jesus sends disciples, he sends them in Paris. Like, when you just keep going through these concepts, like chances are there are some people in your life who God has strategically, uniquely placed in your life who are.
Carrying out the same work who have the same assignment or a similar enough assignment that you're intended to travel alone. And obviously what comes to the surface right away is your wife. Like if you're married, of course your wife is a gift to you and a friend who does life with you, who labors with you, who encourages you, who you share life with.
That's. Clear and should be cherished and valued. Um, but you also as a man need men in your life who are working laboring, assisting you as you raise your kids, like you need men to help you strengthen your testimony, to, to look at your kids also and say, no, God's been good to me. To, and to sit alone with you when you're frustrated and say, all right, let's think about where God's hand is in all of this.
Where is, uh, God's. Sovereignty, weaving his glorious kind of message, redemptive plan through your life, even in hardship, friends that help you with those things, you should have friends that hold you accountable, obviously. Like I'm not, I, I know everyone's work is different and life is different, but I would have friends.
Who travel. If you have to travel for work, I would do everything you can to not have to travel alone. If you do have to travel alone, there's still friends you call on the phone. There's clear communication about whether or not you're feeling tempted to engage with pornography. There's clear communication about where you are, what you're up to, that there's not this hiddenness or escapism that envelops your life, that allows for the enemy to isolate and pick you off.
Have friends. Who help you, um, with accountability. Have friends who encourage you when you are weak, who call you and remind you of the gospel. Have friends who help strengthen your testimony. Again, bring clarity and wisdom and, and a second voice to affirm what God is doing and for you should have friends that you just enjoy life with.
You see God's goodness with and friends who like, like to laugh at your kids and hear the stories about your, your kids' stupidity and the things that they're wrestling with. Like you, you were just intended to enjoy life with friends. You're not intended to do the work alone. Um, like you, you need to have friends laboring with you.
And when they trip and fall. You get the great benefit of like belly laughing, like, and you shake that out in life when, when you, um, have a hard moment with your kid and they slam the door and they say, I hate you, dad. Like, you should be able to tell that story to your friends and laugh. And then find wisdom.
Okay. Like, how do I properly engage my daughter on this situation? Um, all of that is good and pleasing in the sight of God. Brothers sharing life together is pleasing in God's eyes and is a value. God does not send his disciples out one by one, even though theoretically they could have accomplished more, taken more territory.
He rather strategically and intentionally. Always sends them out in pairs and in pairs. There is strength, encouragement, clarity and authority, and there is just life companionship. And when you, again, are filled with life, when you're enjoying your life, when you're satisfied in God, in your community, you will naturally glorify Jesus with a greater.
Fervency a greater kind of shout from your soul. Okay. I know that's a simple enough principle, but it's worth pondering. Like why? Just asking the simple question. Why does Jesus always send his disciples out in twos? It clearly meant something to him. It clearly was a pattern and a plan. Maybe even the Ecclesiastes idea that two are stronger than one, maybe those concepts actually like are meant to be taken seriously.
Maybe we need to take those things seriously. So I just wanna lay that before you as I continue to kind of ponder community and friendship and life and God, and I hope that blesses you and serves you in the days to come. Alright guys, have a great day. I, I love you so much.