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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.
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One of the things that always surprises me about my Christian journey and about maybe just Christians in general, I obviously can't speak for all Christians, but just kind of the Christian culture is how much we can be around Jesus and yet not become more like Jesus in the process so we can do churchy things.
We can read books, we can be part with other Christians and, uh, gather around other Christians. And yet our life doesn't actually become more righteous, more like Jesus. And I'm guilty of that. Like I'm speaking of me first, how much I can do Jesus things, quote unquote, without actually becoming more like Jesus.
And so I think part of that is really, if I'm honest, the lack of time in his word. So many of us, we can hear commentary on his word. We can spend our lives in the Christian community and culture. Getting commentary. And what I mean by that is you hear what your pastor thinks about Jesus, you hear what podcasters think about Jesus.
You hear what authors in that book thinks about Jesus or friends think about Jesus. But what does God say about himself? What is his actual reputation when he speaks for himself, what is he like? And sometimes we get to skewed view of who God is because we're hearing everyone else's opinion on who they think God is.
Versus just straight from the horse's mouth, like who does God say he is? What is his reputation like? And there's no other way to do that except by being in his word. And so one of my goals over the next few weeks, the next four weeks specifically, is to get us into the word of God as men. I've never done this on the Dad's Tired podcast, but I just felt this conviction that I want us to be closer to Jesus, to get to know Jesus more specifically through his word.
Um, and not just a bunch of commentary. Obviously, I will give some commentary over the next few weeks on what my thoughts are on this passages, but my main goal is that you just hear a lot of the word of God, and as you hear the word of God, as you read the word of God for yourself, that he would. Speak to you and that you would actually grow in righteousness.
You would learn who is God like and what does he require of me as his disciple? You think through two Timothy three 16 and 17, which has all scripture is God breathed, which by the way, that alone is insane. This is God inspired stuff. This isn't just some random author at some random time saying what he wants to say, giving us some opinion.
All scripture, every word in the Book of God. Is inspired by God himself. Okay, so that should catch our attention and it's useful. The scripture say Second Timothy 3 16 17 says it's useful, the scriptures. The Bible is useful for teaching and rebuking and correcting and training in. Righteousness, which is if you are a man of God, if you are a man trying to be more like God to lead your family well, you want to grow in righteousness.
In fact, I would make the argument that there's no way that you can lead your family well unless you are growing in righteousness. And so the scriptures say that all of scripture is God, breathe. It's inspired by God. It's from the mouth of God, and it's useful to teach us and to rebuke us and to correct us, and to train us in righteousness.
Then it goes on to say, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And bro, if you want to be the man that God's called you to be, well, I mean, I'll just speak for myself. I, I really want to be equipped. I wanna be thoroughly equipped. I don't wanna wing it. So much of my life as a man feels like I'm winging it, and I just don't wanna wing it.
I wanna be trained up. The righteousness of God so that I can lead my family well, that I can be the man that God has called me to be. And so today and over the next few weeks where you're going to study through the Book of Colossians, specifically one chapter in Colossians, and I'm just gonna give you a ton, a ton of scripture, that would be my first goal, is that you would just hear the word of God that you would meditate on it.
And that the word of God itself would change you. And then if there's any commentary that maybe God might gimme some wisdom on, that would be a distant second that maybe I might be able to say something or to give you some thoughts on these passages that might help you. But really my goal is that we would just study the word of God together and that the word would change me and you and us as a community of men trying to lead our family well.
God himself told Joshua as he was about to step into a huge next season of his life. He told them, keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. God told Joshua that in Joshua one, eight.
I think through the writer in Psalm 1, 19 11, it says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. And that's been my prayer lately, man, is that I don't wanna sin against God. I don't wanna be offensive. Towards God. I really wanna live a life that honors him, that pleases him. If I'm serious about being his disciple, as Jesus said, if you love me, you'll obey me.
I wanna love God more. And so I wanna obey God more, and I won't know what to obey unless I dive into the scriptures. And so for us as men, we will dive into the scriptures together, we will study, we'll figure out what is God like. And based on what he's like, how does that change how we live and how we love the people around us, how we repent and confess of sin and change the things that need to be changed so that we could be better disciples of him.
And so before we jump in, I'm gonna start by reading. Colossians three to us, and I'll do this every week over the next few weeks, and then we will hone in. We'll kind of zoom into some key verses and we'll just camp there for one episode at a time, and we'll allow the word of God to uh, shape us as we do that.
Let's pray and let's really pray. Psalm one 19 verse 105 over us, which is that the word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light and to our path. So let's pray that together. Jesus, we do pray that as we open up your word and we study your word. That you would be the light, the lamp unto our feet, the light unto our path.
God, so many of us as men feel like we are walking in the dark. We don't really know where we're going or what we're supposed to do. We feel like we're winging it, taking it one day at a time. The world is filled with darkness and so God, our lives feel like they're filled with darkness. God, uh, we just don't really know where to go.
We feel like we're in a dark room searching for light or a door, and so we pray that as we open up your word. That your word would be to our lives, a lamp and to our feet, and a light into our path that you would show us where to go with our lives, that you would teach us what you are calling us into as your disciples and as your sons.
I. So that we can love your daughters well, our wives. We can love our kids well and we can love the people around us well, and that we would honor you with our lives, with our words, with our thoughts. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Alright, so if you have a Bible, you can open to Colossians. I imagine most of you guys are.
Listening to this as you're driving, as you are walking or running or exercising or working out or whatever you're doing. And so I will read it to you in case you don't have a Bible in front of you. I do recommend that you go back and that you read all of Colossians in one sitting. Honestly, dude, it would take you like probably 10 to 15 minutes at most to read the entire book of Colossians.
But we're gonna start just on chapter three, all four weeks. We're gonna just focus on chapter three. Colossians is written by Paul, who's actually in prison. He's writing to the Church of Colossae, which he had never even actually met these Christians, but they are a new church and he's trying to. Teach them, here's what it looks like to be disciples of Jesus.
They're just trying to figure it out. I mean, this is brand new really after Jesus had died and they're, these are new churches trying to be established and figure out what it means to live under the rule and reign of Christ. And so Paul heard about them. He said, man, I've heard about you and I've heard good things and I'm, I'm encouraged by the things I'm hearing about you.
He talks about that in Colossians chapter one. And then he's saying, let me just remind you of a few things as new Christians, as a new church, what it looks like for you guys to follow the ways of Jesus. And so I, my original plan was for us to walk through all four chapters, but as I got to chapter three and was really studying chapter three, I was like, man, there's just so much good stuff in here.
Let's just spend four weeks on chapter three. So I'm gonna read chapter three, and then we will zoom in on one particular section for our time today. Colossians chapter three, verse one. This is from the English standard version, ESV Colossians chapter three verse one. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, you will also appear with him in glory put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetness, which is idolatry.
On account of these, the wrath of God is coming in. These you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene. Talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and you have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian and cian.
S slave free. But Christ is all and in all. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against one another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you. Ritually teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do in Word or indeed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting to the Lord. Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them children. Obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord.
Fathers do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Bond servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters. Not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work, hardily as for the Lord and not for men. Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. Again, this was Colossians chapter three. When I was a teenager. My friend had moved from California to Nevada and he had asked me if I wanted to come visit him for a couple weeks in the summer, which I begged my mom to let me do.
My mom allowed me to go spend some time with him in Nevada, and I had never been to Nevada before and I, I thought this would be a cool thing to do, and so I'm, I'm staying with him and his family for a couple weeks and we're having a good summer. Goofing off and, and playing outside, doing all this stuff.
And I remember one day his family said, all right, everyone load up. We're gonna go grab some dinner. And so I was like, all right, sweet. I'm hungry. So we get in the car and we go drive down into town and we park and we're walking. And I see as we're walking in that this is actually a casino. And I'm like, oh, I've, I had never been in a casino before.
And I was like, oh boy, what is this? So I walk in and I'm just immediately hit overwhelmed at this time by the smell of cigarettes just everywhere. And so I'm like coughing, trying to catch my breath. I mean, it just felt like I was like trying to use my hands to just fight, make a tunnel of clean air through the smoke filled room.
And, uh, turns out one of their favorite places to eat was a restaurant inside this casino. And so we sit down and we, we eat our dinner and, uh, it's whatever. It's a fine time and we get back in the car and. We go home and a couple days later I end up packing my clothes and going home. Well, when I get home, I'm unloading my suitcase and my mom at this time is still trying to help me.
You know, do my laundry. And so I'm unpacking my suitcase and she opens up the suitcase and she smells all this cigarette smoke. And she just looks at me and I'm like, what? She's like, what? Why does it smell like cigarettes? I'm like, oh. 'cause we went to a restaurant and she just looks at me. She looks at me so suspicious.
I'm like, what are you implying your mom? I'm like, what do you, what do you think I was doing? And she's like, were you smoking? Did you smoke? You know, and I'm, now I'm, I got put into a situation that I was not expecting where I'm defending myself. Trying to tell her, uh, that I was not out in Nevada, you know, doing all this promiscuous things, and I wasn't, her mind just started to write a whole story about what I had been doing while I was gone, all because of the smell of smoke.
I didn't smoke what I smelled like smoke in Colossians. Paul starts out his letter, even in chapter one, he is telling these new believers, this Church of Colossae, he's reminding them and he's urging them to remember that their life is no longer theirs, but it, it's gods that they've been buried in their old ways and they've been raised up.
You look at Colossians two, it says having been buried with him in baptism. So what is he saying there? He's saying when you got baptized, you were symbolically saying you are buried, you are dying to your old self, which is, this is baptism by the way, if you're not familiar with like why do people get baptized?
Uh, it's just symbolic. It's a very beautiful but. Pretty simple, symbolic way of saying my old way when I used to not be in Christ, when I wasn't following Christ, before Christ saved me. I used to live one way, but now God has grabbed a hold of my heart and he saved me, and my old way is dead, and now I've become a new creation.
And so baptism is me going underwater, which is just like God going into the grave and instead of staying dead like I was, and instead of Jesus staying dead, Jesus rose from the dead and me, I'm going to raise out of this water in the same way that Jesus raised out of the tomb and I'm alive. I'm, I'm a new creation.
My, my soul was once dead and now it's become alive. And so Paul, in Colossians two is saying having been buried with him in baptism. Which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. And so we see early on in Colossians where Paul is reminding these new followers of Jesus, you are not who you used to be.
And then you get to Colossians three and he opens up the whole chapter by saying, if then you have been raised with Christ, he's using that same language. Seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
He's giving these contrast. You used to be like this. Here's where your mind used to think, but these are now your new creation. These are the things you should be thinking about for you have died and all your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.
Verse five, Colossians three, verse five, put to death. Therefore, what is earthly? So remember when you were citizen of the earth, this is how you used to live, but not anymore. And he gives a list, which is helpful for us as men because sometimes you're like, okay. What part of me is earthly, like, should I not be eating that much?
Chick-fil-A? Is that earthly? Or like, is this TV show? You know? And by the way, there is room for the spirit of God to kind of convict sin as needed if it's not listed out in scripture. But sometimes there are actual lists which are helpful, and Paul gives us a list like, okay, what is earthly in me, Paul, he says, sexual immorality.
It's like, all right, that's pretty clear for me as a dude, impurity. All right, I get that passion. That's interesting. Evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. So he catch that for a minute, by the way, like when you covet something, you're actually worshiping. So I want something other than God to satisfy my soul.
I like what they have. I'm coveting their status. I'm coveting their money. I'm coveting their wife, I'm coveting their house. All the things that scripture would say, you know, I'm just, I'm chasing after all these worldly things. I really want that 'cause I'm convinced it will satisfy my soul. Paul says, when you covet, it's actually idol idolatry.
You are worshiping something else. You are looking for satisfaction outside of God. And he said, on account of these things, the wrath of God is coming. I. These you two once walked when you were living in them. Again, it gives another list here. What should we put away? Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene.
Talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, and the knowledge after the image of its creator. The Colossians chapter three in these very first verses here, Paul, is reemphasizing to these believers.
You used to be dead and now you are alive. Here are the things that dead people do. Here are the things that citizens of the earth do, but you are a citizen of God. You are a new creation. You have been buried with Christ. You are now alive. And so now. Here's what you must do, and you think about this. This is actually, Paul has this kind of language all throughout the scripture.
In Philippians three, we see, but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await the savior, A savior. From there, the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans eight, six. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. Philippians three 20, but our citizenship is in heaven.
And we eagerly await our savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians two 19. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household. And then Paul's protege Peter says in one Peter two 11, dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles do to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
And so Paul and Peter. There's this constant reminder in the New Testament, this contrast, you used to be dead, but now you are alive. Here's what dead people did. Here's what you used to do when you were dead, and here's what you now do because you were alive in Christ. And so you're probably like, Jared, what?
What in the world was that story about the casino? Here's where I was going with that. There are parts of you. You are a new creation in Christ. You were dead. And yet, as the scriptures say, and as Paul would remind the Church of Colossae, you're not like that anymore. You're alive. You're alive now. You are not dead.
And yet there are parts of your life that still look like or smell like they're dead. I told my mom I didn't smoke, but there are parts of my clothing of my suitcase that smell like smoke. And so for you as a man, there may be parts of your life, you're not dead, but parts of your life smell dead. And so here's my challenge for us as men, as we think through this first part of Colossians study as we look at Colossians three, these very first verses in Colossians three, where Paul is reminding the church of Colossi, here's what you used to look like when you were not in Christ, but I'm just reminding you, when you got baptized your new creation, you symbolically said that the old part of you is dead and the new part of you is alive.
And so don't act dead anymore. You don't smoke, but your suitcase smells like smoke. And Paul might say, you're not dead, but parts of your life smell dead. And so I think for us as men, as we let the word of God teach us and rebuke us and correct us and train us for righteousness, we just ask ourselves, God, are there parts of my life that still smell dead even though I'm alive?
If I were to die today, if you were to die today and you are a follower of Jesus, you are a new creation and you're forgiven. It's by grace. You have been saved. If you confess your sins to God, he's faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness, praise God. You're forgiven. You get to spend eternity with God.
But there may be parts of your life right now while you're still here on earth as you're being sanctified, which is a really churchy word of just saying, as you're becoming more righteous, as you're becoming more like Jesus, there's a mix of like kind of old man and new man still here, wrestling, fighting, waging war against each other.
In the middle of that, we ask as the psalmist said in Psalm 1 39, search my heart. Oh God, is there any offensive way in me? And so we ask ourselves the same thing, God, is there any part of my mind that is not set on the things of you, my sexuality, my desires, my passions, the things that I covet, the things that I long for?
Is there any part of me, God that offends you? Is there any part of my mind and my thinking daily that just does not honor you? I think the first step in becoming the men that God has called us to be, is to look inward, to be self-aware, to repent, to say God, uh, I don't assume that I have it all together.
I don't assume that my life is where it should be. I am assuming. That there are still parts of my life that need to be redeemed and rescued by you. And even though my suitcase is filled with new clothes, there are still a couple things that smell like smoke. And I'm not a smoker, but there's still things that smell like smoke and I'm not dead.
But there are still things that smell dead. And so, God, I want to confess to you, here are the things, as your word reveals in me, my heart's desires God. Here are the things in me that I'm asking you to change. That I want you to take these dead things and to turn them alive. To make them alive. And so that would be my challenge to you as we read the word of God, as we study Colossians together, as you hear these scriptures that you would say, okay, God, I want to be more like you.
I want to be a fully alive man in Christ so that I can lead my family well. Are there any parts of my life that still smell dead? Would you take those? Would you make 'em alive by your grace and by your spirit? Hope this was helpful for you guys. We'll see you next week as we jump into part two.