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When life gets hard, does what we think we believe hold us up, or does it crumble under the weight of doubt? I'm your host, Dr. Lee Warren- I'm a brain surgeon, author, and a person who's seen some stuff and wondered where God is in all this mess. This is The Spiritual Brain Surgery podcast, where we'll take a hard look at what we believe, why we believe it, and the neuroscience behind how our minds and our brains can smash together with faith to help us become healthier, feel better, and be happier so we can find the hope to withstand anything life throws at us. You've got questions, and we're going to do the hard work to find the answers, but you can't change your life until you change your mind, and it's gonna take some spiritual-brain surgery to get it done. So let's get after it.
When life gets hard, does what we think we believe hold us up,
or does it crumble under the weight of doubt?
I'm your host, Dr. Lee Warrant. I'm a brain surgeon, author,
and a person who's seen some stuff and wondered where God is in all this mess.
This is the Spiritual Brain Surgery Podcast, where we'll take a hard look at
what we believe, why we believe it, and the neuroscience behind how our minds
and our brains can smash together with faith to help us become healthier,
feel better, and be happier, so we can find life throws at us.
You've got questions, and we're going to do the hard work to find the answers.
But you can't change your life until you change your mind, and it's going to
take some spiritual brain surgery to get it done. So let's get after it.
Music.
Well, friend, we're back. It's Sunday afternoon on the river,
and it is the last Sunday of 2024. Wow.
I didn't even think about that. That's crazy, isn't it? It is. I did not consider that.
We're looking out the window at the river on a beautiful day,
and I can see Lisa working a puzzle for New Year's, and she looks beautiful over there.
We are—it must be Tuesdays with Ta-Ta.
Maybe. If we're doing Sunday afternoon, it must be Tuesdays with Ta-Ta.
This is the last episode of Tuesdays with Ta-Ta for the year,
too. We've come a long way. Yes, we have.
I don't know where the time went. It went fast. It went quickly.
When we were watching football yesterday, the first quarter disappeared,
the second quarter disappeared, and I didn't even realize where it was.
Crazy. Our friend Vince Genitone played for the Nebraska Corner Huskers in his
very first bowl game yesterday at Yankee Stadium. That was really neat. Big platform.
Watched the Huskers come away with a win. Yes.
It was good. It's been a tough year for us. We're Oklahoma fans,
and they lost their bowl game. We're Auburn fans. They didn't even make a bowl game.
Our Texas A&M team lost their bowl game. So finally, at least Nebraska won.
Somebody won. Somebody won. All right.
Well, Tata, what are we going to talk about today? Well, like I mentioned to
you last time we talked, I'm still in the beginning.
But I'm amazed by all the things that took place as these people were traveling around.
And they were traveling around because eight of the spies or 10 of the spies disagreed.
They could not take the land. That's right.
But God said, I'm giving it to you. Giving it to you. Yes.
And told them how great it was. Now, one of the things that also has amazed
me is that all the conversations, Moses talked directly with God. That's right.
And then he talked directly with the Israelites.
Now, if you think about that, you have to take into consideration this was a
large gathering of people. A lot of people.
Almost a million fighting men age 20 and above, I think.
Well, there was a range there. there's about 600 or 700,000 of them. That's right.
So if you would add together the families and all the tribes and clans,
you were probably talking about over a million people. That's right.
And over a million. Here's Moses, and Miriam has just died. I'm in Numbers chapter 20.
So here, and we don't hear anything else about his own state of mind.
What's going through is he has a relationship with God.
That's right. He talks with him as a friend, talks to his friend face to face. That's amazing.
It is. What a relationship. That's stunning.
Now, did it get familiar with him? I don't know. I don't think so.
Because he saw what happened. Every time the children of Israel rebelled, some of them died.
If they blasphemed, there was only one punishment to be meted out.
Somebody died. That's right.
They took them outside the camp and stoned them. Now, oftentimes in conversation
with people, and even myself, I've been guilty of that as well.
And I would think, sitting here and looking back, now we have the beauty of
having a 2020 year, and it's looking back as 2020 every time.
But we would think that to ourselves, my goodness, I wouldn't behave like that.
Yeah, we always think that, don't we? Yeah, we do.
But God presented himself in a cloud during the day and a column of fire at night.
So they knew he was there.
And he told them very plainly, no worship idols.
And what did they do? They did that. That was one of the first things they did.
As soon as they had a chance, they made a calf. Yeah, golden calf.
And God kept reminding them of who he was. and what he was saying to them.
Now, here's Moses, and they're out in the wilderness again. We've already seen them.
They ran out of, they got tired of eating bread. They got tired of eating the mallet.
And they got tired of eating, and after God sent them quail,
and they surely got tired of that quickly.
But every time that they rebelled, or even the whole time, they weren't even aware of it.
The 40 years that they wandered in the wilderness, their shoes didn't wear out
and their clothes didn't wear out. That's right. 40 years.
But that generation died out and God told them that the only two people are
going to survive it. Joshua and Kalen. Yeah.
Well, really for Moses and Aaron, but the whole thing is as we look at this,
what I would suggest that we do is that we take an examination of ourselves
and we put ourselves up and say, okay, is this the template?
This is God said and God did.
God said, don't do that. And they did it anyway. And they said,
do this. And they didn't do that. That's right.
But look at all the stuff he gave them to do. all the regulations and all the
sacrifices and all of the laws. There was a law about everything. But think of them.
They had been slaves for 400 years.
They thought they liked cucumbers and vegetables and cabbage. Melons, yeah.
They thought that, but maybe that's all they knew too.
But now when Pharaoh threw a cake in the whole works was when they had to go get their own hay.
He was providing the hay before they were making bricks, and they were mixing mud with hay.
So, but anyway, this whole thing, the reason I'm looking at this so diligently
and so, I guess, precise, maybe.
And I don't know if, I don't like that word either, but I'm asking myself the
question, okay, how does this apply? All of this apply to me.
And we're coming to the end of the year, and people are, and the people we're
talking to, friends out there, you know, You're probably making New Year's resolutions
that say, I will not, or I will change.
But you can't do all that by yourself. That's right. You've got to have help.
And that's what God was doing through this whole process.
This was all based on his promise that he would make them a nation and that
they were his covenant people.
And he promised that he would take care of them.
Now, here in Numbers chapter 20, so a couple of several things happened here
that are disturbing as you think about it.
But, you know, Miriam had died, and so I don't know what kind of impact that had on Moses.
And the people ran out of water. Well, they didn't have any water.
And they were grumbling, and they were complaining.
And they were blaming Moses and Aaron. That's right. We don't have any water
because you brought us out here in the desert.
Little did they realize that he saved their lives. That's right. Or God did.
And then Moses and Aaron went to talk to God about this.
And one of the things that God said to Moses that is so interesting to me is
he said, take your staff.
And i asked myself that question a question is why
did he say that take your staff well god already knew what he was going to do
yeah and so he went out there but god told him said go speak to the rock i don't
know what he told him to say to the rock just give us some water but moses didn't speak to the rock.
He struck the rock. And what did God say to him later?
Because God said to Moses, because you didn't honor me, neither you nor your
brother will see the promised land.
That's right. I think we need to go back and just give, in case somebody doesn't
remember this story, hasn't read this story, this is the second time God instructed
Moses to give water to people using a rock.
The first time, which was in Exodus 17, he specifically told Moses to strike the rock.
And this time, he gave Moses a different instruction. Bring your staff, but speak to the rock.
So Moses didn't follow God's instruction. No.
God said, you did that honor me.
You did not honor me. And I don't know.
I look at Moses and I try to understand what was his mental posturing.
How did he view where he was? Maybe he got angry.
Maybe they hurt his feelings. I don't know.
Because they were grumbling against him. And they were grumbling against Aaron.
But because Moses and Aaron were God's spokesmen, they were gumbling against God.
And so where does that put us? So when we look at ourselves and we want to change
something, we need to understand the change that maybe many of us need to make
is that we need to do what God said. Period.
And I don't have any discussions about it. But unfortunately,
I don't think that's the case.
We've seen a lot of discussions taking place in places where we wouldn't have
thought it would occur in churches, for example, causing division,
causing animosity, causing struggle.
That's right. And so, and all of it is, people have a personal agenda.
They want to grind their own sword. They have an ax to grind.
So they want to do it their way, I guess.
And so that's what we have to ask ourselves. Are we trying to do it our way?
And as we look at ourselves and we want to change what we do and what we have
been doing, we need to consider is it what we want to change what we've been
doing on our own, or have we been relying on God to help us get through it?
That's right. I think it's helpful.
We talked about this on the podcast the other day, this idea of flashing forward to flashback.
If you wonder why you're not getting what you want out of your life,
start looking like Tata just said at places where you need to know what the
Word of God says is the best prescription for human flourishing.
God desires. And when God tells us what He desires, it's always because that's
going to help us. That's correct. That's right.
It's not to hinder us. It's not to imprison us or take away our freedoms because
that's how he built our bodies and our lives to flourish the most effectively.
So if you keep finding places in your life that are not flourishing,
then one of the things you can do is to flash forward to a time in the past
where you made a decision like the one you're about to make.
And remember what the underpinnings of that decision was and did they line up
with God's will or. And if they did not, and it didn't work out well,
then you might say, well, maybe this time I'll do what Tata just said.
I'll remember what God's Word actually prescribed, and I'll try to take that
prescription instead of my own.
Because in the New Testament, we know that the admonition is that the Old Testament is our teacher.
That's right. It's a foreshadow of things to come. That's right.
And as we mentioned before, when we talk about it, all through the Scripture,
you see Jesus Christ. That's right. See the angel of the Lord.
He was there when the world was made. He was there when the heavens and the
earth were made. And nothing was made without him. That's right.
So as we look at this, ask yourself the question, where am I in this story?
Am I Moses? And I get mad and I speak to the rock. And God told me to strike the rock.
So we said this before, and I've always tried to do this, is if God says don't do it, I don't do it.
If God says do it, I do it. That's right. That's what I try to do.
That's wisdom. Am I always successful with that? Of course not. No one is. That's right.
You know, there's an ancient practice of what they call Lectio Divina.
Timothy Keller wrote a book about this. I'm sorry, Eugene Peterson wrote a book
about that called Eat This Book.
Yeah. And, of course, Pete Gregg, the Lectio app that we use for contemplative
prayer is called the Lectio 365 app.
And that practice, it means literally like you take the Word of God and you chew on it.
You ruminate on it from multiple perspectives.
Like Todd just said, where am I in the story? And the practice is you take a
particular story in the Bible and you envision yourself being all of the different characters in it.
So God says, Moses, pick up your staff and speak to the rock.
Put yourself in Moses' shoes.
You're frustrated with these people. You're tired. You're hungry.
God keeps doing what they need, and they keep not believing he's going to do
what they need, and he's mad, so he hits the rock because that's what God said
last time. He wasn't listening.
And God says, you didn't give me a chance to come through here.
You made it look like it was all about you hitting that rock. That's right.
And now put yourself in God's perspective. Why is he frustrated with Moses here?
Why is he tired of these people and constant lack of faith?
Put yourself in the people's perspective. And why do you keep wanting to know
where God is when he keeps saying, I'm right here.
Look at the pillar of cloud or look at the fire. And I'm right here.
Look at the manna and the quail. So I think that's a good point you make, Tata.
Let's start examining what the word says from multiple perspectives.
That's right. That's right.
You know, Moses was very valuable to God.
God must have thought a lot of him. And I think it's in Jude where Michael contends
with Satan for the body of Moses. Mm-hmm.
So they wouldn't worship him. That's my conclusion.
And so, if God was concerned about his physical body, and he was concerned about
what happened to him, and here, I don't know,
there's so much of this we don't know, and I realize that we're summarizing
some of these things, and maybe we're looking at the story through the wrong
lens, but the application remains the same.
What does it mean to us? Well, how does the shoe fit us? That's right.
And I don't know. I look at the children of Israel and I would be hard pressed,
to complain about all of the things that they complained about.
I hear again that you run out of water. That's a serious issue.
That's a serious place to be. That's right.
But even so, and how many times, I don't recall right now, but even when God
told Moses, I'm not going with you, because if I go with you,
I'll probably kill all these guys.
Yeah, that's right. He did say that. He said that.
And then he said, tell these people, I'll let them know when I decide what to
do with them. That's right. He needs to think about it. Yeah.
My word. So, and so what do we, but the thing to notice as well is we have a picture of God.
We have a face, we have his face in all of these events.
We have his emotions in all of these events. That's right.
And he's still, the thing that on one hand, he told Moses, look what your people are doing.
And then on another hand, he'd say, look what my people are doing. So,
God counted Moses in the whole process.
Right, wrong, or indifferent. He depended on Moses to be his spokesman. And that's what he was.
He was a mouthpiece for God. And he had a position of leadership, of course.
And that part is just overwhelming as well.
Leading that many people to somewhere that you only heard about. That's right.
And now you're not getting to go at all. That's right. And he still had to lead
them to another place. He led them into battle. Moses did.
Yeah, this is the moment, by the way, that we shouldn't miss that.
This is the moment when God forbade Moses to go into the promised land.
So he's been working with these people for 40 years. Yeah.
And this is the failure that blocked him from getting to see that in his lifetime.
So I think the lesson here is like your life matters.
All the events of your life matters. Absolutely. And calls us to certain things
and expects obedience, equips us for certain things.
But there comes a time when God says, hey, here's what's going to happen for you.
Here's what I have in store for you. And for Moses, it wasn't what he wanted.
That's right. He wanted to go to the promised land. That's right.
But this event, this time put him in a position of missing out on a blessing
that he could have had. That's right.
And the other side of it is, and we only touched on this, but how many chances did they have?
The children of Israel, how many chances did they have to do what God said to do? Yeah, continue.
Every day, every minute. And I don't know, maybe that was legitimate.
God said, tell these people, I'll let them know when I've decided what to do with them.
Think about that as well. Now, to draw a parallel here, we have these events.
And I know some people will say that it's not true. They don't even believe this book.
But I ask the same question that I always ask, what if it is?
What are you going to do? Yeah. If it's not, is it true or if it's not true?
You're talking about eternity. That's right.
So, and so what we have to do is we have to look at all of this history and
decide how it fits for us.
How do we play? What part do we play in this story? Yeah.
And see how it fits for us. And that's the change as we look forward to 2025.
These are the kind of changes that we need to make in our lives,
that we need to listen to God. And the question remains the same.
Okay, God, what do you want me to know now? That's right.
We can't, and we have to assume that what God wants us to know right now is
do what I said to do. That's right.
I'll challenge the listener again here. We said this last time,
I think, like, this is a very serious statement I'm about to make.
You can't know God's will for your life if you don't read the Word. That's right.
You cannot know what God wants or doesn't want for you. You can't know what
he considers okay or sinful.
You can't know what the path to eternity is if you don't read the Word of God. That's right.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that what you know about the Word is adequate
if you learned it all from a parent, a pastor, a teacher, from some website, from Instagram.
Don't make the mistake of failing to be in God's word because that is where
the power for your life comes from.
Peter tells us he has given us everything we need for life and God. Absolutely.
Paul calls it the full armor. If you want to know why you feel like you're being
attacked and weakened and struck down by your life, it may be because you don't have the armor on.
That's right. God has given us everything we need, but it's in the word.
Friend, get yourself in the word in 2025.
We acknowledge that some of our listeners, some of you that we're speaking to
right now, you're in a hard place and you can't see your way out.
And you may even ask yourself, why do you want me to look back?
Because I'm looking right at this and it's consuming me.
And then there are some people that have lived through trauma and they have
seen the truth in that experience because what happened is that we get stronger.
The word is correct. It builds character. That's right. It adds perseverance.
But does it come all of a sudden? No.
Are there moments when you have to look back? Yes.
As long as you have breath, there will be moments where you'll be looking back.
But the one thing that you have to understand is, and I like what you said.
It was some time ago, and I don't recall what we were talking about,
But one of the things that your father told when he said to you when you were
frowning, turn that frown upside down. That's right.
Think about that. A smile. And what happens when we smile at someone?
I'll tell you. Usually. The mirror neurons start to light up.
That's right. We have an influence on the people around us. Absolutely.
With the decisions that we make, the emotional state that we're in. That's right.
Lisa and I just talked about this last night. I'm going to do a whole episode
about it, but there's some research recently that took two groups of people
and randomized them into two different experiences. In one group,
they had them exercise vigorously for half an hour.
In the other group, they took them skydiving, and they'd never been skydiving before.
And then they took the clothes that they were wearing and collected the sweat from it.
And then they put volunteers in an MRI scanner, a functional MRI scanner,
and they had them smell the sweat from these two people without knowing what the source was.
And the people who smelled the sweat of those who had been afraid while they
were skydiving had physiological reactions as if they were experiencing something terrifying.
Wow. And so what that means is our bodies affect the bodies of the people around us.
We give off chemicals that represent our emotional state in your brain.
Changes in anticipation of what might be scary coming when I'm going through
something scary, when I'm thinking about something hard.
And so what that says then is we need to align our word, our lives with the
word so that we can have the tools that we need to manage ourselves in a way
that controls our physiology,
our minds, our brains, our bodies, so that we are impacting other people in a way that helps her.
And so here Moses is frustrated, he's angry, and he lets his own frustrations
block his ears from hearing God's instruction.
He thinks he knows what God's going to say already.
Last time we needed water, God told me to grab my staff and hit the rock. And that's what he did.
But God didn't say that. No. God said, hey, take your staff,
speak to the rock. That's right.
And so Moses got himself disqualified for this promised land because he didn't
control his mental state. Yes.
And what a terrible thing. And so I think if we're going into 2025 and we say,
what can I do that's really going to move the needle on my life.
It would be get the word in you, know what it says for yourself,
and use it because when you use the word and when you pray and when you meditate,
what happens? Your brain gets more resilient.
Your campus gets bigger. Your amygdala gets less powerful.
You become more able to handle yourself in a way that's going to empower you
to make a positive impact on the people around you. That's right.
Well, and it's just like an old Bible school teacher that I had when he said,
When you're reading the Word and you see a therefore there, ask, why is that therefore?
And so what does that speak to? That means you're conscious.
You're looking at it. You're not reading Dick Tracy or some comic strip.
You're reading God's uttering.
Now, a lot of people will tell you that there's so many different translations
because people don't understand the original language. So be it.
Get the original language and teach yourself then. You need to, yeah.
I think the idea of reading different Bible versions is a good point.
Like, we have all these different translations we love. You're reading NIV right now, right? Yes.
We recently spent a year in the English Standard Version.
Finding a translation that speaks to your language, your culture,
the time in which you live, and the words make sense so you don't have to wonder
what all those words mean, that's a good practice you can have.
But studying the Word from multiple translations also helps you to extract all the juice.
That's right. We talked about that Lectio idea, chewing on the Word.
And a good practice to do that is to read multiple translations.
That's why we love the Bible app, Bible.com, because you can read parallel translations
and listen to parallel translations.
That parallel means you're listening to the NIV and another version side by
side so you can compare that sort of thing. And so I think the whole idea,
friend, as we're wrapping up this year is listen to God's word, follow his commands.
They're designed to help you flourish. They're designed to help your brain rewire
in a way that helps you and doesn't hurt you live your life.
And so that your impact on other people is positive and not negative.
You don't want to be the reason that somebody else doesn't get to the promise.
That's right. Well, and the one thing that I would leave everyone with is that
if you do make a list of New Year's resolutions,
that the first resolution that you make, if you haven't done this already,
is say, I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Amen.
And live like that. But I cannot tell you the peace and the understanding that
comes with knowing what God said and understanding what God said and leaning
on him in all kinds of circumstances.
And I mean that literally, because one of the things that I don't even go to
a fitness center or I don't even go to a walk.
When I set my foot out there, I say, OK, God, help me. Help me do this.
Bless me with strength and endurance so I can complete the section.
And so I take it literally what God said. And Jesus himself said,
apart from me, you can do nothing.
And friends, that's absolutely correct. Apart from God, you can do nothing.
It's one of our, Lisa and I were talking about this earlier.
I have a commitment that I want to make for 2025 that I'm not going to put something
in my mouth without giving thanks for it first. That's right.
And the reason for why, because Jesus said he thanked God before he broke the brain.
Yeah. But also because when we're thankful, when we're grateful, our brains skip.
That's right. It makes us structurally more able to handle all these things
that are going to come along.
So 2025, unfortunately, friend, is almost certain to include some trauma and drama. Absolutely.
We're all going to have trouble. Yeah. And somebody listening is going to go
through something devastating this year.
And somebody is in the middle of something devastating now. There's some people
who did not have a Merry Christmas.
You're wondering what you're going to do to make next year even possible for you.
And we're just here to tell you that the way to make it possible,
the way to navigate those hard waters, is to get in the Word and to fill your
heart up with some things that will not crumble when your world...
Some places where you can put your foot down and it doesn't give way. That can only be found.
So Tata and I are going to be here. Lisa and Tata and I are praying for you.
We're going to be bringing these messages every week and connecting with you.
The reason we can do this is because of the power that's found in the Word of God.
So grateful Tata for you bringing us these messages.
And I think it would be appropriate for you to finish this year of Tuesdays
with Tata in prayer for us. Would you pray for us? Amen.
Oh, Father, we're so thankful for all of our blessings, and we thank you for being mindful of us.
And we acknowledge that you are God Almighty and that you are Jehovah. You are Yahweh.
You are Jehovah-Jireh, the provider, and you are Jehovah-Rapha, the healer.
And we thank you for all of the blessings that we have.
And we're so thankful for even life and breath itself, because without you, we are nothing.
And without you, apart from you, we can do nothing. And we understand that and we believe that.
But, Father, there are those that are laboring in such hard places.
There are those that see no way. They see no way to get out.
They're in so deep they can't get out. Help them, Father.
Hold out your gracious hand to them. And, Father, there are people that are on the edge.
They can't decide what to do next. Let them receive Jesus Christ as their Lord
and Savior and accept Him.
Because he is our Savior, he is also our brother. And he also knows what it's like to be here.
Because as Max Licato used to say, and he said so many other times,
that Jesus Christ came here to be like us so we could be like him.
What a chain. What an effort.
So Father, bless us with strength and endurance and help us get through the days.
And help us be mindful of those that are struggling, Father.
We continue to remind you of them, even though we know that you know where they
are and what they're suffering with.
And Father, we understand that there are so many things that are beyond our
control, but we know that with you, nothing is impossible.
Nothing is beyond your arm's reach. Nothing is too difficult for you.
So we ask you to be blessed with them and be mindful of them.
But Father, lead us because we are weak and weary travelers as well.
And Father, we are not everything that pleases you, but we are mindful of this.
That whatever we ask in Jesus' name, you will do. And so we do that.
And Jesus himself said that he was the only way. He was the only way to the Father.
And so we rely on him, too, Father. We rely on your Holy Spirit.
But, Father, we ask you for strength, and we ask you for endurance.
We ask you to be mindful of us and be mindful of the little ones, Father.
Lead us through this time. We ask it all in the precious name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior, your Son, our Redeemer. Amen.
Amen. Thank you, Tata. And if we're going to encourage the listener one more time for 2024,
if somebody out there has decided that they need to take God seriously,
get in His Word, listen to what He says, adopt multiple perspectives in reading,
and get after it, when should they start?
Start today. They should start today. Happy New Year.
One, two, three, go. One, two, three, go.
Music.
Hey, thanks for listening. The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast is brought to you by my
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It's a treatment plan for recovering from trauma, tragedy, and other massive things.
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Hey, the theme music for the show is Get Up by my friend Tommy Walker,
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Self Brain Surgery, every Sunday since 2014, helping people in all 50 states
and 60 plus countries around the world.
I'm Dr. Lee Warren, and I'll talk to you soon. Remember, friend,
you can't change your life until you change your mind. And the good news is you can start today.
Music.