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Beyond The Message is a weekly podcast that dives deeper into the weekend’s teaching. Released after each Sunday service, it offers thoughtful conversation, added insight, and practical reflection to help our community process and apply what they heard. Whether you're revisiting the message or catching up, this podcast is designed to help you go deeper throughout the week.
Welcome to Beyond the Message, the podcast where we take the weekly teaching at Christ Community Chapel and bring it into your week. Each week, I get to sit down with friends, and we laugh a little bit, we reflect on what we just heard, and we figure out, or at least talk about how to live out what we are learning. If you didn't get to see, the message yet, go ahead and drop down to the description. You'll find a link for it there, watch it, and then come back and join in on our conversation. My name's Stacey, and today I am joined by Canaan. He is on our student ministry team. Come on, students. Welcome Canaan. That's right, Canaan Coffey. Sara Koons. Hello. And Jimmy. Thank you. You're welcome. And Jimmy Kozy. This is the most applause I've seen on an episode applauding for you. Canaan's here. Applauding. That's great. Hey, I take any applause I can get. That's great. And this is week 10 of the series Rise Up, going through first Peter, which means just a little takeaway, that this is our last beyond the Message for the rest of the calendar year. From now on, it's Rose Up. We did it. We Rose Up. We have completed it. We have. And, but we will be back if you listen or, just make sure you mark your calendar, because in the new year, we will be back with beyond the Message with the Vision series, and then with the next sermon, series after that as well. So, so glad that we're here today, for this final week. I have a little segment I want to start off with for us. Let's go. Sarah loves these I love segments. Ready for it? It's called Fine or not Fine. I'm gonna give you a scenario, and you're gonna say, fine. Yeah, that's fine. Or fine. Pretty self explanatory. Feels like it. Feels like it. Okay. you're in a movie theater, and the person in the row in front of you is texting on their phone, maybe even their flashlights on fine or not fine. Is it during fine? It happens all the time. Is it during the. During the movie? During the actual movie? During the movie? Yeah. Not fine. So would you confront them? Would you be like, hey, buddy, that's a different story? I don't know that I know. That's okay. That's fine. Are you saying it's fine by saying, no. Oh, come on. I'm just saying not fine. What are you. What do you think? I think fine. I don't Know, like, if you're, Come on, this is a movie theater. It's a big, big screen. Like, how. How bright could. They're texting. You're not fine. Okay. I think it's. I think that's very annoying. I guess it's just like, if you're gonna say not fine, but you're not gonna do anything about it, that's a valid point. Like what? Okay, you're in traffic and lanes are merging. That car that comes up at the end, the last minute merger. Absolutely not. Never. Fine. Never. Fine. Never. Find sometimes, like, that's the most efficient way. For who? I feel like it's not either. Stacy, I think we found the person. No, I don't ever. I actually never do that unless I made a big mistake. Like, and I didn't realize something was merging. Then I'm like, oh, shoot. I actually tried to do what the semi trucks do, you know, and straddle both lanes so that people can't. Yeah. About asserting some dominance there. That's impressive. Just think it's so unfair. Okay. This one might have come from someone on the panel. Hiding snacks in your house from the rest of your family. Yes. Totally fine. Hiding personal. I wonder who. Oh, fine. Yeah, that's absolutely fine. What do you hide? I had yogurt. Wow, that's so crazy. Look, I've got kids. They'll eat my yogurt. my wife hides chocolate from me. I would. Yeah, that seems. She hides it from you. Yeah. Wait. Cause she's like, he will eat my dog. Sneak a little bit here, a little bit there. Do you have a little mini fridge somewhere? No, I just put it up high. They're not very tall, so. Okay. I hide just certain. Like for my kids. If they're not gonna appreciate the actual. Like these. I have these chocolate covered almonds that I really like. Trader Jones. Right? Trader Jones. Trader Jo. I would hide too. Sorry. And I'm like, if you eat it, you're not going to appreciate it the same way. That's right. You're just going to eat up your withholding. Okay. Trader Joe's. Put them in a place. Dark chocolate covered almonds are not that expensive. Well, I mean, they're. But I. I got a scenario. Fine. Or not. Fine. Making your coworker feel bad because you look down on their sn. Thank you. Okay, with that, I think. I think we'll. That was enough. We're going to wrap it up. We're going to move on. Thank you for indulging me with this one. And for all of the icebreakers, some were. Some were better than others. Yes, but appreciate it. Let's jump in and talk about the teaching this week. I did say last week, I was like, we're not talking about suffering in week 10. And Pastor Joe made the same little joke, but we are talking about the devil. So there we go. Careful what you wish for, America. Careful what you wish for. In First Peter, chapter 5, verses 1 through 14, is the passage, and I loved at the beginning, Pastor Joe was talking about this, but he starts off by kind of reminding us of the reality that Peter is living in this society where there are horrible leaders, horrible things happening in the culture, and yet he is writing this letter to Christians telling them what they need to do and what they need to be focused on. He's not focusing on this external thing, but on. On us. and his three points, though, again, really focusing in on verses, I think, five through nine, where it was talking about, the devil was saying that you have an enemy, your enemy has a strategy, and there is a way to stay safe. so with that, let me open it up and just first say, hey, what was something that stood out to you from the teaching that you'd want to start off by and reminding people about? there's one thing particularly that dropped, that jumped out to me, that Joe, said something right toward the beginning of this sermon, I think before he may have even introduced. But he talked about the difference between God wanting God to do something through you and wanting God to do something in you. And that really resonated with me, because I think it is, that is reflective of your mindset and heart condition, depending on which of those you want more. Because if God does something through you, or asking God to do something through you, if it's. If it's coming from a certain place, can actually be selfishly motivated. And you're like, hey, I want to get credit for something that you did Great. That was through me. Whereas, asking God to do something in you, by necessity, you can't get the credit for that. And I think I am often, I would say, guilty of being more concerned that God would do something through me than I am that God would do something in me, when in reality, what I probably need more is for him to do something in me than to do something through me. I don't even know that, like you, you said that it. It can be selfishly motivated or it can end up being a negative thing. If you're saying that, I don't even Know, like even in the best of intent by saying, God, can you do something through me? While that's not awful, there is just a completely different posture to say, God, do something inside of me, change me, mold me, make me more like you. Versus even any sort of actionable outflow that we're hoping for. So. Yeah, that's really good. in his second point where he was talking about your enemy has a strategy and he used this, he used the language of pre existing conditions. And it just struck me because we talk about that in the medical world, you know, like when you're have insurance and these pre existing conditions which make you vulnerable. Right. Make you maybe less insurable or what are your premiums or higher or whatever. And it just that connection between. Yeah. What our pre existing conditions are and what makes us vulnerable to the attacks of the. I just think that was really poignant and I know he was talking about specifically pride and anxiety, which. Yes. We also mentioned greed though. Like. Yes. I just feel like that's good to know. Like, where are your, what are your pre existing conditions that you have that make you susceptible to attack? Yeah, yeah, no, I definitely thought that second point was, was for me, what stood out the most by far, Just the idea that the enemy does have a strategy. I think you wake up a lot of days and there's seasons of life where you're like, why is this happening? Or you know, this weekend we're heading to fall getaway, like for students and there's this idea of, okay, the enemy will have a plan to try to disrupt us. He doesn't want good things to happen. Correct. And in these seasons where there's really cool things happening, just really being mindful of that, being aware that he does have a strategy. He is a lion out there. Yeah. I caught just tonight I made a note when I was listening that, you know, he said, I think he was saying like he's not like someone that's just like tempting you with a piece of candy kind of like. But it is. But no, like, he is coming, he is prowling, looking for who he can take down. Right. I mean, so that I. Yeah, yeah. That's something just really to be mindful of. I had also kind of connected in. There was so much in here. But that first, opening that Pastor Joe had too just really reminded me, I wrote down that question, what does God want to do inside of me? reminded that the fact that like again with everything going on in the world, I know I can so easily point at all the things that I'm hoping and praying God will change and use and. And man, if I. I've just gotta look at myself, you know, I mean, I've got really. I mean I need to just be. And yeah, there's so much. It's almost like that's the whole point of what Peter was trying to say is, you know, he gets to clothe yourselves with humility. And he's saying, hey, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna be tempted to look all over the place at the things that you think need to change, at the people that you think need to change. But what I'm telling you is that the way forward is that you need to change. God needs to do something in and through or in you. Yeah, well, let's jump in. I. Things I thought would be good to discuss. The first was, just I'm curious when you think about the devil and Pastor Joe kind of has said taking him too lightly when you think about the devil. But I mean, maybe we don't. But I think the fact that we're laughing is indicative of. Right. I think the point, you know, he said though there's maybe two sides of that saying that you either think too little, don't think enough, maybe don't think at all. Or that we believe and act in a way or believe that he has too much power more and maybe we should. So, where do you think you fall in that? Or how would you process through thinking through this? I mean, I think for me it feels a little layered working at a church. Because it feels like we are on a daily basis dealing with more than just. It's the hearts and minds of people or students or kids or families, whatever. So I feel that I'm more aware. But I think what I don't maybe give not enough credit to the devil is that I think he's way more deceitful, sly, tricky than we give him credit for. It isn't. It isn't. He's not like on the sidewalk, I'll be like, hey, do you want a piece of candy? For. What often happens is it's a lot of little things over time that then cause the snowball effect of like he's caused, you know, areas of temptation or areas where you are weak or whatever. Whether or it's something good disordered or cloaked in a way that. No, that's a good point. So I think it's not that I think to live too little. I think I probably don't Give him enough credit sometimes for the ways that he's sneaky and, kind of gets into our lives to make you even. Well, one, make a bad decision, that you're like, oh, that's fine. Yeah. Or you doubt, like, wait, would God really put this in my life or ask me to do this thing? That's kind of where I was at with that. I don't know. Yeah, I think. I think I'm similar. It's funny, though. I think with. When I'm around students, I think of it as like, oh, wow, this is a very real thing that they're experiencing a real darkness, a real power that they're fighting against. And then I think sometimes it's easy in my personal life to be like, to take it a little bit more lightly and to be a little bit shocked by, oh, something coming up. Oh, why am I thinking this way and realizing, like, I think, you know, when I'm with those students, it's easy to, really invest in them. But then sometimes you're alone. It's like, okay, enemy now tries to sneak in. Now tries to sneak in when you're by yourself, when you're having thoughts. And so really trying to, navigate that. And again, like, he is cunning. He is trying to find a way to sneak in when, you least expect it. Either when you least expect it or when you're experiencing a moment season in life where the Lord's really working in cool ways. And so I think it's on both ends of the spectrum, either when it's. Things are, pretty low or in that high season. Yeah, I think, I would definitely fall in the first category of not really taking it too lightly. Taking him too lightly. I think, you know, I would guess maybe societally that more people fall that way than not, because we are so, We don't talk about the spiritual realm very often in the idea that there are spiritual forces for good, spiritual forces for evil. Although I would say, you know, we can also. Like, one of the ways we can slip into the second category is by, equating Satan and Jesus, you know, and I think, like, for example. Well, I mean, like, making them almost like the same power, the yin and yang thing, where it's like, you know, the devil is cunning, but he's not omniscient. Right, right, right. He is powerful, but he's not omnipotent. Like. Right. You know, the Bible makes very clear, like, you look at. And you can look all over the place. Look in the book of Job, where the Devil has to basically ask permission to be able to even go and have any. And so, but then the other thing, you know, I think that's. This is where the, the pre existing condition thing is really powerful. and I think that's one of the things that like is amazing about the story in life of Jesus is there's the whole story where Jesus being tempted and basically what the devil is doing right there is trying to seize on what he thinks will be pre existing conditions for Jesus. So he goes out most people and they would be for everybody, right? Yeah. So he's like, he's like, well, do you want some food? And in, in a vacuum you're like, well, is it wrong to eat food? But in that situation, yes. But he's trying to seize on a preexisting condition. He takes him up and he shows him all the kingdoms of the world and he says, all this could be yours if you just bow to me. And he's seizing on what he thinks is a preexisting condition that he doesn't understand. Jesus is not susceptible to that preexisting condition. Yeah, yeah. I love the first John. It's 1st John 4:4, that Pastor Joe referenced. Just saying, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So as a Christian, like rooting yourself in the reality that man, the Holy Spirit lives in me, the power of Christ dwells in me as a Christian and that is more powerful and I can overcome that. But I would fall into the same camp as you, Jimmy. I think I don't. There will be moments that all of a sudden I'm like, yeah, this is not a flesh and blood thing. There's a spiritual realm out there. But yet I think it takes a lot for that to dawn on me more than it should. Even though, again, Sarah, to your point, I do think there's not. I don't wanna pretend there's like all this crazy unique stuff working at a church, but it's a privilege, it's an honor. I think we get to sometimes be, in the first line of just hearing about learning about walking with people through really hard stuff they're going through. So we do see, I think more of that more challenges than maybe your average person. But yeah, no, that's really good. Well, I wanna talk about the pre existing condition stuff a good bit, which we've unpacked a little bit. But you know, this passage in particular did talk about anxiety, did talk about pride. have you seen or just even thinking through the pre existing condition notion and where that can, like it can cause you to hold onto a pattern of sin in your life or see it take root even in your own life. Never, never. Can I call it sinless question then, I guess. Next question. no, I think for me when he talked about anxiety, I think that was the biggest thing for me. I had, one of my best friends a, few months back, he sent me a clip on Instagram of Tim Keller saying he had this quote. He said it takes pride to worry. And this idea, I think for me, a lot of my life post college I've spent worrying like, hey, what's the next season of life going to look like when I don't have control of that? And I think that's an easy way. The enemy tries to get me to doubt God, get me to be angry, be confused, be frustrated, and aim it all at God. And instead of this idea he got back to at the end Joe about trust, like, what does it mean to trust in the midst of that? And so for me, I think, I think anxiety is one that can hook into for sure. I think, my pre existing condition or one of them, I have many. One of them. I'm not like Canaan, okay, no Canaan coffee. is independence. I think, that's something I think the Lord's been really bringing me back to time and again, over the recent weeks. Just this, this idea that I am self sufficient. And so that will play itself out spiritually in a number of ways, none of which are good. But the preexisting condition is a sense that I can figure things out on my own. I don't need anything. I don't need anybody, you know, and obviously you can see the problems with that. Yeah, that's real. Yeah. Pride is definitely for me when pride is one that underlies like, yeah, a lot of independence. It's a pride of feelings too. Like a symptom, of pride. I think when Pastor Joe talked about pride makes you resistant to grace, I was like, m. Maybe you, not me. Maybe first I feel like I'm amazing. And so I think. And it's so interesting because the older I get and the more life I've lived, it's like I can even see it coming. I can see what I'm doing it. And it's like, Sarah, why do you do this? And it's just, it just feels like it is the pain point that I have that Satan does use to get at me and go, you don't Know what you're doing. You think all these things. And I always get frustrated when people don't think the best of me or I don't think the best of others because I'm like, I'm an amazing human being. And then I'm like, wow, look, we've got some work to do. So. Yeah, I just, I think that, yeah, pride for me is definitely a pain point. Yeah. Yeah. Guys are all looking at me like I've got all of them. I mean, pride, I've got all. But I, I Do you know what I wrote down as I was even thinking about it is I think I get scared. I do feel scared that I will. Of the blind spots, even. I don't know if that, like, you won't see them. That I won't see. Like, I, I know pride is at the root of. And I know if I try and root it out, it's going to grow right back. And so there is this daily, like, laying down and I, I don't. I don't do it well. But I think sometimes just the blind spot of, of feeling like, yeah. Or believing that, oh, I have rooted out, I've taken care of it. It's not there anymore. Oh, Yeah. And like, no, it's. That is daily. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the thing. It's daily. Especially with. No. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I think the days where I go, two, three days, if I'm not in the word or if I'm not surrounding myself by good people or, or, getting involved in community, then it's the enemy, like, feels like the lies are louder. Yeah, it's louder. And, you know, that's the voice that becomes prominent just in a matter of days. And so. Well, the illustration of when he talks about clothe yourself in humility, I'm thinking about, well, we put clothes on every day. Right. Right. So I need to do that every day. and there's. There's this. I think it's a misrepresentation of Lewis's quote in Mere Christianity, but it talks about humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Yeah. And so I think people get that wrong a lot. Like, oh, humility is this almost martyred dumb kind of sense of what that means, but it actually means, no, you're not thinking, I'm not a good person. It's just like, you're not thinking about yourself at all. Self flagellation. Correct. It's like, yeah, you're not inward. I mean, it's an accurate view of yourself, not a. Yeah. And so. And I artificially. That's something I have to ask God, to reveal to me every day. Yeah. Yeah. What does it look like? I love the picture and how actionable clothe yourself is. And yet at the same time, like, you know, there were some great examples of, you know, Pastor Joe not wanting to saying he didn't need help opening a door. Right. So like that happens every day though, I think. I know I turn away help. I turn away, I compare. I have get hurt. Like, I mean, what putting on and being clothed in humility. What maybe is there anything practical that you can point to that's like, oh, this is helpful how I think about it. Or I think what Kanan said a few minutes ago is, is important here that you know, it is a like spending time with. It's the simplest thing, it seems like, and the most basic thing. But spending time with Jesus in God's word, you know, God's word is a mirror. It's going to reflect back to you. Yeah. Who you are, where you're at. And I think, there's something to that. You know, Sarah, you said we put clothes on every day, which is a. Is a kind of funny way to think about it. But it's true. Like you, you clothe yourself every day. And I think in the same respect, the longer you go without engaging with God's word and spending time with Jesus, the more likely it is that you're going to have an inaccurate and therefore not humble view of yourself. I think too, reading God's word is awesome, but I think you, you're reading God's word with a posture of God, what do you want to do inside of me? Because it's also easy to read God's word and be like, oh God, what do you want to do? Right. I mean you can and I do. There's, you know, and I'm going, oh, okay. No, I just. Man, just focusing on myself and saying, God, what is it inside of me? But. Any other. I think for me there is an active in my prayer life. I need to actively ask God to reveal things in my heart and in my mind that is causing me to probably think more of myself. Another thing that I think is really helpful is that if I am having even in my heart and mind, like I'm really struggling with another person that I feel, you know, there's tension because I, I don't think they're making good decisions or whatever that's causing me to feel that I'm can do that better or whatever it is, like if I actively pray for them in a pure way. That's not the way of like, not in the way of like God, you better like, you know, reveal this to them and all this to them. But it's about that, like, it is really hard for my heart not to be changed towards that person and cause and that causes a lot of humility in my heart to even like genuinely do that. so that's a practice I have that is good taken up. yeah, yeah, I think I would say this is a few weeks back, but a friend of mine had reached out, called me on the phone and said like, hey man, what area of my life do you see that I'm not like fully living for Jesus or basically wanting me to call out those things in him, those preexisting conditions of, you know, you don't want to be blinded by something. And I was just like. It took me a second because I was caught off guard because how often do we actually do that is seek that from somebody else that we know loves Jesus and loves us and cares for us and wants us to grow in relationship with Him. And so how humbling that would be for us to do that, to make that a habit of, yeah, asking man, where do you see myself? Where do you see me falling short in these areas or allowing the enemy to sneak in in different ways. And that just takes having relationships that are close enough that you will are to invite that and then know you well enough that they could even say things. But so we often end up coming back to like, community's so important, let's not forget it. And we need to have true. Yeah. It's interesting though. I mean, I think, if I were thinking of practical things that you could do in response to this to find out am I or am I not clothing myself with humility, I would ask myself two questions. The first question would be, can I give the specifics of the last time that I felt the God convict me of sin in my life and I responded to it? Yeah. And then the second time, the second question will be, can what happened the last time another well intended person challenged me and how did I respond to that? Because I don't like that one. I think both of those, both of those we didn't talk about, does anyone like it? Yeah. And then maybe one last thing I would add is, if you are sitting here really worried that you're overly proud, then that's probably a positive sign. The proud person is not even listening to this podcast right now. Or maybe isn't. Wow. I don't know. That was a drop the mic. The mic is attached to a Getting so practical on us. No, that's really good. man, there's a lot to take away. This has been an amazing series and one that I know I've been challenged a lot. Continue to be, and I appreciate you guys joining me. So just a reminder too, we will be, you know, have five, six weeks that this will be on a break and then back in January and really looking forward to it. But thanks so much, Canaan, for joining us. Of course. Thank you for having me. Great. Sara, Jimmy, thanks so much. Pleasure as always. Good job, Jimmy. We did it. Thanks so much for tuning in to Beyond the Message. Before you go, just make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on any content in the future. And also, we have content for you all week long on our CCC app, YouTube channel, or even on our website so that you can grow where you are all week long. Share that with friends and with family. Until next time. We'll see you soon.