Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
This week we listen to a message that Ayren gave about living an Adventurous life with God. What does that really look like?
Practical conversations to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Episode 7
===
Morgan: [00:00:00] Hey God, thank you so much for another week of getting to get together in this studio. And, um, Talk about you. and, um, just Thank you for the amazing opportunity. This has been to learn more about you to grow closer, to one another, and to create
a community of people who genuinely are just seeking after you.
God, I pray that you continue to use Erin and I as, um, Just a megaphone for you that, um, your voice speaks through us louder than anything we could ever say. And that, um, whatever we do say gets to the right years, um, God, thank you for blessing us with this opportunity for the resources that.
you've placed in our lives, to be able to do this.
Uh, we're thankful in Jesus name. Okay.
Mika: Welcome to the true discipleship podcast, [00:01:00] where we have practical conversations on what it means to be a passionate follower of Jesus. We are so thankful you chose to listen today and hope you gain a fresh perspective. With Jesus at the center. This is a community where everyone is given a seat at the table, a place to dive into scripture, talk, think, explore, and learn what following Christ is all about now onto our hosts, Erin and Morgan Nelson.
Ayren: Hello everybody. And welcome to episode seven of the true discipleship podcast. I am one of your host, Aaron. And that may seem a little repetitive. I feel like each week the Android ends. And it's like, now that your host, Aaron and Morgan, and we're like, Hey, we're Aaron and Morgan. But we realized the other day that we both have unisex names
Morgan: We do you so kindly pointed out that my name was.
Ayren: and you were like, what? No, it's not. And I was like, what about Morgan Freeman? And then you're like, we should probably introduce ourselves on the podcast when we go into it.
Morgan: yes.
Ayren: We also had a somewhat [00:02:00] awkward encounter with, uh, some of our new neighbors the other day, um, Mikey and McKinsey, who we met, uh, through social media originally.
Um, but the husband came over and introduced himself the other day. And Morgan was like, oh, you must be Mikey. And he's like, actually I'm McKinsey. My wife is Mikey.
Morgan: It is the most horrific social interaction that I've had in my entire life. Yeah. Number one. Cause I went in so confidently, like you must actually, I called him Mike, because I was like, well, we don't know each other well enough for me to call you Mikey.
Um, so I was like, you must be Mike. And he was like, um,
Ayren: Why wouldn't you go in proud, right? You're like, I've remembered your name. I should be excited about this, but Nope.
Morgan: I assigned the wrong name
Ayren: Yeah, it was, it was bad. That was pretty rough. I am excited for the show today. We're going to do something a little bit different. Um, I'm going to have you set it up because it feels weird for me to do it.[00:03:00]
Morgan: Yes. So today's episode is going to be mostly a talk that. Erin gave this weekend, to our youth group at church and, um, Yeah, he came off stage and I told him like, this is to date, my favorite, sermon that you've ever given. It was just.
Super Authentic.
And like you got emotionally vulnerable, so here's a warning if you're in public and you don't like crying in public, maybe pause and listen to this later, or grab a box of tissues. Or am I just being me that anytime I hear you get choked up, I immediately start crying. Other people might be a little bit stronger than that. Um,
Ayren: yeah, it's definitely, it's got some weight to it. Um, but it's the good kind of weight. I think it's, uh, It's a conversation where we talk about, um, an answer, a lot of questions that I think a lot of people have kind of those core questions to our faith.
Um, so yeah.
Morgan: Yeah. So we're gonna listen to that and we'll be back on the back end to just kind [00:04:00] of dive into some deeper discussion.
Ayren: All right. Good morning MSM. How are y'all doing? Yes. I love it. There's cereal shrapnel all over the stage. Then I'm going to try to avoid the entire time that I'm up here. Look, I normally don't do this, uh, but for this message today, I'm going to give it a name. Okay. I'm going to give it a title. Uh, so I need everybody to repeat after me.
Okay. Say the
there's a lot of stuff up here. The keys in my heart. Okay. By the end of this message, we're going to talk about what those three things have in common with one another. Okay. But I want to start off right [00:05:00] here. How many of y'all are morning people? Yeah. Like have no problem waking up in the morning. Like, you don't need a cup of coffee.
You don't need to do your bathroom break. Like you can just get up and run a marathon. Okay. I can't do that. I have never been able to do that. I don't enjoy waking up in the morning. I'll do it, but I'm going to probably complain about it most of the time. Right? It takes me a little while. When I wake up in the morning, people try to ask me to do things I can't, I'm still buffering.
I need some time. I'm kind of like that little rainbow wheel you get with your apple thing. Like something is not connecting the way that it should be in my brain. As a matter of fact, when I was in middle. And my mom would come and she would wake me up for school. And she used to have these really long nails.
And she was like tapping on my leg like this. And I still have like really bad PTSD from it. Like if somebody comes and taps me on the shoulder, like, nah, don't do that. I don't like anything about it. Uh, but she would wake me up and there was always like, you're running late, brush your teeth, put your clothes on, do this, go there and get a job.
Why are you smell funny? Like she would always wake up with these things. And I remember I was in middle [00:06:00] school and I sat my mom. And I'm like, mom, look, we need to have a talk. You know what I mean? You love me. I'm your son knowing you mind. Listen. Um, when you wake me up in the morning, don't ask me to do anything.
I need you to ask me, Aaron, are you conscious? I will give you a yes or no. And then we can proceed with the day. Like that's the way that I was. Cause you can talk to me before, like the cobwebs went away, but I wouldn't hear anything that you said. Now that I'm a little bit older, something has changed. I still don't enjoy waking up early in the morning, the time isn't great, but the location plays a big.
So this past February, me and my family, we went to Disney world. And guess who was up at 6:00 AM, coffee and hand showered teeth brush. I had already tried on my wife's many ears. Like I was, I was ready to go and I'm knocking at my mom's hotel room door. And I was like, Hey, come on. And she was like, I'm not conscious.
I'm like, I don't care. We got to get in line for flight of passage. Like I was ready to go. And it's so funny how it depends on the [00:07:00] situation. You can wake up with anticipation. What did you just say? Just like Christmas, right? And then you guys, when you wake up Christmas morning, there's an anticipation.
Maybe your family is going on vacation. Maybe it's your birthday, something like that. But there are certain times where you wake up with this butterfly in your stomach, feeling that something amazing is going to happen today. And the question that I want to ask you is, do you really believe. That you can wake up with that butterfly in your stomach, feeling that something amazing is going to happen today with your relationship with God.
Do you feel that way? Because I don't know if I do, if I'm honest, I think there are times when I wake up and I'm like, man, I really, I really don't want to do this. I don't want to get up and go here and do this. And I think about my to-do list, but I don't think about the fact that I can wake up in that.
Today is a day for me to do life with God. That's a day is an [00:08:00] opportunity for me to live in adventurous life with the creator of my soul. I don't think that way very often. And so there's a, I'm not a math guy, but there's a math equation that I want you to keep in mind because I truly believe it can change your life.
You plus God equals a wonderful all filled life. You plus God equals a life full of all. I wonder if we're going to explore that a little bit today and I wonder how many of us actually believe that? Because sometimes I don't know if I do, sometimes I believe that me living life with God just means I get to go to church on Sunday.
That's about the extent. But what if you stepped out of your front door and said, man, God, today is a day for you to present me with opportunities. That can be fun. That can be adventurous. When I was in high school, I heard this quote by a guy named Mike yakka, Nellie. It's a really fun name. Um, but this is it.
It's [00:09:00] from a book called dangerous wonder. I want to share it with you. It says, I want a lifetime of holy moment. Every day, I want to be in dangerous proximity to Jesus, just meaning I want to be super, super close to Jesus. I long for a life that explodes with meaning and is filled with adventure and wonder risk and danger.
I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous. I want to be with Jesus, not knowing whether to cry or laugh. I want to ask you, when was the last time you thought about your relationship with Jesus stuff? Maybe you've been following Jesus for a while, and you've never thought about it this way. Maybe you don't follow Jesus or haven't been entertained by the thought because you think, well, that's just boring.
Jesus is just going to, I mean, I can figure this thing out on my own, right? Like the whole you plus God equation. I get that. But if it's just me and if I remove God from that equation, I think I'll do all right. I think I can figure things out on my own. The question is, is can you. I mean, I know there's some of us in here [00:10:00] that, that don't really know what we think or what we believe about God.
And so we want to remove him from the equation, right? Sometimes we think the idea of God just seems really farfetched. I don't know if I can sign off on that, or maybe you're on the fence about God, but you don't really know if he's worth it following, let alone trusting. Maybe you're afraid about what following God is going to cost you.
Maybe you don't want to be viewed by your friends. One of those hypocritical or judgmental Christians that you see on TV or hear about on social media all the time. Sometimes we think it's easier if we just remove God from the equation. And the question I want to ask to you, if you think that way is really, do you really think that that will make things better?
Because here's the thing everyone that's ever lived has tried at one point or another to try to find purpose and happiness and meaning in their lives with just themselves. Apart from God or they try to change the equation [00:11:00] altogether. They go, well, maybe me plus money will make me happy, but then the money runs out or you say maybe me plus this guy or this girl, but then they break up with you or me plus the popularity and status, but then you change schools and that's not the case.
We all have things we try to add to our lives, but none of them can fully fulfill us the way that God does. Why? Because we belong to God. All of us belongs to God. This week, I was trying to figure out, um, kind of an analogy, a way to, to help you understand this idea a little bit better. And so I did what I always do when I prepare for messages turn to the internet.
And, uh, I found this video of a young man named Jordan. And I want to share Jordan's story with you today. So check out this, check out this.
Jordan's dragged on some roller blades and it didn't take long for him to show us some impressive skills. Afterwards, Jordan was thrilled to me, some of his [00:12:00] heroes officers with the Oklahoma city police department, but he's always been inspired by police officers. Please. Do you want to be a police officer?
Cause they're funny. And also we tech people, it looks familiar to you. It's because we featured him and his brother brazen three years ago, a frontier city back then the siblings lived in separate folders.
Raisin has since been adopted. And Jordan says he doesn't get to see his little brother that much anymore. Now this nine year old, just hopes he'll soon find his own loving family. You can go. And we were anywhere. Where would it be to the adoption party for a home? And if you were granted three wishes.
Family family. Those are only wishes. I am. It's no secret. A family would be a dream come [00:13:00] true. Jordan lives at a group home now, but would love us since normalcy and the unconditional love of a parent call mom and dad, or this mom. Or this dad, I don't really care a family to eat Mac and cheese together, ride bikes together.
And most of all, well, the reason I as a forte is because I'm so I could have some, like some people to talk to any time I need to a child just looking for his place to call home as he led Oklahoma's news.
I think sometimes we ask the question why. Why should I want God? And I think the same reason that Jordan wants a family, he said, he said, I just want a family. He said it could be just a mom. It could be just a dad. And I don't know if you know this, but the Bible often describes God as a father. And I don't know what your father is like, but God is the perfect [00:14:00] father.
And I think. That the reason why it describes him that way is because a perfect father supplies, all the things that your soul wants. And when I say your soul, I'm talking about the deepest, most innermost part of who you are, like at the core of what is it that you really want and your soul. I think if I were to, if I were to able to sit down and ask your soul, that question, what do you really want?
I think it would say, I want to be loved. I want to know deep down that everything is going to be okay. Even when it doesn't. It's like, it's going to be okay. I want to be able to have joy in hard times. And I think that if I took all the answers that your soul gave me and I rolled it up in a ball and I put a name tag on it, it would say, God, why should you want God?
Because God is the only person that can fulfill everything that your soul wants. God is the only person that can fulfill everything that your soul wants. [00:15:00] Jordan wanted nothing more than a family to belong to. And I think we all want something as well, but the problem, the next step becomes well, how do I know that God wants me because I'm broken and I'm messed up and I'm full of garbage and mess.
And I am anything but perfect. Why would God possibly want me? And, uh, and I think about, um, this guy, Michael Angelo, has anybody ever heard of Michael Angelo? Not the ninja turtle, the real one? The, the artist, yes. The Renaissance artists, uh, Michelangelo. He was a sculptor. And so he often used one of these, a chisel.
And, um, I want to show you this up here. Basically what he would do is he would see a big block of marble. It looked like. It's a plain black marble, just a big old rock. Right. Uh, and then he would get his [00:16:00] chisel out and he gets a work. But then this is what you would see when he was all done with it.
And somebody asked Michael Angela, once I'm telling Michael Angelo, how do you, how do you do that? How do you get, how do you create this thing? He was like, I don't necessarily know. He goes, I don't really know if I'm creating it. He goes, when I see that plane block of. I see that statue on the inside crying to be let out.
And I firmly believe that this is what God wants to do in your life. Yes, you're broken. Yes. You're messed up. Yes. You're probably holding onto a lot of things that you don't want, but I think God, he wants to take his job. And I think he wants to work on you to make you into the masterpiece that he wants you to be.
Have this, this thing down here. I'm going to set this up really quick.
And um, let me tell you, God's not the only one, right? I think the world has a chisel too. [00:17:00] And the difference is, is that the world's chisel will try to wear you down, right? Hold on to you. And things happen there. We don't ask for, right? We all have struggles. We all have things that are hard. We're not always the fastest or most athletic.
We have people break up with us. We struggle with depression. We struggle with anxiety and all of that stuff slowly wears us down until we become this Jagat broken piece of rock that is hardened, and we've been made into something that we don't want to. That's the world's chisel,
but this chisel, if you put it in the hands of God, he, he does that as well. But his is a little bit different. You see, God says, I want to take the addiction away from you. That anger that you're dealing with, I want to work on that too. In that comparison that you fall into all the time, [00:18:00] that jealousy your doubts, your questions.
And eventually what ends up happening is is that God actually chips away all of the stuff that you are never intended to have in the first place. And when all of that stuff is gone, he sees the beautiful version of you that he made. He sees a beautiful statue on the inside that is crying and begging to come out.
So the reason why Ephesians chapter two, excuse me, Ephesians chapter two, verse 10 says we are all God's masterpiece. He created us a new in Christ Jesus. So we can do the good things he planned for as long ago.
Why would God ever want you it's because God doesn't view you the way that you view you. He sees you as a masterpiece. And I know that's hard to believe for some of us, but he does. It's just a matter of putting the chisel in his hand. And so the last [00:19:00] question I want to ask you is what are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for? You should want God, because it is the thing your soul wants most he wants you because he wants to make you into the version that he designed you to be the absolute best version of yourself. And so what are you waiting on? What are you waiting for for that you plus Scott equation to take place.
So how do you do that? How do you get that relationship with God? And you do it through Jesus? As a matter of fact, Jesus and John chapter 14, verse six says I am the way the truth and the life, no one can come to the father, except through me. Jesus actually says the only way for you to have a relationship with God.
Is to go through me. And he did that. I want you to remember that Jesus is the proof that God wants you. And how do I know that [00:20:00] first Peter three 18. It says that Christ suffered for our sins once. And for all time he never sinned, but he died for sinners. Check this out to bring them safely home. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the spirit.
Jesus wants to bring you home to God. And so when we tell you, put your faith in Jesus, you may be asking, well, what does that mean? Well, what's going to happen today is our service is going to let out. And me and my wife, Morgan are going to go to the car. And inevitably one of us is probably going to ask the other, Hey, do you want to drive?
And whoever says, yes, I'll drive. We'll pass the keys. Yeah. And when I give those keys to somebody, what I'm saying is I trust you to get me from where I am, to where I need to be. I trust that if I give you these keys, you're going to take the right rights and you're gonna take the right left. You're going to keep me safe.
You're going to obey the [00:21:00] traffic limits, all this stuff. And you're going to get me to where I need to be in. Some of you have been holding on to the keys of your life for so long. And you need to let go of them, let God have them and trust that he's going to bring you where he wants you to be. That is what it means to put your faith in Jesus to say, I am waking up every day and letting you call the shots.
I want to show you, um, another part of Jordan's story. And then I have one more thing I want to share with you. And then we're going to be dismissed for small groups. Plenty tonight here, America's strong. The boy and his wish tonight. Nine-year-old Jordan from Oklahoma and his wish Jordan has spent six years in foster care.
And while being interviewed by a local TV station asked what he'd want. If granted three wishes, Jordan simply answered family, family, family. Those are only wishes I [00:22:00] have. I have a family, mom and dad, or this mom.
Jordan words, going viral Jordan's welfare specialist at the Oklahoma department of human services, telling us the response has been overwhelming. I'm used to having this kind of a response. Honestly, this has been huge. They have now had more than 10,000 families reaching out. To become Jordan's forever family tonight.
They are pouring through the application. We want to make sure that we give this the best opportunity to be successful as possible for him this evening. Jordan, one step closer to his wish. Of course we'll stay on Jordan's story that which is going to come through. And we hope the same for so many children.
So there are times where I'm sure Jordan sat at home in his group home and he asked, does [00:23:00] anybody ever want me, would anybody ever want me? And the reason why we're so encouraged by those 10,000 applications that came pouring in is because we know Jordan, somebody wants you, you belong somewhere. And I want to tell you that somebody wants you.
And you belong somewhere.
A chisel in the hand of God can break away everything that he never intended to be there. Keys in the hands of Jesus will take you where your soul desires to be most in your heart in the hands of God is exactly where it's supposed to be. I want to put it this way, just so that you can remember it.
Jesus left his home with the father in order to bring you home to the father. He wants you to have that personal intimate relationship [00:24:00] with him and he extends that invitation to all of us. And I'm just going to take a second and do that here with you as well. So if everybody can, if you don't mind just close your eyes.
And I know that for some of you in here, maybe this is the first time this has made sense. Maybe you've been thinking this and you didn't really know that it's what you wanted. Maybe you've been around church for a while, and you've never made the commitment that you need to make. Maybe all of this is entirely new and foreign to you, but for some reason you have this pit in your stomach and you feel something in your heart right now that says that this is something that you need to do.
Jesus extends that invitation. Into the arms of God for you right now. So I'm just going to, if that's you, I'm just going to pray for you. God. Thank you so much. Thank you for sending Jesus and thank you for giving us all an invitation that honestly we don't deserve God. We're tired of doing life on our own, and today we give you the [00:25:00] chisel.
We give you the keys, but most importantly, we give you our hearts. Lord, show us what to do next. Teach us how to live. It's in your name. We pray. Amen. If you prayed that prayer and you say, yes, I want to start a relationship with Jesus. I'm going to be sitting up here and I just have these cards. And the reason why we do this is because making a decision to follow Jesus is a, it's a big deal.
We want to celebrate that with you, but also sometimes you have questions. You say, I don't know what to do next. What does this mean? How does this change my life? How does this mean that starting tomorrow? I get to wake up knowing I get to go on an adventure with God. Well, we want to help walk alongside you with that.
So what I want you to do is if this is you, if you're saying yes to Jesus for the first time, come up here, you can grab a card from me when you get, when you get ready to go to small groups, I'll let you know when you grab a card for me and you'll fill it out. And I just want you to give it to your small group.
That's just the way to let someone know about the decision that you've made. If you're [00:26:00] watching online, you can go to tiny url.com/nx MSM. Next step, the link is in the description of this video, but we just want to follow along with you. Follow up with you and walk alongside you in this new life that you have in Jesus.
So that's it. We hope you, um, and I hope you got something out of it. It's uh, I've, I've listened to this a couple of times and. The reason why is, cause I feel like a lot of times when I'm on stage and I'm teaching, it's, you know, you're pretty in the moment. Um, but this was one of those times. I think I told you the other day I got off stage and I felt just drained and exhausted because it, it felt like one of those things where, um, you're not.
Going through the motions. You're not just sharing, you know, notes that you've [00:27:00] prepared and worked through and all this other stuff. It was like, man, I really hope in this case, the audience was middle school students. I was like, I really hope they get this. Um, and I kind of felt in embed some of that weight.
And, uh, I'm glad that we get to do this. I'm glad we get to share this with the people who listen to this podcast. Um, and this is a really cool resource and probably a good workaround to, uh, whenever I have to cut stuff out of my messages, I'm just going to be like, Hey, let's just do a podcast episode about it.
And then I'll just throw in the rest of the stuff. But, um, no, we just thought that it was probably good to, to address some of these questions and kind of talk about some of the same things we talked about in the message. So.
Morgan: yeah, one of those, like the real, the big question you are asking is do you believe that you can wake up every day believing that something.
Amazing is going to happen in your relationship with God.
Ayren: Yeah. So that question and that premise actually originally came from a book, um, by max Lucado Mexicano. However you say it called you were made to make a [00:28:00] difference. And I read that book when I was in high school, genuinely changed my life. This question genuinely changed my life. Um, Yeah. Do you, do you wake up with that sort of anticipation every day?
And like I said, in the message, I don't know that I do, you know, I don't know if I really think about that. As a matter of fact, there was a time where, uh, I was a bartender for a while. And obviously as a bartender, you sit in a little box all day and you know, people come up to you and they sit and they always want to chat and stuff.
And I am not like a really social person. I like conversation small talk in particular, not a van. Um, But yeah, people were come I'm like, man, I don't know if I really want to talk to you right now, but I, I spun it around. I was like, man, this is a great opportunity to share faith with people. It would be really funny when I'm working.
They're like, is this your like only job, which is a pretty offensive question to ask to someone working, right? It's like, oh, this is all you do. But they would be like, is this your only job? And I'd be like, I actually know I'm a youth pastor on the side and they're like, [00:29:00] wait. You're like the one serving me drinks and you know, all this other stuff.
Uh, but I remember those conversations happen because I would wake up and I would pray and say, God, I pray for the opportunity to share my faith with someone today. And every time I prayed that prayer, that opportunity rose, it was really weird. Um, really interesting, but also, and I'm ashamed to say it.
Morgan: this
Ayren: Because of that, there have been days where I've intentionally not prayed that prayer because I'm like, God, I don't know if I want to do this today. And what a man, what an adventure we're missing out on when we do stuff like that.
Morgan: Yeah. So as I was thinking, uh, of my answer to this question, I, I realized that every day you wake up and your focus is on God, you have the potential to see the amazing things that.
he can do in your relationship. And of course,
Ayren: I'm going to ask you a question. I'm sorry. [00:30:00] Focus on guide as opposed to what else.
Morgan: Just immediately grabbing your phone or thinking through like your to-do list or, um, about anything other than God, the, for like the second you wake up. Uh, And of course being the practical,
application person as I'm making notes for this episode, I thought about, well, sometimes it's hard. Like.
I think my natural tendency when I wake up is to immediately start thinking about what's the first thing that I need to tackle. Um, the first thing I need to tackle today. And so I started to come up with. What are ways that I can fight that. And by, I mean, all of us, what are ways that we could make sure when we wake up, our focus is on God. A lot of times.
when I wake up it's I don't have time to talk to God. I don't have time to pray or like spend any like quiet time with God. So the first thing I thought of is wake up five [00:31:00] minutes earlier and I
Ayren: Which,
uh, which alarm would that be? Just curious? Is it the first alarm or the 25th? When, after you hit snooze,
Morgan: The 24th one.
Ayren: doesn't bother me at all. It's okay.
Morgan: It does bother you. Uh, I do hit snooze a lot. I think my alarm this morning was set for six 30 and I didn't get up until eight 30. So two hours divided by nine minute intervals. That's so many times my alarm went
Ayren: but if you cut out one of those nine minute intervals and replace that with Tom spent with God, it's, you know,
Morgan: Then I can realize the amazing things that he can do in our relationship throughout that day. Um, so I felt a little bad, I guess.
writing this because spending time with Jesus should be like the motivation to wake up five minutes early. But I have bribed myself before with like good breakfast or like a special cup of coffee.
You and I, when we were dating [00:32:00] on Wednesday mornings, we would meet. Super early in the morning and This place was not conveniently located, but it was a coffee shop.
that we would drive to on Wednesday mornings. And it was specifically for us to read. And then we would talk to each other about what we were learning, like what God was teaching us.
We were really good Christians then. Um, and the thing that got me, there was their breakfast. and this is not sponsored, but if they wanted to sponsor us solar in north Raleigh has the best breakfast bowl and always say, yes . I don't know why they even ask you. Do you want pheta? I'm like, yes, I'm here for the pheta and your maple serratus sauce and your jammy.
Ayren: So,
Morgan: if you need a bride of yourself with a good breakfast and a good cup of coffee and kind of like twofold, in that is make your bed,
less appealing in the morning, which is really hard to do, because I [00:33:00] think, I think beds just get comfier, like right when you have to wake up. It's like, why is it warmer and why are the blankets softer?
And why is it just like
so much comfier than any other time of the day.
But have another spot, whether it's like right now, like in setting up our house, I have this like new little corner that I'm really excited about with like a chair and a lamp in the corner and we have a fireplace and so like a winter month, I'm so excited to like, turn on that fireplace and sit in that chair and have that fun, little spot to like read my Bible.
Ayren: You've got like major travel blogs labs going on a day.
Morgan: Everything should be like hashtag sponsored. This chair is from Ikea and the lamp is from,
Ayren: No, but you make a good point though. Cause I think sometimes, I mean, let's be real. The reason why we don't go deeper in our relationship with Jesus is often because we are too comfortable in not to let this be a play on words or anything. But I mean, I think this is the same thing in the morning.
If you fall into a place where we referenced this on the last episode that, um, [00:34:00] that anything else is more important than spending this moment in this time with God, then, then you need to find a way to cut out that comfort. It's okay. Making yourself uncomfortable. Um, and that's kind of what you're insinuating here.
I was reading the other day. This is like super random, but like, I'm always impressed by really disciplined people, because I feel like I am not one of those. And, uh, the, there was like a post where the rock shared, like his shower schedule. It was really weird, but his first thing that he does, everyone, when he wakes up, he goes and he takes like an ice cold shower, just because it helps make him alert for the day.
I'm like, that sounds miserable. I would probably say, yeah, that's why you do it too, to shake the cobwebs off, get the day rolling. And so, um, yeah, just eliminate any hurdles that you have.
Morgan: And then the final piece to just building this into your schedule is accountability and, um, If you want to hear more about accountability, we talked about it on episode three of our podcasts.
Ayren: I'm really glad you're saying this too, [00:35:00] because I think a lot of what we focused on on episode three was getting accountability to get you to stop doing certain things. And I don't think we spend enough time talking about finding accountability to help you do the things that you actually want to do.
And this is a big one. Um, we've been trying.
Morgan: it
Ayren: Like, and it hasn't been working out well, the alarm goes off and I'm like, Morgan, you said you wanted to go run this morning. So get up. And then we both go back to sleep. Like that's not it. I think we need the accountability that says. Um, so for example, when we were reading our Bible on Wednesday mornings, um, I used to get out of bed because I didn't want to leave you alone by yourself with a coffee shop and,
Morgan: I would, would've had the breakfast bowl to keep me
Ayren: Ah, there you go.
Well, when I was single, let's put it this way when I was single. Uh, I had thought about it that same way, but with God, like, would I leave Jesus waiting at a coffee shop? If I knew we had a chance to hang out with one another. So accountability just helps give you that extra motivation, I think to like, yeah.
Would you agree?
Morgan: Yes. Yeah. You can have accountability in both directions. Yeah.
Ayren: [00:36:00] The check out episode three, for some more information on that, but we kind of got into another thing in this message.
Morgan: um,
Ayren: Which is the spot where I got emotional. Um, it's how do I know that God wants me because that's a huge question, right?
Morgan: It is. And I feel like we're bombarded with this message from the world that we're not desirable.
We hear from so many different places that you're not enough you're you're not pretty, and you're not the right?
size. And you don't have this quality or you're not nice enough. Or, um, you're not competent enough or. Gosh, the list goes on and on of your not wanted.
Ayren: Hmm. And I think that's why it's so important. What you were saying earlier to get up, start your day off with that time with God, because not only does it help you focus on him. Um, but it's [00:37:00] also an opportunity for you to learn, man, what does, God's saying about me? And this is why, um, obviously prayer's a huge part of what you should do.
First thing in the morning, the reason why we start every episode off here with prayer, but also, um, I think spending time in the word is important. Um, because a lot of times I think prayer is not saying it always has to be this, but I know our natural default is my prayer time is me talking to God about my.
But, um, the thing I love about diving into scripture is that it's an opportunity for you to actually hear what God says about you and the Bible is full of these things, right? So I'm 1 39 is an entire chapter about this. Uh, one of my personal favorites, Luke chapter two. Yeah. Or not sparrows, um, taking care of.
So why are you worried about yourself? Right. Um, Matthew chapter five, I think it's Matthew chapter five, somewhere in there. It talks about, um, you know, don't worry about what you're gonna eat or drink or anything like that, that God's going to provide all these things for you. And so I think that if you don't take time to allow the truth about who God says [00:38:00] you are to speak to your heart, Um, you're going to miss out on a lot, and you're going to have a hard time, because if you don't view yourself through the lens that God views you through, if your identity is in anything else, you're not going to be able to accomplish things that he wants you to do.
And then the last question that we asked here was what is it that you're waiting for? And when I asked this question initially, as a part of the message, it was to a room full of middle-schoolers, who I've been at our church for three years. And I've seen a lot of them for almost that same amount of time.
And, you know, church just becomes this routine. It just becomes what you do. And I think even for those of us who have said yes to Jesus a long time ago, we may not yet be following Jesus the way that we should be. And, uh, I just, when I think of this question, what are you waiting for? I think about the disciples and.
When Jesus called them. And, you know, uh, time after time after time, the Bible says, you know, the fishermen that they [00:39:00] dropped their nets and follow Jesus that there was seemingly no hesitation. I would be really interested to see what that interaction was really like. Like I doubt, I don't know. Maybe, maybe that's the way it did work.
I don't know. Maybe Jesus was just that compelling that they literally did just drop their nets and get moving. But, Jesus addresses this. I can't remember exactly where the passage is, but, Jesus was like, if you want to follow me, you need to go and do this thing. And they're like, oh, well let me go and take care of this matter first, let me go and bury my father first or whatever.
And then Jesus does the whole, you know, and unless you hate your mother and father, that whole thing. Right. Um, but yeah, it's, it's that idea of what are you, what are you waiting around for? What is the thing that you need to do? What else could be possibly? So. Um, desperately needing your attention that you say, no, I'm not going to do this yet.
I'm not going to take that next step. And, and, and for some of you, it may be putting your faith in Jesus entirely, but for some of you may be, I don't know, getting baptized, making the decision to spend [00:40:00] some, how many of us have made the decision of man? I want to be in my word more, but in the word more, but then you just, you don't do it.
Like, what are you waiting for? What is that thing that gets in the way of you and your relationship with him?
Morgan: God? Am I supposed to have an answer to this right now?
Ayren: don't have to have an answer to it, but I would love to hear your thoughts.
Morgan: Um, I mean, as you're listing, everything that you just said, um, yeah. I lack perspective for me. I don't want to drop my net, which is the life that I've built here on earth. Like the job and the house and the family.
Like, I don't want to like, let go of that too. Like all out, pursue Jesus.
Ayren: And then I think the next question becomes why, and that's something.
Morgan: that
Ayren: [00:41:00] I think we all have to answer, right? It's the, what are you waiting for to do what God wants you to do next? But then also, why are you letting that be an excuse? Cause I, I think, I think that the, the, um, the two-year-old approach to solving the world's problems is the way that we should all handle it.
You ever talked to a two year old about something and they're like, why, but we have a Y, but Y Y and I think if we take that same approach, And just go a little bit further down the rabbit trail. We're going to realize that the things that we're holding onto are so worthless and unless the equation for our lives is the same as we talked about in the message, the you plus God equals a life full of awe and wonder, um, you, you're going to try to replace with anything else, but you're never going to see the full value on that.
Unless you answer that. Why question?
Morgan: [00:42:00] The first six episodes. And, uh, we would love to know what you thought if you liked the format. If you want to listen to us, have conversation the whole time, or if you like to listen to this message and, um, hear us just discuss things a little bit more in depth afterwards. Um, Yeah.
Ayren: What I really hope happened as a result of this. You know, we didn't take too much time to, to go into conversation and stuff like that. Um, really, because we have a time that we're trying to hit, but honestly, I hope that this helps you learn how to critically think through messages that you hear in community.
Um, I'm super bad about like [00:43:00] going to church and like kind of leaving the message on the shelf, but like, what does it look like to actually unpack stuff and figure out how it applies to your own life?
Yeah. Yeah. So if you want to reach out to us, uh, we talked about this last episode, but we have a phone number now. Uh, you can reach out to us. That's 9 1 9 9 4 8 0 2 0 6. And as always you can reach us via email, Instagram or Facebook. Our email address is true. Discipleship pod,
Ayren: Nope. True discipleship, 20 twenty1@gmail.com.
Morgan: every time You'll figure it out. I'm always going to get it wrong.
Ayren: It'll be 20, 22 before you do, but it's fun.
Morgan: Yeah.
Ayren: And our Instagram handle is at true discipleship.
Morgan: podcast.
Ayren: We have some fun over there. We do some giveaways. We do reels. I had a funny interaction with one of our more recent reels that we posted.
Um, but yeah, if you want to stay up-to-date with everything going on with the podcast, be sure to get reminders of the new episodes coming out. Um, as well as some future things we're planning on working on, uh, go ahead and check that out. And that is where [00:44:00] you will get all the information. Thanks so much for listening to episode seven, we will see you in two weeks.