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Welcome to "Beyond the Outpost" Podcast!
Join the adventure with us as we explore the depths of personal growth, inspiration, and purpose. Hosted by Jordon Good and CJ Shaw, this podcast is your guide for navigating the path to becoming everything you were created to be.
Each episode of Beyond the Outpost features stories, thought-provoking ideas, and actionable steps to help you unlock your true potential. If you're seeking motivation, guidance, or simply a reminder of your inner strength, this podcast if for you.
Join us as we dive into the stories of individuals who have triumphed over adversity, discovered their passions, and embraced their unique calling. Through candid conversations and insightful reflections, we illuminate the pathway to self-discovery.
Whether you're at a crossroads in your life or simply seeking inspiration to fuel your journey, Beyond the Outpost is here to accompany you every step of the way. Tune in, subscribe, and let's go on an adventure together.
Jordon Good (00:00)
you
I've gone through the season of let's get around the people that are influencing and then, you know, we want to raise up influencers and that never sat well with me. And I just kind of went along with it. And then one day I'm like, that is so wrong. I want to be around people that have intimacy. I want people to, I don't want, this isn't like, I'm not trying to.
Do something here in your hearts not to be like, let's influence people with this podcast. I'm not trying to influence any of you. I'm trying to get you to get more intimate with Christ so you can hear His voice. That's a good way to put it. Like, this is like when you get around those people and then you actually have these conversations of like, this is what God's been doing in my life. Like, we're on the same page here. I'm not trying to influence you to come to Christ. I'm just...
here's what intimacy has done for me and you just are so much more peaceful. And if you can start working that out, you're going to find out right away who's trying to influence you into a relationship with Christ and who's representing Christ because of the intimacy that they actually have with Him. Good morning.
Good morning, buddy. Welcome everybody to another episode of beyond the outpost. I'm your host Jordan. Good. And this is CJ Shaw. The other one, the other one. And.
Sorry, we just, this is our third take this morning. Yeah. Not one thing. It's another. Yeah. So we're gonna, we're gonna push through here and, we only went five minutes in that. We only went five minutes in that time. At least we weren't an hour into it. And it's like, Hey, the record button was never hit. go ahead. Fill people in on what we're talking about this week. It's a, it's going to be a good topic. Yeah. So this week, what we wanted to talk about was just the importance of your friend groups, the importance of the people you hung around, the people you invest in.
the people who invest in you, you know, and not to put it on through the level of motivational speakers that the five people you hang around, you're going to be the average of the, not that we're talking about your spirituality, your faithfulness, your, you know, your salvage, salvage, thick walk, your salvation, right? This is your, your life with Jesus. What is that going to look like with the groups that you have, the groups that you are a part of?
Yeah. Are they pouring into you in a bad way or are you pouring into them in a good way in a good way? And how does that, how's that looking and what's the importance in that? You said something in there that really stood out to me. What the heck is Sal Sal's. Is that a real word? I believe so. Do you gotta Google that? I've never heard that in my life. I like it. Keep talking. We're going to have to get t -shirts made up that say that. Well, salvation, the helmet of salvation. And as one of the.
pieces of armor that God gives us. Salvific, leading to salvation. All right. The salvific power of the Lord. I'm going to use that today at least twice. Salvific. It's your challenge for today, everybody. Yeah. I'm excited about this topic because it's one that the religious people like to throw around. Well, Jesus hung out with the sinners and...
you know, you think you're better than everyone or you hear the things that people say in the small groups or you see it on social media, whatever. And when you really examine Jesus's relationships, he only had 12 disciples. He could have picked 50. He ended up having 70. And then here we all are. He could have handled a hundred, but he chose 12.
And I think part of that is in the flesh side that he took on when he came to earth, he didn't do things that we weren't capable of doing. Like everything Jesus did when he came here in flesh were things that we can all do because it's Christ in us. So if he would have had a hundred disciples that he was teaching and coaching and mentoring, like now we would all be like, well, we need a hundred. And the reality is like,
I don't think even any person on this planet is capable of really, I shouldn't say anybody, but pouring into honor, but I mean really doing life properly with more than 12. I'm talking about doing life properly. I've got hundreds of people that I can hang out with and have fun and we're going to do these Friday night things. I think we have like, we have like 60 or 80 signups already and that's just.
one person that doesn't include the spouses and the families, like it's, they're going to be awesome, fun events. The reality of it is you can't possibly steward those hundred families and neither can I. But if we bring them into an environment and what the whole goal of that is, is this isn't church. We are the church. you're brethren, you're charismatic, you're Protestant, you're Catholic, you're an atheist, you're a...
lesbian, like whatever, you're safe here and we want to let the body of Christ do what it does best, which is develop relationships and minister to people and then let it happen naturally. So in an environment like that, we're just creating a space where the Holy Spirit can move and maybe there's a gentleman we were talking about before we started, another person who's
strong man qualified and you know, they're really looking for some, well, you guys are going to hit it off immediately. I say all of that because we get a hundred, 200 people or a church that has thousands of people and you have small groups. Well, let's dwindle it down. Let's see the groups that connect, the people that connect, go do life together. Maybe, do you have any relationships that are more than a decade old that are solid relationships?
I mean, they've been tested by fire. I have like two, two or three. Yeah, we don't have many either. And because they all get tested by fire. Yeah. Every relationship. We've talked about this. There will come a season where we, our relationship will be tested by fire. That's always a sign to me, like God's getting ready to take this thing to the next level.
Are you going to pass the test? I'm not you. I mean, like, are we going to pass the test? And.
I don't think anybody has more than maybe three of those. Because when you look at the 12 disciples and the three, so, boy, I'm going down some roads here. But I think Jesus really puts a good picture in front of us of what it looks like to do life as somebody who's advancing the kingdom and how to manage those relationships. And the number of
realistic relationships you can have at different stages. As you're talking about that, I thought of Moses because in Genesis 18, I believe when he's out there. Genesis? I'm sorry, Exodus. Okay. You're right. Exodus 18. As they came out of the wilderness, they're coming to Mount Sinai. Then there's a point where Moses is sitting on his, not a throne, but where he's at and all the people are coming to him with their problems.
And there's over 2 million people. right. Right. And Jethro, his father -in -law comes, says, Moses, what you're doing is not a good thing. You can't bear this weight. You can't. So you have to put people in charge of tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands. And then they take care of the small problems, the big problems will come up to you and you can be the usher between them and God. And it's just like exactly what you're saying here. It's like, we don't have the capability of pouring into and taking care of.
thousands of people, hundreds of people, especially friendships. It's one thing to be like, I'm in charge of a group of people and what they do and they're gonna be like, that's one thing, but the flourish and friendship, you can't pour it into a hundred people. There's no way. We've had this discussion off camera, whatever, about guys like us who,
love to pour into people and encourage people and help people. And we see someone and even we're like, how can I help? And the journey that that takes you on, because if you just do it, you're going to get burned out. And it's just the way it is. And I think burnout in that is actually God's favor and blessing because he's stopping you. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're actually now going to be going in a weakness that I don't want you to walk in.
and step back, who around you... And stop them before the real problem happens. Or before you just get so overwhelmed that you end up being like, you know what, God, this isn't it. I don't wanna help anybody. I've seen that happen before. Bitterness and stuff sets in. You see it in the church all the time. People, I've done this, go hard, and next thing you know, you're neglecting your family, and you're kind of like not available. I've done that.
in recent seasons. I actually just had this discussion with my kids the other night. They're like, it looks like everybody else is getting more and we're getting kind of a little bit of what's left over. And I'm like,
I know better. Okay, Lord, I need your help to get this balance right again. And what are you doing in my heart right now?
I am going down a road right now that I want to sometime, but I'm going to back up because there's, I'm sure we'll get into other things I was just going to talk about throughout the rest of this topic here, but how self aware are you of it? Because think about it, you're helping people at the gym, ministering to people and Bible growth, you're doing it.
When you really analyze, who am I discipling? Write that number down. Just sometimes sit down. I did this a couple of weeks ago. I'm like, who am I actually, who's looking to me to be an example? Okay, eight. I'm like, okay, that's a good number. But is that too many for me right now where I'm at in my growth? And where are people in here that actually I'm not even helping?
because they're just getting pieces that are left over incomes like my wife, my kids, like if they're not getting the best of me first, that's something's wrong. And that's such a quick adjustment to make. Sorry, can't meet with you this week. Family night. So for me, like if your spouse,
Now, obviously, I don't think we need to say Jesus and the Holy Spirit should be your number one focus. Like, I don't think we need to say that. That's a good one. I love that when people say that, like, let me tell you, well, of course, Jesus, we know. Your spouse, your children, if you have them, and then outside of that, your third is gonna be that close friend, like close whatever, whoever it could be.
That's kind of where this week that kind of got re aligned for me. And not that it wasn't that before, but we can fall out of that, especially kids get older, you get busier, you lose a job, you start a new job. that thing just throws your routine completely on its head and you're just like, what is life right now? That's crazy. Well, maybe talk about that a little bit because.
You're in a transition now of careers and it's so easy to fill that time with. Well now I'm available to go do ministry all the time. For me it's been more like now I'm available to go do work because I need to provide. Yeah. Right. And it's like, I gotta go, go, go, go. And then like my wife has been one to try to tell me slow down a little bit, enjoy it. I'm like, how am I supposed to enjoy this? This is the first hour of my life. I'm like, the future is uncertain. Like where it's going. So, there's a lot of.
trust to be put into that, put into God. And he has been more than faithful providing what needs to be provided to make things happen. But yeah, it definitely, it challenges your most important friend group, which is your marriage, your family. Right. And I think I met with a pastor last Wednesday just for breakfast and he, I was talking to him just about some of the things that God's laid on my heart in terms of ministry of thoughts of what am I doing in the future?
and he heavily laid on me was just how important family is your first ministry. Number one. And I knew that, but just to hear like, it's okay to that. It's not going to wait, but it's like, that's not priority one. Make sure it's in the right spot. Priority one is your family, that your family is in order. So with that, like trying to focus and reset in and see like what's going on right now.
and how quickly the world and the worries of the world can step in and go, I gotta focus on this, this, this, this. And now my family's getting leftovers again, right? As you were saying. So it's definitely a time of reflection. Thankfully, I have a wife who's forgiving. And she encourages, let's talk about this, even though I'm horrible at talking about it. You know how it goes. But.
Let's focus moral men in this topic. And this is a trap for women too, teenagers, you name it. It's not just men, but primarily it is men, because it's our responsibility to make sure that we're, what's the status of my family? You said it in there. When I went for this interview, you were talking about hours and stuff like that and great opportunity with a wonderful organization. But I was very clear, like, my family is my number one ministry.
And they agreed with that. You know, I was kind of putting it out there to see like what's their topic, your take going to be on this.
especially when it comes to, being an example, right? People are watching to your point about like speaking towards the men and how important it is for the man to provide is that is what God says. I'm trying to pull up first Timothy here. Five eight says, but the widow who lives for pleasure is dead. Even while she lives, give the people these instructions so that no one may be open to blame.
Anyone who does not provide for the relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. And that whole thing is talking about older men, you know, taking care of your family. So dang. So you know, you get those kinds of things and you throw it on you and you're just like, okay, like there's a weight to it. Like I'm supposed to provide for my family. Well, Rachel pointed out to me yesterday was like, Hey, our standard of provision here is different than what the world is saying today. Yeah. You know,
It's like, you're still pouring in your family. There's food on our table. There's a roof over our head and you're making money. You're still providing like, yeah, okay. Health insurance is a little here right now, but that didn't exist at that time. We weren't worried about that, right? So it was, it was comforting to have a conversation just to talk about it, but it definitely is something that it's like, we got to talk about it. We got to trust one another, trust God and lean into one another during this time. We're getting off topic here, but I got to ask, cause I've never really thought of it this way. Cause.
This is a place where I'm learning right now. What does it mean to provide for your family? Because I've always thought in every.
who you hang out with, let's take it one step farther. Who are you talking to? Who's influencing you? I used to focus on that, like, influence. And then I was around people that were, let's influence people. And now that word, I'm like, you couldn't be farther from what we're supposed to be doing here. If I'm influencing you, you're not stewarding your family properly.
The Holy Spirit should be influencing you in that. And we should be doing life together and walking together. And you and I have good conversations. Hey man, something came up. Like we just work it out. Are you providing an environment where your family can grow? Are you providing, it's not all about money. It's actually not about money. That's part of it. Are you providing a safe place for your children and your wife to be able to approach you and have a conversation? Right.
Well, if you're working 80 hours a week, you're probably not. Honestly, if you're working 60 hours a week, you're most likely not your war out. Yeah. And then they get the leftovers. Can only talk about this because I'm the Lord is working on my heart. What does it really mean? What do I mean when I say provide? Hmm. It's an interesting question, Lord. What does that mean? It's funny. I believe I put it in my, my vows to my wife when we got married was
creating an atmosphere where she can grow, creating an atmosphere where my family can grow. Just to your point there. It's like my goal, my end goal is that you have a place that you can glorify God and that you can grow in that sanctification, in that process of becoming who God wants you to be. So yeah, I mean it, we lose sight of it easily because the world's telling us to go.
make money, bills are coming in that need to be paid. You gotta have a retirement account. You gotta have a health insurance. You gotta have a nice car, like pump the brakes. Yeah, right. And it's like, yeah, we have bills. You have those things going like, yeah, it's your responsibility to pay them. God tells you to do that. If you owe somebody, pay it. But the way we live in now, man, debt is like enslaves people. Debt enslaves people.
Dude, everything. I mean, look at your Amazon prime bill or your Apple bill. I'm telling you, dude, they just throw stuff in there and you're just like, all right, like you got to go in there and actually look like. That's what I believe. It's Proverbs. Proverbs 22 says that the borrower is slave to the lender, right? So it's scriptural and just this idea in our culture today is that like, we always want the next best thing. We always want the retirement. We want to be able to get to an age and then not have to work.
That's not biblical, right? We're supposed to work, we're supposed to do things, and at the end of the day, you need to get out of that freaking debt. Because I think of all the stuff that I have on my plate right now, I still have some of my student loans, and I have Rachel's student loans. Those things, man, they're a ball and chain. And my problem is that I'm always looking at, God, I can't work to my fullest potential because this thing's holding me back. And I think of how many other people in the world right now,
have the same situation that want to do something for the kingdom, yet I gotta go make a paycheck so I can pay my bills, right? How much is that enslavement to the lender keeping us back from ministering in the kingdom? So tie that into who you hanging out with.
Yeah. Like you hanging around people that are.
We're going to go deep. We're going to go deep.
I think if we step back a second.
The number one thing, I wish I had this scripture because it just got highlighted for me so many times in the last year. Jesus is saying, what can I do for you? Let me just find it here quick. In Mark 10, Jesus is talking to the blind man and he asks him, what do you want me to do for you? That kept coming up. This is last year.
I mean, kept being preached, kept hearing it in songs, kept the verses, because you know, you get it through Mark, Luke and John, you get it in different forms. And I'm like, you know what, God, here's what you can do for me. And he did it. It was about someone who's close to me. And I'm like, here's what you can do for them. You know what, here's what you can do for my family. And then I was looking. I wasn't testing him. I just believed like,
Well, you're asking me, what can you do for me? I just had a polo the other day with a buddy of mine who is just an amazing guy. Just one of those people where it's like they did the work. Hey, you got to go work on your own. You got to go work out your own salvation. And he did it. And it was a brutal road for him. It's a tough road, working through your breaking down these things.
And this guy is just deserves the happiest of happiest marriages. And I was sending him a message and it just hit me like, what do you really want? If you can't rattle it off, like right now, you don't really know. And that's where that all came from. When Jesus is like, what do you want me to do for you? So I say that to.
If you don't even know what your life would look like, if you don't even know what a healthy relationship would look like, a marriage, getting debt free, I want to live a debt free life. Why? Like you got to work this stuff out and you've got to know it in there. And then God's going to start bringing things to you to make that happen. I really believe this in this season. Like if your heart's submitted to the Lord,
and you really genuinely are seeking his kingdom first and aligning what you want with that, he is going to give it to you. The problem, well, I want to be debt free. Well, he'll just bring me the money. No, he'll bring you the opportunity to generate money. Well, that job couldn't possibly be it. I don't have any skill there. Really? Did you even take the interview?
Did you even go in and ask them what it was all about? I think you would be shocked, but we get in this world mindset as you were saying there of like, well, my retirement needs to be here. My pension needs to be here. I need to do 30 more years and then I'm good. 20 more years than I'm good. And there's nothing wrong with that. If that's what you want or if it's in the right place or if it's in the right place. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with retirement accounts. Not at all. There's nothing wrong with planning for the future.
There's nothing wrong with, you know, leaving something for your children. Right. Right. Those are all good things. It's when they take place of where your trust and belief is, which is God should be God up here. And your focus is now on, I got to make money. And that's, it's an easy trap to fall into. And over the last few weeks, it's been more so a focus in my head of like, I need to go make money.
I don't have a paycheck coming in right now. What am I going to do? Lord. I guess I could share this. So I got laid off last March. You're talking what 16 months, 18 months ago now and
just kind of fumbled around a little bit. Really went on a real journey is what it was. And I had been hanging around some people like, well, God's just gonna do like just wrong mindset. People that just are like, well, God will just do anything. You don't need to do it. He just brings it to you. That's not true at all. There's nothing in the Bible that proves that point other than you're lazy and you're lying to yourself. Faith Without Works is...
Dead and there's a believe a psalm about being lazy. yeah, there's plenty of them. Yeah. And God started snapping me out of this like same thing with your ministry. He isn't just going to grow your, your men's group. You've got to go out there and bear fruit and talk about it. And as I started kind of unpacking that one day, Lindsay,
just in passing, she goes, what would the ideal job look like for you? What do you want? I'm like, she didn't know. I'm like, there's that verse again. It's like Holy Spirit speaking through her and she just went on about her business. And I'm like, interesting. I don't even really know what I want. And I got very specific with it. And then one day I was like, you know what? I've never had to stress out about these things. God's just always presented opportunities.
But I got away from that. What can I do for you? So I say this, let me, I'm kind of going in circles here a little bit, but let me say this to the listeners. You know where you're at in your life right now. You know where your heart is right now if you're self aware. Jesus is literally saying to you, what can I do for you? What do you want your life to look like? Now, seek ye first the kingdom. Make sure you're aligning with that and his will, and then get specific about it.
Now keep your eyes open for weird opportunities. That place, that thing, never would have thought of that. And then take a step of faith. You can say no to anything. Most people won't even go put their name on the plate because they're like, well, no, that's it. They pre conceive something and they miss these opportunities and life just goes by them. Yeah.
So what do you want? And I'm not going to ask, I'm asking you that, but you're going to have to go think about that. It takes time. And when I did that, I can tell you God will use people to bring it to you. It's how he advances the kingdom. The kingdom of God is people. Kingdom of God is in you. It's us. He will use people to bring it to you. In comes who do you hang out with? Right. Who are you sowing into? Who are you planting seeds with?
You don't need to go hang out with somebody like Jesus didn't go hang out with these people. He went and planted a seed. Yeah. And then he went on and planted another seed and they all came back. The seeds always come back to you. For sure. And I've seen that over the last few weeks of like even the side jobs that I've gotten that I've done concrete pours or mulching. And it's just been people that I've poured into myself. Yeah. It's just seemed pretty loud. Now we're good. Okay.
Maybe just my head's up. Yeah, a little bit. But these people that I've poured into, that I've done things with, and God's allowed me to be a part of their life in a certain way, as soon as that stuff happened, they're like, hey, well, I've got this small project over here that I need done. Will you do it for me? I feel way more better asking for money when I actually give something than when it's like, hey, I need help. You know what I mean? Providing something. boy. Yeah. But there's something in that, too. Yeah.
But I've had multiple people that are just say, hey, I have this project. I need this sidewalk report. I can do that. The skills that God provided me with in my life in the last couple years, I can do that. So not only am I getting money from my family provision, you're getting something done where you need it. And you're actually going to get it cheaper too.
I'm going to work with you. Let's go. You know, it's been good and it's been fun, but it's been backbreaking at the same time. You know, it's not easy work. There's, it's work. I think I want to give an example here. I think this will help somebody listening or some people. So.
when Lindsay said that to me and has a Holy Spirit speaking through her, just like, Jen Jordan, what do you really want? Have you ever, have you even told God? Hmm, that's interesting. As I really processed it. So I'm like, you know what Lord, like not mind you this took, this took like a week or two. Like this was like, I didn't just, here's what I want. Like, no, what do I really want? What does my soul need? What do I need to be fulfilled? Well, I need to know that I'm one.
in the next season you have for me, God, it is either one or two things. You are taking all the skills, like you just said, all the skills that you've taught me in my life, because they're all over the place. I've done all kinds of, not crazy stuff, but all kinds of stuff. Farming, firefighter, truck driver, dock worker, marketing, sales, like…
Preaching like it's all this like hodgepodge of stuff and I'm looking at my like resume I kind of just really made a resume like do that make a real resume and then go through and really like what did I learn in this season? What did I learn in this season and as I looked at I'm like my god, I got at this weird blah of skills. So when this came up, I'm like, you know what Lord? I'd like you to take all of the things that I've done in my life. I
and mesh it all together and use it to help people to advance the kingdom. And this next season, I want to learn new skills to prepare me for the season after that. That's what I really want. Ultimately, I just want to advance your kingdom purposes through people here on earth. However you need me to do that, if you could use the skills that I've already developed to do it, I would feel more fulfillment.
And then I'm applying all these jobs and nothing's happening. I'm getting interviews, but nothing's sticking. I'm like, I am beyond qualified for this job. I am like, and you get that response. Sure. Qualifications are over and it's just like, whatever. Flip, blow and smoke. Like, and lo and behold, one day Lindsey's in here ministering to somebody and the person gets up to leave at the end and, by the way, my company is hiring and starting a new division.
And here is the thing they're looking for. And Lindsay's like, what? You gotta be kidding me. And Lindsay goes, Hey, I think God just opened a door for you. And I'm like, what? She told me about it. And she like zero information, but you know what I did? I'm like, you know what Lord that does hit some marks. I'm going to just take an interview and reach out and test it and test it and just see what it's all about. And,
For me, what I've learned right now is until you know what you really want, you don't know what you want at all. And God's like, I want to give it to you, but you don't even know. Why would I give it to you? You're not going to steward it. You're going to be miserable. You're not going to see the blessing in it, which is going to then immediately, my grace, you're not even going to see my grace in it. And now you're just going to be living from a place of mercy.
Lord, help me get through today at this job. And he's like, you're not supposed to be living from mercy. You're supposed to be living from favor and grace. Like I've never said that or thought that in my life. I might have to sit on that one for a while. That might be a little bit off, but I think my point there is good. Like I don't want to live from a position of I need mercy every day because I'm screwing up and I'm miserable and I'm repenting all day long. I'd rather live from blessing and favor and grace.
knowing I don't need to walk around as a sinner miserable because God gave me what I asked because he's a good father. He wants to give us good gifts. What's the scripture about your kid wants? Yeah, if they want a piece of bread, you don't give them a stone. If they want something else, you're not going to give them a scorpion. How much better are the father's gifts going to be to you when you ask? Yeah. I forget which passage it's in, but...
No, I think the point stands to what you're saying. It's like God may provide you something. And if you're sitting there day in and day out and just hating it and it's like, why would he give you more or why would he give you something else? It's like, you haven't learned to be content with what's been given to you. You're in like, I don't know. I do got to sit down and think about what you're saying there because it's not something I've thought about in terms of like, what do I want? But there's been thoughts of like, what do I need? You know, God already knows what you need. That's the hard part.
He's like, I know what you need, but do you see it? Definitely gonna be some challenging thoughts. Here's where I think on our first take today, which probably isn't on this one, you said about the average of the five people you hang out with, all motivational speakers talk about this. And if anybody has any scripture to back that up.
I'm not saying this to be like rude or critical, like anything. I'm just like, if you have scripture to back that up, please send it to us or let us know. Cause I'd love to know that. I don't want to Google it. I want someone to point it out to me because I, to this day haven't had any scriptures. Like you'll be the average of the five people you hang out with. And here's why I say that. Cause you said something in there. You go to a job and you end up being miserable because you're just taking it for, I need a good retirement. I need good health benefits. I need good money.
Everything else is off the table. Skill set, value, how can I help people? Like none of that comes into our thought process. You just see a salary and you don't even negotiate. You just take it. And then they get in there. And of course it's not what you think because your heart's already wrong going into it. And you're supposed to be in there being the light.
Just because it's what you want and God gives you what you want, He doesn't say, well, it'll be roses. He's like, good, you're focused on advancing the kingdom, which means I'm going to give you opportunities where I'm taking you to be Christ. But here's what people do. Well, you hate your job. What are you hanging out with? Well, that's why you're miserable. Look at the people you work with. Or, no, actually, I'm here to help these people.
I've been asking God to give me opportunities to advance the kingdom and he puts me in a place where my heart is right coming into it. And my, the harvest is great here. You ever do anything in the trucking? I mean, you were in the construction industry. The harvest is plentiful. And the workers are few. But we look at it like, well, I'm not making enough money. They're not paying me for my value. No, they're not. You know why? Because God's watching.
And he pays you for your value. Your promotion comes from him. You're not even stewarding what he gave you now. You think he's going to bring more? I'm just speaking from 100%. I've done this and this is where God is teaching me right now. Don't look at the number. Stay focused on me advancing the kingdom. I'll take care of that debt. Don't work to pay off the debt. Work to advance the kingdom. Seek my kingdom first.
And then boom, one day they're like, Hey, it's bonus time. Hey, here's $50 ,000 bonus for you. We really like, we really like how you've helped the team this year. That's how it works. Holy cow. I'm going to have to re -listen to this podcast. No, that's funny because like, I, yeah, I mean, salary is always something that you think of like when it comes to negotiating, it's important.
But I feel like over the last couple years of working, especially when starting the ministry, starting with the men's group and stuff, work no longer was this thing where it's like, I found my value in my work. This is what I gotta go do, do my best at, and perform and be valued in my work. It became, this was just a paycheck so that I can go do ministry. So while I'm there from seven to five or whatever it is, seven to four, whatever I'm working.
I'm giving my best. I'm doing my best being a representation, still trying to advance the kingdom in that way. Talking to whoever is willing to talk to. But for me, it's just a paycheck. So that I can go and do what God I feel has called me into. And being available during that time. Yeah, absolutely. But my focus was not so much like, all right, what can I do here? Like this isn't my necessarily realm of building the kingdom. This is just a provision so that I can.
go build the kingdom. Or, but it all happens at the same time. Correct. Yeah. Or are you always building the kingdom? Like everywhere, every minute of every day, are you available for it? So it is like, okay, I have a job. Lindsay and I listened to a speaker and, yeah, huge ministry and it's not a church. He just is Dan Mueller. You know, they're here, Dan Mueller.
check his stuff out. He's so good. This guy is just Jesus, like focus on Jesus. And he talks about how like he had gone in, like he had done a career and then he went into ministry and he has a church and then he had started doing other things. And he goes, he just got so into just this, I'm always in ministry mode to where you're almost kind of unrelatable to people. And he said, I actually, he said, I went and actually got a job on a warehouse just to get back into.
What's reality here? Most people are, need ministered to. But when you're hanging around the people of church, that's your only group of people.
How? Let me just back up here. I was going to go off there for a second. I really think you're missing a lot of opportunity. yeah. To advance the kingdom and minister to people. For example, Lindsay and I are at a birthday party for a friend of ours the other night and
We had had a rough day and it was just one of those where it's like, I don't want to go, but man, I can't wait to go and I would want to sleep and whatever. So I'm like, Lord, you know what? Every time I go to this party, somehow you come up and there's, I don't think there's, I don't know if there's any real Christians. I shouldn't say real Christians, but I don't think there's anybody who's actively seeking God at these events. And it's funny how if you just let the Lord work, it'll come up.
So I'm sitting there talking to a guy and he has a Catholic background and he's just, that's not for me, but I'm learning more. He's like, I'm trying to figure out who God is. And I'm talking about like, well, you know, why don't you focus on who Jesus was? Who is he? Why did he come? Why did he die? What was the blood all about? And why did he go back to the right hand of the father? Why don't you go study that for a while? I think you'll find out more about who God is.
And then we talked about that. And then we're like, after you sit in that for a while, go study the Holy Spirit. Well, why did Jesus leave to send the Holy Spirit? Start building that relationship. He's talking. He goes, well, this guy used to be a preacher and this guy's sitting here. This guy's an atheist now. Man. man.
guy started a church, he was under the tutelage of somebody. This guy ended up just being totally narcissistic and just destroyed. Like this guy's like, I was going to get married. And they said that, you know, if we didn't do things a certain way, our kids would be cursed forever. And I'm like, I know the manipulation that comes in with this stuff. And this guy, I'm like, are you good to talk about it? Like he's like, yeah, he's like, you know, like we can talk about it. And.
He started sharing a story a little bit and I'm like, man, how that happens in the church, you know, and how we're hanging out with people in the body of Christ and it can get twisted and manipulated. I can tell you I've learned more from people that don't go to church in this season than people that are in the church. So we think, no, no, they don't go to church. They don't, they don't have the Holy spirit. They got a soul.
maybe they did accept Christ 35 years ago, but they got a soul. So I asked this guy, I'm like, are you, he's like, I don't believe God can do anything. I don't believe that. He goes, I did a real deep study into it. And as he's saying this, I'm like, yeah, but you probably really didn't open your heart and study the life of Jesus. He never talked about Jesus or the Holy Spirit. And I'm like, but are you open to like, God coming to rescue you? Like Jesus, are you even, is your heart, he goes, my heart's not closed off.
But right now where I'm at, I'm like, okay, that's a good place to be. You're confused. You've been hurt by the church. You've been hurt by the ministry. You haven't been hurt by the church. You've been hurt by somebody. Backed off for a while. But you're still open. And then he was asking me about hell. And the person that we were at the party for, do you think they're going to hell because they don't believe in Jesus? And I'm like, I personally, if they don't accept Jesus, there's only one way to heaven. I do believe that. Now I also know,
that they're open to that moment. I don't need to come pound in their head, you need Jesus. So what does Jesus say? He just... Knock. He's not running it down anybody's throat. He's just going, I'm standing at your door knocking. If you let me in, I'll dine with you and you with me. So how do you walk that out in areas of your life where they're not like, you and I get together, we're always talking about this stuff.
It's our, like, we love it because we both have gone far enough down the road to where, this is pretty much how the podcast started. We're like, we might as well just record our conversations, basically. But I don't have this with everybody. Five, five, 10 people, most of my conversations should be out there with people that are like, yeah, I got burned by a preacher. Yeah, it's a real thing. How are you processing that? Mom, I'm an atheist now. I don't believe in any of it.
Okay. So you got hurt, which is a real thing. And then you used, and then the enemy was there and you just took the bait and tried to turn your back. That's what the devil wants or other people who were like, yeah, I don't really believe in any of that. And I'm going through all of this to probably get to this point. The end of that night I came home and I was, Lindsay and I were talking with the kids and,
Like, I don't know if we really represented a life for Christ really well. Like, think about that. Forget about the Christian religious people that, I shouldn't say that. Forget about the people in your church that you're doing life with in church. They don't need rescued. They should be good. I would hope. Most of the conversations you have with those people are just working through healing and dealing with stuff. Yeah.
There's a handful of people I think of that are like, yeah, in that situation or they're on the verge of like, it hasn't happened yet. Right. I'm starting to back up. Yeah. Right. And it's like, come together, come together, pull ourselves together here. Let's talk about it. And yeah, we, we try to live ourselves, live our lives as an example as well. And we don't do that by just blowing smoke. Right. Like we try to be real with people. We don't try to avoid the hard conversations.
Exactly. We don't try to avoid the, hey, we're suffering right now. There's issues. I'm not going to try to come into church on Sunday and be like, everything's perfect. We're great. God's got his grace on us. We're just, everything is perfectly fine. Yeah, right? No, it's like, guys, we're going through it right now. Yeah, you should be at the altar this week. No, it's just like, let's be truthful about it. Like life happens. Not every situation you go through is going to be of God. Right. There's going to be situations that are going to test you and...
tempt you and you're going to struggle through. But with every temptation, God gives you the way out. And my prayer, my goal that I feel like God has laid on me and my family is to give examples like this is what it looked like for God to give us a way out. I'm going to do my best to remain faithful. I don't know if that answers the question at all, but it goes to that sense of just like dealing with people, dealing with your groups, dealing with your friends and getting outside of that, like it looks different.
It looks different when you go to people outside church. I think of like the people I worked with. My last job I worked from home so I wasn't like interacting with people face to face on a day to day basis. But when we did get together, how often did I talk about God? More than you think. It just came, like it got to the point where they were calling me the reverent. yeah, I love that. The reverent. There's the reverency. My boss would call me like, I need you to come with me, keep me in line. Yeah. But
It's like, I'm not trying to shove it down anybody's throat. Nope. You're just living it. Right. And if you get that one guy that likes to bark at you a little bit, you bark back. That's just the character that he is. Let's go after it. Let's have some fun here. Hey, you're really on to something good here. So you go to an event where maybe it's a work Christmas party and you know ahead of time.
we're going into, there's going to be drunkenness, there's going to be vulgarity, there's going to be some inappropriate, like this isn't, I'm using this as an example, like any work event, any life event, there are times where you know, I've got to go to an event where I'm not going to be hanging out with a lot of Christians. And most people will go find that one person they're comfortable with and sit in the corner and be holier than now because they're afraid.
Well, I don't want to be involved in any of this. You have got a lot of work to do. And I say that in a, in a nice, like you need to take that to the Lord and let him work on you because of what you just said. Why can't you go out there, put a beer in your hand and just be like, I can have two beers tonight and I'm good with that. Like that's, but I've represented Christ so well that these people know they want you in the group.
But you don't get to talk about women like that around me. Yeah. You don't, I don't do five shots. Yeah. Right. I don't do drugs in the corner. Like they should know not to cross that boundary line with you, but they respect you and like you because you're representing Christ. They're like, come on in here. This isn't for him. I think that's the balance, right? The balance of his, like, I'm not coming in here and just judging everything you do. I know who you, I know, I know who you are. You're lost.
I'm not going to put my standard of who God is and wow, I'm supposed to live on you because you're not there yet. But I'm not going to come down to your level either. Right. And it's going to be like, look, listen, like if you have an alcohol addiction, don't go minister at the bar. That's not smart. Right. Don't do that. If you have a lust addiction, you shouldn't be ministering to the people who are strippers. Stay away from them. I know that's a very...
big explanation, but it's just common sense. I'm here doing the Lord's work. Yeah, right. Yeah. Common sense, if you struggle with this sin, that's not your place to go minister. You're still healing through that. Right. Go somewhere else. That's common sense. That's God saying, hey, we gotta work through this yet. Yeah. Don't believe yourself vulnerable to the enemy. But like for my situation when I was... Oftentimes it was at the bar, right? That's every time after work.
Let's go to the label. Let's go to the bar. And I'll sit there and I'll sip on a Russian Moscow mule. Yeah. I freaking love those drinks. Yeah. Well, I have one or two. The guys are getting sloshed and we'll talk about God. It's just the random conversations we would have, but oftentimes you'd run into like my one CEO. He was like, my whole, my father was a pastor. He's like, I'm the black sheep of the family. So when I started talking about things, he's like, yeah, I've heard all that.
So then we can start getting into like a little bit deeper conversation. Like what happened? Where did this go? And then I'm telling about my family stuff that's happening. So you start building a relationship where all of a sudden like this guy trusts me now. I trust him now. We can start having deeper conversations and he's not going to come out here and be like, CJ, let's go do this thing. He knows me and I'm not going to be like, I'm going to force this down your throat because I know where you're at. But over time we're going to start getting this point and something's going to happen. Either you're going to reject.
or you're gonna come on. That is how you represent Christ in the marketplace. Where I'm at, that's how I view it right now. Not go out there with a Bible, stand up and people are looking at you like you think you're better than us. You're not getting results. Versus, you would be surprised at how many people will really have that conversation with you. That you can talk with an atheist. And just be gentle and kind and honest.
And at the end, that guy's like, thank you for being honest about that part. Yeah. About, do you think there are people going to hell because they don't know Jesus? He said, thank you for being honest. I don't know why, but that, for me, I was just like, hmm, normally these conversations can get very uncomfortable. And we have this little pot of people at this party that are sitting around and people would come in and, you know, maybe they aren't of the sober mind, but you can still talk to them.
Hey, what's going on in your life? So it's not who you're hanging out with as in like situations like that. You're just there for a little bit and then you're back to your life. Let's talk about how are you developing your three? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for us, I think Rachel's three and my three are different, right? We might have some couples that are similar. We both get along.
But I would say she has a three group of women that are been no ways tied to me or maybe one or two maybe. But really just started with the men's group turned into who wants it. Who wants to know God on a deeper level? Who wants to talk about the difficult things? Who wants to take the step further and actually live this out? And through that, I've had a couple people that are like, Hey, if something happens, I can text this guy. I can call this guy. One of them ends up being my neighbor now.
Nice. Right. And it's like, cool, this guy I can talk to about hard things and we're going to be able to talk about it. Excuse me. You're good. And then, like the one guy I played football with in college, he's a house parent, none of Milton Hershey. He's another guy that is faithful to the word has been brought up in an awesome way. And he's had his challenges and he's done nothing but lean in. And so that I can.
bounce ideas off him. I can talk to him about the hard things going on and I know I'm going to get truth. That he's not going to be like, it's okay CJ, you can do what you want or this or that. It's, hey buddy, like be careful. Be careful where you're at right now. And he's not afraid to do that. And those are the guys that I need in my life. When situations are happening, they're not afraid to go, CJ, be careful. We need that. Those who lean into God, love God with all their hearts, are in a marriage that is thriving and trying to point to Jesus.
And then aren't afraid to call you out. Yeah. I don't need more people saying me and CJ, you're awesome. You're an awesome guy. You can do all these, like this is incredible. What am I doing wrong? Like where are my blind spots? I need you to point my blind spots because to me, I'm blind. Yeah. So for me, that's, that's what's really important right now. I know Rachel's is a little bit different, but then we, I think two of them are a couple that we both really pour into and they pour into us. Good. Yeah.
Do they have young kids? Do you guys have any people? Because that's kind of where you're at in life right now. So it's kind of like a good place to be. Like, I guess it'd be really all three of them. Yeah. Cause I got you guys. Our kids are a little bit older. No, but I mean like you and me and your wife and her. So pretty much all three of them are. Yeah. That's funny. Now that I think about it, couples on couples. I want to read a couple of scriptures here.
These are in Proverbs 22, but it says, do not make friends with a hot tempered person. Do not associate with anyone easily angered or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up securities for debts. Now we're getting into some other things here.
Do not wear yourself out to get rich. Do not trust your own cleverness. I have that one highlighted for me. Do not. So this interview with 50, 60 hour weeks, not this guy. I can do it in 40. I don't need 60 to get 40 hours of work done. Yeah. and being upfront with that, but, to wrap this up, there are a few things that I guess we can kind of cover here. One of them is.
Really sit down with your spouse. If you're married, talk about your circle. Is it healthy? Where, where are you at right now? What's your circle look like? Who are the people that are influencing you? What is the fruit in their life? Really look at that. I'm not saying that they need to be perfect, but I'm saying like, if there's what you just said, Hey, I got blind spots.
Like what's up? Let me know. Or are they just pumping you up? And I've gone through the season of let's get around the people that are influencing and then, you know, we want to raise up influencers and that never sat well with me. And I just kind of went along with it. And then one day I'm like, that is so wrong. I want to be around people that have intimacy. I want people to.
I don't want, this isn't like, I'm not trying to do something here in your hearts, not to be like, let's influence people with this podcast. I'm not trying to influence any of you. I'm trying to get you to get more intimate with Christ so you can hear His voice. That's a good way to put it. Like, this is like when you get around those people and then you actually have these conversations of like, this is what God's been doing in my life. Like, we're on the same page here. I'm not trying to influence you to come to Christ. I'm just...
here's what intimacy has done for me and you just are so much more peaceful. And if you can start working that out, you're going to find out right away who's trying to influence you into a relationship with Christ and who's representing Christ because of the intimacy that they actually have with Him. My three, that's what I'm looking for. My 12, if you want to be in my life in any capacity of intimacy, you need to have intimacy with the Lord.
Or you're quite frankly not going to want to be like, I'm not, we're not going to be able to do it. Yeah. And I feel like it's one of those things too. It's like some, at some point as well, like we don't necessarily always get to choose. What do you mean? Like God knows who he needs to put in situations at the time. And I feel like there's a, there'll come a time where it's like, all right, that person who's been, you know, in your life, but not of your life. Yeah. For some reason he started showing up more and more. Yeah. And it's God being like,
I want this to happen. I want this to come together and being open to, to be, what's the word you used? Interrupted. Yeah. Yeah. That might happen. I've been praying that recently, you know, Lord, you can interrupt me today. Now.
Maybe you can put a number on it. Cause I mean, I had like three days in a row where I was getting nothing done. Cause I'm like, my gosh, like Lord, you have two hours of my day. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Just a more of a, cause when you put that out there, you know, the enemy is crafty. He'll distract you and waste your time. So it's like, Lord, you can interrupt me today. Give me discernment of who you're bringing.
Yeah. I think we can kind of wrap this one up. I think people are getting it. No, that's good. I would say the three things I think that we talked about today is like, who's your friend group? The ones that are being intimate with God, that are growing, that are looking for that relationship to start with them and their family first. And then from that overflow gets poured out. What relationships right now do you need to check and see? Hey,
We got to put some distance here for now. We're not getting rid of, we're not causing issues, but we need to separate ourselves. And then who can we pour into? Right? Who needs God's love poured into them? And if you're dealing with some kind of sin, you shouldn't be going to somebody who's dealing with that same kind of sin. If you're dealing with drunkenness, don't go do it at the bar. That kind of thing. Like reflect, be honest. Like who does God wants you to pour into? I think those three things.
Yeah. Really good for people. I would say along with that comes a lot of time in the secret place.
People want to hear the voice of the Lord, but they don't want to spend any time with them. And they are, I'm hearing the voice of the Lord. No, you're not. When's the last time that you opened up your Bible? When's the last time you actually sat in prayer? There's a scripture I just read the other day about it. Like, go to a quiet place away from everyone to seek me. Yeah. So Jesus did. Correct. He withdrew from the crowd. If you don't spend time alone with God, Lindsay and I were just outside like, we need to get back in the prayer room. Let's go in there together. Let's...
Let's move it from here to there. Let's go find a secret place and mix it up a little bit. Maybe you need to just mix it up a little bit. Maybe at your church it's like, hey, pastor, can I come in here at 10 o 'clock on a morning? I got some free time now. I just want to spend some time in a room quietly with, are you okay with that? Like you can mix it up. I think that'd be healthy for people right now. Just kind of like mix it up a little bit. Put a little flare into your spiritual walk with the Lord right now. Make it exciting.
Go out and go for a hike and spend time with the Lord. I was just about to say, because I feel like when I talk to more women, they do a really good job. I tend to being more spiritual in the sense of being able to sit there and pray and really make a connection that way. And when I feel like I talk to men, like when I go on a hike or go walking somewhere and just look at what God has done and then see that and reflect on what God has done in my life, and I have some awesome moments doing that, where it's just like, you know what, I trust you more just because of what I've just seen here.
And I think it looks different for other people, but being intentional with that time. My focus right now is not on this hike and getting a workout. My focus is on, God, what are you telling me right now? Yeah. Show me who you are. Eldridge talks about that. Invite God into that thing and watch how he highlights stuff about his creation. So that would be what I would leave people with. It's heart check time. It's...
Who's in my circle who's influencing me which means they're influencing my family who needs to go We're not supposed to be friends with everybody. No We're not supposed to be doing life with everybody We're supposed to be aware of and discern God who are we doing life with right now? Who are you shifting? Because if you really want to advance to the next season God is gonna bring people to help That's already in that next season. But if you're staying stuck
where you are with the same group of people. If you've had the same circle of people for the last five years, I can pretty much say 100 % guarantee that you're not ready for the next season. Your circle should be changing, meaning maybe you have your three that are always there, but like there's gonna be different people that come in. As you start advancing into like, I wanna start a church, God's gonna bring you people that can do it.
And I know we're wrapping this up, but I want to end with this here is you can only disciple people to the level that you're at. You can try and fake your way through it and influence them and pretend you're at another level that you are, but they will eventually max out with you and they will sense it in the spirit and God will bring people to take them to the next level. A mature wise person,
That walks with the Lord knows I've taken you I just had this conversation here with someone the other day I'm like bro. I've taken you as far as I can take you Like you're actually teaching me some things too. I think you need to go find somebody who's a little bit more mature than I am and speaking over my life right now like I'm actually quenching the Holy Spirit
because there's so much more in you that I'm not capable of teaching you right now, because I'm actually learning about that. I want to continue this relationship. Now you're not being discipled by me. Now we're brothers. We're walking together. Go find someone and then let's meet up once a month. I want to hear what you're learning because now I can learn from whoever you're learning from. And some people I've had to do this where I've know I've reached that lid.
with somebody and they didn't see it. And I'm like, I've maxed out here. I gotta go. God's already brought the other people to help me get to the next level. So two things there. One, who are you discipling that maybe you've taken as far as you can? Honor them and respect them enough to let them know, I think you should go find somebody. Hey, here's some people that are mentoring me that are helping me. Maybe just reach out to them. Maybe they're looking at...
have a couple more people or they could point you in the right direction. Like pray about it. And two, if you have the same mentor for 25 years, like come on, you've maxed out. It's time to be friends and it's time to go grow. So.
Really just I would analyze that right now because reflect on that and I think you're gonna see real fruit from that Is it gonna be uncomfortable? yeah. this is is it gonna be Heartwork stuff. Yeah, cuz they're gonna help you with the next thing that God wants to do in your life and I'll end with this It is not spiritual warfare It's pruning
Do not take the lazy way out and blame it on the devil when God's pruning you and trying to grow you. We'll blame it on warfare so we don't have to do the work. Well, it's just the devil. So we'll just pray it away and it never goes away. It's because it's God pruning you to bear much fruit. So stop blaming it on warfare and start seeing it for, wow, God's really pruning me. I think that's going to help people. And.
We did the, maybe it's not warfare podcast. And I can tell you since that podcast, it has been a wild journey on me with what is really spiritual warfare. And the reality of it is most stuff is not warfare. Most stuff is God pruning you and honoring. What do you want? Here's what I want. Okay. Time for me to start cutting some stuff away in your heart. And he brings it to the surface and he highlights these things in your life.
And what do we do? That's the enemy. No, it's not. That's your flesh and your wrong way of thinking. Lord, show me how to get through this. And he brings people to help you. But we like to sit with our little crew, our little group of Bible study people or our safety net of people. And meanwhile, God's like, no.
I'm bringing people to help you give you what you want. They're gonna help highlight those blind spots. So that's what we're really hoping these Friday night things are. It's not a church event. It's where the body of Christ, where all God's children, whether you believe it or not, you're welcome. We're gonna let the body of Christ do what it does best. And I'm gonna trust that God's gonna make the people connect that need to connect.
And the hope is that everybody can find their pit crew out of here. Personal intercessor team. Meaning, right now you've got your crew. I've got my crew. Most people don't even know what that is. Or they can just call somebody and just be like, I need some prayer today. Here's what I'm going through. Let's do life together. This journey of advancing the kingdom together. Not let's just get together and have a party on the weekends. And I really think God's gonna...
bring people together properly in a way that people will just find their crew here and we can all come together and have fun. Yeah. What was that? Okay. Awesome. Cool. So that's starting Friday, June 14th. you can, yeah, bring a chair and bring a side dish or drinks or paper plates or something. A lot of side dishes.
Well, it always comes down to food with these things. yeah. Ever since I started it when I was running the church, like there's always this stress around food. I'm like, God always provides food. Read the Bible. There's always enough. Every story. And it always works out. So, Lindsay and I are literally like, whatever, just bring food. It's for a couple of hours. If we got to eat pretzels, if we have 600 bags of pretzels,
We're gonna be eating a lot of pretzels, but people bring all kinds of stuff. So, it's going to be fun. Sweet. Cool. All right guys. Well, give us a like, give us a follow. Thank you for the feedback. whoever the couple people are around the globe. I've saw that on the analytics. I don't know how. Yeah. Welcome. What's up Russia? Yeah, Russia. That might be a bot actually though. The one we'll see.
So yeah, it's growing, it's expanding. And yeah, I'm excited for what the rest of the summer has here for a couple of guests that we've been speaking with. So I'm going to try and set up a time with some of these guys. Sweet. Cool. All right, everybody have a good week. Peace.