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Practical conversations to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.
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[00:00:00] Hey everybody and welcome in. My name is Aaron and I'm Morgan and we struggling. We're not really struggling. You're struggling a little more than I am. I'm struggling. I just got back from the gym and Morgan just woke up from a nap, but we are dedicated to get you some new content out here. I would also like to add that I just got up from a nap and it's almost 10 p.
m. It's 9 45 p. m. I should just. Be asleep. It's gonna be good. I can't wait to edit this and then just be like publish now when it's time. Actually, that's you ever go to sleep and just that's you ever go to sleep a lot You ever go to sleep and set your alarm and I don't think iphones do this androids when I had an android It used to do this, but it would tell you like X amount of time until your alarm goes off.
I hated that, but that's the way I felt last week because this was another race against the clock situation. I think I finished editing around 2 AM and I set the alarm or the episode to post at 5 30 AM. And I was like, that's in three hours. If I could just stay up and watch it post to everything. But welcome [00:01:00] back.
, first of all, thank y'all so much. We, Kind of had a couple of different routes so we could go with this conversation today and decided to post on social media to see what people wanted to hear. Today's topic won by an overwhelming majority. It was expressed that people were like, please still do both.
We still want to hear both, but it was an overwhelming majority of people wanting us to talk about this topic. So if you, one of those people that voted and that's what brought you here, , go ahead and leave us an honest five star review. It's a chance to just help get the word out about this. If it does end up being helpful for you, you know, consider sharing it on the same platform where you voted for it on.
That was not like a trap that we said to get you here, but, , we want this community to grow so that there are more voices contributing to what it is that we talk about and to make sure that we're actually hitting on the things that people do want to discuss and what they do want to talk about.
And so. I feel a very special connection to this conversation that we're going to have today, because we know it's something that people want on that note, something I want to add, you know, the title of this show [00:02:00] is the true discipleship podcast. And I think one of the things that we have to be cautious of is that we never drift too far away from is, is discipleship still the main goal of what it is that we're doing
and in thinking about it. You know this, I don't think listening to a podcast is true discipleship. I think you can learn from things. I think you can incorporate things that lead you, and kind of guide you in your walk and in your relationship with Jesus. But something that I've realized, especially over these past couple of weeks, since we've been back is a lot of these conversations have just been the result of what's going on in our lives.
you and I. And I think that's what true discipleship is. It's every single day. It's almost like when you were a kid and you would watch cartoons and each week, like it's the same cartoon, but there's like a new, not hurdle. It may be hurdle. There's a new obstacle. There's some new storyline that like starts and gets resolved over the course of 30 minutes.
I wish life was that easy, but it does seem like a [00:03:00] life following Jesus is pretty, Similar in the sense of you never truly arrive, uh, each week. It feels like there's another episode. It feels like there's something else that we have to learn about and walk through. And our topic today is something that we haven't by any means perfected.
Uh, it's something that by no means have we, uh, arrived or, I mean, I would go all the way to say the reason why we're talking about this is because this is something that we've both kind of identified as an issue in our lives or an area where. Where you're suffering a little bit. Yeah, I mean, when we started talking about ideas or like conversations to continue to have, this is coming out of last week's episode where we talked about minding other people's business and, a trap I fall into or something that happens in my life is.
I said on last week's episode that I don't think you should mind people's business unless you have a close relationship with [00:04:00] them. And I am evaluating my close relationships and realize that My close relationships, like people are in a relationship with Jesus. They follow Jesus. And there's an importance of encouraging your friends to grow.
Um, but I fall into that trap of, well, I'm not close to anybody who thinks differently than me or needs encouragement to grow in a relationship with you or start a relationship with Jesus. So then I, I don't have to go like outside of my comfort zone of, um, Yeah, like I do want to stop you right there because I think you're getting a little ahead I don't think we've formally announced what it is that we're talking about If anybody clicked on the show, then they they probably know by now but really what the idea here that we're talking about is getting stuck inside of an environment where Everyone that you know is a christian or everyone that you know thinks like you or believes like you We're obviously going to talk about it from a christian perspective, but it's something that can happen with [00:05:00] anybody, right?
I mean, it's the way the world operates right now if we look at social media algorithms in the people that we choose. I mean, as humans, we naturally tend to gravitate towards homogenous groups. Other people that think like me, look like me, whatever. So I'm not going to say that being predominantly attracted to people groups that remind you of you is an innately bad thing.
It's not, we all do it by human nature. We find community in the places that. Are most naturally affirming to us. Does that make sense? So I am typically going to be as a price follower. I am Naturally more drawn to communities of people where it feels like jesus is at the center Because I like to think that jesus is at the center of my life.
But before you know it man the whole like the whole thing like you just look up one day and you realize like oh I've only done this to try to stay in to use your language my comfort zone and what i've noticed is is that This is just kind of the way that we [00:06:00] train up people. This is like what we tell them to do.
Somebody comes in, they get saved in what's usually the first thing we tell them, Oh, you got to find Christian community. So they find Christian community. So now they get hyper involved in things, they're at church every weekend. They're part of a small group. They're serving. Um, You know, you know, hopefully their small group becomes their, you know, kind of their primary friend group Um, they're spending all their time in church like environments And then that's when you look up and realize oh man.
I've actually fully encased myself in this Christian world without any relationship to unbelievers or to, man, can I just say normal people? And I don't mean that as like people who aren't saved, aren't normal people. You know what I mean though? Like we just forget how to not be Christian. And we forget how to, not that we should, you know what I'm saying though, right?
Like we forget how to [00:07:00] just be people who are walking through the world who, uh, uh, yes, Christian is my identity, but I haven't, I'm not out of touch. That's what I'm trying to say. I haven't gotten out of touch. What do you think are. The dangers of that and i'll kind of phrase it a different way What do you think are the dangers of surrounding yourself only by people who look think and Behave the way that you do.
I mean it makes navigating life hard because Um, you're not always going to be in that curated environment, you know, um, some of us don't work for a church. . , so we go to work with people who think differently than us. Um. And I think that's a good point that the idea of isolation, like isolation for both of us, spiritual isolation can look different, right?
I work for a church full time. So right there, [00:08:00] 40 hours of my week, 40 plus hours are dealing with church people. Then I come home and I want to spend time with you. So that's really kind of where all that goes for you though. You go into a secular workplace. You know, you don't work for a church, but I think it is important to acknowledge spiritual isolation I like using that phraseology even over the idea of like being in a bubble because spiritual isolation can be like yeah, i'm in proximity to people, but I don't Really interact with them.
I don't have deep meaningful relationships with them. Yeah, I mean work is I kind of want to go back to when you're talking about when we Are talking to somebody who is a new believer and you know trying to teach them What it looks like to to live a life with Jesus. Can I call us out and say I think we do a bad job of Saying there's still a call to be in the world, but not of the world.
Yeah [00:09:00] Because we push so hard serve and be in a small group and Be at church on Sunday mornings, and it's like Well, there's my whole week and I also work and I have a family. So now that we've told a new believer all of these things or even ourselves, I mean, we're continuing to tell ourselves this because it's how we're training ourselves.
Um, Where, where do I have the space to even walk in a, into an environment that doesn't already naturally exist in the way that I, I operate in my natural rhythm of my week, you know, Monday, a small group Tuesday is. It's something else. It's like I can list off everything during the week and that's the natural rhythm of me in my pursuit of my relationship with Jesus.
And now I don't have a night of the week to, I don't know, go to trivia [00:10:00] or, , play flag football or, um. Um, you know, et cetera, et cetera, be in an environment that is outside of this spiritual isolation that we're talking about. And I, I fall victim to the trap of like work, work is your opportunity. I still work with people who, I mean, I'm fortunate to work with believers in my office.
So then I'm like, well, yeah, everybody here's those, the people that you tend to gravitate towards though, like you've got a big office, but again, the people that you work most closely with are the ones who. Yeah, so this is a natural human drift that happens. Yeah but like you said, I'm gravitating to the people who have similar beliefs or look like me or talk like me. And I'm not gravitating towards the people in my office that it would be worth having a conversation. Or even if you have conversation and I don't want to put this, put words in your mouth, but I'm just thinking kind of in a hypothetical of someone in the same situation that you're in.[00:11:00]
Even if you have conversation with those people, they're not at the same level. Of the conversations that you have with the people who you, you know what I mean? Not at the same level, but like, you kind of listen with different ears or a different mindset or a different motivation, maybe, even.
There's this instant connection and this can happen with anything other than being It's how we make friends. Yeah, like when, when you realize, Oh, you're a fan of Jesus. I'm a fan of Jesus. Oh, you like the Atlanta Falcons. I like the Atlanta Falcons. It's just like common ground. And you are like, these are the people that I want to, um, Or if you hate the Atlanta Falcons for all of my friends from New Orleans who will be looking at this, but yeah, that is, that's how you, yeah.
I mean, that's the, that's how people make friends in relationships. The problem is, is that, Okay, so I think there's a two fold thing, okay? One, I actually think that, and we alluded to this earlier, I think church tends to condition us
[00:12:00] Unintentionally, I think church tends to condition us towards that isolation. I don't think it's ever the goal, but I do think it kind of happens kind of unnaturally. You know, I can recall youth pastors, and I've done this too in the past, who do the analogy where you have one person that stands on top of a chair and another person standing on the ground and you have them hold hands and the person on the chair, they're like, all right, try to pull the other person up and they physically can't do it.
And then the person on the ground, like, all right, and I try to pull them down and they pull them down. And the lesson there is, well, it's easier to pull somebody down for somebody to pull you down than it is for you to pull them up. We teach that as a lesson for kids. Who are trying to grow in their faith in we're teaching against peer pressure and bad influences and all that stuff, right?
I think what that inadvertently teaches is don't hold hands with people who aren't Christians. And so because of that, we end up writing these narratives of like Christian friends, safe, non Christian friends, bad, avoid them at all costs. And I, like, I just don't [00:13:00] see that in scripture, but it is the way that we've kind of conditioned ourselves to live.
And so I actually want us to switch gears here a little bit and to look at two particular parts of scripture where Jesus, not only, Tells us it's okay to be friends with people outside of just our Christian circles, but he actually encourages it as well
[00:14:00] So I just want to double down here and say, this is something that, you know, there's so many of these topics that we get into where, you know, we, when we get into the scripture portion, we're just kind of pointing out and saying, Hey, here's what Jesus says. And so this is what we should do. This is one of those things where it's like, man, here's what Jesus says.
And this is an area where we. We've dropped the ball. Like we're not great at it. , but hopefully in spending some time in the word and looking at what Jesus says, it will be a wake up call for us. , and maybe even for you, who's listening. So we're going to look at first, starting off Matthew chapter five, verse 13 through 16.
This is a pretty common passage. You've probably heard it before, but Jesus says you were the salt of the earth, but what good is salt? If it has lost its flavor, can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. Then he continues. He says, you are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, [00:15:00] a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly father. So you don't need to shine a light in a room where the light's already on.
Light is designed to shine in darkness. But the problem is, that. Again, speaking for myself, man, I've, I've hidden my light in a room that's already full of light. And so it like, yes, it makes a difference. It makes a difference in the lives of other believers. It makes a lot of, you know, difference in people who are already seeking and stuff like that.
But how much greater is the light when it shines in darkness, but how much of a waste of it is it if it never actually shines? Goes there goes to those dark places.
I think I have an episode idea Is that why we're exhausted in our Christian communities trying to shine our light brighter than all the lights around us, man [00:16:00] Maybe you mean like, you know, Jesus is talking about the city on a hill is like a collective thing Yeah, and instead are we just kind of isolating and like oh is our church's light shining brighter than the next one or even Individuals within the church trying to shine brighter than the people in their community You know what?
All of this paints the picture of like I just wonder if our churches have become these multi million dollar lampshades what if that's actually what Jesus was warning us about? I think there's usually usually when I read this verse You You know, I think, um, Hey, you know, Jesus has given you something inside of you that you just need to, , make sure it radiates out.
And that's true. But , I wonder if our Christian subculture has become the lampshade that Jesus warned us against of like, man, don't, don't just be the light in places where people already get it. You know, don't just isolate to a place where it's not [00:17:00] as prevalent or as needed is. Detrimentally, you know, that's an interesting thought because I do think that's what's happened in my life And you know to kind of give some some context here and just a little bit of background for you know, my experience I mentioned this early, but I work for a church and it's a large portion of my time I haven't had so before working for a church, I worked in the food service industry forever.
And before going full time for a church, I, uh, when I was part time, I worked part time at the church. And on the weekends, I would wait tables at a comedy club in the area. And, uh, man, that was that comedy club got shut down in 2020 temporarily, but because of COVID, but. Like, I don't, I haven't regularly run in non Christian circles since then.
I have a few people who I know, and even them that I know them [00:18:00] at a distance. You know what I mean? They're not like, we're not hanging out every single day or whatever. Um, but yeah, I just wonder if when that happened, did it send me running under a lampshade? And now that light isn't shining out is as much so Yeah, jesus jesus doesn't just want a bunch of christians who stay inside of their churches who stay inside of their bubbles or their safe zones and don't make any sort of movement towards those who need to see light the other one that I want to look at and this one I actually want To hone in on a little bit more It's john 17.
This is jesus and he's praying. Um, I believe this is still,
yeah, this is still, this is the last supper. It's right before jesus goes to the garden of Gethsemane and he's praying for believers. He's , praying for the church and look at what jesus's prayer specifically is. John 17 starting in verse 13 he says, now I'm coming to you talking to God. Um, he says, now I'm coming to you.
I told them [00:19:00] many things while I was with them in this world, so that they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. God, Jesus is saying, I came to deliver a message from God. I've done that. And he says, the world hates them because they do not belong to the world. Just as I do not belong to the world.
I'm not asking you to take them out of the world. This is Jesus's prayer for believers. I'm not asking you, talking to the father to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth. Teach them your word, which is truth.
Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. So even look at the language that Jesus uses there, the equivalence that he's making, the same way that Jesus was sent by the father. To dwell among us, to bring the truth to people who didn't have the truth. Jesus says, just as the father sent me into the world.
So I am sending them into the world that's us [00:20:00] and I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them So they could be made holy by your truth So Jesus is saying I'm willing to lay it all on the line So they can be made holy and to know your truth now this idea of holiness. We talked about this. Excuse me I think we talked about this on a previous Conversation but The idea of holiness, you know, this word, it means to be set apart.
And so if we're not careful, we can think that means to be set apart from culture, the world, everything going on around us to spiritually isolate. But really what, what the idea of being set apart is, is to live differently while among a society. So we saw this in the Israelites, right? The Israelites were constantly in and out of the camps of other nations and they were surrounded by other nations and this sort of thing.
But God said, listen, even though you dwell among these people, you're going to live differently. So this has been God's MO from the beginning that in the midst of a culture that is bent against God or away from God, [00:21:00] that there will be a people amongst that culture. Who live differently, who are set apart, uh, not in an isolation sort of way, but they live differently while among these people.
When you hear that, how well of a job do you think, let's turn the mirror on us. How well of a job do you think we're doing of that?
Zero out of 10. Would you care to elaborate a little bit? Do not pass go. Do not collect 200. Um, This conversation, this whole platform is not a place for us to make excuses for ourselves. Um, but this is my explanation for why I, um, am a zero out of ten and not collecting my 200. I'm gonna just chime in really quick. Carl Lentz right now, he's doing a podcast with his family where he's talking about all the stuff they went through.
Uh, he said something that was really key. He said, you can [00:22:00] have reasons. You can't have excuses. Mm hmm. And so I think what you're about to present are actually reasons. Hopefully. Yes I mean I touched on it earlier and it's just like capacity like how much fuel do I have to or time or um Yeah, time and space to be able to to do these things Yeah But it seems like from these passages and this is the part that really convicts me It seems like Jesus is saying you need to make the time like this has got to be a priority for us and so What is it that let's say you were given the time because human nature we all like to make that excuse, right?
Oh, well if they were just more Hours in the day, you know, you would just sleep through those hours in the day. I would 1000 percent sleep. So, let's say there was no, let's say capacity wasn't the issue. What would be the [00:23:00] next reason slash excuse to be determined by the listener of why we don't obey Jesus?
Because it's uncomfy. Yeah. It's Yeah, it's I'm we've talked a lot like this the space that we're in like a comfort zone in the spiritual isolation like It's uncomfortable to leave in comfort zone It's inconvenient It's is there a fear there and this is an honest question for you I heard someone say the reason why people don't share their faith with people of other beliefs is because We don't know their beliefs well enough You And we don't know what we believe well enough.
Is there a fear going back to that analogy that I used earlier? Do you think there's a fear in you that says, I don't want to go hold hands cause I don't want somebody to pull me down or what if they convince me of something other than what I believe? [00:24:00] Um, it's not a fear of them pulling me down. Um, I think my hesitation and the reason I don't want to get uncomfortable is like a rejection of me.
Like I don't want to be rejected by somebody I don't want to not be liked by someone
Period yeah, no, that's good. Yeah. Yeah, I think for me it could be I think my reasoning has evolved over the years But I do think when this was being most deeply embedded in me it was a sense of this fear of can I be convinced of anything or Or Yeah, like almost wanted to protect like oh my faith can be taken away from me or something like that Or i'm not prepared to walk into these conversations and stuff like that So yeah, I think that's that's been a part of [00:25:00] it at least in my life you posed two options, , for this episode. And I think next week is going to be more about this, like defending of the faith kind of thing. But it's like, if I'd never ever. have to defend my faith, then I'm going to fall further from a higher chair than if I am exposed to that in the beginning.
While we're laying the foundations of our theology and our doctrine, also say, Hey, there are going to be people who are going to challenge you on this and do that. So the chair is lower to the ground. There's less risk of falling. No, that's good. I mean, I think, yeah, no, that's really good. I think that's like Jesus.
Even kind of talks about this when he closes out the sermon on the Mount, he says, anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it as wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock, though the rain comes in, in the torrents, I'm sorry, even though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it's built on bedrock.
But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it as foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand, when the rains and flood come in the [00:26:00] winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. So Jesus doesn't say rain won't come. He doesn't say things will be tough, but he is, or that things will never be tough.
What he is saying is to, to build ourselves on enough of a foundation that when the rains come, when you meet someone who has a different ideology than you, when you have someone of a different political affiliation, when you have someone who, man, we talk about, we talk, we've been talking about this kind of in this polarizing idea of Christians and non Christians, but , Let's just talk about christians who have different differing views and differing opinions there's so many different nuances to all of these things and it's like The moment we encounter one of those situations we kind of panic and freak out and we're like, oh, well I don't know what to do.
Well, that's like It's important. It's a training ground. I mean, look at Jesus, right? Matthew four, Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Satan throws all of these ideas at him and all these ideologies. And what does he do? He combats it with the word because his life was built on a foundation that was strong enough to withhandle [00:27:00] Someone who didn't think like him, in this case, Satan.
I mean, that's like the most ultimate example, right? Um, but man, if we really believe greater is he that's in you than he, that's in the world, then there shouldn't be that layer of fear, which I think for me personally has been one of the biggest inhibitors, I think. Um, I do think that what you said earlier about time and just capacity is a big one.
I do agree with that, but I think the, the counteracting to that would be, so let's just kind of think through it this way. Okay. So if fear is the excuse. The reality is as greater as he that's in me than he that's in the world if capacity is the excuse Well, then we have to realize Jesus Commanded us to do it.
So we have to make room for that to be true in our lives if comfort is the excuse what would you say is the the truth that we need to counteract that with of It's just comfort. It's comfortable to stick around [00:28:00] with people who think and act like me I think it's living in disobedience. Like this isn't what God called us to.
He didn't say say yes to following me He said like drop your nets. Come on, like You know, that, that was the lifestyle that they knew. That's how they knew how to provide for themselves and comfort themselves. The disciples. I just was like, Hey, you said he didn't say to follow me, but he did. Oh, sorry. Um, he, what I was going to say was he didn't say to follow me.
So you could just be comfortable. So we could just sit still. So we could just like, the last supper is going to be right here. We never did. We never went out and did all the things. We're just going to eat our meal right here and hang out. And it's just going to be you guys and me. We'll have fun. The disciples had to set aside the comfort in the life that they knew they had to drop their nets and that was Comfort that was this is how I provide.
This is my life everything that I've ever known and Jesus is like drop it and come on and That's the same call for us [00:29:00] And so he's not like, Hey, just like sit in your small group circles and, you know, pat each other on the back for, you know, you sat in solitude for 15 minutes today, or you read like this many verses.
I mean, those are all great things. This is me not like condescending, like spiritual disciplines. Um, but. we're called to a level of uncomfort in following Jesus. Yeah. The more we talk about this, the more I'm reminded of specific examples where Jesus did this and brought his disciples along. If we're talking about discipleship, we have to think, if I'm following Jesus, where is he going to lead me to?
And Jesus often led his disciples to tax collectors, other notorious sinners, the Samaritan woman at the well, The woman caught in the act of adultery. Zaccheus, I mean, the list goes on and on and on of people who Jesus actively moved towards and as disciples, [00:30:00] we have to follow him to those places. If we want to genuinely follow him, we have to recognize that the following those places where this becomes super convicting is I realized how many times do I see Jesus walking towards someone that I don't want to walk towards?
And I'm like, ah, let's just. Go this way. Here's the truth. Jesus isn't going to follow us. So we either follow him or we're going the opposite direction, which as you just called it is disobedience.
[00:31:00]
So we've alluded to this the entire time, but this is not something that we're great at. I want to Keep emphasizing that to let The listener know that this is something we're actively trying to work through We talked about this when we weren't recording, but I feel like we say it every week. We're not the authority You On anything, even things that we feel like we're crushing it in.
We're not the authority. And if anything, we want to give you some insight from our relationship with Jesus that we hope will be helpful to you as a listener. Sometimes that insight is I said yes to Jesus. And this is what I learned. And you should say yes to Jesus too. Other times like today, I would argue, , the insight is, man, there's an area where we've been saying no to Jesus.
And we want to be better at that and we hope that you can learn from our failure Maybe even see a little bit of [00:32:00] yourself in how we're not accomplishing this so or tell us what to do Yeah, yes. No, please if you or someone who's like no, I'm really good at this. I you know I thrive in this kind of environment I actually love talking to people who don't know Jesus and just being in relationship with him and all that sort of stuff Please like we want to Have a conversation with you.
Who knows? You might even end up here on the show one day. There's zoom is a thing we can, we can make it happen. I will give up my microphone. Uh, but this, because of that, because this is where we are, that makes this practical application section of the show hit home for us because this is. In some ways, a level of accountability.
It is like a, what do we want to do next? So let's just go here. What's a good first step for someone looking to break out of the bubble, ourselves included. I would say the first thing is, is just start with the people who are around you. [00:33:00] The people who are around you, who think differently than you live differently than you believe differently than you, but you just haven't broken through that barrier of relationship with, so this could be your neighbors.
This could be your coworkers. This could be somebody that you go to school with. Like we're surrounded by so many opportunities to meet it. Like. Yes, I'm going to leave it at that. We're surrounded by so many opportunities to connect with people who don't think like us, but we typically hide from them or, um, don't lean into or engage in those relationships as deeply as we should because of that tension.
, do you have anything to add to that? I mean, what does that spark in you? It just makes me think about my excuse slash reason for why I don't break out of my comfort zone. Just the natural rhythms of life. Like I live here and my neighbors live next to me. I cannot say, Oh, it's not a part of my natural rhythm to like run into these people.
They literally live next to me or at work. They sit next to me. Or if I was in school, they sit and they live next to me. , [00:34:00] So, that's no longer a valid reason to, to avoid, that next step that we're, we're being called into. Um, another thing that this made me think of is when I think about breaking out of our comfort zone, it feels like I need to know the Bible front to back.
Um, which is like a conviction that I have right now. And I think we'll get into that next week in the conversation that we have, um, that I need to be the authority on everything, have all the right answers. , but we talked about going to see the Perry's a couple of weeks ago and something that, Preston was talking about.
I was aware that Preston was there. Um, call back to last week if you haven't heard that episode. He did a like. I mean, he's just an incredible teacher. Um, but was like, ask questions. Like there, there's a heart. Like, there's something in this person's heart that, , if you ask enough questions, [00:35:00] you'll get to the root question , from them.
, and I think I've always gone in with , I need to go in like guns blazing, Jesus loves you. Like, are you a Christian yet? Like, do you want to like love Jesus? And it's like, no. Just eat a meal with them. Yeah. Yeah. Go get coffee. Be friends. Be friends. Yeah, so I, I hype myself up. I tell myself , oh my gosh, they're gonna hate me and think that I'm like this crazy person.
And it's like, well, yeah, if you come over there with like , you know, this wild, like, I just wanna tell you Jesus loves you. Like yes. That's a Waving your flags Dr. Tambourine in hand. . Yeah. Yeah. You know, like, I've got oil or whatever, . Let me lay hands on you. Yeah. No wonder people think you're weird. Um, yeah.
So you don't have to come in at like that level. Um, there there's, Oh yeah. Just, just be normal. Be a neighbor. Yeah, no, that's really good. [00:36:00] Second, I would kind of like caveat this with it. It's like, just don't run away. From people who think differently than you, like humans, we make judgment calls in a heartbeat.
And now in a society where people are very outspoken about what they believe and their perspectives on things, like it doesn't take very long to find someone who I mean, you can sit in a coffee shop and overhear a conversation or , just be walking through the street and see someone with a pin on their sweatshirt or go, I don't know, like it's so bumper sticker on a car.
Like you can know what someone thinks about the world, at least partially, and make a judgment call based on that. So quickly, um, when that happens, don't just label people and run, you know, if it's an election year like don't just like if I don't know if it comes up in conversation who someone is planning on voting for if you see a bumper sticker on the car Just don't run like that's that's [00:37:00] such Don't run.
That's the, that is a practical application. Do not run, just sit and have a conversation and hear and learn. And yeah, I think that's something that could definitely grow in. Um, but that's not me, if I'm honest, like I'm not a person that like, I don't know. I've gotten. I'm so like in the bubble at times that like, I only read Christian stuff.
I only listened to, aside from a few other podcasts, like mostly Christian podcasts, like I'm consuming mostly Christian things. So like, I don't even enjoy reading fiction really. And I don't mean to say that, like, I hope people don't hear that, but like, man, this dude's boring. No, that's like, it just like, for me, it's like, well, what's the story going to add to my life?
Right. I want to read stuff that like adds to my life. So at times, and this is a broken part of me, it like, my thought process becomes like. I want people who are going to pour into me spiritually because I genuinely view my relationship with God is the most important aspect of my life. So if I'm not careful, I think [00:38:00] subconsciously I create this wall of like, well, if they're not going to pour into me and my relationship with Jesus, then what's the point of sitting down with them?
And it's like, dude, how out of touch have I gotten that I can't just sit down with a stranger? And. Here about their life in their day and not have to proselytize them in the process
Number three say start with someone and this is probably the easiest for a lot of us if you find yourself with bubble syndrome Start with someone with a small degree of separation from you and then just go get coffee with them So again, we kind of talked about this but like even the Christian who doesn't think the way that you do just start there You Like it's a small degree of separation.
i'm not saying find the person that's the most drastically Unlike you i'm just saying find someone who you have like a minor disagreement with and
like just work the muscle of community building relationship [00:39:00] Working past the discomfort I just got home from the gym right before we started recording this. And today I added like a little bit of weight to everything that I was doing. And yeah, it hurt like crazy, but before I knew it, I was like, actually, I think I can do this, you know?
And so I think it's the same way of, of stretching. Like your, your, your comfort is a muscle that needs to be stretched before you can work it. And so do that in a relatively safe place. Do you have any other thoughts that you want to add to that or.
It's rare that the ick comes at the end of the episode. I think that I Think we found the ick here because it's like man Yeah, there are things we need to apply and things we need to do. But yeah, no, it's just a matter of going and doing them That's it being obedient to Jesus. Do you think the more pregnant I get, the more wild these episodes are going to be? I'm waiting for it to be like, I don't know. One day you're just going to be like talking in wingdings or whatever the [00:40:00] is that what the font's called?
It's just like symbols and numbers and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, this is totally random, but I thought about what if we recorded an episode, uh, while we were at the hospital? Oh gosh. Like how would that go? Not good. Not good. That doesn't even sound fun. That just sounds stressful. I don't know why it crossed my mind, but I was like, Oh, that would be fun.
Maybe like a document, documentation, like sentimental thing, like for us to listen back to later as a family. I'll just leave the microphone somewhere in the room. So all the audio is going to sound like this. And it's just
And then we'll just upload that. You were drinking a Diet Coke before we got started and I was like, we should do, we should just like, people voted on the episode they wanted, but in its place, we should just upload you drinking a Diet Coke for 45 minutes. That would be a big Diet Coke. It would be, I mean, it's taken me over 45 minutes to finish this diet coke.
Anyway. [00:41:00] Well guys, thank y'all so much for listening. Thank you so much for even showing an interest in this. Let's keep that conversation going, , on social media, on all of our platforms and stuff, but, uh, let's encourage one another to mix it up a little bit. Like if you don't do this alone, if you have to, like, if you have to find your small group Christian friends and be like, Hey, there's somebody at work who I just want to hang out with and get to know, bring them along with you.
And again, the goal doesn't have to be in that moment. We're going to try to convert this person to bring them to church. Just. Be there in resemble Jesus to that person. It is important to use your words. It is important to, uh, be intentional about evangelism, but man, sometimes the most intentional thing you can do is just be present for somebody.
And so let's just start there. Let's, let's get out of, let's get from under our lampshades. That feels like a, like a good takeaway directly from the words of Jesus.
We will see you next week.