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Real conversations about following Jesus when life doesn't slow down — from a pastor who's still figuring it out too.
So there was a man who followed Jesus for three and a half years. He heard every sermon. He saw every miracle. He was there and even cast out demons himself. He was trusted.
Greg:He was chosen, and he's in hell. His name is Judas, and the difference is belief versus surrender. So welcome to the God Made Podcast because Sunday doesn't fix everything. And we're just gonna have a conversation as we do each week about how you take what you learn in scripture, maybe in a sermon, maybe in a bible study, and you actually live it out. And the topic we're gonna talk about today is how the most dangerous faith is not rejection.
Greg:It's proximity without surrender. It's being close and actually knowing who Jesus is, but not surrendering to him.
Kristi:Right. There's a big difference between believing and bowing to something, to Jesus. We can have every belief how am I trying to say this? You can believe something. Just like before I was saved, I never questioned the existence of God.
Kristi:I've always believed in God. It makes sense. You look around, there's a God, somebody made this. And I believed everything that I was ever taught or heard about Jesus. I didn't know much, but I believed it because it, again, made sense.
Kristi:But I never surrendered. I just had I was living my life and God knowledge and everything was setting over here.
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:If you had asked me, I would have said, yeah. I believe in Jesus, so I'm I must be saved because I believe you you keep hearing people say, are you a believer in Jesus? Yeah. The demons believed in Jesus, but that doesn't mean they're gonna spend eternity with him.
Greg:Yeah. And that's what we're all we're gonna talk about all that today. We're this conversation, as you know, but they don't, is rooted in in James chapter two. We've been talking a lot about the book of James as we're going through that in our church. And in James chapter two, he kinda categorizes these different types of faith.
Greg:He doesn't break it out. He doesn't say these words that I'm gonna use, but there's other scholars who are way smarter than me who uses these kinda titles to talk about the types of faith James is mentioning. And he talks about how there's dead faith, he talks about demonic faith, and he talks about having a dynamic faith. And only one of those faiths types of faith actually saves you. So so let's kinda break that down, and then we'll talk about what it looks like in everyday life.
Greg:That first one that he talks about is a dead faith.
Kristi:Right.
Greg:And this is the people who, they're in the church on Sunday morning. Maybe not every Sunday, but they show up on a fairly regular basis. Kinda like, well, you weren't necessarily in the church, but you you knew the right answers.
Kristi:Right.
Greg:You knew what things to say in response to a question about faith. Maybe not deep theology, but you knew the the churchy words But to there's no life change. You know, they show up. They know what to say, but it hasn't changed anything for them. But how did that play out for you a little bit?
Greg:Do you want to just kind of talk what that looked like for you?
Kristi:Just before I was safe?
Greg:Yeah, before you were safe. Hopefully, it doesn't play out that way now because you tell me you're safe.
Kristi:Yes, I am. I was just living my normal life. I was living in the culture, and grew up in the South. Everybody talks about God. Their grandmama was a Christian, so they are too, and it's just against everything that the bible says about that.
Kristi:And like I said, God was separate subject over here in the corner of my mind. I always said to myself, I'd get to that stuff later. You know? And I knew I didn't know everything, but I'd get to it later. So it wasn't anything important to me.
Kristi:It I was focused on me and how I was going to do something that I liked and make my decisions and had nothing to do with surrendering.
Greg:It was kind of a culture. Kind of interesting you hit on that, because I actually talk about that in this sermon, the cultural side of Christianity. We're in the Bible Belt, East Tennessee. And when I was growing up and when you were growing up, it was like
Kristi:That was the same time. Pretty bullish.
Greg:Everybody was in church. I mean, was just maybe not every Sunday, but you ask somebody what church do you go to, they had an answer for It's just what you did. It was an expectation.
Kristi:Even if I hadn't been there since Christmas or Easter.
Greg:Yeah. That's right. The creasters. We've been there. We were the creasters at one point, weren't we?
Greg:But it was kind of a cultural expectation. Everybody went to church. You had to have the church you belonged to. It's just what you did. Families did it, so you did it.
Greg:And it's just kind of who you were.
Kristi:And that still happens today.
Greg:Yeah, but not as much, does it? No. It's starting to fade.
Kristi:With the culture today, you can just flat out say, and you're not going to be shunned from society, that I'm not a, what do they say? I'm not religious.
Greg:Yeah, I'm not religious, but I'm a someone will say, I believe in Jesus, but I don't believe in religion, all that kind of And there's actually some truth to that depending on how you look at religion.
Kristi:Or I'm spiritual, but I'm not. Yeah. That's one thing. That's a new age thingy.
Greg:Yeah. So really, when you look at that dead faith, it really comes down to this question, is Jesus really Lord? Now I know people kind of get confused on what that whole word Lord means. We've talked about that It's a little churchy.
Kristi:It's very churchy.
Greg:It is a churchy thing, or a royalty thing if you're, like, in England, whatever, calling Lord and stuff. But the idea of Lord just means that you are surrendering to Jesus, which means you are looking at scripture and that is what you were basing your life on, biblical principles that Jesus taught, that everything, He's in charge of it, and you're gonna put it under His ownership. So when you say, is Jesus really Lord? That's the question you gotta answer. Because if you can't say He's really Lord, then you probably have a dead faith.
Kristi:Right. Well, when I was living that, I think I've told you this before, my Lord was me. I wanted to do everything that pleased me. I wanted to do what made me happy. And was, and still, I mean, I still struggle today thinking about, oh, woe is me and selfishness, but that's just something that the Lord's trying to transform me out of because that's human nature to put yourself first.
Kristi:And when you're not surrendering to the Lord, you don't really care what He thinks or Am I explaining that?
Greg:Yeah, I think so. But I think we also need to be careful because even those of us you know, I believe I'm fully surrendered to the Lord, but I'm not always fully surrendered to the Lord. And I don't want somebody listening to this saying, well, I used to be surrendered to the Lord, I'm not now, so I'm not saved. Salvation is through grace alone, by faith alone. If you truly gave your life to Jesus and you're in a season right now where it's just really hard for you, that doesn't mean you're not saved.
Greg:The thing you got to look at is there fruit in your life? And that's really what James is addressing here in this book. We'll talk about that in a minute as we get to some more practical applications. Just because your faith right now isn't real active, you kinda feel stale or whatever, it doesn't mean you're not saved. But if there's never been any life change, then it's probably a dead faith.
Greg:But the one that's probably the most dangerous, and James really kinda hits on this one, and it kinda is a scary thing to think about is what scholars refer to from James as a demonic kinda faith. Mhmm. Because James talks about it. He says even the demons believe who Jesus is. And I think there are so many people even in the church who believe Jesus.
Greg:They believe he is who he says he is. They've got the right doctrine even. They know the the real true doctrine, but they've never surrendered to him. Their their faith well, it's a we we look in we're in 2026, and faith so much for an American Christian in 2026. If you look at across the spectrum, politics shapes faith a lot.
Greg:Yeah. I know you're not into politics. You you basically just know what I tell you about politics. But
Kristi:That sounds very
Greg:Well, I don't mean that bad. I mean, you don't follow it on a regular basis. And I'll be honest, I don't follow it like I used to because it makes me kinda sad and depressed anymore. And I used to really enjoy politics, but I I don't anymore. It's just kind of a nasty thing.
Greg:But for so many people, their politics is their faith. It's not the other way around. Our our faith should shape our politics, but a lot of people read their political stances into their faith, and they'll twist it to make it work however they want the politics to play out. Whether that's on immigration or whether that's on the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage, all those kind of things, legitimate biblical principles on those. But when that is what you end up standing on, it's kind of a demonic faith where you are just putting that out there politically.
Greg:You don't really believe that it's not changed much in you. It's kind of like almost wielding a sword, to go as a weapon rather than life change with the gospel to people. There's no grace in it. A lot of people too. It kinda goes along with political, but it's a little further than that even because you see it play out celebrity culture and even in just normal people.
Greg:Faith becomes a performance, especially on social media. Mhmm. You know, I'm posting these bible verses and or this video or this devotional while I just got done looking at porn and don't even feel guilty about it. It's just a it's a show that you want out there for everyone to see, but it hasn't changed anything in you. You got any have you seen that?
Kristi:I'm trying to think of examples. I mean, yeah, we've seen it. I mean, when Judas was following Jesus, he you mentioned him early in the in the introduction, but he was out there spreading the gospel, following Jesus, working for Jesus. And like you said, he was out there with the people who were turning and believing and following Jesus. And he wasn't even a follower, but it sure did look like he was.
Kristi:He was one of the 12 disciples. I mean, you can't get much closer than that. And he didn't really show his true colors until he betrayed Jesus, but that just showed where his allegiance was.
Greg:Yeah. But we knew a guy in our past. I won't share his name because I didn't get permission to share this. I actually had talked to him in forever, but he he was he was a a youth guy, spoke at a lot of youth events, was a youth pastor, and he's he's talked about how he was actually a youth pastor working in a church, was ordained into ministry, was preaching the gospel to kids, and he didn't know Jesus as his savior. He says he didn't even realize he didn't know Jesus as his savior because he had fooled himself with all the right words.
Greg:He'd grown up in church. Mean, it was just kind of all this performance kind of thing going on. He knew everything he was supposed to say, but nothing had ever changed for him. He talked about how, you know, when he was a senior in high school, I think even into college years, he was doing all the church stuff while he was selling drugs on the side and had no guilt over
Kristi:his youth group.
Greg:To his youth group. I mean, yeah. They were doing these things together, if I remember the story right. And and he talks about how he was actually sitting under somebody's preaching. It might have been his dad.
Greg:His dad was a preacher too. And the Lord just worked through that, and he said, in a church service, God convicted him, and he surrendered to the Lord right there, went up front, talked to his dad, said his dad started crying. It was his dad. He was preaching because he said his dad started crying, and then everybody else was like, that's our youth pastor. And he, what?
Kristi:Right. Right.
Greg:Just got sick. Kind of the same thing with Judas. Mhmm. He wasn't you looked at Judas from everything we read in scripture. He's not the one you would have thought when Jesus says one of these will betray me.
Greg:Right. I would have probably guessed Peter.
Kristi:Yeah. He was a hothead. Yeah.
Greg:But Judas, I mean, was the he was the treasurer. He was the guy who kept the money, kind of the administrator of all of it. Nobody would have thought Judas, but it was all fake. He he when Jesus says that, all the other disciples, is it me, Lord? Is it me, Lord?
Greg:Is it me, Lord? And Judah says, Rabbi, is it me? He doesn't even call him Lord in the scripture. He never had surrendered to it.
Kristi:Little hints there.
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:And that's interesting too, that all of the other disciples were of were. I mean, because that just showed that, yeah, they were following Him and everything, but they were still it just didn't feel like they
Greg:were Worthy. Probably. I don't know how I'm stealing your thunder there.
Kristi:No. No. That's a a good word. It's worthy. Yeah.
Greg:Yeah. So really, maybe the best way to say, is your faith demonic? Because nobody's gonna say, I got demonic faith. Like, But for do you wrestle with scripture? Like, actually dig in and let it change you, or do you look at scripture and kinda twist it and edit it to make it fit what you want it to fit?
Kristi:Yeah. I guess that that's very common in this world right now, is to just make it, you know, oh, well, he didn't mean this. He means you know, that was just for that instance. Yeah. Yeah.
Kristi:I think that when you really dig into scripture and you like we said a couple weeks ago, you're looking in the mirror.
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:And you're like, where am I not fulfilling this? What can I do to change? It's about trying to transform
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:And not
Greg:Jesus, transform Lord. I'm going to be obedient to Jesus even when it's uncomfortable. And that brings us to that last part of faith, that last category that James kind of hits on and that's what scholars, smarter people, call it dynamic faith. And Abraham is the example. Abraham and Rahab actually are the examples that James uses in chapter two of what a dynamic faith looks like.
Greg:Now that's both both of those kind of interesting because Abraham was kind of a messed up dude. Yeah. I mean, he had a covenant with the Lord. He was chosen by the Lord. The Lord said to the world, all people's gonna be blessed through you, and then he kinda pimps out his wife twice so that he doesn't get caught in any sort of thing.
Greg:Kinda protect himself.
Kristi:He wasn't fully trusting.
Greg:Yeah. So he's a messed up dude. Rahab, if you don't know the story of Rahab, Rahab was a prostitute that kind of protected some of the Israelites because she believed that their God was the true God.
Kristi:Yeah. She had heard about what their God had done, and they and she wanted to be a part of that. Yeah.
Greg:So we can see just by his examples that dynamic faith, true saving faith is not perfection. It doesn't mean we have it all figured out. What it is is when you are quick to repent. It doesn't mean you don't mess up. It means when you recognize you messed up, you turn from it.
Greg:You don't keep doing the same stuff over and over again without going to the Lord and saying, change my heart.
Kristi:You don't waller in it.
Greg:Yeah. Waller in it. Boy, you are a redneck, aren't you?
Kristi:Yes, I am.
Greg:We don't waller You're in a county. Woo hoo. So quick to repent is a a big part of it. And we need to analyze ourself. Are we repenting when we you don't always recognize your end sin when you're doing it, but if you are saved, you're gonna recognize it pretty soon after.
Greg:Do you repent of that? Or do you just be like, oh, it was just one time. I'm good. I'm good.
Kristi:Yeah.
Greg:That's the evidence. Do you repent and try to turn from that and let the Lord change it? You can't change yourself. Are you digging into scripture, letting the word of God change you? Another part of it is, do you obey when it actually cost you something?
Greg:It's really easy to obey when it's there's no cost involved in it. But do you obey when it costs you time?
Kristi:Yeah, time's a big one.
Greg:Finances? Maybe hurt your pride a little bit? Do you actually obey in those situations where you've gotta step out of that comfort zone, or do you just kinda say, no. That's for other people today. That's a dynamic faith.
Greg:I mean, Abraham, he's obeying totally out of his comfort zone. God moved him away from his own land and told him, you'll find out where you're going when I tell you where you're going.
Kristi:That takes some faith to just follow. Who would say that they could do that?
Greg:So saving faith, dynamic faith, it's not about being perfect. It's not about having it all figured out. It's about direction. Not perfection, direction. Are you moving slowly even, Taking a step towards Jesus closer than you were yesterday?
Greg:Are you letting scripture correct you rather than editing it to fit what you want it to fit? Do you actually read scripture and and say, okay. That's what God said even though I don't like it? Right. It couldn't be what he meant by that because that that's not what I like.
Kristi:Oh, yeah. That that that's a good point. Just thinking, I don't really like that. I don't like that what he says about that. I think that I would rather do this way.
Greg:Scripture's uncomfortable.
Kristi:Oh, yeah. And I'm in the Old Testament right now in my daily Bible study, and sometimes I'm like, that's harsh, God. That's just really harsh. It's not fair. And all the selfish things in my mind.
Kristi:But you've just got to say, okay, he's God and I'm not, and make that decision just to do what he says and don't
Greg:And we don't do it because it's laws. We do it because once you are a believer in Christ, you understand that all of that is because he loves us. And the only reason he gives any sort of moral standards, any of that, is number one, to bring himself glory, but number two, because he knows that is best for you and me. He knows that's the way that you are gonna have a full, rich, satisfying life. It's not all this other junk that we try to do.
Kristi:And he sees everything. He sees the big picture. He sees down the road, and we don't. We're blind to it, and we want the outcome to be what we want and not what's best for us all the time.
Greg:Yeah. So you've got dead faith, demonic faith, and dynamic faith. And dynamic faith is all about surrender. It's not about belief. That's Judas.
Greg:It's about surrender. Right. So what does that look like for us every single day? That means we we talk about it all the time. That means you love God and you love people.
Greg:People come before yourself.
Kristi:Right.
Greg:You know? One of the hardest things to do is put others first, but that is what a believer in Christ does. So that means you're the first to apologize. Yeah. It's not always easy.
Greg:Even when you know that that other person, they were in the wrong too. Because there's not always one that's right and one that's wrong. There's usually a little bit of we're both wrong in it, especially when something blows up. We're the first to apologize. Now I I'm not good at that.
Kristi:Oh, I wouldn't say that.
Greg:It depends on the person, I guess.
Kristi:I've seen you change in that.
Greg:Good. That means I am moving closer closer
Kristi:to
Greg:the change
Kristi:just in our family. I mean, over the years as we got kids and everything, I kinda am taken aback sometimes. I'm like, why is he you know, thinking in my mind, I don't say it, but why is he offering to do that for me? Or why you know, because I know he doesn't like to do that, to do that chore or you know, because you you are always right.
Greg:You all heard that. She said it.
Kristi:He is right a lot. But, you you do apologize. And I've heard you say the words, I am wrong, and that didn't happen in the past. You puffed up about it, and and you you've you've changed. The Lord's changing you.
Greg:Yeah. I hope so. I hope so. Same with you. You like your way.
Greg:Kind of I mean, you say you're kind of a controlling person, but you've kinda started growing in that.
Kristi:I don't like you saying that,
Greg:though. I think.
Kristi:No. It's
Greg:fine. We're gonna edit that out. No. We're not. No.
Greg:We're not. It's gonna stay.
Kristi:It's me.
Greg:Yeah. But I mean, we're both, I hope, changing. And I even see it in our kids. They're starting to change since they've become Christians, not as much as we would hope. But they are starting to change.
Greg:Yeah. So first to apologize, which means you're putting others first. This one's a big one. Part of repenting because you're always gonna have temptations. There's always things that you're inclined to for sin, and it's different for everybody.
Greg:Part of repentance is that you remove any access to that temptation. So what's that look like? It means, say I mean, I mentioned pornography earlier. You block everything where you don't you you lock it down. And on top of that, you get an accountability partner.
Greg:And if you because we all have to have phones and things nowadays. Get one of those screeners on your phone that that will alert someone else Mhmm. When you look at something or alert them when you turn it off because people do that so
Kristi:that Oh, yeah. This whole world is foreign to me because that's never been a struggle for me. It never even enters my mind. So that's weird to me. When you first said take away the temptations, my very first thought was and this just sounds silly, get the sweets out of front of me because that dishonors God in my body because my body can't handle that stuff.
Kristi:And that's my temptation. I love it. I love it. I love it. But if it's not in front of me, I can't.
Kristi:It might not enter my mind.
Greg:That's part of repentance. Take that away. Get it out of the house. Get it off your phone. Get it off your computer.
Greg:Stop association with that person, associating with that person if they're drawing you away, especially if you're married. Don't let any tempt no access to temptation at all. Right. Because if you have access, eventually, you're gonna stumble. You're gonna look at that thing you shouldn't look at or do that thing you shouldn't do, eat that thing you shouldn't eat, all that kind of stuff.
Kristi:Yeah, there's so many different temptations for everybody. But we already went through the repent part. Right?
Greg:We did. Yes.
Kristi:Okay. So that that was the next one. I mean, the the repentant going back to the repenting, though, there's a big issue if you think you're a Christian and there is no remorse for what you're doing. You're living in in sin for whatever sin it is. You're You just continue in it and it doesn't even You just don't think it's wrong, even though God stated very clearly in scripture what is right and wrong.
Kristi:People really need to do a self check
Greg:Yeah. On self. And that's actually kind of the next topic on here. Is Sorry. Oh, you're good.
Greg:You're good. That is do you have integrity in private? I mean, it's easy. I mean, Judas is the example. In private, he was rotten to the core.
Greg:Of course, we're all rotten to the core, but he hadn't changed. He was looking out for himself, and he was looking for a way to profit off of Jesus. He wanted something from this. He that was his private life. Are are you do you look good on the outside, but when you're in private, you're you're not changing at all?
Greg:Are you faking it? Integrity in private really says a lot, which means, you know, I I hate to keep harping on the porn thing, but it's such a prevalent thing right now. Are you speaking against these kind of things and then, like, integrity and then you're viewing porn all the time when you're at home or on your phone or any kind of free moments you got because it doesn't hurt anybody. But it is. It's destroying you.
Greg:It's eating you up and eating at your soul. It changes everything within you. What's your integrity look like? Are are you talking about how important it is to be generous and you're not? You're kinda hoarding it.
Greg:This comes
Kristi:to my mind. I don't know if the Lord put it there to talk about because I really don't wanna talk about it and be recorded about it, but are you claiming Jesus and you are having premarital sex, with no remorse. I mean, it's like, oh, well, everybody does it now kind of thing, even though we know what Jesus says about it, what the Lord says about it. And you just, oh, well, we're gonna get married, so it's okay.
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:That's just a blatant lie to
Greg:to yourself. Different when you commit the sin versus when you excuse the sin. Everybody sins. Alright. So it I mean, if somebody's listening to this, you're like, she just brought that up.
Greg:I've totally screwed that up.
Kristi:Oh. Not not necessarily. Screws up every day.
Greg:Yeah. It's not necessarily the truth. I mean, I know we that's harped on a lot, especially young people. It's harped on a lot. You gotta stay pure, all that kind of stuff.
Greg:And god says to do that. But the difference is whether you were saying, well, that's an old law. It doesn't really apply to today, or it's just kind of the cultural thing, and that was probably something that was going on back then. It was a different context. No.
Greg:That's what scripture says. Stay pure. You gotta take away those those opportunities so that you don't, which means if you're, in a dating relationship, you probably shouldn't be at their home by yourself, especially late, lights dimmed, all don't put yourself in a situation.
Kristi:I mean, it doesn't even have to be by yourself. No, it doesn't. Some families are like, oh, it's fine.
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:You're adults. Yeah. You know? Or sometimes they're not adults. It's yeah.
Kristi:Keep yourself out of those situations, out of those temptations. It's just so detrimental to you, and you don't even realize it.
Greg:Yeah. Here's another one. Being generous even when things are tight. That's not easy. I remember I I talk about this a lot when we talk about, like, generosity and tithing and church and stuff.
Greg:I didn't wanna do that. Things were really tight at that point in our marriage. Like, there were months we like, I don't this isn't getting paid. There's just no money there. And you were like, we gotta tithe.
Greg:And I
Kristi:was You remember that a lot better than I do. I I just
Greg:Well, you were faithful to it, and I was not. But we've done it ever since then. For the I mean, there I'm not gonna say we've always done it. There's been breaks where we kinda fell away from it, but pretty much. And that was over twenty years ago.
Greg:We we have tied on a very regular basis. And, you know, we're not reached by any stretch of the imagination, but somehow the Lord takes care of us.
Kristi:Yeah. So It's that's a supernatural thing.
Greg:It's a trust thing. Are you generous even when you don't think you've got the the margin to be generous? And here's here's the last one on this, and this hits all of us. Do you walk away from gossip?
Kristi:That's a hard one. Even for men.
Greg:Oh, I said all
Kristi:of us. I know. Don't you point out women.
Greg:Yeah. I mean, women typically get thrown under the bus for this, but
Kristi:Men do it too, actually.
Greg:In a different way.
Kristi:Yeah. It's not
Greg:It's not any less gossip. It's just in a different way. Yeah. We're joking about it.
Kristi:Yeah. Cutting.
Greg:Ribbon each other about it.
Kristi:A ribbon about somebody else that's not there. Yeah. Yeah. It's still gossip.
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:So what is gossip?
Greg:I mean, it's not it's not wrong to have a conversation about somebody when they're not there, but it's wrong to talk about them, especially in a disparaging way when they're not there to defend themselves, and especially if it's something you're never gonna say to their face.
Kristi:All right. I I
Greg:remember Now don't don't make that excuse, though, saying, well, I'd say this to their face. Yeah. Did you?
Kristi:Yeah. And I mean, even if you would, is that kind? Yeah. Is it I
Greg:mean That's next week.
Kristi:Oh, here I go jumping ahead.
Greg:No. You're good.
Kristi:But I I do wanna tell that story about your papa Harvey.
Greg:Oh, yeah.
Kristi:I I never knew him, but your granny used to tell that story. He would not engage in gossip. Would say somebody would say, how would you hear about so and so? And he'd always say something to the effect, well, I don't know about that, but he sure can whistle. And he'd just say that about and I just love that.
Kristi:And we all need to live like
Greg:That's something Harvey, but something to learn from there. The question you need to ask yourself in this is where is obedience costing you? It can't be easy obedience. Obedience has to be sacrificial obedience. If it doesn't cost you anything, it's probably not obedience.
Greg:You're just obeying where it's easy. You're not sacrificing. He's not the Lord. But all this kind of topic brings up that question that's the church has dealt with ever since the church has existed. It's kind of an argument.
Greg:James says this. Paul says this. They're in conflict with each other. What does this even mean? Faith without works is dead.
Greg:And Paul says, it's not. When you really dig into it, they are not in opposition with each other. Paul is talking about salvation to those who aren't saved. James is talking to Christians. If your faith doesn't look changed at all, you are not saved.
Greg:That's where it starts. Life change. Have you changed at all? And it's not always a big dramatic kind of change. You've been saved twenty years and you look where you're at twenty years ago, that's probably a dramatic change from what you were then.
Greg:But if you got saved last week, it's probably not a big dramatic change today. But has it changed at all? That's the difference. It starts with life change, and then it has to move outward. It has to move towards other people.
Kristi:It's I've never said this before, but it came to mind when we were studying for this. It's kinda like you're gonna laugh at me. It's kind of like a sponge, like a big fat sponge.
Greg:Uh-huh.
Kristi:And when you're saved, it fills up with the Holy Spirit, I guess, or or, you know, just God. And you keep putting water in it, and the water just pours out. It just okay. I'm gonna shut up now.
Greg:That's actually not a bad illustration. You I don't know if you remember this, but that's actually an illustration one of our old friends, Lance Gannon, used to use.
Kristi:Oh, really?
Greg:Yeah. He he would talk about
Kristi:Hey, Lance.
Greg:When you get squeezed, what comes out?
Kristi:Oh, okay.
Greg:So and it was like a sponge. Is it full of Jesus or is it full of junk?
Kristi:Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm just mine is where I'm just saying it. The sponge can't
Greg:Can't hold anymore.
Kristi:Hole anymore.
Greg:Yeah. That's true.
Kristi:That's your
Greg:Yeah.
Kristi:That's your works coming out because of you're so full of Jesus.
Greg:So what's that look like, works coming out? What do we do?
Kristi:There's all sorts of things.
Greg:I mean, James specifically talks about the poor. Right. What's that look like in 2026? Well We can all be cynical. I mean
Kristi:Yeah. Oh, yeah. So We can all
Greg:What's that look like in 2026?
Kristi:Coming back in, from last week's judging people, they might you might be thinking, well, they got themselves into this, that kind of thing, which
Greg:is And in many cases, they did. But that doesn't matter.
Kristi:But sometimes they get so deep, they gotta have a hand to pull them out. And that could be helping a single mom who just can't pay the bills that month. Yeah. You know? Her her water's gonna get turned off.
Kristi:Go to the water department and pay her water bill, and you don't even have to tell her. You know?
Greg:Probably better if you don't.
Kristi:Yeah. It is. I mean, it's
Greg:Standing in the grocery store and you see Oh, I love that. You see the person who it's probably why we all do self checkout now. We don't have to deal with that kind of stuff. But, you know, if you were standing behind someone, we've all seen it where they've gotta, okay, we gotta take that out. I don't have enough to pay for that.
Greg:Pay for it.
Kristi:Pay for all of it.
Greg:Yeah. I mean That's what I mean. Yeah. Just say, don't worry about it. I got it.
Greg:Yeah. And if you don't have the money to get it, you might have the money to chip in. Right. There's always ways to help, even when you're struggling yourself. There's always ways we can pour out and help others.
Greg:One of the the big ones that's near and dear to us that most people are terrified of would be, like, foster care.
Kristi:Right.
Greg:Are you willing number one, you willing to open your home for a kid who has no home? And I know that's terrifying because we went through that multiple times. It scares you to death as it should because it it is. It's very hard. But on the flip side, gosh, it's so rewarding.
Greg:And I hate to say that because then you feel like you're getting something out of it, but you are. And hopefully, that other family and that child, especially, they're getting something out of it. Are you willing to open your home even if it's just temporary? And if you're not willing to open your home, and I get it, it's not for everybody, everybody should still participate in it. Help a foster parent.
Greg:Help a birth parent who's really struggling to keep their kids, help them get on the right track. Volunteer or go I know that agencies need help supervising visits. Get approved for however you do that. Become an advocate for foster care. There's so many different ways you could do it.
Greg:Take care of the least.
Kristi:Right. And so many people I was just talking to a friend about this the other day. So many people, and I understand this, they say, I could never foster a child because I'll get too attached to them, and then they may go back to their birth family. And
Greg:And it's true. We experience it.
Kristi:Yeah. It is true, and it's heart wrenching
Greg:But it is and selfish.
Kristi:It is. When you say, I might get attached, you've got to think about that child. That child has just been taken from everything they know, good or bad. They're they're alone. And somebody to show them love, I'm I'm gonna start
Greg:Introduce them to Jesus.
Kristi:Yes. Yes.
Greg:You don't know what they're coming out of?
Kristi:You might have them for a month or a year or five years, but you can tell them about Jesus. And they if they go back, they may tell their family about Jesus. And it's just that's the one that always gets me is, know. I know it's heart wrenching and you will get attached. If you have a heart at all, you're gonna get attached.
Greg:Living this out though, it doesn't always have to be that dramatic. I mean, it should be. We should have those things in our life that are that dramatic. But sometimes it's just being a community volunteer.
Kristi:Maybe
Greg:the Pee Wee football team needs a coach, and your kid's not on the team. Now I shy away from that, but I ended up coaching our daughter's basketball team last year. Two game winner. Yeah. Yeah.
Greg:We're awesome. Just feeling we were terrible. That's okay.
Kristi:Oh, we were We're learning.
Greg:We were better than our record show. I will say that.
Kristi:That close.
Greg:That close. That close. You're saying there's a chance. Anyways, volunteer, you know, Local organization, volunteer at the school if you can, or the food ministry. Every community's got some sort of food ministry or food pantry or somewhere you can can volunteer or a homeless shelter.
Kristi:Just giving your time and showing first. Yeah. Yeah. Showing love to him. I I mean, just a smile from somebody to somebody who's hurting Yeah.
Kristi:Can change their whole day, hope their whole life. That that gives them some hope. Yeah. You're showing Jesus.
Greg:Yeah. What what it really boils down to, are you showing mercy Mhmm. In harsh circumstances? When someone is hurting, are you not just saying the words, are you showing mercy in your actions? Jesus didn't just say the words.
Greg:He showed us mercy in a very harsh circumstance that we did not deserve. He gave it all for us. So we're kinda over time here, so let's kinda start wrapping up the conversation. Some things we need to think about. If you're listening, some things that you should think about.
Greg:Where am I editing scripture, or am I twisting scripture?
Kristi:Or just omitting scripture.
Greg:Or just omitting scripture. And part of that means you gotta be familiar with scripture.
Kristi:Right.
Greg:You gotta dig in. Discipleship can't just be left on the table. You gotta pursue it. Where am I resisting obedience? You know?
Greg:What's your pet sin?
Kristi:Pet sin.
Greg:What are you not willing to let go of? Be honest with yourself. If Jesus is Lord, what is really changing for you? If nothing is changing, like I say, it does not have to be a dramatic thing. In the long run, at the end of your life, it will look dramatic, but it's not a quick thing.
Greg:Sanctification, that big churchy word meaning you are being made more like Jesus for your whole life, it is a whole life process. It doesn't have to be dramatic, but what is changing? Are your desires changing? Are your actions changing? Do you intentionally show love to other people?
Greg:Because love's not a feeling. I mean, that's affection. Scriptural love is acting for the best of someone else when it costs you something.
Kristi:Sacrifice.
Greg:Yeah. Do you show love for other people? Because belief is easy, surrender has to be daily, and the direction you're going is what's really revealing. So what does the direction of your life show? Are you moving towards Jesus?
Greg:That's the question we need to sit with. And if you're not moving at all towards Jesus, you may have a dead faith. You may have a fake, demonic faith. We want to pursue a dynamic, life changing faith. We don't want to be like Judas where it all looks good, and in the end the Lord looks at us and says, I never knew you.
Greg:We want to be like Abraham where even in our brokenness, we've got it all messed up sometimes, but we're still pursuing the Lord. I'm still striving to be like him, still being obedient where scripture says. So you got anything to add as we close this out?
Kristi:I think I said this last week. I think you said it all. I don't know what to add there.
Greg:Well, I guess I just got it all figured out then You except I do not.
Kristi:You have all the words.
Greg:So we're all in the struggle together. So if this conversation helps you at all, share it with somebody. Like this video or like this if you're listening to it on audio and subscribe. Help us get the word out to other people because our goal isn't to just get a big following. That's not what we're in this for.
Greg:Our goal is to help people take their next step in their faith and actually live out what God has called them to be and who God has called them to be. So this is the God Made Podcast because Sunday doesn't fix everything, and we will see you next week, for the next episode.