Internship Escapades

All right, I'm gonna count to three Welcome, I know that you could do that while he's videoing it. Oh, well It's what it is. It's fine. I do what I want We know that we know are we going is happening? Okay, we're doing this high Hello everybody. Third time we've started whatever We don't know how to do this anymore. It is what day is it? It's March 24th. Oh, yeah, don't date this I know Sorry man, we are we're breaking every rule. I was trying to get to the fact that Easter is in a couple of weeks Which was gonna lead into my next question of okay? What what is one thing you were looking forward to this Easter season? Not you don't want to know about my weekend. No, because you You put it in my head now and I'm insecure about it. Okay. Good. I like it. No. She asked I think about questions. Yeah, which I already have other than the questions a ton of stuff I have to do Here spicy at the beginning of this podcast I've been on for a few days. I'm ready to do shenan's back looking forward to man I love this time of year like we have a lot of services. We'll be a lot of people a lot of people that I mean I've taught so many people that you know my friends coming for the first time my neighbors coming for the first time I love that so like I mean Easter is a lot of fun for Easter and Christmas Eve both are a lot of fun for me because I get to meet a lot of new people and then you see the joy of people that have been inviting people for a while And they call me like Yeah, that's so cool. I love that. I love that too. I'm pumped about I get to do our good Friday service And I like good Friday a lot Because we get to do it so different I hope I haven't told you what I'm doing. No, I'm not doing anything crazy But but Aaron and I we met last week and we've we've got some plans and just trying to make it More of a somber like focused Someone in our church said if Jesus doesn't stay in the grave. I'm out And so I'm trying to keep Jesus in the grave In a way, you know, they're not coming to Easter. No, no, no, no, it's a good Friday and a good day in the grave. I'm out. Yeah At good Friday is what I was talking to people will yeah, we'll go ahead and advance Yeah, yeah, it's like you can't that's that's what what I mean is like I like good Friday to keep us in that because we we can't handle that tension Yeah, he died the sucks. We have to get to Sunday That's what that person meant is like that's what good Fridays about and so I am I'm leaning into that with Just talking about waiting and and longing and sort of that tension in that moment for the disciples when Jesus died and and tell us the whole message right now Well, I'm working it out right now because I'm finished writing it so I'm I'm working it here Yeah, exactly. Are we gonna involve hammers and nails? No, no not this time Yeah, no, I heard somebody say one time if you can't explain the point of your message in one sentence then you haven't done a good job So I'm trying to get there. Okay. Yeah, those are few sentences. Yeah, it was a few years. Yeah, so I'm trying to get there. No, no, but I am I'm excited about that Being just a different experience for us at Easter In the Easter season and kind of adding a different layer to that whole weekend. Yeah Yeah, I'm excited for good Friday too. I always like good Friday. Just one of those ones that like I will I will cry I'm gonna cry good. Gotcha. It's just gonna happen, you know, Shannon walks in crying. You're pretty much No, it's not true. I didn't know If the goal as we've said before is to make them laugh make them cry and give them Jesus I got Shannon on one of them so far. Yeah, there we go. Let's give her dead Jesus. Yeah But just if you're right though like to sit in the somberness of it But then that makes Sundays that much better. Yeah, yeah When you take the time to sit on Friday and really ponder like what Christ did in the meaning and the weight of it all Yeah, like the resurrection is just like so amazing And look spoilers a little bit but like when you look at it particularly comes back. No, not that not that spoilers for for the message that I'll have I still working this out. Yeah, exactly good In in Luke's account of the crucifixion resurrection all of that There are little moments that I don't think I had seen before And hopefully I explained this well, but there are moments of waiting all throughout like there's Like Joseph of Arimathea the guy that takes him and gives his grave over It describes him in I think all four of the gospels as a man who was waiting for the kingdom of God. So there's waiting language They they kind of put him in the cave and and go about their day because it was the preparation day There's waiting there's all these little moments of waiting in in and all throughout the story that I think are really interesting So hopefully I'm able to particularly Throughout the Bible. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yes. Yes. Yeah, I was writing my message for Easter yesterday And I I'm preaching out of the gospel of John chapter 20 and there are three times where John talks about how he was faster than Peter Yeah, yeah, yeah, like I know like yes, I know the one sense he is Re-times Yeah, I would love to see what they're like what their dynamic was like in real life Like Peter's off somewhere and he gets this new gospel that his buddy John put together and it's like oh yeah Read it. Let's see what John wrote and they get to that he was like come on man Come on, bro, even when when Peter cuts off the ear. Yeah, none of the other gospels name Peter, but John's like John Hey, don't forget like him and Peter had yeah, I can only imagine they like loved each other, but also hated each other The same time Yeah, just like me and Mac and cheese really great brotherly love what you mean like you tell me like it Like you love your body hate it. I know yeah, I understand that sorry. I'm also really I have a relief I have a pretty dress. I'm excited to wear that in Easter. That's awesome. I know right I'm not I'm sure you're gonna pick down what you guys are gonna wear. Oh, I don't think so I don't think mine has I was about to say I have spent zero seconds thinking about what I'm wearing. Oh, I've been thinking about it for weeks One of what are we all wearing for Easter? That is a big difference dream men and women At least most men in most women. Yeah, maybe if you're watching support me in the comments, please. I'm sure they would know I believe you. I just yeah Well All right, well we Moving on now we just finished our series on armor of God this past week and this week on the podcast we are focusing on I have verse 17 and I actually have the NLT translation because the like what it says says put on salvation as your helmet And take the sort of the spirit which is the word of God. So we are talking about the helmet of salvation and the sort of the spirit Ernest you want to let us know it didn't make it into the message this past week. Yeah, what were you able to fit into Brandon's message tell us about Brandon talked on the helmet a couple weeks ago. I would have added anything to Brandon's message. I've been wrong It was awesome. He did a great job Just joking. He's not even here to For my message, I think the big thing that I would have loved to spend more time because I love this piece is just the textual criticism of the Bible You know, I talked about I mentioned in there that If you compare it to any other work any other literary work that it is the is regarded as the most historical Historically reliable yeah manuscript document literature Literate piece of literature out of everything Um, and I can say that but doesn't mean that you believe that So I encourage people to like go look it up. We've got some resources all that But I would love to just like share a few yeah examples So like let's just take the New Testament right New Testament was written between 50 and 100 AD somewhere in that range and then the but the first Manuscripts that were found were found around 100 to 150 AD So you're talking it would say it's anywhere between like 29 years after the initial manuscript Was written to when we have the earliest dated manuscript 29 years there's still people alive yeah, you know, and like that feels like a long time for us because we're like 29 years really To not have a manuscript that's why did not happen sooner yet right but let's go to like You go to Homer's Iliad okay Iliad is regarded as Maybe the besides besides the Bible the most Historical historically reliable manuscripts meaning what he wrote and the manuscripts we have now are the most Accurate accurate. Yes, we have original conversions all that so let's just go to the Iliad Yeah, it was written around 900 BC The first dated manuscript that we have is around 400 80 oh BC Yeah, so you're 500 years. Yeah 500 not 29 500 years. Mm-hmm. There are 600 and a little over 640 I believe manuscripts of the Iliad so they take all of those the number of manuscripts is really important because if you have two manuscripts You don't have a lot of information to say whether or not this is historically reliable or not Whether or not to say there's big changes or all kinds of stuff right just to break it down to like fifth grader level When we're talking manuscript Versions and copies we're talking about he wrote the Iliad it gets passed around someone wants to send it to their cousin They make a copy that's not accurate sending it to your cousin But they want to spread it. They're handwriting these copies. That's why you get these hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts because it's being copied and shared Yeah, so just a rather than a bazillion copies right because there's the printing press Right. Exactly. This is all handwritten. Yeah great great point So the 640 of those copies they would say that the Iliad Based on all those 640 whatever copies that it has a 95% accuracy. Yep, yep. So they look at it and they're like, okay, all of these and 95% of what's in there is what's in all of the 640 something. Okay, now let's go to the New Testament. Again, brand between 50 and 100. Portions are found between 100 and 150. So 29 year to at most 100 year from the earliest to that. We have over 5800 Greek manuscripts, 5800. That's at 640 something before the Iliad. We have over 10,000 Latin manuscripts. We have over 9800 Coptic Siric manuscripts, 36,000 quotations. So I mean, it's in the thousands and thousands and thousands range. Not 640. The accuracy of the New Testament is 99.5. Wow. So the accuracy of the Iliad is, I said, 95, right? With 640, you expand that by 100 fold is what we have for the New Testament. And it's 99.5. That's crazy. Impossible. You can even, you can check this yourself too with a decent study Bible with footnotes. Those 0.5% differences are actually referenced in our English Bibles. If you see a little notation, a little asterisk or whatever. At the bottom, yeah. Originally included here. At the bottom it'll say some manuscripts say this. Those are there. One of the things I think that's interesting about this conversation is there's this assumption that things were hidden or edited or secret or all of this. It's really not. Like monks were copying stuff. Maybe they fudged the ink over here and another guy. It was like, I think it might actually say that. I wouldn't even call them errors. They're not errors. They're just like translation things. But those are noted in our Bibles. I just, sorry, I cut you off. I just kind of wanted to note that of like, this is stuff you can find yourself. It's all right there. Like even a couple of weeks ago you mentioned, was it John 8? Yeah, the woman called an adultery. It will say, hey, some manuscripts don't have this. That's right there. It's not hidden. Yep. And you got to think about also how the Bible was written. I mean, we say it's the Word of God. Okay, why do we say that? Well, one, it says it says that. So do you trust it or not when it's saying that. But also think about how it was written. So Homer's Iliad was written by one guy. Yeah. Have 640 something manuscripts, 95% accuracy. All that, it's the most besides scripture, besides the Bible, the most historically reliable document. But that is not for discussion. Like no one argues that right there. One guy wrote it. The Bible, written over 1,500 years. Yeah. 6,600 years. 66 books over 40 authors. 40 authors, yeah. So 40 authors, 1,500 years. 99.5, I don't know how you can't say. And you're right, the 0.5 is, was that true? The beliefs are Julius. Like very small things. None of it was, none of it was, essential doctrines. No, when we talk, we've done it a lot on this podcast. When we've talked to essentials and non-essentials, essentials being things that are necessary for salvation, believing in sin and Jesus, all of those sorts of things. None of those differences affect the essential beliefs. None of them. I would even say minor things on non-essentials, even. Like it's, anyway, it just, it comes down to that of like, it's not different. It's not, this one says, you need to work really hard and maybe God will love you. And this one says, you're saved by grace. It's like, no, it's not that. It's, they agree. We're saved by grace through faith. Like, those things agree. So, yeah. There's another piece too that there's 63,000 cross references in scripture. Yeah. That's really important because you have 40 authors over 1,500 years. And there's 63,000 cross references. I love the image of like the Bible being open. And then if I don't have you, it's like the connection lines. Just crazy to see like how many? 3000. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's crazy. So, if you actually do your research, and what I said was it, on Sunday was, if you actually do your research, you're going to, you have to come to the conclusion. Oh, I mean, whether you want to agree with it or not, you have to come to the conclusion, is the most historically reliable document. Yeah. The world has ever known. Meaning that, just again, because I like to just kind of hone it in, when you say historically accurate, we mean what was written originally is what we have translated today. Now, the translation is a whole thing, but that's fine. So, the manuscripts and the accuracy comes down to Peter wrote this, Paul wrote this, John wrote this, they wrote it in Greek, and it got translated to Latin to blah, blah, blah, blah. But what we have today translated into English is what those guys wrote. That's really what we're talking about here with the historical accuracy. Whether or not you believe it. That's the key. Yeah. Because you can sit there and say, well, God uses it to, people have used it to control people. People have used it to justify certain things. People do that with everything. Yeah. Every single thing that happens, they use it to justify something to whatever. You look at anything in our world today, and somebody gets murdered, and it's because of Biden, or it's because of Trump, or it's because, like, everything can be used to just, it doesn't make it right. But if you actually do the research, you can't come away going, there's so many issues with the Bible. Like, it has so many discrepancies, and it's wrong. Like, no, it actually would have been better if, for the Bible's sake, say with me here for a minute, like, for the Bible's sake, in our view as a man, humans, if the Bible was different, because then we could have taken out things like slavery. We could have adjusted the first eyewitness was not a woman. That would have been, although it would have been better in a man, dominate a society, which many societies have been. So the Bible easily could have been changed to adhere to the culture, but it never was. It was never changed. 99.5%. That is not up for discussion. Now, whether or not you agree that it's God's Word and that you should live it, that's on you to decide. But you can't sit there and say that it's not reliable and it's not historical, historically accurate. - Well, and I think the cool thing too about, the Bible interprets the Bible and all these cross references is, these men didn't set out to write the Bible. They were sharing the message of the good news, especially in the New Testament. I mean, I don't know when Paul wrote these letters if he thought that it would become what it is today, of the Bible. And I mean, for a lot of these men, Jesus said he was coming back. I think I believe they fully expected that he was gonna come back during their lifetime. - We have them, many of them. - And so then obviously when Jesus didn't come back that quickly, I think that was like, we gotta start writing this down, but it was an oral thing that was like, hey, we gotta tell you about this good news, this person who came and this amazing truth, you know, all that stuff. So the fact that it is so accurate, the fact that it does cross reference itself so much that it is one complete story of Christ. And it was not set, like these men did not set out to write it like that. Like that's so cool to me. - Yeah, I think that brings up the interesting thing. I think some people assume that like when we talk about the Bible being inspired by God, that they think that like Paul or John like went into a trance and just like, oh, there's a letter to the Ephesians. - And that they knew they were writing the Bible. - There's a name for that. There's a scholarly name for that that I can't remember. But it was not that. It was these men empowered by the spirit being led by the spirit, yes. - Practically helping. - Yeah, Jesus even said to us disciples, the Holy Spirit will help you remember the things that I've said to you. And so and it's similar, like we, you know, we talked a few weeks ago about studying scripture, we were talking about memorizing stuff and like there will be moments that you'll remember like, oh, in Ephesians it says this. That's very similar to how the Holy Spirit worked with Paul and Peter and all these guys. They set out to write these letters to record what had happened and the Holy Spirit is guiding and nudging in that direction. And hey, remember that one time Jesus said this, like, oh yeah, do you remember that? And they're writing it down and sharing it. Yeah, they didn't go into a trance and suddenly outcomes acts. (laughing) It's like, nah, man. There's like, there's a human element here that's really cool, I think, with the way that God works with humanity. I personally love that aspect of it because it reminds me that he can do the same thing with us, not to write new books of scripture or anything like that. But to do cool things for God, to be empowered by him and like, he led to say things, do things, all of that. So I think that's like a cool thing. - Yeah. All right, let me give you a few more. - Do it. - Oh yeah. - So over 26,000 manuscripts of the New Testament, 29 years between when it was initially and then when the earliest ones discovered, okay, let me just go through a few others that like we all know or have, or raised to like read in school or whatever. So you got Plato, no one disagrees with what Plato wrote. He wrote it around 400 BC. The earliest manuscript is 980. So you're talking about 1200 years. - Yeah. - You guess how many copies of Plato? - 12. - 7. - 7. - 7,000. - 26,000 of the New Testament, 7 of Plato. - Okay. - And we believe, yeah, that's what Plato wrote. - We're gonna believe it, yeah. - Yeah, we've been in a real- - We've been in a real- Aristotle, again another one, right? Around 350 BC, sorry, first one is 1180. Okay, so you got 1400 now. A number of manuscripts 40, okay? So very, very low. Takedus, this one's fascinating to me. Takedus wrote in the same time period as the first century Christians. - Yeah, okay. - Okay, so around like 56 to 120, that's when he lived. The earliest manuscript we have is 1,000 AD, so 900 years afterwards. No one questions Takedus and his historical accuracy of what happened in Rome and around the world during that time. - Yeah. - Nobody. Three copies. - Wow. - Three copies. - So I think that speaks to the power of what was happening in the Christian church versus just a guy, not just a guy, but just a dude who's writing some stuff. 'Cause the letters from Paul and the Gospels, those were so valuable that they were being copied and shared, whereas this guy, it's like, yeah, he wrote that, that's fine. They didn't hold it in the same regard to copy it, which to me says something was real for those guys in the early church. - That's a great point, Johnny. I met with a high school student in our church a couple of months ago, and we were kind of talking about the formation of the Bible. And he goes, yeah, but I mean, it wasn't really formed until some of the conferences or whatever. - Councils. - Councils. And I was like, well, they already understood these works to be scripture. - Yes. - And what you're saying is exactly copying. - It was a copy. - You've got Takedus who has three copies, but these guys, if it was just random literature, we would have three copies. We don't. We have 26,000 copies, not 1,400 years later, within 29 years. - Crazy. - Again, it's not even up for debate. The debate is whether or not you believe you should obey it. - What you like when you read it. - Exactly, exactly. And there are things in the Bible that you can read something and be like, man, I don't like that. Like the slavery piece, like, well, why is that in there? Do your research, like, again, what provides you resources? But like, when you look into it, you're like, oh, okay, it's not what I'm thinking with the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It's vastly different. - Don't read it in your cultural context. - Yes, yes, yeah. - Yeah, love that. That's really cool. - The Bible's cool, man. - The Bible is cool. - I like that it's my knowledge. - Oh, yeah, I know. Yeah, I mean, and I could talk about it. I could geek out on it for hours, 'cause it's just so cool to talk about. - I think I put this on the series hub. I know I put this on the series hub. There's like a four or five episode podcast series from Bible Project, where Tim McEe does a lot of that. And it's like, yeah, let's look at the letters and he kind of breaks it up between the different pieces. And it's so, so cool. - It is really cool. You should definitely go in the series. Let me check it out. - Yeah, that's awesome. - Yeah. All right, well, we don't have hours to talk about. - What? - Geeking out about the Bible. But so let's move on to some questions. Why do you think, talking about the helmet and the sword, why do you think the helmet are mined and the sword, the word of God, are paired so closely in spiritual warfare? Why did Paul choose to put those two together in a sentence? - He was run out of room. (laughing) - That's true. It was a letter. - It's hard to say there's a firm link between the two, you know, why did Paul do it, who knows? But I think they are linked. I, you know, I thought Brandon did a great job of talking about guarding our minds with hope. And I think that naturally leads to the word. Like you, I think we said it on the podcast last time that like my hope is in Jesus and his resurrection. And I'm reminded of that through the word of God. And so that's the thing, that sword is the thing that is guarding my mind most of the time. And so yeah, there has to be a connection there, I would say. - I also think if you, I think it's Psalm 111, 11, may I hide your word in my heart so they don't sin against you. I think there's a memorization and knowledge of God's word that allows you to then use the sword, right? If you don't know the word of God, if you don't have a sword in your heart and your mind, then, you know, then what, how do you use it? What do you do? You just get out in the world and you're like, "Ah, this is what I'm being told." And you're like, "I kind of feels right," or everybody saying it. So you just go with the crowd because that's the easiest thing to do. Rather than going, "No, I've hidden God's word in my heart so that I won't sin against them." I know God's word, so I know where to do, how to stand, how to react to all these different things. - And what we believe shapes the way we think. And God's word is what directs that belief and shows us how we're supposed to be acting. So, it would be closely linked. What does Paul mean by the helmet of salvation? Is he talking about being saved or is it something more ongoing? - I personally think it's ongoing. I mean, it's both, I would say, of like, "Hey, you need to be saved." But then I think it is what Brandon talked about of that ongoing, guarding and walking it out and remembering your salvation and allowing that to be the thing that helps you in what you're thinking and what you're doing. I really liked how he talked about how he highlighted sometimes we think helmets are for beginners. - Yeah. - And not a band, just you know. We don't need an I/O, I've been doing this for years. I don't need a helmet, but the importance of the fact that this guards our minds. - Yeah, my kids get on to me all the time 'cause we're like, all right, you're riding your bike, you gotta put your helmet on, but I don't own a helmet. And so if we go on like a family bike ride every time my daughter, daddy wears your helmet. Well. - She has a very good eye. - She has a great point. I had to start wearing mine 'cause my kids did the same thing. And that means I got to buy one. And now I got to look like a goof. - That's my problem. They look so goofy. - Yes, man. - But like Brandon's story, you never know, I mean, maybe a little bit different, but like you never know when something might happen. That's true in life too. Like if you're not putting on the helmet of salvation, you never know when you're gonna, like you think it's just a regular day and then something crazy, something bad. - And it might not even be something you do. It's outside. - Exactly. - It's outside sources. I think about driving, like most of the time when I drive in the snow, I'm not scared to drive in the snow. I've learned to do it. I'm pretty good at it. But other people terrify me because I'm like, I cannot control how you're driving in the snow. - Yeah, especially when they have a different states license plate. - Yes. I wasn't gonna say it. - And especially when it has a snow very much so people don't get much practice. - Yes. - That's true. - Yeah. What are some common lies or thought patterns that threaten our confidence in salvation? - Oh man, that's a good one. - Oh, I mean, even that conversation about God's word, I mean, that's a big one that is, you know, if the enemy can get you to doubt that the Bible is the word of God. - Yeah. - I mean, he wins a lot about it at that point. So I think that's one of the biggest for sure. - Yeah. - How many people do what you said on Sunday, which I love that like, I'm just gonna start practicing what Proverbs is saying or whatever and like, see how it goes. Hey, this actually works out. That's rare, I would say. - Here he is. - Because it's like, well, how do I trust it? What do I know? But if you can't get someone to like, well, just do what Jesus says, see how it goes. And like, oh, he's right. Yeah, it's okay. Sorry, I cut you off. - No, I was just gonna say, I think doubt is one of the biggest things. I think it's even interesting. - God will you say. - Yeah. - Yeah, in the garden, you had the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then you had the tree of life. So you have this tree that gives life or you have this tree where you can know things. - Yeah. - And it might not lead to life. So are you going to not have to know everything and just trust and depend fully on God and have that life or are you gonna take from the tree where you, 'cause you want to know because you can't fully trust God. There's that element of doubt that's there, I think in every Christian life that we have to be really on guard against. - Yeah, we're sure. - Why moving on? Why is the word of God the only offensive weapon listed in the armor? - I wish there was a bazooka. (laughing) - I don't know why, but I don't know. - I want to blow something up. - Just press a button and a fire is from a long ways away. It'd be awesome. (laughing) - I just really want to see you fire a bazooka. - Obviously some of its context, right? I mean, they didn't have guns, they didn't have. So like if it was being written today, it might be something different. I think part of it is that. I mean, I think in some ways, I mean, our battle is a, hand to hand, it's a face to face. Like, it's hard. It's not like the warfare that we have now where you have 20 year old sitting in a trailer on an Air Force base flying. - VR. - Right, yeah, exactly. Like it's just very different. Whereas like real battles that we've, not that that's not a real battle, but like real battles are we face. Like you directly feel it. You feel the pressure, you feel the hurt, you feel the pain, you feel the, all of it. So I think that's part of it as well. - And it being the word of God, I mean, I think Jesus is the example for Paul of like, you know, when Jesus was tempted for 40 days, he fought with scripture. - Yeah. - And you know, the one moment of violence in Jesus' ministry when Paul cuts the, not Paul, Peter cuts the guys ear off, Jesus rebukes him for it. It's like, hey dude, live by the sword, you're gonna die by the sword. - Yeah. - And so I think that it's Paul using the context that he had and using the example of Jesus of saying, this is how we fight. - This is what we do. So. - Yeah, what would you say kind of going off of that and that's not listed on here? So I'm going right. - My goodness. - What would you say to people who try to use the sword in a way that, I think sometimes we can use it in a way that damages others, rather than bringing life, because I think in our minds, we think we're using the sword as the weapon as Paul's intending here. But, But we hurt people. Yeah. How do we not do that? I think it's always got to start with me. If I am ready to attack someone with scripture, I need to stop and pause and ask myself, what's my goal? Have I? Am I even in a position? You know, it's Jesus with the woman in adultery of like, hey, if you have no sin, you can cast the first stone. I think we really got to sit with that kind of thing if we are about to go after someone. Now I do think that there are moments where we have to share. I would say there's a difference between attacking and sharing. Yeah. Hey, I disagree with this policy based on what I believe scripture to say. I think that's the posture and the approach is what matters in that. But it's okay to have that position and say, I believe this is wrong because of this. But if you are attacking and going after someone and criticizing and judging, I think you do more harm than good when you use the Bible in that way. That was a jumbled answer, but I think somewhere in there is maybe something. Yeah, I think there are far too, too many people that choose not to step into conversations and use God's word. Then there are people who are using it to attack. I think there are too many Christians that are like, I'm afraid. I'm afraid. Yeah. We don't like, we're just talking one of our staff members. A buddy of mine just wrote a book and one of the, it's about team health and one of the core components is friction. And I'm like, man, I love that he put that in there because friction is a part of life. And you have to know how to trust people in the midst of friction and how to give grace. And all of that, well, when you see somebody doing something that is not living out God's word and you choose not to confront that. And I mean that like in a loving way, not like in an attacking way. But like you choose not to do anything about that. I mean, the Bible has some things to say about you. It's true. I'm more concerned about people who choose not to. There are people who use it to attack. And I would just say for you, like man, look in the mirror, you know, one of the old pastors of the church we came from, you would always say like, you got one finger pointing at you. You got three pointing back, you know, I never understood that until I've heard that before. I've never understood that until you just did it with your, yeah, unless you missed four digits. If you got, yeah, you got four. If you got, if you're like this, then that one's kind of pointing at me too. I got four, you know, it's like, yeah, I mean, you need to listen to that and obey that. I think that's most dangerous in marriages or dating relationships in a lot of times, you know, one or the other is like, well, the Bible says you should be doing this. Oh, man. And it's like, yo, let's maybe back off that. Sunday, one of the services that like I learned, it probably took me too long, but I would say very quickly in our marriage that I am not my wife's Holy Spirit. Yeah. I had, I definitely, she would tell you, I mean, I definitely use Scripture. You'd be like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she's like, really? Yeah. You're going to, you're going to do that. Yeah. I'm like, there's ways of it. Scripture, right? There are ways to have that conversation as a married couple to say, hey, I feel like we're missing it here, but it has to come from a place of humility. Yes. Not a, I read this and it says you're supposed to be doing this. I think, yeah. I'm not the one changing that. Yeah. Very loving to share God's words with others, but yeah, we are not the Holy Spirit. We're not the one that actually convicts. That's the Holy Spirit who brings the conviction and who brings the heart change. I can't change somebody's heart, but yes, I can share God's truth with them. I can give them light and hope and Jesus. What, what does it look like to actually use speaking on the topic? What does it look like to actually use Scripture in everyday situations? How does that play out? I think what I said on Sundays, one, you've got to know it. You've got to study it. It's really hard to be like, oh man, there's probably something that God says about this. Let me go figure it out. You know, like you're in the moment. You need to know in that moment. It doesn't mean you got to know all of Scripture and you have to have it all memorized. But a lot of situations, if you're walking through something and go look it up, Scripture is there, but we'll speak to that piece. So then you got to know it in advance. And then, like I said on Sunday, I think using it by speaking it over yourself, speaking it over, my wife and I had a conversation Sunday night and she was like, when you said this today in the message, this is how it spoke to me. And it was about speaking it over herself. And I'm like, thank you God. That's, we all need that. I needed, my wife needs it, my daughter needs it, my son needs it. We're our own biggest self-critic. And so if you can just like speak the word of God over you and literally you can just get no cards. You could have shared this before and I've shared it with people who have asked, like I wrote statements. I don't repeat them anymore, but for probably a year and a half every day I would repeat these statements over and over and over because I was struggling. Yeah. Like actually just believing what God says about me. And so you can write those statements about yourself. They're scripturally founded. And then just repeat that. And now these index cards that you wrote it on there and you put it in your bathroom, you put it in your car, like wherever you're going to go on a regular basis. So you see what does God say about me? Yeah. So those are some ways. Yeah, I think I don't have much to add to that. I think it's hard to use it if you don't know it. And so memorizing reading, studying, all of it. It's okay to also chew on it. It's okay to go slow. Yeah. You don't have to have it all right. Yeah. Sometimes I don't think it's bad to read through the Bible in the ear. Sure. It's great. I love the idea of just having that daily practice of reading the Bible, but it's okay to not finish it in a year. Like it's a big book and it's okay to go slow. There's a contemplative practice called lecdio divina. And it's like the practice of slowly reading a short passage of script reading on it and noticing a word in it and meditating on it and chewing on it. Like let yourself, I always say like we've got to not just ingest, but actually digest it. And that takes time. So don't put all this pressure on yourself to. Yeah, I think there's so many ways of reading and studying scripture that are all good in different ways. You know, there's the verse of the day in the Bible app. Okay, start there if you need to. That's great. There are some books in the Bible that I think are actually better read all at once. You know, some of the shorter letters, James, I think Jonah's a good one to read. Like some of the ones that you can read in one sitting. I think are best read in one sitting because you get the entire. Picture. The full picture of it. There is lectiodevina where it's like, you know what? I'm going to sit with this parable that Jesus told and just read it a few times and prayerfully read it. There's songs that you read and pray. Like there are different methods of doing it. And I think it's all valid. Just try different things. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just I'm going Old Testament book for one month, New Testament book for one month. Old to. So like right now I'm going to Cleasy Asties. Like I read it all in one sitting. The first round. Yeah. Then I'm in chapter five right now. What do we march 24th? Like I better speed this thing up. You know, but that I'm just I'm just letting it just. Yeah. Reemana. Yeah. Just get into me, man. I love that. Um, what did so we've been talking about spiritual warfare. We've been talking about the armor of God. And I am guilty of this too. So this question is for me as well. But what does it look like to move from being reactive to proactive in spiritual warfare? Man. I think it's waking up every day realizing that you are in a battle. It's when we lose sight of that that we become reactive. Right. Like there's I love studying battles. I love studying wars. I've talked about like I love war movies and all that. Some people get into the Civil War and some get into smoking meats. You went to Civil War. Yeah. While smoking meats. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man, when they hit middle age, you have to choose a path. It's one or the other. You mean to both? No. Oh. I'm not even looking for what's normal then. So I now just be a Corvette to drive it. And then I'm perfectly where I need to be. So like yeah, you think about war. Like there's not a soldier ever that was focused on what he was doing or she was doing that woke up one day. I was like, why am I today? What am I doing today? Like they knew. Right. Like if they're in the Civil War, man, they're living it. They're, our soldiers went to Afghanistan. They're living it. The ones right now that are serving in this one, they're living it. There's not a single second that they're like, oh, we just chill. You got to understand that that we are in a battle and put on that armor every day. We talked about it today and staff, right? But there's a busy season. And when you're busy, the enemy attacks in different ways. And we are guards can go down because we're so busy. So put on the armor every single day, guys. Remember, like the enemy is going to attack. There's certain seasons. I feel like those attacks are higher than other seasons. There are certain times of the day that the attacks are higher. I get attacked way more at like 11 o'clock at night than I do at 2 p.m. That's just the reality. My guard is down more than enemy knows that. So he's coming at me. So there's just, you have to step into certain moments every day knowing that there could be more attacks. Be ready. Be on guard. Be ready. Have that shield ready. When things happen, like, okay, Lord, what do you need me to do in this moment? It's asking a lot of questions and just being prepared, I think. Yeah, I agree with that. And for me, it's been just like recognizing patterns and what might seem like a coincidence sometimes of like, ah, the car's got a problem. Ah, the washing machine's got a problem. Oh, man, I'm struggling with my thoughts. And I'm not a person that's like the devil's under every rock and behind every problem. But there are seasons where I'm like, even if it's not a spiritual warfare thing, when my wife says, hey, the washing machine's got a problem. machines leaking and I'm like, I got that $400 car repair at the same time. Oh my gosh, that's a moment where call it spiritual warfare if you want. It probably is, I'm like, okay, God, I trust you. Whatever happens, I trust you. And so for me, those are the moments where I'm like, even if it's not like, all right, devil. You know, that kind of thing. It's like, whatever this is, I'm gonna choose a posture of trust right now. And to me, that's when I'm putting that armor on. I'm like, all right, whatever I need to do right now, I'm in lean into prayer, I'm in lean into scripture and God, I trust you, I surrender to you, whatever this is. So it's kind of just like noticing and choosing to engage that moment and not just like, oh, what was me? Here we go again, like, no, that's a moment to lean in and to trust. - Yeah, I think about Jesus who never really seemed like he was in a hurry or just, but when you look at his life, like he went about his father's business and he had several times in scripture where he mentions, that's what he's doing. Like, I am doing literally what the father is asking me to do. And that was this whole life. And I think about that. And I'm like, well, that was Jesus. Like, he was here and he had a purpose. And so that was his goal. But it's like, no, I am called to live that way too. So how in raising my kids and doing my job in just everyday interactions with other people, like, how am I going about the Lord's business? And am I even focused on that? Is my mind even on that? Or is it just on like getting from one hour to the next hour, which sometimes it is. And so that's where I have to redirect that focus. - And we see several times in the gospels where it'll say a little moment of like, and Jesus retreated to a solitary place. Are you going away to the wilderness or whatever? There are those little moments that you can see in between the seams. There's one in particular right after John the Baptist is beheaded and they come and tell Jesus and he wants to go away and then the crowd follows him. He does the miracle of feeding the 5,000. And then he sends the crowds away and it says and he retreated again. He sent his disciples ahead of him and he retreated. Those are the moments I think in the life of Jesus where he is preparing himself. He's recovering number one and preparing himself for what's next. And I think we have to have that as well. Whatever your rhythm looks like, I think we have to be able to retreat to a solitary place to be with God. However, that looks for you in the season that you have. I think it was Charles and John Wesley's mom who would like when she needed time to pray to put her apron over her head. And that was the signal to her children, like, "Leave me alone. I am in my prayer closet." Kind of a moment. I think I've got that right. I think it was John and Charles Wesley's mom. But I love that. It's like even a busy mom cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, all of that kind of stuff. She's like, "I got my moment. Leave me alone." I need to be with Jesus. - That's where a lot of people try to retreat to the bathroom. - Yeah. - Leave me alone in here. - Yeah. - You can still follow you in. - Oh, not my house. We locked the door. - This is my time. - You've been in there for three hours. - Yeah, I've been on. - You've been quiet. - There are many times with my kids where I take candy and go hide in the bathroom. - My wife called me in the cookie and the kitchen the other day. I got up from the dinner table to put something away and was like, "Pfft." - So that my kids wouldn't, because immediately you have candy. They're like, "Oh, it's awesome." - Yeah, it's awesome. - I thought you meant you take the candy, you retreat. And then when they come bother, you slip somebody underneath the door. - Yeah, leave me alone. Take a little candy, yeah. - Grime. - Yeah. - That would have been smart too, actually. All right, last question, and this is submitted to us. I am trying to use the sword, but currently feel like I'm only using a dull butter knife. My husband does not believe it all and is constantly telling me and our boys that the Bible was written to control people. It was all made up at that time. When they're needed to be ordered, how do I even begin to use my sword with him when I am just learning what it, what is what? - Yeah, first of all, great question. - Yeah. - I mean, like the honesty, the, even some of the pain that's in the question. - Yeah. - I love this question. I would say, first and foremost, we would love to take your husband to a coffee or I would love to. I mean, I love those conversations. It definitely was not written at a time that there needed to be control. The Roman government, especially New Testament, had a lot of control. - A lot of control, yeah. - There was not a lack of control anywhere. - These Bible almost threatened to control the people. - These men were killed for the way of life that they were advocating. - Yeah. - So, I mean, I would love that discussion, but again, it involves people going, if I believe this, then I might actually have to believe this. And so, I have to make up stories about this. So, I would say, first and foremost, if he's open, we would love to have that. I've said it multiple times. I've got multiple friends that attend here and they're atheists and we still grab coffee and grab lunches. And, I'm always shocked that they still come, but they do. And they're willing to ask hard questions and I'm willing to sit there and have a relationship and answer anything. I would just say that don't worry so much about using the word on him or for him or whatever. Use it for you. - Yes. - You know, one of the things that we're gonna talk about at Easter, should I work this out to Josh? - Yeah, sure, good problem. - No, one of these workshops in here, they're gonna workshop Easter's message. One of the things that I'm gonna talk about at Easter is like the resurrection doesn't change your circumstances, but it does change your hope, it changes your peace, it changes your purpose. So a person does that, that person is Jesus. So get to know Jesus more, read the gospel of John. Like, if you haven't, go there, read that. And then, read the Psalms. Like, there are Psalms where you're like, oh, they're filling my heartache right now. And then there are other Psalms that you're like, "Okay, I need to express joy in the midst of this, whatever I'm going through. Don't worry so much for understanding the word for your husband or to your husband. Understand it first for you. Read it for you. - I'm gonna encourage you. - Read it for your boys. Your boys will see a difference between you and him. And they'll want what you have. Everybody longs for joy, they long for peace, they long for something that is different in the midst of the heart. And they see what you're walking through. And if you can be different in the midst of the challenge, they're gonna want whatever you have. And that's Jesus. So that's what I would say. Like, just keep focusing on building up what God's word is and who He is and what He says to you, continue to build that up. And for your husband, just pray. That he'd be willing to have a conversation. Pray that he'd be willing to do some research. Pray, we'd listen to this podcast, right? Because we just talked about the manuscripts piece. Like, just begin to pray for him. Don't worry as much about the work. - Don't be like, you need to listen to this podcast, right? Yeah, yeah. Paul talks in 1 Corinthians 7 about a man or a woman having an unbelieving spouse and he says, "Hey, don't divorce them. "Not that this question is about that at all." But Paul is saying, "Hey, stay with that person." And he says in chapter 7, 16, "How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband "or how do you know husband, whether you will save your wife?" He's saying, stay with them, keep going. - Who knows? - Keep the faith and be the example, basically. So yeah, my thought when I saw this question is, I would remove the like, making your husband believe in the Bible, part of it and just everything you said, just like focus on yourself, follow Jesus, trust him, love, serve, and just let God continue working on him. And don't try to force anything. - There's a great author named Lee Strobel. He's also a theologian. He's a preacher, he's a pastor. He was a Chicago Tribune investigative reporter. Atheist, his wife started going to church, he accepted Christ, her life began to change, and he hated it. It talks about this, like he really despised because he's like, I'm an atheist, like I'm not, we're not doing this. And so he said, but her life got so much better. Like she just became filled with joy and excitement and a peace. And when I'm like struggling, she's like, it's okay, God's gonna take care. I'm like, God, I'm leaving God. And he's like, finally, he was like, if I can prove to you that God is not real, will you stop believing? She's like, share, go for it. And then he goes through this long-adversificative journey. And he ends up writing a book called The Case for Christ, which is one of the best sellers in Christianity. And it's just about his journey. And he actually proves Jesus to be real. And not just Jesus is a historical figure, but Christ, the Messiah, real. In his own journey to try to prove God wrong because his wife, her life looked different. You're simply that. - Yeah. I would also just like to say, just know you are seen and you are loved. And the same Holy Spirit that was in Paul and the people who wrote these gospels and these letters, like it's in you. And he can give you the strength and have community. If you don't have good community, good fellowship with other believers, like I've really encouraged you to get plugged in just because they can be the ones that come along side of you and continue to encourage you and build you up, especially in the Bible and in the Word. So that's super important. But you are seen and you are loved and God knows exactly what you need for you and for your boys and even for your husband. So trust that. - Yeah. - Oh yeah. Yeah. Well. - Well. - Thank you. That concludes our series on the armor of God. - That's so. - Got Palm Sunday this Sunday. Easter Sunday. Lots going on. - I can't. - I can't. - I can't. - Oh. - Mm-hmm. - Lots of stuff. - And if you missed the past two messages on the helmet or the sword, you can find those on our website under our series up and I would really encourage you to check them out 'cause they were really good. So yeah. Thanks guys. - Awesome, thanks. - Yeah.