Renewed 2026 Session 4 Message with Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Welcome. Hi. What's up? Welcome back Johnny. Oh hi. Oh the bands back together. Oh, I Forgot it wasn't here I know you're like wait, we're gonna go We didn't forget I have I have something instead of asking how your weekend was now Johnny asked a great Question on Sunday was it was such a great question such a good question And I wanted to hear everyone's answers So I thought I would ask you guys if money and time were to an issue where would you travel to? Can I say all three of the different answers you gave me every time I want to stage earn a set Fiji Tahiti I'll end with an I yeah, there's a theme there those so I would answer this in two different ways If it was if you if you asked me that question my first response is gonna be one of those three because that's where Sarah wants to go Okay, she wants to go one of those little hut over the water sure with the glass floor Yeah, she wants to do that. Yeah, if you were to ask me if I got to choose then it would be an article I knew you were gonna say so like crazy place. That's my last time. I was gonna say this the only place you have a vent to your right Con not the only place only continent. Yes Are you gonna do is it a goal to do it? Our best friends we're saving up now No, that's so cool. It's expensive to take a real I'm sure it is down there. You have to cross isn't there? Okay, okay, I was like I cannot I'm not gonna Sunk more ships than I think any other body of water crazy. I've seen like TikTok videos and they put like eerie music to the waves can get up to like 60 80 feet Whoa, yeah, just come over the boat Absolutely not I would be puking my brains It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be awesome I really want to go to Israel at some point when things are on fire over there There's a tattoo shop is the oldest tattoo shop in the world. They've been doing tattoos stamps for I think 700 years over 700 years and it's it's been passed on no no it's been passed around through the same family though And so they're like the 27th 28th generation or whatever and I followed them on Instagram So that's not the only reason I want to go to Israel obviously Bible history and all of that tattoo So they so that's the thing they're they use these stamps and the stamps are 700 years old And so there's all these old school designs where it's like here's the resurrection or like here's Jesus on a cross And like if you were to just see one randomly you'd be like that's a child's drawing But when you see like the history of it you're like oh, there's like a 700 year old Christian tattoo stamp And they're pretty cool Matt Chandler actually got a big one on his forearm and I'm pretty jealous about that And so there's a couple that I've looked at and I'm like yeah, I would really get that one But they actually because of the state of Israel They have been traveling to the United States the last like two years and going around the country and doing their stamps They can't do that they haven't they can yeah, they bring them No, I'm saying you can't me why because you gotta be like I got this tattoo That's kind of why yeah, like they haven't come anywhere in your Denver But I did think about like traveling to Kansas City yet, but then it was like yeah, I want to get it in Israel man Do they have a piece of pizza? No, they don't know So I would want to go to Israel, but I also I haven't been to Europe I haven't spent any time in Europe. I've flown through like London and whatever So anywhere in Europe I'd like to go spend some time anywhere anywhere. Yeah, all of the places in your room I mean, yeah, like I'm becoming more of a history person as I get older and so I'm like really interested and see in like old historical stuff So yeah Shannon can I ask you a question? Sure. Did you ask this opening question? As a way to get me to just admit that you gave me that greeting question on Sunday? Thank you About three minutes before service started at the eight o'clock I said to Shannon and the lobby. I need a greeting question. I have nothing and she said okay and pulled her phone out And then I ran to do something else and came back and she had that question and I said great thanks And then what decided and did it? I've been thinking about this question all week But when I thought it was cool, I sat in on the 8 a.m You asked that question and the whole audience went oh They were like yeah, and then after service Shannon did what she's done here today. It was like that was a good question Yeah Shannon's plan you know I have lived a sad life oh Oh, we just talked about her being emo on Yeah, I lived a great life, but I didn't get to go anywhere like my parents did not have many travels So there's so many places that I haven't been so I'd want to go and want to go to Japan I want to do the British I can't believe that in say Japan. That's a top of my list I want to do I want to go to Dubai, but as like a really rich person And do all the cool things in Dubai, you know like they have the hotel buy an island. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but like you know They have the hotel in the sky with the loading pool and stuff like that. I don't think I'd be able to afford that now Yeah, but yeah, I would like I'd also like to go to Europe But mainly so they could go you can go and do a Jane Austen tour and you can see like all the places where you really were emo wow I literally have a quote from her book on my arm. That's great. I like her a lot So yeah, anyway, all right. Well Before we jump in We had some big news this weekend. I want to see you want to talk about it. Yeah, we're going for services guys. Yep. Do you know that? No, I had no idea when I announced it Where can you imagine? Well, oh, yes, we can't actually imagine we have been involved in churches. We're announcements. We're made from stage Like that. Oh, okay. Oh, we're doing that. Oh, that's new. That's what we're doing. Okay. Yeah. Yep No, our team knew For service starting August 15th, which is a Saturday. So Saturday night service Um, it's been cool man. I think first and foremost. I was not expecting the applause Um, at each service that that people gave especially I felt like the 11 o'clock was very exciting. I was pumped um Well, it's it's tight in there. So they're yeah, they're feeling it. They're feeling it um And and then just people reach it out like man, we're so thankful. We you know, we're gonna be serving We're gonna be you know that type of and honestly that's the only way we make this happen is by serving. I mean, we're just the biggest number We've ever shop for but 300 people to join our surf team and Um, you know, the good news is we've grown by way more than 300. Yeah, so we have the people. Mm-hmm. It's just you know Um, will it you know, what will people say? Yeah, I want to be on the team. Yeah, I want to serve and the beauty of that is you can serve once a week You can serve once a month like you there's everything in between Mm-hmm. You know, obviously the more you're engaged with like Uh, leading people like like saying kids ministry. Mm-hmm. The more we want you to be involved because the more we need that commitment Yeah, yeah, and connect with the kids exactly. Yep But you know, you you can do other things that are less. Mm-hmm. But it's we need everybody like we need with you know, to be a better church We need you. Yeah, so I don't think people sometimes realize what it takes to add another service Yeah, like just you know brass tacks when we we had a staff meeting a couple weeks ago and we were like all right What do we need and for guest experience which is greaders cafe ushers connections communion prayer. I feel like I miss them one To add a Saturday my ideal number for an every other week rotation is 75 people. Yeah, and that is That is one area one service to get people to not be serving every single week to have like an actual Rotation through all of those things and so you know the numbers when you add them up It's like okay. Well, we need like 10 graders. Okay 10 times - this 20 people. Okay. We need eight communion people Okay, that's 16 people and you just start to go from there. It's like oh yeah exactly. Yeah, and that's one of those ministries I mean guest experience one of those ministries you don't really think about people don't really think about When they're thinking about having to add. Yeah, you think about kids. Yeah, I think about worship. Yeah You know those two for sure Need a lot of people But you know something like guest experience also because you wanted to feel like home. Yeah, you don't want there to be like a All this is like the red headed step child of the services. You can't have that Yeah, you walk in and like one communion stations being served or something like that Yeah, that's lame. Yep, so all right So we'll see yeah and just to get specific on that if anybody is interested if you're hearing this maybe you missed it on Sunday Our website from range.org. There's a there's a connect tab on there and underneath that says serve That is the place to go There's a sign-up form on there all the teams are listed on there And if you're not ready to fill the format that's okay. Let's just start a conversation email Any of us and we can talk or talk to us on Sunday and if you're currently serving shoulder tabs somebody Yeah, yeah invite somebody You know you know somebody else is not currently serving Just say hey for next six months. Would you consider it? Yeah, you know give a time frame. That's fine Like you can commit to six months then you know The goal would be that we would be able to grow and all of the services because we have room now or you know We'll have room and then we can backfill so what would you say to someone who's like? Oh, well, I've never done that before like I've never done kids before I don't know like what if I don't like it like what if I get in and I don't like it If you don't know if you'll like serving in kids ministry, I could probably tell you to maybe don't serve in kids Don't try um so like greeting if you can smile and say good morning then man. We got a spot for you If you don't want to smile and say good morning to people and maybe just want to wave to people go in the parking lot if you Want to if you want to hide from people then go make coffee in the kitchen You know like we can get you in there. We also always say like if it's not working if it's try something else Try something else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like if you get into it and you're like yeah, I'm really not good at this Or it's that's not something I'm passionate about. Yeah, that's okay, too That's a key piece like we always say in serving like it's not it's not where our needs. Yeah We have needs every because you just always Where's the greatest need I just told you any 75 people exactly so the greatest need is everywhere right exactly So it's really like how has got wired you yeah, we want you to walk away, but like man That was yeah, that's filled my tank. Yeah. Yeah All right, well we are in our third and final week of our digital detox series also our last podcast of this until August Yes, yes, we're gonna take a summer break and then start season two is what I'm affectionately Three it might be three, but I'm not break over Christmas. Did we yeah? Oh, yeah, does that count as a season or is it a school year? I don't know man who knows no one said so I'm just saying Okay, if you have missed any of the previous episodes you can always go back and watch some on our series Hub and once again the point of this series was not to demonize technology but rather to Examined just how it's having an impact on our lives. So Before we jump into some questions Ernest you want us let us know What did it make it into the message this week? Yeah, I would say two things they made it in but like very briefly one was the Where Jesus right before the passage in Luke 14 Talks about the banquet of God and basically the salvation call and I just love that he He gives a salvation call before the call of counting the cost of being the Cypal You know, it's like I think so many times in the in Christianity and especially in the church world churches can either be so focus on Evangelism or so focus on discipleship. Yeah, but Jesus didn't do that. He put the two together You know, so it's like hey here's salvation for all and if you are going to truly be a follower of me here's the cost Yeah, yeah, so I think that I would have loved to have like really just tease that out more The other one is the the salt You know talked about salt, but I think the I Think what this world is missing a salt. I think there's missing it's missing believers who are not going after an agenda We're going after their own personal whatever But that they're trying to be salt they're trying to bring flavor and they're trying to preserve the righteousness and truth of God and That in the salt is how this world is going to be transformed like truly and so I think If I did this a little bit more the 11 o'clock, you know, you you heard it I I can see Johnny's getting Johnny getting nervous over there nervous and you did not have to name me Johnny's thinking cut your message earnest and I'm sitting on the furrow minding my own business I was I was helping out in kids that they live and I missed it I started getting a must so I did I Teased it out I teased this one I did Jesus part out. Yeah, I was just talked about like Colorado and my people leave and like if if believers leave this place gets darker The only way that we change this place is my by more light and people are like yeah, I mean they may never get excited I was getting yeah, and I was like all right. I got to cut Johnny's good. Johnny's gonna tell me just shut your message off or whatever It is true though at the 11 you're free bird Yeah, you can just go to the floor. So if you watch it online me more you're watching errands in the room going Yeah, Aaron's going can we please? I'm not gonna have to cut a song Every service Aaron and I had to give hand signals to one another if we were gonna do two or one It was very it's very Slime on the basic guitar back there with his number two That's right. Well this week you did challenge us by talking about beginning with the end in mind And essentially if we continue living digitally exactly as we are today, where does that road lead us? And is it where we actually want to go and we looked at Luke 14 Versus 25 through 35 but Jesus says something pretty shocking in verse 26 He says if anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother wife and children brothers and sisters Yes, even their own life such a person cannot be my disciple and I loved what you talked about you explain that Jesus isn't saying like Hitcher family but rather we're called to love him more than we love anything else And we did get a question about that if they did not intend to mean hate Why didn't they change it when they updated the Bible to English? Yeah, that's a really good question. We talked a little bit I don't remember when a while back about Translations and whatnot and kind of how the Bible was formed a little bit and I think that's an important piece to understand Different translations like some translations Will translate paragraph by paragraph some will do sentence by sentence some will do word by word So a NIV is what we use on Sundays and that's a word by word So if you do that Well, there's not a word that says love a great deal Yes, you know like that there was a an air make word that yeah that in fact We have a we had a lady in our church. I was talking to her afterwards and and she speaks air make and that's the She grew up in an air make church and and her mom as well. So she was texting her mom. She was like mom What does this word mean? And she was using that word and she was like Well means to like Let go, but that's not what it means Like she was having a hard time. Yeah telling her Yeah, what it meant which ultimately was what what I did say and so then you get Luke who is translating who is relaying what Jesus spoken air make writing it in Greek that then gets passed down through Latin to English right all the way All the way out there. How do we understand that? Yeah, it's a tough one. So like there's there's just not a word But like if you go to the the message the message does a more of a general paraphrasing It says anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of so that's actually what that lady said Yeah, she was like, but that's not it either, but it's not eight. It's she was just struggling to like it's not interesting And that's the thing about the Bible tree like and when you're translating it there are some words that you know These authors use that we don't have a good English word to describe it. Yeah And that just is what it is. Yeah, so either which is why it then takes Your own personal study or someone with an education saying hey, let's talk about this together and let's understand That's why I love the Sunday morning context who's like you get to go and spend all this time digging into commentaries and whatnot for the average person Who's like Jesus said hate your mother what in the world and then we get to go? Okay, well, let's talk about it Like that's why I love the community together. Yeah, so to help us Well, that's why church is so important too, right? Like most people don't have the time or know where to go even the We have a ton of resources that we give to know how to tease that out and dissect that yeah, but we do so That's why we're gonna give you if especially if there's an important word like that. We're gonna give you that piece I think this weekend. There's another one same thing. I'm using the Greek You know like if it's necessary We need to to dissect it and figure out what it is. Yeah, but that's why I mean it's it's not because the the English was better It's actually because the English was was imperfect in its translation But there's just nothing better to say yeah, and I think that's that's why it's so important to you to not just take a word That you feel like you know the context of based on your cultural context and just run with it. Yeah, you know Because if you do that then you you're getting some weird theology about hating your family And that's not what Jesus was saying Well, also if you look at just the word itself. I mean we say man, I hate this traffic Yeah, and we say man, I hate this coffee. I hate my family. Well, when you put it to family it goes to another level, right? Whereas That he's clearly not using the other level of hate so but when we read it and we attach it to family Yep, it'd be like if I said man, I really I really love the temperature outside. Oh man. I really love K. So from Yolanda's Yeah, I really love my kids You put love at a different level very different. I know yeah, immediately. I know you're talking about your kids on a different level than you're talking about the kids though Yeah, so that's what's hard if you read this if you're in a different context You're a different season of life. You might read hate lower might read it higher. Mm-hmm. So there's just no perfect word for yeah, let's go You also said and I really appreciate I really liked this part You said if we are receiving the salvation of God then we're also signing up to be his disciples And I was sort of thinking about that and I do think Sometimes people don't Sign up to be Jesus disciples, but they want the benefits of Jesus. What do you think the difference is there? How do we how do we like really look and examine and being like do I just want the benefits of Jesus or am I actually Like ready to be his disciple? Yeah, I think some of that is like culturally um Um, you know like if you grew up in a house where You were just taught Christianity then you might think Christianity is good for me because it was good for my parents Because that's what I was taught or whatever. So like being a disciple I don't really know what that means like I don't know if I'm signing up for this right but I'm signing up for this good thing that I heard about growing up type thing Yeah, um or some people are like man. I'm really messed up. I don't want to go to hell and so I'm gonna accept Jesus You know, but wait, it's more than just accepting Jesus like what what does that mean? And so I think there's I think there's part of that in there I think the benefits obviously, you know, we know like obviously it's heaven and it's you know salvation and it's joy and it's all these different things But a lot of times people think that that means one day. That's like a that's like an indestination type thing. Yeah, rather than it's also a part of the journey. Yeah, that we're on like you should be experiencing joy in the journey You should have hope in the journey. You should have peace in the journey So then when life does hit, when life is hard, it's like, "Ah, I'm good, because I can have peace because Christ, "not I'll have peace one day." - Yeah. - You know, something. - Yeah. - What would you say to someone? It's funny because I just saw something a clip on this, but it was somebody talking about, Christians don't suffer enough today, and they don't want to suffer, and they reject suffering. Which I think there's a little component of that, but I also was like, "Ooh, I think maybe "you're going a little too hard on suffering." There's some balance in there in that, you know, some people have this idea of Christianity and discipleship that it is all just suffering. - Yeah. - And I think what you were just talking about too, is like, there is joy, there is peace, and I don't know, but I personally think that suffering is, there's a purpose in it that you look more like Jesus at the end, but that you're not just current. You're just not just suffering your entire Christian life. - Yeah, I was listening to a podcast on this yesterday, actually a church historian was talking about the desert fathers and how many of them they ended up in the desert because they were choosing to abstain from the culture at the time and the evils of the culture, but also they were choosing suffering as like a spiritual discipline. And some of it can get a little goofy, right? - Yeah. - Where it's just like, you know, the flogging yourself, or, you know, self-slogilation, whatever, like take into an extreme is not good, but the discipline of fasting is choosing suffering. And so, and Jesus did that, right? And so there is that balance of, sometimes we do have to choose to abstain or choose something that is against our natural tendency instead of choosing comfort. And so there's that weird balance between suffering and comfort that I think somewhere in the middle is following Jesus. And yes, it's just an interesting thing to think about. Is it truly suffering just because we're uncomfortable? - Yeah, I think it depends on what it is. I think it's gross. - Yeah, I would say, I didn't hear what you saw, but I would say, I probably lean toward what you described that person saying, if they're not saying like, you need to be putting yourself in like poverty and going to the desert and flogging yourself and stuff like that. - Yeah. - But like suffering is, like, it's what I said on Sunday, it's counting the costs and choosing to sacrifice this, which some people would say is suffering. You know, you're choosing not to go on vacation so that you get like, Saturday night, we're talking the other day, we were on a walk and we were talking like, oh man, we loved it. We had our fifth wheel, right? We had a pull behind trailer. We love that campaign. And so I was like, what'd you love most? What do you miss the most? We just ask so much questions, right? And what, so, I mean, we love that. One day we wanna do it again. Why do we get rid of it for the church? We did for the church for the city. We sold it to be able to get money to the church. That's suffering. Now, I mean, in our context, I didn't die for the gospel, right? - Yeah, yeah. - But like, we gave up something we love to do to family. - Sacrifices me. - You made us sacrifice. - Yeah, I don't necessarily think that the opposite of suffering is comfort or the opposite of comfort is suffering. I do think that in our context, we tend to lean more towards our own comfort than anything that even may look like sacrifice or suffering. - Yeah. - I think that lends to the bigger question of like, well, are you also just in it for the benefits that Jesus gives? - Yes, exactly. - Because I mean, there's so many people who I've met who get angry at God because something in their life didn't go well. - Yeah, for sure. - And it's like, well, are you only signed up for Jesus because of what you get for him instead of staying? - Well, prosperity gospel, right? You give money. And then therefore God will double that or give you 10 fold. And when he does it, you're like, what, blah, blah, blah. You're like, okay, that's the first verse, that's scriptural. Second of all, like, you're giving to get, that is the part that is really not scriptural. You know, you should be giving because God calls you to get not because you want to then receive a check in the mail. So, yeah, we, I think we struggle with that in our Western world. Like for sure. You go to Kenya, you go to China, you go to some of these other places and like, I mean, you look at them and you're like, holy crap. Like, I live in a lot of comfort. And I don't think there's anything wrong with our society and with some of the comforts we have. - You are in the place where God has best you. - Yeah, exactly. The question is, God, do you want me to give this up? - Yeah. - Right, do you want me to focus? - And I think it's, I think it is a particular challenge of those of us who live in an affluent Western culture to actively choose sacrifice and suffering, fasting, things like that to prepare us. Well, I would say multiple reasons. Either to prepare us for a future actual suffering moment or to help us identify with those who are fully suffering in other ways that we may never see. And so, yeah, you choose to give up food for a while to remind yourself that God is your provider and that there are people who do live in the world who don't know where their next meal is coming from, who are trusting God. And it prepares you for the future where you are missing something that you feel like you need and you're like, you know what, I have practiced for this. I have learned to trust God in those smaller moments and I can trust him in this one. There's all of that sort of stuff wrapped up in that sort of discipline. - So we have people in our church that they will, for their tithes or offerings, they will write the checkout and like, they do everything else online, but they will write the check because they, for them, that's how they feel it. - It's a physical act, you know, they're like, "Oh yeah, instead of just getting automatically taken out of here." - Right, which for me though, every time I see a moment I can take it out, I feel like, "Yeah, wow." - Yeah, wow. - Yeah, wow. - Especially sometimes when the paycheck comes like a couple days before. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And then you're like, "Oh yeah, oh, that was good." Take it out. (laughing) - That's great. - Yeah. - All right, well when Jesus talks about discipleship, what is the end goal? Like what is he hoping for you to be a disciple and to even disciple? - What's he hoping for you, Shannon? (laughing) - Hostage. (laughing) - I mean, be holy for I'm holy. - Mm-hmm. - I mean, I think that's a central theme throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament is our call. Now we cannot be holy without the righteousness of Christ. - Right. - Like there is no, we can't do it on our own. But once we have accepted Christ and we have begun that relationship and become a disciple, then yeah, it is a constant state of, transforming, becoming pure, transforming our minds. I mean, just it's constant of like, okay, I'm not there yet. - Yeah. - You know, I'm not there either, where it used to be. - Yeah. - But I'm not there. - Yeah. - So I think that's a, I mean, and I think as you are holy for he is holy, then that's when you become more like salt. That's when you become that flavor, that pleasing aroma that I talked about on Sunday. That's where you become all those things. And then people are like, I want that person's whatever they got. - Yeah. - I want that. - Yeah. I have a great story about that. I was working at a hotel and it was not a great place to work, like it was just sort of miserable. Everybody just did not like being there. And there was this one security guard and he was always happy. And he would always just come in and be so kind and just like, so like, hey, how's it going? He'll stop. He'll talk to people, you know, really like, you can just tell genuine. And I had mentioned it one day. And this is me being a Christian. I had mentioned it one day to a coworker who was not a Christian. And I was like, man, he's just so great. Like his countenance, everything that's like, this place like cannot bring him down. And she looked at me and she goes, oh, he's got God in him big time. - Oh wow. - And I thought, what an amazing thing for someone to say about you. - Yeah, well, it really convicted me. - Yeah, for sure. - Yeah. - Oh man, like, I'm not, like she's not saying that about me. - She's about me. - Maybe she did. - Maybe she did. - This was when I was in my early 20s. So maybe not. - She was in that emo phase. The emo phase, yeah. I would say to that question, the way that I think about it is Jesus is the goal. And what I mean by that is, I think it was Dallas Willard that, you know, when in the 90s, what would Jesus do? Thing was going around. Dallas Willard would say, what would Jesus do if he were you? Meaning like, your personality, your experiences, your particular gift mix. The example that Jesus sets in Scripture is the goal. He is the redemptive, perfect human that we were meant to be without sin. And so his love, his kindness, his generosity, his miracle working, all of those things is what we are meant to be practicing our lives to become more like. And so with my history, my experience, how can I live the sermon on the mount? How can I love my enemy? How can I pray for those who persecute me? How can I forgive all those things? That is the end goal of discipleship that God would make me look like Jesus as He's created me. How can I do those things? So. And even that we are the image bearers. Yeah. Yeah. Are we actually bearing the image of God? Yeah. How does technology fit into this conversation? It's bad and we should stop. [LAUGHS] That's not true. That's good and we should keep. That was the point of the series, right? And there's a whole point. It's bad. We're not doing it. Yeah, exactly. Everybody throw away your phones. And actually, give me your phones. I will take care of them for you. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, yes, you have to be cautious, put up the right boundaries on technology that a distraction. That was a whole point of the message was there's distractions out there. They keep you from going after the end goal. Well, even asking the question, is it keeping you? Where's it helping? I mean, you can't help. Yeah, like I'm making a, I'm making a series hub that hopefully you'll look at on your web on your phone for the next series and like there's resources on there that are digital. We hope you use them. Yep. So like it can be both. I will say at 100% does impact you negatively. Yes. 100%. Yeah. It can impact you positively. Yes. We have to choose that though. We have to be very proactive and intentional with choosing that. And have boundaries. Yeah. But the other one it just comes. It's just it's just naturally. Really good point. Yeah. So I think it can be both or it is one and it can can be used for good. You just have to figure out how to do it. So even like even for me during the series, like I was like, all right, how do I better use it when my kids, you know, and we just got them phones before that they had this, I don't know what it was called. It's an old old thing. Yeah. No, yeah. No. No. It's like a circle or something. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. It was awesome. But but now they have phones and you know, super limited on everything. You can control everything, which is nice. But I'm like, okay, how do I use this? And so I'm sending them worship songs. I'm sending them scripture. Like, hey, as I was studying God's Word today, here's what I felt like the Lord say to me, like just trying to show them because they don't see me reading the Bible. Yeah. Because I don't do that around them. There's two distracting. So they know dad's bearer, whatever. But like I I want them to know how I process and how I learn. So now I'm starting. So that's just one thing. So it can be used for good. Use it to be intentional with it. Yeah. Yeah. My kids here, my Bible project, Kappati asked all the time. So just some listening to it. They're probably like, oh, I'm a car again. I'll listen to it again. Yeah. I will sometimes I'll be listening to one and I'll, because you know, your phone connects to Bluetooth and it just plays whatever you're doing. I'll let it go for a little bit in the car. I just see like, and my kids are young. And just to see which one of them or if either of them are going to like, what's going on in like, and no, sometimes there would be a question. But yeah. I just they're doing the 10th maintenance and they just did honor your father and mother. And I was like, just turn that up. Yeah, let's listen to what guys want everybody to be quiet. So listen to what Dr. Tim Mackey has to say here today. We're going on a one hour drive. Yeah. Yeah. Where to? No, where? To wherever. Where ever I say we're going, Radiance. Yeah. Yeah. One hour drive to a beat. I'm going to do that as like when they're fighting next time. I'm like, get in the car. Oh my god. There we go. Ladies. That's amazing. All right. This you talked about how Jesus compares us to salt and how when salt lose it, we've been talking about this. How when salt loses its saltiness, it becomes useless. This is pretty much what you talked about on Sunday and how it's possible. Things are distracting us to the point of uselessness. And this idea of salty, I was thinking about this just about, is it just about doing forgot or is it possible? A Christian can be spiritually busy but still be ineffective. What do you mean by spiritually busy? I don't know. Yeah. You wrote the question. Well, no, but that's the question. Let me start by saying. What is is that possible? Maybe it's not. Let me start by making sure it's very, very clear on what I was trying to say on Sunday. I was not saying somebody's life is useless. No, no, no. No, I thought you were clear. I want in 11. Yeah. No, no, no, I said no, I just wanted. I felt that I could do your attention and I was sitting at 11 was when I sat in and I watched you very carefully step into using that word useless. And I thought you if someone is charitable, I think they would have heard what you said, because I was sitting there going, he did not say I'm useless. He did not say that. And so anyway, yeah, the clarification is good. You're just you are useless as a disciple if you are not counting the cost. Yeah. And you're not living your life for him. That's the reality. It's a hard reality, but it is. Yes. Yes. Yeah. But your life is not useless. Yeah. And that always can change. Yeah. Like your uselessness as a disciple can always change to being useful. Now to your question, I would say, yes, of course, like just because you're doing stuff doesn't mean that you're actually making a difference. Yeah. I mean, I take the hotel example, I mean, not to put you on the spot. Very similar story of working in retail and like people knew I was a Christian, but I was a jerk. And so like you probably were reading your Bible and praying every day, hopefully, maybe whatever. And yet felt like people aren't really noticing it. And I have the same sort of journey and different points of my life of like, man, I wasted my witness, I wasted my time. I was ineffective. I was useless at that time for what God could have used me to do if I had just gotten out of my own head and stop being such a jerk all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or like, I mean, you guys know, I do, I work for organization that helps churches find staff. And I mean, how many staff have I tried to find for churches because the previous staff, they were doing all the right things. And yet behind the scenes, they were cheating on the wife. The wrong thing. They were other things. So they were spiritually active. Yeah. They were not, I would say, they were not salty. Yeah. You know, they were, they were doing the right, they were checking a box. And I think that's the danger in following Christ is thinking that, oh, it's a check box. Yeah. If I just do these five things every day, that I'm good to go. And it's like, no, no, no, that's not it. Yes, those things are important. Whatever those things are probably important to be being a disciple. But just because you do those things doesn't make you a disciple. Yeah. Are you ordering your life around Christ in a way that says, I am surrendering my own will in order to do your will. And it isn't, it is not just once a day in the morning, maybe sort of thing. It is a moment by moment decision of just daily like, yeah, Lord, what is it that you have in this? What is it that you want? Like, I don't know, maybe that's a piece of it. But yeah, yeah. All right. At the end, you challenge us to kind of take stock of where our lives are headed. You gave us a tool that had some questions. You can, which you can find on our series of, thanks to Johnny. What would you say to the person who answers those questions? Honestly, it doesn't like the answers, but feels like it's too overwhelming to change. How do you eat an elephant? One bite. I never have. I don't know. It's probably not tasty. Actually, how do you cook an elephant? It's what I want to know. Over fire. But I mean, it's got to be, it's got to be tough meat images that are going through my mind. Sure. Yeah. I mean, really, it's more step at a time. It's first of all, good job. Yeah. Like actually taking a mentor. Did you win and answer the questions? Yeah. And you're honest. Yeah. If you don't, if you answer those questions, you don't take a step back and go, I got some changes to make. Yeah. Then you're lying. Yeah. You know, I mean, just let's just be real. You have at least one change to make. Yeah. If you actually answer those things, honestly. So, yeah, just take it one step at a time. Don't feel like you've got to go be Superman, superwoman, and do it all at the same time. Like take one step and then see what got us and then take the next and then take the next. And it's like when we come to faith in Christ, I remember when I came to faith and I knew like, all right, I had to give up the drugs, I had to give up the drinking and to give up like the sexual stuff. So once I gave those things up, God was like, and now this and this and this, I'm like, okay. And now, you know, I don't know, I'm almost 30 years walking with Christ. Yeah. If God would have told me 30 years ago that you're going to have all of these things to clean up. I'd have been like, I can't. I'm not sure. There's not a chance. I didn't think I could do the first three. Yeah. You know, and so the Holy Spirit is so gracious and will guide us and direct us. So it's like one of the three circles, right? When you first get saved, you're like, man, this is the bull's eye. I got to just stop the drinking or whatever. And then in his kindness, the Lord reveals another inner circle and another and and the the goal for me at 39 is to be 89 and the Lord still revealing more concentric circles of sin in my life that need me to. I can't even even bother with those are going to be. Yeah. I told someone recently there, there of an advanced generation and, you know, using language like, oh, no, I'm not, I'm not. I'm not more wise or generation. Yeah, more wise or. Yes. Described it as that advanced generation. Yeah. More seasoned. Insulting. And and I was trying to encourage this person that like, you are of such value to me personally at your age, no offense by that. But at your age, being able to show me that you're still learning and growing, I want every bit of whatever it's taken to get you there at your age still learning. Yeah. That's who I want to be when I grow up. So like, that's what it's about when you get to advance the advanced generation. Yes, exactly. Yeah. That's awesome. I call it now from now on. Yeah, I think the, I think one of the things that we sort of forget is the first part of spiritual formation is awareness. You become aware of these things that you're like, okay, this is not how God is intended. But then, then you get to bring that to the Lord. You get to say, all right, this is obviously an issue. Let's let's take care of it. Let's work on it. So it's good. Yep. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you, guys. Yeah. Cool. It's been a long season. Oh, long season. Hey, don't, don't, don't miss Father's Day. Oh, I agree. Don't miss father. Yeah. I'm not a father and I agree. (laughing) - Dude, don't miss it. Ladies don't miss it. - No one's gonna miss it. - It's gonna be good. - My god has got some really cool stuff. - And hey, you might see the longest service we've ever done in our lives. You might see two services become one. We don't know. - No, you won't. - We don't know. - If it happens, no one's gonna be awesome. Well, thank you guys. Just a reminder, this is our last podcast episode until August. - Do do do. - We take a little break for the summer but as always, again, if you missed any of the messages, if you've missed any of the episodes, now you have the time to catch up and go back in the distance. So there you go. - You get a break in between season, something in season something. - Season something. - And if you need another podcast, practicing the way with John Mark Comer, they're doing this series on a book called Water from a Deep Well. They're looking at church history. If you're a nerd like me, it is awesome. I love it. They talk about martyrs in the first century and like, oh, it's so good. - I also heard. - I also heard Pastor Aaron is thinking about starting a podcast and he just needed some encouragement from people to start it. - Definitely go encourage him. - Yeah, go encourage him to start one. - Yeah. - Where's that a camera I could turn to? - Aaron right now. Preferably. - His finger is on the stop button. - He's right here. - He's ready to start this. - Preferably while he's leading worship. - Yeah, that's great. - Yes. - And one more time, if you want to sign up to serve, you can do that at www.frontrange.org/surfing. - Yep, perfect. Goodbye, peace.