So what's going on, everybody?

Hey, everybody. How's everybody today?

Yeah, good.

Yeah. I'm glad you're fine.

If that's. If that was not so great, well, we'll be praying for you because that stinks.

We know how that goes.

Yeah, we have days like that. We actually had a podcast that talked about Bad Days. Bad Days. Not too long ago, it feels like. Well, I guess it's been a while.

It's been longer. We don't. We've been through some things, but I.

Think we had that a video recording, didn't we?

We did. We did have it. So go back, see if you can find our episode on Bad Days. Could be just for you.

Yeah.

But in any hand anyway. So, yeah, I hope everybody's doing good today. I'm Matt.

I'm Derek.

And we are hosts of the Truth Response. And I are glad that you're here today. We have. Well, we're going to go to something we like to do today, which is we have the talking point cards. We're going to do that again. But before we get to that, I just want to mention something that was pretty cool.

Yeah.

So last Sunday, I didn't even know it was a thing, honestly. I got home from church and I found out that they were having. They were holding a memorial service for Charlie Kirk. Now we're not going to get into the whole Charlie Kirk thing again, but I will say this, that memorial service was pretty amazing. According to some people online, it says that the numbers of people watched that viewed it and or There were about 100 million people.

100 million, yeah.

Apparently Mark Driscoll put it out that Turning Point can verify about 100 million people viewed to some capacity, the memorial service. Now what's amazing, bro, that's a third.

Of the United States.

That is huge. I mean, that's not just in these states, but that's huge.

But that's third of the population of the United States.

Yes, it is.

That's what I'm saying.

The most amazing thing about it. Cause I did sit down and watch a bit of it is. So first they started with a large worship service which was amazing. So you have all these people tuned in to worship God across maybe the world. And then it was lots of speakers and yeah, they said nice things about the man. They were there to remember. But the gospel was preached on repeat.

Yeah, that's what I heard. I heard it was preached multiple times throughout the night.

Yeah. So basically it was like the largest church service. It was the largest out out spreading of the gospel ever? Yeah, at one point, One time. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. I was just kind of in awe of what I was witnessing, you know, not necessarily of. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that they, you know, paid homage to someone that meant so much to them. But the fact that that much worship music and that much gospel is going out to that many people at one time. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Definitely be praying for the pastors and the churches that those people may be turning to. You know, be praying for God to open your eyes to being ready and open to those people and addressing whatever hurts they may have or whatever things they're going through, whatever their next steps are. That's something to massively be in prayer for because likelihood of all hundred million of those confirmed people being believers is, well, I will say probably not high.

There was a moment where the one guy who was a pastor did what I guess you would call an altar call. He had the people who needed to accept Jesus in their life stand up and they did. And there was a lot. And I was like, wow, that might be the biggest altar call I've ever seen in my life, you know, and hopefully, hopefully, you know, all of them were genuine and it wasn't just for show because they're in front of a lot of people. But, like, wow, it was inspiring. I will say. God was moving. And I felt really excited just by that thought that, you know, even in the. Even as people are mourning, God is at work.

Right.

So that was pretty awesome.

That's good. Frank Turk was there and he spoke.

Yeah, I know. Oh, man.

I didn't get to see his whole thing, but I saw a little bit of what he.

When he said Turek was awesome. He did a great job.

He's my favorite apologist, by the way.

Really? He's your favorite?

Mm.

Oh, man. I've got so many.

Yeah, I think. I think a lot of them have been. I don't like the way most of them approach things.

Like. Can you give me an example?

Just the. The. I think that out of all of them, he is the best about being open to a conversation. Mm. You know, I mean, the rest of them are more. This is the way things are. Which he does some of that too, don't get me wrong. But I'm saying, like, he is one of the few that's okay with just an open mic, you know?

Yeah.

Just come on up and ask questions. I mean, very Charlie Kirk esque in that way. You know, the.

I think there's guys that are. I mean, when you think about main or big names like Strobel's open to communication and conversation. And I would say Wallace is too. I would say that, yeah, Habermas is a little more. This is the way it is. So I wouldn't say. I would say who. Oh, man, there's so many. I'm trying to like pick them apart. Think about, oh, there's that, you know, Cliff. Cliff is definitely a conversationalist.

Yeah, I, I don't necessarily agree with everything he has to say, so I can't say it.

Look, I'm just saying there's a lot of them anyway, so. Yeah, he did. He's my favorite, actually. I was tickled by Carson Daly. Not Carson Daly, sorry, what's his name? Ah, Tucker. Tucker Carlson. That's what it is. I said Carson Daly. I showed my.

Carson Daly was not the one he was doing.

It was the host of mtv. He's definitely not doing the guest pull today, but no, Tucker Carlson. That's what they're called. Tucker Carlson. He was, he was actually awesome. He gave a really great speech and the gospel was in it. And I just was like blown away by it. I thought he just nailed it. I mean, in this very down to earth, simple way for people to be able to like. And he made me laugh, you know?

You know who else did that? Who else did a very down to earth, simple presentation of Christianity?

Jesus?

Well, apparently, yeah. I mean, kind of.

Who?

He kind of kicked it all off. CS Lewis. Mere Christianity, brother.

Christianity.

Mere Christianity is probably one of the greatest writings of at least the last, what, hundred years, if not since the. Since the good book was written, is probably one of the best.

Lewis writings are so good. They're worth a read.

They are. But that one specifically, mere Christianity is 100% worth a read, a listen, whatever, because it was originally broadcast like an audio broadcast, radio broadcast.

So did I, did I tell you before I came down here, before I moved down to Florida, I was actually going to start a podcast with another buddy of mine up there and he wanted to call it the Mere Christian Podcast. And so we started getting this together. This is true story. And I, you know, some of the equipment is in this room, but we recorded an episode and we were all excited and I was like, well, let me just go on and make sure there's nothing that I need to be aware of that somebody else has done that's gonna match this too much. And there was another podcast called the Mere Christian Podcast. And I was like, dude, man, there's another. There's Another thing I said, did you. You know, I wasn't being mean. I was like, did you? And he's like, I. I came up with the idea for that podcast back in 2020, and I was like, yeah, a lot of podcasts started since then. Yeah. And in the scramble to try to figure out something else, I don't know, I think that our vigor kind of extinguished a little bit. And then I found out I was moving down here, and so we just said, that's just gonna be it. And then you were like, hey, you want to be on a podcast? I'm like, yep, that's exactly.

Yes, I do. Yes, I do.

That's kind of wild, actually.

Fun fact, I was on a podcast recently. I went and did the Relentless Hope podcast. So check out Relentless Hope.

Yeah, there's a great, Great.

It's Relentless Hope music. Relentless Hope podcast. I'll put a link somewhere. I mean, that's. That's one of those, like. I don't remember exactly. I know it's Relentless Hope, but sometimes you got to put in music to find them because they're some Christian rappers from down here who do a solid podcast. I mean, that. It was a lot of fun. I mean, it was supernatural. Yeah, yeah, it was supernatural and supernatural, but it was really good. We kicked it off really, really well. I mean, it just flowed really good. So shared our testimony and all that, because, yeah, David and Jonna, they are.

They're awesome people. Love them so much. Their son Jackson is in my. One of my youth groups, and he's just a cool kid. I love that kid.

Yeah.

Great kid. So, yeah. Yeah. Great family. Great people. Good podcast.

Yeah. Pray for them. They. They've been on tour with a wrestling organization, a Christian wrestling organ organization. So they are actually coming to Fort Myers. For those who are here in Fort Myers local, November 22nd.

Yeah.

Get some tickets. Get some tickets. I can put a link to that as well. Yeah, My company's gonna be there selling some merch.

Oh, yep. Strider.

There's gonna be that. Yeah, yeah. So that'll be fun. But I'll be there. So there's an update there. Another quick update. I have officially spread to YouTube, and I've got a lyric video up for my song, Light Has Come. Oh, my goodness. Breath and Bone is the. Is the band name. Light Has Come is the. Is the song. It's fun. It's a fun song. It's good. If you got a church out there that is interested, I have chord charts for it as well, so I can give you the chord charts with the lyrics and everything. And I think it's worth share this thing, man. So I'll put a link to all that stuff in there, too.

Lots of links.

Lots of links. And I'm gonna be working on how I do my descriptions a little better in our YouTube videos. So if you guys have insights on some of that stuff, please reach out to us. Any insights you got on how we can make this thing better, please let us know. We are open to all kinds of stuff. We are not, however, open to making this thing under an hour unless it goes naturally under an hour. So that's the one thing that we're not as open to. Now if we want to branch off. Sometimes if there's a branch off, you know, something, a podcast that you guys have on your heart and you're local here and you want to do a let's talk. We can talk about having a branch off thing where you do like a 15 minute or a 30 minute, you know, we can. I don't mind coming in and recording with you extra. So that's totally something we can talk about. But that's the one thing that I'm not really as flexible with is that. So everything else is on the table. There's a lot on the table. A lot on the table. I just. We've had that one before and it's like. Yeah, sorry.

Yeah. So anyway, so yeah, today we're gonna get into the cards. We're getting some random information last. I hope everybody enjoyed last week's episode. I think it hit a couple people differently. Just the. We were able to talk to Christian Straight and his encounter with a school shooting up at Florida State University. And that was a really cool interview. So if you haven't been able to check that out, please do. It's kind of fun to talk about that. He did talk about the assassination too, with that, but yeah, I thought that was really great and I was so glad he was able to come on here and I think he even did better than he thought he was going to do.

Yeah, for sure. But it was a good conversation. For sure.

Yeah. So. But yeah, so buckle up and we're going to get ready to pick some cards.

Yep. Welcome to the truth response.

I'm gonna pray today. All right, Father, thank you for today and for all the things that you are blessing us with in our lives and all the ways that you just continue to guide us forward. We ask you to, Lord, just continue to pour into us, Guide us not just in this conversation, but in our lives, Lord. For everyone listening, help them to feel your love and to know that you're there at all times. And help us find that peace that surpasses understanding in days that are good or in days that are bad. And, Father, just help us to continue to strive forward in your love and in faith in you. And we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen.

So going to the cards time. And you're the man with the plan over here.

I got a plan. I got. I got a plan for the first time ever. I'm just kidding. All right, so, yeah, first quote, we're gonna read some quotes out here. It's by D.L. moody. If you don't know who that is, look him up. D.L. moody. Out of a hundred men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian. Ooh, that's pretty. That's a pretty deep quote. That's actually pretty good quote. That's a pretty solid, solid quote, which.

I love that.

Didn't he pass away? Yeah, recently.

I think he did. And, yeah, that's actually pretty darn good. It actually coincides pretty well with what I Based on.

On Sunday. Yeah, that's true. All right. This question is a Bible question.

Oh, boy.

Right, so I've got the answer on here.

Oh, man. Getting quizzed.

Yeah, right. It's great. It's great. It's similar to what is love? Baby, don't hurt me anyways. Okay. It's what is sin?

What is sin?

What is sin?

Oh, well, I'll expand a bit. So sin is when we do anything that is opposed to the will of God in a nutshell. So whether that's in how we are living our lives, the decisions we're making, when we go against what God has designed, how he tells us that we need to go, then that is sin. We're where we are. I love. I recently heard. I loved it so much. It was good. Think of it as like shooting arrows at a target.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You have the middle, the bullseye, and you're trying to hit that. And when you miss the bullseye, that distance is called the sin distance. It's how far the arrow misses the mark, and we all miss the mark, which is the. I mean, there are none righteous, not one. And we are all missing the mark. And so we all have a sin. We all have fallen short. We're not doing what God had designed for us. We're not doing as he wills for us. Now, obviously, as you become someone who follows Jesus and you put God in your heart, you start to take on more things the way he would want you to live. And everybody's journey is a little different. But we try to start eradicating those sin behaviors and decisions from our lives so that we can start to reflect Jesus better. We want to reject the temptation to sin. And the thing is that also that sin requires payment. If without Jesus in our lives, sin requires the payment of death. Jesus paid that without sinning. And because of that, his account can be put on our account, but it has to be on the terms that he set, which is to accept him as your Lord and Savior.

Nailed it. Nail it. You even threw in Romans 3:23 on there, just to be. To be sure. To be sure. Which is on the card itself.

Hey, look.

Boom.

I need to read the card.

So look at that. That's winning. The other scripture reference was 1st John 3, 4. And I think this is an interesting thing we can segue into a passage in Matthew, okay? And it's everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my father, which is in heaven. And many will say to me that day, lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy, in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name do many mighty works? And he will say, depart from me, you who work in lawlessness.

Who work in sin.

You who work in sin. That's a cool. A better way of explaining that ending of it is that those works are sinful if they fall outside of God's will and not doing what's going on.

Well, his will also now is to accept him and what he's done for us. And so, yeah, like I said, if you're not doing that, then you are under sin. And then he will say, you don't know me, because all you know is sin. Yeah, yeah, that's a scary thing. But boom, boom.

All right.

Oh, so that was. That was actually. That one wasn't so bad.

No, no, no. The first one was easy. All right. God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. Augustine.

Now, that's a good one.

It's true. It's good. It's true. But I think it's led to something that is a problem with Christianity today, and that is an individualist mindset, I think. And I mean, to be honest and fair, that has been brought on a little bit by the United States and the Western culture. Right. Like, I get that, too.

Well, I prefer A different quote that's more recent that I've been really. I can't remember where I first heard it, but I love it so much. It says, you know, God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way.

Yeah, yeah. And that's. That's like Will, our old buddy Will, who's now a pastor up north in the cold. In the cold. He always says, you know, it's okay to not be okay, but it's not okay to stay that way. It's such a good one liner. It's so good. Although that's probably.

We were swapping quotes one day. He told me that he's good.

He's a good one liner guy.

And I miss Will. He was so much fun to do that stuff with God.

But, yeah, no, I think that we need to head back to that approach of the church being more about the whole and not the individual side.

I mean, if you want to think about the truth of it, the truth of it is that God does love each of us the same. He loves us each the same, and we can't earn more of his love and we can't lose his love. The thing is that, though, is it kind of comes down to is even though he loves us each the same, we don't always love him the same. So for those who choose to love him in return, that's where the relationship starts. But those who don't, he still loves them. He still wants them to come to him. But ultimately there's people that will reject him.

I'm not even talking about that, though. I'm talking about the people that claim him. We approach it as like a me mentality, where it's really. I mean, all of scripture talks about the us mentality of it. Yeah, it needs to be edifying to the body.

You're an important sheep. Everyone is an important sheep. But we're. But see, everyone is important sheep. So, yeah, you are important sheep, but everyone's an important sheep.

You are an important sheep. Everyone's an important sheep. But it's more important that us as a whole are edified together than just the individual.

So, yeah, no solo missions.

Yeah, no solo. Anyways. All right, next question. How important is it for Christians to rest on the Sabbath and does this still apply to us today?

Good question. All right, which.

Maybe we do a whole podcast on the Sabbath sometime soon.

Yeah, that would be good. We could outline the Sabbath. So, I mean, what I said. Okay, let's break it down. Is it important? Yes. Should Christians do it today. Yes. We're not made to just constantly work. We are made to have rest, you know, so true. That's why, you know, we're made to sleep. We're made to have periods of rest. And that is true for your week, you know, so even pastors, you know, we work on Sundays, but we gotta find another day to like to Sabbath, to relax, to not do the same things because it'll lead to burnout. Even in your regular lives, people burn the candles at both ends and it just causes problems. Even like, so it was important. One of the things I talked to Nick about as soon as I got here, being a preacher myself, as I said, make sure you're not preaching more than six Sundays in a row. And I'm glad that he agreed. He was immediately like, we were on the same page. I said, but I like to call it Sabbath Sunday. I'm like, you need a Sabbath Sunday. You need to have at least that seventh Sunday where somebody else, I don't care who it is, gets in there and does something. Because you need to have a week where you're not preparing a sermon.

Yeah, even, even if it's as simple as, you know, what we're gonna do, like a prayer Sunday where we just do musical worship and prayer and, you know, guided prayer. But a day of like rest, Rest, you know.

Yeah, it's important to take breaks. You want to have, you know, the point of a weekend on the five day work week is to have time to rest and relax and enjoy your life besides just working your whole life. You don't want to spend too much time with all your efforts, especially in the same direction. But yeah, I would say you want to have times that you purposely carve out just for that every once in a while. And your body will tell you whether you like it or not. Some people, it's like, well, I got sick. Well, it's because that's the only time your body, you broke it down. And now it's like you're forcing, you're getting forced to rest. That happens to the best of it. And that doesn't mean that's why you get sick. Sometimes you just get sick. But you need time to recoup. You need time to do all that stuff. Even when it comes to fasting. From a biblical stance, it's good to get rid of all distractions and food and such like that. But from a, even a physical standpoint, it actually helps your system to reset, to reset itself, bro.

That is so true. Like I, I did a I did a seven day fast, which I don't suggest doing out of the blue, but I did a seven day fast. And I'll be the first to tell you, I didn't do it the right way. But what I did, what I did learn about it was. Or through it. Besides, you know, you need to rely on God for everything, which is something I definitely learned from it in a different way, you know, but was that, dude, like, I could eat fruit afterwards. I couldn't eat fruit before. I had. Nope. I had oral allergy syndrome, which made the fruit, like whatever the proteins are in the fruit look like pollen in certain trees that I'm allergic to. And my body would react in a similar fashion to an allergic reaction. And after that you're able to eat fruit. I was able to eat fruit again. It was a body reset. Like, it is crazy. It was, it was wild.

It is good. I mean, you just got to be careful that you don't like, you know.

Build up to a seven day. Don't do a seven day out of the blue. I'm just saying three days.

You can do a seven day fast. Probably don't do like this guy did, and then just jump into all the worst food you could possibly eat.

And I didn't even eat a lot. I had, I had two eggs and three pieces of bacon and that was the worst possible choice. It was bad.

Don't get me wrong. Protein, totally. I'm all about it.

But I just thought, you know, you went greasy.

Protein too.

I did. It was bad.

And your body was like, what?

I honestly felt like I was gonna die.

So when I heard that, I just started laughing, man.

So here's my thing. If you've never fasted before, I want to challenge you to do a three day fast. And I know that's more than it's hard enough to do a one day fast, but I want to challenge you to a three day fast and I want you to pray about it. And I want you to pray before. I want you to do research before on how to come out of it and what to expect and all of that. But I challenge you to do a three day fast because it's not impossible. I mean, just about everybody can do it. If you have, you know, certain health restrictions or whatever, talk to your doctor about what you can do because I'm sure there's something that you can do, right? But I would, I would suggest doing it, trying it out and seek the Lord in all of your meal times and.

But it's also important. Don't make a big deal out of it when you do. Remember, Bible tells us we're not to do it for show. We're not to do it. So everybody knows that we're doing it. We do it because we want to stay with God as the number one thing in our lives.

That being said, though, give a heads up to your spouse or people you're.

There are some people, make sure they're.

Like, boss, you know, that might be a good one. If it's gonna possibly affect your workplace. Definitely. Certain people need to know just like, hey, if I'm a little bit more irritable, which I'm gonna try not to be, that's the part you're supposed to try not to be any different. Right? But if I do slip up, this is what's going on. And pray for me. That would be the biggest thing. And make sure that it's not about like, oh, look at what I'm doing, as much as pray for me, because God's gonna do something with me. And I guarantee you God will do something with you in the midst of your fasting. I promise, if you're seeking him in that, it's pretty wild. So anyways, it's good stuff. It's good stuff. You got anything else on Sabbath? Sabbath?

Well, you know what? If we're gonna do an episode on it sometime, I think I'll leave it at that. But yeah, I mean, yes, it is still important for us to do just, you know, recognize you need patterns of rest in your life, you know, and if you can do it weekly, that's ideal. You know, if you can't, then you try to make it as often as you possibly can. But try to have at least one day where you're not doing the normal things you're doing every other day. And parents, I get it. It feels like we're on all the time. Especially if you have a lot of kids. I get that you feel like you're constantly at work all the time. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about if you are working an office job and that kind of work, you need a day off. If you work with your hands all week long, take one day where you're not working with your hands. If you, whatever it is, try to find a day. If you have a spouse that does most of the cooking, make your spouse cook one day well and teach your.

Kids to do it.

It'll be fine.

Teach your kids to do it.

Oh, yeah, it's something.

Well, even they're like toddlers. Even if they're toddlers, dude, teach them, Teach them that. That the Sabbath is important, you know?

Oh, yeah.

And you don't have to use the big words, but I'm saying, like, teach your kids to have a rest day. Rest day does not mean that you don't play with your family. A rest day does not mean that you don't enjoy yourself. It doesn't mean that you sleep all day, but it means that you're taking a break from your regular everyday week stuff. Right? And you are taking time to reset and get ready for going back at it. Right.

Do stuff that energizes you and fills your bucket. The temptation that we get a lot in society also is that we work busy work weeks. And then you get a weekend, and then you just fill your weekend with all the things you want to do. And I'm like, that's cool. And hopefully it gives you energy because when you're running just all weekend long, then you get to Monday morning, it's like you never had a day off. So.

Yeah, my wife is not somebody who wants to run all weekend long. I do. Oh, man, I look forward to doing that, but my wife does not. So. All right, this next quote is kind of a hit you hard quote, so be ready for this, all right? It's by John MacArthur.

Oh, I love MacArthur.

J. Mac. Can we call him J. Mac? Is that.

I want. Now I want to call him J. Mac.

Okay. Anyways, John MacArthur said, you are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read.

Love it. I say it all the time.

So, like, yo, if. If you haven't understood that quote immediately, are you acting as though, you know, in a way in which people can say, like, oh, you mean you meet up with the Bible and what it says? Because some people are never going to read it and they're only going to have you as their example. So, yeah, that's tough. That's a blow. That's a good one. But here's the question.

Oh, here we go.

Have you ever seen Christians from other cultures worshiping? What did you learn from that?

First thing, I don't need to understand what they're saying to understand that God understands it.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure, right off the bat. But other cultures. So it could be anything, you know? Well, yeah, right, right. I'm saying, like, like that could be any culture, right?

No, yeah, any culture. If they're praising God, you don't need to understand what they're saying. God does. And so sometimes you just join in with them in your heart and you don't need to understand the word words. Actually, not only did I learn that with other cultures, I learned that with my brother in law. He's only actually about 17 years old now. He's very autistic and sometimes you can't understand what's coming out of his mouth. I sat down at a dinner table with him years back and for the first time he wanted to say grace and he. I honestly didn't understand what came out of his mouth, but I knew I didn't need. I remember sitting there going, well, Lord knows everything. He just said, yeah, you know, praise the Lord. But yeah, so that was one thing. Another thing I learned from other. I guess I don't know if you want to call. So there's a lot of different traditions, you know, that get brought into worship.

Yeah.

And it's really interesting to see how it all, how it changes things a little bit and what people emphasize. And I think that sometimes I'm not talking bad emphasize, but it's like when you see a group of people that's been through a lot of hardship, God's provision and protection are so important. And I love that because. And sometimes I think some of us, we lose perspective on how much grace we're given. And sometimes, you know, we get a little jaded to the western culture, civilization where honestly for the majority of us, I mean, we're compared to a lot of people in the world. We're living the good life. And so it's easy to not fully comprehend some of the things that some other cultures have really kept at the forefront of their thinking. And so I think, yeah, maybe perspective would be one of the things that I really appreciate. Especially when there's an emphasis on like, well, he's our provider or he is our protector or he is the one that sets us free. You know, that was a. Even in American culture, when we look at when United States got rid of slavery, that was one of the big, you know, for that culture. That was huge. Yeah, you know, they. There's a lot of emphasis on the Lord being the next, the second Moses kind of from them. So. Yeah, so there's. I just love seeing. Because sometimes your perspective needs an adjustment.

Yeah, I've been through that quite a bit. And what I've learned is, especially with the different languages. Right. Is that every time that I've ever had the opportunity to worship and sing songs to God alongside somebody who speaks and sings a different language and we're singing together, it's infinitely better than Just singing English or my own language, I guess I should say. And I think that comes from a. It's a spiritual uniting. Right. Like, it is. We are of one mind, and we don't even understand each other. Right. And so. And it is such a cool experience. And I agree with all that other. Everything else you said. Solid, like. But it's just one of those things that you said you don't even need to know, but, like, your spirit syncs up with somebody else's spirit, and it is just such a beautiful thing.

Well, what's really cool about that is that they did some research on just praying with each other and a group of people praying together. A couple things happen, especially with any good length of prayer. Their heartbeats start to come into a certain rhythm with each other, and their brain activity starts to sync up together, which is a really interesting phenomena that happens. Yeah. So when you're. You don't necessarily have to understand what they're saying when everyone's in a room. And the thing is, is that what's uniting us is the Holy Spirit. God is in the room. And when the Holy Spirit is connecting you, it goes. It breaks down the boundaries of language. It breaks down the barriers of everything, everything. And suddenly you're right. You're connected in spirit. And that's pretty amazing.

Yeah, it really is a very cool thing. Another thing that I learned is. And it was just more like an example of something, not something that I, like, didn't know before, but just furthering that example is don't judge a book by its cover. When I was in Honduras the first time, we were having church service, and all of the missionaries were asked to come up front, and then we were to then pray over anybody who wanted prayer individually, one on one. What was crazy was most of us didn't speak Spanish, and most everybody there speaks only Spanish, right? So this guy comes up, native Honduran, and I start praying over him, right? And just pouring out to God. And after he said amen, he was like, hey, thanks, man. With, like, this super, super Tennessee, Kentucky accent in English. And I was like, yeah. And I was like, you speak English? He's like, yeah, well, originally from here. And then, like, he goes and he tells me this whole long story about how, like, he walked to the United States when he was five from Honduras. Wow. And that's a ways away. All right. That's a long ways away. Right. He came in to the country legally, he got his citizenship, started a family, and then was called to do missions work back in Honduras.

That's really cool.

And so, like, I just thought, wow. Of all of the. All of the things, Right. Another one was I met a guy last time I went down who is giving haircuts to the. To the kids, like, free haircuts. At one of the events, I got to talking to him, and he knew some English and he had lived in Fort Myers for eight years.

For real?

Yeah. And I'm like, that's nuts, dude. Like, that's so wild. And so just don't judge a book by its cover because you have no idea where the person has been, what they've been through, and, you know, and what you could. What, you could speak into them. Right. That's a big one. Like, I know a lot of people will be. I don't have anything I could say to them. You know, you have no idea until you just do what God is calling you to do. So. Right.

Well, I tell you what, I will say this. I want to take that. And just kind of when it comes to changing perspectives, sometimes putting yourself in a place that you've never gone before is eye opening. I will say this. So if you've never been on a. If you're for men, if you've never been to just a men's conference, go. And women, same thing. If you've never been to a women's conference, go. Let me tell you something. The first time I went to a men's conference, just all men, and was in a room full of men worshiping God, it was the first time that I ever saw that at that time. I mean, this was a long time ago, but still, I never experienced that many men worshiping God that way. And it was life altering.

Well, even the local one that we did here, right? Oh, yeah. That was so. I don't know. It was so good.

Yeah. You know, and it's funny, too, because some of these same men on a Sunday morning may not sing that loud, if at all. But in that room when everyone united, it was surreal. And it's so amazing putting yourself in these different situations and worshiping with people you don't usually worship with, man, the. The difference it can make in a faith life. But, man, it's so worth it. Yeah. Try to find ways. If you haven't done it, do it, man. Find something cool that you haven't done before. Worship with people you've never worshiped with before. Yeah, it'll be good. It'll be good for sure.

All right, last quote.

Last quote.

But definitely not least of which is CS Lewis.

Yep. There's our boy.

It's one of my faves. Right. And it, it's a good quote by him. Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing that it cannot be is moderately important.

Yep. It's either all or nothing.

Yeah. It's either not important or it is infinitely important.

Yeah. I mean, that echoes Paul in a way. I mean, Paul says, you know, without the Resurrection, for instance, our faith is futile. We are to be pitied because we've got nothing. But since we know the resurrection is true, it's everything. I love it when it was put this way, I remember hearing somebody say it, and I've said it many times in many different ways, but it basically comes down to this. When I was talking to someone, I say, if I'm wrong, then what's the worst that really has just happened? If I was wrong, and I do this for a living. So if I'm wrong at the end of my life, I will have given people hope, encouragement, comfort, and maybe even help them help get better track of their life. You know what I mean?

Right.

If I'm wrong, it's not much consequence to my life. But for the atheist, when I look at them and I go, but if you're wrong, man, you can't make a bigger mistake. It's that simple. It is an all or nothing thing. You don't realize you're playing with the most important thing that you can ever play with. And people think it's a game. This is real life. This is your eternity. This is what existence is going to look like. People play games with it. For myself and people like myself, God is so real to me. He's made himself real, so real to me that there is no turning back. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't because I know that he's there and I'm not going to chance that. But for, for some, though, they treat them as if it's so optional. I'm like, yeah, well, it is, but.

That'S true.

It is optional of your life.

Right. And.

And you don't even realize the stakes here. So. Yeah, it's super serious anyway. Yeah. Good quote by C.S. lewis.

Yes, sir. Last question for today.

Uno momento.

What would you like to be remembered for after you die?

Wow.

Man.

Not my favorite question, but what would I like to be remembered for after I die? Well, if I. If I pass away before my wife, I want her to remember how much I loved her. My kids, I want them to know that I love them. And I did the best I could. But for everyone else, I wanted them to know why I did this. I wanted them to know that my heart was in Lord, and I wanted people to know this, you know, and that was my genuine self. It wasn't anything else.

Yeah.

You know, people. I hear people say, well, I want to be known as a good guy. Well, good guys die, too.

Yeah.

And sometimes they don't make it. You know, I want to be known as this or that. I want people to know that my genuine heart was that I believed in this and I. With everything that was. And I wanted people to see what I saw.

Yeah.

Yeah. That's why for me, when I discover something new in scripture, I get really excited to share it with someone. That's why I like preaching so much. Actually preparing a sermon is like, purposely looking through scripture for that thing, for that nugget and figuring out a way to present it new. Even the one I just did, it was like, oh, man, it's totally that. We don't want to miss this. You know what I mean? And so I was so excited to say that. That was the part of the sermon I was the most excited to get to, is the fact that, hey, we don't want to miss it because they missed it. And to point that out because it's easy to look at other parts of the story and focus on them. But, like, no, no. And so, yeah, I want people to know that. You know, I think there was a. Can't remember, I heard it best said by St. Patrick once, but it was something long. I want my brethren to know my heart and my heart's desire. I loved how he said it, but I wish I memorized it. But, yeah, I want them to know that is my heart's desire.

Yeah, that's good.

What about yourself?

I want to be remembered for just being real. Like, I am not afraid to say that. I'm not going to tiptoe around people's feelings. I'm not afraid to say that, you know, I speak what I think and my heart's on my sleeve. And at the same time, like, my love for people also transcends through that, too, you know? Like, I'm not going to tiptoe around your feelings because, you know, it's way more important to love you, you know? And a lot of times when we tiptoe around things that. That are important, a lot of times you aren't being loved. You're just being coddled. And I want people to grow. Right? Like, I want people to better themselves, and it doesn't mean that I have to be right. Right. That's. A lot of people might look at me and think that my arguing is because that I want to be right. And to some degree, I'm not going to lie. I mean, right. To some degree, I do want to be right. However, I do understand that. That I'm not always right. But I want people to truly figure out what they believe about things, and I want them to know the truth. Right. Whatever that might be, whether that's the truth of the person. Right. The truth of Christ, or if that is just what reality holds. Because knowing the truth only sets you free. It only makes you better. And so I. As much as I'm learning to be tactful, I want to be remembered for just being real and being raw in who I am. Like, that's. Honestly. I mean, could go the faith route too, you know, like, remembered for our faith. That feels cheap because, you know, goes back to the Charlie thing, right? Like, Charlie literally answered that, you know, months before he was. He was killed for it. But. But at the same time, like, I really like the truth. Right. Like, that's. That's it. Like, I want people to know that. That there is only one truth. Right. And I argue over the fact that it might be semantics a lot, where people say, you know, well, my perspective shapes my reality, but really, there's only one truth and there's only one reality, and I want people to know that that is. That's the truth. That's the truth of the matter. And hopefully that will spurn people on to make a little bit better world for each other, you know? So.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so I can agree with that. Yeah. Because, you know, like I said, this is. This is what's true.

Yeah.

You know, and I believe it. So, yeah, it's kind of. I don't like thinking about it that much.

I mean, we're all gonna die someday, right? We're all gonna die someday. I mean, we are. And. And it's true. And as far. Far as my daughter goes, like, I just want her to be better than I was, you know, like, that's it. That is my only goal for her is to be as good as she can, but better than me, and then for her kids to be better than her, like, let's keep the legacy growing instead of letting it get worse or die. You know, she knows that I love her, so that's something I'm not worried about, you know? Like, I never question whether or not she knows that. And. Yeah. Yeah.

Even My youngest will look at me and I'll be like, I love you. And she's like, you tell me this every day. Yeah, I'm gonna keep doing it.

Yeah. So, yeah, we do this thing where my dad voice means. I don't think I've talked about this on here, but my dad voice isn't just for being in trouble. My dad voice is to re edify the fact that whatever I say with my dad voice is important. So from time to time, I'll use my dad voice and be like, serenity River. Her middle name is river. And yes, it is from the TV show Firefly. We did name her after a ship and a crazy woman. So, yeah. But I'll be like, serenity River. And it doesn't matter where she is. She'll stop what she's doing. She will come to me. And sometimes I'll just say, I love you. And she'll be like, I love you, too. You know, like, as though, like. Yeah, okay, well, I thought I was in trouble, but she knows. She knows that whatever it is that I have to say is important. Whenever that happens now, sometimes it is because she's in trouble. Sometimes it's because, you know, I need her right away, you know? But at the very least, she knows that whatever I say that proceeds from that is important. And so.

Jesus says, truly, I tell you.

Yeah. Yeah, that was good. That's good. Yeah. For sure.

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, truly, Truly, truly, truly. Or narrowly.

Verily.

Yeah, verily, verily. Yeah.

The old translation, verily, verily, truly, truly.

And in the Greek, a double positive is a stronger positive, and a double negative is a stronger negative. Did you know that?

Yes, I did.

It's crazy. So, you know, double negatives in English are like canceling, but in Greek, it strengthens, it doubles down. That's when you see Paul writing things like, you know, heaven's no. Or I don't know, I don't know what. With a strong emphatic no, it's probably a double negative. Or, you know, maybe it's a little bit of an edgy. No. I mean, sometimes that happens, but that's a fun little fact. I don't know. So in perspective of today, like, sin is missing the mark, Right? We all have sinned to fall short of the glory of God. Take your Sabbath. Teach your kids to take the Sabbath and just respect it. Remember that we weren't made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for us. It's. It's for us to be able to rest and relax and reset it's very important. Also remember that people who don't necessarily worship the same way as you, we've all got the same message, right? Even though we have different methods. And there is an underlying connection in each of us who are believers that transcends anything earthly, worldly, and that is the Spirit. And we all have that one unifying spirit. We are one body. And lastly, what would you like to be remembered for after you die? What is it that you want to be remembered for? I guess as for me, in my house, we'll serve the Lord. That's a pretty good one.

Pretty good.

So good old Joshua, little Joshua there. But what about you guys? What do you want to be remembered for? We'll take churchy answers. We'll take raw answers. But be real. Be raw. It only serves to. To help others to do so when you're real and raw. So it's hard. It's one of the hardest things that you'll do in life is to be real with people because some people don't like it. And it's. It's hard being vulnerable. And you're gonna get. You're gonna get walked on and walls are gonna be broken and trust is gonna be broken. It's inevitable. But it's also the best thing we can do as Christians because that's what reaches people. All the fake stuff people know, especially this generation of young people, they see right through all the fake. So just be real and raw with people and let God protect you through it. And let God grow you through whatever comes of it. It's a hard word, but it's true. So don't forget our quotes. They were fun.

They were fun.

And remember to pray for our country. Pray for each other, and God bless.

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