What's going on, everybody?

Hey, everybody.

What's up?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Get right in there.

It's been a while since he and I have been in the same room together.

Yeah.

I kind of hijacked the podcast for some mission stuff, so I'm gonna be recording one more missions stuff, and we're gonna do that the week after Thanksgiving.

Okay.

So this will come out the week of.

The week of Thanksgiving.

So happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving, yeah.

Thanksgiving.

Yeah.

I'm Derek, by the way.

I'm Matt.

I'm Dalton.

Yeah.

So we went through.

I had a few weeks.

You were on mission, quite literally.

That sounds so awesome.

You were on mission, and I was just here holding down the fort.

Different mission.

Different.

Yeah, yeah.

And then you got back, and you did your.

The popcorn episodes, and.

Yeah.

One of the guests that I had while Derek was gone was Mr. Dalton here.

For those who didn't see that one, it's pretty good.

Dalton gives some testimony on his journey over the past couple years, and it's totally worth a listen to.

I know that some of the students who listen to the podcast really liked it, so check it out.

This is real stuff that goes on.

We have students that listen to the podcast.

Yes, we do.

Really?

Yes, we do.

Are they subscribed?

I believe so.

If not subscribed, and you listen and you're a student, shame on you.

And you need to subscribe, and you need to get.

You're subscribed.

Nice.

Yeah.

Everybody needs to subscribe and share and.

All the things we officially have put out.

This is gonna be episode 232.

232.

So means we only have 18 more episodes.

18.

Wow.

Until the countdown begins.

The party.

The live episode.

Right.

That we want to do.

I'm actually kind of excited, so that's.

Gonna be an undertaking because we're gonna have to move everything out there, you know, but we'll be able to manage.

It'll be fun.

It'll be fun.

So we are very close.

Like, we're at 81 subscribers, so we are almost there.

We only need 19 more subscribers.

100 subscribers on YouTube.

On YouTube.

Boom.

Come on, guys.

And honestly, like, our.

Our stats on everywhere else is not bad either.

So I'll get that stuff pulled up for the end of the episode just to let everybody know where we're actually at and what our goal is.

We adjusted the goal just a little bit for the listens, because I found out I'm also not doing the algorithms right, so that's partially my fault.

It's okay.

It's not necessarily your guys fault.

So that's gonna be happening for all of you who are Patreon subscribers.

First off, thanks.

I know we don't say that enough, but thank you very much.

First off, I also heard another podcast, just call it Patron.

Patron, yeah.

Not Patreon.

Patron.

I have never heard it called Patron.

I was listening to a podcast today and the guy's like, thank you for those who subscribe to our Patron.

And I saw it and I was like, that is what Derek keeps saying, Patreon.

And I call the Patreon because you go to Patreon.

And I'm like, am I in the right?

I have always called it.

Is Derek in the right?

Is that guy in the right?

Which way is the right way of saying it?

Is it Patron or Patreon?

Did you.

Did you find out?

Did not yet.

That's the first time I've ever heard it being called something else.

So I don't know.

I don't either.

Either way, whether it's Patreon and Patreon.

Thank you.

I'm usually wrong.

So today, today we're gonna do some random cards.

We are.

It's been a while.

Unless we get a question from our guest.

Yeah, we just put a lot of.

Pressure on Dalton today, so.

But we are gonna put a lot of pressure on.

Actually, we're gonna ask our first question to Dalton today.

We'll ask it to the first random question.

It's not so random.

I pulled it earlier.

Yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna answer that one.

Why not?

Because I end up confusing people more when I do.

Well, I mean, maybe they think the same thing and maybe they don't.

Not.

Not one person has ever.

With you.

Probably not.

So anyway, so yeah, we're gonna.

This guy.

Oh, it's good.

It feels good to be back in.

Sorry.

Sorry for the chaos.

I know that some of you find it boring whenever we talk and talk and talk at the beginning and don't get right into it.

Just one of you commented that.

But we do, we do.

Thank you all for being on there.

There's going to be an email coming out to all the Patreon subscribers for the year, including those who are no longer Patreon subscribers, just as a heads up.

So be looking out for that email.

And we do really, really appreciate you.

Got some plans for the new year.

That's going to be pretty cool.

So what is our first question for today?

First question says, what is the most confusing part of the Bible to you?

Boom.

Big Question.

That is a good question.

It's a great question.

It's a great question.

I love that question.

From what I've read, I think the Book of Acts is very confusing.

The Book of Acts?

Yeah.

Really?

Because there's just, like, so many, like, missionary journeys and, like, things that happen during them.

It's, like, hard to remember.

It's just like, oh, there's Barnabas, there's Paul, there's Peter.

Like, all these guys going together, but then they're not going together, and then they're going on different mission trips, like, all these different places around Jerusalem.

That's very confusing.

I get you.

Okay.

Interesting.

That is not what I expected at all.

What were you expecting?

I don't know.

You don't know what you're expecting?

I don't.

I really don't.

I didn't know what to expect, but.

Axe.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's great.

In fact, it's kind of cool because it is talking about the missionary journeys and sounds like we're on this missionary month right now.

Missionary month.

Actually, that will be a missionary month at that point.

That's a whole four weeks.

So that's cool.

Let's talk about that here in just a moment.

So welcome to the truth response, Sam.

All right, I'm going to pray.

Good.

Father, thank you for today for the ability to come back together.

The teams back in town for Dalton, for being on the show, and for everyone listening whenever they hear this.

We thank you for them and their willingness to hear our voices.

Father, work through them and glorify yourself and your kingdom.

Help this conversation go in a way that pleases you, but helps other people and in all things, help us become better reflections of you.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.

All right, so most confusing part of the Bible to Dalton is the Book of Acts.

What would you say is the biggest confusion about it?

Because you said a couple things.

What's the thing that's the most confusing?

Just, like, trying to remember what each missionary journey was for.

Like, what it was about.

Yeah.

So, Ax.

Yeah.

Axe is one of those books that.

You.

It's better with a slow go.

If you're trying to just read through it, I think that's when it gets more jumbled.

But when you break it up into bits and really study each bit and see where it lines up with, like, the letters, you know, and you look on the map and you see where things went and why they went there and do some background on it, that's when I think you get way more out of it.

You know, and it starts to make more sense, especially when it comes to ways that, like Paul, for instance, his stories throughout the Book of Acts, where they start.

Because they don't start until you're well into the book, of course.

Yeah, I think it's like chapter, like 10 or something, little bit before that.

But you.

So his story, though, where it starts to where it ends and is pretty amazing in itself.

Did you finish Book of Acts?

So you're just.

Okay, so where it starts, where it ends is pretty big contrast.

But you just studying Paul's movements, looking at maps and seeing how he went to different places, that definitely helps.

But you want to go bit by bit and see what he was doing and why and, you know, so that's kind of like a book you have to just kind of keep going back through.

Yeah, it's some.

It is mass chaos.

I've never really looked at the timeline.

Yeah, it's all over the place.

And it really is.

I get what you're saying with it being.

I mean, because it's like everybody kind of gets introduced and jumbled up and then everybody's going everywhere.

Yeah.

I mean, there's some amazing things that happen throughout the Book of Acts.

I mean, you have, of course, at the beginning of the Book of Acts, you have the Pentecost, which is incredible.

Everything around it is amazing.

You have Philip in the Ethiopian, and that's an amazing thing.

Especially when you think about the fact that Philip was transported from the Ethiopian to a different area instantly, which was.

That's an amazing thing to witness.

You have what happens when Peter finds out people are trying to lie to him.

You have.

Oh, man.

I mean, it just goes on and on.

There's a lot of amazing things.

You have a guy that.

That falls asleep, falls out of a window and dies, and then Paul just brings him back so they can get back to teaching.

Like, there's all kinds of crazy stuff in the Books of Acts, so when you put it in the hole, it is like a big mess, jumbled mess, but, I mean, it makes sense.

Yeah.

But.

Yeah, that's something.

The book gets better and better, I believe, with more study.

And when you start to understand more the significance of the characters and the places and the reasons and all that stuff, you know, for instance, studying Peter's actions.

And if you just did one character study throughout the Book of Acts, if you just studied Peter's stuff through Acts and just did Paul's stuff through Acts and just did.

Where's Luke involved in Acts, that might.

Be the best Route, actually.

Yeah, that's probably the easiest way to do it.

What's interesting though is that there's ways you can tell.

So, for instance, the language changes when Luke puts himself in the story.

Remember, Luke's the one writing it.

When Luke puts himself in the story, the grammar changes.

He goes from writing from a outside point of view to we did this.

And like, it's really weird.

He's now in the story and it's.

It's wild to see when he does it.

But yeah, I noticed that when I was reading it like a couple minutes before on the podcast, I was just like, no, I haven't really seen like them, like say we and stuff.

Yeah.

And it.

The changes, that's Enter Luke.

And you know that everything before that was what he had, most likely what he had to then investigate.

You know, as both a physician, but a historian who wants to make sure things are proper and right.

He would have gone and interviewed people and made sure everything was legit before he wrote it down.

But then you see him enter into the story and then you get not only something that he's researched, but he's got first hand knowledge of, which is an amazing slight change of some wording.

What's also great about the Book of Acts and the book of Luke is the language he uses is very proper in a lot of places, which is what you'd expect from someone who had training as a physician.

It's kind of interesting because as far as I know, it's the only.

Book.

In the Bible that goes from a they, you know, whatever kind of to the we kind of thing.

I don't know of any that like has that language change.

No, and I think you're right.

I mean, most of the time it's written, the perspective stays the same.

Yeah.

In any book, I mean, even if you look Old Testament, it's, you know, it's usually written from the same perspective.

Like even what Moses wrote.

Moses wrote it from an overall perspective.

Like he wrote it.

Right.

He did it.

He's watching himself as a history kind of.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, I think you're right on that.

I didn't really think about that.

What were the major things throughout Acts?

Major things?

Yeah.

Name a couple of the major things so that people kind of get an idea of the overall.

I mentioned the first.

I mean, Pentecost is the first major.

Well, you have the book opener pretty much.

Yeah.

You have an ascension, Pentecost.

Those are big events right off the gate.

You have the.

Basically the beginnings of the early church which is important.

You have how people from different cultures were accepting it.

You see that in it.

So you see an expansion inwardly from the Jews as well as outwardly.

And you see major key player Paul.

I mean, yeah.

The story of Paul around his conversion is one of my favorites because his interaction with Barnabas, you brought that up.

It's really cool to think about even Paul, dude who wrote more books of the Bible than anybody.

Right.

He.

He needed a mentor.

You know what I mean?

I mean, basically.

Basically the disciples, like, were like, yeah, no, And Barnabas was like, yo, I'm gonna go train him.

It's kind of like that whole Qui Gon Jinn, Anakin Skywalker, Kenobi thing.

Whatever was going on.

Yeah.

So there's a lot.

When it comes to Paul, but I mean, Peter's story, there's a lot of amazing things revolving.

Peter, not just at the beginning when it comes to the church and escaping jail or stuff like that, but you have him being told with a curtain of food or the sheet of food that comes down that you know, hey, take and eat.

And he's.

I love seeing even that far removed that he's still arguing a little bit.

Nah, I would never do that.

Taking it needed Peter.

And it seems to happen a lot with threes with him.

You're arguing with me.

Yeah.

Don't you call something unclean that I've called clean.

So there's a lot of.

I don't know, there's just so many good things.

There's some amazing things.

When you think about what some of the disciples are going through, I mean, obviously Paul is.

You get a lot of what Paul goes through.

You get a guy that went from persecuting and hunting down the church to starting churches and getting persecuted himself for the church is such a wild thing to watch.

And you even see the setting up of the establishing, not just the establishing of the church, but the conversations, kind of the conversations about what do we hold most important?

What do we hold most important?

What do we hold the Jews to or the Jews versus the Gentiles to?

What are these things?

How do we navigate this?

And honestly, that's one of the biggest questions that we still ask today as even leadership in the church.

It's how do we navigate this situation?

There's many.

One of the first situations that we have this problem, we feel like things aren't equal, that things aren't fair.

Well, okay, we need somebody to be over this.

Then they assign someone to be over that, or people be over that so that they can Keep doing what they need to do.

Right.

You know, and so it's like, you start with the.

It's kind of like the first volunteer program in the church.

It's like, all right, we need volunteers to take this.

Sounds more like the first Voluntel.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, they elected, and it was pretty amazing because the fairness of the people that they chose, considering that many, pretty much most of them, right.

Were Greek.

And the people who thought they were being.

It wasn't fair to them were Greek.

So it was kind of neat to see that where they're like, all right, well, then put them over it and make it fair.

And then it happened.

And the hearts of people, what it is that they were willing to just give everything in order to keep the movement going.

It's an amazing thing.

And then I remember years ago, somebody pointed out to me something that is obvious, but you don't consider it until you hear it.

It's like the Book of Acts, which is also.

Sometimes you would hear it.

Instead of just Acts, it's Acts of the Apostles.

Right.

But it really should be named the Acts of the Holy Spirit because the whole book is about the Holy Spirit coming to them and guiding the church forward, guiding Paul, guiding Peter, guiding Philip.

All these things.

The Holy Spirit is just moving throughout the book and creating this beginning movement and creating the conviction of that helps it grow.

And it's.

It's.

I mean, to the point where, like I said, I started with Paul.

Paul going from.

From one extreme to the other to the point where he's like, ready?

I'm ready to die at any moment.

It's fine.

It's all good.

Hey, if you go there, you're going to die.

Yeah, that's perfectly fine.

That's fine with me.

What do you mean?

You know, it's pretty wild.

Yeah.

Good book.

It's a good book.

There's a lot.

There's a lot there.

Yeah.

And there's some amazing teachings.

And including one of my favorites is at the Areopagus, when Paul walks into Athens and is like, all right, people, you're very religious and you got this shrine to an unknown God.

I know that God.

Let me tell you about that guy.

Yeah, that.

That.

Honestly, that whole scene inspires me so much.

I love it because that is exactly like, that's our everyday.

Right?

It's that little conversations and people think of that as like, oh, it's just a big thing.

But it's really.

It was a.

He walked in and was like, getting to know who they were and was like, hey, I'm gonna relate to you right now, and I'm gonna explain a truth that you didn't know.

But I'm gonna do it in a way that is personalized to you guys.

And I mean, that is something that we are called to do every day.

It's just be in life with each other and getting to know people that you're trying to talk to about Jesus.

And.

And so.

And because it's gotta be personal, right?

Like, we want people to have a personal relationship, and that starts with us having a personal relationship with them and being able to present it in a personal way, you know?

Yeah.

What do you think, Dalton?

Yeah, those are good points.

I haven't read.

I haven't read that portion yet.

Well, yeah, I mean, reading through, like I said, once you finish it up, don't beat yourself up if you're like, what was this?

And this.

The wonderful thing about the Bible is that no matter how many times you read it, you're going to see something you didn't see before.

It's a living word.

But Acts is definitely a book you can, amongst many, that you can just continue to go back through and you'll get better understanding and be able to visualize it better and put it into its proper context and all that.

What's your favorite part of X so far?

I also say Paul's conversion.

Yeah, it was just so sudden.

And it was.

Cause, like, Jesus was like, why are you, like, persecuting my people?

And then like, he like kind of flipped after that to following him.

I love saying it like this.

Paul literally got knocked off his high horse and then realized he's never been so wrong in his entire life and took it personally.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, that's.

If you were to wrap it up in a really small package, that's it.

I love it so much, Paul.

I think there's a lot of relatability to Paul in different ways.

Like, sometimes we think we have it right in our own zealousness and stubbornness.

We're like, no, this is the way we're going to do it.

And then for those who are willing to be humbled as he was just okay.

It's not that.

After all, honestly, it's.

Anyone that actually goes through a conversion to Christ, anyone that goes through life without Christ in it, and then insert Christ, it's a very similar situation.

It might not be as dramatic in some cases, in some cases even more dramatic, but it's the.

This is.

I was living my life one way and that was Wrong.

Now I have to live it this way in that.

In that little bit from conversion to.

To Barnabas, Right.

Taking him on.

Yeah.

Like, you see every part of the church.

Oh, yeah.

You see the convert who is, like, radically opposite.

Right.

You see the longtime Christian who.

Ananias.

Who's like, you want me to do what?

Like, I don't know.

I don't know if I could do that, you know, And.

And then is eventually is willing, you know, to.

Okay, all right, whatever.

God, I don't know if I want this, but almost reminiscent of Jonah.

Almost.

You know, a little bit.

Not quite, but almost, you know.

Yeah.

He did the right thing where Jonah did not.

Getting caught up in my chair.

And then you've got the rejection.

Oh, yeah, I see it as a rejection from the.

From the church people, right?

Oh, yeah.

You know, the.

The apostles are kind of like, you know.

And then Barnabas who's like, nah, dude, like, I'll take him on then.

You know, I'll.

I'll take him because he.

I can see it, you know.

So you see, like, almost all the pieces of the church and the church hurt.

That could happen.

But the nicest of it is, like, people came around him.

Right.

And you get to see the whole.

Of all the possibilities when you walk into a church.

Could happen, you know?

Yeah.

You know, I really appreciate the idea, though, that he needed a mentor and he Actually.

The humbleness he had to have in order to walk in, because can you imagine, like, what it would have been like to be one of the original disciples, apostles?

And you've heard about this Saul guy, this Paul guy.

You've heard about what he's been doing.

He's been persecuting the church.

Not just that guy.

Murdering your friends and murdering your friends.

Like, not just like.

Yeah, not just like, killing people.

And then somebody comes in and is like, hey, I got this.

I got this guy.

He's a new convert.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

He wants to meet you.

Oh, who is it?

It's that guy saw Paul guy.

Yeah.

And they're probably like, that's a funny joke.

It's terrible.

You should not do that.

No, no, I'm serious.

He's outside.

You brought him here.

Another Judas moment almost, too, like, if you think about it.

What are you doing?

I can only imagine Peter going, barnabas is the new Judas, you know, Like, I don't know.

You know what I mean, though?

Like.

And then, you know, not.

But, you know, it's funny, though, because.

And of course, in the scripture, we do get.

We get that point, the meeting of Peter and Paul, and it goes from there to where Peter's probably like, are you legit or not?

Like to him later going, look, what Paul's writing is good.

You know what I mean?

What Paul's doing is good.

I love that.

I love that, that we get to see that in scripture from one end to the other.

There's a lot of, you know, people don't realize how many things do get resolved within scripture one way or another.

I mean, ultimately we know that what happens in Genesis gets resolved at the end, end of Revelation.

But there's so many different things that, like, God doesn't leave open ended.

He's like, well, if I start it here, I'm going to tell you where I'm going to end it here.

And sometimes it's not as quick as we'd like it to be, but it does happen.

And I love to see that kind of reconciliation and belovedness between the two of them, really.

And that's what I would call it.

I mean, some people would just say, oh, it's good working.

Respect.

No, I think at that point they would.

It would be a bit of belovedness of each other's work.

They know that they're both working for Christ.

And the fact that they both died in the ways that they did.

I mean, talk about taking it all the way to the end.

How did Paul.

Yeah, Paul was beheaded in Rome, remember?

Actually, Paul worked to the end because he even was working on his jailers and everything like that.

Not only that, but like, he's like, yo, take me to your leader.

Yeah, like, like, like, seriously though, like, he's like, oh, oh, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna strike me.

Go for it.

You know, like, I'm a he.

I'm a Roman citizen.

You know, like, talk about a guy that knew how to play the card.

His cards, he kept him close to the chest.

Then the right time, he's like, here's my ace of spades.

And it's a full house tonight, guys.

You might not have known that I was also a Roman citizen.

Oh, look how that works.

Yeah.

So Book of Acts.

So what about.

Maybe I should ask that.

What's the most confusing part of the Bible to me would be.

That's a hard one for me to answer.

I think you want me to answer it for you.

What is it?

Revelation?

I think that's the most one.

That's the one that's most confusing to you.

To me?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Okay, sure.

That's one of my favorite ones to study.

I understand.

My first.

I don't know, man.

Like, when it comes to confusing, I'm not sure.

I'll tell you a part that was confusing and it was for Max for a period of time.

It's not necessarily a book.

Yeah.

Okay, so.

And actually I've reconciled with this a lot.

But there's the scene in Acts and I brought it up already kind of where, you know, everybody's selling all their stuff and they're taking all that money and they're laying at Peter's feet because they want to help build the church.

They want to make sure everybody's taken care of and stuff like that.

And you've read this scene.

I know, where there's these couple and they sell their stuff and then they take some of the money and they hide it away.

And then they come to Peter like, this is all the money.

He's like, why would you lie?

Why would you lie to the Holy Spirit like that?

And you know, because the guy comes in first and does it.

He's like, you're gonna die.

And then.

Yeah.

And then, you know, the wife comes in, hey, where's my husband?

After his husband, her husband's been carried out.

And he asked her questions, like, as if to give her a chance to tell the truth.

And of course she sticks to the lie.

She says, people that carried your husband away are coming for you.

And she dies.

And there was a period where I really had a hard time with that.

Like, why would that happen?

Why would God do that?

Why would that happen?

Kind of thing seems dramatic.

It seems a bit much.

But I mean, when you think about it though, and you start to understand that this is the beginnings of the church and the church has to be built on something solid.

And they're coming and you can't have people in the church that are going to come in and build it on lies.

It has only got to be.

It's got to be 100% signs.

Sealed, delivered.

True.

And for them to come in and be half hearted, not only were they lying about what they had, they were half hearted.

They were not all in.

They were holding.

They had a contingency plan which isn't even fully faithful.

So they're trying to.

Those people.

Lukewarm.

Yeah.

They're acting as if they're all in.

They're acting as if they.

They're fully believing, but obviously acting as.

If they were inside of a tauntaun.

Yeah, sorry, Star wars fans, that's.

Nevermind.

Anyways, go ahead.

But they weren't they?

They were lying.

And.

And you don't want to.

Like, God knows.

He knows our hearts.

He knows when we're not being true with him.

We're not being 100, you know, when we're holding something back.

He knows.

But he also knows when we're like, hey, this is how it was.

And he's like, that's not how it was.

And you know darn well that's not how it was.

Oh, my heart's fully worth you.

And he'll be like, no, it's not.

That's one of the reasons why when that guy walked up to Jesus and was like, jesus, what do I got to do?

The rich guy?

And he's like, go and sell all your stuff.

And he's like, oh, I don't know about it.

Because his heart was with his money.

He felt security in his money.

He's like, you want get rid of that and then come follow me.

Meaning, like, if you want real security, you come to me.

You don't come to that stuff.

And the guy had a problem with that.

This is kind of the same idea, and we're not going to have that as the basis of the start of the church.

The Holy Spirit had to keep it clean and so.

Rough scene.

But it's.

For years I was really struggling with it, though.

It's weird having a third person in here.

It is.

I mean, who I've not really interacted with a whole lot.

You can speak of any time.

Just talk over top of me, please.

Yeah, I'm really bad about that.

So.

Yeah.

What do you got?

Do you.

What?

What?

What?

So the.

Or are you.

I'm not gonna bring up the most confusing because it's a rabbit hole.

That is.

It only.

It really does only just confuse people.

So.

And it's something that most people don't.

Don't worry about until I bring it up and then they're like, so.

But I know a lot of people want to see that or hear about that, but I'm pretty sure you've already heard about it.

I probably have, but I want to know now.

So what I'm gonna.

What I'm gonna say is like, the thing that was probably the hardest thing for me to accept in Scripture, out of all the things, was that the son couldn't do anything unless the Father instructed him.

Like.

He was God, you know, Jesus was God, and he couldn't do anything at all without the Father directing him.

And it was really hard for me to, like.

Like when we were doing.

Experiencing God, the Study.

Like, one of the questions was, what could the son do without the Father to write the word?

Nothing took me five minutes because it was just like.

Well, it's that grasping that was hard for me.

I think it's less of understanding, but.

Like, I think it's less of a could and more of a won't or wouldn't.

Well, Scripture clearly states that he couldn't do it.

He wouldn't do anything.

He doesn't do.

He did.

He did nothing that rivaled the father.

Sure.

And that's intentional.

Right.

He is one with the father.

He's in line with the father.

He never did anything to rival the Father.

He was always working alongside.

Yeah, but I'm.

I mean, it right there.

Can't do anything.

And that's hard.

Yeah, that was hard.

That was hard for me to reconcile because it's like, but he's God.

He is.

And accepting, I guess, that even Jesus submitted to a hierarchy in a way of speaking, was interesting.

I mean.

Okay, I'll give you that.

I think.

I don't think of it as.

I mean, I see the hierarchy.

I get it.

I don't think of it in that way as much as I found complete peace of it.

When I think about the fact that he wasn't here to.

If Yahweh is God Almighty, he's not here to give an alternative to Yahweh.

Yahweh is still God Almighty.

So when he comes here and he's like, I'm son of God, I'm God in flesh kind of thing, so to speak, he's like, still this.

Because I won't be here.

Still this.

Still Yahweh, God Almighty.

Sure.

So to do anything outside of what Yahweh is doing would have been or could have been conceived as an alternate, a rival.

If he's one and the same, he's got to be one and the same.

It's not to start a different religion altogether, which is what people think sometimes when they think of Christianity versus Judaism.

And it's not.

This is.

This is the continuation into the direction it needed to go in order for salvation, but.

Also in order for it to.

You would have had one God versus the other.

Is Jesus greater than Yahweh?

It would have been the argument.

And that's not the argument.

It has to be one and the same.

And so I have no problem with that, because.

I know.

But if Jesus himself stated that.

If he stated that he's a rival.

No.

That he, like, he's not going to do anything.

But what the Father tells him to do, then that means he can't.

He's limiting himself, limits himself, but it still makes him limited.

He is both all powerful, yet still restrained to what the Father is doing.

He is still going to be in line with himself.

He's not opposed to himself.

I mean, he said also himself that a kingdom against itself cannot stand.

It is God's kingdom.

There's no rivalry there.

It is unity.

I get it.

And so, I mean, it makes sense to me, I guess.

But, yeah, that part was easy for me.

Only because I'm like, well, of course.

It's unity in spirit, unity in purpose.

You know, it's all part.

And, yeah, the hierarchy, well, I mean, that's still there.

It is.

So it's right there in scripture.

Yeah.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

So, since it's Thanksgiving week, what are you most thankful for?

I knew it.

Being alive.

Being alive.

Oh, man.

Bro, that is so general.

Very general.

What up?

Come on, give me something.

What's something that.

I mean, alive is good.

It's good to be alive.

It's good to be.

But what's something that makes alive good in your life?

Jesus, dude.

Getting Bible answers, man.

These are churchy Bible answers.

Open up, Dalton.

Yeah, it is Jesus, because he helped me.

That's true.

Once again, if you haven't watched the last episode with Dalton, you'll know why.

Because.

Yeah, go back and watch it.

Derek.

Derek.

Jeez.

All right, what are you most thankful for?

Most thankful for?

Or something you're thankful for?

You know what I mean?

You know, I. I gotta say, I. I'm very thankful for a lot in my life.

My wife is always at the top of that list because she is my perfect partner.

She is my rib.

And I am so beyond blessed to have someone like her in my life that loves me the way that she does.

I'm blessed to have my many children because I have five, and they're all crazy and they keep me busy, but I love each and every single one of them.

They're so amazing.

And just, you know, I. I'm blessed to have some of the things that I have.

I mean, I have a house to live in, got cars to drive, and I love doing what I do.

I love that I get to serve the Lord in a church, and I get to try to pour into middle schoolers and high schoolers, and I get to preach in the general congregation, and I just.

I love what I do.

So in that I feel blessed.

Yeah.

I'm also thankful for my family.

My wife is the perfect thorn in my side.

Oh, oh, rib, right, rib.

Rib.

The sharp pointy one, you know, that is in your side.

No, no, she's.

She is the perfect match for me.

I would not survive adulthood.

I don't think without her.

I'd be broker than I am.

I'll just put that out there.

I definitely would.

I would be.

I would be even more broke than I am now.

But nah, for sure.

She's amazing.

And my daughter is great as well.

But something that I'm thankful for that might sound a little silly to some is my, my new puppies who are constantly getting into trouble.

And to a point where like it has made me realize how angry I can get and.

But the reason I'm thankful for them is because they are a constant reminder that God does not act like me.

Hmm.

God does not act like me when I act like that.

When I act like, like the children, the puppies, you know, like when I step out of line.

God does not treat me the way that I treat the dogs.

Now, I'm not saying I'm abusive to my dogs.

I'm not saying that at all.

But I do yell a lot.

And yet God does not treat me like that, you know, when I step out of line and the things that I do are much worse or just as bad at least, you know, and it's like, look, I'm putting this electric fence up for your safety, you know, stay within it, listen, you know, But I don't know, I just, I'm really thankful for that reminder.

Yeah.

Well, I tell you, it's interesting how kids and pets, you know, have a really.

We have three dogs in my house right now.

I've got the dog I moved here with, which is, you know, and then I got, we inherited a dog and then my mother in law who's living with us, her dog.

So there's three dogs and they are all mischief in their own ways.

Yeah.

Especially the big one.

The one we inherited is a big dog and he can reach anything.

You cannot leave food out anywhere.

Yeah.

And he will eat everything.

And that in itself has been a challenge.

Just all the different antics and constantly you're always trying to think like, before I relax, do I have all my bases covered?

Because if you forget one thing, it's gonna be this dog, this dog, this dog, this kid, this kid, this kid, all the things.

And it keeps you going and keeps you young, but to a degree.

And it makes you feel old to another degree.

But kids have a way of showing us something that we've Forgotten about ourselves, honestly, especially for guys, I'll tell you that.

Because I think girls are definitely.

They definitely mature faster.

But unless their name's Dalton.

But because Dalton matured pretty quick.

Yeah, he wasn't calling you a girl.

Although that's what I heard, too.

No, he wasn't a girl.

I'm just saying, unless.

Boy's name.

Dalton.

Dalton.

But no, boys will have a way of showing me the ridiculousness that I used to be.

And, like, you forget, because once you get more mature, you're like, I put away the things of my past.

And in part of that, you forget that that was a reality that is real.

And so when I look at these kids, middle schoolers especially, and you're like, was I once ridiculous that way?

And if you're willing to listen, God's gonna go, yes, you were.

You were definitely that way.

Oh, okay.

You know, it's strange.

As a teenager, I. I was really.

I was really lenient with other teenagers.

Like, as far as.

I mean, I was fully in to the church thing, and I was already, you know, like, leading Bible studies and that sort of thing.

So, like, I. I was really lenient on teenagers.

I loved on everybody.

I thought, you know, people would apologize for cussing around me in high school, right?

And I'd be like, it's all good.

Like, I don't care, you know, like, I'm not judging you, you know, like, whatever.

But, man, when it came to adults.

I.

Was super judgmental.

Like, I was like, as a teen or as a teenager, because it'd be like, yo, you're.

You should be acting better than this a lot of times.

And I'd be in the wrong.

But there'd be times where I'd be.

Like, ah, how dare you, sir?

Like, I can't believe you.

Like, I don't know.

Do you feel that way, Dalton?

Do you feel like the adults come down on you too much?

You're too quiet.

That's what it is.

Do you see them as hypocrites?

Yeah.

Do you?

Yeah, sometimes.

Yeah.

Well, that's because most adults are hypocrites.

We don't like to admit it.

I think it comes with being a parent.

Do as I say, not as I do.

Yeah, you know.

Well, you know, or I'm just kidding.

Or if your kids know anything about your past, it's do what I say, not as I did.

Right.

Well, now, that is not hypocrisy.

That is learn from my mistakes.

Right?

Yeah.

I had one of my kids throw that in my face once.

Well, when you were a kid, you did this.

Yeah, but that's why I know that you should not do this.

Like you need to understand why I'm saying I know you shouldn't do this.

So.

Yeah.

So you're thankful for Jesus.

What about, let's get a little more small.

Okay.

Because you want with your life.

Awesome.

Jesus.

Fantastic.

His Bible, can't beat it.

The Bible.

Alright, I'm gonna bypass that because if you what?

Give me something that's.

What do you got going on that's good.

Something unique to you.

What is, what is something I'm thankful for is that you know how people at school treat me.

Because like everyone knows I'm a Christian and like, instead of like being like judgmental or like weirded out, they're like actually like excited to see me and they're like always uplifting me.

I'm not even social.

Like I'm kind of.

I'm always reserved.

So it's just kind of interesting.

Like see like everyone like treat me like so much better.

Like so many people know me.

A lot of people say hi to me.

Yeah, that's.

That's great.

That's what I'm talking about.

That's a, that's a good one.

That's a really good one.

I can say that there are people.

That is definitely a blessing.

There are people that don't get to get that experience.

Sometimes it's the opposite.

But that's fantastic, man.

That's really good.

It's funny too because like I remember working at a car dealership and people were finding out that I was looking to go into ministry.

I had the same thing.

People were like, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk in front of you anymore because obviously that meant.

Because they cuss a lot and they get really self conscious in front of you.

And it's so funny when that happens because it's really, it's like, look, you realize that God has given you a reality check in that, right?

You have become aware of how bad you are because you know that.

Well and part of it though is like I never really used curse words.

I've never used a lot of foul language.

It doesn't mean I haven't said mean things or whatever, but like I just don't use coarse language like that.

I just never really have, which is strange.

No offense dad, but my father is a fireman.

And I mean it's almost as bad as a sailor, you know, like as firemen cuss a lot.

So you know, being growing up around the fire department.

You know, it's kind of strange that I didn't, but I didn't.

I never really have.

And so, I don't know, it was like, whatever.

I've never really cared about that.

Like, use whatever language you think is going to make it through to somebody.

That's not a license to, you know, say mean things or bad things, but it, it is.

You know, sometimes we have to speak somebody's language and.

And that doesn't necessarily mean cursing, but yeah, I'm gonna let the Holy Spirit lead you on that one.

You know, like it says, let no unwholesome thing come out of your mouth.

And Philippians 4.

29.

Right.

So let no unwholesome thing come out of your mouth.

So it depends on your context, right.

Because it may need an emphasis on something, you know, a wake up.

A.

Loud insertion, if you would.

So, yeah, I, I remember I was in, I want to say, sixth grade and I vividly remember this kid I grew up with trying to convince me to use cuss words.

Yeah.

And it was pretty persuasive argument because back then I was kind of an outcast myself.

I was very nerdy.

Wasn't one of the cool kids by far.

And there's that want to fit in, there's that want to be accepted and to be seen as someone of value and not just a discard.

And he was trying to convince me, like, man, you need to start talking like this.

Instead of using those words, use these words.

I remember feeling like, I don't know if I can do that.

I mean, I wish I could say that that was the way it stayed forever.

It did not.

But, yeah, I do remember that whole conversation.

We were walking home from school and as we were walking, he was trying to convince me that this was the way to go.

Isn't that nice?

That's crazy.

Yeah.

You're using this.

Say this word.

I was like, oh, my goodness.

I used to be such a nice kid.

Peer pressure, though, that.

I mean, that is social.

And peer pressure is hard.

I mean, especially.

Shoot, Nowadays these kids are getting bombarded with everything, everything.

And fear of missing out, fear of getting rejected.

And it's wild.

It's absolutely wild.

You got anything you want to push as we end this episode?

You got any shout outs or.

No?

No.

Oh, come on.

Shout out.

Give, give, give somebody a shout out on there.

This is shout out to my sister Kenzie, for taking here.

There you go.

Kenzie.

I love Kenzie since she graduated.

So now I don't get to have her in my youth group anymore, but.

Yep, that's how it works.

Yeah.

Way to go, Kenzie.

Shouting you out on the YouTubes?

Yeah.

You're famous now.

Yeah.

What about.

You got any plugs?

Anything you gotta.

Any plugs?

Yeah.

I don't know if I have a plug, so to speak.

You've got a hockey game coming up, don't you?

Yeah, you know what?

I'll plug that.

So yeah, we have.

Wait, when is that?

There's one coming on the 29th.

Okay.

Right now it's pluggable.

It'll be after Thanksgiving, so come on.

Alright.

Yeah.

So we have.

For student ministry we have fundraisers.

It's a fundraiser.

So please everyone buy some tickets for the local hockey game, the Florida Everblades.

The tickets are discounted to $22, so it's a nice discounted price.

And student ministry gets a piece of each ticket, which is awesome.

It's a great way of having fun and getting to do something fun.

Where can they find the link?

They can find the link on Church Center.

I have it on Church Center.

Okay, so go ahead and get on there or on the website, I guess, which will get you to Church Center.

Is it on the website?

It's on the events page.

Okay, so yeah, go ahead on there.

Get yourself some tickets.

There's one this month on the.

I believe it's the 29th.

It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

And then we have one of the last days, I want to say last Sunday, Sunday of December.

The last Sunday of December we have a hockey game.

That one.

So that's.

So the first one is really helping out our middle school ministry.

The second one's gonna help out specifically our high school ministry.

And then we have one, I think it's February 20th and that one is for all of student ministry.

And that one will also be.

They have a circus night at the Everblades.

I don't know exactly what that means, but it sounds like a lot of fun.

So sounds like a teen night.

Sounds like a good time.

But yeah, it's a way of being able to go have some fun and support student ministry at the same time.

Like I said, tickets are only $22 and you get to help give a little piece of that to each of the students.

And that's@risefl.org.org events.

I think it's events maybe.

Yeah.

And then also on Church Center.

Church center, where you can find in the events tab.

Yep.

And it's there.

But yeah, go ahead, get yourself some tickets.

Gonna be a good Time.

Cool.

I'm gonna plug once again, loveservetestifyfoundation.org that is the organization who supports our missions in Honduras.

They are the, I guess, the funnel, I guess, in which funds make it to Honduras as a charitable organization.

So.

So go check them out.

So update on the.

We had talked a couple of weeks ago when the missions team was talking about it costing $500 per student for them to go on to 6th grade or 7th grade.

7th grade.

After they finish 6th grade, a lot of times they will join a gang or stay home and have babies because they can't afford to go on.

And this is in the little town that they're ministering to, not in the bigger city that they have their church in.

But, I mean, they can't afford to go on to seventh grade, and they don't have that option, so.

So they're in the process of making that an option, which is kind of cool.

Very dependent on the government allowing them a teacher.

But they have found out that it's actually gonna be about $750 per kid.

And there's four kids.

I think they said one or five kids.

Five kids.

I think one of them is completely funded to go.

So, yeah.

So there's lots of things happening.

They're open to answering all the questions.

So go check them out@loveservetestifyfoundation.org.

yeah, so check that out.

So what we're going to do is we have 81 current subscribers on our YouTube.

Let's get it to 100.

We have, in the last 28 days, 986 downloads.

That feels pretty good.

Let's.

Let's get it to a thousand by the end of December.

To where when I pull this thing up, it says a thousand downloads in the last 28 days.

Yeah.

And 100 subscribers.

And 100 subscribers.

Right.

Let's do it.

So 19 more subscribers.

There's been nine in the last 28 days, so way to go, y'.

All.

For everybody who's, you know, out there supporting us, let's get to that.

Thousand downloads in the last 28 days by the end of there.

And 100 subscribers.

And we will plan that live.

We're gonna plan it.

That live recording episode.

We'll have food and fun and everyone's invited that wants to come.

A live recording that's gonna.

Right here from the stage at Rise.

Yeah, on the preaching stage.

On the preaching stage.

It's gonna be wild.

It's gonna be crazy.

We'll line up guests, we'll do some popcorn in and out, people coming on.

That could be cool.

I actually am really excited about the idea.

It's gonna be different.

It's gonna be so different.

Yeah, we'll have to plan.

We'll have to definitely plan some specific topics.

But, yeah, it'll be good.

It'll be awesome.

And I know that you guys can do it.

So once again, none of this would be possible without God.

And we appreciate you guys, you know, making it to where it's something that you guys think is important, which we think is important, too.

So that's the goal.

Let's.

Let's hit that goal.

Let us know in the comments.

You know what, what you're most thankful for on this Thanksgiving week and like, subscribe.

Check us out.

Yeah.

God bless.

Hey, thanks for joining us.

Make sure to subscribe and give us.

A like on itunes and Spotify so that you will never miss show.

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Thanks for joining us this week and God bless.