Josh: Hello. Hello. Hello. We’re just two normal dudes trying to live this Jesus’ life. My name’s Josh. 

Andrew: I’m Andrew. And we are this Jesus life pod. Josh, 

Josh: Andrew, how you doing? How 

Andrew: it goes? It, my friend, I’m doing pretty complete kind of the same time, my bad, my bad. I, uh, I’m glad you’re doing pretty well and that you can’t complain cause nobody likes complainant, man.

You know, it’s so fun. 

Josh: Well, like, I think we’ve talked about this in episode. My ultimate goal in life is to be able to sit on a park bench and complain all day about everything as an old man. And it’d be socially acceptable. Yeah. That’s fair. That’d 

Andrew: be fun. That’s fair. You know? Um, do you ever think about things like if you hit like 85 years old and you’re in good health, like you might just take up smoking,

Josh: speaking of like pack a day, smokers things you just always want to do. I’m going to smoke the smoke crack smoking tobacco. Crazy. Want a little bit of shrooms? Just for fun. I haven’t thought about that. Yeah. 

Andrew: I’m thinking about them now. And I can tell you. You’re you’re going a little more intensely than I did.

I meant like a pack a day of cigarettes. Not, not like I’m going to try out all the drugs right now. We’re going to go really nuts. I mean, you went there. It is what it 

Josh: is. Well, that’s my thing is like, I don’t want to smoke like that. There’s no part of me. That’s like, Oh, I wish I had a smoking habit. But if they’re like, Hey, here’s all these new experience with different kinds of drugs, especially like the psychedelic ones.

Um, you want to try? I’d be like, yeah, I’ll be intrigued to do those things. 

Andrew: You’re like, I’ve lived a good life. I can kick the bucket at any point.

That’s funny man, 

Josh: but they, they tell you all, you know, all the smart people tell you all the benefits of the psychedelic drugs, um, and how it opens all the different brain waves and activity. So you think on a higher level, which I don’t really want to test right now, because Scott’s pretty clear that I need to say of conscious mind.

Um, but might be okay with doing it at 85 where you’re just like, you know, if I died,

maybe 

Andrew: I don’t know, man. I don’t think it probably will change as commandments. Probably won’t like change around that stuff. But you know, as we sit here in our thirties, it’s, uh, you know, we could look at that and say, Hey, why not? When I maybe, 

Josh: but let’s go long time away, 85. My goodness. 

Andrew: I know who knows.

That is a long ways away, dude. I. Well, this is like a downer bit of a note, but my daughter fell at the park and had a, this was Friday night fell at the park when we were on a walk and had these plastic binoculars around her neck and they hit off the ground just in such a way that she split her lip pretty significantly and had to get three stitches Friday night to like stitch it back up.

It was so it’s been a little bit of a brutal weekend. Like that was, that was rough, man. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Urgent care. Holding your kid down, do all 

Josh: that.

Well, it’s the face stuff where like there’s so much blood involved in face stuff that it probably freaked out pretty quickly, right off the bat. She would like actually hold your daughter down. As they 

Andrew: fixed her. She. Yeah, it was, that was the one part of it where she was really freaked out. When she first fell, she was like, Oh man, you know, like nervous.

But then she was like a total champ until actually like in the doctor’s office. And that had to happen of like wrapping and tight in a blanket, AK straight jacket and like numbing and stitching. And it was just, boom. It was brutal, man. It was brutal. So yeah. So it’s Sunday afternoon right now. And I’m just feeling like, Hey, it’s finally like a weekend day.

It’s been that kind of weekend, uh, where it was pretty intense. So you have any fun this weekend, any stitches or traumatic experiences.

Josh: No, no stitches, no traumatic experiences for me. Good. I’m actually pretty chill. We can have a fair amount of work I have to do for different things. So it’s been a busy week in that way, but in general, pretty, pretty low key over here in the great state of Colorado. Well, good. There’s great parts of it.

There’s other parts that aren’t great.

Um,

just read about other States that are like

open and fun to read about other States that are easing lockdown. Restaurants are back open. They’re still wearing masks, but for the most part economy is back to normal and that’s not us. I really want to do, I just want to go sit in a coffee shop and work. That’s it. That’s all I ask. Yeah. Like the coffee shop, drink, coffee, eat, whatever little snacks they have and then work.

But you can’t do any of that. Like yeah, you could, I guess, technically I don’t think the employees are gonna kick you out. Um, but like we only have three tables for the whole place and you’re going to take one of them for hours on end. That’s not fair. So yeah, it’s just one of those things. It’s frustrating.

Cause the problem for me is like when I get stuck on problems, um, like something I’m trying to do and I don’t know how to solve whatever, uh, I need to, I need to change environments, um, to get my brain rethinking and I can’t do that. So now I’ve, I’ve managed to move from my office to my dining room table and that’s my move.

That’s how I’m trying to change the environment and keep working. Uh, it’s not working so well. That’s funny. 

Andrew: Yeah. I. I get that. I feel like sometimes I just have to change days almost to like figure out a problem or have a different solution to it. But yeah, I’m with you when you can actually change environments.

That’s nice. I would encourage you next time. You’re in that spot to just trick your brain, be like, Hey, we’re, we’re not changing environments today, brain, but have you ever eaten a raw potato? And then just take a bite of a raw potato, chewed it, swallow it and be like, all right, environment changed or a raw onion, you know, just really go nuts, man.

Eat some weird food.

Josh: Yeah. That’s pretty intense there. My friend. I’m not sure. I’m not sure it’d be, I’ll pull that one off. I do have raw potatoes right now. Um, because I plan on making a occasional agent, whatever. Seafood stir fry, cook thing. It’s not stir fry. It’s nice. I don’t know what you call it. When you put things in, in a, 

Andrew: in a, like a gumbo gumbo, 

Josh: aluminum envelope.

No more. I don’t know what the word is for it. You just put it on your barbecue and you just let all like each other, 

Andrew: Oh, like a hobo pie. Yeah. Like an aluminum envelope. What a funny way to say that. Yeah.

Eating it raw. That’s that’s all I’m saying is take everything you would have cooked in, season it up and just eat it raw, you know, change of environment real quick. 

Josh: That’s fair. It might, it might kill. I don’t know. Is, is a shrimp bad to eat raw? I would assume that pretty sure that kind of bacteria in it.

Andrew: Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is. But as you know, 

Josh: I’ve been watching, 

Andrew: it might yeah. Consult your physician first, you know, but the potato I’m sure that’s fine. You could eat a raw potato. Uh, dude, I’ve been watching, that’s 

Josh: adorable. You think I have a physician 

Andrew: consult, a doctor, call somebody and just double-check 

Josh: it with them.

I’ll call my insurance. I’m in the right direction. Call your insurance 

Andrew: and be like, can I do this? And be like, sir, you know, we’re not your healthcare provider. We just pay for your stuff right now, man, I’ve been watching a survivor and they have to eat some wild stuff on there. And I often often find myself asking like, how are you not getting sick, eating this stuff raw?

Or maybe they do get sick a lot and they’re just not showing it. It’s hard to know. It’s hard to know. So yeah. Consult a healthcare provider.

Josh: Yeah. Didn’t they get in trouble at one point for it all being a fake. No, that was, um, that was bear grills. 

Andrew: Yeah. Cause he was like sleeping in nice hotels and stuff and yeah. Yeah. He was totally faking it. Yeah. That was 

Josh: entirely, we just started it that way. And just like, here’s a disclaimer, disclaimer, no one would have cared, but the fact that you tried to pull it off and say it was presented in a way that was something that’s not right.

Like that’s when people get up in arms, people don’t like to be 

Andrew: right. I agree. And I would 

Josh: assume politicians leader would have realized that by now people don’t like to be lied to, but you know, they have them. They’re still trying to get away with those things and it’s just not working 

Andrew: well. It’s like part of the job description for that 

Josh: is when that light comes out, your followers were.

That’s true. Um, but like when those lies come out and your followers, you know, have believed for so long. Ooh, that’s a, that’s a rough one to come back from. Yeah, 

Andrew: 100% dude. Um, this is episode 41. So we’re talking parables, we’re talking parables, parable of the talents today. Pretty excited. That’s true. 

Josh: Well, and let me retell it and I’m going to retell it in the form of the message, uh, paraphrase version, uh, because it’s a long one.

So if you have your Bibles, Matthew 25, 14 through 30 today, um, if you don’t have a Bible, you can always download one right there on your smartphone that you’re probably listening to this podcast on at Bible app. And then you have the Bible right there in the, in the pocket of your hand, in the pocket of your hands in hand, in your hand, two analogies that I just put together.

Um, but that’s what we’re going to be. We don’t read the entire verses on this podcast. And the primary reason for that is we think it should be read in relationship with Jesus. So Jesus can speak to your soul. Um, so we want you to do that on your own. Um, so take some time and read Matthew 25, the parable of the talent, or your version might call it the parable of the, the gold bags or bags of gold, something like that.

Um, and read through it and kind of, you know, ask Jesus what he’s trying to tell you through that and how you, how he wants you to apply those, those verses to your lives. And then continue that conversation, uh, in prayer and continue, uh, allowing you to speak and you to speak to Jesus. Um, so that’s why we don’t do it here, but we’ll definitely give you kind of a big overview picture because we want you to be able to understand, you know, really and follow along what we’re talking about in this podcast.

Um, but if you want to pause it, go read it and come back. Hey, that’s more than acceptable because, um, while you’re in control, you have the power of the pause button and you do everyone. So here it is the parable of the day.

Jesus, the story. So there’s a man calls all the servants together. How many delegate, some responsibilities? Uh, he gave one of his servants $5,000. Give another $2,000 on another $1,000 in a month. Those numbers are just putting today’s. Timeframe we’ll get into exactly how much that money is when we give them podcasts, I would assume.

But, uh, and then he left, sent them off and, um, had them invest that money. Uh, the first servant came back and he doubled the master’s investment. You went from 5,000 to 10,000. Uh, the second came back and he did the same. And the third man came back with a single thousand that he dug a hole for and carefully buried inside the master’s money.

Uh, cause he didn’t want to piss off the master. Uh, then we see the, the masters response to those stories or to those, those, um, activities. Um, the first two, the master praise for their work and the third one, uh, he rebuked on the fact that he did nothing with it. To the, um, one servant, he says, well done, good and faithful servant that those verses may sound familiar because it’s the same versus, uh, the same terminology or string of words that, uh, we see, uh, at judgment day.

Um, and he says, well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful, a few things, and I’ll put you in charge of many things come and share your master’s happiness. And so the one he rebuked, he said, you wicked lazy servant what the is wrong with you? Okay. I added that part. He just said lazy, sir. Um, so you knew that the harvest, uh, that I, that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed, then.

Um, well then you should have put your money on a deposit with the bankers and knowing that you’ve returned, um, at least the return, the investment, um, from that money in the bank. Uh, and it’s really just him taking a shot back at, at his own statements to the lazy servant statements to the master. Um, but that’s kinda the story of, you know, and kind of boiling it all down is what do you do with what God has given you?

Um, we’ll kind of look at this probably from two different perspectives. I would assume one of just the gifts and talents God has given you in this life. And what do you do with those things and how do you multiply those things? And then also from a salvation standpoint, um, what God has given you through Jesus’s death and resurrection on the cross, um, the salvation from your sins, um, in a restored relationship with, with himself and what do you do with that?

Um, but yeah, so that’s it, in a nutshell, Andrew, hopefully it was helpful and not too distracting. Uh, and I don’t think Scott called them a piece of shit.

Andrew: I don’t know. I don’t know. You might think he did because you said it, uh, well you bleeped yourself. No, but that wasn’t the intent, right? The masters like shocked, like, dude, you. You did nothing. You hid everything I gave you. That was, that was worthless. And, uh, because of that, you’re going out. You’re done.

So, um, so it’s definitely harsh, but, uh, yeah, man, thanks for retelling that Optum’s good. Um, I wanted to say, I read an article, which you and I talked about more like somebody just thoughts on, on this. And, uh, one thing that was helpful was that the author was saying that in this time a talent is actually just a weight of money, you know, like they would weigh silver or gold or copper or whatever their forms of currency were.

Silver. 

Josh: I went back to that’s what we should go back to. Like, there’s just something there’s like a, there’s a flex in that Mo like Ron Brown, swans, like you said before, the episode, we’re able to tell you how much weight, you know, how much gold do you own? I don’t know. I got a time and a half.

That is 

Andrew: a good flex and it’d be nice to just be like, Andrew, you did some good work. Here’s a, an ounce of gold for the week, like, Oh, sweet ounce of gold. All right. Um, but yeah, man, they were saying, so the author of that article was saying that a talent of gold would have been worth, um, 6,000 denari, which had denari was like a normal common coin.

And that was kind of defined as like, if he did a normal days, like labor in the fields, like picking corn or whatever you’re doing, um, for a farm you’d be paid one denari. So it was like a talent is a significant amount of money. Um, for sure. So it’s not like here’s five bucks. I’m going to go away for a long time.

It’s more like, Hey, here’s. Here’s a hundred thousand dollars of my money. Uh here’s you know, quite a lot, see what you can do with it. I’ll be gone for a while. It’ll be back. And I expect to see what you’ve done with it when I returned. So, um, but the problem, not even the problem, the thing about that is that you can see kind of the like money talk and like, Oh, the, the good servants doubled what they had, right?

The one with five talents, the one with two talents, they both doubled it. And so. You could be quick and I’m sure some have been quick to say this parable is just about money. Um, if you are in God’s will he will double your money, you know, like that, that could be a conclusion you draw from this. If you read just the story, that’s 

Josh: kind of Christianity that I like.

Andrew: Yeah. That’s your style. No, but what do you, what do you have to say about that? The, about the person. Yeah. Who reasons or here’s this preached on? And just, here’s the version of, if you’re in God’s will, he’s going to double your money, a prosperity gospel. You could say what, what do you say about that, man?

What do you think about that? Okay, 

Josh: Siri, you get it from, I get it. Um, the problem you’re running into is it’s old covenant thinking, um, blessings and cursing doesn’t exist on the new covenant. Um, so living God’s way and living inside God’s will doesn’t mean it’s going to lead to blessings in your life or curses in your life.

Jesus actually says the opposite. Um, leading, leading this Jesus life, um, is going to lead to your persecution, not because of you, but because of their hatred for, for Jesus himself. Um, so like it just doesn’t exist. Um, old covenant, you know, the Jews were blessed when they lived in accordance to God’s ways and were cursed when they weren’t.

Um, and cursing came, um, in not just the forms of famine and those types of things, but also in the forms of being conquered by, by other nations. Um, and it’s easy to, to find yourself in that line of thinking, um, the problem you run into is under the new covenant. We don’t, we don’t see that way of, of living it.

Like it just, it’s not there. Those, those ideas, those principles don’t exist anymore. Um, Jesus’s sacrifice fulfilled a lot of those things. 

Andrew: Yeah. And it’s. That’s a good thought. And it’s like a old covenant in the form of like tit for tat, like you, you commit one sin, you have to kill one dove. Uh, you have to sacrifice one dove.

You, uh, somebody hits you, you have to hit them back with the same amount of force tit for tat, right. Um, or the same idea of, uh, you do one good thing for God. He’s going to give you one more dollar, one more talent or whatever, you know, and that’s just not, that’s not the reality. Um, so you remove the, the, just look at money aspect to where we said you could go down this road of like prosperity gospel almost.

And think that the story is just about money. Um, when you remove that. Um, I think there’s some cool things that you, there’s a lot of good things you can pull out of this. Um, I’m quick actually, to jump to looking at this, I know talents is, uh, a weight of money, you know, from back in the day, like we talked about, but I’m quick to jump to this and say, how has God equipped you personally to be a part of his kingdom?

Um, whether he’s given you skills, if leadership made you really smart, made you really giving made you naturally a super caring person, um, maybe he’s, you know, given you one of the big spiritual gifts, the, uh, a past apostle prophet evangelist, what’s the other ones. Um, Whoa dude, did you hear that crash?

Oh that. Okay. So it’s been, I know this is a tangent, but that was probably like 50 pounds of ice and snow falling off my roof just now, like it’s, it’s finally warming up and melting everything. And we had so much snow built up that it’s become like ice sheets and stuff on, on top of the roof. So, whew.

I’ve been having a lot of that, like, dude, did the dresser just fall over and then now it’s just like a huge amount of snow. It is terrifying. It’s melting. It’s been very cold. Um, it is, spring is coming. Spring is coming. We’re talking about 

Josh: yeah. Natural talents and not, and that’s part of the weight of measurement.

Andrew: Like the like, so for instance, God has made you, I’ve heard you preach a lot of times. Um, I know you’re a very good communicator, very good teacher. Um, so I assume that that comes with some responsibility and God’s kingdom. Like if he equips people in certain ways, he expects different things from them. So that’s how I often look at this as, Oh, he gave somebody five talents that doesn’t necessarily make them any better than the person who got one talent.

You know? Um, God’s not saying that you should try and get more and more talents. You should try to have more and more great skills. No, but it doesn’t matter if you have five, one, two 13, whatever, it’s like, God still expects big things from you. He still expects you to take whatever the skill set is that you have.

And work it towards his glory and his kingdom. Um, doesn’t matter if your skill set is bigger or smaller than other people, um, expectations are still the same that you’re going to do something with what 

Josh: he gave you. There’s a lot of ways I think we can apply these, this parable to our lives. Um, I think another way that it gets applied and at least in contexts of how scripture has put it together, whether Jesus told these stories back to back, we don’t know for sure, but we’ll assume that he did.

Um, you know, he comes out of the parable of the 10 virgins, which is essentially, are you prepared? Are you ready for, for Jesus’ arrival? Um, and then into the parable of the talents, and then finally into the parable of separating the sheep from the goats, which just prove that right-handed people are better than left-handed people.

I’m just kidding. But it’s all, it’s all judgment. It’s all judgment day versus, um, so in this example, we can apply this to salvation. So, and we see this a lot through, through Jesus’ ministry. And in applying this infant, the kingdom perspective, you know, those that have received a lot from God would be those that have were far away from God on that lived in, and maybe even direct rebellion against God, didn’t follow God’s ways.

Didn’t follow God’s life to not call God, Lord, um, live this life selfishly and how they wanted to, and then found themselves encountering Jesus and finding salvation a lot was given for that salvation. There was a lot of sin that hadn’t been forgiven. And then you have on the other side of the spectrum, the Jewish leaders of the day, which, you know, Jesus directed a lot of these parables to cause they’re the ones asking the questions, um, of, you know, these, these men and.

You know, they live the, the, the moral life. Like they obeyed all the commandments of God. Um, on the outside they look like great, Holy men, um, their hearts were far from God is as Jesus points out. But, um, so that was kind of this thing of like, you’ve been. You know, yes, you, weren’t given tens of thousands of dollars or tens of talents, weights of towns.

Um, but you know, what was given, it’s still important and yet you’ve done nothing with it. You know, he’s provided you salvation, but you’ve, you’ve squandered it. Yeah. You focused on the wrong things and you have multiplied it to others. And that’s, that’d be the argument here is the fruit of the multiplication would be how many others have come to know Jesus said this and were discipled to maturity with Jesus.

So they could do the same with other people. Um, so there’s that side of it too. And I think both go hand in hand, right? Like you are given talents in this world and, and gifts spool. We call spiritual gifts from God and you know, what are you going to do with those things? Are you going to squander them, um, and, and not do anything with them or use them for your own personal benefit?

Um, I would argue if you, you know, if you believe, um, that that Jesus is Lord and you’ve confessed it with your mouth and believe that Jesus went to the cross and died and Rose again, you’re, you’re, you’re saved. Romans tells us that. Um, so your salvation secured, but, um, you know, how much are you missing out on?

Um, and I think for the last individuals here, it’s yeah, you did everything right. You did everything according to my law, but that’s not the point of all of this because you’re still, you’ve still sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You’re still separated from me. And you tried to do this on her own rather than coming into relationship with me and recognizing who I am and what I’ve done and found forgiveness and, and restore, you know, restoration of relationship with God, the father, um, and you miss out on all that.

So now you’re, you know, what we see in the next parable is the sheep and the goats you’re separated from God for eternity, because you never had relationships. The only thing that changes, the one thing that saves you, um, is the relationship with God. So I think there’s that piece too, that plays into this.

And I think we often, we often miss, um, and the other part of it too, like going back to the first. You know, topic of conversation of old covenant. Like the other side of this is like, um, I could be a part of a community that does a lot of great things. Um, you know, I had a conversation with a friend, not that long ago, we were talking about the United States.

And this individual made the comment. Um, well, you know, if we keep going down these paths, you know, God is God is gonna remove it. It’s a blessing from the United States. And I said, yeah, that’s, that’s just not a thing. Right? God doesn’t bless and curse nations anymore. Not at least not in the same way that he did it through the old covenant and through the Jewish nation, you know, the covenant changed, it’s now individual.

So we look at these three individuals and collectively, they did a fantastic job, right? Like collectively, they kind of knocked it out of the park. They were given eight talents collectively and they turn those eight talents into almost doubled 15 talents. Um, like that’s, that’s a pretty good return. Um, but that’s not the point of the parable.

I think the point of the parable was to illustrate, um, at least one point of the parable is to illustrate that, yeah, this isn’t a collective thing anymore. You’re not able to say, well, God look at all the things that my church did. Um, yeah. I gave money to the church and then look what they did with that money.

Um, but. That’s not the point of the parable, the portables, the parables is individual. And I think this is bringing that new covenant thinking what Jesus was, was bringing in through his death and resurrection on the cross fulfill the old covenant, um, was, was this idea of it’s now individual. It’s not, what did you do collectively?

It’s what did you do as an individual? Um, so we we’ve talked a lot on the podcast about the great commission. You know, Jesus said, go into all the world, baptizing that baptizing, you know, people of all nations, um, teach them to obey everything I’ve commanded you and share them with you always to the very end of the age, a bit butchered the beginning of it, but you get the point.

Um, and that’s not a collective commandment only, you know? Yes, that’s, that’s the command to the church. That’s what we should be doing, but it’s also the command to the individual and that’s what you’re going to be held accountable for. Did you go make disciples? Did you baptize disciples? Did you excuse me, disciple them and the Jesus ways, um, to follow Jesus and find maturity and hope.

And if you didn’t do those things like yeah, that that’s on you, you’re, you’re going to be held accountable to those, uh, to your actions. It’s not a matter of living the perfect life of I sin less. I’m a great Christian. That’s like you, weren’t going to find that idea it’s going to be, did I live out the great commission as Jesus commanded me to?

Um, did I multiply myself into other people so others can find hope, salvation, freedom, and restoration and relationship with God, uh, and then help them do the same with other people in their life. Like, was that what my life was about? Is that how it was reproducing it? And if you weren’t like, that’s, that’s good will be a rough day and judgment day.

Um, that’s gonna be a rough day when you’re held accountable for how you live this life. I’m not saying your salvation is going to be removed. I would argue if you have a Romans 10 life of you or a Romans 10 salvation story of, you know, you believed in and confess that Jesus is Lord you believe in confess.

He is. We said he was and did what he said he was going to do was, which was die and come back. Then your salvation secured. Um, but when Paul talks about living this life, and even Peter talks about living this life for the next, this is what he’s talking about. Like, what are you investing in? Um, that’s going to pay dividends, uh, in the next life.

And that’s people, that’s relationships. That’s are you helping people know Jesus, follow Jesus, um, themselves, and then reproduce that process and other people. Um, and if that’s what you’re doing, great, you’re not going to the park. You’re either the first or the second of these servants. But if you found salvation and kept it to yourself, you’re in a, you’re in a rough spot.

Jesus, isn’t going to be happy when you save up for judgment. And you’re probably going to be like, you’re probably going to be taken back of like, Oh, like I didn’t, I didn’t realize that this is what it meant. Um, but we’re still held accountable for it, right? Like, just because I didn’t fully understand something because I didn’t pursue relationship with Jesus for Jesus to teach me those things.

Like I’m still on you, but oftentimes that’s. Our response would be like the third servant’s response or God, like, this is all your fault. This is my fault. Like you did all this to me.

Andrew: Sorry to cut. And I was just saying, or just saying like, yeah, I didn’t, or it’s your fault God, but, or just man, I, I didn’t want to risk. Anything for you. I didn’t want to risk potentially losing what you gave me. So I, I hit it. You know, I didn’t want to risk losing that 10 bucks you gave me, because I know that you really would be ticked about that.

And it’s like, yeah, but I was gone for a year and I gave you that unexpected you to at least have done something or tried, you know, um, I wish you would have at least taken a shot, uh, in any way, rather than just hiding what I gave you. Um, and living a scared. And sad life in the, in between, um, you know, where you’re I come back and you’re sitting there saying, well, I’m, I’m terrified of you masters.

So I did nothing for you the whole time you were gone. You’re like, wait, I was gone nine months. You know, I was gone two years. I was gone 2000 years, whatever. How often? Like 

Josh: how often that’s the view people have of God that God is this, this vengeful, God just waiting for you to screw up so he can strike you down.

Yeah. Um, like for a lot of people that is Lord, a lot of Christians, that’s the view of God didn’t know, like Jesus was sent to the cross to restore relationship. God is a caring father. Um, God like, God should be the place that you’re constantly turning to. When you screw up, it shouldn’t be like, Oh crap. I screwed up.

Where’s God at. So I can watch my back. It should be, Oh crap. I screwed up. Where’s my dad. Like I need my father in this moment. I need to, I need to rush to him. Yeah. I’m like, that’s the Jesus life that the God restored through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. Like that’s what we’re chasing after.

And we have that view of God. We’re confident, right? I got willing to risk everything because I know my God has my back. I’m taking care of my salvation here. I don’t have to worry about any of those things. Um, and not only that, I have a hope in life, in a freedom in life that I want others to experience as well.

Like that’s a big deal. Um, like there’s a group of guys I meet with as kind of walked through this discipleship journey of, of what it really means to be a great commission church and to live this out. And, um, one of them kind of went on this, this, uh, pathway of just like, I want people to experience, um, what.

Um, I’ve experienced through Jesus, not necessarily for Jesus’ sake, but for their sake. Um, and granted that’s a little, that’s a little twisted, and that was the point of what he was trying to make was, you know, this is why I’m doing this for what their benefit rather for God’s benefit, um, which I would argue it’s both.

And that’s what he was trying to argue is just kind of stating where he was at. Um, but that’s, that’s part of it is like, am I living this Jesus life in embracing the gospel in such a way that I have a hope in a, in a future and I want others to experience that same thing. Um, and then we get to live in this protection of relationship with God, uh, and try all these things.

Like I get to, I get to chase after people and let them experience these things and see, uh, my life, uh, multiply itself from a Jesus perspective into others. And granted, it’s not about me. It’s about Christ and that’s where we want to get them to you, but it starts. You know, in this story with you as an individual, um, what are you manifesting or what are you representing to, to the people around you, the individuals, and are you investing in their lives relationally for the sake of them knowing God and deepening that knowledge and relationship with God, I think is a big piece of this as well.

Andrew: I do too. And, uh, And man one good thing about this in the story. It’s kind of like a set. Here’s what happened? It’s cut and dry. It’s like 10 versus 15 versus total. But, um, so it’s like one had five, one had two, one had one talent. Um, and then the master was gone for a while. Came back. What’d you do with it?

You know, pretty simple thing, but, uh, are pretty straight forward, I should say. Um, but reality is you and I, as long as we have breath in our lungs and the judgment day has not come, uh, we’re standing up we’re alive and judgment day hasn’t come, maybe. You’re listening to this, uh, in your like yeah, I’m in that kind of scared space of saying, well, I don’t want to risk anything because then I could risk maybe doing something wrong in my pursuit of Jesus or in the way I’m leading people to Jesus.

So instead of leading anybody towards anything, I’m going to do nothing and just very quietly have my own personal relationship with the Lord and never say anything to anybody or let it influence my life in any way. Um, that’s visible to anybody else. So basically you’re living scared and saying, this is just going to be in the little compartment of my life.

Now I’m not the judge. I’m not God. So I don’t want to say you’re going to heaven or hell, it’s not my place, you know? Um, but I know as you and I have talked about a lot of times, you’re not living the full life that you could, um, you’re not living fully into the kingdom. You’re not living fully into the gifts that God has for you.

Um, Whatever those gifts are, but the good news is if judgment day hasn’t come and you still have breath in your lungs, you don’t have to just stay more like that. Third servant who just kept the one pap, one talent, hidden underground, and then the master came and judgment. It was there and he brought it back out.

You don’t have to do that because you have the free will to choose, you know, am I going to follow God differently today than I did yesterday? There’s hope in that. You’re not just this person set in stone, even though it might feel like you’ve been set in stone because you haven’t changed in your relationship with the Lord in a long time.

I’ve been there. I get that where it feels like, well, this is just a part of my life. Now. This is just a part of my pattern now. And yeah, I’d like to change it, but it feels like that’d be really hard. No, man. There’s always hope. There’s always hope. If you fear live in judgment day, hasn’t happened. The book isn’t sealed, then.

Be a part of writing a news story a little bit, you know, um, ink is fresh, you know, um, I don’t know what other analogy I can use, but all I’m trying to say is there’s hope you don’t have to just stay right where you’re at. Um, you can choose to start following God in different way at any time, and you don’t have to become a Billy Graham overnight and become this amazing evangelist.

You know, I feel like we often, um, Might elevate the role of pastor or preacher higher than we should. Um, as Christians in the U S we, we might look at like the mega influential pastors and think like, wow, they’re just like, they’re on the pinnacle, you know? And maybe they are, maybe they’re not, but, uh, I don’t think God called everybody to be pastors.

I don’t think he equipped every Christ follower to be pastors. I think that he equips people very uniquely with talents. Um, so if you’re an electrician or a school teacher, it doesn’t matter. God can use you fully in his kingdom where you’re at. If you’re a stay at home mom or work in marketing, or you happen to be a pastor, um, God can use you fully and seriously for his will, um, regardless of profession, regardless of skillset.

Um, and the beautiful thing is there’s hope that you can be used differently tomorrow, uh, in God’s kingdom than you were the last day, month or 10 years. You know, if you’ve been living in that kind of scared version of Christianity.

Josh: Yeah. And like, that’s one of the reasons we started this podcast, right? Like this is where hopeless, you know, this is the statement that shows up on the website. Like we looked at Christians, um, that we know, and in some we see from a distance and we didn’t see a lot of hope. We didn’t hope, you know, defined us a level of joy, regardless of circumstances, a level of adventure in their life where they’re investing their lives in other people.

And, and, um, staying true to the core of relationship with, with Jesus that, that sustains them in those pursuits. Um, and because we didn’t see that way, we wanted to start to speak to it. And that’s kind of, one of the reasons we started this podcast is we want to help you find hope again. And, you know, part of that for me, it’s the John 10 life, and you’ve heard this quote this a thousand times, and we’ll probably quote it a thousand times more, but I want people to have life and have it to the full, I want Jesus’s promise to them to come true.

I don’t want it to feel like, um, everything’s being stolen. Um, everything is being killed off as, as the enemy does in comparison to what Jesus does in that verse. But oftentimes it feels like the enemy is winning. And I think that’s, I think that’s the primary issues with Andrew’s talking about is we’re not living this life out.

Um, we may have found salvation somewhere along the way. Um, you know, maybe it was a church camp, maybe it was a service. Uh, maybe it was a friend that taught you, uh, maybe you picked up the Bible one day and then you started reading it. And you, you came to know this, this knowledge of God. However you came to salvation.

Um, but then that salvation became extremely personal. Maybe, you know, you brought it up once and someone persecuted you for it. So you just shut up about it. You’re never going to bring it up again. Um, but there’s a part as you journey with Jesus that it becomes so, so important to your life. Um, the fact that Jesus is a part of your life, that it just starts to ooze out.

And we get back to that, that, um, first Peter verses be ready to give an account for why, for why you have the hope that you do. And that’s what we want to help people find. And it comes with, yeah, there’s some risk involved then. Yeah, it takes, you know, getting uncomfortable, um, to live out the great commission as Jesus commanded you to.

But the longer you walk with Jesus and you start digging into the emotions of that, and it’s not just a facade of relationship and you’re not just living out the religious practices of going to church and, you know, taking communion and reading your Bible from time to time and praying before meals. Um, all great things.

Um, all important things, but useless things. If they’re not built on relationship with Jesus, um, they’re just religious and this was, this was Jesus’ words to the Pharisees. You do everything right. You look great. You look like a dead man’s tomb on the outside. It’s beautiful on the outside, you look like this is perfect, you know, casket, but on the inside, it’s just dead bones.

You’re missing out on so much relationship. Um, and this is the part of the problem of, of probably the Christian Church today is we’re really good. And, and, you know, I’m as much a part of it as anyone else. We’re really good at teaching you how to be good Christians. Um, but we’re not good at teaching you how to be in relationship with Jesus.

Um, and if that’s, if you miss that step, everything else is done in vain. Right. You know, I think we quoted this verse last week, you know, John fit. Yeah, John 15, you know, and Jesus says a by to me in all abide in you, as I’ve bought those verses, and he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. And that’s the point of this here, apart from Christ, you can’t do anything.

So focus on your relationship with Jesus. So if you’re sitting where Andrew’s just kind of described if like, what do I do now? It starts with a ratio, but she uses start a conversation. Um, what we call prayer in the Christian world, um, pray asking God, and just having that conversation, open the door, saying, God, this is how I feel.

And this is what I’m thinking about. And this is what I’m scared of, but God, this is what you’ve called me to. And I really want this. I just don’t know how to get there. Can you help me get there and then let him shape and mold you. Um, and then, you know, as he commands you to do things, do those things, as he commands you to stop doing other things, stop doing those things, um, focus in on other people in the relationship, um, and let, let that start to foster.

And you’ll notice as you start to live that life of true relationship. You end up in this place where like, yeah, I want to tell people about what’s going on. Like when I see my neighbors on both sides of me, well, I know one, couple, I knew better than the other couple, but I’m just looking for opportunities to be like, Hey, can I tell you not because I want to convert them?

Not because I need another notch on my belt. No, because I’m like, man, I have something that I think you really need. Right. And I’m not seeing the fruit of what I have. So I don’t think you have yet. And I want to introduce you to it. And we call Jesus and his gospel. Um, and there’s that piece of it of like, where is this going to go?

Now? Now I do relationship with them because I want them to come close to my life. I want to share my life with them so they can see the hope that I have. But if I hold it all to myself, I don’t engage people. I don’t go out of my way to foster relationship. How the heck are they going to be able to see it?

They’re not going to see it from a distance. No, they have to see it right in front of them. And they gotta, they got to see what their own eyes with, you know, with my life in front of them. And they’re not going to see it when we don’t spend any time out together. We’re outside. We spend our time on the porch when it’s nice out.

But however you spend that time, are you creating relational environments so people can see your life up close. And if you’re not start there, um, start relationship with Jesus foster, that relationship start creating relational environments around you so people can see your life. Um, your kids on sports teams, hang out with the parents on the sports teams, easy when your kids are in daycare, as you see, you know, different different families, invite them over for dinner.

Cause guess what? You’re going to have dinner anyways. Want to have someone else with you? And you’re like, what? Josh? Then I have to come up with conversation and maybe awkward. Yeah, that’s true. It might be, but that’s okay. I’m like,

yeah, just go back 

Andrew: to the first five, rip off all their questions. It’s great. It’s great. Yeah. I mean, man, what I hear you is just. Exactly. Most of them. Yeah, we did pretty much. Um, but yeah, just try to live out, live out this Jesus life fully in your everyday life and be intentional about looking for ways that you can build relationships where you’re showing people your just your honest life, you know, um, where you’re showing them, Hey, this is.

Who I am. And here’s why I am who I am his name’s Jesus. And there’s a lot to it, but, uh, but he’s good. And I want to show you his goodness and I want to get to know you in a sincere way, because you’re somebody who, I don’t know if you’re, you know, you look around and you’re like, there’s no, there’s no, um, like, you know, little marker that people wear that say, Oh, that person’s a follower of Jesus.

You know, you can’t visually tell, but reality is, um, if you’re a Christ follower, if you’re a Christian, you really want everybody to be, there’s not anybody you should look at and go, well, I hope that guy never gets Jesus. I hope they should know 

Josh: the secret handshake. 

Andrew: Well, yeah, you’re not supposed to say that on the podcast.

They 

Josh: don’t know the secret handshake and yeah. I’m not supposed to see what it is, but you’re allowed to talk about it. Oh, there is the 

Andrew: actual case say there is one. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I get it. They didn’t realize that was. 

Josh: Yeah, you just can’t show it. You know, that’s agitations three seven or something like 

Andrew: hesitations.

That’s funny. Uh, Babel jokes. Um, 

Josh: three seven, I think it’s three. 

Andrew: Yeah, I think it’s three seven. Um, I don’t know, but just live out your life in an honest way and invite other people in and look for ways to invite other people in, man, I got to be at house church this morning cause it’s Sunday. And like we were talking about a lot of things are just not normal still because of all the COVID stuff.

At least here in Pennsylvania. Sounds like they’re in Colorado too. And, um, the reality is like, Our church. There’s not that many people that are going physically to services right now. There’s quite a few that are still just watching online. So a group of us kind of said, well, let’s just do this as, as, as a group of people, you know?

And, um, man, this morning we finally got there. Jen and I and kids were, I don’t know, 15 minutes late. We were a little bit, uh, stressed out. It’s, it’s hard to get a newborn and toddler out the door. It’s like, you know, one step forward, two steps back sometimes like literally put a shoe on and then both are off two minutes later.

It’s like, what is going on? Um, but it felt like we got to church, we got there to the house house church, and man, just the chance to have like a refresh and a reframing and like, uh, I don’t have to worry about. Yeah, whatever I was worried about before for a little bit, I can just be in community and in real relationship with people who love me and like Jesus, um, I, in that opposite order, it’s just good.

It was just like a breath of fresh air. Um, and the reality is watch the sermon listened to as much as we could, but most important part was at the end where we just took a minute and said, okay, so what’s going on in everybody’s lives and how can we pray for each other? And then we prayed for each other and it was like a little chaotic kids running around people, eating food, people die, whatever, but we have to just be in relationship and in community together.

Now we weren’t using that moment to like evangelize the neighborhood. You know, it was like a small group, maybe 10 or 15, 18 of us in my, um, in-laws home. And, uh, and that’s okay. Like there’s moments where you can just have that group. We are Christ followers. We’re celebrating him. We’re spending time together in community, um, kind of refresh and reset.

We do that once a week through house church or regular church, but, um, but man, I look around and I’m like, everybody’s so lonely right now. I want everybody to have that level of community. Like my, my neighbors, my physical neighbors. I want them to have that level of community. I’m pretty sure they don’t, you know, I see cars that come and go out of their driveway.

My other neighbors across the street, they’re still, uh, only seeing people, you know, outside. Uh, they haven’t been with their own parents for months and months. And when they were, they were like, you know, sitting outside 10 feet apart talking, I’m just like, man, everybody’s lonely right now. I want them to have the level of community that I got to have this morning that I get to have every week, you know, um, just truly knowing people, sharing meals, sharing laughs and praying for each other.

Um, having our kids play with each other, like I know COVID makes a weird time of weird, uh, made this a weird season, but man, the reality is like, I want to invite people into that. I want people to not be lonely. I want people to not, um, feel isolated. I want them to feel hope. I don’t want people to look around and go, well, this ever this world ever be what it was before.

And I don’t want people asking that question. I’ll let them say, and man, I have more hope now than I did when COVID started. You know, that’s what we need, man. We need the gospel to be more prevalent and real in people’s lives. Um, and we need to be ready to invite people into, into our lives. So they have a shot at that because COVID is just one more kind of chink in the armor of the normal us church model that, um, I dunno has made it hard, but reality is there’s still a lot of real Christ followers living out this Jesus life.

And there’s a lot of people who don’t know Jesus at all, or have a bad view of Jesus that could be invited into it. So, um, I don’t know, man. I just want that for people. I don’t want people to be lonely as a start. I want people to know they have hope as names. Jesus. So a little bit of a tangent, but uh that’s.

Josh: Yeah. And to kind of piggyback off that it’s not really related to what we’re talking about, but I think it’s, we’re saying, um, like there’s also this piece of. Of what fear can do, right? Like I think this is why we see, you know, the prophets and leaders of Israel throughout the ages. And God constantly say, you know, don’t be afraid, um, you know, be courageous in, in faith with me, um, because fuels that powerful in our lives, like fear has separated.

Relationships family relationships, uh, in our world because we’re terrified of COVID and what COVID may do, like security is important, but it’s not the most important. Um, the security is a lot further down on, on the food chain then than we realize. But, um, when, cause when fear takes over, man, you become helpless.

Um, like when fear takes over of like, Oh man, what are, what are my neighbors going to say? If I, if I invite them over, who cares if they tell you no, or yes. Does it really change anything? No, but it might open a door for them where they’re like, Holy crap. I didn’t realize there was a completely different life that I’ve could have experienced.

Right? Like it’s these little things of like, man, why am I scared of this? Why am I scared of, of how I’m going to be accepted? Or why am I scared of, um, a pandemic? Um, sure. A pandemic scary. Yeah. But my God is bigger. I’m not really worried about it. I’m like. He’s a greater than all these things. We can still function, um, in this Jesus life, um, uh, myths, pandemic and amidst restrictions.

Um, we can still do these things and we’re missing out on so much life when we choose fear and separate us. Cause that’s the goal, right? Like the enemy wants to separate you from any type of community you have, because at that point, like things just start falling apart. This is why humanity needs other people like remove, remove Jesus and Christianity from the equation.

You put someone out in the woods all by themselves and they’re going to go crazy. Let’s just, that’s what happens. They get these wacky crazy views about reality. That’s not true. And their life starts to deteriorate and fall apart. That’s just, that’s what, that’s what happens because. People are designed for relationship and were designed at an innate and innate level, because this is how God has created this one to be in relationship with him and wanting to be in relationship with others.

And when we miss out on that, we miss out on so much high, so much life and so much hope. And then we ended up down these spiral circles where everything is kind of falling apart for us. Um, and you know, maybe you’re sitting here and again, this is another tangent that probably doesn’t fit, but I’m going to go down this tangent anyways.

Cause I think it’s worth saying, Hey, tangents 

Andrew: encouraged. We’re 

Josh: good. Yeah. Maybe, maybe you’re sitting there and you’re listening to us and, um, No, you’ve grown up in the church in somewhere along the way, the church hurt you. Um, the leaders of the church made a decision. Um, something happened, whatever had ever played out, but you’re carrying a fair amount of baggage.

Um, and it’s really hard for you to swallow the idea of Christian community, because you assume all Christian communities the same. Um, now is there truth to that probably to some extent, and we’re all broken individuals and hurt people, harm people. That’s just, that’s the reality of life. Um, but you walking around with that pain, um, you rock it, walking around with that hurt.

Um, you walking around with lack of a better term, but unforgiveness, um, you’re just going to cause the same harm to people around you. Doesn’t change. You’re just going to reproduce it. Um, so my encouragement to you is you got to dig into it. Um, you’ve got to dig into, um, the pain that you may be feeling.

You got to dig into the idea, um, and the ideas that, you know, you probably need to forgive and forgiveness isn’t, um, it, isn’t a matter of figuring out who’s right and who’s wrong. It doesn’t matter. No forgiveness is a tool for you to move on. That’s why Jesus gave it. You forgive other people sure. For their own sake, but a bigger part is for your own sake.

Um, you’ve got to let it go. You can’t let it consume your thoughts all the time. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had plenty of experiences in my life. Um, even recent experience where the church leaders have harmed me. Um, and I can hold onto the grudge of that and hate the church and go after those individuals and get out there and say, here’s all the lies that they’ve said about me.

And let me share the truth. But what does that do? It doesn’t help anybody. I can also look at it and say, no hurt. People hurt people. That’s just what happens. Um, I could have easily been on the other side of the table and done the hurting. Um, like I’m no different than they are. I’m not any better than they are, but we get in these cycles where 900, no, I have to be right.

And I have to be seen as right. And I have to be seen as the moral authority. And then you just destroy what the church is supposed to be. We’re supposed to live under unity and you know what living under unity means we’ve settled on the podcast. We take the hit, I choose to take the hit for the sake of relationship, uh, because that’s, that’s the Jesus way of living this life.

It’s the only way that this works out mean. Let’s the only way we continue to be the hope of the world, the church, um, know the barriers of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Um, why wouldn’t we want that, but if we’re constantly bickering at arms chasing after harming. Others that were supposed to be in unity with like we’re in a rough spot.

Um, that’s a bad day and we’re not going to get anything done. And then we’re going to be focused on the wrong things rather than focused on the God things, which are, are we sharing this hope with the world and helping them mature in that relationship with Jesus so they can do the same. And if that’s what we’re chasing or have great life, but we’ll be so focused on, let’s draw some lines in the sand and say, you’re evil.

I’m, I’m good. Um, you’re bad, I’m better. Um, and then we ended up nowhere. We ended up compromising nothing. We get to the, the judgment day where you get to, you know, standing before Jesus. And then we’re like, and Jesus is like, what were you doing this whole time? You’ve wasted so much time on the things that don’t matter.

I told you what to do 

Andrew: the great commission. Yeah, I had to bury it. I, well, cause I didn’t want to mess it up. Jesus. I didn’t want him, I didn’t want to take this life. You gave me and wasted or missed the Mark. I didn’t want to, you know, try and lose all of the stuff you gave me. So all I put it in a hole, uh, but here’s everything that I owe you.

Here’s my life back, you know? And it’s like, yeah, that’s that’s I, I think the tangent works, man. I think it ties in because I think God has expectations that everything that it gives each one of us that we individually are going to use it. For his kingdom in the most honest way we can, and we’re not going to do that perfectly.

We’re not always going to double our gifts, double our money or any of that. There’s no guarantee we have just perfect success. But I really think that at judgment day, we’re going to be asked to, to give an account of what we did with the lives we were given with the finite lives. We were given the 85 years.

Maybe if you take up cigarette smoking at 85, like we talked about, uh, or maybe a hundred, maybe it’s, maybe it’s 30 years, maybe it’s 25. I don’t know how much life each, each one of us has given. And we can’t know that until it’s done, but I’m positive that we are, there is expectation that comes with the life we were given of.

What what’d you do with it, Josh? What’d you do with it, Andrew. And it’s not what you do with it. Wesleyan church or Baptist church or Catholic church. What’d you do with it as a whole it’s Hey, as an individual. What’d you do with it? Uh, cause I gave you some gifts. Did you use them, did you try to use them?

Did you hide them in a hole? Uh what’d you do? And you know, it’s not, not really about just the individual effort. There’s a lot of grace that comes with that. Jesus is at every step ready to lead you in the next rate step to give you the strength for it, to equip you with words through his Holy spirit.

God, doesn’t just say, go and do this all on your own. He says, go and do it in community. By the way, here’s a lot of my words in the Bible recorded to help guide you. Here’s community, here’s prayer. There’s a lot of ways you can understand God’s will and live it out. You’re not doing it just alone, but if you just hide it in a hole, uh, you just put the treasure down there so that nobody can steal it.

Then everything you have is probably that’s probably not the way you should use it. I’ll just say that. Well, it’s probably not how you should 

Josh: use it. Yeah. And the other part of this too. It’s like, you have to pay attention to how the enemy’s works, right? Like he’s a prowling lion he’s, he’s seeking out to kill steal and destroy you.

And it’s not as. Right in front of your faces, you realize it’s the past harm and this victimhood or this victim mentality, and it just holding you down, you never experienced anything cause you can’t forgive and let go. Um, you can’t move on from, from past harms in your life. Embrace them, feel that, feel the hurdle.

I’m not saying shut it down. Um, deal with it, but find, get to a place where you can forgive. Um, it’s the same thing with, with so many different avenues or not, just not for forgiveness. It’s the fear that takes over. Um, and we don’t live out this Jesus life because we’re terrified and we let. The, the fear of our lives, you know, went out there.

There’s so many different ways that the enemy tries to kill, kill, kill, kill, steal, and destroy you. So be on guard for those ways to make sure that nothing gets the way of the hope that you have in Christ and the commission that he’s given you to live this life out, um, for the sake of helping others experience what you experience.

Um, and it’s an individual mandate. Like I don’t get to sit like Andrew just said, I don’t get to sit and say, well, collectively we’re doing great things. I may be playing a small part of that, but collectively we’re doing great things. No, no, no, no. It’s an individual mandate of what did you do with the life God has given you, what did you do with the harms, the pains, um, the misfortunes that came, um, did you turn them to allow God to use them for good?

Or did you sit and just, um, bask in them of like, what was meat? Um, what about the great things of your life, the successful things in your life? How did you use those things for the sake of the gospel and the sake of living out this great commission? Um, or did you, you know, hoard all those things for your own desires and your own wants you’re missing out on so much life.

The Jesus life that he promised us is this life of the full in abundance. It should be a life full of adventure, a life full of relationship life that I get to invest in all these different people around me for the sake of the gospel, not just for community, their community is important, not just for relationship though, for relationships important.

We do it for the sake of the great commission. Am I introducing people to Jesus so they can experience the same thing that I have experienced. I want them to have all this, you know, when, when you have a group of believers, that’s all about community, but misses the mission. You have a group of friends, good friends, but they’re not living the mission they’re missing out on a massive port port, or you have a group of believers chasing after the mission, but there’s no deep relationship or authenticity.

You’re missing the point. Um, we’re missing out on so much life. You, you find yourself in these silos that are so hard to get out of. It’s not up to you. Um, it’s up to crisis, Andrew. Just say, you know, he’s, it tells you at the end of the great commission with you always to the very end of the age, it’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful truth, do apply to our lives.

But, um, you know, there’s something we’re supposed to do with that. That relationship is not all about me and what I get it’s about what I’m giving to the kingdom for the sake of the kingdom and others’ lives. Um, if I live out the great commission fully individually, um, then I get to experience the full life.

As Jesus promised me, um, a life full of adventure.

Andrew: Let it be. So let it be 

Josh: so let it be so

Andrew: thanks for listening to our show, it really means a lot to us and we hope that it helps bring you closer in your relationship with Jesus 

Josh: and with other people. And it also helps us out. If you rate our podcast or leave us a review on whatever platform you’re listening on and also follow us on Instagram and the Facebook.

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You can message us on Facebook and Instagram, or you can just visit us@thisjesuslifepodcast.com. But seriously, thanks for listening.