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

Andrew: I’m Andrew. And we are at this Jesus life podcast. Josh. Welcome Andrew, my friend. Here we are again, 

Josh: how are you doing yet again, another podcast I’m doing great. Uh, I know you had a screaming, screaming baby on your lap.

So you’re probably a little bit more stressed than I am in this moment. Uh, I’m ready to dive 

Andrew: into, I was going to say maybe a tiny bit, but the funny thing is like, Usually right before my youngest daughter goes to sleep, she gets like really fussy and mad at everything. And like, you bounce her for a little bit and she’s just like, yeah, I’m going to sleep.

Like, so you, you listened to that. You heard that as we were getting ready to talk about what we’re going to talk about. Um, yeah, so she’s asleep now. So. 

Josh: I’m good to go, man. I have the same problem. Like I get cranky and start crying right before I go to sleep. But the second someone bounces me. I’m sad. I’m like, I’m not, yeah, I get it.

I understand. I understand our 

Andrew: issue. Although I feel like if, if I was picked up. If there were someone large enough to just pick me up and bounce me. Uh, I don’t think I’d go to sleep. I think I’d be terrified. Like this is not. Yeah. 

Josh: Like now that you like describe it now, I’m like, I’m uncomfortable just thinking about it.

So I don’t want to be home with the baby. I really don’t. 

Andrew: No, do not cradle me. Don’t bounce me feel tiny 

Josh: steer. That’s the last thing I want. I don’t wanna feel tiny. 

Andrew: We had. Oh, go ahead. 

Josh: Sorry. You finished that. I have a friend, I have a friend that told me once that like, he likes to be little spoon sometimes, which she probably shouldn’t told me.

Cause like, let’s go, you don’t permit that if that’s true. But I was like, yeah, I’ve never had that feeling where I wanted to be a little spin. Not me. So now that you picture the big dude, that’s now trying to hold me like a baby to bounce me to sleep. I’m really uncomfortable at the beginning of this podcast.

Andrew: Me too. Well do, let me make you a little more uncomfortable. I don’t know if you’re going to get this, but I’m sure you’ve read about it or seen it, or maybe I even mentioned it in our podcast before. But brood X, you know, that is going around the cicadas the 17 year hatch. Have you seen much about this?

Josh: No. I’ve only heard about cicadas from you and one Instagram post that I sent. Yes. 

Andrew: Yes. Okay. And yeah, and we, we laughed about that now that you think about it, or now that you’ve mentioned it, so dude, a ton, uh, sprouted, and I say sprouted, cause they literally come out of the ground. You know, like you see little holes all over the ground where they crawl out.

And like a ton came out and it was like pretty loud and, uh, like thousands, you know, like literally thousands on, on multiple trees. And then we had this like crazy cold weather and rain and it was like last week or the week before, when we tried to do our podcast and my power went out, um, internet first, then my power, um, Anyway, I thought all the cicadas died because like suddenly the noise was gone.

Like, I couldn’t see many, a lot of the ones that were like frozen, you know? Cause there were so they weren’t actually frozen, but I thought it got cold enough that they died. Dude, fast forward to today to today we’ve had like at least one or two more rounds of cicadas pop up and there are just like, There are way more than there have been at any point.

It’s like it’s loud, man. Like every time you step outside, it’s just like a, a den, a quiet roar of cicadas. It’s crazy, man. It’s crazy. 

Josh: Phoenix used to have cicadas, but never like that. They’d be like in a tree and you hear him when you walk by, but it wasn’t like what you’re describing. Yeah. Well, I 

Andrew: let my chickens out 

Josh: and apocalyptic.

Andrew: It is, it is, but here’s the crazy thing. They only live for like 48 hours when they come out. Like they don’t live long. They’re not like locusts in the Bible. You know, that like fly everywhere, need everything. But there’s just so many of them that they eat a little bit of stuff and like make some damage, but not that bad, but I was going to tell you, are they just 

Josh: dead bodies all around?

There’s just what, like, what happens to him is they’re dead. Like cicadas, just all around, like what happens to 

Andrew: them when they die? Yeah. Around a few of my trees. It’s like, there’s a carpet of dead cicadas laying on the ground, like an inch thick of just cicadas. It’s terrible. It’s really great. How big are they?

They’re uh, they’re like two marbles as a grasshopper. No, they’re bigger, man. They’re like, they’re thick. They’re like a super long bumblebee, basically like that size. Okay. Yeah. But yeah, but like, I let my chickens out there out for like the second day in a row and they’re out just eating as many cicadas as they possibly can right now.

And like, it’s hilarious by the time I go and let them in, in an hour or two. Uh, let them back in their pen. They’re just like super full and lazy. And they’re like, they like happily go in and sleep. Like we’re so fat and happy. It doesn’t even matter. 

Josh: It’s all. Have you convinced your wife yet to eat one?

Andrew: No. Well, I’ve been trying, I’ve been trying to consistently, uh, and I’ve not on that. Well, she was trying to get me to the liver and she was talking in like, Hey Andrew, like. Yeah, I know liver’s weird E but like it’s a super food and we can like, Cook it and then grind it up and like put it in chili and that type of stuff.

And I’m like, listen, I’ve eaten liver before. I know it was nasty, then I’m certain it is now. Uh, and my first thing was like, I’ll just eat more sweet potatoes because they’re super food too. And she’s like, no, like doesn’t do the same thing. Like, okay, Janna, you eat a Cicada, I’ll try liver. She’s 

Josh: like, isn’t like the amount of blood that’s sitting inside of it.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. It just gets old red, red blood cells and stuff like, yeah. Yeah. It’s straight up blood. Yeah. So, no, thank 

Josh: you. There’s no way I’m eating. No, no. I’m with you on that one. I’d 

Andrew: actually rather eat a Cicada. My dog loves the man and then I’ll stop talking about them, but my dog. Well, just go out and Clementine hunts, cicadas, she’ll just run around.

And like, she has her two favorite trees where she knows they like to be, she’ll just go eat like a big old pile of cicadas man. And apparently a lot of Doug’s dogs love them. So I don’t know, but the internet described them as, as a shrimp, like consistency that has an asparagus flavor. So. Yeah. 

Josh: Yes.

Asparagus can have a nasty flavor if not done. Right. So he’s putting the shrimp piece, like that’s like hard shell soft inside or 

Andrew: no, no, you eat them. When they first emerge from the ground before they have wings, they like come out and then they’re in this like shell that they then like latch on a tree and climb out of their shell and sprout wings and fly away.

So you got to eat them before they get wings. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a whole thing. And brood X. Yeah. They’re nasty 

Josh: brute X. So what does, where does Bruta X come from? 

Andrew: Well, it’s just like, I, I was thinking about that. I was like, what the heck? And then I realized it’s actually just like a Roman numeral, you know, it’s nothing.

So like the next big catch will be X. Yeah. So I was thinking that too, 

Josh: just like an east coast thing. 

Andrew: Uh, it’s supposed to be, I think it’s like east coast, Midwest and like the south, uh, we’ll all have this. I think it’s just in general. They don’t like do as well in the super dry climate, like Colorado. Um, and so you’ll probably be, you’ll probably be spared mainly.

Josh: Yeah. But I also wouldn’t have the temptation to eat what one it’s coming into the ground. That sounds disgusting, but that’s just me, 

Andrew: dude. It’s really good for all the birds around here. Apparently it’s really good for the dirt because you know, millions of bottles, bodies of cicadas decompose, and apparently it’s amazing for the Turkey population around here.

So that’s a good 

Josh: thing. Yeah. So especially if you want a bow up from your backyard. Exactly. I brought from my backyard, but, um, my neighbors really don’t appreciate it. There were a lot of things to say about 

Andrew: it’s fair. That is fair. You are a little bit closer to your neighbors than I am mine. So, you know, 

Josh: yeah, man, what’s, what’s one thing that you did as a child, uh, that your parents still retell the story about.

Hmm, 

Andrew: dude, I think I’ve told this story. I think I told you this story of the skewers. When I got mad at my sister at her birthday party. Cause it wasn’t my birthday. And I went down and sat on the back of the trash bag that was actually filled with wooden skewers and I got. I have a skewer removed from a butt cheek.

Josh: So did you have to, like, did someone remove it for you? Did you go to the doctor? 

Andrew: No, it was my mom’s a nurse, so she like pulled it out of them, cleaned it, but it was like dramatic. 

Josh: I was mentioning you like on the way to the doctor’s with a score sticky, still sticking out of your body. 

Andrew: Well, thankfully, no doctor involved.

What about you? What’s one thing your paying. Tell the story about. 

Josh: Um, my mom likes to tell a story about, um, I don’t remember this ever happening. She claims that it does, but whatever. Um, I was more of a seeing the glass half empty type of child. Um, so apparently her and my sister were having conversation in the car and probably, I don’t know, 10, maybe younger.

Um, and she goes, watch this and the sky she’s like this, you know, she turns around and she asked me, Josh, what, what, color’s the sky? Uh, oh, no, she goes, Josh, the sky is really blue and I, my response is no, it’s not. It’s like more gray. Um, and she’s like told you, so should I just tell that story? Which like, I’m just a literal person.

So like, if it wasn’t blue, it wasn’t blue. I don’t want to tell you. Right. Right. And she’s like, you’re just a negative Nancy. You’re like, you’re mean old lady. I can say that on this podcast, because you’re 

Andrew: going to your room for a week. 

Josh: Yeah, that’s true. There was a time. This was years, years later. I’m in high school at this point.

I’m probably like a sophomore in high school or something like that. And my mom and I got in an argument and they said some smart ass comment to her and she went to slap me. Uh, and out of reflex, I just caught her hands. And then you’re like, oh, what do I do? So I just like slowly pushed her out of my room and close the door and we just, we never talked about it again.

We just act like it never happened. 

Andrew: It’s just one of those moments of like, we are never going to talk about that 

Josh: again. I feel like we talked about it recently. Uh, but I don’t remember how she responded. She probably is still getting into now that it ever happened, but yeah. As long as you’re like, ah, I don’t know what to do right now.

I’m going to just, you should leave. 

Andrew: Yeah. It would be best if you leave now. 

Josh: Uh, That’s crazy, but yeah, probably probably the sky story is probably my mom’s like go-to of like, let me just tell you how negative my son is, 

Andrew: which I would say overall you’re little you’re, you’re more positive than negative.

That’s for sure. You’re optimistic. Yeah. Yeah. More positive 

Josh: today than I’ve ever been. That’s where I’ve grown out of a lot of, but I can also walk into a room and tell everything wrong with that room. I just choose not to say those things out loud 

Andrew: now, is that because of your freedom in Christ? My may, may I ask 

Josh: it?

Absolutely because of my freedom and Christ. Great transition.

You would think we plan these better and have great transitions, but we don’t, people 

Andrew: were incredibly busy, but we love doing this actually. So we make it happen. Yeah. 

Josh: And we love hearing your feedback of 

Andrew: the impact that has we really do, but we’re not the most plan. Uh, this is a real conversation, you 

Josh: know?

Yeah. If you’re looking, if you’re looking for the polished, the outlined, uh, the intentional, that’s not us, so you’ve come to the wrong place. Um, now we can be that way, but the podcast unfortunately is not. And I think there’s a draw to that in all honesty. Like there’s just, we’re two normal dudes trying to live this Jesus’ life.

If it felt so polished, it wouldn’t feel like two normal dudes. It feels like to pastors, to theologians, trying to convince you of what they believe the Bible says. And that’s just not the case. We’re going to come in from relationship. We’re going to come in from our own experience and share those experiences.

But back to your awesome. Remarkable a very well-planned transition. That probably is true. There’s definitely a piece of my personality that has changed because of the freedom that I have in, in Christ. Because even when I look at my own, um, walk with Jesus and, uh, you could probably describe me coming out of like, High school in the middle of high school coming out of high school.

Yeah. Pretty good zealot. Like I’m definitely sure to let you know if you’ve sent or you were in the wrong, very black and white when it comes to those kinds of things and probably pretty damaging to people that came in contact with me that didn’t know Jesus, um, or didn’t have, you know, a deep relationship with Jesus that could give me the grace in the moment.

So I get it. Um, yeah, I’m definitely a better person and definitely see the glass more half full than half empty right today because yeah, because of my relationship with Jesus, which is, you know, inevitably has my freedom in Christ. Yeah. So boom, take that people that don’t like our banter, look at that transition.

Andrew: And let me say, I, I agree. All right. Well, and I didn’t know you out of high school, but even in the time I’ve known you, uh, you’re definitely more joy-filled now than you were then. And. I, I hope I am too. I think I am. Um, I think I’m more, joy-filled in a, in a deeper way now than it was, um, six, eight years ago, uh, when we first got to know each other.

Um, and I think that’s a good marker, but it’s not like, uh, you know, you’ve talked about this before Josh and Blake looking at it more like, Hey, this month, am I. Am I doing better, you know, and following Jesus, am I closer? More like him, more like how the Lord wants me to be this month or this year than I was last month through last year.

Like, it’s not necessarily a thing to look at an examine on like, uh, hour by hour basis. Cause I mean, sometimes, you know, you’re just, you’re just mad because you need to be bounced to sleep by a giant. Yeah. You’re feeling grumpy. Cause you need to be bounced and rocked and tooted and all that stuff before you go to sleep.

But like, you look at it in seasons or like, uh, you know, every month or year or quarter or something like that. And you can look back and be like, yeah, I’ve grown in my relationship with, uh, with the Lord and. Man before we go into like the verses. Uh, I was thinking about the concept. Um, actually just now I was thinking about the concept of freedom and Christ and, uh, you know, I was praying, uh, just the other day, just having a real talk with, with the Lord and, uh, Basically just thanking him, like, Hey, thanks for releasing me from some of these things in my life, in my past, you know, and realistically, um, I don’t know.

It was, it was a cool moment of just like, thanks for taking that struggle and temptation and thing. Truly out of my life. Like, it’s just not a thing I struggle with now. And I was listing off some stuff and I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details. Cause that was for, for my time with the Lord.

Um, but you know, realistically it looked like, uh, it looks like freedom now where it’s just like, that’s not a temptation anymore. And it doesn’t mean I like, you know, gained this big thing, but I. But again, freedom, you know, freedom from something. So, um, I don’t know, man. It was a kind of a cool moment for me.

Josh: Yeah. That is cool. Even the piece of like freedom for something so like yeah. Um, you know, I’m, I’m, uh, probably middle between extrovert and introvert. Like people definitely give me. Energy. I like to be around people, but difficult people, toxic people drain me, I think, at a faster rate than it drains other people.

Cause they seem to have a lot more patients than I do. Um, but as you walk with Jesus and as Jesus does his work, his sanctification process of making you more like himself, um, You find those moments of like, man, I do have more patience with people that may have drove me batshit crazy, um, even just six months ago or a year ago.

And so there’s those moments too, of like, man you’re finding freedom or conquering these whatever junk he had to conquer in your life to, to get you to this place. And it’s. It’s probably different for all of us. Maybe it’s old hurts and pains. Maybe it’s old sin, you’re struggling. Maybe it’s a part of your personality that wasn’t ever supposed to be there, but you’ve held onto it to protect yourself or whatever it happens to be.

But as he does the work to. Uh, heal those areas to deal with those areas, to remove the sin of those areas. Um, you’re also like found that freedom of like, I get to be more of who I am around people, which is always going to be better for the people around you. Um, you know, as long as you’re healthy, more of who you are when you’re unhealthy, it’s caused more destruction.

But, um, you know, when you’re at those places, there’s that freedom to if like you’re going to be, you are now free to live a more. Uh, joyous fulfilled life, um, in relationship with people that maybe haven’t done before either. Um, I think is always helpful, dude. I just did the math because we would have met, I think you guys moved out here in July, right?

To Colorado. Yeah. July, by the way. Happy anniversary on the podcast. I’m already 

Andrew: 29 years today, man. Thanks. 

Josh: So there, there’s the, there’s the math we’ve known each other for almost nine years next month. Wow. And to Andrew and his wife’s story, they got married and then moved halfway across the country.

Completely like literally 

Andrew: months later. That’s pretty much yep. 

Josh: Pretty Jesus right there. 

Andrew: Glad we 

Josh: did it, man. It was wild. We wouldn’t have known if you didn’t do it. And you know, when you move back, you know, probably, you know, within the next year, uh, that’s going to be a great day as well, to walk back to the great state of Colorado.

Andrew: That’s been tempting sometimes, but yeah, I think we’re here for the season. I don’t know, man. It’s been tempting at moments, but yeah. Where, uh, we’re in God’s well, for now, I think 

Josh: Kate is here. So

Andrew: that’s the case 

Josh: where there are cicadas here. I haven’t seen, so I’ll just, 

Andrew: they’re buried deep, deep, underground still. Yeah, the ship 

Josh: frozen. It’s crazy to come out of the ground. It really is. So we’re in, we’re in Galatians chapter five, the day we may have skipped some of four. Um, but for, in all honesty, it’s repeating a lot of what was in two and three.

Just to get, and he’s trying to get the same point across to the Galatians. Uh, we don’t want to have that conversation again, not because it’s not important. It’s very important. We’re just personally bored with it. So we moved on. 

Andrew: Um, let me just say, Paul is the master at driving something home, like here’s 15 examples of the same thing, cause you all need to hear it and you gotta remember he was writing literal letters, you know, so it’s like to be read like to the group that was supposed to hear them.

So. Like they needed to, and they would just hear it once, usually once or twice, maybe. So, uh, you know, it’s not like us picking up Galatians four, Galatians three, and we can read it and reread it and reread it anytime we want. It’s like the intent was different. So he just drives it home, uh, to the degree that.

Sometimes causes us to skip out on a chunk, uh, or hone in on it. We’ll see. So yeah, we’re in five. 

Josh: It’s not, yeah, it’s not that it’s not important. Um, just for the sake of our conversation and for the sake of, you know, we have to keep you entertained as you listen, uh, right. Talk about something else. But we’re in Galatians chapter five.

We’ll probably spend the next two weeks, two episodes here, maybe even three. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m there’s a lot of different, it was 

Andrew: 15 episodes. Cause we are going to drive this home. Now that we’ve. 

Josh: Yeah, I think we should do it. Yeah. 15 is probably a fair number. We can come at it from 15 different angles and talk about it and just really make sure you understand your freedom in Christ.

And have you lived this life by the spirit rather than by the flesh or by the law, uh, which would go hand in hand together, but we’ll get there. We promise. Uh, we say this all the time. We’ll read parts of these verses on the, on the episode, because it helps for the sake of the conversation, but, um, we really want you spending time with Jesus yourself.

If you’re listening to us, um, as a great and as awesome of insight, Andrew and I have honestly, oftentimes on the spot, um, Jesus insight and Jesus’ voice into your life is always going to be much greater than ours. Infinitely better. Yep. Infinitely better. Um, though Paul in the last verse did say, you, you accepted me.

Like I was angel even Christ himself. Uh, so Paul’s a little full of himself, but we won’t go that far. That’s how you see us, but don’t see us though. And you could, yeah, I don’t need that pressure. Um, don’t seem that way because at some point let’s be honest. I will fail you. I will make you frustrated and you will think I’m an evil, horrible person at some point.

Cause I’ll do it. It’s going to happen. It’s inevitable. You keep walking with us. I’m going to say something about my political views and you’re going to just be like, oh, I hate that guy. He’s such an idiot, which is fine. You can think about it yet. I’m not, you are, but just kidding, just kidding, but really spend some time with Jesus while we read God’s word.

This is the recorded word of God right here. These are, you know, this is what God placed on the heart of, of Paul as Paul was trying to get his points across to the Galatians. Um, you know, through church history, we know, uh, and it’s gone through the test of time that this is the recorded inspirate inspired word of God.

Um, so we, we hold it. Um, we hold it tight and we know that it can be used, um, in, in our own hearts and our own lives. And I think in all honesty, you could spend a month just reading Galatians five over and over again. And I think every day, I’m in the midst of that, those conversations with God, he’s going to show you something else inside these verses because these 26 verses are packed full of just pure, beautiful truth that has.

Ability to, to help you find hope to help you find freedom, um, to live in the midst of that freedom. Um, even when life gets, gets difficult and gets hard. Um, but Galatians chapter five, one through wherever we end up, 

Andrew: can we just start on verse one? Let me just read verse one cause and try to get your reaction.

Cause I feel like. It is so stinking. Good. And we’ll get through the chapter, maybe a lot of it today, but it is for freedom that Christ has set us free Stanford stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Like. What are you? Do you, do you have a reaction? Shouldn’t have that.

I know I’m putting you on the spot, but just verse one alone is so good and struck me. So what are you thoughts 

Josh: on it? Yeah, I think like first off, like in. I’ll be honest with you. And this is kind of the journey God’s had me on for the last two years, but, um, like freedom though, we read verses like this and angulations, and there’s other, you get to the enrollments and a couple of the epistles as well, but you read these verses.

He’s like, yeah, yeah. Freedom from sin and freedom from, um, you know, just the, the, the crappy parts of just who I am. Right. Like, I don’t have to be that person. I’m a new creation kind of thing. Uh, like you get that idea, but it’s this like, Man. If your relationship with Jesus doesn’t feel like free, like you’re doing it wrong.

Like that’s just the reality of it, which I never knew before. Like it just never like clicked, made sense to me where you’re like, oh, that’s others should feel this way. It should feel. Free. And then we all know what free feels like, especially as Americans, that’s where majority of review though, there’s a good, there’s a good portion.

Or at least someone I don’t really know. And I think it’s Ecuador. And I was looking at our stats a couple days ago. Um, it’s been this, all of our episodes. So we have like, I don’t know, four or 500 listens from that country, but. Cool. So thanks for listening. If you’re listening from there. Um, I don’t speak Spanish, but, uh, Cynthia Day port for, for, um, that’s all I know that means sent down, please.

Andrew: No, no, no. Uh, we literally just said stand firm, do not let yourself be burdened again by the yoke of slavery while you’re standing. When you say sit down, please. It takes me back into like fifth grade where it’s just like your teacher’s kind of like your slave master. It’s like, sit down, please. Sit. Damn, you’re going to the principal’s office.

Like that’s so funny. 

Josh: I know it’s for freedom that Christ has set us free. It should feel free. Um, and in all reality, you have, uh, you have a lot of freedom to do things that could cause a lot of harm to your life, but because of the grace of Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, you have those freedoms and we’ll get into that.

Those parts. Paul talks about it, that in, in 13, But, um, like this should feel free and, and oftentimes it feels like a burden. Christianity does, oftentimes it feels like, um, I’m trying to think of other emotional words. Um, Dragging heavy or it feels like heavy. Yeah. Heavy. Uh, it feels difficult. It feels confusing.

Um, all these things are the opposite of free. Yeah. Like held back, um, lack of potential, all those things. But this is, this is what Christ came for. Like he went to the cross for the sake of freedom so we can stand firm in that. That truth, um, and not be stuck in this place of slavery. And I know slavery is a hot button topic these days.

Um, so maybe the emotion of what it would feel like to be a slave, to have no freedom or power, um, or rights to make, you know, decisions for yourself. Um, maybe that those emotions are a little bit more, um, at the forefront of our minds because you know, it’s in the conversation. Society right now. So maybe you’ve thought about it, what it feels like the yoke of slavery or the weight of slavery could be another way to say that.

Yeah, but yeah, it’s freedom. So if you’re not feeling free, Christianity, doesn’t feel like, you know, you’re, you’re a burden has been lifted off your shoulders. It doesn’t feel like you, you know, you get to kind of, um, ebb and flow with the world and not feel like anything’s going to hold you back or keep you back.

Um, you’re probably doing this whole Jesus thing wrong and you should spend a lot more time listen to this Jesus life podcast, because I think they could help you conversation. But. Those are my first 

Andrew: thoughts. I don’t know. Yeah. Just to take that a step further, you know, stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

So. You are set free. You know, in this instance, Paul had come and he had met the Galatians, uh, and, and basically ended up preaching to them a lot. And, and from that, a church was formed, really it just a body of believers who then he was addressing as, Hey, the Galatians, the church of Galicia. But he was saying you all were in chains.

When I came spiritually, you were, you were slaves spiritually to the law. You were, you were slaves to other gods. You were following your own flesh, your own desires. You weren’t in relationship with the Lord through Jesus. You didn’t know him. Um, I’d came. I preached to you, you accepted the gospel. You became free your slavery, the chains of your slavery.

Totally abolished gone, um, forgotten, uh, basically, and then he’s writing to them kinda angry. Cause he’s like you who put you back into chains who let you be burdened again by the yoke of slavery, because you were free, you know what slavery was, you know, what spiritually spiritual slavery was. You know what freedom is because it’s, it’s through Christ, you were free, but now you’re slipping back into slavery.

You’re slipping back into spiritual bondage and into being burdened and held down by a yoke that is not from the Lord. Um, so that’s my first reaction is that it’s just like this shot across the bow in a good way of, of him straight up saying, listen, you all were free. You should know, freedom it’s through Jesus that you were free.

What happened, you know, like it is for freedom that Christ has set us free and, uh, yeah, just on freedom in Christ, you know, it’s like, yeah, he addresses this a little further down and, uh, verses 13 and 14 and beyond. But, uh, you know, the freedom that we have in following Christ is. Massive, uh, which probably leads us to wandering into things we shouldn’t wander into probably too often.

Um, but over time you get to have moments where you can say. Lord, thank you for releasing me from that. Like, that’s not about a burden that holds me down anymore. It used to be, it used to be a chain I’d slip on every once in a while. And, uh, and, and that I’d commit sin and that I’d be far from UN and that pulled me away from you, you know, but you’ve freed me from that, uh, Lord, like you get to have those conversations and those realizations and it, if nothing else.

Keeps you humble because anybody who’s, who’s just preaching. Like I’ve got this whole thing figured out. I haven’t sinned in years. I have had a bad thought. I haven’t done anything. It’s like, dude. I don’t know, man, like either you’re a way better person than anybody I’ve ever met or, uh, or you have some chains that you don’t know or chains wear that you don’t want me to know.

Josh: Yeah. With, um, when Pam and Jim were getting married and his grandma’s there or her grandma’s there, or I don’t know, who’s grandma is. Pam, but they’re talking about being perfect and she’s like, the grandma’s response is like, well, I wouldn’t live. If that wasn’t going to be possible. Those are all called life is just to be perfect.

But yes. And there’s some that feel that way. And the slavery that Paul’s talking about here is like, it’s going back to the law, being a slave to the law. And Paul goes into that and in verse two, through whatever, this is six, when you, he started talking about this circumcision idea and the whole circumcision pieces, that’s the identifying the physical identifying piece for a Jew, right.

That they were gods. Like even when non Jews started to walk in the faith though, that didn’t happen often, but started to walk, you know, with the Jewish people, they would be circumcised to show that they were God’s chosen people like that was, um, the, the peace that God gave Abraham. Um, so getting back to that as like, yeah, you’ve been, you’ve been taken care of by, by what Christ did on the cross.

Like you now live in this place of, of grace and in freedom that you didn’t have under the law because you had to obey the whole lot and obligated to do so. Um, you now have a level of freedom and we even get into, um, Uh, verse 13, I’ll read it just really quick, but it says you brothers and sisters, you were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, but rather serve one another humbly in love.

Or why does Paul say that? Because. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, you do have the freedom to indulge in the flesh. It is a possibility or an option. Now send us still destructive sin as hell gonna cause a separation between you and God and you and other people like it’s going to cause destruction.

Um, that, that didn’t change. Now, your salvation secure, your salvation is covered by the, by the death and resurrection of Jesus. But. Um, you, you have freedom to run in those lines, if you want it to, like, I would recommend it. You’re not going to experience the full life. God has for you, you know, this side of heaven.

Um, you’re going to miss out on so much just fruitfulness of just, you know, uh, of being free and standing in the midst of that. You know, when you run with sin, there’s a different, there’s a different kind of slavery than that comes into play. Um, they hold onto the Andrews kind of hinting at, um, when he was talking through that first, first, but.

So there’s that piece, um, that I think we need to, it’s this whole idea that like, and we talked about this last week, or maybe the week before. I don’t remember. Um, but like, Great. God’s grace, Jesus grace that came through his, his sacrifice on the cross, um, was good enough for you to find salvation. But somewhere along the way, you said, that’s not enough for me anymore.

And I need to start doing a lot more. So I’m going to start a bang, um, all the laws based on my own abilities, rather than on God’s abilities through me. And I think that’s oftentimes where, where we get things all twisted around and it feels like a burden. Again, it doesn’t feel free because somewhere along the way you thought it was up to you.

Now, it’s not that you, you should keep going on sinning. Like Paul just said, um, you shouldn’t, it’s destructive. Yeah. You should be conquering sins in your life, but the sins in your life that you’re congruent, aren’t conquering on your own abilities. Like it’s not up to you. It’s up to Christ. So walk with Jesus to conquer those sins now.

And in the midst of that, Jesus is going to ask you to do things and tell you to do things. Maybe it’s Hey, you need to get off social media for the next. Six months, because it’s just not healthy for you. And you have to be obedient to what he’s asking you to do. It could be, it could be a lot of different things for you, depending on what Jesus wants to do in the midst of those things, to help you get to where he wants you to go.

Um, and the fruit of living in the spirit and we’ll get to the fruit. You know what that fruit is a little bit later in this chapter, but, um, like if we’re going to walk with Christ, let Christ lead. Um, but it’s somewhere along the way. And we think that, and in all reality, it’s, it’s a good thing, right? To want sin out of your life.

Like, it’s a good thing. Like it’s not bad, but doing it wrong. You’re just going to get exhausted because you’re doing it on your own ability rather than crisis ability. And in all reality, it’s really pride. Just taking back. Control. Um, it’s up to me. I’m in control. God’s not in control anymore. How can it only be by faith that I walk in relationship with Jesus, there’s gotta be more than I’m supposed to do.

Sure. There, there is to some extent, whatever Jesus tells you to do, but he’s the one leading and that’s the piece that we constantly miss. We think, well, I can conquer these thin, these sins. Like he gets into a verse 19. He lists out a bunch of sins. Living in the flesh, the sexual morality and period of archery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy fits of rage, selfish, selfish, ambitions, descent, fractions, envy, drunkenness, orgies.

I don’t know what kind of people they’re living this life, but this is a list. Uh, then the light probably, Hey, 

Andrew: let me pause. You have probably 20, 21 Americans, like. It applies, you think to hit all of them? I don’t know if it’s all of them, but he’s like 

Josh: orgies. I just like really ends the list with, and the lights, like these things

Andrew: witchcraft during drunken orgies, and, and the, like 

Josh: you were living a life that I know nothing about. No, no, I’m 

Andrew: not. I’m just saying, I don’t think, I don’t think it’s changed too much. Like I think our culture can relate. It’s all I’m saying. Yeah. Yeah, no, that’s that’s fair. 

Josh: Um, I don’t even know where I was going with that sidetrack.

My, the list of, of, you know, living in the flesh moments that Paul lists out for you here, but. Going back to this freedom price and how we get to live in relationship with Jesus, um, rather than worrying about, and, you know, to avoid all this, I don’t know about you, but like if you’re getting drunk all the time and having orgies, um, it, it might be a lot more difficult just to say, I’m going to stop doing it.

Yeah, you might be really attached. They sound like fun. I don’t know this last week. And that was titled, uh, sin with benefits. So S S I N huts sin with Bentley, um, which are like there’s benefits to sending from the perspective of like, it’s fulfilling something inside of me. Um, Now it’s also causing great destruction and causing harm.

Um, but oftentimes, you know, in your, in our twisted minds, the benefits outweigh the things. So my, my, I guess my point of all this is, if you’re in the midst of these things, shoot, you get into like witchcraft. Um, I would assume a lot of identities attached to that. Um, you know, if you’re practicing it, like.

You have to die to self to get away from it. That seems extremely difficult to do on your own. Um, and if you think that, you know, better of how to conquer these things, then Jesus leading in conquering those things. Yeah. You’re, you’re going to struggle with this life. Isn’t going to feel free. Um, it’s going to feel like slavery.

It’s going to feel like you’ve put it. Put the weight back on, um, because you’re not, you’re not letting Jesus lead, let Jesus lead. You’ll be surprised and shocked at how free it starts to feel and how small the steps may seem that Jesus asking you to do, Hey, do this specific thing or, Hey, when you have, when you see this person have this conversation with them, like I have that on my list right now.

Jesus told me over the weekend that I feel some tension between, uh, Someone, I know a friend of mine and I have to have the conversation and bring it up. Um, yeah, it seems like a small thing. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but, um, it’s amazing how far those things can go when Jesus is leading when Jesus is in control.

But 

Andrew: yeah, and you know, I was thinking about, I, uh, like. This idea of, of you’re trying to live under the law, you know, verse four, it says you who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. And he goes on to explain that further, but. Like I was thinking about, I went, I had, I played soccer growing up and I had a bunch of friends who were a part of our, the Mormon church, um, in, that was like in Zanesville, Ohio.

And, uh, They had this rule that you could consider law. It was that they can’t drink coffee, you know? Um, but they all pounded like monster energy, energy drinks, and mountain Dew and Pepsi all the time, because they’re like, well, it’s not coffee. It’s like, no, no. Like the. The heart behind that was like, we’re not going to have caffeine because it, you know, alters us.

And it’s a, it’s a drug essentially. And they’re like, no, no, it says coffee. So I’ve never tried coffee in my life, but I love mountain Dew, you know? And it’s like, That’s what happens when you live under the letter of the law is that you immediately look for the ways that you can break the law without breaking the letter of the law.

You know, and I think that’s why Paul is pushing so hard towards grace of saying no, no, like I’m not going to give you a list of a thousand things that you need to do to follow Jesus. I’m going to give you a few very big things that you can apply in spirit to everything. Um, Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

Um, love your neighbor as yourself. You know, like phew, a couple really big things that apply to everything where it’s like, here’s the spirit of the law. The, and there’s a lot of specifics, you know, in the Bible that you can go and understand, but if you just know the spirit of the law, you just know the.

If terms way overused all the time, but the high level view of this whole thing, then you can figure it out from there. And, and the holy Spirit’s going to correct you over time when you get it wrong, but you started leaning into, you know, pick your sin. You start leaning into that because it’s like, well, it’s not breaking the law that the spiritual law, it’s not breaking one of the 10 commandments, let’s say, um, But it’s like kind of weasel and around it.

And the more you lean into that and lean in and lean in, like it kinda leans back into you. And before you know it, like you got some hooks in and yourself, you know, and it’s like, like Josh was saying, it just becomes more and more difficult to extract yourself from that. Behavior that sin, because maybe it does make you feel fulfilled in some way.

It takes more than it gives. I promise that, but it might make you feel fulfilled in that time. And I don’t say that as somebody who hasn’t gone through different types of sin that had hooks in me, you know, um, there’s probably some in me right now that I’ll find out about later that I’m not thinking about now, but, um, the more you.

The more you look and say, these are our 10 commandments. These are our 19 commandments. These are 295 commandments, whatever level, you know, that the first thing your mind does is says, well, I like to do this one thing. That’s kind of against that, but it’s not explicit. So I’m good. Good, more weasel around it where it’s like, no, Lean into grace, lean into real relationship with the Lord through Jesus.

And, and follow that. Don’t like there’s freedom there. And freedom often looks like submission to, to, to things that you’d rather not submit to. Like, uh, getting drunk can be, can be fun, but it’s bad for you, you know, it’s, it’s very explicitly not in God’s will that we get drunk. Um, so. Yeah. Yeah. Like, 

Josh: yeah, along those lines, it’s, it’s what harms love.

Right? So verse six and five here for in Christ. Jesus, neither circumcised or uncircumcised have as has any value here. Here’s the big anniversary here though, for the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Right? And like you just quoted, you know, It’s loving God and loving people.

That’s the core of everything that we do. So we’ll go back to verse 19 and you know, Paul listening out acts of the flesh and kind of just go through these from the perspective of, if everything is, uh, built on this idea that. Faith expressing itself through love. How do these affect it? Well, sexual morality, well, sexual morality in all ways is you’re degrading somebody, right?

Like you’re, de-valuing somebody just for your own sexual gratification. That’s harming relationship. That’s harming love and purity, debauchery, same thing. I, dollar tree witchcraft, you’re harming relationship with Jesus. At that point, you’re putting. Other things more important than God. I mean, you’re putting other ways more important than God.

And even with which craft and how you practice it, you could be harming people at the same time. Hatred, discord, jealousy fits of rage, selfish ambitions, all destructive to relationship, all destructive to love. Descension factions, envy drunkenness, orgies. And the, like all the same thing, right? Like when we really start to boil down everything, Jesus was right.

Like why it took us so long to figure it out. It just did. But you said all the law and the prophets, hang on. These two commands, the character of God hangs on these two commands, love God and love people. And we started to do things and which makes things so much easier, right? Like what should I be doing?

And what shouldn’t I be doing? As I walk with Jesus grants, I should be doing everything in relationship with Jesus, but. If I’m doing, you know, if I’m, um, uh, putting my, my, uh, selfish ambitions, I’m chasing money, I’m chasing whatever. Um, before God that that’s the most important thing rather than, well, you’re harming relationship with God you’re harming.

What’s important. You’re harming priorities. Um, God should be numero UNO. That’s the only way to live this life. Yep. Um, you start to get into fits of rage. You know, you struggle with jealousy, you struggle with envy, um, with other people, well you’re causing harm to those relationships. Whether they know it, whether the other people you’re jealous of know it or not, um, you’re causing harm, um, because maybe.

God would really like to see fruit come out of that relationship between you and them. Um, but there’s no fruit coming out of that relationship because you can’t let go of the jealousy. You can’t let go the envy. Um, you’re holding onto all those things and now there’s no fruit coming from that, right.

Faith expressing itself through love. It’s the standard that we can live by. And I think it’s, it’s an easier standard to understand that having to go through all these lists, like Andrew was saying, like, it’s the big picture stuff where I’m just able to say. Hey is this action. Is this loving that person talking crap about this individual behind their back?

Is this loving that person? No, it’s not never stopped doing it. Right. Um, and if I feel, if I feel this thing of like, I’m always doing it, I always come back to this thing. Then you’d better restart conversations with Jesus in the midst of that, of just like, why, why does this person or this thing, or whatever bother me so much.

Like what about my past? What about, um, the sense that I’m dealing with? What about whatever, like, God. Bring this out of me, can we have those conversations and the watch what Jesus does through that sanctification process when he’s in charge and he’s leading, and I know we’ve all had crappy bosses. I know we’ve all had you maybe even have crappy parents.

I think Andrew and I are blessed to have great parents, but maybe you’ve come from a situation where, where things are just extremely difficult. Um, and authority is terrifying to you. I get it. I’ve been there. I understand it. But the way that Jesus leads in the midst of his authority starts with love because God is love.

Um, there’s no better leader in your life than you’re ever going to experience than Jesus. So trust it. I promise you. It’s always gonna work out for your benefit. I promise you to take the risk and let Jesus lead. Um, you’re going to be blown away. How much freedom in Christ you start to feel. Because Jesus went to the cross to set you free that this life doesn’t have to feel like a burden.

It doesn’t have to feel like a yoke on your shoulders. Um, but it really comes down to faith expressing itself through love or, or your actions fostering a relationship with Jesus or causing harm to relationship with Jesus. Is your actions causing harm to those you’re in relationship with and around you?

Or is it causing life to be given to those people? Um, that’s what it all comes down to. And that’s, I think what Paul was trying to portray it, a good portion of chapter five here. 

Andrew: Boom. Speaking of which, bro, I got a bounce. I know we are recording again shortly. And uh, I think this is part one. This is Galatians five part one.

Maybe we can come up with, you know, like we try to do, but uh, people thank you for joining us for part one, we’ll be talking part two and maybe part three. Um, probably not 15 of them, but at least part one and two, we’re going to be talking about 

Josh: it soon as the board to get to 15, you lose interest too fast.

It wouldn’t be good for us after 

Andrew: you listen to this, go and read Galatians five. Um, and then judge, whatever you 

Josh: want to say. 

Andrew: That’s exactly what I was going to say. Yes, 

Josh: boom. Go spend time with Jesus folks. Let them leave. You can’t let them lead if you’re not spending time with them because you don’t know where he believes.

Andrew: Thanks for listening show. It really means a lot to us. And we hope that it helps bring you closer in your relationship with Jesus and with other people. 

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