LIFE Podcast Show

Dez: Welcome to the Life podcast where we offer real hope to real people dealing with real life. We filter our thoughts through God's thoughts and our ways. Through God's ways we pray. You're blessed by this podcast. Enjoy the show. Welcome back. This is the life podcast. Living intentionally for eternity people. We are back. I am here, there's OOTS riding solo dolo today. Had a couple of thoughts that I had on my mind I wanted to share with you all today. But before we get to that Life podcast here, we feel to our thoughts through God thoughts. We feel to our ways through God's ways and we feel to our perspective through God's perspectives. Excuse me a little bit. I'm a little bit under the weather, so if you hear me breathing a little heavy, it's because some congestion and respiratory issues but I'm doing good. Keep me up in your prayers today. I have just an emotional vomiting that I need to get out and I want to share with all you guys. So please stick around to the end. I think it'll be a good show. Pretty edifying. Wait for you to get a little bit more about my thoughts and my beliefs and what I'm passionate about. So I just wanted to share with you all of some of those things that's been going on in my mind the last couple of weeks. Also my subscriber's going down. We did this three part divorce series and I don't know if it was offensive, I don't know if people just didn't like it, I'm not sure. But it was something that I felt like I needed to do. Being a child and somewhat a product of divorce and having my dad on the show to hear his perspective and then having Mr. E on the show now here and his perspective. I thought it would be good for fellas to really intake, listen to and even see some of the mistakes that they made in the past. So I just thought it was really good to do that and we are done with that series and we'll be moving on to brighter things but we had to get that out there. But thank you all for who everyone who is listening. We have hit 500 downloads by God's grace. I'm excited we're gonna keep pushing through. I'm just so thankful for those who faithfully listen to us and support us. Last announcement is I want to get a mailing list, an emailing list so that I can start sending out devotionals and what's coming up on the show, kind of previews on upcoming shows and a way to communicate with you as a community because that's what it is. It's all about community and sharing life with one another as we go through life intentionally. But without further ado, here are some of my thoughts for today. One of my favorite movies of all time is the remake of the film The Longest Yard starring adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds and Chris Rox. One of the hilarious scenes from that movie was when Adam Sandler's character sought off the help of the brothers or black people for his dilapidated, below average degenerate football team. He had been trying to recruit guys to go against his prison officers in the charity football game organized by the warden. It was a hilarious scene. So the scene came after one practice with the slow, out of shape, quirky and pathetic team that tried out. He knew he needed speed, agility, athleticism and grit to secure such talent. He went to the black side of the prison. He was met there by Terry Cruz, NFL hall of Famer Michael Irvin and rap star Nelly. He implored them to come and try out for the football team as it would allow them to get back at the guards for the treatment they had been dishing out to the inmates. After much hassle, they agreed for Adam Sandler played Michael Irvin one on one in basketball if Sandler was one. If Sandler won, they would try out. If not, he was forbidden from ever coming back or asking again. Sandler agreed and the game beginning. Sandler adam Sandler can ball a little bit, even in real life. So he, like, goes viral on Twitter playing basketball in the park. So Adam Sandler thought it would be a fair game as the game progressed. But to his surprise, he was met with punches, elbows, blocked shots from the crowd. Terry Cruz blocked a shot. That's when you said that famous line, it ain't easy being cheesy and verbal threats as well. What made this scene so hilarious was Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds. They had a company assembled to the game and burnt. Reynolds had gotten rowed up and started to push back against the crowd. Chris Rock Amelia became nervous and started distancing himself from Reynolds. At one point he told him, coach, coach, calm down. Come down. Come on, come on. Come on, man. Don't get the brothers riled up. Come on now. So then the game's turning point was when Adam Sandler ripped the ball from Irvin. And Irvin called a cheap foul. To Adam Sandler's surprise and dismay, Irvin demanded he gives him the ball immediately threw it off the backboard and dunked it in for the game. When it shot. At that point, Reynolds shouts it. Shouts it. Well shouted. His shout, he shouted it was a bull **** call. He say that and a loud voice. And Chris Rock, in a panic and frightened, completely distances himself from Reynolds and points to Reynolds as the corporate alert. You got to see it. I'm just picturing in my mind and I'm like, crack it up. If there were any consequences for his actions, rock wanted it to be known that he had nothing to do with it and that he should be exonerated from any beating that may ensue. Although I enjoyed the levity of the scene, it speaks to me in the more sober light now. It was hilarious. That's a hilarious scene, but it's more sober now. Regardless of ethnicity, fear or consequences, burt Reynolds stood by his friend for justice and truth. But on the other hand, Rock, out of fear and self preservation, coward and swayed, abandoned his friend and the truth. Reynolds stood for the truth and Rock ran from the truth. There was a lesson in that scene that speaks to me today, maybe to you also. But that lesson for me was this you must stand up and out for what you know to be true, regardless of the consequences or your fear. Two verses comes to mind for me. Thinking through those is one is Proverbs 1717. And it says a friend loves at all time and a brother is born out of adversity. Then in Matthew, Jesus talks about then they will hand you over to Persecute. It talking about the Jewish people and they will kill you after he dies. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, betray one another and hate one another. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. Those verses in particular bear testimony to the fact that standing for a brother and the truth will come with consequences. But you endure to the end, victory and glory will be yours. So what about some personal application, right? From that movie? I have a couple of takeaways that I've been thinking through and really trying to figure out. Could this be something deeper? Right? I'm always speculating and thinking deeply about things I've been told. Here's what I have for like some personal application. So even though Rock is probably not like that in real life, it is symbolic of how most of us, I think, aren't. In our Christian walks. We are strong in seasons of peace and respite, but weak and cowardly in times of war and difficulties. We will stand up for celebrities and bosses and ideas and culture fiercely, unrelentlessly and passionately, but dare not stand up for the cause and person of Jesus Christ on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, yet say that we are his and we'll stick with him to the end. In our confession and our profession, we swear allegiance to Christ. But when the proverbial rubber meets the road, we are nowhere to be found. Just like his disciples on the night of his betrayal. Even though we do not want to admit this to ourselves, history and conscience bears witness to the bears witness to that truth. Just like Chris, Rock was not a friend who loved at all times and a brother born out of adversity. To be honest, we often fit that mode. We often fit that mode in our walks with Christ. But I think the reasons why dilemmas may be many, but one reason we may do this is for fear of man and one in man's approval. Man's approval has always been around, but it seems even more pointed in America. We care so much about what people think about us and our status that we often neglect what God has said about the fear of man and being friends with the world. Now, I believe they both go hand in hand and I desire I desire to please man or I don't desire to please man or a desire to please man often shows that we want friendship with the world. The desire to please man often shows itself by wanting friendship with the world. Now, to be clear, to be very clear, I want to make a distinguishing mark between the differences between being friendly and friends with the world. So to be clear, there is a difference between being friendly and being a friend of the world. So God caused us to be kind and benevolent to those in the world, show love and give nothing but love to everyone. With that being said, God is clear that we are not to love the world and that being friends with the world often means that we are in hostility to God. We should be, as I quote, in the world but not of it. When I say the world, I don't necessarily mean people. I mean the world system primarily the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. You've read that before. These things promote a hostile system towards God and his kingdom, making them enemies of God, headed by God's enemy, the devil. That is the system that man pleases are drawn to. That is the system that those who serve it are friends with. Let's let's take a look at first John Two and see what it says about loving the world and how this is a clear difference. So John Two, starting in verse 15 one John Two, starting in verse 15 and says do not love the world or the things in the world, if any if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him or everything in the world. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride in one's possessions is not from the Father, but it is from the world. And the world with its lust and it's passing away. But the one who does the will of God remains forever. That was One John 215 through 17. If you want to read it in your quiet time, right. But it's an essential point that we must remember in making this difference between being friendly and friends with the world. One pastor states this verse and he said it could be summed up as a love that God hates. There is a love that God hates. My uncle always told me that. Pastor Oops also to that point, Christians worldwide are being persecuted for their profession in faith in Christ. Peter reminds us of this and he resorts us to pray for all the saints everywhere who are being persecuted. Most persecutions are fiery and violent, but in America, oddly enough, the imminent danger of being physically abused for your faith or even killed is not a considerable threat. But the persecution of opinions, self image, self worth and how you are perceived matters to most Christians here. That makes me think back to a missions conference we held at our church and a missionary we support in Bangkok said this and it stuck with me. He said, Whereas everywhere else in the world most Christians fear the fist, christians in America fear the raised eyebrow. I think that Mr. David was right. That was really good. You know, Paul speaks to this dilemma and gives a Godly antidote to the problem of people pleasing. He says in Galatians one for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. That was Galatians 110. Serving and pleasing God through Christ is the perfect antidote to fearing and wanting to please a man. Moreover, our natural inclination is to preserve ourselves above all else. None of us are devoid of such temptation. God understands such things because His Word has said it. In Psalms 103 he says he knows how weak we are. He knows we are only dust. But Jesus has left us an example of how to overcome such temptation. He said that anyone who wants to follow after him must hate his own life and deny himself and pick up their crosses and follow him. It is in faithfully following Christ that our inclination to self preserve die. We must die to ourselves daily to overcome such tragic temptations. Fear is not a sin as much as succumbing to it is now. To be sure and to be transparent, I have my own personal struggles with worldliness. I was away this week and I had a lot of time to really meditate on First John 210 and just thinking about how worldliness is even affecting my life and how at times and in certain areas in my life I do love the world in an unhealthy way. Not the people in the world, but the things of the world. And it is a conflict to overcome that. So I just wanted to be transparent and sure about that reality. That is not an easy thing, but it's going to be worth it. So honestly, I do struggle with being friends with the world and loving the world. Something that often derails me from faithfully following Christ is what I call my dangerous C's. And bear with me, you've heard me say it before. These five CS all begin with the letter C. Thus the name caused me to put down my cross and pick up my phone or game controller. They called me not to deny myself, but to indulge myself and not to live sacrificially, but somewhat selfishly. These five c's are the following convenience, comfort, complacency, or being complacent, complaining, compromising, convenience, comfort, being, complacent, complaining, compromising. So some years ago, I first came about this philosophy by reading the books of exodus and Deuteronomy. As Israel walked with the lord all the dangerous seas I noted for myself, I saw in the Jewish nation. One particular section of scripture stood out to me and helped me develop these dangerous seeds during Romney 810 through 20 says this when you eat and are fool, you will bless the lord your God for the good land he has given you. But be careful that you don't forget the lord your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statues that I'm giving you today. When you eat in a fool and build beautiful houses to live in and your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold multiply and everything else you have increases. Be careful that your heart doesn't become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. He led you to the great and terrible wilderness with his poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint rock for you. He fed you in the wilderness with manner which your ancestors had not known in order to humble and test you, so that in the end he might cause you to prosper. You may say to yourself, my power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me. But remember that the lord your god gives you the power to gain wealth in order to confirm his covenant. He swore to your ancestors as it is today. Come on, God. If you ever forget the lord your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow and worship to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. Like the nations the lord is about like the nations the lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the lord your God. That's in due to Romney exit is kind of the same thing. Obviously, you had them coming down from the mountain. Those are coming down from the mountain. And then they committed idolatry to golden calf. They got complacent, they were comfortable, they start complaining. A lot of them didn't make it to the palace land because they doubt it and complain. And Paul brought that up in first corinthians. So that's where that philosophy kind of came from. My five dangerous seas. So you may see yourself in my dangerous seas or you may not. You may have your own things that are contrary to mind, but we all have things rather sin, bad habits or wrong motives that is causing us not to stand for truth. To pursue holiness and faithfully follow Christ. Hebrews Twelve says therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, those in the hall of Faith in Chapter Eleven, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founding perfector of our faith, who for the joy is set before him, endured the cross, despise in the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. What's holding you back? What's holding me back? Hebrews Twelve obviously talked about those weights that's holding us back and the sin that so easily trips us up. I think Paul was diving into his gymnastic and his love for the Olympics and the races back then, back in the day, even in the Roman area where he was, where they would have these great gladiator races in the Olympics. It was just brought to my attention that a lot of the runners would run naked. They would run nude so that they would have no weight, slowing them down to progress to their end goal, to receive that perishable reef that they will receive but they will run very loose, no clothes or totally new. That kind of translate now when I watch gymnastics or the track and field or Olympics, a lot of people are in very tight things and things that's not a lot of clothes because they don't want any weight slowing them down from their progression. And one of the weights that he's talking about is sin disobedience to God and oprativity towards worthless things. One thing I always say is if you serve worthless things, you become worthless to yourself. And that's what sin is, it's worthless. Those things are worthless, right? So what are your weights? What are the weights that's weighing you down? What secret sins? Rather *********** or gossiping or anger, jealousy? What are you clinging to in your life? Which ones are clinging to in your life? What relationships are you holding on to that do not bring God's glory? Bring God glory? What bad habits like excessive entertainment or laziness, slothfulness and carelessness are you fighting? We ought to not to think thoughtfully thoughtlessly, but carefully, as Ephesian says, right? Or we must admit that these things cling closely to us. Sin is always crouching at our doors, waiting to subdue us. Are we dealing with these things, and by God's grace and spirit, putting them to death, as Colossian says? In some sense? Do we take our sins as seriously as God does? Are we accountable to God and one another, confessing our sins to one another so that we may be healed? I believe it takes more courage to live a holy life than an unholy one. It takes more courage to deny yourself than to indulge yourself following. Christ takes carriage, humility, tears, pain, sorrow, loss and humiliation. He never promised us ease but he did promise us life and abundance abundantly. Not meaning cars and clothes and houses, but a full life of substance and worth calling, passion, joy, love, peace, fellowship, holiness, reconciliations to people and God happiness, relationships, wonder, amazing and fulfillment following after. Christ demands that we discipline ourselves in holiness, love and truth. That we clove ourselves with humility, gentleness and purity. No one said the road would be easy, but he did not bring you this far to leave you. No one said the road to life wouldn't come with suffering, but it will be worth it in the end. Simply put, the temptation to go along, to get along, is strong, especially among young people. It's easier to swim with the current than against it. It's easier to sit down than to stand up. Much like some in the church, the nation of Israel proves that standing out and being set apart could be hard at times. But if God calls us to this work, even though it's hard, it's worth it. He'll see it through. What men celebrate, God usually abhors it. If we set our minds on the things above, we will stand out from the world. That's God's aim. He commands his people to come out from among them. His entire time with Israel was showing them how to be a nation set apart for God's work to the Lord and to be a blessing. But because they, like us, loved the world in his ways more than God's word in his ways, they abandoned the Lord's instruction, followed worthless things, and became worthless themselves. As I said earlier, it's kind of like due to Romney, we have the privilege of serving and following, worshipping and fellowshipping with the true and living God, the Creator and sustainer of the universe. Yet so often, because it causes sacrifice, obedience, commitment and holiness to be with Him, we choose to ride the world's current with his ease, security and comforts. But we miss out on a dynamic, prosperous and loving relationship with our Father, our Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you will come after Jesus, you must be prepared to stand up and to stand out. So does this even matter? Like for real? A lot of theology, a lot of talking, yada yada yada ya. Why does this matter to you if you are brother and sister of faith, who my audience is towards, but if you're not could mean something for you. Why am I talking about Longest Yard? And I'm talking about Hebrews. And due to Romney and standing up and holiness and obedience, why does all of that even matter? Begs that question. What's the point? I mean, is it really that serious? I wouldn't endeavor to say, yeah, it is that serious for so many reasons. So I want to be practical and give you a very poignant example of how compromising and being friends with the world can have catastrophic consequences that may not play out for a while. I want to give you a detailed example of what happened to me right recently. So I often see this phenomenon happening in academia. Recently I saw this play out on a Christian university campus that actually was on campus this week. As I sat in the orientation for a potential graduate school opportunity, I realized that being friends with the world can come in many forms, right? One is compromising and trying to integrate ideals antithetical to God's world while saying God's word while simultaneously smearing the Christian title on it, right. I found it so appalling as I listened to numerous doctors and professors and associates speak about how atheists and agnostics are welcome on their campus as long as they know that they will be learning from a Christian worldview, which I said amen. But after that was made clear, they seamlessly transitioned to how, although they teach from a Christian integration perspective, they highly discourage Christians from going out into the secular world and being explicitly or overtly Christian. I'm putting ed quotes on that by the way. They use the phrase, I am a counselor who happens to be Christian instead of the label I'm a Christian counselor. They stood by the old mantra in the field we need to preach the gospel and if necessary, use words. They said, your faith is private and should never interfere with your profession. Wait, what? What happened to being a bit having a biblical worldview? At one point, the director of the Masters program from the Psychology and Counseling Program said, if someone lets it be known to you that they do not want to hear anything about your Christianity, your God, or your faith, you better not speak of it emphatically. What? What are we saying? Anybody knows me that I would know that I was sitting there leg, going a million miles per hour because I just could not believe the audacity that these people have. And I'm chill. Now. I'm not as mad as I was. I'm way more chilled than I was at that moment. But the audacity for this educated woman to say such a thing, it was bothering me. But beside that point, it made me think of a book that I've been reading called Total Truth by Nancy Percy, and she actually spoke way better than I can speak about this dichotomy in a section of her book called Her Heart Versus Brain. This is what she kind of says about that privatizing of faith and how it doesn't really transfer into the worldview of a lot of academics in Christian Christian university. So she says the first step in forming a Christian worldview is to overcome this sharp divide between heart and brain. We have to reject the division of life into a sacred realm limited to things like worship and personal morality over against a secular rim that includes science, politics, economics, and the rest of the public arena. This dichotomy and our own minds is the greatest barrier to liberating the power of the gospel across the whole of culture today. Come on. Moreover, it is reinforced by a much broader division, rendering the entire fabric of modern society what sociologists call the public private split. Come on. Modernization brings about a novelization I'm sorry, decontamization of social life, writes Peter Burger. The dichotomy is between the huge and immensely powerful institutions of the public sphere. By this he means the state, academia, large corporations, and the private sphere, the rim of family, church and personal relationships. The large public institutions claim to be scientific and value free, which means that values are relegated to the private sphere of personal choice. As Berger explains, the individual has left his own devices in a wide range of activities that are crucial to the formation of a meaningful identity, from expressing his religious preference to selling on a sexual lifestyle. We might diagram that. She does a diagram. Yada, yada yada. Then she goes on to say, in short, the private sphere is awash in moral relativism. Notice Berga's telling phrase religious preference. Religious is not religion is not considered an objective truth to which we submit, but only a matter of personal taste, which we choose. Because of this, the economy is sometimes called the fact value split. I thought that was really, really good. I thought that was really, really good. She goes on to talk about Francis Schaefer. She said, as Schaefer explains, the concept of truth itself has been divided, a process he illustrates with the imagery of a two story building and a lower story are science and reason, which I consider public truth binding on everyone over against it is an upper story of non cognitive experience, which is the locus of personal meaning. This is the rim of private truth, where we hear people say, that may be true for you, but it's not true for me. She said it much better than I could ever say it, right? And that's what I was thinking about in that moment. They're trying to privatize faith and it's like this totally different reality when you get into school campus. So as I was hearing all this, I began to feel a sense of anger and sorrow. I was discouraged because many other things been expressed. Were the same sentiment shared in the secular schools I had attended and the one I'm getting a master's in already the same philosophy, which was ubiquitous around all my old schools. And I expected that from them, right? I expected darkness from darkness. They knew no better. But for a university that claimed to confess the basic tenets of the Baptist and apostolic faith, to compromise and be so adamant about privatizing your faith, it's a bit of a shock lie. It shocked me a little bit. And I've been on a lot of college camps. Still shocking to me. I don't know, maybe I put too much hope into it. I just kind of expect people. To be who they say they're going to be. On secular college campuses, held to God's word that I must always be ready to give a defense for the faith. I had fiery and heated debates with professors and students alike, and on many occasions even my own professional career. I've had to stand on God's truth and not flinch at the fiery dots of the devil and the world. This is not me bragging's, brothers and sisters. I'm not boasting either. I promise. I'm simply staying the truth, and that standing on the truth will be uncomfortable sometimes. But we have an example in Christ Jesus you will suffer for standing for Christ and feel lonely, but let God's word comfort you how it has comfort me. Listen to these words in the first piece he says for you recall to this because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps. He did not commit sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he did not insult and return when he suffered. He did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly so. The other day I came out of the closet. When I was in that college, when I was on that campus, in that orientation, I came out the closet. I had to come out the closet. I was a closet Christian at that point. I had to come out the closet. I let everybody know who I really was, my real self, right? So I finally stood up after a while. In brief, I stated that the school's philosophy it was dangerous and it showed contempt for the name of Christ. I expressed that what the school was teaching was that we should not follow the thinking that our faith is private, although that is true, we have a three P profession private, personal and public. I vehemently disagreed with their points of privatizing faith while being so fervent in their intellectual interests. In the likes of Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers. They spoke highly of how they followed Rogers's human psychology and Freud's psychoanalytical psychology, while simultaneously urging students to make their religion private, stating that you can just pray with your clients in your heart and never mention Christ. They stuck closely to the phrase let your light shine. I rendered many concerns and warnings of that line of thinking and urged them to think through Romans twelve, one to three that our minds are renewed and we cannot just simply leave our biblical worldview outside as we try to offer hope to people while denying them the truth about the God of hope. We should not elevate man's thoughts like Freud or Rogers over God's word. After many other words, I took my seat. Disagreements and genuine pursuit of understanding met me. The main professor tried to reason with me and even stated I know to you I seem like a watertown Christian. To which I said in my mind. I said aloud, precisely. She later explained her thoughts and asked me do I understand her position more? To which I responded, no, I don't. I don't know what you're talking about. Taking some steps back, though, real quick, I want to let you know why I was so offended by their high opinion of Rogers and Freud. I have a huge problem with that. I just want to read you quotes I just want to read you two quotes from these two men on their thoughts of God. Their thoughts on God and on Christianity. Their thoughts on God and their thoughts on Christianity. So let's start with Paul Rogers, the father of modern psychology. This is what he says about God. Neither the Bible nor the prophets, nor the revelations of God or men. Nothing has priority over direct experience. Read that again. Neither the Bible nor the prophets nor the revelations of God or of men. Nothing has priority priority over direct experience. So he's the father of that chart. Well, he's not the father of the kind of following man's low chart. And the top of it is selfacualization actually relate, actualization, where man comes to himself and he realized he's free of all the burdens of good and evil, and he finally recognized who he is. And he says that's the highest attainment of man to know who you are. And that's the modern psychology of today. Your truth. He started it. Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome. That's the guy. He started that foolish thinking. You got to know who you are, and no one can tell you who you are. Only you can tell you based off your experience. Carl Rogers, ladies and gentlemen. And that's what they were spewing on the college campus. But that's not enough. Let's read. What? Sigma Freud, the ed guy. Right. He believed in the ed. That was the bad side of man and psychoanalytics and children in the stages of children operational and cognitive, all that stuff that I learned in school, becoming a teacher, he's the father of that. And this is what they were spewing at this college that I was at. The people that they exalted listen what he says about God. Religious doctrines are all illusions. They do not omit of proof, and no one can be compelled to consider them as true or to believe in them. Let me read that one more time. Let me run it back one more again. Religious doctrines are all illusions. They do not omit of proof, and no one can be compelled to consider them as true or believe in them. That is the people that they were exalting. Those are philosophies that they ascribed to at this school. And they were proud to talk about it. They were excited, right? In a Christian organization where you had these two men, the leading fathers of this modern psychology, that's what they think. That's what they think about our God and our faith. But we could talk about them loud and clear, loud and proud. But to our God we mute that. We muzzled that ox, right? Something else really ironic about all this rogers. Call Rogers to know yourself. Guy. He, ironically, was a son of eleven Protestant Christian parents and even attended seminary at one point to be a minister and later a priest. But later he was persuaded into a more human religion and shipwrecked his faith. These men were exalted at the exalted. These men were exalted at the university I attended over the past week. Like many churches and Christian colleges all over this strange land that sing and pray and preach and teach God's Word, but functionally turned to the world's ideas and philosophies, this university was not much different. I understand that when we listen to the world's idea that we should eat the meat and throw away the bones, right? We should not build our doctrines, philosophies, academic courses or lives on worldly ideologies. Though, just like Daniel and Moses and Joseph were educated in the world's teacher, we can learn how to listen, but not build our lives on them. We build our lives on Jesus word. Everything else is sand. The Bible gives us an antidote to problems, to these problems, and how we should address these issues. I love what Paul says in two Corinthians 210, three through five. Listen to this. It's beautiful. I think this is what the Lord did through me that day. For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war against the flesh according to the flesh, since the weapons of our welfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds or the weapons of our fighters, not carney. We demolished arguments in every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. The Lord was doing that. In that moment, although I was alone, I felt alone. God stood beside me and strengthened me. I felt this present presence. The next day at breakfast. I was encouraged that I was not alone. Many agreed with me and supported what I said, but were nervous about speaking up. I understand that as well. You know, as we close, as I bring this to a close, I pray that this has helped you and that you understand where I'm coming from. Let's bring it all full circle, right? Let's bring it back for a circle. Let us be more like Burke Reynolds in the movie Longest Yards. Let us be like Burt and stand for truth and love. Even no one else is doing it or cause its consequences. Let us not be like Chris Rock and choose unfaithfulness and fear. Stand up and out for the cost of Christ. Oh, real quick, by the way, just to let you know, I chose to withdraw from that university, but we did make peace. I was able to talk to the professor and she was really sad that I was leaving and I withdrawn. And she said that I cast a big shadow already, that I made a presence. And she was so proud that I was willing to stand up and stand out for what I believe and have the courage in the face of so many students who didn't. So the Lord was faithful. I made that decision. For me, it just wasn't that. It was like finances and time and all that type of stuff, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do not to compromise, right? That's one of my dangerous seas. I didn't want to compromise and I could not submit myself to a school whose philosophy was in direct opposition to God's word. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, I appreciate you. This is the Life podcast, where we feel to our thoughts through God thoughts, we feel to our ways through God's ways and we feel to our perspectives through God's perspective. I pray that you may be blessed. This is your boy, Daz. Dave and ERG may be with me next week, but today I was riding solo. Dolo I appreciate you, god, you all love y'all, please.