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. Podcast living intentionally for eternity people, we are back. I'm your guy, des oots. Miss y'all. Man. It's been a while. It's been a while. It's been my fault. I never really know what to do with coming back from being gone. The comeback type thing. I never really know what to do with that. The stopping is starting, but here we go. We're going to try. I just want to let you all know that sometimes in life, as a podcast, as a man, you have to step away from things that you enjoy or things that you like for the things that you love. So it's things that you like and then there's things that you love. And love should supersede the like more than the like superseding love. So when scenarios arise in your life, when things arise in your life, you have to choose. As adults and as maturing christians, we have to choose the best things over good things. You have to choose the best things over good things. Something may be good, but you want the best, which is God's reward. And sometimes it's not as easy differentiating exactly what those things are. So in a season of my life, I had godly wisdom telling me that I may need to step back for a while and get other priorities straight. You might can guess what those things are, but if not, I'll leave it up to the imagination. But I'm thankful right now those things are in pretty good spot, and I'm just super thankful. But before we get any further, you know, at the life podcast, yeah, life. We like to filter our thoughts through God's thoughts. We like to filter our ways through God's ways, and we like to filter our perspectives through God's perspective. And this time off has let me think more and more deeply about God's perspective on things and what that looks like and how we should live in light of God's perspective. So today I want to talk about something. I promise I'll try to hold you less than 10 minutes. Quick episode. I'm going to try to hold you for less than 10 minutes. That's my goal, right? If any man is in Christ, he's a new creation. Behold, the old is gone and new has come. That's a big passage to me. That's two corinthians 517, I believe 17 through 18. I hope I quoted that right. And I think that's a big passage for what I want to talk about today. This is kind of about manhood. But be, since we're talking about being christians, it's not really Christianity isn't necessarily masculine or feminine. I think Galatians or Colossians says there's no longer male or female when it comes to christians. We all trying to be conformed to the image of God's son. Rather, you're a male or you are female. So I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for those passages. And I also want to kind of talk about what that looks like in light of what I want to talk about. So three things I want to bring to your attention today, and that's this. How can I put this? What's the best way I can put this? What do you want to be known for? Right. Ask yourself, what do I want to be known for? Right. Also ask yourself, what do I want to be known as? And who am I? Who am I? Who is God trying to make me? Those are big questions, but think about it. What do I want to be known for? What do I want to be known as? And who is God trying to mold me to be? Some questions are a little bit more easier than others to answer. Right. We can give the vacation Bible school answer. Who does God want me to be? Christ. He wants me to look like Christ. Something my uncle used to say to me all the time was, I want to look so much like Christ that when God looks down from heaven, he mistakes me for his son. And that was really, that guy is full of gems. But his love for God and his love for Christ made him want to become more like him, grow in Christ likeness. And I think that's the key goal of the christian life, to become more like Christ. Because as you see the crisis in our culture, we need more Christ. So to address the crisis in our culture, we need Christ. And I'm thankful that the Bible lays that out. But I was reading my devotion. I don't like sharing what I read in my devotion, but something the Lord was teaching me as I read through Matthew was an account where Jesus talks about John, John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way, the Elijah, right, who were baptized with water, not only to reveal Israel, their sins and have them cleansed from it, but also reveal Christ, the ultimate cleanser of sin. So as I was thinking through John, I was struck by something that Jesus said about John after his death. And I want to read this account to you. It's in Matthew eleven. Starting at verse seven, it says, as john's disciples were leaving, jesus began talking about him to the crowds. What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed swayed by every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No. People with expensive clothes live in palaces. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes. And he is more than a prophet. John is the man to whom the scriptures refer. When they say, look, I'm sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you, I will tell you the truth. All who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is. I'm going to stop there. I think it's so important to know who is God trying to form you to what do you want to be known for, and what do you want to be known as? And I was thinking through John the Baptist. John knew who he was. John said on many occasions, I'm not the one. I'm not the messiah. I'm not the messiah. I'm not the Messiah. I'm just making way for the messiah. And that's important for him to know. He also says that when the Messiah comes, I'm not even worthy to tie his straps, to strap his sandals. I am not worthy to even be in the presence of him. Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized. And John is like, you should be baptizing me. Why am I baptizing you? And Jesus says, let it be done, because we got to fulfill everything that the father has for us. And John accepted that. But John knew who he was. He knew he wasn't Jesus, but he knew who he had came to prepare the way for Jesus. And I think that's a strong, strong anchor for us, because there's a lot of people that's not okay in Christianity with being a follower of Jesus. They want to be know the way. They kind of want people to hold them in esteem, and they want to be recognized, and they want to be known. They want their names to be big on the flyers, and they want the lights. And none of that stuff is what Jesus was even after. So you know what that sounds? That's not even Christ. Like, a lot of times, Christ would hide his real identity from people. He would tell people not to share the miracles that he did. But nowadays, what do we have? People sharing every single thing that they do, right? And Jesus said one time, like, when you do that, your reward you already gave it. You already got it. So go ahead, give you your pat on the back. You already got it. But he says what he wants from his followers is to do everything in light of who's really watching, which is God, who sees you even in private. The father who sees you in private rewards you. So you kind of see John living that out. John was in the wilderness. John looked weird and he ate weird things, right? He resembled a lot about Elijah. They say the same thing about Elijah. He wore a leather belt around his waist. He was a hairy man. And he often spent time in the wilderness, right? And when people knew. What they knew about Elijah was that if you come to him, he gonna tell you the truth. Rather you like it or not. If you like it, great. If you don't like it, sorry, but if you like it, great. John the Baptist was the same way, but he treated people differently. When you first see John in Matthew, the account of Matthew, you see him preaching repentance. Repent for the kingdom is near. And the people who repented, he baptized, he cleansed them. It was forgiveness of sin. And it seems like he was very welcoming to these people. But when the Sadducees and the Sadducees and Pharisees came, who really didn't want repentance, they just want to see why all these people going out there. Because they pulling away fame from us. He said, you brew the vipers because he knew who they were. And that's a benefit of knowing who you are. The more you know who you are, the more you can recognize other people. Not only be gracious to them, but also call them on their ****. Because the only way you can really know who you are is to know who Jesus is. Because your life is hidden in him. And Jesus knows everything about you. The father knows everything about you. If you're a Christian, he say, even every strand on your hair, he knows. For some saints, that's not a lot of hair. For some saints, it's a lot of hair. For the people who do have hair. Not going to have a lot of hair lately, but God's going to know. Every strand from the moment it's full to the moment is empty. By God's grace, he says. God says, I know your thoughts from far off. I know your thoughts before you even think it. That's how intimately God is connected with his people. And the more you know that God, the more you get to know about yourself. So the first thing that we need to really consider is, who are we and who is God trying to make us to be, because you have so many. And I'm past 10 minutes already. I knew it. Sorry. So disappointed. But it's so many examples of scripture, of people knowing and coming to the realization of who they were. Moses thought he was going to be in Egypt his whole life. God had other plans. Daniel maybe thought that he was going to skate through in the palace or grow up in Israel like his fathers and his grandfathers. Now God had other plans. Joseph thought that he was going to be beloved by his father, and his brothers would never do that. He ended up in Egypt because it's God's story, not your story. It's not about your story. It's about God's story and how you play in it, what character you're playing in it. And that's relieving for me. It's not like I'm not important. It's not like I don't matter. But what it does mean is that God has already written my script out, and I don't have to go find it. He will reveal it to me. And I'm thankful for that. I'm so thankful for that. So when you know who you are, you also know who you're not. John says, I know. I'm the prophet that God sent. I'm the last of the Old Testament prophets, even though I'm in the New Testament, even though John was in the New Testament, he's the last of the Old Testament prophets. Because Jesus said that up until now, the law of Moses and John the Baptist have been your guides. But now the good news is, here in the kingdom have arrived. Jesus said that. So John knew that. He was a voice shouting in the wilderness, preparing a way for Jesus Christ. And he was content in that. He didn't need to be the man. He didn't need to be the one that everyone came to. He didn't need the praise and adulations of the many, many people. They respected them, they revered him, but most importantly, they turned to God, and that's what he wanted. And I pray, like, I want to be that type of guy. I really want to be that type of dude that just as long as people giving praise to God, I'm good, they don't need to know my name. They don't need to know my wife's name. I don't need people to stand up when I walk into a room. I pray that the Lord can humble us and humble me in that regard of, like, I must decrease so that Christ can increase. I want people to see him. I want people to see Jesus Christ. That's my heart's desire. And I pray that God keeps fanning that into flame. Because all of us can start thinking it's about us. That this whole thing of salvation and grace and the good news and evangelize and what we say and the likes and the people following us, we can think that that stuff is about us, and that's cool. But when has that ever worked out? When people love the praise of man. Saul loved the praise of man. How did that end? Sadducees love the praise of man. How did that end? Pharisees love the praise of men. How did that end? How did that end? It never ends well. But true believers seek the praise of God, the praise that comes from God. Right? So I'm thankful that when you know who you are, you also know who you're not. And John recognized, I know who I am, and I'm content in that. And I want Jesus to get the praise, because that's who people need to see. All human history points to this Israel. Everything that I've been telling you is pointing you to this. Because, yes, I baptized with water, but he's going to come and baptize with the spirit and fire, the spirit to make peace on earth with mankind and God through his sacrifice on the cross. And now people can be reconciled to God in love, enjoy and enjoy fellowship with him. Because Christ is the mediator between God and man. But he also going to baptize in five, because judgment is coming. Not only is he the lamb of God, he's also the line of Judah. And one day he will come back and make war on all his enemies and the enemies of his beautiful bride. He will take vengeance. He will take vengeance. So he will baptize both with the spirit and with fire. Next thing is, what do you want to be known for? Do you want to be known. What do you want to be known for? Do you want to be known for the funny guy, the family guy, the business savvy guy, the one with the wisdom in church, the funny guy, all those things that we want to be known for. I'm starting to think more and more that I want to be known for what I stand for. I want to be known for righteousness. I want to be known for truth. I want to be known for love. I want to be known for long suffering. I want to be known for kindness. I want to be known for gentleness and faithfulness. And peace. Right, the fruits of the spirit. I want to be known for bearing fruit. I want to be known. And I pray that is your prayer, too, that you want to be known for what God wants you to be known for, someone who bears fruit for the kingdom. When I pray, when people see me, they think, man, that's that guy that talks about the Bible. Now, do I always live it by God's grace? I try, but do I know? So I'm not bashing anybody, right? Because I know walking this thing out is tough. You have three enemies coming at your neck every day. The world, the flesh and the devil. And they are powerful because we have a simple nature in us that has a gravitational pull towards this world and everything in it, everything. The lust of the eyes, the lust of flesh, and the pride of life. Our whole life, our whole entire life is about that. So I get it. I know the struggle, but I want to be known for the fruits of the spirit. Galatians five. Love, peace, joy, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, self control, kindness. That's what I want to be known for, how I relate to God and how I relate to my fellow men. It says about Jesus in Luke that he grew in stature with both stature and favor with both God and men. That's what I want. That's what I want. I want to be known for the things that Jesus was known for. Helping people, healing people, sometimes rebuking people, walking with people, crying with people, weeping with people, rejoicing with people, right? Jesus went to a wedding. First miracle was at a wedding. He was rejoicing with those who rejoiced. But he also knew how to weep. Like when Lazarus died, he knew how to weep with those who weep. And that's what I want to be known for. Lastly, what I want to be known as. Oh, real quick, let me step back. John the Baptist was known for being a prophet, being a man that called people to repentance, being a man that told the Pharisees, you brew the vipers, you say things that you don't believe, so produce fruit. That's in keeping with repentance. He was known for being a little awkward, but he was known for that baptizer, right? He was known for what he did. And that's what we going to be known for. We're going to be known for what we do. And what do is I want to produce fruit. I want to produce fruit. Lastly, what do you want to be known as? Do you want to be known as a black person? Right? Do you want to be known as a woman? Do you want to be known as a man? Do you want to be known as a business person, do you want to be known as the president of this hype corporation? Do you want to be known as a mother? Do you want to be known as a father, a brother, a sibling, a grandmother? What do you want to be known as? And that's a different question. What do you want to be known for? Right. For is what you do. If I say, what do you know Michael Jordan for? Basketball player. That's what you do, right? A lot of time is tied to what you do. What do you want to be known as? It could be kind of the same thing, right? Depending on how you ask the question. But I want to be known as a man that follows Christ. I love about David. David was known as a man after God's own heart. Moses was known as the most meekest man to ever walk on earth. Right? Those are things. I mean, how much better would our world be if we had men that were after God's own heart and meek? Power under control. We have a lot of perversion of power, right? Red pill masculinity. You got these young men that can't control their emotions, harming women. They have the power, but it's perverted through the devil, right? Through Satan and his demons and his sinful nature. So we have the perverted power, right? But what about the meek power? The power that can be a lion and violent and ravenous and cause danger and cause harm to someone if needed. But also the power that's kindled, bridled, controlled, and only reserved for enemies, never someone you love. That's the type of stuff that we need. It was times when Moses needed to tell people, hey, look, y'all tripping. As a matter of fact, since y'all tripping and y'all wanted to do this stuff with the golden calf, I'ma break it. I'm a grind it, and you gonna drink it. You gonna drink it. And then if you're not with us, we gonna kill those men who still want to go on in that perversion because you don't live here. He had men stand on the other side. The priest that was with him in Exodus stand on the other side and go and kill the men who did not want to turn over from their sin. So it's times when you have to do that as a man or a woman, where you have to stand and show people, be stern and firm, unmoving, unwavering. Jesus did this many times, going toe to toe with the Pharisees, toe to toe with roman emperors, toe to toe with people who didn't believe in him. And he was firm, respectful, gentle, understanding, but firm. I am unwavering in this. That's what I want to be known as. I want to be known as a man who follows Christ. I want to be known as a man who looks like Christ. I want to be known as a man who loves his family well, which is honorable and noble. But that has to flow from a love for Christ. Because if it's just about you, you're going to make it about you. But if it's about Christ, you're going to make it about Christ. It's simple. If you want to be a good husband for the sake of you looking good on Instagram and Facebook, go ahead, do your thing. That's fine. Let you get the applause and praise. That's cool. But just know, in God's economy, it does not matter if it does not glorify Christ. Are you trying to be a husband? Because this reveals to the world through the church. This is what Christ's relationship with the Christ's relationship with his church looks like. If that's your goal, beautiful. But if it's just so that you can accumulate all the praise from women and other men, then you have your reward right there. When that person commented, and that is cool, enjoy it. But just know it has no eternal value. The eternal value is, I want to love my bride the way that Christ loved the church. And that calls for self denial, and it calls for me not living for myself, but living for her. Do I do it perfectly once again? No, I do not. Not even close. Not even close. But do I press? I love what Philippians says. Not that I've obtained this perfection that I press for, but I press towards the high mark that's in Christ Jesus. I'm going to set my mark on him. I'm going to get my marching orders from him. I'm going to look at his word. I'm going to look at his life to see, how did he do this? How can he forgive such unforgivable defenses? How can he forgive Peter for what he did after walking with him? How can he go towards the cross knowing the pain and humiliation and suffering that comes with that? How did he do it? My uncle says something that always sticks with me. He says, when you become a Christian, you get two doomed parents, the word of God and the spirit of God. Jesus was a man, by the way. Yes, he was the son of God, but he was also the son of man. The hypostatic union is what is called in theology, both man and God. Jesus didn't draw his. Draw, his tempt when he was tempted by Jesus. He didn't draw his strength from his divine attributes. He did it as a man dependent on the spirit of God and the word of God. It is written. It is written. It is written. So that's what I want to be known as. I want to be known as a man that looks like Christ. I want to live for Christ. Right. I want to be known for righteousness and truth and justice, love, joy, peace, kindness, self control, faithfulness. Right. And who is God trying to form me into? That's something that we're still learning, but I know this for sure. Romans eight tells us that we to be conformed into the image of Christ. All things work together for the good of those who love Christ and called according to his purpose and those who he predained, who those who he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. Romans 828 through 29. That's the reality. I want to be conformed to the image of Christ. So what is God trying to form you into? What do you want to be known for? What do you want to be known as? Those last two questions could be interchangeable, but John the Baptist man, I was just reading his life and I was fascinated. And I see all those things in his know, I see it in Jesus'life, and many other men in the Bible's lives. So that's what my perspective been recently. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you have a chance to study Matthew, I think Matthew three, Matthew eleven, what I read, and then the first book of the first chapter of John, that's kind of dealing with John the Baptist. And I think it's really good that God dealt with that, right? John the Baptist, he wasn't this soft dude, right. Jesus says, were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothing? Right? So, in Esva says, soft clothes. And then he goes on to say, people who dress like that don't deal with the nitty gritty of life. Right? I kind of plug for these pastors that dress nice. I mean, Teflon Don, velvet. What is that? Velvet. Right. They know more for their sneakers and suits than they are for preaching God's word. That's not John the Baptist. John the Baptist, not like that. Jesus also said, what kind of man did you see in the wilderness? Was he a weak read, swayed by every breath of wind? Ephesians says, as God's children, we are not to be swayed by every breath of new doctrine. That comes our way. We need to be steadfast and firm in what we believe. But you can't do that if you don't know what you believe. So many people get caught up going every which way because they do not know what they believe. And it's only because they don't study it. They will not study God's word for whatever reason. Am I beating you up? No, I'm just trying to encourage you. Get in there. If you want to know God, it's not through miracles, it's not through worship songs. It's not through what the pastor says. All those things are gifts and we thankful for them that God gave those things to the body. But you got to spend time one on one with God each day. How much time? Don't know. But I know this. When we were getting to know our wives, when you all was getting to know your husbands, when you dated, you wanted to be around them, and it didn't matter how long you was around them, you didn't want it to be short. Spent all night if you could. Hopefully not sinning, right? But you spend all night, you hate it when you pulled up to that house because you just was enjoying the time. Same thing with the Lord. So everybody get 24 hours in a day. You sleep for about eight of those. So you're getting about 1613 to 16 hours. Make the best use of it. Use of it, right. Ephesian says, don't act thoughtlessly, but redeem the time. If that's 30 minutes, God knows your schedule. He will use that 30 minutes. If it's 5 minutes, God knows your schedule. But if you have more times on the weekends or your baby's gone down for a nap, or you ride in the car and you can't read, but maybe you can listen, even though it's kind of passive. It's better than nothing. It's better than nothing. So I'm thankful for the Bible. I'm thankful for those who listen. I did not go 10 minutes. I'm actually approaching 26 right now and I'm disappointed in myself. But I pray you enjoyed this podcast. This is living intentionally for eternity. We like to filter our thoughts through God's thoughts. We like to filter our perspectives through God's perspectives. And we like to filter our ways through God's ways. Pray you enjoyed this. I love y'all. Thank you. Hopefully we are back. Batching episodes have Dave roots coming back. My dad. The smoke hit the ground. I'm thankful for that. Y'all be good. Have a good weekend.