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Well guys welcome back to the way UK podcasts. My name's Jesse. I'm joined by my wonderful guys Mattias. Hello guys. Wow, you're very loud. It's because what I have to say is more important, Jesse. Wow. Okay. There it is. I believe it is. We love a big church fest and today we have a special guest Aaron from the handle bar. Aaron, how's the UK? It's amazing. I would say the UK for Americans when we think of the UK we think of good real food and America our food is we've got some

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stuff there. We're trying to work out. The culture's amazing. The weather's amazing. And you guys actually have football. Yeah, if you haven't been to Texas, then then you're unappreciative of this weather. But if you've been to Texas, you would go, this is it. This is, this is having on earth. So you can actually be outside. And I know it's the man you know it. It's right. Is anyone a man you find in the menu, fans? Only you. It's like a he's been rebuked already. We don't need to rebuk him anymore. Yeah, but you guys had David Beckham. I mean, I got a, I got a reference.

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And why don't you just give yourself a little introduction? Who are you? What is the date stay look like? What is this handle bar? Yes, I would love to you. So first off, I am a son. I have been marked by the revelation that God is a dad. And he's a really good one. I'm a husband. I have been married to my beautiful bride, Sarah Beth. She co-hosts the podcast with me. But we've been married for eight years in December. We have three little kids. We have Rosie. She's four shepherd. He's two and a half.

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And River is one. So my life is chaotic oftentimes. That is probably the bulk in most important part of my life. And then I have been a pastor at the upper room in Dallas, Texas for 10 years. Believe it or not. And I've, I've pastored a number of areas, youth, young adults, school,

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ministry. And then my wife and I host a podcast together, the handle bar podcast, which we started as a hobby. We started for fun. And what we had found is that we were pastoring young adults. And what we realized is we don't have a lot of conversations of young people asking why? Why should I be holy? Why should I be above reproach? Why should I flee from sin? Why should I know God as a father? What what we've heard is how questions? How do you live holy? How do you?

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How do you prioritize intimacy in the midst of a culture where cell phones are just stealing your attention? How? And so when I was an eighth grader, it was before social media. It was before it was kind of in the days where, where middle schoolers would go outside and you just had to find something to do. And there was a song that came out. And the song was by a band called Flow Bots. Anyone know Flow Bots? Yeah. Don't ever get anyone who knows Flow Bots. There's one. Come on Flow Bots. The song is called handlebars. And the course to the song was

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I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars. It's quite catchy if you've never heard it. So I tell the story because what we would do at the time is we would we'd get our bicycles. We'd get to the top of a street and we had a we had a piece of chalk that we would put a line. We'd ride our bikes whenever you hit that line. You had to see who could ride their bike the furthest with no handlebars. But here's the thing. If you hit a curb, debris, a pothole, a rock, you were going down like for sure crash wipe out.

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But if you were holding your handlebars and you hit any of those things, you would just pop right up over it, keep going. And I have found the faith is very similar for young people that oftentimes they don't know what to hold on to in their Christian faith. They either don't know the Bible. They don't know intimacy. They don't know prayer. They don't know disciplines that are oftentimes like handlebars that if you're just holding on to these disciplines. When you walk through trouble in life, you're going to pop right up over that thing and you're going to keep following the Lord. And so we started this podcast to help young people with the how-tos of the faith.

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So that's the handlebar podcast. Oh gosh. It's a. I mean, I've written all these questions down that we prepared for, but as he's speaking, I'm like, I want to touch on this how. Yeah, I want to hear how I want to learn myself. You know, I was saying to Aaron. It was funny. We drove back to where you're staying last night. And Aaron was speaking in the back. And I was like, this is odd because I listen to Aaron as I'm driving usually, but it's through the report. But now I'm in the back. And how is in the back seat? And it's like, oh, this is just a normal drive for me. It's for me.

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But I'm a Gen Z. And what you carry the house. How do we get intimate with God? How do we be sustained in faith? How do we pursue Jesus for a really long time? Are questions that I'm asking questions that I'm listening to your podcast to receive from.

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And to, yeah, to just start like as young people as old people, what, what are some of the actual house that people are asking, like maybe one how that you're, you're hearing the most, like, how do I get intimate with God? Yeah, I would say intimacy is a, is a big one.

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And uh, grab the water.

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I don't know about water here. It'll be, it'll be helpful for me. Yeah, it's so hot here. My lips are drying up so quick. Is anyone else feeling that?

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Yeah, you see you guys need to come to Texas and you'll go, it's not hot.

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Yeah, so intimacy is a big one and compromise is a big one. So I would say in the States, I can't really speak to the culture here in the UK, but in the States, especially in the South, Dallas is located in what we call the buckle of the Bible belt.

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Meaning the entire South every street corner is going to have multiple churches. You're going to have more churches in proximity to one another versus fast food restaurants, like there's just churches everywhere.

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If you go out and evangelize and you ask someone, are you a Christian? They'll say, oh, yeah, I know Jesus, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're born again.

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And so in Dallas, we call it the buckle because it is like prime real estate for the spirit of religion and people who have a comment like they know how to talk about God, but they don't know him personally.

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And so compromise is a big one. We've used that word a lot of those who they have one foot in the world and one foot in the church.

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They, they, you know, are showing up on Sunday morning, but their life Monday through Saturday is not, it's not an alignment with the word of God.

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And so they're just kind of tiptoeing the line. And so holiness and intimacy, I would say are two big how-tos. How do you be holy and how do you have intimacy?

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And I remember being asked, the question I was asked by by a young guy is he was saying, how does your intimacy with God impact your holiness and or vice versa?

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And I remember, you know, I'm getting this question and I'm sorry, I'm hearing the tent down here in it. And I'm like, I was simulating.

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But I remember telling him, hey, it's your intimacy with God that will impact your holiness. The question was, how does your holiness impact your intimacy?

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And I said, it doesn't. And he's eyes got so big. What do you mean my holiness does not impact my intimacy? And I said, you need to flip it.

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Your intimacy impacts your holiness. If you can get a loan with God, if you can learn relationship with God, if you can, if you can learn about the secret place, you can learn that you can walk with God on the cool of the day.

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The rest of your life where it's unholy, the Lord will start cleaning it up himself. And all you've done is prioritize intimacy with him. You've just gotten around him. You've let him be the biggest influence in your life and impact you.

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And that's been true for me. I think of things in my life where I look and I go, man, this just doesn't line up with the word of God. Maybe I'm irritated with my kids. Maybe I'm not kind to my wife.

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Maybe I'm falling into a temptation that it's like, man, why did I fall into that again? What I have found is if I keep coming back to the Lord. And I say, Lord, here I am. Here's, here's my heart. I'm your son. You're my father. And I let him lead me impact me. Speak to my heart. Those weird fruits begin to clean themselves up.

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So good. And just to go straight there, we're talking a lot about intimacy, holy, holiness. And you've already said, it's actually the intimacy that affects everything. It's the presence of God. It's the relationship. That's the thing that changes a lot.

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Yeah. Yeah. They heard me. And it's just so good. And because I, you know, you're speaking to your culture, the Bible bell, but it is so present here, like falling into this religious spirit that it's what I do that gains me access with God. It's what I do.

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Please, please. What are some of the biggest lies you see when it comes to intimacy? And how can we overcome them as Christians?

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Yeah. I would say one of the biggest lies I see is what we do for God determines who we are for God. Nobody teaches it that way. No one would say it that way out loud. But there can be this belief. I have to do more to be loved more.

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Or I have to do more to be important. I have to do more to have value. Think of a podcast. The more podcasts has taken off, the more people can come around and almost ascribe a value to me or those that host the podcast with me because we've impacted their life, you can feel the temptation of now I'm important because I've done something.

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But when I get alone with God and private, when I get alone with God and secret, he'll say you were always important. It was never about what you did. It's about what the sun has done. It's about what Jesus has done. It's about his blood. And when you live connected to the vine, you begin to realize it's everything you do is just an overflow of your connection to God.

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But when you're attempting to be the vine yourself, thinking, well, I have to sustain, I have to build. Then you start you get into that that slippery slope of the wonky Christian who they're striving.

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And I think hard work and stewardship is similar to striving, but the fruits are very different. They can sometimes look similar like when you're working hard and you're grinding and you're being faithful and you're building out the vision the Lord has given you a lot of times it requires hard work.

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But it doesn't require striving because there will be a grace when it's from him. But when the grace is lifted and you think, well, I have to sustain this thing, I have to follow the algorithm, I have to get this out, I have to, and then all of a sudden you're striving, you're not at rest.

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But if you come back to the vine, maybe you begin to realize you hear the voice of the Lord saying, hey, I'm actually leading you this way and you're still trying to follow this path because you thought I'm there, but I'm actually over here, but you find that in secret.

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Hey, I found that the longer I've been walking with Jesus, the more I realize that our walk is not black and white, but it's actually a balance of tensions and you just mentioned one of the tensions that was stewardship and striving.

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Yes, and I talked to a lot of young people and they see some verses in the Bible, the ones that go like our faith of that works is dead.

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Or when Jesus says, depart from me for I didn't even know you, you've been prophesying you do all these things, but I don't even know you.

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And they can go like to one side of the pendulum of being like works and striving because of some misinterpreted my conviction, misinterpreted verses.

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I want to ask, what does that tension look like? How do you balance that stewardship without it turning into striving and how do you latch on to the intimacy with God?

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That's great. I mean, following the Lord wasn't hard. Paul wouldn't have been shipwrecked. He wouldn't have been bit by Viper. He wouldn't have been whipped. He wouldn't have been thrown in prison.

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But oftentimes we get into those settings and following the Lord being faithful with what he's asked us to do. So now you're stewarding and you walk through something that you didn't expect or an unforeseen circumstance and we call it warfare.

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We call it, oh, I need to go back to prayer. I need to go back to the drawing board. But when you look at the life of Paul, his stewardship led him down a path that was not easy.

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But then he writes, I'm able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He's not talking about I can make the football team. He's not talking about I can be the next Grammy nominated artist.

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He's talking about I know how to be without and I know how to be with. I know how to be hungry. I know how to be full. I know how to be sick. I know how to be healthy. And I can do all things through Christ.

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He's talking about being faithful to following him, being faithful to stewarding what God has called. And I think a lot of times we can we can lead things out because it sounds like good vision or we've seen someone do it. I saw the way do this.

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I think you guys have done you've done videos apart from podcasts that for us in the States. We've watched you do and we've gone, that's amazing. How can we incorporate that with what we're doing.

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But if we incorporate that and what we're doing without seeking first him, then now we're trying to sustain and build something that we saw from someone else that was a good idea.

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You know, maybe you guys heard it from the Lord. I don't know why you're doing some of the things you're doing. But for us to do it because you did it, it would be a lack of priority.

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But for us to then take that and pray or go, God, we want to incorporate this into into this platform that you birth that you've given us that we're stewarding. And he may say, yeah, I don't have that for you.

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Or he may say, yes, and then all of a sudden he breathes on it. But but it's not striving. It's not trying to build something apart from rest.

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It's so good. And we're kind of talking about also in a sense, stepping out and leadership.

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You know, we're talking about content creation, we're talking about following ideas, shooting things, pursuing excellence and things.

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There's such a such a big topic, something that is so nuanced and tense. I use that word tension. That's a lot of the Christian faith.

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It's like filled with all these tensions and trying to navigate it and all the pendulum swings and you're like, oh, gosh, I'm over here now.

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It's like it can be a lot. And it's sometimes easy to do nothing when it feels tricky. Yes.

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And I think one thing I'd love to hear from you is, is how do we know when it's the right time for us individually to step out?

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Whether that's in leadership in terms of like a church, step out in a friendship group in terms of inviting people to faith, but to step out in leadership and being a Christian or more in authority.

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How do we do that correctly whilst navigating this tension?

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What I have found in my life is, you know, I'm in my early 30s now and especially when I was in my early 20s, I would have had a season in my life where I would have said I'm ready.

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But looking back now, I actually needed some humility. I actually needed some, some hiding being hidden in the secret place. The shot I was weighing like I needed to learn some things.

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I thought I was ready and really I needed some humility. But then there's others that I see that they don't feel ready. And that's that's kind of how you know you are.

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It's this upside down kingdom reality. I look at people in the Bible. I look at David. I don't think David felt ready to fight Goliath.

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I don't think David felt ready to go play for Saul. I don't think Esther felt ready to go before the king. I don't think Elijah felt ready to call down fire.

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When I look at in the Bible, I don't think they felt ready. I think they were being faithful. I think they were being obedient to the voice of the Lord.

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And I think they were holding the line and a standard in their day when culture was trying to shift when culture was trying to change.

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And now we read their stories and we go, you're here on the faith, but really they were just obedient and they held the line that they wouldn't waver on what God had said.

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And oftentimes we're no one's ever no one's ever ready for that. I think of 2020.

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The pandemic hit the entire world and you saw what leaders were willing to step into that void and gap and those that shrunk back.

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I don't think anybody was ready for it. You know, you're not you're never really ready for those moments.

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But you see who is who is attached to the voice of the Lord and who isn't. You see who is dialed into the things of the spirit and who isn't.

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You see who are living by God and his leadership and and who it's more of a theory and a good set of values to live by.

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And and for me, I've just decided within my life, I mean, I'm going to be tethered to the voice of the Lord. I'm going to be tethered to scripture.

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And I'm going to let him direct me in the ways I go. And oftentimes I'm not ready. And and oftentimes I'm humbled by him.

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And but I think the tension is good. I think a lot of times we don't like tension. I think last night we were talking about this about one of us.

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There's someone from your team. We were talking about tension and how tension. It's hard, especially for young people.

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But a phrase that I've learned is is dichotomy or so word dichotomy and a dichotomy dichotomy.

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What it means is basically two truths that seem to be opposing to one another, but but they actually compliment one another.

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So I think of Jesus scripture calls him the lion and the lamb.

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Which one is he? Is he a lion or is he a lamb or is he both if he's both and there's a dichotomy there.

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It's two. It seems to be opposing truths, but actually you need both of them to fully see the picture of who God is.

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They're not the tension is what makes it holy. And so I think of tension in our lives.

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And oftentimes we should have the balance of I think I think sometimes this is a room of I don't know maybe a couple hundred people.

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I have preached in a room of 15 people and I've preached in a room of 15,000. And and I always kind of feel the same thing.

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I can feel the excitement to follow the Lord and I can feel the maybe it's insecurity maybe it's humility.

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Call it either one, but those tension I need that tension. I need the excitement in the zeal to say, man, I've been called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And I need to remember I am just a man and there's nothing special about me and without the power of God my words will change no one.

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But that tension is actually what what keeps me in a healthy place. And so I have learned to embrace tension not to not to push it away.

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Embrace the tension embrace the tension. It makes the day holy lots of music in the background.

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It's a real example like you can hear the sounds and you can get distracted and go, oh, what's happening or or it can cause you to dial in.

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Yes. So this is no, that's a great example. Yeah. It's like there is always distractions and all around.

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There's always things that we can choose to lock into or lock out and like even this is an example, let's lock in and let's say deeper.

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Yeah. So cool. You mentioned how the tension it fuels your zeal. You've been a pastor for eight years and I assume you've been a Christian for longer.

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How I was a pastor before I was a Christian. I'm kidding. Crazy. Keep going.

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I was wondering I feel like a lot of people are worried about the years to come because lots of people are coming to Christ recently.

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But I feel as if lots of people are falling away from Christ as well. Maybe because they've not quite grasped that tension.

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Maybe they understood God as the lion, but missed God as the lamb. Jesus is the lamb, right? Yeah. Or they understood the intimacy, but lack the conviction.

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And so my question is, as you've been walking with Jesus, what have you done to sustain your zeal to sustain your growth and intimacy?

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Yes. And to allow the main thing to be the main thing, not allow God's abundant love to overtake your conviction or not allow your fear of the Lord to forget that God loves you.

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Like how would you keep the main thing and how would you sustain that growth and sustain that zeal so that eight years down the line, I'm still growing and I've not peaked yet.

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That's a great question. I would say over the years. So I got saved when I was 18. I'll be 32 next month. So I got saved when I was 18, got hired as a pastor when I was 20. So I've actually been a pastor for going on 11 years now.

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But what I have found in my early 20s, I had so much zeal for God. I think you see it in young people. And actually if I could go back to that time, I heard a lot of talk around the negativity of young zeal.

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Like, well, that's just zeal. That's just hype. Now looking back, that zeal is amazing. I just needed to learn where to put it. I needed to put it in the Lord, not in an artist, not in a band, not in a certain singer or worship leader, not in a certain preacher. I needed to put that zeal on the Lord.

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But what I've learned over the last decade, and I'm still learning in a lot of ways, but kind of the older I've gotten as I've matured in the Lord, as I've had kids, as I've gotten married, is I've seen this shift where I've stopped living on my zeal and it's been subtle or I've stopped living on my zeal and started tapping into the Lord's zeal for me, the Lord's zeal for his church, the Lord's zeal for his bride, the Lord's zeal for people.

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I've learned that there is a zeal in God's heart. You see this in Jesus when he flipped stable. Why? Because zeal for his house had consumed him. And what I have realized is you can actually through prayer, tap into God's zeal for people. And so I think a lot of times I wanted to be a missionary.

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God sent me to the nation, sent me to the nations, and I would go to the nations, and it was the typical American, go for 10 days, and you take the pictures and you post about it, but really you're impacted more than the culture you go to because you're there such short time.

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And then I got involved in kind of the prayer movement and I started realizing what was more on the Lord's heart was for me to get alone with him in prayer before I went to the land. And when I would get with him in prayer, what I would begin to tap into was God's heart for the people.

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And then the Lord started opening up doors for me to go to the nations, but as I'm going to the nations now, I'm realizing I'm going with God's heart for people, not my own zeal for the land. And so there has been this subtle shift where I've started learning the zeal of the Lord.

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And that to me is more sustaining than my own zeal. Our own zeal will waver. It will fade. It will, it's finicky based on how we feel that day.

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Are we, do we feel good or are we fighting anxiety? Are we having a high moment or do we feel like we're in the valley? Well, in the valley, I don't feel so zealous, but God's zeal is consistent and you find it in prayer.

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And it's again coming back to that initial point. It's like the intimacy. That's the thing that branches into everything. That intimacy, that prayerful place, that quiet place. That is the thing that will affect everything.

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More than your own zeal to jump into a new country to do this is the intimacy. It's prayer beforehand that actually captures a piece of God's heart which enables you to do more things for God when you're there. It's amazing. It's so cool.

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What are some questions I have? I'm a little blank. Do you have it? Do you have something?

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I've got a little bit of a selfish question and I don't know if anyone else will relate to this.

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Guys, a little bit shameless flex over here. I just got married recently.

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Come on. Let's go.

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Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

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Yeah, that elevation rhythm.

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That's right.

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Is that who that is? Is that the elevation? They're going in right now.

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But I acknowledge that maybe this is a mixture of a crowd. We've probably got some married folks in here and got some young folks in here.

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But we can still learn.

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But I want to learn not necessarily a marriage question but a relationship question because we've not had that at Big Church so far.

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Oh, no.

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I want to ask you about how has intimacy with the Lord blessed your marriage?

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And maybe what principles can we learn from that in relationships in general?

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Yeah.

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Whether it be friendships, dating or even like, yeah, into your life that you made it broad at the end.

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Yeah, I do. It feels very inclusive.

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It's for Jesse. It's for Jesse.

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Thanks. Thanks guys.

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Feel free to direct my answer if you're like, no, I want to go more this way, this path.

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But you know, in short, intimacy with the Lord will affect every area of your life.

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And so my wife and I again, we're about to celebrate eight years and we have this phrase now and it's you need to go spend time with Jesus.

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And it's taken us a while to learn that phrase.

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Is that you?

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It seems quite a bit in the dishes.

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It's like you need to go spend time with Jesus.

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Does she say it more than you do?

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Yeah, it's not always said in the kindest of ways.

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Sometimes it's a you need to go spend time with Jesus right now.

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But it's real. I think this is a this is a modern like current example.

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Last week, we are my daughter's four and a half and my son is two and a half.

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So it was the last weekend before school would start.

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And we wanted to do something special.

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So we bought my daughter a bike.

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It's kind of a tricycle, but we bought her a bike and our son.

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He's too he's too small to learn to ride a bike even a tricycle.

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But he's he's too big to not get something also.

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And so we got him a little motorized spider man for four wheeler.

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And so our daughter gets on the bike and she starts picking it up really quick.

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But our but my son, he cannot he cannot figure out how to turn the handlebars.

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He's like can't he's like I he just couldn't do it.

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And I got so frustrated.

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It was so annoyed.

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And he's two and a half.

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I'm like, you know, I'm like shouldn't be irritated.

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And there's this meme that my wife has seen where it's basically a dad saying I grew up.

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And my dad was always irritated and now look at me irritated junior.

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And so she'll call me sometimes irritated junior.

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She's like, you're a junior.

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And I was so irritated and and and she she said to me, she goes, why are you so irritated?

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And I was like, I don't know.

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I just I'm bothered that he can't figure it out.

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And and she says to me, you know, it's been time with the Lord.

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And so what that looked like for me.

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Because then I was just being short with her and I was antsy and it was probably a 30 second prayer.

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And I said to the Lord, Lord help me.

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I do feel irritated today.

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And all of a sudden in my mind, call it coincidence or call it the voice of the Lord.

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I saw a picture of me turning my phone off.

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And so I pulled my phone out of my pocket and I turned it off.

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And I kid you not within 10 minutes.

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All of the irritation, frustration, call it anxiety that I was feeling went away.

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And my wife, she even noticed she goes, there's something visibly different about you.

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What did God speak to you?

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And I said, I turned my phone off, which I believe came from the voice of the Lord.

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I believe that was his leadership telling me like, hey, check out and be with your kids.

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And sure enough, I began to, I didn't even realize how much I, in the back of my mind,

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I was filtering and holding on to conversations at work or things I'm going to have to navigate in the future days

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or things that haven't been resolved, just leadership pains.

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And so that's a, you know, that affected real time, my parenting, my marriage,

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where oftentimes, I wouldn't even say in the past, oftentimes my response could be, I'm irritated here,

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now I'm irritated at my wife, now dad's just not fun to be around.

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And, and so that phrase goes, spend, you need to go spend time with Jesus is so, so real.

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Whether that's reading a chapter in the Bible or taking five minutes in prayer,

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turning on a worship song and just sitting in the presence, it does so much for the human heart.

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What's the principle there?

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What's the principle there that God is first?

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Yeah.

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Yeah. I mean, I think of what is it? A Colossians one that he may have pre-immunence,

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that he may have the first place.

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I think of the letter to the Lovelish Church.

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Everything that the Lord writes to the Lovelish Church and Revelation two is positive things.

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You've held the faith, you've, there's been false teachers and you've tried them

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and you've found them to be liars and you've built the church.

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Everything in there, you're like, I'm doing it.

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And he goes, but you've forgotten your first love.

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And it's, it's God's first. It's, you know, my first few years of marriage,

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I looked to my wife to fulfill every wound in place of rejection of my heart.

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And it just pushed her away because I'm filled as pain, filled as pain.

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You don't say it that way, but that's how you, that's how you're operating.

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And there's mental pair mentors in our life.

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And, and the wife, she said, you are looking for your wife to heal your rejection.

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Only the father can do that.

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That's why I talk about the father, the revelation of the father.

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And it's true you sit with God and you begin to realize, man, I've been looking to people.

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We look, you know, for me, my wife is the closest thing to me.

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So oftentimes it's my wife. Maybe it's a pastor.

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Maybe it's a platform or maybe it's a green room.

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You look to these things to fulfill me.

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If I could get into that room, then I'll be seen.

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No, no, no, if you can get before God and realize his eyes are on you,

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then you're not looking for people to see you.

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You know, you're seen by God and it will change your life.

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Hmm. So for a single folk, find someone who says, you need to spend time with Jesus.

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Yeah, and I think guys need to ask out girls. They need to be powerful.

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Yeah, it's good. Can I, can I always need to ask out girls?

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Can you say that again?

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If you like your ask out, I'll tell you the story when I was a young adult pastor.

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I probably did this gosh, man, maybe 20 times or more.

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I did it once publicly and nobody ever took me up on it.

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Never what I'm about to tell you. So whenever guys would come to me and they would say,

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hey, I like so and so, I would listen and smile and that's amazing.

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And then I would say, what are you going to do about it?

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And you know, and then they're like, I don't know, I'm going to fill it out.

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It's going to, I'm going to fill it out. And I would say this,

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if you will go ask her out in person and she says, yes, I'll pay for the first day.

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Well, take her wherever you want to take her.

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I'll pay nobody ever took me up one time I stood in front of a room of 200 people.

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I said, hey, if there's a, it was a young adult setting, it was a young adult service.

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It was the end of service and we had talked about dating and I said,

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if there's a guy in here, you like a girl and she doesn't know you like her.

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If you'll come ask her out on the mic and she says, yes, I'll give you 100 bucks right now for the day.

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No one took me up on it.

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People would always come up afterwards like, hey, what if I, you know, DM her?

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What if I'm like, no, face to face interaction.

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Ask her out. Tell her how you feel.

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This is a touchy subject a little bit.

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No, no, no, no.

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Well, I'm the only single one on the stage.

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And I can feel some frustration coming from the women as well.

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I had a name in the crowd.

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It's very loud.

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And this is so good.

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I want to, let's, let's change to a little bit of Q&A.

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Thank you.

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We've got questions, but I'd love to hear what you guys think.

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There's lots to talk about.

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There's lots to unpack.

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The intimacy thing.

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Yeah.

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The date thing.

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I mean, don't talk about that.

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Yeah, be kind to bring some questions.

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Yeah.

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If we, we're going to do a little quick Q&A session.

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Do you still, if you have a roaming mic ready,

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if you want to ask question, why don't you put your hand up?

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Hi, I'm Hannah.

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I'm 18.

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I was really impacted by what you said about like the swinging pendulum thing.

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And I wanted to ask, how do you basically incorporate that balance in your like daily life,

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like in the Monday?

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Because I'm not at church every single day, like I have school and stuff.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Help me with the question.

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The tension.

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It was the tension.

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How do you incorporate tension into your life?

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It's like when the pendulum swings.

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Yeah.

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How do you still carry the like being high with God into our everyday life?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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That's something that has been foundational for me.

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And you know, to some of this in the room, I've been walking with the Lord for 12, 13 years to some of the room.

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That's a while.

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You're like, wow, that's a long time.

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For others in the room, you're probably like, oh, you're still a puppy.

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Amen.

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I am.

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So for some, I'm like, start, I'm starting to scratch the surface a little bit of longevity.

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Like I have stories now where I could look and I'm like, man, friends that responded the alter calls.

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They're no longer walking with the Lord.

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It's so sad.

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But I would say something that's been foundational for me to make it.

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Because I walk through the day of trouble, just like I could tell you stories that were just hard and almost took me out in the faith.

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And something that's been foundational to me is mothers and fathers in my life.

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And I'm not talking about my mom and dad.

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I'm talking about spiritual mentors.

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Those that my life is not no part of my life as off limits too.

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Because oftentimes when you have a pendulum swing too far, you don't realize it.

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Like deception.

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If you know you're deceived, you're no longer deceived.

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Deception is you don't you don't know you're deceived.

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So oftentimes with pendulum swings, we don't realize that.

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Like we don't even realize like I'm operating too much in the spirit of religion.

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I'm holding on to disciplines too tightly.

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I'm getting legalistic or you pendulum swing to grace is a little sloppy and do whatever you want.

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And oftentimes when you're in either area, you don't see it yourself.

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It's called the blind spot.

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But having a mother, a father, a mentor, a pastor.

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Someone you've opened your life to that has permission to say like, hey, that's a little wonky.

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Like, hey, that's a little like I have a, I think there's this couple.

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Their names are Phil Melissa.

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And they're probably in their 60s.

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And they speak to my marriage.

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They speak to my parenting.

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They'll speak to my travel schedule.

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There's been times where they've said, hey, you're traveling far too much.

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And this is taking the toll on your family.

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You need to pull back.

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And I have, if I've truly submitted my life to them, because I could call it no, it's faith, it's zeal, it's opportunity, it's momentum.

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God's breathing on it.

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And, you know, I want to stew or I want to follow and they're going, yeah, but, but your kids are missing dad.

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Your wife needs a date night.

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Like, so if my life is truly submitted, that means when they give me that direction, I'm pulling back.

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I'm going, all right, I'm going to be obedient.

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I'm going to honor the voice of a father, a mother, a mentor in my life.

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And that is a way that has kept me tethered in the midst of tension and the midst of the balance.

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And, because I don't think the Bible has a lot to say about balance.

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Like, I don't look at the life of Jesus and see balance.

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I see radical obedience to the Father.

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I see these things to where it's like, we talk about balance.

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Oftentimes, what we mean by balance is how can I follow Jesus and be comfortable?

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And you can't.

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Following Jesus will require you to lay down your comfort.

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But how do you follow Jesus and be obedient and still be a present dad?

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Be a loving husband.

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Be faithful with your job.

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But also, say yes to moments that don't make sense.

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Great question, Hannah.

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Next question.

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Hands up if you want to ask question.

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Hi there.

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Firstly, Aaron, I really appreciate the foolish offering album that you came out with last year.

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My question is about the balance between head knowledge and heart knowledge.

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I know you've.

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Podcast.

347
00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:47.000
Sorry.

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Hello.

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Yeah, in your podcast, you touched on the balance of head knowledge and heart knowledge.

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And we've had a lot of people be baptized at our church recently, which is amazing.

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And one of the questions that's going through my mind, especially as you've been speaking now,

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is just that there seems to be oftentimes in people's testimony, there seems to be a real emphasis on experience.

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And like the experience of God, but often the deficit of the knowledge about God.

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And just as you were speaking using that word intimacy, I wonder whether is that the bridge between head knowledge and heart knowledge,

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because you can't know someone without being both having a knowledge of them and like a heart knowledge of them.

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Right.

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I probably haven't formulated that very well.

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No, great question.

359
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Incredible question.

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The foolish offering album he's referring to, it's my wife's first solo project.

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And first album I produce.

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So I'm excited that you listen to it.

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I get a lot of that from my bride.

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So my bride grew up in a Baptist stream.

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She would have said she was raised believing the Trinity was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Bible.

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She was unfamiliar with the Holy Spirit, maybe some of you can relate.

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And then when she was 19, she got baptized with the Spirit in the way she would describe it as if the scriptures all of a sudden had color to them.

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All of a sudden the things of God became real to her.

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And so I think that's a great thing.

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When I talk about the voice of the Lord, you know, I do believe in God speaking here and now and speaking to things that in prayer, you hear God's voice.

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I believe in that.

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I hear a lot of times people are like, I've never heard that.

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I've never experienced that and they have a hard time with it.

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And here's what I say.

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If you want to hear the voice of the Lord, read your Bible.

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Like that's a great way to hear the voice of the Lord.

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What I have found is if I'm just looking for the encounter with God, but I'm not in the Word of God, you can get weird.

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It's one of those pendulum swings.

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You can get weird.

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If I'm just reading the Bible, but I'm not ever in prayer or believing to live a life where God is showing up in my life, get a little weird.

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I mean, knowledge puffs up.

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But there's got to be you got to walk that line between men.

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My life is rooted by the Word of God.

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00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.000
The standard of the Bible is how I'm living my life.

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00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:08.000
The Bible is very clear.

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00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:13.000
I can feel the zeal of the Lord right now where we have a world that is not clear.

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And they're like, well, you can follow God in this or you can follow God in that.

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That's not sin.

389
00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:19.000
This isn't sin.

390
00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:21.000
The Bible is very clear.

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But at the same time, if you know the Bible is clear, but you don't have love,

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first Corinthians 13 is pretty clear.

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Like, look at the resume of first Corinthians 13.

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What if they introduce me and they're like, hey, we have Aaron for the podcast.

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He speaks with the tongues of men and angels.

396
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We have Aaron for the podcast and he's given his life.

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He's a martyr.

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He's given all of his goods.

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He can prophesy.

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00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:52.000
If he gets a mic and starts prophesying, you guys would be like, who is this guy?

401
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But if he doesn't have love, the Bible says that man is nothing.

402
00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.000
And so I think when you spend time with the Lord, oftentimes when I spend time with the Lord,

403
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:03.000
it's rebuke of in nature.

404
00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:04.000
The Lord wants to correct something.

405
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:06.000
He wants, I'm like, God, give me a sermon.

406
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I'm about to pray.

407
00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:10.000
And the Lord's like, no, no, no, no, I want to talk about how you talk to your wife.

408
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:11.000
I want to get some tenderness in you.

409
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And it's that, it's that, it's that, that tension of living a life that's marked by the presence of God,

410
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yet living a life that's rooted in the Word of God.

411
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So I hope that helps.

412
00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:24.000
That's so good.

413
00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:26.000
And we've got time for one more.

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00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:29.000
Damn, she's wisely.

415
00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:30.000
Oh, Arsenal now.

416
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:31.000
Because she's an awesome family.

417
00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:32.000
Okay, we're okay with it.

418
00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:33.000
We're okay with it.

419
00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:35.000
It's not a personal preference.

420
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:36.000
I'm a Burnley fan.

421
00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.000
So it's not yours.

422
00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:39.000
You love to say that, don't you?

423
00:36:39.000 --> 00:36:40.000
Hi.

424
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:41.000
My name is Clarice.

425
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I'm 17.

426
00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:44.000
And I'm a big fan of the Hand of War podcast.

427
00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:45.000
Thank you.

428
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:48.000
Specifically the episode with Zerai Zachary talks about anointing.

429
00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:49.000
Yes.

430
00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:52.000
And I think being like so young in the church and having such a heart for the Lord,

431
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:55.000
it's like there's almost an obsession of being anointed,

432
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:57.000
whether that's in a certain area of ministry.

433
00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:02.000
But how would you like find the balance between like being able to dream with the Lord

434
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:05.000
after being disappointed so much, but not like masking that in,

435
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.000
being like hidden with the Lord and like just seeking him,

436
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:11.000
but also wanting to seek him so badly.

437
00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:12.000
Yes.

438
00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:13.000
I love this question.

439
00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:15.000
Disappointment.

440
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.000
What I have found is disappointment is the secret ingredient the Lord uses

441
00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:21.000
to give you authority.

442
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:26.000
How you steward it, I should say, and look at, I like to look at the life of David.

443
00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:31.000
So just the storyline of David, first and second Samuel has, has changed my life.

444
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:33.000
You have a man who's anointed by God.

445
00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:35.000
Some believe he was as young as 15.

446
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:40.000
And it's 23 years later that he's going to be anointed by man.

447
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.000
So basically it's going to take 23 years for man to see what God saw all along.

448
00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:47.000
But over those 23 years, the anointing is not going to change.

449
00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:51.000
I used to pray prayers like, God, give me the anointing or let the anointing grow,

450
00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:52.000
let the anointing crease.

451
00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:54.000
And then I learned this through the life of David.

452
00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:56.000
His anointing doesn't grow or increase.

453
00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:57.000
He's anointed by God.

454
00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:01.000
God sees something in him and he's anointed by Samuel, but it's ultimately by the Lord.

455
00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:05.000
And then again, 23 years later, man comes around and goes, yeah, this is our king.

456
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:10.000
But what I love about the life of David is what you watch over those 23 years is him not growing anointing.

457
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:11.000
You watch him grow an authority.

458
00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:14.000
And he grows an authority by being crushed.

459
00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:17.000
He, I think it's interesting that he's anointed by Samuel.

460
00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:19.000
He comes out of the sheet filled and Samuel says, this is him.

461
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:21.000
God doesn't look at the outward appearance.

462
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:22.000
God looks at the heart.

463
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:23.000
He anoints him king.

464
00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:27.000
And then the Bible says Samuel gets back on his horse and he rides to, to Rayma,

465
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which is what, what that means is exalted place.

466
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:33.000
So if I'm David and I've just been anointed king, I'm getting on the back of that horse with him.

467
00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:35.000
And I'm going to the exalted place.

468
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:36.000
I have a kingly anointing.

469
00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:39.000
But it's interesting to me that he goes back to the sheet filled.

470
00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:42.000
So now he's still in the, he still has the same jurisdiction.

471
00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:43.000
He's always had.

472
00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:46.000
But now he has an anointing that doesn't match the jurisdiction.

473
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.000
He's anointed for something that his level of authority does not, he doesn't have the authority yet.

474
00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:53.000
And you're going to watch him grow an authority.

475
00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:56.000
He's going to, he's going to become, he's going to go from shepherd to musician.

476
00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:58.000
He's going to go from musician to warrior.

477
00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:00.000
He's going to go from warrior to outcast.

478
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:02.000
And then he's going to go from outcast to king.

479
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:07.000
And, and through every step David takes, you watch disappointment and unmet expectations.

480
00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:12.000
Produce a deeper intimacy, produce deeper or more oil within his life.

481
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:17.000
To where when he steps in as a king, he doesn't have that young zeal, like we were talking about.

482
00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:22.000
He's, he's tethered to the Lord in deep intimacy, so much to the point to where, you know,

483
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:25.000
you know, if you know the story, David gets the arc and he brings the arc back from curious gerium.

484
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:28.000
He brings it into the city and we love the, we love the passage.

485
00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:30.000
David dances undignified.

486
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:35.000
But what's interesting about David dancing undignified is he doesn't wear kingly attire.

487
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:37.000
He wears a linen ephod.

488
00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:39.000
If you know this, it's just a very short, he wears a linen ephod.

489
00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:42.000
And I've always asked myself, why is David wearing a linen ephod?

490
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:44.000
Why is he not dressed up like a king?

491
00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:48.000
And then David goes to his wife and his wife says, David, she's the one who is David.

492
00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:49.000
What are you doing?

493
00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:52.000
You're not acting like a king because her father was Saul.

494
00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:54.000
She knows what kings act like.

495
00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:56.000
And you're not acting like that, David.

496
00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:58.000
And this is when David says, I'll get more undignified than this.

497
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:04.000
But you see in the heart of David, David was, was he knew that Israel had a king.

498
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:06.000
Israel had rejected its king.

499
00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:08.000
It did not want God as its king.

500
00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:11.000
He wanted, Israel wanted man to be his king.

501
00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:17.000
And now at this point, David has walked through disappointment on my expectations to the point to where he says, I'm not your king.

502
00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:18.000
I'll be a priest to the king.

503
00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:21.000
I'm going to put on a linen ephod and I'm going to dress up as a priest.

504
00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:25.000
And I'm going to dance before our king as he enters back into the city.

505
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:31.000
It's fascinating to me how disappointment leads David into deep, deep, deep, deep, deep connection and intimacy with God.

506
00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:37.000
And now the writings of David, it's healing balm to Christians for ages.

507
00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:38.000
I'm so good.

508
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:40.000
Hope that answers your question.

509
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:45.000
Oh, it's amazing. Aaron, in a sec, I'd love for you to just pray for us.

510
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:52.000
Well, you carry in this intimacy with God, this understanding of the Bible, this deep knowledge of him.

511
00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:55.000
I'd love that if you'd pray for us for that.

512
00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:00.000
But before that, I have something that I've been wanting to do for a very long time.

513
00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:04.000
Guys, does anyone have any handlebars for today?

514
00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:09.000
Like, any handlebars from a podcast or something you can take away?

515
00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:15.000
I didn't know the origin story of the handlebar name.

516
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:21.000
And I'm encouraged by these truths, which you guys talk about.

517
00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:24.000
I'm encouraged to think of them as handlebars.

518
00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.000
They are there as a blessing to us.

519
00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:32.000
And they're not there because God is a legalistic God, but they're there because he really loves us.

520
00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:35.000
And he really wants the best for us.

521
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:40.000
And so when I think of the Bible and when I think of these tensions, which we were talking about,

522
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:45.000
it's such an encouragement to think of them almost like these handlebars.

523
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.000
That when a stone does come, when disappointment might come, when a challenge might come,

524
00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:52.000
when a valley might come, when a little pothole might come,

525
00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:55.000
holding onto those handlebars, it's God's blessing to me.

526
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:56.000
Yes.

527
00:41:56.000 --> 00:41:57.000
Would you keep going?

528
00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:00.000
Would you not fall over, but would you be firm instead fast?

529
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:02.000
Yes, amen.

530
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:06.000
And my handlebar is don't forget the intimacy.

531
00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:08.000
Don't forget that part.

532
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:10.000
Don't forget the time with God.

533
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:12.000
Don't forget the presence.

534
00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:13.000
Don't forget him.

535
00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:15.000
And it's one that I feel like I'm reminded of every day.

536
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.000
It's my every day handlebar, but even now I'm like, oh, yeah, no, that's it.

537
00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:20.000
That's it.

538
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:22.000
That's the purpose.

539
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:23.000
That's mine.

540
00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:24.000
Come on.

541
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:29.000
I would say you know, don't wear a menu shirt to when you come to the K.

542
00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:33.000
No, I love menu.

543
00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:36.000
My handlebar would be, if you've ever listened to the podcast, you know,

544
00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:39.000
here's kind of our little secret that is if you listen, it's kind of not a secret,

545
00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:42.000
but our handlebars are normally always the same.

546
00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:45.000
We'll have these beautiful conversations and it's what's the handlebar, you know,

547
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:55.000
and it's normally either confession, reading your Bible, being in prayer or fasting.

548
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:57.000
I would say those four things.

549
00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:00.000
If you just, you know, if you're like, man, what disciplines should I have?

550
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:05.000
I would say prayer, the scriptures, confession, and fasting.

551
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:08.000
Like if you just incorporate those four into your life,

552
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:11.000
there's not really anything that's going to derail you as you're following him.

553
00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:14.000
You're in the word, you're in prayer, you're confessing,

554
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:19.000
and you're giving of yourself to be reminded that God is first.

555
00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:23.000
And so I would say, you know, that's a great handlebar.

556
00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:26.000
And then get coffee in the morning.

557
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:28.000
You know, if you were like, I'm not a joyful person.

558
00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:30.000
Just get some coffee, see what it'll do for you.

559
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:33.000
It's kind of like, you know, the physical side of God's presence on earth.

560
00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:35.000
So it's my handlebars.

561
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:37.000
That's the pendulum that we've been told.

562
00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:38.000
Yeah, there it is.

563
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:39.000
There it is.

564
00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:43.000
Well, do you mind just giving us a 30 second prayer because we run slightly over time?

565
00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:44.000
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

566
00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:45.000
Would you do this?

567
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:46.000
Would you put your hand on your heart?

568
00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:48.000
Some people call me a charismatic, but whatever.

569
00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:49.000
Just put your hand on your heart.

570
00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:51.000
And Lord, I thank you for everyone in this tent.

571
00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:55.000
Lord, everyone who maybe it's going to watch the recording of this podcast.

572
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.000
And Lord, I pray that you would strike their heart with a desire to be seen by you.

573
00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:01.000
Lord, I pray that you would produce something in them.

574
00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:03.000
Lord, to where they're tapping into your zeal.

575
00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:07.000
And all of a sudden they have the ability and the grace to get into the secret place.

576
00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:09.000
For I oratized prayer and meet with you.

577
00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:12.000
Lord, I pray that you would lavish your love the way you love to do.

578
00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:16.000
Upon their heart that they would be marked by the revelation of the Father.

579
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:20.000
They would be marked with the truth that you are first.

580
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:21.000
And so bless them, Lord.

581
00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:25.000
I bless them to the rest of this day to encounter your presence and to see you in random areas of their life.

582
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:27.000
Little kisses from heaven.

583
00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:28.000
And Jesus, name I pray.

584
00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:29.000
Amen.

585
00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:30.000
Amen.

586
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:31.000
Thank you for having me.