Finding Faith, Losing Sleep Podcast
Finding Faith, Losing Sleep Podcast
Episode 32: Navigating Predestination, Cultural Influences, and Spiritual Community in Our Modern World
Imagine the world as a vast tapestry, interwoven with threads of destiny and choices. Can the seemingly random events in our lives hold a divine purpose? On the latest episode of Finding Faith and Losing Sleep, we unravel the intriguing concept of predestination as highlighted in Ephesians. We explore the mysterious synchronicities that challenge our understanding of free will and divine preordination, encouraging you to contemplate how your decisions might align with a higher plan. Through personal stories and engaging analogies, we invite you to reflect on the uncanny coincidences in your own journey and ponder their possible significance.
Our exploration doesn't stop at predestination; it extends into the fabric of cultural influences and spiritual warfare that shape our society. From historical movements to today's complex issues like the transgender movement and celebrity culture, we discuss how these elements intertwine with our spiritual beliefs. By analyzing the power dynamics and moral dilemmas faced by influential figures, we draw parallels to biblical teachings, offering insights into how these themes resonate with our personal values. Through this lens, we challenge you to consider the role of kindness and integrity in navigating the ever-evolving landscape of cultural and spiritual influences.
Finally, we turn our focus to the essence of community and spiritual practices beyond traditional church walls. Delving into the significance of prayer, protection, and unity, we highlight the importance of life groups and the church as a living community. Whether it's during times of adversity like the COVID-19 pandemic or natural disasters, we emphasize the transformative power of empathy and support. As we discuss the teachings of Ephesians, we encourage listeners to embrace their roles in fulfilling God's purpose, finding hope and purpose amid life's challenges, and recognizing the predestined good works prepared for us all.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
it's time to wake up and pray up here on the finding faith and losing sleep podcast. Thank you so much for listening and joining us on this another episode. We were doing these. Hey, back to back to back. It feels like guys, even though I know it's not quite that fast, but it feels like it does because we took a long break before and now we're right back in the saddle again. Maybe just back to back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's close enough. We didn't go multiple months this time, so it's good to be back behind the mic again.
Speaker 1:And the reason why I think that this momentum is going is because we started a book of Ephesians last time and we never even got into the book of Ephesians because all I did was talk about the book of Acts and going into Ephesians.
Speaker 1:But you know, that was so important. The last episode was so important to get a backdrop of things and, michelle, you were the one who said that you liked all the like, the history of things, the writing down for us to be able to learn from what people did in the past. Yeah, I sure do, and that is important because it is what some of our founding faith is on, pierre, where we have this built upon what the apostles taught, and we're going to look at that a little bit in Ephesians as we skip around in there really fast and just kind of take a big overview of that. But you mentioned to me too, pierre, that this show was about losing sleep and things that kept us up at night. And you know the last episode, really I don't know if it really would keep people up at night or not. I don't know about that, but I think a lot of people have biblical questions and we were just kind of talking about those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just we want to continue to just have those difficult conversations as well, which you probably would have heard in our earlier episodes, and I think you can kind of intertwine when it comes to still have the biblical talk, which we're going to do, but also touch on some of the harder topics that maybe stem from the biblical talk or that can maybe tie in to some of the biblical talk as well, and just making sure that you know, we stay genuine to the show and the title and just kind of get back to the basics a little bit.
Speaker 1:Finding Faith and Losing Sleep podcast. That's what our title is and that's what we I don't know if that's what we try not to do or that's what we try to do. I don't want to lose sleep, but there are things at night that keep me awake, that I think about, that, do make me lose sleep. And, pierre, one of the things that keeps me up and it's stuff that you and I have talked about, I think, over the years, as we've known each other a little bit is predestination. And that's what Ephesians 1 talks about.
Speaker 1:Just for a smidgen, in verses 7 and 8, it says In Him, meaning Christ, we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. Well, why do we have redemption? Why do we have His forgiveness against our sins and everything? And it goes back up over to verse five where it says he predestined us I think it's talking about God there to adoption his sons through Jesus Christ himself, according to the kind intention of his will. And I look at those words and I think that word predestined has made me lose sleep over the years, because I'm like well, wait a minute now. What part of my predestination did I step into at some point where it was no longer my will? And was it always not my will? Did God always intend for me to do stuff that I didn't even want to do, but I didn't? You know, predestination is just a tricky topic.
Speaker 2:It is, it is and it's actually like kind of throughout. Like there's other parts where it talks about like we were, we were picked out for this appointed time, like in history, which is still like a predestined type of ordeal. And you do, you start to think about so wait, am I, am I making my own decisions, like you know, because we got free will, or are my decisions already known and and god's well aware, I'm going to mess this up, I'm going to mess that up? And it's hard to kind of think about.
Speaker 2:And I honestly think and I think part of this comes from me just going down so many near death experience rabbit holes and watching those videos that we just we kind of walk a bunch of walk upon a bunch of options. So, like we're, we're free will, but we get to like a crossroads and I think, like the fork in the road and depending on which way we go our way or god's way we're gonna go down that path and then at some point we're gonna get another fork where god's gonna give us another chance and I think that can kind of still be predestined where he's still kind of trying to guide us but he's going to let us choose what path we want to go down and figure it out from there I'm laughing because all I can think about is I used to have books like that that they could get from the book fair, where you could choose your ending.
Speaker 3:That's what it reminded me of when you were talking about that. It also made me think of one of our friends who says, like you can choose God's way, so my way or the cry way. Like I was like yeah, that's about right.
Speaker 1:That's a good one. But then we run into like synchronicities in life as well, where it's uncontrollable coincidences. But the coincidences seem so unbelievable that it's just odd. And do one of you want to share the coincidence that the three of us shared in today? That was very strange and just seemed to be out of the blue, but I think the three of us have had a lot of different synchronicities throughout our times of knowing each other, so I'll ask one of you guys to share the synchronicity from today anyway. Yeah, so I'll start.
Speaker 2:So today's my mom's birthday, if you listen to the show. My mom passed away about seven years ago now and it's usually a tough day. You just have those memories and you know you used to have the celebrations and happy birthdays, and one of my cousins even sent me like a photo of old photo of her outside, you know, one of our houses that we stayed at with the happy birthday balloons and all that stuff behind. So just a really really tough day, you know, usually. You know, based off these last seven years. But we're hosting an exchange student, a really great girl. She's coming from the country of Hungary and guess what? Guess what her birthday is.
Speaker 1:I suppose you're asking me because Michelle, I would assume, already knows, since she is your wife and lives in the same house. Today I will go out on a limb and say today, yes, so her birthday is today.
Speaker 2:It just brought a different feeling, I guess you could say, whereas these last seven years or so it's kind of just been honestly sorrow. I wish I could say all my memories are just joyful and happy memories, but that's not the case. There's a lot of missing and stuff that takes place, but that kind of changed a little bit today to just see the joy of our exchange student and it's really her first birthday here in America and it's how we do gifts and how we do cake and stuff along those lines. So that was just really uplifting to see the joy that she had and that she brought. And then you made me aware of something, Wes. What did you make me aware of today in your own neck of the woods?
Speaker 1:We were getting together to possibly podcast tonight and I said, well, I'm not sure all the plans, because today's my mother's birthday. So that was just when you shared with me that it was your mother's birthday, and then you shared with me that it was, uh, the young lady from Hungary's birthday. I, it's just, it's just weird.
Speaker 2:It's just weird man and we've talked like for years, like we do another podcast together as well, and I never knew that about your mom. And so the fact that it happened today, when we're also celebrating, you know, our exchange student's birthday, just kind of brought things full circle, and again it just felt too spot on to be a coincidence.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and like I think I've mentioned it a few times different things here, like, for instance, the day I had my miscarriage was Christmas and that ended up being the day that Pierre proposed. So he took a sad occasion and made it happy for me, and the day that my friend Mark passed away ended up being Pierre's birthday and the day that Olivia was due. So, like it's just, at some point, something you know, just it goes beyond coincidence and I think God can use those things and you have those periods of sorrow. But, like today for Pierre, like for us to see the joy on what can be, and has been in the past, a sad occasion, I think it's beautiful to see how God can work and bring you joy when you do need it.
Speaker 1:And the only reason why I bring it up is because we're talking about predestination and going through the book of Ephesians that my buddy wanted me to go through on the podcast and we started that and then it got into that predestination talk or Paul does here in this book and I was like you know, there's just so many different synchronicities that line up throughout life with us and other things, not just you and me and not just the podcast. But I'm sure the listeners have run across things too where they're like whoa, that's weird. And then the thought goes wait a minute here, how did that line up just like that? You know, and I don't necessarily think that this is what Paul is talking about in the book of Ephesians, when I think he's talking about predestining things or things happening up and synchronicities happening and making us do things. I love the analogy.
Speaker 1:You had Pierre of the forks in the road. I think God was allowing people and has always had it in his plan to be reconciled to him through the blood of Christ, once the fall came through the blood of Christ. And so that is what the predestination is is that you're just predetermined. He's predetermined that he's going to give people the opportunity to change around their life, to believe in his son, to be able to have that forgiveness that comes through that, and that's where I think that that predestination comes from. The other stuff, I don't know that I have any answers for I probably have more questions than I have answers.
Speaker 1:Like you know, Pierre and I are related somehow, or I have a really simple mind like that Well, I mean, I think so where I was going with the appointed time.
Speaker 2:I believe it goes back to Acts, which also, you know, kind of starts the church with Paul and it kind of talks about you know how one man, you know he made it on nations to inhabit the whole earth and he marked out their appointed times. Acts 17, verse 26, there, and the reason that's really come to me here recently. So like the world's kind of crazy right now. I think we can all agree that the world's kind of gone mad and you often hear like I'm concerned about my kids or I hate that my kids have to grow up in this world. And then I go to Acts 17, 26, and it says that he, you know, got marked their appointed times in history and it kind of brings you comfort because to me that's saying that he's placed our kids in this moment for a reason as mad as we think the world is, as crazy as we think the world is, our kids have been marked for this time. This is their time to shine.
Speaker 2:I've just seen different concerts and stuff. Like the youth, they have so much energy and so much passion for God right now that I had no part of honestly growing up. It kind of brings me hope. Man, again, you think about the madness and the chaos. Yeah, you can have that fear like, oh I hate that they have to live in this time we should have done a better job. Or you can also look at it that they were appointed for this time and you know God is getting ready to raise up a monster himself. And you think about and I know this is a touchy subject as well you think about some of the transgender type of situations that also take place right now. Like I don't know the ins and outs of that and the reasons that people do it.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they have their own reasons, but if You're saying ins and outs and talking transgenderism, that's going a little bit too far into the biological conversation, I think, for this podcast.
Speaker 2:Potentially, but I'm just thinking like, so it's a joke, I was trying to be funny.
Speaker 2:I was trying to but on the flip side, you wonder like is satan satan who I don't think we give enough credit to at times? Is he like trying to convince some of these young people to go to the other side because he knows what God's appointed them for? You ever thought about that? There's a lot of confusion right now. Again, I'm not on that side of the coin so I don't know what's taking place over there, but when you think about the world and where it's at, our kids being appointed for this time, I mean it'd be really smart of Satan to try to convince someone that has a predetermined destiny that they're not who God made them to be.
Speaker 1:Yes, I completely agree, and I often wonder, too, how Satan uses those vessels, whatever vessels they are that he uses. Right, because he has instruments, just like God would have instruments. You know, we have people that come into our lives and we're, like man, so glad I saw them, I'm so glad I met them, they turned my life around. You know, man, so glad I saw them, I was so glad I met them. They turned my life around. You know, a lot of times we'll have those people in our life. And here's the thing, though Satan has similar tools, I believe, in his toolbox, and so what tools is he using to be able to get to, maybe, our children ourselves? Whoever it is, what tools does he have? And here's some things I've found out over the years of looking into weird things. Right, I think that sometimes the tools that he uses are man's knowledge, money, wisdom and power. All right, and, and those people I can pinpoint some of those people that have those instruments or those tools, or those avenues, they're in the government, and and I know I'm not, I'm not trying to go in the weird West way or anything like that, but um, it just recently, if I'm not mistaken, it was, uh, a ice cube or ice tea, one of the ices, I don't know which one one of the ices he he was, if I'm not mistaken. He talked about about how the government was using rap music in the 80s as an agent of keeping the black population down by having the rap music and listen I I sound like an old man talking about that stuff. I could tell you so many lyrics I used to listen to that stuff, the n, all those I used to listen to that stuff. Right, so I know what he was talking about, that they used it to to perpetrate if I'm saying that the ears and the minds of a generation, to actually get them to believe that that is how you are to act and and by doing that it caused it was a cause and effect thing.
Speaker 1:Once it becomes popular, then everybody wants to continue to say it and then you think about chanting and stuff. That's what we do whenever we're singing music. We're chanting those lyrics, we're bringing power into those words and next thing, you know, it's all popularized. Everybody believes that's what you're doing. Then we had the scene of MTV. Come on, you know, come onto the scene. And so now we're giving visual effects as well as sound effects. Sound effects like audio, audio. We're giving audio and visual to this and a lot of times those videos would recreate something, not only if you're talking about gangstrap, where the murder and, uh, drugs and, and then there's the sex that goes along with that and you know all the violence and everything.
Speaker 1:But it was the same thing back in the hippie movement. You think about. You guys got these pictures right of hippies in your head, right and Woodstock. Let me give you Woodstock. If I say Woodstock, you see these flower power, kids and everything right, and they all left from home, all across the world or I don't know if a world but the United States and they all flock there.
Speaker 1:The last time I checked, drugs were pretty expensive, right, and my best memory of what hippies looked like they looked homeless. Where did all the money come from? How did they afford all the drugs that were there? Where did they get that stuff? And there's several books that are out there that would say well, they got it because the government just handed it out to them and it was an offshoot of the government. If people wanted to protest the Vietnam War, the only ones that did that were the dirty hippies. You must be a hippie, and so now the hippies have the moniker of being a bad person or an unknowledgeable person, a poor person, and so they wanted to create that same kind of environment during that hippie stage of the world or of our United States history, as they did in the 80s with rap music and creating that kind of culture. They were just creating cultures.
Speaker 1:I say that and I'm just saying that if we're going to say Satan uses people possibly to influence a generation, pierre, I know that that's what they did according to some historians, to some historians in the Woodstock era. I know that's what they did according to some historians in the 80s. It doesn't put it beyond me to think that they're doing the same thing now with the transgender movement. And I will just point directly to the White House and say look at all the people that have been in the White House as part of different administrations, putting in charge of different administrations, and there's been cross-dressers, transgender individuals in high political positions. It just makes me say, well, maybe they're doing that with that as well, pierre, and you and I haven't talked about that much, so I'm glad you brought it up.
Speaker 2:We haven't talked about it really at all.
Speaker 3:Not to that extent.
Speaker 2:Which is fitting because we're discussing Ephesians right. So you have your Bible, you have your chips in front of you, wes.
Speaker 1:I do?
Speaker 2:I got my bag of chips right here. So Ephesians 6, chapter 6, verse 12. What version of the Bible are you reading out of?
Speaker 1:I read out of the New American Standard Version sir.
Speaker 2:And so what does that verse say in your New American Standard Version?
Speaker 1:For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of its darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in all heavenly places, in the heavenly places.
Speaker 2:And what I find interesting. So there's so many different translations. Do you have? Can you pull one up? Yeah, ephesians 6.12, and I don't know what version you'll have. I can make one up.
Speaker 1:I can make up a version we talk about.
Speaker 2:West.
Speaker 1:Vernacular.
Speaker 2:Here's the NIV. What's the NIV say?
Speaker 3:For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Speaker 2:So many of these translate to the powers of the dark world. When you look at a lot of these translations or the world forces, are you familiar with the Geneva Bible? Yeah, so if you're not, the Geneva Bible was basically before the King James Version. And when you look at the translation of the Geneva Bible, it says worldly governors there, which is very interesting, not powers of dark forces, not the world dark. It says worldly governors, which I think is pretty cut and dry. I found it actually pretty interesting that once the king's version came out, that that part was kind of translated a little bit, to not mention the straight facts that it said worldly governors as a part of that there.
Speaker 1:Do you remember, michelle, what Nebuchadnezzar's downfall was? Do you remember what he was kind of claiming as he stood upon his tower? Nope, nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament, I think in the book of Daniel, is where it is. He's basically up there and he's just saying look at what I have made, I am God, I am God. And then God said no, you're not. And turned him into basically a wild beast I think he lost his mind, kind of a thing, and running out there in the woods and everything, finally repented and came back to his senses and God restored him. But it's just an example of a world leader, pierre, even in a biblical time, who thought he was God and God had to humble him right. And I just think that if you have that, that you, if you have that much power, if you have that much money, you have that much influence over being able to do things, maybe you do want to try to create your own environment.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it comes to that. I've never had that, that power to know, and I probably never want it. And it was talked about before. Like I find it interesting that most folks that are rich and famous will tell you that they don't wish that on anyone, and us that aren't rich and famous usually would scoff or laugh at that, like, yeah, I'm sure all that money is so awful to have, but when you look at some of the things that you see within, know, within, like the celebrity community so I'll turn to you bag, I know you're in reality television and all that type of stuff so what, uh, what do you often see, like which, within the celebrity culture? Like what are the things that you you kind of see come about celebrities and what they do and how they kind of live their life?
Speaker 3:I mean like in the public eye, it's in general. Yeah, like typically it's in the public eye. Typically there's a lot of alcohol involved. I mean I think that you see that they don't have any privacy at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know what you're looking for here, like when you look at that, that culture. So you look at jennifer anderson, brad pitt who's the next person that comes to mind after brad pitt? Jennifer anderson who you think of? Anybody?
Speaker 3:yep, but I can't think of her name, so angelina jolie.
Speaker 2:Thank you, jolie yeah, but where I'm getting at it so like their, their culture, a lot of it they're just divorcing they're divorcing, they're switching partners and they're just, they're just kind of running wild, and even those that are married.
Speaker 2:So I've always been a a big fan of, like, justin timberlake's music growing up. Uh, what, even him, like he's gotten in in trouble and you know messing around on his wife, you know, who's also an actress, with jessica bill and um wes. I know you've you kind of know. You know something you want to talk about was with the man formerly known as puff daddy, who goes by diddy, and you know he's had like jennifer lopez, you know, at one point, but now you know he's in the news for other reasons. What are your thoughts on Diddy?
Speaker 1:Look, you're getting into this kind of conversation here, pierre. This is going to make my pastor give me a phone call, I think in a little while.
Speaker 2:These are the folks that some people look up to, some people want to be like. He had a show that folks were trying out to try to be a part of his making the band and you know they're part of, they're part of this whole famous and I know they're not our politicians, but they still have a lot of power and a lot of pull on the public eye well, and and, and the thought is by some people that I know is that this power is given to an individual like Sean Combs.
Speaker 1:Okay, I can't. It's hard for me to say Puff Daddy. I can't refer to somebody known as Puffy. I've never had a friend named Puffy or P Diddy, you know hey.
Speaker 2:P.
Speaker 1:Diddy, so I'd probably call him Mr Combs. But Sean Combs is given that kind of power to be able to get those kind of details and put people in compromising positions, to be able to have the actions filmed so that blackmail could be used against them. So that blackmail could be used against them and you could say, well, wes, that is crazy talk. Man, that is crazy talk. Yeah, it is. But maybe where there's a lot of smoke, there's fire, right, and there was that. It really reminded me of the whole Epstein Island thing. I mean, it's the same exact play, it's the same exact script. You could say but you know, wes, that just, and listen, these are the conversations that go on in my head that keep me up at night, where I'm saying Wes, to myself all right, wes, that doesn't really happen in real life. And then honestly and this is, you can just Google this and it depends on how much you trust Google, ok, how much you?
Speaker 1:trust Google Because it's like well, wes, the government, would never do anything like that. They would never give a man that kind of power to be able to get that kind of dirt on somebody to make them do something, because now they got the dirt on them, right? So you think about all the different people that we talked about that are in the news, like you're saying, that are in entertainment business and everything. Well, if you have dirt on somebody, you can make them do something that maybe they wouldn't necessarily want to do. You can make them say something that they wouldn't necessarily want to say. Now, here's the deal with that.
Speaker 1:You and I don't think that way, right? That's not how we get results in life. I'm kind to people. I feel bad if I try to. You know, strong-arm somebody into doing something right. I just can't. That doesn't cross my mind really. You know what I mean. Like, it's just not how I operate, because I want to love my neighbors myself, as Jesus has taught me. I want to. That's my goal in life. My goal in life is to not strong-arm somebody into getting them to do what I want them to do. You can hold on, hold on. You can Google this phrase, and I hate to. I don't like to say this phrase out loud. I don't know where my nine-year-old is. You can Google the phrase Operation Midnight Climax. Okay, I know all the words there don't sound good to get. I'm not Googling that.
Speaker 2:I'm not.
Speaker 1:Googling that. When I read about that operation, that's when the light bulb went off for me that people that have power don't think the way I do. They were using that as an experiment, operation Midnight Clonics as an experiment. What they did and this is going to sound crazy they had successful businessmen in San Francisco. They got an apartment building in San Francisco when I say they, it was either the FBI, cia, government, the powers that be Can we just say that Powers that be, since we're in the book of Ephesians and they enticed the well-to-do businessmen in that area with prostitutes and they lured them. I say lured them. You know a woman and a man, you know how the luring goes, a man, you know how the luring goes. And then when they got them back into the hotel rooms LSD and alcohol and two-way mirrors, and they were experimenting to get dirt on these guys and they would do it a couple of times and once they had the dirt on these guys, they would tell the men that they had that dirt and they essentially were treating them like lab rats because they wanted to see what their reactions would be.
Speaker 1:And there were men jumping out of windows that would, you know, didn't know how to react other than taking their own life. I don't know what other men did. It didn't give every detail of every man, so that's the one that went off in my head of like, okay, there may be people who don't think the same way as I do, right, there may be people who were taught differently than I was. There may be people who do. And then I think back, though, also like these are Old Testament stories too, like this you know, as you go throughout time, there's just some of the same things that were talked about in the Old Testament as well, where men are just messing up and messing with women and just doing some wrong things. And so I think back to all that. I think these people all have power, the power is given to them, and then they can use it for their own gain. That's what I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's always been the case. We talked earlier. History repeats itself often and I think that's still the case today. Once you have that type of power and authority, I think folks have a fear of losing it. I think we even see it in our government, like I know, michelle and I often talk Like I could care less about either one of our presidential candidates right now, if I'm being honest, and it's because our country is so divided, yep, and I.
Speaker 2:I think it's intentional, because you have one party that wants majority of the power and to be able to call the shots and have control and you have the other party doing the same and the candidates really have just become puppets, if you ask me. And it it's basically just a fight for party over party and each one tries to manipulate the public into taking their side and do awful things in order to point their finger at the other side, when you really didn't see that even a few years ago. You can even look back at whatever you want to say about Clinton, bush, obama, all these things, they still are close. You can still say they're even friends. You see them at certain events. They're sitting at the table, they're laughing. I think they all still had the greater good in mind of the country.
Speaker 3:Just debating the topics, correct.
Speaker 2:I don't think that's the case any longer. I think it's all about wanting to be right, wanting to be in control, and that's why social media and all the algorithms are just pulling people so far apart, because if you're a Trump supporter, you're crazy, and if you're on the other side, you're crazy if you're a supporter of the Democrats in Kamala. So you can't win because no matter what side of the coin you are, on it looks like you're crazy based off what your beliefs are. And I feel like that's the intention.
Speaker 2:And I go back to this comic and I think I talked about the comic before where a king's on his castle and he has all the public eye out there with fire and pitchforks. He's like what are we going to do? And the answer was you just got to convince those with the fire that the people with the pitchforks are trying to take away their fire, and that's that's basically what it comes down to today. He, he got guns, for example, gun violence. You talk about that and the school shootings and all the things that happen, but versus something happening, the question is just kind of turned to, where you just try to make those with guns think that those without them are trying to take their guns away. All of a sudden, that causes chaos, and you're still in power, because the attention's now turned away from you.
Speaker 3:It's politicized. If that's a word, hey, I think I might've made up my own word there.
Speaker 1:Very good, I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1:Michelle, michelle, the? Um. We're talking a lot about people who have a lot of power, but I think it's our uh friend, maybe a listener to the, to the podcast. Who's the? Who's the rapper? That Christian rapper that you said your daughter really likes Pierre. What's his name? Kb, kb. I think it's KB who says how does it stay on top? He becomes a servant of all is what he says, because when you're a servant of all, you have nowhere left to fall. I'm surprised.
Speaker 1:I remembered that, to be honest with you, in Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 8, this is what Paul says, and this let me preface this this is why all the stuff that we're talking about now and all the stuff that's gone through my head, the things I said, keep me up at night. The things I've talked about in this episode, the things you brought up here, the things you brought up Michelle, this is what those topics right there I'm just going to be blunt and honest it's what makes me believe in the Bible more. Believe in the Bible more, because the Bible is so contradictory in premise to all those things, and I know I said that those things were in the Bible. Some of those things were in the Bible in the Old Testament. But the way God talks about love, the way the New Testament is set up around loving each other, serving each other, it's so contradictory to all those things that we're talking about from the people who have power now.
Speaker 1:In Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 8, paul says To me the very least of all saints. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. He's in prison when he's writing this Prison and he's including himself in with saints you know, which is cool and he's talking about everybody who believes in Christ is a saint, but he says the very least of them. I'm not the top of the ladder, oh, no, no, no. I'm not the top of the ladder, oh, no, no, no, I am the very lowest of the ladder. You know, and that is a quality to have in our lives about being a servant.
Speaker 1:And my little notes on this was to think about, like where you go to church, what are some of the qualifications or qualities of a good church? Well, one of the things is built on the apostles' teaching right, biblical teaching. And then in my little notes here, this was a quality of the guy or guys whoever is up in charge of the church. Do they raise themselves above everyone else? Do they have the bravado of being, whatever you know, high and mighty? Do they live in a $8 million, $10 million, $20 million mansion? Or do they treat themselves and others like they are, the servants like Paul is talking about here? I don't know what you think about that, michelle.
Speaker 3:I mean, I think that it's, it is a true marker of what's internal, like we, if you're a pastor, like you said, lives in that million dollar house, then maybe what's on the inside is, you know, kind of being portrayed on the outside and you get to see that and, um, if they're acting and bigger than life, then maybe that's what they believe of themselves on the inside and are they truly a servant.
Speaker 3:And so, you know, I, I think I have always truly believed that if you are something, you don't have to tell a soul, it's going to show. But if you have to tell somebody, you're something. So if you are something, you don't have to tell a soul, it's going to show. But if you have to tell somebody, you're something. So if you have to tell somebody that you're a Christian, if you have to tell somebody you're a good person. If you have to tell somebody you're a great athlete, whatever it might be, if you have to tell somebody, you're trying to convince them and probably yourself, that you are, because you may not be, but if you are, the proof is in the pudding and it's going to show for itself. So I think the same thing goes for the pastors or for those people who are in, you know, the spotlight, or in the leaders of the world, or whatever you want to say. I think the proof is in the pudding If you are something, it's going to show for itself.
Speaker 1:And Pierre, you had mentioned just about like the two different sides of everything it feels like now and how it's pitted against each other and it's no longer working for the common good. And once again the Bible becomes more reliable to me because it goes contrary to those things of the flesh that we had talked about from Ephesians there. But we know that, the things of the flesh that we had talked about from Ephesians there. But we know that the things of the flesh just aren't good for us, right? I mean, it doesn't, man? I love candy corn. It's that time of year y'all this year, I you have peanuts.
Speaker 2:You have peanuts. It tastes like a payday.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, you're ruining candy corn I used to think the candy corn pumpkins.
Speaker 3:That's the only way I like it, the candy corn pumpkins.
Speaker 2:Oh, buddy, they're too sweet, exactly.
Speaker 1:That's kind of the point is that there are things of the flesh that teach us that too much of it is not good for us, right? And too many little marshmallow pumpkins are just are not very good for my belly, even though it says like there's 12 servings, 14, 16 servings in a bag, depending on the size of the bag. I will put a challenge to that every single time I open the bag. There's no way that that's supposed to be real. But Pierre, ephesians 1, is it Ephesians 1, pierre? No, it's Ephesians 2, pierre. It's Ephesians, chapter 2. It says that I guess I will be right there in verse 19,. My friend, is that okay with you? Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 1:You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostle and the prophets, christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, from whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are being built together in a dwelling God in the spirit. Temple in the Lord in whom you are being built together in a dwelling God in the Spirit. Now we had all those different backgrounds that we talked about from Ephesians before and how it was a place that had a lot of different people coming in and out of there and how that was perfect for God. And so Paul is talking about all those different people being in from all those different places, having all those different habits, having all those different traditions. But he said no, no, you guys are all being built together as one thing here, one temple, and up.
Speaker 1:A couple of other verses there. We'll just go to verse 16. It says that he might reconcile them both into one body to God through the cross, that by it, having put it to death the enmity, put it to death the enmity, putting to death hatred, putting to death fighting, and all of these things just start becoming one. And so there's unity in the Bible, or at least there should be unity in the Bible, and sometimes people use that against others as well.
Speaker 2:They do and I think it's really interesting. So we're we're going back to these times. So when you, when you think of the church today, what do you? What do you think of? When someone says I'm going to church, where do you think they're going? A building, a building. When you look back here, when you're, when you're talking about the church, and you know, no, but they they did.
Speaker 1:They did get together, but he wasn't talking about a building.
Speaker 2:He wasn't they were. They were just gathering wherever they could gather. Sometimes it was in homes, sometimes it was just out in the open, but it was just a gathering of, of god's people. That was. That was the church. It wasn't. It wasn't a building like it is now, or that's what people kind of put it under. And so I think we got to keep that in mind, like, when we talk about the church, it was never about the building, it was about God's people and coming together in community, serving each other, serving others, and I just hope people don't get away from that, and I just hope people don't get away from that.
Speaker 2:You know, oftentimes you hear about the church. Hurt that kind of takes place in churches and it's usually it's not the building that hurts you, it's the people. And so we just got to be better at being the church ourselves, and our bodies are temples technically. We're supposed to, you know, make room for the Holy Spirit, make room for God to enter us, and that's the temple. Our bodies are temples technically. We're supposed to, you know, make room for the, the holy spirit, make room for god to enter us, and that's the temple.
Speaker 3:our bodies are temples, we are the church, and I think we just gotta I don't know kind of find a way to, to do a better of of being that, that temple for god well, I think it is easier when you go to church, though, to to be moved and to be filled, because, like, for instance, when COVID was around and we're trying to do church online, I can tell you I personally did not get the.
Speaker 3:The message could be just as good, but there's a different feeling when I'm in the building and in person than via a screen or whatnot. Like, it's just a different feeling for me, and I think that's probably the same for most people. But so I don't think I don't think you're necessarily saying like, don't go to church. You're just saying make sure that you keep in mind that, like pastor, our pastor always says be the church. Like when you leave that building, you do. You have to take it upon yourself to continue to be the church to others and to in your homes and you know your workplaces and to others in the community and you don't have to go to that building right to be.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, we're not on the screen, but if you're just gathering together, like even for our front of our life groups, our life groups, like we have so many good discussions and so uplifting, and you know, michelle and I, you know, lead one and there's times where we didn't want to go, like we're leaders and we're like we don't want to do this tonight, but we show up and maybe only one or two other people show up and it's like, okay, are we wasting our time here? But once we start to dive in and just have discussions, like some of our best evenings, you know we left. You know were nights. We didn't want to show up in the first place, you know, but we showed up, god showed up with us and we had good discussions, good conversations. We loved on each other, you know, and that was out the pastor.
Speaker 2:The pastor wasn't there and in fact our pastor often says that the reason for life groups is so we can be the pastor. You know, the church is so big when you think about, you know, sunday mornings and all the people in there, there's no way that the pastor themselves can reach all those people. The reason for these small groups and live groups is so others can pastor to each other and you know open up to about, you know just life and you know what struggles are and you know sharing and similarities and just be able to be empathetic with each other and compassionate throughout life.
Speaker 1:I think one of the reasons why some are more empathetic than others maybe is because they feel the forgiveness of God, maybe a little bit stronger because they've strayed away, or maybe they're just a little bit better at vocalizing it or verbalizing it. And Paul says in chapter 2, you were dead in your sins and your trespasses, which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom them too, we all were formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as all the rest, but God being rich in his mercy because of his great love in which he loved us. Even when we See that Jesus, in order that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in the kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, see that he's talking about our podcast there, because in the ages to come our podcast will still be out there and we'll still be showing people the kindness of Christ. That's what we'll be doing, for by grace you have been saved.
Speaker 1:This is Ephesians, chapter two, verse eight, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and it's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of anything you've done, not works that no one can boast. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God back to the whole predestinational thing. God prepared these works for us to do and it's good works, not P Diddy works, not J Lowell works, not any of those kind of works. God prepared his own work for us to do and we are his tools that he uses to get his job done. And it is up to us to do that, to preserve the peace of God. That brings us to Ephesians.
Speaker 1:I gotta read Ephesians 4. I'm on a roll. I'm on a roll. There is one body, one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who are over, all and through, all and in all. We are to preserve that oneness for God, because that's when big things can happen.
Speaker 1:Oneness for God, because that's when big things can happen. And it's up to all of us to get to work to do the things that he's called us to do, which he's prepared beforehand, and there's going to be weird little synchronicities that if you don't take the time in life to open up your eyes and allow Him to show you what those little synchronicities are, you might miss them right, and maybe the person sitting next to you in the cubicle, maybe the person standing in front of you at the line. It just may be so, but just start a conversation and you never know what little synchronicities God has in store for you that day. That's the exciting ride and, pierre and Michelle, I am glad I am on the ride with y'all.
Speaker 3:We're glad too, Wes.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I think that oftentimes we chalk those little synchronicities up to coincidence, like we said before, and fail to see the beauty of God, like how he brings people together and make you have that aha moment and I think we had one of those today Like it was like oh see how that works. We didn't know that all these years.
Speaker 1:It definitely was an aha moment, Pierre. If people want to complain about this episode, where would they do?
Speaker 2:that, yeah, so you're going to go to at loafing it on Twitter.
Speaker 1:You're going to start with me. You're coming in hot on Twitter.
Speaker 2:You're going to start with me. You're coming in hot. You can email us at findyfaithloseysleep at gmailcom. We are on Twitter, slash x at findingfaithpod. If you listen on Apple Podcasts, there's an option to send a text message as well. You can send us over a voice message and again address that to Wes as well.
Speaker 2:Leave your reviews, if you can it, over a voice message and again address that to Wes as well. And leave your reviews if you can. You know it helps the algorithm. We don't need it for anything, but it helps to get our show out there to others. So, if you can leave us a review, slap some stars on there, preferably the you know, the five stars and a good review. But you know, if you don't like what we're saying, that's okay too. We love you anyways. But yeah, those are ways you can reach out to us and thank you for all the listeners that have been listening. Continue listening through the highs, through the lows, through the breaks, when we're not able to get behind the microphone. We truly appreciate it and hope that you know we're bringing something into your earbuds or your car or wherever you're listening from each day.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, definitely. We do appreciate all those things and any kind words it's always good to hear from you and any kind of topics you want us to talk about, we'll be happy to tackle those things. And if you do follow me over on Twitter, if you go over to my Twitter handle, I am sure you will find a lot of those conversations I have with myself on Twitter. If you just go in the little search bar it'll. It'll lead you to links. I am sure of that, because sometimes that was the only you know.
Speaker 1:You know it felt, it really felt like you protect people sometimes that don't know that kind of information, because I do think that people try to take advantage of people, and they do. I've seen them do it over and over and over again and I just I want to protect people, man, because I love people. I don't want to see people get hurt. I don't want to see them fall into those same patterns of self-destruction that I've seen so many people fall into during my days while I've been here on this earth. Life's too short to be able just to go around doing all those things and to not live for other people. It's just way too short. But we do appreciate everybody and thank you so much for listening and continue to pray for us, and we'll continue to pray for you.
Speaker 3:Hey, wes, before you end that I know you ended it already, but I think we would be remiss if we don't say that, you know, acknowledge that we're praying for everyone who has been affected by the previous hurricane and by this hurricane coming through now.
Speaker 1:Definitely, and that is fresh on my mind. It's one of those things that I look at and keep updated. I can't believe the events that happened in some of those areas of Tennessee and just unbelievable footage that we see, and so thankful for the people who are pressing through to any kind of obstructions, that they have to be able to tend to the needs of other people. And, Father, right now I just want to lift those people up. I want to lift up all the workers that are there. So, Lord, we live in this fallen world and there are going to be things that happen, and we are so thankful that you have given us the good news that this world is not the last of it all, that there is an eternal home for us where there's no pain, no suffering, no sorrow, no tears. Father, what a blessing it is to have that knowledge so that we don't have our hopes just built into the things that can be destroyed here on this earth. Thank you so much for the love that you've shown to all of us and I ask that you'll continue to do so. Thank you so much for being patient with me and with others and allowing me to have the opportunity to find that fork in the road that you put there in front of me, to be able to listen to the good news that was shared with me and to be able to put my old self away, even though it's been a slow, slow progress.
Speaker 1:Father, I thank you so much for that opportunity and we thank you for being patient with us. I ask that you'll continue to be patient with others as they come to know you and have your salvation. Father, we ask that you'll continue to use us all of us who are listening to be able to be your workers, Give us opportunities to be able to share your gospel and also give us the boldness and the confidence to do so, never being ashamed of who we are or what you have made us into, Father, because of how much you've loved us. Thank you for loving us before we ever loved you. We pray all this in Jesus's name, Amen. Amen.