Hey guys, real quick. So, I've talked to men literally all across the globe about where they're missing the mark and how they want to improve. They normally talk about how they wish they were in better shape, they wish they had a better relationship with their loved ones, they wish they had more success and influence at work and some other stuff like that. But, here are some of the most common and biggest things that I hear. I wish I knew more about the Bible. I wish I could lead my family spiritually. I wish I could recall more scripture. I wish Bible study wasn't such a struggle. Well, guys, I've got news for you. You don't have to keep wishing. It's time for you to start doing. It's time for you to stop wasting your time and money on stuff that has no eternal value whatsoever. I keep hearing you talk about how you want to be more biblically literate and spiritually resilient, and now is your chance to prove that you mean it. That's why I want you to take advantage of our partnership with the most powerful Bible software on planet Earth, Logos. So, Logos approached me about putting something together for the Undaunted Lifers out there, and we collaborated to create something I'm super pumped about, the Undaunted Life Study Bundle. So, here's the skinny on the bundle. There are over 200 individual resources, and they include titles from authors like Voddie Bauckham, Charles Spurgeon, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Matt Chandler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, William Lane Craig, Paul Washer, John Stott, Doug Wilson, Paul David Tripp, J.I. Packer, and a whole bunch more. And there are so many helpful resources in there. There's Bibles, commentaries, Old and New Testament study guides, devotionals, systematic theologies, courses dictionaries histories encyclopedias, non-fiction books, and more, and more, and more. And here's the most insane part about this deal. If you were to buy each individual resource by yourself inside of Logos, it would cost you over $3,000. $3,000. But, if you get the Undaunted Life Study Bundle, you'll get all 200-plus resources for just $349.99. Guys, that's $3,000 worth of stuff for 350 bucks. Guys, that's almost 90% off. And you know that you waste more than that on the hobbies that you have right now all the time, and these won't help you with your discipleship and sanctification journeys, right? It's time to get real and take control of your Bible study and spiritual development. Click the link in the show notes for this episode. If you want the link, it's logos.com/undaunted.life. That's www.logos.com/undaunted.life or the link in the show notes. It's super easy to sign up. Again, go to the show notes and click the link or go to logos.com/undaunted.life, sign up for Logos, and get the Undaunted Life Study Bundle right now. This is Undaunted Life, a man's podcast. I'm your host, Kyle Thompson. Let's get into it. Welcome back to the Forging Table. The mission of Undaunted Life is equipping men to push back darkness with content that forges spiritual, mental, and physical resilience. At the Forging Table, you'll see a group of regular guys forging spiritual resilience by digging into God's word, and we're welcoming all of you to come along on that journey with us. That's Eustace, that's Dagan, and Adam, you are absolutely blown away by what is in the middle of our table. For the people that are just listening to this at home, what are you witnessing at this very moment? >> I am so excited because we don't have to worry about Eustace not being able to figure out the timer. >> Whoa, throwing shade over here. I don't know how I messed it up ever. Eustace may have been the best guy at this table. It was all those people with fancy degrees that couldn't make a $4 timer from Amazon work. Shout out Zach Todd and Adam Smith. >> There wasn't even a button on it. There was no button. How are you supposed to There was no instructions. There's something about that chair because last time Ryan was sitting in that chair, and he started off with fire yeah, right off the bat, too. >> by the way, for a guy that shows up 30 minutes late with a Corona, you know, it sets it right here on the table. I'm I'm a little concerned about the attitude that we're getting right here from the jump because you didn't just waste 30 minutes, you wasted an hour and a half cuz there's three of us waiting on you. Have you Have you guys ever seen an old married couple? Cuz that's about what this is going to turn into, okay? Let's do >> Between you two? So, let's see. Why Why are we recording today? >> Hey. Today at 2:00, 17 days later, right? Did we have to move it? Did we have to change it? >> You don't think so? >> I don't think so. >> Who's Who's Who's responsibility was it that we had to move it? >> All I know is that I I was here on time. At [laughter] my studio today. Okay. He was He was here 2 weeks ago. >> Let's just go Yeah. I was here 2 weeks [laughter] ago. Because when you punch somebody, you don't punch them with the top of your hand. >> Which I didn't. I have the video proof. I was there. I was 7 ft away. Your hand was >> You didn't watch the punch. >> pronated or supinated. And what exactly? You punched with the top of your hand. I learned how to punch like that. Literally nobody. Yeah. So, what Adam's implying here is that whenever I landed a punch on my buddy's stomach and my arm exploded because I literally punched the guy so hard my arm exploded. >> True. That fact-checked true. That's how my bicep ruptured. But like literally never in my life have I ever connected with my wrist completely bent and hit someone like this. >> Let's just assume that I'm right, okay? We're going to go with that. >> Okay, let's assume the let's assume the thing that's not possible. >> so so you were nice enough to send me the text message that said 2:00 today, right? 2:00. 2:00. Right. That was so nice of you. I appreciate it. Just in case you missed it. Did you scroll up a little bit? I don't have the capability on my phone to do that. >> when you scrolled up when I was nice enough to come back 17 days later to adjust for his princessness over here. >> he say 5:00 the original time? >> 5:00 was the original time. And not only that, when I said I could do the 17th, I explained I was going to be driving back from Waco, and I said I can do the 17th, but I need to start at 6:00 or later. Somebody didn't see that. And then when you send out the time to 2:00, I didn't see that. So, >> adult would have looked at that text and went, "Hey, hey, that's actually not going to work. 2:00's actually got to work." >> that. Are we going to need to talk about Waco? Hey, let's I'm doing great. Hey, Have we got a pride parade? Have you read Have you read Jocko's book Extreme Ownership? Never heard of it. Who's the leader at the table? How many conversations Is this where you ask a question to someone? I'm not I'm submitted to the will of the Lord, so I'm not even in charge of all this. So, we were predestined to be here at this time. Why is I here right now? We can't know for sure. Let's see. Uh so, but how Dagan, what are you doing over there? You look like you're rather comfortable with everything that's currently happening. >> Yeah, I'm good. I I don't I mean, I was just kind of looking back cuz when I got here, I was the first one. So, I actually went into the text to make sure >> two were on time. >> that it was two. >> Okay. So, he has a degree. And this says Tuesday. So, I'm guessing the previous Tuesday you said, "Starting at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday." Didn't see it. But, scroll up. Scroll up. What did Adam say before that? Scroll up. Keep going. >> Okay. >> Mhm. It's a long one. Keep going. You're going to see something about 6:00. >> span for four lines of text. I'll just say that I don't care. Oh, wait. One more. Bang. Yeah. All right. >> I should be available on the 17th if we start around 6:00. Oh. Bang. But, anyway, extreme ownership. Extreme ownership. What does Jocko say? Russell has a question, Adam. All right. So, you said that you couldn't start before 6:00, but yet you're here. Do you want to know what I was doing when he called me? >> What happened? Yeah. I was on the toilet. I was on the toilet because I got home before hours You know I schedule >> [laughter] >> in advance your toilet schedule? Yeah, I'm going to keep you from being That's that's where I'm pretty [laughter] regular. Depends on what the diet is today. So, five five-hour drive, I got home at 1:45. So, that was what, 45 minutes ago? I got home at 1:45. I sit on the toilet. I'm watching the PGA Championship as I like I should. And then Kyle's like, "Hey man, you doing okay?" Like, "Yeah, I'm good. I just I binged a bunch of answers about itself. It's good." And then he calls me and why is he calling me? And so now he called me and he's like, "Dude, we're starting at 2:00." Well, that would have been good information to know. >> Did you answer? Did you answer his call or did you call him back? Okay. >> That's that's the kind of relationship we had. I said it's like a marriage. >> That says a lot about the relationship. >> matter what kind of artillery is being dropped. You have to answer because if you're a foxhole guy, you never know if that's the call. >> I've got a story with this. So, the other morning I was going, let's see, Saturday morning, last day of turkey season here in Oklahoma. I was going to take a guy turkey hunting, never been before. So, I was getting out there early before sun rise, wanted to get things ready. And I was on my way, left the house and I accidentally, this guy's name is Chris, his last name is something else, but I accidentally told my phone to give him a call, but it called another Chris in my phone, okay? So, one of my best friends. Called him at like 4:20, I think it was. And as soon as I see that it's ringing, it rings like once, maybe twice and I hang up and I'm like, "I'm sorry, you know, blah blah." No joke, he calls me right back. And he goes, "Hey Hey, brother, what do you need?" I'm like, "Bro, I'm so sorry." Yes. But I'm almost in tears right now that you just got up and you could tell he got up and he called me back and he was like, "Man, I just I just wanted to make sure everything was okay." And I was like, "Everything's good, man. Now I'm going to be 30-minute drive praying about thanking the Lord for what a great friends I have." But yeah, Chris shout out thanks, buddy, if you ever hear this. See, that's why you're a better person than me cuz I probably would have laughed and enjoyed that I accidentally [laughter] got Kyle up at 4:30. Sucks for him. Sorry, dude. Yeah. That probably would have happened. But I think we're okay. We're all here. The table is whole. So, we're not going to have to but thank you so much for your sacrifice. You cut you cut it off in more ways than one in order to be here and you are here and we're going to make it happen. And I do got to tell you even though obviously all of us don't actually read the group text very clearly for the most part. I think we're all pretty pumped about this batch of recordings because you know, I prepared for the last batch of recordings I prepared through the end of chapter 8 just in case we kind of got in there. Went a little slower than I expected which is great cuz again for we get new new listeners and and followers every week. You know, in in old iterations of the Forging Table we would do a chapter of recording, right? So when we're in Matthew Matthew 1 is the first hour, Matthew 2 is the second hour and that's just basically the way we worked it through. But the decision as a group with Romans is we just can't approach it that way. I mean can you guys imagine trying to do Romans 8 in an hour? No. We could but we would literally be flying at 100,000 ft over some of the things here. I mean because there's individual passages, individual verses that you know, we could just park in for for for hours if we needed to. And so as I was digging through kind of for the second time the second cycle just digging into 8, you know, I've got a a whole shelf of just Romans stuff over there and there's guys from all over the theological spectrum over there all kinds of different publishers and publishing houses approaching this text. And so reading what Wiersbe and Naselli and the guys over at Dallas Theological and Tim Keller have said just about chapter 8. And chapter 8 maybe is one of the most quotable parts of Romans. But then the parts that people love digging into the most are 9 and 10. Mhm. And we're not even there. Like we've had people Adam you were there for some of these conversations that have been chomping at the bit since before we recorded the first Romans episode about Romans 9. Yep. And we've just barely scratched the surface on Romans 8. So I don't know how the study was like for you guys this week but I just kept getting more and more excited for this batch. That's where I was last last recording. I had studied so much and then I got to you know, like whenever you find something in the scripture and you're like oh my goodness I've I won't I want to talk about this like and then it never comes out all the way right. But that's how I was with the very beginning. So, we didn't Kyle kept on teasing me that we weren't going to get to like Romans 3 >> if we had time. We weren't sure if we had time. And then we ended up getting there and it was just like word vomit. Just like everything that I ever felt about that scripture and and have been learning but >> dropped some serious bombs though. >> Yeah, I I was super excited. So, now but at the time I didn't know I was going to be invited back for this one for this recording. And so, I could have just been patient the whole time and So, You could have been, but I will I will say and and this is all kidding aside, I obviously didn't plan to explode my arm boxing and all of that. And the thing about Forging Tables is all of the guys that are in rotation are so busy with with families, businesses, spouses, hobbies, whatever the thing is. So, when I get three guys solidified for a time and a date, it's like, "Oh god, we did it again." Like, awesome. And then I I start stressing about the next month. And so, I from the moment we set up as this this foursome, I was like, "Okay, this is going to be a great group." Then my arm exploded. I I was going to keep the recording, but Adams had the same surgery before. My surgery was on a Wednesday, and this would have been 2 days later, right? And Adams is like, "No." I'm like, "What do you mean, no?" He goes, "No. No. We're not going to record for 4 hours." And so, the fact that we're even able to 17 days later or whatever get the same four of us here is like tremendous. So, very appreciative for you guys. But yeah, Adam and I are going to have matching matching scars. His is going to be a little bit bigger cuz he got a surgery a little later than mine, but yeah, there's there's my little divot. See, as much crap as I give you, I still love you. Aw, after all that. We are an old married couple, you guys. >> you. That's sweet. [laughter] See, that's exactly what [clears throat] this is going to be. So, you were So, you were at the end of 7 and first of 8. Yes. Okay, that's exciting. And it was exciting, man. I would I had some stuff to get off my chest that recording, so. And you did, and it was great. And so, what I want to do is so, we got through 8:4 last time. But I want us to start with with verses 5 6 and actually I really want to do 5 6 7 and 8, but I want to just read this entire chunk because in the ESV I really like how they break it out. They call this section the life in the spirit. But Adam, if you'll go ahead and read Romans 8:1 and go ahead and read through verse 8 and then we'll start we'll start in. This is from ESV Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus for the law from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. I mean, there's absolutely so much here. The reason why I wanted you to back up and read the first four verses again is because for someone in this audience I mean, I can just feel it in my bones like you just need to keep reading 8:1 over and over and over and over and you've heard different pastors approach this different ways, but it all kind of circles the same drain which is you are not your past, you are not what was done to you, you are not your abortion, you are not your murder, you are not your adultery, you are not your abuse, you are not any of those things. But the biggest caveat of all caveats really in the entirety of scripture is who are we in? Are we in Adam or are we in Christ? And so there is condemnation for those who are still in Adam. There absolutely is, but if you are in Christ, there's therefore now there's no condemnation. And one of the best things as we kind of ease into verses 5 and beyond, a lot of times in in chapter 8, there's the word for at the beginning. And this is just an easy hermeneutic, an easy way for y'all to remember. If you see therefore or for, read the previous verse again. Back up, read the previous verse again, and then keep that momentum going because that verse is explaining what you just read or furthering or solidifying the argument. >> Andy today was talking about that while he was reading through the scripture and then we came across like several therefores and he was like, "Every time you see therefore, think what's it there for?" And he was like, "That should always be in your mind. Don't forget that. You see a therefore, think what's it there for. Read it again." So. I think some some additional context to add to that is who's who's talking about this. This is Paul, right? I would say argue maybe the apostle of apostles to some point, you know, later in Galatians we see Paul challenging Peter openly at the church of Antioch, right? Peter had lost his way. Paul challenges him, right? So also in addition to that, this is Paul who used to be called Saul, who was the Pharisee of Pharisees, right? And persecuted Christians. So there at the beginning of this, which I think is so important to understand chapter 8, just like you said, therefore, you got to back up to Romans 7. That's why I'm excited that you did 7 because if we go back to 21, this is Paul. That's why I set this up. This is Paul speaking about himself. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. Here we go. This is important. But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members, wretched man that I am. So again, when you when you put all of this together and you and you start reading eight, you have to understand who's speaking and where did we just come from? He's speaking about his own brokenness. He's speaking about his own self and his own bent towards evil and towards sin, right? Well, and the other thing that it's good you pointed out. I'm glad you even backed up into seven. And I I keep having to remind myself as we go through Romans, this was almost always read in its entirety. Like when this letter was in circulation in the first century, like, you know, in Galilee and the Mediterranean rim, that someone would stand up and start at the very beginning and read all the way through the end. And here we are scraping our way through Romans. We're looking at a phrase at a time, a you know, a verse at a time, a paragraph at a time. And so, think about it if you were shown a movie. Like pick your favorite movie as long as it's not Lord of the Rings. I can't count. But if like pick your favorite movie, but imagine having never seen the movie before, but only being shown a snippet at a time. And [clears throat] then think about your own Bible study, guys, out there listening to this. And I'm all for studying slowly. But I'm even more so an advocate now for reading huge chunks at a time because imagine if someone showed you Gladiator and they showed you the first minute and a half and then, you know, tomorrow is a minute and a half and then you skip two days because you didn't feel good or you woke up late. Then it's the next four minutes. It's like you're you're never going to get the arc of what is being done in a movie like that. You lose all >> context, right? So, it and it's easy if you just sit down in here and read in verse five. For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on things of the spirit. If I feel like if you just took that and you sat down and read that, I would think well, I'm losing because I I feel like I'm a heap and pile of flesh and my interests are fleshy and that I don't live according to the spirit and then I'm missing something. But then when you go back in 7 in 7:15, Paul says, you know, that's where he's talking about like I do what I know I don't want to do. So, it's not that hey, it it's one or the other. If you if you don't feel like you're in the spirit and you're you you're not either all flesh or all spirit. The reality is is is that it is a battle, right? And it is something that we have to fight against. We you know, if if you are in the spirit, it's going to shine a light on your sin. And a lot of people they all of a sudden it's like, well, I I feel like I'm the more I live according to the spirit, the more I'm aware of my sin, the more guilt and shame I feel. Mhm. >> You know, so go back to the first verse. There is no condemnation. So, you're exactly right. Like you can't lose the context. But and Romans is filled with that. It's like you I I would read it start to finish, start to finish, start to finish, start to finish until all of those things start melding together making more sense. Well, and what Paul is obviously writing this again, we don't know Paul's approach to writing. All we have is the evidence of his finished writings, right? But he carries a narrative, right? So, one thing that was interesting that Adam pointed out, uh this was a couple months back whenever I taught Sunday school. I'll teach Sunday school a few times a year. But I just taught I can't remember what I taught about. But then we ran into Browning in the sanctuary, you know, Browning from the Forging Table. And he goes, "Eric, I I discovered something about Kyle today. It's like the moment he starts talking, he introduces tension into the room." But he he doesn't ratchet the tension up so so big to where you can't stand it. He gets close, but he he it's not where you can't stand it. But he also doesn't have it turned off to where there's no tension. And then if people don't interrupt me and you know, raise their hand in the middle of me talking and I'm able to get through my entire outro, my conclusion, I show you why the tension was there to begin with because I give you the pressure relief valve, I give you the kind of where where I'm going. I feel like Paul, not here I I'm not comparing myself to Paul, but I feel like that's how Paul writes. He immediately [clears throat] introduces tension after he says, "Greetings." And then IT'S JUST LIKE LIKE IT'S JUST TENSION. But he's he's adjusting the knob to where sometimes the tension's ratcheted up a little bit for the Jew, and then a little bit for the Gentile, and then he's he's hitting people in different areas, but there there's there's never a time where you're like, "I have to completely tap out from this letter cuz I can't handle the tension." Yeah. I think it's good to remember me and a buddy were talking about this and anytime you're listening to someone, it's interesting to think about who they are away from that scenario. So, you know, a pastor, who are they away from that? Are they a fisherman? Are they a hunter? Are they like where does their heart or their tendency towards stuff? What was their vocation before or during their pastorship? Um you know, we've got accountants, we've got land men, we've got different different things that do do different types of work and it always kind of bleeds in. And I me and a buddy were talking about the idea of like Paul being a tent maker. And this whole idea that whenever you read Paul, it bleeds into there a little bit. If you stay with me for a second, the idea that Paul is always thinking about the big picture of like how are all of these pieces going to go together? And then he'll focus in on one piece for a bit, and he'll kind of sew that to the thread, and then he'll come over here and he'll go to the other side, and he'll stretch that other side and kind of pull it over the bars where it needs to be, and then he'll fasten it to another piece. So, every time we're reading Paul, we're we're literally we're literally listening to a master tent maker take the gospel and to pull it around and and to be able to like knit it together just like he's building one of his tents. And so, like that's just kind of been in my head lately of like this guy Paul, he had a way that his brain operated and it was very much with a big picture end in mind, but then he would take you through these these passages. We call them chapters, you know, he didn't have that, but he would take you through that passage and he'd be like, "Hey, I'm going to work on this part right here and I'm going to stretch it tight. I'm going to pull on it. I'm going to sew it together to this." And then you can tell that in his later writings he actually starts realizing that there are times that people took a little piece of something that he was saying and they tried to misuse it. So he's very clear on all these times to be like, "And there's more to this. And let me explain. Let me see let me over explain to you how this fits into the larger narrative." So like what y'all are talking about, I mean, that's why Bible says like this, inductive, things like that, to where you read through the passage, then then go back to a small portion, go back and forth. It really tries to secure you to not miss those main things. Well, that's why I think it's really helpful when you read other people cuz some people can get a little bit testy with with commentary because it's like, "You shouldn't take anything that's not from the text." But, you know, especially with with I mean, Peter said in one of his letters is like, "Hey, Paul's kind of hard to read." And so it's like, "Okay, I assume that Peter had a little bit more understanding than I did." And I still will read entire sections, but then, you know, even there was a great Keller comment just on verse five because again, verse five, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. For those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit." Again, it's four. So it's it's going back to the previous verse, verse four, "Who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit." And Keller pointed out when you're when you're thinking about the things of the spirit, that means the spirit is in you, one, and it's drawing your attention, right? And if we think about it in in the kind of the the tug-of-war of Satan and God and kind of the influence, don't you feel like Satan is drawing your attention towards things that lead to death? Right? Drawing your attention away from your your wife and onto another woman or away from your calling and onto a hobby or away from something and then then and so it's take the thing that was meant for God's glory and for your betterment and send it over here and bastardize it or just, you know, replace it entirely. And I think that that was very helpful for me to where it's like I think we all are aware enough when our attention is being drawn somewhere else, when we are being enticed or romanced somewhere else. And it it just it helps you to be on guard. Our church right now we're in Ephesians 6, you know, the whole armor of God. You can't go into war without without all the things that that should be on your body and on your person. And this is helpful to remember that we're in the fight. On on that note and back to what Dagan said, when I when I first started studying this for getting prep- prepping for this table, when I read 8:5, here's the first the first note that I wrote down. This is difficult and convicting for those that believe in the quote-unquote American dream. It's hard hard for a rich man to enter harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. And so, that's what I got out of it first and I had to stop and I was like, "Wait a minute. This is difficult for me to follow." And that's where I backed up to seven. And those things that you just quoted and I back when I backed up to seven, the verses that I underlined was 15, "For I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." And then on to verse 18, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me." This is Paul again speaking, "That is in my flesh, for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry out, for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing." And so, I paused on verse five at first and those things tripped me up. Going back to seven kind of completed the picture for me of what's happening. Last time we you guys weren't here for it, but just want to back up a little bit to the idea that we talked about the kinsman redeemer and we talked about this idea that they whenever property or anything was sold, it had two scrolls. It had an open scroll and a closed scroll and the closed scroll was basically for the family. The idea of that deal of a year of Jubilee where things were to return back and and kind of a a safety net for someone that was a kinsman to be able to redeem something. They could redeem a person that's been given into slavery. They could redeem land and bring that back to the family. It was actually their obligation, their right. We see in some stories in the Bible like in Ruth where the first obligatory person that was the closest to the family, they were supposed to do it and somebody pushes it off to the next one. But they had a reason to want to do that. And so in, you know, what we just had for the last week in three and four, we see this idea that like from the covenant time that that God made that with Abraham, his side of that process had been fulfilled, but the fleshly side of that, we had no champion qualified to redeem us. And then Jesus steps in in more than one role. I said it last time, Josh Howerton has an amazing deal on that. He'll explain it better, but in more than one role to be able to come into the flesh side and be able to say, "Hey, I can actually sign this now as a second Adam, as a flesh person. I've I've lived the I've lived this side of the covenant. God could have always just got gone ahead and redeemed it, but we wouldn't have been redeemed in that if he didn't sign it from our side, like as a member of the flesh family. And so now because he did that, we get to live the champion's victory. It's like, I mean, I liken it to I'm probably the only one on here that cares about Ready Player One, but I liken it to the idea that like he he literally stepped into the game on our side of it throughout all the extra credit stuff and was like, "Nope, I'm going I'm I'm going straight into this just like they did and I'm going to be their champion. And so he's telling us from this point on he's he's going Hey guys listen. When we were by the law, we had to live it by the flesh, and we could not redeem ourselves. We were just doing poor. We were kicking the can down the road with these uh with these slaughtering the animals and all this stuff, just kind of postponing it. Now guys, you have to realize when he became our champion, we live in the spirit. We're basically transformed into his victory, and we get to live out the whole rest of this thing in victory under his championship. And anytime we're not doing that, we're living towards the flesh, we're basically like pulling ourselves away from from the the uh medal that he'd already put on us to say, "Hey, this guy's got this guy's got a pass. He's he's living the championship that I brought to the flesh." I would I would say without that this is freaking impossible, right? It's absolutely impossible because then you're left to your own. You're left on your own. And you're left with those same thoughts that I was originally having when I started. Right. One something that was really helpful to even this morning, so by the time y'all are listening >> I'm going to interrupt you because I want to see your the steam coming out of your cuz you said earlier you like being interrupted, so I was just going to interrupt >> [laughter] >> Uh but uh I want to fix your theology though. You said no one cares about Ready Player One. I love Ready Player Do you really? I love Ready Player I'm the only one that doesn't even know I honestly whatever I had no idea what it is. Whatever I was watching Ready Player One, there was so many points in in it that I I was like, "Man, this preaches. This preaches." Like this stepping this two different kingdom stepping into it, you're not really who who everybody else thinks you are. I mean, there's [clears throat] so many different If if I ever get the opportunity, I just need to spend a lot of time researching how to turn Ready Player One into a biblical world. >> check it out. It's Well, yeah, I'll give it a go. To give a little bit more context what you just did very angrily and poorly. So So I tell people all the time, and you're the example I think of whenever I think in my brain. And by the way, if you heard that sound, that is the sound of a Jocko go. Shout out Jocko Fuel. [laughter] Use promo code It's either Kyle or Ondon, I forget. It's one of those two. And by the way, that's also not a Corona. That is a What is that? That's a Agua. That's agua. Mineral agua. >> All right. So, we are not we do not have a water sponsor all that, but that is not a Corona for anyone that gets really, you know, fundamentally offended by everything. Um so, I I do not like being interrupted. It's not one of my favorite things. And it's even worse now that my voice, you know, I I have to be very careful with my voice, so I it's hard for me. I hate repeating myself. And so, when I get interrupted, I feel like I have to start all over. But, I I tell people all the time I was like, guys need to have guys in their life that love them. But, also are not that impressed with them that they're unwilling to interrupt them, right? And you will interrupt me all the time. You did as a joke, but like if you're if you're sitting there and like let's take the scenario where you're trying to defend yourself for something that you've done that is probably wrong or maybe even sinful or something like that. And here you are, you're you're kind of getting you're getting going, right? You're you're you're starting to give give your defense. You need someone to be like, hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey [clears throat] hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey >> then, pausing the movie and going, hey hey director, what's going to happen? The correct answer is shut your stupid mouth. WATCH THE REST OF THE MOVIE, and if there's anything I can clarify WHEN I'M DONE, THEN YOU CAN ASK ME. OKAY, THAT'S WHAT WE DO. Keep your stupid hand in your pocket if you need to sit on it to keep it from flying up in the air, do that. But leave the tension there. You got to deal with the tension just a little bit. We don't need you to save the class from the tension, okay? We don't need your question. >> This happened just This happened just a couple weeks weeks ago and it was so uncomfortable for me because the the hand went up. It was you. It was your hand. >> oh, no, [laughter] it was behind me and I I just I just started Oh dear God, Kyle, please, please don't Please just take the question. >> it? I mean, the look on your face was was rough. It was rough. It was like, I could shove this knife into this guy's neck right now, but I'm not going to. But you you listened to the question and then politely said, Give me 5 more minutes. I'm about to bring this home. Right. >> Which was completely legit and you directly addressed his question at the end. So like, just let Kyle finish. >> I had a buddy get to the end. I had a buddy that said the other day, he was speaking to a men's group and how did he phrase it? He said, He was trying to give some advice to young guys and he basically said, You don't have to show up to every argument you're invited to. Yeah. Yeah. And uh >> That's right. My Yeah, you don't have to uh acknowledge them when they raise their hands. You can just I try not to. You can just I've seen some good pastors where like somebody will throw their hand up in the middle of something and they're just like, Nope. Well, see, that's the problem. >> verbally said something. >> Yeah, oh, really? So, that's that's the thing. He waited [clears throat] for me >> to take a breath. >> Oh. And I talk fast. So, it's almost like I'm not breathing, right? It's like one long inhale and then I just talk for 45 minutes, but he waited until I paused that long to Well, actually, and I'm like, Was it a pregnant pause? Is that what they call it? >> it was rough. It was okay. We made it through. There was one time, so last three times I've taught I've been interrupted, but one time I was interrupted by a gal and so I I dialed back the the tension even more in my face, or I tried to, but it was like the best interruption ever because here I was talking about how horrifically murderous the ideology of Islam is, and she's sitting right in front of me. And I don't think I'd met her yet, or we have a lot of people come through our Sunday school class, and she raised her hand and immediately started talking. She was raised Muslim. Oh, really? >> she basically like co-signed and double-stamped everything that I just said, and I go, "Let's freaking go. You keep inter- You can interrupt anytime you want to, young [laughter] lady. You keep doing that." But, yeah, so in general the The probably The problem is now is now everyone's going to think it's funny. They're just going to like wait for me to start talking, and they're going to be like, "Well, well, actually That's kind of part of the goal. Whatever we can do to irritate Kyle. If it works. It's just helping helping build you up. Speaking of sanctification, Mark [clears throat] had a a wonderful illustration uh today cuz this applies to what we're talking about here in Romans. Because all throughout Romans, [clears throat] we have different parts of the process of salvation that are being like explained. Um but, we were in Ephesians 6, but he was just talking about the helmet of salvation. And I just wrote it down from memory because my notes are somewhere else, but it's like salvation is something that is past, present, and future. That is what salvation is. So, when we're talking about salvation in the past, we're talking about our justification. We were justified, right, when we were imputed with the the righteousness of God. But, we are also presently being saved, right? We are we are being saved, and that is our sanctification process. That is saving us from our sin, and I you know, that's the the power of sin, the pull of sin. And then in the future, we have our glorification. Right? When our time here is done, or when, you know, we're we're ushered into the new heavens and the new earth, or whatever your eschatology is, or something like that, that's our glorification. So, past is justification, present is sanctification, future is glorification. And that just shows that salvation is not something that happened. Because part of the problem with salvation is for some guys, they love to diminish their own witness because they don't know the exact moment they were saved. Now some people are like it was Sunday, September the 23rd, 2013. I was here, I was this, and then that's whenever I gave my life to Christ. If you have that story, awesome. That's incredible. For some of you it was kind of like a a collective realization at some point that man, no, I actually I've put my faith in this and you can't point to that one moment, but I feel like that's something that that Satan uses to diminish people to make them feel like they're their own story of salvation is not important because they can't name the date. Does anyone around this table have a moment where you can name the date? I don't I don't think any of us do. >> I can name the moment but not the date. Yeah. I can remember a moment that it became real to me and it's kind of a again, I'm doing the same thing that you're saying, but I remember being a little kid and I watched Jesus be crucified at a Easter Cantata and I bawled my eyes out and I I was actually mad that everybody around that we were letting it happen. And [clears throat] and then somebody was explaining that it had to happen. I remember I think I'd you know, I'd already been a believer at that point or you know, whatever you are at that young age where you've accepted the truth told to you. And I remember just seeing that and you know, that affected my heart. Now later on there's all kinds of moments I can point to that were different. Uh big changes or or absorption of that, but man, I remember that one. Uh I I in my mind I was on somebody's shoulder like trying to like get to it or something, but >> Almost sounds like a little Peter, right? Wasn't Peter the one who was like trying to save Jesus at the end and Jesus turns to him and says, "Get away from me, Satan." Yeah, and you have people pacifists that will say, "Oh, well, that's Jesus saying we should never be violent." It's like no, Peter was in the way of what he was sent to this planet to do. He was sent here on a rescue mission and Peter's like putting the lifeboat before before there's the crisis. It's like this is this is not what we need right now. Well, it's interesting you say that cuz I actually have that written down here in my notes specifically on verses 5 and 6 talking about setting your minds on things of the spirit or the flesh. Uh Matthew 16:23 says, so this is Peter challenging like what Jesus is about to do and Peter challenges him and he says uh he Jesus turns to Peter. He said, but he he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man." So, even specifically like framing and setting your mind, you know, you talk about present sanctification and it makes me think like I I think a lot in terms when I read the scriptures about like, "Well, what is a non-Christian? What would a non-believer look at this and think?" Or um non-Christians hearing this like a lot of times it's this is the these two verses are talking about the difference between uh setting your mind and living according to the flesh versus the spirit. Well, I think some some non-believers are confused. They see Christians living a life and they say that they're Christians, but it's like, "Well, why would I bother? That they're no different than me." Mhm. Like that there should be Yep. like it's one or the other, you know? And we go back and and we like we said in in seven, Paul acknowledges like, "Hey, this is a battle." And this present sanctification is that. It It is a battle between the two. Jesus died. That is all of our shared past. If you believe in Jesus then we all have a shared future and that's glory that God himself 1 Peter talks about how God himself is guarding your salvation. Mhm. Right? In the meantime we live in this in this period of constant suffering. Right? Because once you accept Jesus, you're no longer this world isn't ours. We're like aliens in this place. Right? Um but the battle that we have now between the flesh uh in the spirit is real. Like when you become a Christian, you don't get it figured out. Sin doesn't just quit No. and say, "Oh, well, he accepted Jesus. Let's go find somewhere else." It's like, man, it's it's almost like >> You're in the game now. you are in the game and you are and you see more of it and you you see what you do not want to do that you continue to do and it makes you mad, right? And um and I think a lot of a lot of non-believers would look at that and and or read something like this and it's like it's you're not trading one for the other. It is it is genuinely a battle between both of those things. >> Well, when you talk about the the battle piece of this, I mean, that's that's six and seven. So, I tell the guys that join the Dominion program, so that's our 6-month coaching intensive program. This is the ultimate in some way, shape, or form, you were on the couch and now you're in the game. And I'm like, "Guys, I'm like, even before we do our first group call, something's going to go wrong. You're going to have a kid go prodigal. There's going to be an issue with your wife that hadn't come up before. There's going to be a financial strain that wasn't expected. A health It's something's going to pop up. Because it's not like, "Okay. All right, this guy's getting serious. Yeah, we need to go find a different, you know, person to torture." It's like, "We got to keep this guy the way he was. He was comfortable. Mhm. Like he he had gotten into some form of comfort, some form of stasis and he thought he could just tread water. Now he's starting to swim against the tide. We need we need to start pushing harder." And I was like, "Guys, that is evidence that you are on the right path. That is the right kind of turbulence that you need to experience." But I mean, six and seven, this is the war versus God versus peace with God. Again, for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. Okay, got it. But then verse seven, for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. Hostile. For it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot. So, when we talk about open hostilities between warring factions or countries or something like that, that's what we're talking about. And again, I I feel like one of the best schemes of the devil ever has been to try to convince Christians that there is not a battle going on for their time, attention, and even their salvation. Cuz even when people do join team Jesus, they they've gotten this this, you know, cotton candy bubble gum idea that, oh, it's just going to be smooth sailing from now on because, you know, words or something. But then you read the Bible and you read about what happened to people who followed Jesus the closest. It's like John was the only one that didn't die a martyr's death, well, Judas who killed himself, but they tried to boil him alive in oil and it didn't work. And so they put him on Patmos just to get him out out of the gene pool, you know what I mean? And so everyone else was like pulled apart by animals, crucified upside down, like beheaded, like all these different things. And this is just that reminder that we need that, no, no, you are in a continual battle until you're called >> home to glory. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, after you have suffered a little while, right? And then provided we suffer with him. We're We're going to get to that over over and over and over again. >> What do y'all think? One thing whenever I was reading this, uh, flesh versus spirit, just for like an application-wise, I kind of asked myself, what does that what does that look like daily between the two between the two, uh, warring I heard somebody like cat and dog. It's like the between these two cat and dogs that is happening in your lives. Like Like do you find yourself going through the day and recognizing that switch having to be turned back on all the time? Or is it like, you know, man, I made it today and man, I just think I was like spirit walking today. You know, I don't know what you want to call it, but >> Well, I So, real quickly and then Adam, I want you to do It's not cat and dog, it's cat dog, right? It's It's that Nickelodeon thing where there's a cat on one side and a dog [laughter] on the other. And so it's like and everyone knows this to be true. If you're more on the cat side, that's definitely the satanic side and that's the flesh side. But if you're on the dog side, that's the God side, that's the spirit side. But it's literally you've got this warring faction where here's the middle, this is where God wants us to exactly be. This is where we're over the X and it's just CatDog all day long. And so for me, yeah, there are times where it's like, man, I'm walking on sunshine, you're you know, everything's going great. You know, worship feels different. I I described what happened to me during during Easter worship where, you know, the the band at our church just just crushed it and, you know, James first time he was ever in the service with me and he just reached up he reaches up and grabs my hand during an old hymn. God, I I like melt just thinking about it, right? That's walking on sun sunshine. That's dog. That's super dog, right? And then there's other times where it's like it's just been cat all day. It's just been like scratching and tearing up the edge of the furniture. So my dog won't stop [inaudible] in the house and so >> [laughter] >> I hate dogs >> How old is still How old is the dog? This dog has been a problem. Four years old, dude. It's ridiculous. It might be a cat. It might [laughter] be a cat. So I hate dogs right now. So your analogy is wrong. It's actually species. It's actually it's actually a cat just presenting as a dog. Yeah. What were you going to say? That was the point he was making. That's great. My [laughter] dog sucks. Yeah. Uh so if if if I've heard kind of this comparison of hummingbirds and buzzards, right? Like hummingbirds, they fly around all day looking for sweet things and what do they find? Sweet things. And then buzzards, they fly around all day looking for dead things. What do they find? That's so good. Right? So it's like you will find what you're looking for. Yeah. Right? If you are looking for an opportunity to spend time in the word, guess what? That's exactly what you're going to find, right? If you're looking for an opportunity to serve yourself or be lazy or not do that is that is what you will find. And That that's the biggest That's the biggest proponent. I'm not always good at this. And some people are like, "Well, I do my Bible study here, here, when this time." I get I get it. There is something about starting your day, putting your mind in that hummer hummingbird scenario, putting your mind on fighting the good things, putting your mind on setting yourself to the kingdom. I I can I mean, I can literally look at so many days. It's like whenever every you're working out and you're like, "I will never stop working out. This feels so good." And then you go like 3 days without working out and you're eating chips and you're like, "I don't know how I'm ever going to work out again." You know, it's like, "What are you talking [laughter] about? That was so good." And that's how I feel with some of my spiritual life with like I can look back and and know that my most robust spiritual life has all happened when I organize my schedule around morning worship, my my heart, mind, soul focusing on the Lord, focusing on the word, and letting that time let it kind of plan out my day from there. And then it's so hard to do. It's so frustrating to just know that something is so good for you, but so hard to do. Thousand percent. I'm the exact same way. I've got to do it first thing in the morning, get out of bed, take a shower, go strip for me go straight to the the office at my house, and open up the Bible and start reading. Right. >> That's mission critical for me to be there. And same thing, like we're reading in Ephesians 6, like the armor of God is an important thing for a reason. Like that's part of what we're supposed to do. Like what your feet are supposed to have the gospel of truth the gospel, you know, that's what we're supposed to walk in constantly. >> carry it around for half your day Right. >> until you're like, "Oh, I see a war coming. I'm going to put it on." You put it on first thing. >> That's right. And then there's the implicit thing where So, I've I've heard it said a bunch of different ways, but I think there are people that are like they get to the point especially with Christians like, "Okay, yeah, the gospel. I get it." It's like, "No, brother, you need to remind yourself constantly of the gospel. You have to keep bringing yourself back to the foot of the cross at Golgotha, not to, you know, worship at the altar of a dead savior, but it's what does his resurrection mean for you? What did that count for? And guys, this is part of the reason where the daily blade idea even came from cuz this is late 2024 and like there were times, Russ, where I just, you know, I I I make my Bible part of my warm-up at the gym, right? In my gym's in my garage and all that, you know, back in the day when I used to work out, but now I'm I'm retired cuz uh I have a, you know, a barely functioning body. But back in the day whenever I used to be a real man with uh respect on my name, I would start by reading the Bible and it did set me in a different place and a different mindset. But then there were times where it's like, "Oh, shoot. I I I got behind. I I got to get in the truck. I got to go do this thing." But I didn't have that thing I could just, you know, put on the podcast or whatever. And so Joby and I just created it and for a lot of guys, that's why I tell them it was like, "You have to consume the Bible daily." Yeah. Some people think if they don't have time to study it, then it's not even worth consuming, right? That's like That's like saying, "Hey, if it's not worth If you don't have the time to savor this meal, you just don't need to eat." It's like, "Bro, you're hungry." Like you got to get some sustenance into your body. You got to get some nutrition. Today, you might just get the daily blade. Tomorrow, you might be able to spend an hour in deep theological study with Logos up on your computer and all the different things. But you got to get it in there, but it also does help timing. How do you set the tone for your Well, and they relate to each other. I mean, it's just like uh Howerton's deal on on what he was talking about one day. That was a I started watching a mini clip that came across and it was just one little thing and then all of a sudden I would realize like how much that related to some other stuff I was studying and the thread that went through the Bible and sometimes that's you you that's all you have I mean, not all you have to get, but sometimes that little bit is what you need to propel you for the rest of the journey that, you know, that you you to be studying, that you need to be researching something. There's something more God wants to show you there. You He just uses that. I mean, me and Harrison, when I drop him off to school, we listen Daily Blade and there's a couple other boys in our Wednesday night class that I guess have started listening to some of that stuff, too. And so, like, it's really cool for him to know that like there's not only one person, like me and dad, but there might be some other people that it's like watching SportsCenter. You know, you you watch SportsCenter so you can talk about SportsCenter. You know, you watch these things, you listen to these things so that you can have it repetitive like be a part of your day. I mean, that's why that's why you get up and watch the news in the morning cuz you want to be able to sit there when somebody has a question like have something to say about it. And you're informed about it. And so, it's like that is why we absorb the word is we want to be informed about it, not just for our own like, man, I just want to think I'm really smart. No, I want to be able to have a conversation with somebody whenever they bring stuff up. And let me tell you, like, you know, working with the youth, seventh graders, stuff like that, these kids have more knowledge about things and more reasons and more questioning on things than what you would ever think. And so, I've I've I right now know a couple of guys that are doing seminary stuff, and they're not even pastors. They're just doing seminary to be able to have intelligent conversations with people about why they believe what they believe. >> They're sharpening the sword, man. That's that's the Daily Blade. Like again, I that's so encouraging to hear because what that person is doing is they're setting themselves up to have an apologia, to have an answer for the faith that is in them. And that doesn't mean that they're approaching every situation like an argument that they've been invited to or they've accepted the invitation. It's just they have to stand ready because when the moment comes to you, if you've not prepared for that moment, you will fall to the level of your training. You're not just going to accidentally stumble upon the right answer most times. Right. And for a lot of these people, it's not even about having the right answer, it's about having a answer. But then you have a lot of men that don't even have the wherewithal mentally to tell someone, "You know what? I've never actually thought about that question before." Tell you what, how about we're I'll see you next week, right? Okay, let me go look at that a little bit and how about you do a little bit of research on your own and let's compare notes next week. That's an answer. It's not the answer to their question, but it's an answer that gets you to the next step with that person. And that just I mean leads to even more evangelistic conversations where the gospel can be central. Tell me if this lands a little bit. I'm I'm playing this out in my head as we're talking because I think we continue to talk about the importance of being in the word, the importance of doing it on a daily basis and what all of that gives us and at the same time a massive amount of freaking frustration that we fall out of it at certain times. You know, at certain times you you feel like you're crushing it, you're in it, you feel like you're on the spirit side and then you go back to the flesh. And I it it comes back to like why is that? So, I just reread again uh verse seven. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. >> Yeah. As in it is not able to. As in if you're not in the word, if you're not in scripture, you're not drowning yourself in it, you're not constantly there, you're going to migrate away and go to other things. And it goes back to verse five. >> two masters. Yeah, which set their minds on the spirit that is the spirit drawing your attention towards things because so, this this goes back to Russ's point. So, a lot of guys they they circle something on the calendar, right? A men's conference, uh you know, a Wednesday night where they're bringing in a guest speaker or kids camp or something on the church calendar or on their, you know, holiness calendar. So, let's say uh cuz I'm speaking in Louisiana in August and let's say that's circled on your calendar. I'm sure some guys got that circled cuz I'm speaking with Robbie Gallaty and with Al Robertson at this thing in early August. And let's say you're just waiting with anticipation that it's going to be an awesome event. There's going to be some like-minded guys there. Maybe there's going to be some incendiary thing you've never thought of before that you jot down in your notebook or something like that. But what are we doing now? Guys, we're recording this in May. You're just not going to do anything May, June, and July? >> [clears throat] >> The sanctification that people feel and the improvement that they feel spiritually is because of dedicated, disciplined actions pointed in the same direction over time. I use this example. If you've got a 365-day devotional, no one's life has changed because of day 142. They can't point back to that one book at that one time where it was that one devotional that changed everything. But when they look back on their year and they think about what they know, what they've reckoned with, where they're at spiritually, then they realize, "Oh, look how much I've grown." It's the same thing if you see someone all day, every day and they're on some sort of weight loss journey or fitness journey, it's hard to notice the gains. Parents, it's hard for them to realize their kid has gotten so big until a, you know, a family member or someone that hasn't seen the kid in a couple years goes, "Oh my gosh, you've gotten so tall." And then it's like an immediate realization. You're like, "Oh my gosh, my kid has gotten tall. Oh my gosh, I have dropped 40 lb. Oh my gosh." You know, it's that ultimate realization, but the entire point is you got to get it in there. And the spirit is drawing your attention, giving you a thirst for more of the word. That's the other thing about the Daily Blade. We're giving you 5 minutes because we want that 5 minutes to be an appetizer, right? We want that to be the thing that leads to your own study. Like, we're giving you a, you know, hopefully something that's We're not giving you a bunch of meat. We're giving you beef jerky, though. Like, we're not giving you milk on on the Daily Blade, but we want you to take that snack and then let it kind of propel you on into a furtherance of your your own personal sanctification journey. I think too many Christians live in, you know, their their Christian focus is circumstantial. Like, when they have a need, >> Yeah. Boy, are on it. They're praying every day. They are in the word. And um they are really relying on God. And then when things are good, they it's almost like, well, I must be doing good because things are good, which means God loves me. And so it's like their current circumstances are are a reflection of how much God loves them in that moment. Right? Well, we're kind of winding to a close here. I want to go back to kind of what you were both saying. So Adam, you brought up like the frustrations earlier. And digging, you're talking about because some people when they're experiencing frustration and turbulence, they think of it, oh, this must not be God's will for me. It's like, bro, name a thing that was hard to accomplish. Yeah. some people it's a fitness journey, for some people it's a degree, for some people it's a it's a business they built and sold, well, whatever. Was the road super smooth? Were were the skies smooth the whole way? Like sometimes that turbulence is like, oh, yes, there's some turbulence. Satan is not liking this, right? My feet are hitting the floor in the morning, Satan's like, shoot, he's up, right? For a lot of guys they don't have that mindset. But you know how Satan uses frustration? Exactly like what I said. Hey man, you know why you're getting that resistance right now? Don't you think you should take your foot off the gas a little bit? Don't you think you're being a little aggressive? Don't you think you're kind of going after this a little bit too hard? Man, you really don't need to study that hard. What are you not even in you like, why are you taking seminary courses? You're not going to be a pastor. It's that spirit of like, or do it later. Or hey, maybe not so hard or so with so much intensity. And that's he's going to use your frustration once you hit that turbulence to be like, hey man, take your foot off the gas. It's the lies of the lies of the devil will will say stuff I So, speaking of the two guys that are doing the seminary, okay? Two guys in our Wednesday morning Bible study, two guys that um everybody respects, everybody knows like this isn't on a whim thing. These are very successful men who um are taking time out of other stuff and yet they kept it a secret for a while. And I'm not saying like if they hear this like I'm not I'm not saying you were doing it intentionally but like we we had a I've talked about the not a book club. I picked a book this last month. It was 600 pages so we're doing two months and we were having a meeting on that and going through some of that and I had heard about that they were doing this and so before we left I just kind of stopped them and I was like, "Hey, are y'all going to share with us? Like I are y'all really going to seminary?" And and then they're like, "Yeah, we hadn't really said anything about it." But it was exactly like what you were saying. Like there was a hesitancy of this idea that it was going to be taken wrong or that they would think to be thought of as like, "Oh, we think so much of ourselves." I'm I'm putting a lot into what they didn't say about it. That's if if I was reading why some of our closest friends weren't just like bold and almost encouraging other people. Like I think that there was a lot of that preconception or notion that they wanted to steer away from but it should be more commonplace. It should be more to where somebody is like, "Man, I'm taking a break from my 9-5 and I'm going to go devote some more time to my study of the word and me understanding what this relationship with the Lord is all about." And that's like a a big bold thing and we should be we should be seeing that all over the place. We should see it in our own lives. May not look like that for everybody. For somebody I mean for some of your your listeners they may never have picked up the Bible before. This may be all they have but that is the type of boldness that you need to put yourself around men that are able to be bold in their faith, bold in their commitments, push you to do more stuff. And if that's just have one guy in your life that actually reads the Bible, go find that person. Like just ask the awkward question around to your friends and be like, "Do you ever read the Bible?" No, no, no. "Do you ever read the Bible?" No no no. Find that one weird guy that's like, "Yeah, I the Bible. Be like, all right, I'm care if I spend more time with you, you know. It's good. Yeah, and I think for a lot of people what we're not we're not giving enough attention to what I'm going to mess up the quote, but it's like we completely underestimate what we can we overestimate what we can accomplish in a short amount of time and we underestimate what we can accomplish over a long period of time. And I think for a lot of people we we always assume that we're guaranteed a long life. Like people think, oh, I'm going to make it to my 80s or 90s and maybe in my 100s and all that. And we don't look at our days as if they're numbered. And we do that when we're a teenager, when we're 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, whatever and and on up there. But then we we get so frustrated and bogged down today and we forget that your job today is to make a deposit. Yeah. You make a deposit in your sanctification journey because someday you're going to have to take a withdrawal, right? And I'm reminded of what Matt Chandler said because years ago he was diagnosed with brain cancer, given 2 years to live. I think that was 10 plus years ago, right? And he had been setting his church up to deal with loss and pain and all that. Like all of the sermons leading up to whenever he had a stroke on I think it was Thanksgiving morning or something like that. Was what he thought he was preparing his congregation for and what he was actually preparing was himself for the battle that he was going to have to fight for being like so sick he couldn't even pick up his head to throw up in the toilet this time. So just throwing up in the floor like because he was so sick because of the chemotherapy and all those types of things. And it's like imagine Matt Chandler sitting there on the floor like thinking there's nothing else I could possibly throw up and think to himself like, oh man, I got all the time in the world to kind of figure this out. You know, I got all the time in the world to seek the Lord. No, no, no. You've been brought low to where it's almost the only thing you can focus on. But for all for a lot of us, that's what it takes to even get our attention. Yeah. Right? It's some injury, it's some sort of horrible thing, it's being betrayed. And then it's like, man, it would have been a lot better idea if you had kept making deposits over all these years when things were a little bit smoother cuz now we're in withdrawal period and we got insufficient funds. Like, you know, and it's it becomes a major issue for a lot of people. Well, and going back to what Russ said about you know, preparing and then not having so so being so excited about the content and having so much to share and you don't know if you're going to get there to be able to share it. What's like God saying, "No, no, no, Russ. That was for you." >> Right. That's a that's a deposit, right? It's like that that's what being in the word is like. Consistency, whether you whether you're preparing for a talk or not. Like, the excitement about what you're learning is there and and man, that's where you talk about living in the spirit and being pulled by the spirit and and and I can get to the point, you know, you you could see where Paul's like, "Why do I JUST KEEP MESSING UP?" You know, it's like well, the more you're in the word, the more frustrated you're going to be about the fact that you keep messing up. Well, you know, Paul this morning, man, Mark killed it on our on our Sunday school class. A buddy of mine stepped in for Terry this morning, Mark Walraven, and he gave a message and it he was trying to we're studying Acts, so he was trying to stay in Acts without moving forward so that we would move forward with Terry, but stay where we're at. And so, he brought up the idea of like, "What was Paul doing? We just see whenever we read through Acts, we just see the conversion and then he goes and gets with his disciples and then he starts preaching." There's 10 years in between where he goes to Damascus and he's doing tent building and he's basically arguing every day in the synagogue, stuff like that, to whenever he actually goes and starts a ministry. And so, he was just talking about that prep time and what we do during the waiting. And then he brought up all the other people in the Bible that we just like think of their success story. You know, cuz and it's a lot of people from Hebrews 11 where it says that they didn't even get to see the the of their works that we are the fruition of that, but they got to see maybe their first step in the direction of where God told them that their life was going to be meaningful. But, you know, Moses I think was I asked him to sit in he's he's somewhere where I right now, but Moses was like 40 years, Daniel was maybe a 30. There was one that was 40, 30, 25 for Abraham between when he was 75 and 100 whenever he had a kid. Like all these people, these times of waiting, but trusting in the Lord. And we don't put any value in that. You know, Terry always says that it took longer to get the it took longer to get Egypt out of the Israelites than it did to get the Israelites out of Egypt. And so that idea that a lot of times we get frustrated in the lull periods of the waiting, and we think, "Well, what are we doing?" Well, the Lord's saying, "Just grow. Just grow yourself like I'm giving you time for a reason. I mean I mean they're setting something up with somebody else. >> I'm in the way. I need you to be somebody else by the time I get you here. So you decide how long this is going to take. You know, a lot of those stories it's just a wonder it's like was God waiting on them? Or was God Were they waiting on God or was God waiting on them? And a lot of times I think we have to ask ourselves that for all kinds of stuff that's going on our lives whenever we're like, "Man, why does this keep on going this way? Why does this keep on going? God, why like why aren't you hurrying this up and doing this?" And maybe he's up there saying the same thing. Actually, why aren't you just following what I'm asking you to do? It seems like I'm having to wait a quite a while for you to get this. >> Well, and it's also and as we wrap up here, I think it's very important it's to it's important to realize we're always in the game, but we need to have an off-season mindset. And so I think about it this way, the practices during the season can't be as hard as the practices in the off-season because you got to play. Right. got to get ready to play whether you're playing a few times a week or once a week or something like that. I think about uh you know, fighters and different things like that. Like, you're not learning how to fight during training camp. You're getting in shape to fight, right? It's when you're not in training camp cuz training camps are you know, 6-8 weeks kind of that kind of type of thing. You're trying to stay healthy, you're trying to sharpen certain skill sets, you're trying to prepare for a particular guy's style. You're basically just making sure you're in tip-top shape for the moment you get on the scale and the next day whenever you go in there half-naked and they lock you in the cage. And so like but most people don't have that mindset. Like there they you but you have to have the mindset like we're in the game, no matter what, but we got to treat it like it's the off-season where we are actually putting in the reps and making those deposits. But guys, we're going to leave it there, but come back next week. I want us to start actually cuz we read through verse 8 of chapter 8, but I want to start there because I have something interesting I want to get into on verse 8. But before I let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost. Undaunted.Life our mission is equipping men to push back darkness with content that forges spiritual, mental, and physical resilience. The logos or logos, I've heard it pronounced both ways. We have the study bundle that you heard about at the top of the episode, check that out. The link is in the show notes. We have a forging table starter set through Crossway. You can get five amazing things at half price. And also, we're a donation-based ministry. So, if you want to see this ministry continue to grow and reach men around the globe, hop on board, be a donor undaunted.life/donate. Thank you everyone for listening to this episode. Wherever you're listening to this, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a positive five-star review. If you want me to come speak live at your event or on your podcast, just shoot me an email to us on Instagram and like us on Facebook and check out our website for everything else including how to donate to keep more content like this coming. www.undaunted.life. The music on this podcast is the song Conqueror by the Christian metal band Void Awakened. Be sure to stream their music on Spotify, Apple Music, and wherever else you get your music. I'm your host, Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental, and physical resilience, keep seeking the lion of Judah. Lion of Judah. >> [music] >> Lion of Judah.