Dead Men Walking Podcast: Classic Rock & Biblical Faith

Dead Men Walking

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:14

Howdy! How you doing Jason? Doing awesome man, how you doing? Pretty good. Man that's great, what have you been up to man?

00:21

What's going on? What's going on baby? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Does that music just make you want to talk like that?

00:27

Is that what you said? I don't know dude. Are you trying to offend all of our southern listeners? I just read, I just read a

00:34

Leonard Skinner meme on the way over. A Leonard Skinner, now you're getting your

00:41

Leonard Skinner memes in. Dude, let me tell you something man. There's a few things that I love.

00:48

Classic rock's one of them, I'm not going to lie. Southern classic rock? It's classic rock in general.

00:54

But then I grew up on the oldies. My dad was all about 104 .3

01:00

WOMC out of Detroit. But yeah man, we would listen to Motown and the 60s hippie stuff and everything back to Johnny Cash, Elvis, all that stuff.

01:15

What did you listen to growing up really? I mean was it really Keith Green? I wasn't allowed to listen, like growing up, up until I was 15, 16.

01:24

It was the most rowdy music I ever listened to was one album by Don Francisco, where he played like a blues riff and we'd have to play it after my dad left, which is hilarious.

01:39

Like if you go back and listen to Don Francisco, it's like the calmest, hippiest, Jesus movement music.

01:46

Although my grandmother, who is 100 % Polish and maybe this plays into that a little bit, gave us a

01:52

Christmas edition tape of Cheech & Chong. Oh wow, which one, Up in Smoke?

01:58

The Christmas one, where he's like doing Christmas rhymes. He's like, Santa Clis, the one with the bony knees, walking down the street with no shoes on his feet.

02:07

And we're like, we don't know what we're listening to. We're like seven and eight, me and my brother. We got it as a tape player in the bedroom and we're like, he's doing skits about he gives a little magic dust to the reindeer, then a little more to Santa Claus, whatever that one is.

02:20

Oh my gosh. My mom and dad walked in and they were like, what are you listening? We're like, we don't know.

02:26

Just two funny guys with voices that I don't think my grandmother knew what she was giving us. She just found it at a garage sale or something.

02:33

So real wide range there. No secular music, but slipped in a Cheech & Chong tape when

02:39

I was little. But when I got older, it was Southern rock for sure, man. Like Led Zeppelin, one of my favorite. Well, they weren't Southern rock.

02:44

Well, I mean, but I said Southern rock. Wait a second. Yeah, no.

02:50

They were South of Michigan. Yeah. Right. No, no. They were East. They were East. Right.

02:56

Yeah. Over in the UK. But no, I remember going into a Christian bookstore and I picked up a

03:03

DC talk record. I can't remember what the name of the record was. Um, doing a new thing, new thing maybe.

03:13

I don't know. But there was graffiti on the front of the record. And my mom was just like, yeah, no, you will not be getting this.

03:21

Really? I'm like, what? This is a Christian bookstore. You know, I think it was around the era where everything was satanic.

03:28

You know, it was like, oh no, you know, AC DC behind, you know, uh, behind the music.

03:36

If you, if you, uh, play it backwards and, you know, all these different things and, you know, they did have some pretty crazy music, um, for sure.

03:44

But you know, it's, it's like certain things you're just like, wait a second. This is actually to the glory of God.

03:50

So why are we saying no? You know, it's almost like your Keith green story. Yeah. You know, somebody told you, oh,

03:56

I don't know if you should be it's got a drum beat. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Which we've said before in here too.

04:01

I mean, this is just my opinion, but, uh, you know, general Simpson, like you said, man, like every, all the arts belong to the

04:08

Lord. Yeah. Yeah. He said, if the devil owns it, we'll go back and plunder back from every court, every canvas, because it was created for our enjoyment.

04:15

And it was also created to bring glory to him. And I think you can bring glory to God in a, uh, a, a

04:21

E B rock riff, right? Whether it's on the guitar or the piano or whatever else. I was listening to, um, uh,

04:30

I mean, I'll, I'll say this on here. It doesn't matter. Um, Metallica did a, uh, one, uh, another album with a symphony.

04:37

So I wanted to check it out. Um, that was a while ago. Well, no, they did the second, the second one, a couple of years ago.

04:43

Yeah. Yeah. So I love orchestrated music and I, and I just wanted to hear how it sounded with, uh, with a little bit of metal behind it, you know?

04:51

Right. It's okay. We'll pray for you. Yeah, for sure. They, they, they did one tune with just the orchestra and then

04:58

James was singing. And I was just thinking to myself, I'm just sitting there like, could you imagine if a, uh, a faith -based, uh, singer was out there with the, the, the word of God, some good

05:13

Calvinist reform teaching, you know, like just building it out, like with a whole orchestra behind it, like I would love to hear something like that, man.

05:23

Oh, that would be cool. Oh my gosh. And yeah. And I want to be a part of it. So if you guys do that, just remember who said something about it first.

05:30

It was right here on Deadman walking. If there's any people out there that need, uh, Jason to speak over a full orchestra.

05:37

Oh man. He will read the scripture. I'll read the scripture or I will sing. Just let me know. Just let them know.

05:43

I'll do it. Well, it's so funny that you said Southern rock too, at the top of the show, because I have this, um, I switched over my, my, uh, my like CD slash whatever face screen in my car.

05:53

Okay. It's an aftermarket and my FJ cruiser. Yeah. And you can have a CD player. It still has a

05:59

CD player. Oh my gosh. Where's your tape deck? You got an eight track in there. I haven't upgraded it yet.

06:04

Now I am though, because what's happening is every time I get in the car, it connects with the Bluetooth. And for some reason it goes to Pandora, but when it's connected to Pandora, it won't allow you to actually change any of the things on the app.

06:17

It's going through a secondary app. It's so weird. And it just auto starts on Leonard Skinner.

06:24

Every time I get in the car, I start the car. It's like one, two, three. I got to shut it off.

06:33

So I'm too lazy to go in and find the settings in the unit. So every time I get in my car now, just some guy counts to three.

06:40

And if I'm not quick enough, I get the beginning of, you know, sweet home Alabama. Oh my gosh. That's awesome.

06:46

Turn it up. Turn it up. Yeah. Oh man. So you said Southern rock. Great guitar solo at the end.

06:51

No, wait, that's Freebird. Yeah. Freebird. Freebird's a good tune. Oh man. Now that you guys know what we listen to sometimes.

06:59

Well ZZ Top too. I mean, LaGrange. Oh pfft. Jesus, ZZ Top is amazing. So many good tunes.

07:07

Okay. Sorry. So many good tunes. It's funny now because my six -year -old, if I play that, he knows exactly when the drums come in.

07:14

So he'll just be sitting and you'll just see him in the background. You know, he does the little hit.

07:21

He does. He's not accurate. That's awesome. I do grade my six -year -old on his ear. Yeah. I was going to say, did you just, yeah, but sorry.

07:28

Okay. So now that you know, we're both heathens, let's move on to talking about the Bible. Let's talk about faith.

07:36

Yes. Yes. Let's talk about faith. Will you do it in the Latino Bill Johnson voice when we read scripture tonight?

07:43

Yes. Let's talk about faith. Let's talk about faith. Do you have enough of it? Yeah. And if you don't, it's your fault.

07:49

Even though it's a gift from God. And Chris had a little bit of a oopsie whoopsie. Dude, I'm going to repost that.

07:57

Should we talk about that really quick? Oh man, I don't know if we should. Should we tell people to go watch that on our

08:02

Instagram? Are we releasing this for real? We're in a funny mood tonight. Right.

08:08

All I'm saying is you made that Latino Bill Johnson. I laughed so hard and that we posted to Instagram and like 80 people watched it.

08:15

One person liked it. And we were like, we laughed so hard at that. It's just an absurd, like Saturday night live, like second city, like it's

08:24

Bill Johnson talking about stuff, but in a Latino, kind of like a really Uber. Yeah. Why we put

08:32

Latino on it. I don't know. I have no idea. Yeah. It was our wives were like, why are you doing that? It was night at the improv and the dead men walking studio.

08:40

You know, we just started just joking around. It was 1130 at night too. I know it had something to do with it. Everything's funnier after 10

08:46

PM. I think I have a theory, like things get funnier. The more the sun goes down. Well, it's not a theory.

08:52

Even comics don't like doing day shows. There's just something funnier about the night. Maybe people are delirious.

08:58

I don't know what it is. You know, we used to do college shows and they would have some comics do the lunch hour while kids were eating.

09:06

I've heard those horror stories from comics. I'm just standing there trying to make people laugh while they're eating lunch, you know, just rolling out of bed.

09:13

They're in college. PA announcements coming over the, please meet counselor and section for, you know,

09:20

I do comedy. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Oh, but what are we talking about tonight? Let's talk about faith.

09:26

Yeah. Let's go from, uh, Southern rock to George Michael. No, I'll just completely joking.

09:34

Uh, but we did want to talk about faith a little bit just because we're living in some crazy times right now.

09:40

Yes, sir. We are. And you know, I think faith sometimes gets misconstrued as just believing in something, which it does have.

09:50

We're going to go through some stuff. It does. It does mean to believe in something, but I think faith is deeper than that.

09:55

And I think we just wanted to do a quick episode just to maybe help people be reassured, maybe define it a little bit, maybe just discuss it.

10:04

We'll see where it goes. This is going to be a very conversational episode, not really question and answer.

10:09

We don't have a guest tonight, right? And, uh, we haven't done an episode in quite a while. Well, last week we did, which, uh, you, you heard it.

10:18

Yeah. Uh, but, um, it was our, it was our year year episode.

10:23

Yeah. Um, uh, well, actually they'll probably be listening to another one that we released. We don't know when we're going to, oh yeah, that's true.

10:30

That's true. Yeah. There, there goes the whole theory of trying to timestamp this episode. Maybe we could erase it.

10:37

No, now I'm leaving it in now that you said erase it. Oh man.

10:44

Where are we going to start? Let's start in Hebrews 11. Well, the hall of faith, right? Hebrews 11, like you were saying, uh, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.

10:57

I love that word conviction there. Just having a deep conviction of things not seen for by it, the people of old received their commendation.

11:07

Commendation. Yes. By faith. We understand that the unit, I love this verse two, 11, three by faith.

11:13

We understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

11:20

Right now, even if you, you know, when I read that something that jumps into my mind is if you know, if you, uh, study physics or, uh, anyone that talks about the universe, think like Neil deGrasse

11:33

Tyson and all these guys, they, they are now on a theory that says everything in the universe is actually made up of unseen things, right?

11:41

We saw that with like the electron and the neutron and the proton, uh, proton and all that. Right. But now they're saying under string theory, everything at the subatomic level at the smallest level is made up of vibrating strings that can't be seen.

11:55

So everything that's seen is made up of unseen things. And here you have 6 ,000 years ago.

12:00

Well, not 6 ,000, but Hebrews is a couple thousand years, 6 ,000 referring back to when

12:06

God spoke everything into existence or however long ago you, you know, you think that the earth is, well, it also makes you think of Colossians 1 16 for by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him and the verse 17 and he is before all things.

12:30

And in him, all things hold together. It's about Christ. Yeah. I just love when science catches up to the

12:36

Bible, you know, love it. Yes. So you have a Paul, we're assuming the writer of Hebrews talking about the, the world being made by the word of God so that what is was not made out of things that are visible.

12:50

And then I love verses four, five, six, seven, as you go down, it's like by faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.

12:58

Right. So he starts going through and saying by faith, by faith, by faith, he starts setting out all these examples where faith came into play in these pivotal moments within the

13:09

Jewish and now faith. Right. And anyone who's either thinking wanting to know more about faith or struggling with, do

13:19

I have enough faith or what is faith? I highly recommend Hebrews 11 because right at verse four, by faith,

13:26

Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice and Cain though through which he was commended as righteous

13:33

God, commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks by faith.

13:39

Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him.

13:45

Now, before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God and without faith, it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

13:59

Yeah. That's a powerful one too. Must believe that he exists.

14:06

Yeah. And I mean, in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we also have four, we live by faith, not by sight.

14:14

So here we are living in these times where, you know, it's kind of an uncertain time for some.

14:21

Some may still be held up in their home, afraid to get out, afraid of, you know, not wearing two masks or not getting the vaccine or people that aren't getting the vaccine or, you know, whatever you're running into right now.

14:39

I mean, God's got it, right? Yeah. Like, I mean, we have faith in what he has planned and he knew that this was going to happen.

14:49

Like he's not learning about COVID right now. He's not learning about this pandemic.

14:54

Like he knew it was going to happen, right? Sure. So, I mean, we just need to have faith in the process.

14:59

It's not like God took a break. Right. Exactly. He's not out to lunch. Christ's on lunch break, not sitting on the throne. Exactly.

15:05

So we've got St. Peter occupying it for him, keeping it warm. Exactly. Yeah. No, he's ruling and reigning. Amen. Amen. The right hand of the father.

15:12

And just to be clear too, like some people think like faith is going out on a limb, not really believing it, but just doing it anyway.

15:20

When the actual word actually means conviction of the truth of a thing. So literally having a deeply held conviction that the thing you believe in is the truth.

15:31

Right. So, so faith actually says you have to be convicted that it's the truth.

15:37

You know, sometimes we throw around the word faith and we're like, well, I'm going to do it. I'm just going to have faith.

15:43

Like I don't believe it's true or I don't really believe it, but I'm going to have faith meaning like take a leap of faith.

15:50

Right. Yeah. When in fact the word being used there for faith is a deeply held conviction that the thing is true.

15:56

Yeah. That means like really believing it right. That God exists, that God is in control and he's sovereign over all things that we have imputed righteousness through him, that we have faith in Jesus Christ, our

16:09

Lord and savior. Like when you say that word faith and go, well, I'm going to believe it.

16:14

Even, you know, I'm going to do the action, even though I might not truly believe it. That's a sign of faith. No faith is having the deeply held conviction that it's actually true.

16:22

Right. Right. And I think that's why like a true faith or an active faith, like in James verse, a dead faith and active faith does produce works and does produce things in your life because you have a deeply held conviction that it's true.

16:35

Right. If you, Jason, if you have a deeply held conviction that something is true, most likely it will affect your actions, the way you act towards it, the way you look at it, the way you interact with it.

16:48

Correct. That's how I was with pre -mill. Yeah. When I was pre -mill. Yeah. It really did affect like how

16:54

I viewed the world. It was just kind of like, well, what does it matter? I, you know, why, why would it matter if I save for retirement?

17:00

Why would it matter? You know, what I, what I teach my kids, what does it matter? I mean, this, this was the pre -mill that I kind of,

17:07

I learned. Sure. I know that there are solid pre -mill people out there. I'm sorry if there's everyone that ever gets offended by us saying that pre -mill is not what we ascribe to, but you know what, like, that's what

17:18

I was, that's the type of pre -mill. It was the escapism. It was the. He's praying to the wrong deity.

17:24

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Exactly. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was exactly that though. But yeah, my conviction was, you know, what, what does it matter?

17:32

You know, like I'm going to get taken out here anyway. So, you know, what does it matter? You know, so, so that deeply held conviction changed your actions and changed your interaction with the

17:43

Bible. I would say even on a non -biblical example, right. Yeah. If you believe in gravity, a deeply held conviction that something is going to happen, a scientific proof like gravity that changes the way you act or do things, right.

18:00

If you didn't really truly believe that gravity works, well, who knows? Maybe we go up to the top of the roof and jump off and see if we can fly.

18:07

Right. I don't know. We know that gravity is something that is real and it's a deeply held conviction.

18:13

We have faith in that thing that we can't see. That's the kind of faith that Hebrews is talking about here.

18:20

It's using the word, a deeply held conviction, not just something. Well, I'm going to hedge my bets or I don't really believe in it, but I'll do it anyway.

18:27

And that's having faith. No faith moves you forward, propels you forward towards an action or in an action because of the deeply held truth that you know that it is that that's what faith is.

18:39

So when we say a true and lasting faith in Christ, right, we're saying every word that he said is true.

18:46

Everything in the Bible is true. His claims of divinity is true. His claims of the resurrection is true.

18:53

His atonement is true. So therefore that deeply held conviction that those things are true, then change the way we talk, act, and interact with those things in the scriptures and throughout daily life.

19:06

Do you believe that your salvation where you were drawn in by Christ, do you think that that pertains to that as well?

19:17

Would it explain that, um, that like the, the drawing, the drawing in of what the father father drawing you in, you know, you, you, you getting salvation.

19:28

And then, you know, your, as your faith, um, your, your faith is propelled into that, that next walking phase of your, of your walk as a

19:41

Christian, you know, like, I mean, is, is that something that, that kind of would pertain to that same truth, that same conviction, that same, you know,

19:50

I know, I know that Christ is real. I know I have faith because of what happened to me in myself, salvation in my regeneration in that moment.

19:59

Does that make sense? Yes, it does. Okay. Cause I just had this conversation with someone. I think it bolsters it for sure.

20:05

And I think I might've said this, uh, you know, maybe on one of our clubhouses, I think, uh, the only thing is, is you don't want that to go to extreme to where all of our faith is based on experience.

20:15

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, experiences are good. They're real. They can help bolster a faith, but they're an experience is not what defines who

20:26

God is. Uh, if the Bible is true or not, if what Christ said is true or not, uh, experiences don't do that because people have all kinds of different experiences, some contradictory to what the

20:37

Bible actually says. Um, but I think experiences, and I think God can even use experience to bolster faith.

20:43

Now we have to understand that even faith is a gift from God. I think this is one of the biggest hurdles for our minions, or even like you're late in flowers.

20:54

Who's a provisional list who tries to, you know, kind of walk the middle of the road and be like, well, we choose, but God learned through the hallways of time and saw that you were going to choose.

21:04

So then he chose you. And it's like, well, even the faith, yes, God draws first, but then you have to have faith to react to that.

21:10

And it's like, but the Bible says even the faith to know and accept and understand who God is, is a gift from God comes from God.

21:18

He's the author and the finisher of our faith. Right. Right. I know I'm going to kind of getting off track with that question, but no, yeah,

21:25

I, I, I understand that because I think it, I think it was us that were, we were going back and forth about the experience thing.

21:32

And I think it was just, you know, in that, in that, in that moment for, for me,

21:40

I think my, my faith, just because I did experience

21:45

Christ, you know, I did experience the Holy Spirit, you know, I, I did, you know, in that regeneration moment.

21:54

And, and I just think to myself, man, like as, as our faith is, is growing,

22:00

I mean, there's a lot of things that, that we walk through. I mean, this is a pandemic right.

22:05

And well, pandemic air quotes, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I, I literally, you know, whenever I hear pandemic, it, it really, it, it, it doesn't add up that irritate you.

22:18

Yeah. It, it really does. But I've, you know, I also have a heart for those people that are just so fearful, you know, and, and it, and it just, it, it does sadden me in some ways.

22:32

Because I mean, it's like, okay, well, where do you put your faith? You know, are you putting your faith in the science?

22:39

Are you putting your, where are you putting your faith? You know, are you putting your faith in Christ? Because if, if your faith is there, then, you know, if you read the scriptures, you know, there is nothing that you need to fear, even death, even death, you know?

22:54

Well, that, that's, yeah, that's kind of the whole point. Yeah. Jump over to, can you type in Psalm 27 one, because this just made me think of something really quick too.

23:04

Yeah. I kinda, you know, that, that used, I had that inscribed in my class ring and then

23:11

I lost it two years later. I got a class ring. So I'm 27 one bring up the

23:16

ESV version of that. And I believe there too. And, and I kind of had this, this idea when

23:21

I reread that. Can you read that for us? Yeah. My internet isn't working for some reason.

23:28

Oh, there you go. Right here. So Psalm 27 one, or I can see it from here. It says the Lord is my light and my salvation.

23:35

Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

23:40

Okay. Yeah. I looked at that and I went, we use that verse all the time for like, like physical things, like, like pandemic, like you know, a downtime in my life.

23:56

You know, someone I'm not agreeing with in literally though, what is the Psalmist concerned about?

24:02

He's like, why should I have any fear? Not, it doesn't say the Lord is my giver of food and shelter.

24:10

Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the one who protects me against viruses. Whom shall I fear?

24:16

The Lord is the one who provided a nice car for me and gave me three beautiful children.

24:21

Whom shall I fear? No. Why does he not fear? Because ultimately the Lord is my light and my salvation.

24:28

It's a salvific verse. Like I've always read that for 20 years. Now, some of you are going to go, yeah, that's great,

24:36

Greg. You're catching up to the rest of us. But for me, I just read that, especially in a time of pandemic, like what is

24:43

COVID -19 against the backdrop of eternity, against the backdrop of salvation, against the backdrop of your spirit and your soul?

24:52

Like it's nothing. And we have believers living in a state of fear over something, you know, and you can argue 99 .9996

25:01

% mortality rate. I would argue your chances are still pretty darn good, but you could be in a, you know, you could have a comorbidity or you could have something going on in your elderly.

25:11

I get it. There's still fear. But even then against the backdrop of what the psalmist was really concerned about, salvation.

25:19

If you are a believer, if you are in the kingdom of God, if you have been called a son or a daughter, who, what are you fearing?

25:28

You should fear nothing. You should rest in the sovereignty of God. You should rest in that grace and mercy that's been bestowed upon you.

25:35

Like that's the faith we're talking about. A faith that, a deeply held conviction that says, I'm not going to live in fear because I have a deeply held conviction, a faith in what

25:46

Christ said, in what God says, in what the Bible says, and against the backdrop of salvation,

25:51

I know he's my savior. I know he's my light and salvation. What should I fear? Nothing is the answer to that.

25:58

And that's really the mindset I think we need to get into, uh, and even specific areas in my life, but also broader, like you were saying,

26:06

Jason, to the pandemic of the fear of, oh my gosh, or inflation and money problems and pandemic and the virus and vaccine and all these

26:16

Joe Biden's in office. If you don't, if you don't like Joe Biden, you know, like political stuff, what's he going to do?

26:22

What does any of this mean against the backdrop of salvation? It doesn't mean a whole lot because in Psalm 27 one,

26:29

David is stating it right there. And if you read farther down, he talks about evildoers assailing me and physical things and all that, but what does he start that Psalm out with?

26:37

The most important thing doesn't matter what's going on around me. You're my light and my salvation.

26:45

There's nothing that I fear. And I think this is a great verse for people who might be struggling with fear, which then they interpret as a lack of faith.

26:55

Uh, and, and we can have that argument if you want to call it that I would say, uh, fear and lack of faith, um, maybe don't go hand in hand.

27:05

I think you can be fearful and still have faith in something, but I think you can be fearful for the wrong reasons because measured against an eternity with a sovereign

27:16

God and someone who rules and reigns, uh, sovereignly over his creation, boy, we sure become fearful of some pretty silly things in comparison.

27:25

Right. What'd you say? Yeah. Um, uh, I'm thinking of the, uh, where's that at?

27:31

That's in Matthew, um, the parable where, where, um, oh, I think it's, uh,

27:36

John 21. Sorry. That's okay. Um, uh, so, so it's live looking up here.

27:44

Right. We didn't really, we just said faith and then turn the recording button on. So you guys are hearing what we're rolling around in our head right now.

27:51

Right. So where, um, where, so where are you at? John 21, where Jesus, um, says to, says to, um,

27:59

Simon, Peter, um, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

28:05

He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time,

28:11

Simon, son of John, do you love me? Said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep.

28:17

He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me?

28:26

And he said to him, Lord, you know, everything, you know, that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.

28:33

Truly, truly. I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you want it.

28:39

But when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

28:47

So this is, uh, verse 19. This, he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify

28:53

God. And after that, and after saying this, he said to him, follow me. And then

28:59

Peter says, Peter in verse 20, Peter turned and saw the disciple whom

29:04

Jesus loved. And that's really funny that he says that, um, that verse because John, it's in John and John wrote this.

29:11

It's about John. Yeah. The one he loves. So Peter turned, saw the disciple whom

29:21

Jesus loved, following him, following them. The one who also had leaned back against him during the supper.

29:27

And he said, uh, Lord, who is it? What? Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?

29:34

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord about this man, Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

29:44

You follow me. And I think there's, there's a lesson there for sure.

29:50

Like Jesus asked, uh, Simon Peter three times, you know, do you love me?

29:57

You know? And it's like, I mean, where you hear, uh,

30:02

Peter saying to him, you know, like, like, yes, yes, yes. He says it three times, but you know, at the same time,

30:10

I think, uh, Peter, all of a sudden his humanity shows up and he's like, well, what about John?

30:16

What's going to happen to John? You know? And it's like, don't worry about him. You follow me, you know?

30:22

And it's like, I think a lot of times we worry too much about the person maybe, um, uh, down the road that, uh, that doesn't have the, uh, the mask on or doesn't have the vaccine or doesn't, you know, it's, it's like, you know what?

30:37

Like at some level, I think just have faith and just know that Christ is in control.

30:44

His, he is sovereign over all, and he knows what's going on. If you go through it, guess what?

30:51

Christ puts you through that, you know? Yeah. They're like, like, just know that he knows what's going on.

30:58

I mean, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to sing that, like that, that cheesy, uh, uh,

31:04

God only knows what you've been through. God only knows what to say about you.

31:11

Sorry. Um, but yeah, I mean, I, I just think that, I think that there needs to be faith, uh, within our walk that just says,

31:21

Hey, guess what? Like God knows what's going on. We're going to be totally fine. You follow me.

31:27

That's all you need to do. You know? Oh, absolutely. Anyway. Sorry. I went off on a tangent. No, that's good.

31:33

I do love the fact too, that he said he would follow him three times. And then just a few days or a few weeks later, he then, uh, denies him three times.

31:40

It's like Jesus knew what he was doing. I think he was having a little mercy on him. Like, I'm gonna let you say you love me three times.

31:46

Cause I know in a few weeks here, you're gonna deny me three times. But what if, what if that, you were reading through that and my brain just works where, and I'm like, what if Jesus was telling

31:56

Peter to wear a mask? What if he's like, Peter, will you wear a mask? Yes, I will. Peter, will you wear a mask? Yes, I will. Peter, will you wear a mask?

32:02

Yes, I will. Well, what about John? He doesn't have to wear a mask. And he's like, Hey, you don't worry about John, John. Right.

32:07

You just do what I say. Right. Like put any weird thing in there. And it's like, that is kind of the point that you're trying to make.

32:14

Now you can flip it around and say, don't wear a mask or I just threw it in there. Cause we were talking about COVID. No, yeah, look at the guy down the street.

32:24

And even if you want to talk about mass, like some people have made the mask issue, like a hardcore doctrinal issue in America.

32:30

Now I understand the persecution that's coming with it. And I understand the whole thing with like telling churches, they can't worship.

32:35

And we've talked extensively about that. So I'm not defending a government actions towards a

32:41

Christ church here. I'm saying I've seen brothers and sisters in the

32:47

Lord, making it such a big issue. They're drawing the line. They're drawn the line there. And then they're also saying like, no, you have to do this or you can't do that.

32:56

Whether you do have to wear the mask or not wear it or, or obey the COVID restrictions or not.

33:01

And it's almost at some point, aren't we supposed to be looking at Christ? And he goes, yeah, you don't get to look to that guy wearing a mask or not wearing a mask.

33:10

You obey me. And I'll tell you what, if everyone did that and we submitted in love to our brothers and sisters, because we were obeying

33:18

Christ, I bet you, we could work out a lot of this stuff within the church a lot more easily. For sure.

33:24

I mean, loving your brother and your neighbor as yourself. I mean, where's the love in saying you ain't wearing a mask, so you don't love me.

33:35

It's like, no, I do love you, but I just have a different conviction about the mask and everything else that is being pushed on us.

33:43

Well, that's the crazy thing too, is because most of the churches that have those type of attendees or even leadership, before this happened, espoused to be the most tolerant, accepting, inclusive churches that were.

33:59

And now it's, oh, well, if you're not wearing a mask or you're not getting your vaccine or you're not social distancing, well, you're straight from hell and we can't talk to you and you need to repent, sinner.

34:11

And it's like, whoa, man, how can something like a mandate like that separate the church so quickly?

34:19

Or maybe it's a good thing. It really shows the true colors of what their faith is in. Is there faith in Christ or is there faith in a government mandate?

34:27

Is it in a mask? And anyone who's listened to this podcast,

34:34

I don't think we're being coy. I think anyone who's listened to know Jason and I are both very wary of the mask mandates and all the things that the government has done to the church, right?

34:44

I mean, I'll come out and say it. I'm not a masker. Now, if someone out of respect says, a client, for instance, hey, will you wear a mask?

34:52

I'll do it. I work for my client. I'll wear a mask. But any of this public space type stuff, walking by yourself in a park.

35:01

Well, I don't know if you heard about the new study that was done. It was either Harvard or Yale.

35:06

I'd have to look it up. But it was an Ivy League school. They said now that it's, you are not safe even 60 feet apart.

35:17

It's not just six feet anymore. It's 60. Yeah, 60 zero feet.

35:23

You're not safe. Yeah. How hard are these people sneezing? I mean, I have not. I mean, it's ridiculous.

35:33

I mean, maybe it's just me, but anyway. Oh, man. Well, I guess we're still on topic.

35:39

Oh, yeah, for sure. We're on the topic. Yeah. We're walking through faith, walking through different aspects of it.

35:46

Walking through faith. And I think you bring up a good point in John 21 is, isn't that kind of what Christ is asking

35:51

Peter to do? Yeah. Like, you trust in me. You walk by faith. That's kind of why you went there, right? I'm guessing.

35:57

Because it's like, you don't get to look at John and go, well, what about him? And then

36:02

I do love the character study of Peter, how he went from kind of like the zeal without knowledge disciple, right?

36:10

And just, yeah, all Jesus, we're going to be princes in his kingdom and not truly understanding it was a spiritual kingdom and all this.

36:17

And then going into this phase of doubt and then going into this phase of like, no, absolutely anything for Christ.

36:23

And then literally ending his life, like, yeah, I'm not even worthy to be put on the same type of cross as my savior.

36:29

Throw me upside down so I can suffocate on my own blood. Sanctification process, brother. What a great sanctification process.

36:36

Yeah, for sure. I love it. Oh, but man, for anyone listening out there, I would just say the remedy for fear is delighting yourself in the word.

36:47

Yeah. The remedy for anxiousness, the remedy for depression, the remedy for keeping up with the

36:55

Joneses and comparison and stealing your joy is delighting yourself in the word of God and doing it consistently and doing it often.

37:06

I would recommend first thing in the morning. About eight months ago, I got into a habit of not grabbing my phone and going right to emails or social media as soon as I got up and went right to the word, reading a

37:19

Bible verse, reading a chapter, having a few minutes with the Lord before I start my day. That was just something that was very tough for me because especially in a business where I'm getting emails all the time too,

37:29

I'll sometimes get emails before I get up, like who's emailing like important documents at like three o 'clock in the morning.

37:35

Well, it was six o 'clock somewhere else in another time zone, you know, whatever. And I would just be addicted to getting right to that email or getting right to that social media post or response or whatever.

37:45

And the Lord just convicted me and said, no, you spend your waking minutes with me and you're going to sleep minutes with me.

37:53

And it really like, it really changed. I don't want to say it didn't, no, it did. It changed my attitude and my life in a good way.

38:01

Yeah. I think it's definitely important. You seek the kingdom first, right?

38:07

Right. And then all these things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's so true, man.

38:12

I mean, I don't know. There's times where I go through phases where I'm reading the

38:18

Bible at different times of the day. It depends on what's going on with life or whatever, but it is in that quietness of the morning when my baby's still asleep, my wife's still asleep, my stepdaughter's still asleep.

38:32

And it's just, just me and the word and, and just, you know, in Christ. And we're just, you know, commuting and I'm praying and it's like the

38:43

Holy Spirit is just moving me through the word and it's just, it's awesome, man. You know, right.

38:49

So, but yeah, yeah, for sure. Early mornings is one of the best times to meet God. It's great, man.

38:55

Like how it's quiet and everything's just kind of starting. There's something to that. I mean, I know Proverbs and Psalms both say, you know,

39:01

I rise early in the morning to meet you. And I'm paraphrasing, obviously. There's multiple Psalms and Proverbs about that.

39:07

And until you really understand that, I mean, even when I'm, you know, out in nature, when I'm hunting and stuff,

39:13

I've said that when I have to, when I'm forced to be up at four 30 in the morning, sitting in the dark by five 30 in the morning and just forced to see the sun come up and there's no phone and I'm in nature and it's just me and the

39:24

Lord and you're forced to have that couple hours with him that early in the morning. It's such a beautiful thing.

39:32

I don't know. It's like God designed it that way. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, man.

39:38

And then wrote it down in a book to let you know early in the morning, will you rise and meet me? There's plenty of times where Jesus goes off and prays, you know.

39:47

No, absolutely. I love it. So did you have anything else for us? No, I just had one more verse to maybe wrap it up.

39:55

Sure, let's do it. Romans 1, 17, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.

40:10

Ooh, I like it. Yeah. And that's a good one to wrap up on. Amen. Yeah, we pray for you guys out there listening too, that the righteous will live by faith.

40:18

And I know this has been on Jason's heart and mine as well. For any of those of you out there still maybe struggling with this pandemic, or with fear, or with depression, or any of those things, man, we just encourage you to get in the presence of the

40:35

Lord, delight yourself in the word. If there's anything we can do to help too, obviously reach out to us.

40:40

We always appreciate people who are reaching out to us on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube and all those places at Dead Men Walking Podcast.

40:49

We pray and love you guys just because you're part of our family if you're a believer.

40:55

Yeah. I mean, we are Christ's bride. We are the church. So we just wanted this episode to be an uplifting one, hopefully encouraging, just us discussing things in faith and the things that we're going through this year.

41:11

Jason, you got anything else for us as we... No, man. That was a fun time. All right, guys.