Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome back to the podcast. I got you
Speaker 1: with me today. Oh yeah, I got my daughter in London.
Speaker 1: She's back. This is your second time. Everyone loved you.
Speaker 1: They were like crazy about you. They were like, this
Speaker 1: is She's the best question answer I've ever heard. So
Speaker 1: we brought you. Yes, we brought you back again.
Speaker 2: The comments not.
Speaker 1: Allowed to look at comments, I think mommy letchen.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So what we do is we answer your questions. You
Speaker 1: email podcast at grangersmith dot com and we'll put him
Speaker 1: in the queue. An man. Well, we'll get him ready
Speaker 1: for us, and we're gonna start right here. The subject
Speaker 1: is this is a lot. Okay, you ready for this?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: How are you doing? By the way, before we get
Speaker 1: into this, good thirteen years old? Like thirteen years and
Speaker 1: almost two months? Yeah, just rocking it. Yeah, looking at fourteen,
Speaker 1: you're ready for fourteen?
Speaker 2: Not yet?
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, you're just gonna enjoy thirteen as much as
Speaker 1: you can. Have a school going good? Yeah, are you
Speaker 1: been manipulated by the state?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: That's what? Probably? Now you're in a private school, so
Speaker 1: that's kind of impossible. You like school?
Speaker 2: Not really?
Speaker 1: What's your best subject? What does that mean?
Speaker 2: It's English language art. So it's like reading and writing.
Speaker 1: And stuff you like to read and write. Imagine that
Speaker 1: you know, Mama has a new book that she finished
Speaker 1: comes out. Do you know when it comes out? Summer
Speaker 1: of next year? Yeah, probably, or like end of next year.
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, I read it on the plane the
Speaker 1: other day. Her original manuscript. Has she accid it? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Bill, I want to read it when it's all done.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's probably good. First question comes from Riley. Hello,
Speaker 1: mister Smith. My name is Riley. I'm sixteen year old.
Speaker 1: I'm a boy from Cabot, Pennsylvania. Throughout the past few months,
Speaker 1: I've been trying to get closer to God. I was
Speaker 1: really doing good with reading my Bible going to church
Speaker 1: every Sunday. I get busy at work in school and
Speaker 1: had no motivation to go to church or read my Bible.
Speaker 1: Now I've been feeling a lot of sadness and regret
Speaker 1: for doing so, and I'm not sure how to find
Speaker 1: the motivation. Recently, I've had a lot of problems with
Speaker 1: my stepfather. We have arguments every time we talk, and
Speaker 1: it's been very bad recently. It's been like this the
Speaker 1: past few years. I get along great with my father
Speaker 1: and my stepmom. But it's hard with my step father.
Speaker 1: I have prayed a lot for my stepdad, but it
Speaker 1: never seemed to change. Is it possible for someone to
Speaker 1: be so far gone that they can't be saved? I
Speaker 1: know this is a lot. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1: Please come back to Butler. Pa. Do you kind of
Speaker 1: got Riley's story here? Yeah, it's a tough situation. Do
Speaker 1: you have friends that are in split families like this?
Speaker 1: It's always tough, isn't it to see it? And it
Speaker 1: seems like so many times there is a step one
Speaker 1: of the step mom or stepdad that there's the problem, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: in this case Riley's case, it's the step dad. So
Speaker 1: do you have any thoughts for Riley? Before? Before I
Speaker 1: jump into his question, I'll let you.
Speaker 2: I'll you go and then I'll go out.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'll start at the beginning. He said he's been
Speaker 1: trying to get closer to God. He was doing really well.
Speaker 1: He was reading his Bible, going to church every Sunday,
Speaker 1: and then he got busy at work in school, and
Speaker 1: now he has no motivation to go to church or
Speaker 1: read his Bible. And he's been feeling a lot of
Speaker 1: sadness and regret for doing this. So well, that's like
Speaker 1: the first part of this question. Then the step the
Speaker 1: stepdad's the second part. So what usually happens, and this
Speaker 1: is very normal, Riley. You're going through seasons and there
Speaker 1: are times when we feel very close to God, and
Speaker 1: there's times we feel further away. Sometimes the closest not always,
Speaker 1: but sometimes the closeness with God is through trials are suffering.
Speaker 1: People look back at the time you lost a loved one,
Speaker 1: say you lose a grandparent, and you look back on
Speaker 1: that season and you say, I was really sad that I
Speaker 1: was going through a lot, but I was really close
Speaker 1: to God. My prayers were really intimate, and I was
Speaker 1: constantly thinking about God and constantly crying out to Him.
Speaker 1: And so we see that in the Bible too, that
Speaker 1: people are closer to God and suffering. They're also closer
Speaker 1: in like times like I did a couple weeks ago
Speaker 1: when I went out to the desert and spent five
Speaker 1: days out there, fasting, reading, praying. No one was around,
Speaker 1: so I was intentional about it. So I felt really
Speaker 1: close to God there too. But here's the key feel.
Speaker 1: I felt close to God. I felt close and suffering.
Speaker 1: I felt close in the desert. That's how I feel.
Speaker 1: You think God moves closer or further away from his people, No,
Speaker 1: he doesn't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we meet, we moved closer further away.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, our perception of it. We don't really move.
Speaker 1: It's our perception. God's like the island and we're on
Speaker 1: a canoe around the island. I think I've said that
Speaker 1: on this podcast. And so we kind of float around
Speaker 1: the island, and he's the island. He doesn't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: He's always right there, and sometimes we can't see him
Speaker 1: because there's fog, But does that make him not there
Speaker 1: or further away? And sometimes it's a sunny day and
Speaker 1: we're just laying on the beach right there on the island,
Speaker 1: and we feel closer than ever, But that doesn't make
Speaker 1: him any further away when we're in the fog. So
Speaker 1: a lot of times it's just it's about how we feel.
Speaker 1: And that's what's going on with Riley, except for here's
Speaker 1: and then he adds another thing. He's also not reading
Speaker 1: his Bible and going to church every Sunday. So that's
Speaker 1: another thing. Reading your Bible and going to church every
Speaker 1: Sunday doesn't bring God in closer to you. It's the island, remember,
Speaker 1: but it does create fog if you're not there, because
Speaker 1: you're not around His people. And so many times we
Speaker 1: see God and we feel his presence, and through the
Speaker 1: gifts of his people, he's acting with human agency. That
Speaker 1: means God uses people many times to give his blessings,
Speaker 1: or to give his wisdom, or to give his warnings
Speaker 1: or his encouragement. He uses people. Hey, I don't think
Speaker 1: I don't think you should be doing that. That could
Speaker 1: be Godly wisdom coming through one of his people to you.
Speaker 1: Happens all the time in the Bible. Or I just
Speaker 1: want to tell you what a joy it is to
Speaker 1: be around you. You're so encouraging to me. That could
Speaker 1: be a godly wisdom coming, Godly encouragement coming from one
Speaker 1: of his people to you. And if you're away from
Speaker 1: His people, specifically the church, the gathering of people. By
Speaker 1: the way, that's what that word church means. Ecclesia, that
Speaker 1: means the gathering. The word church and so many times
Speaker 1: I say it on this podcast doesn't mean a building.
Speaker 1: Do you know at a maus where we go to church.
Speaker 1: You know what they say at the beginning when we
Speaker 1: get there, they say, welcome to this gathering of a
Speaker 1: mais church. Yeah, so it's not welcome to the church,
Speaker 1: thanks for walking into the church. It's welcome to this,
Speaker 1: to today's gathering of us, our body, the body of Christ.
Speaker 1: So when you're away from that, you're like a little
Speaker 1: sheep out on a hillside, away from the flock and
Speaker 1: away from the shepherd, and you're hungry, you're lonely, you
Speaker 1: could be sick, you could be in trouble, and the
Speaker 1: flock doesn't know, and the shepherd's not there. The shepherd
Speaker 1: meaning pastor, that's what that word means. Pastor means shepherd, right,
Speaker 1: So you don't have a shepherd, a pastor. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about lowercase B, not our lowercase s. Lowercase shepherd, not
Speaker 1: the shepherd. But you're the human pastor. That's part of
Speaker 1: your gathering in the flock. When you're away from that,
Speaker 1: you are you're lost sheep. And then he says he's
Speaker 1: also not been reading his Bible. The Bible is a
Speaker 1: word of God, that is God speaking. When you disconnect
Speaker 1: that once again, the island doesn't move away. But now
Speaker 1: the fog is thick. You can't hear him. You don't
Speaker 1: know what he's saying. And so that's exactly why he
Speaker 1: feels sad. He feels like he's further away talking about
Speaker 1: Riley here. So this is interesting to think about, what
Speaker 1: why why is Riley not finding motivation? He knows that
Speaker 1: I'm going to say this on the podcast. He knows
Speaker 1: that I would say, Riley, you got to be reading
Speaker 1: your Bible. You've got to be gathering with the body,
Speaker 1: which is the Church. You need to be with him
Speaker 1: on Sunday, you need to be with him during the
Speaker 1: week too. He knows I'm going to say that, But
Speaker 1: yet he says, I don't have motivation. Why does he
Speaker 1: not have motivation?
Speaker 2: I've heard some people say that, like sometimes going to
Speaker 2: church feels more like a chore than something that like
Speaker 2: you want to do. And and also, since he knows
Speaker 2: that this is going to be on the podcast, a
Speaker 2: lot of people, if he's talked to other people about it,
Speaker 2: will probably have told him, like, just go read your Bible,
Speaker 2: It'll be good for you, like all that stuff. But
Speaker 2: I know going to school is good for me, but
Speaker 2: I don't want to do it.
Speaker 1: Well, there's a key there's a key sentence that he
Speaker 1: said right here, and you kind of hinted at it.
Speaker 1: He says, I got busy at work in school and
Speaker 1: had no motivation to go to church or read my Bible.
Speaker 1: So there's a cause and an effect. The cause is
Speaker 1: I got busy at work in school. The effect now
Speaker 1: I'm not motivated to go to church or read my Bible.
Speaker 1: So that was the cause. The cause is getting busy
Speaker 1: with the world. And so what's happening. And the reason
Speaker 1: he has no motivation is because he's now he's in
Speaker 1: a crowd of people, and this is this is speaking
Speaker 1: to everyone. He's in a crowd and everyone is shouting.
Speaker 1: Imagine you and I we go to a train station, Nah,
Speaker 1: there's not one in Austin an airport. We go to
Speaker 1: an airport and it's time to fly, and you there
Speaker 1: is a There is hundreds of hundreds of people in
Speaker 1: this terminal, and you don't know where I am, and
Speaker 1: I don't know where you are. Let's let's let's say
Speaker 1: that again. You don't know where I am, but I
Speaker 1: know where you are. Let's put it in the perspective
Speaker 1: of God. I know where you are, you don't know
Speaker 1: where I am, and I call it to you. I
Speaker 1: say London, and everyone's talking, everyone's talking, talking, talk, and
Speaker 1: here you don't know, you can't here. It's distracting. I say, London,
Speaker 1: you can't hear. That's this is where Riley is right now.
Speaker 1: There are too many voices in the world speaking, and
Speaker 1: sometimes you have to shut the voices off. And when
Speaker 1: you get to a place where you say, I have
Speaker 1: no motivation, I am saddened by this. I don't want
Speaker 1: to go to church. I don't want to read my Bible.
Speaker 1: You should go. Why I what do I have right
Speaker 1: now in the world. That's an extra voice that I
Speaker 1: need to stop. I need to stop. And I promise
Speaker 1: you it's not work in school. There's more. There's more
Speaker 1: stuff if it's not just work in school, because everyone
Speaker 1: needs to work and every kid needs to go to school.
Speaker 1: So we're not saying rather you should skip school or
Speaker 1: you should not work. We're saying everyone, me included. Everyone
Speaker 1: has a job and they work and they find time.
Speaker 1: So there's other voices coming in. It's the in between stuff.
Speaker 1: It's the shows he's watching, the songs he's listening to.
Speaker 1: It's the text that he's sending, it's the things he's
Speaker 1: looking up. These are these extra voices. So now let's
Speaker 1: get to the second part of the question. And he's
Speaker 1: having trouble now. He said, life is coming at him hard.
Speaker 1: He's on the island in a canoe. The waves are crashing,
Speaker 1: and he's it's completely foggy, you can't see the island.
Speaker 1: And when that's going on, now he's has this stepfather problem.
Speaker 1: And the stepfather comes in and and and Riley's thinking,
Speaker 1: is it possible for someone? He says, is it possible
Speaker 1: for someone to be too far gone to be saved?
Speaker 2: How do you answer Riley on that too far gone
Speaker 2: to be saved?
Speaker 1: Or could any human be too far gone to be saved? No?
Speaker 2: But because that would just mean if you put it
Speaker 2: like how you're saying the island, that would just mean
Speaker 2: you're boat's drifting away, but you can drive it back.
Speaker 2: Like okay, if Paul he was soul before and he
Speaker 2: was killing Christians and that's a terrible thing. And then
Speaker 2: God came to him and he was like, how many
Speaker 2: books in the wild did he write?
Speaker 1: Thirteen? About three fourths of the New Testament. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if it is thirteen. I don't I'm not
Speaker 1: exactly sure. Maybe you know that.
Speaker 2: I think it is so I don't think anyone can
Speaker 2: be too far.
Speaker 1: Pause, pause what you said? Go back to the story.
Speaker 1: You said, Saul was killing Christians. Okay, then then start.
Speaker 2: Again, Saul was killing Christians.
Speaker 1: What do you mean, repeat what you said earlier? I
Speaker 1: want to I want to make you repeat what you
Speaker 1: said earlier.
Speaker 2: Saul was killing Christians and then God came to him.
Speaker 1: And you see what happened? What Saul was doing that?
Speaker 2: And then what God came to him?
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, what did what did Saul do in that scenario? Nothing?
Speaker 1: God came to him. So the answer is no, no
Speaker 1: one could be too far gone. No one could be
Speaker 1: too far gone. So it doesn't matter if you're if
Speaker 1: you're a murderer, a blasphemer, whatever you've done in your life,
Speaker 1: no one could be too far gone. Now, it's it's
Speaker 1: a human responsibility to avoid hardening of the heart, because
Speaker 1: because not believing always comes from as a result of
Speaker 1: hardening of the heart. And so you can go further
Speaker 1: and further, and God gives you up to your passions.
Speaker 1: The Book of Roman says, who's another Paul letter? God
Speaker 1: gives you up to your passions. So we want to
Speaker 1: avoid at all costs being given up to our passions.
Speaker 1: So we stop, we repent. We believe in Gospel. We
Speaker 1: believe that Jesus died for sins, and we trust Him
Speaker 1: for the total forgiveness of our sins, and we're saved
Speaker 1: by grace through faith. This is not anything that we've
Speaker 1: done right, and so we don't want to be hardened
Speaker 1: in that way. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: God is sovereign, and like you said, said, God came
Speaker 1: to him, so no, no one could be too far gone.
Speaker 1: I think that's it. I think that's a pretty good
Speaker 1: I think that's it for Riley Go. Another one said
Speaker 1: another one subject heartbreak, Hey Granger, how do you prepare
Speaker 1: for a heartbreak? A person just gave me a sign
Speaker 1: that could be bad, also could be nothing. I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to expect bad, but trying to prepare, asking myself
Speaker 1: how could I say what the person meant to me
Speaker 1: without breaking down? How I'd leave on happy terms. I've
Speaker 1: been praying every day to God, over fully trusting in
Speaker 1: his plan, giving him full control, and knowing everything is
Speaker 1: for the greater good. I've been diving into the word
Speaker 1: in my community. I'm struggling. I'm in the cab of
Speaker 1: a truck. Give it to me straight. I appreciate all
Speaker 1: you do. This comes from d Oregon, twenty three years old.
Speaker 1: You understand the question I think I do. I think
Speaker 1: I do. I think too.
Speaker 2: I just don't know what they said, so it's kind
Speaker 2: of hard.
Speaker 1: It's a girl, right, yeah, Okay, what's the name D.
Speaker 1: It's just like a nickname. Oh, I honestly don't know.
Speaker 1: Let's just say it's a girl just for the sake
Speaker 1: of conversation. Okay, So it's a girl, and I believe
Speaker 1: she is preparing for a heartbreak because her boyfriend gave
Speaker 1: a sign something, maybe said something, did something, didn't do something,
Speaker 1: and D is overthinking it and thinking this could be
Speaker 1: really bad or it could be nothing. But then that
Speaker 1: makes D kind of look at herself and think maybe
Speaker 1: I should prepare for the worst. And I don't think
Speaker 1: I could think about this person without breaking down. I'd loved.
Speaker 1: I don't know how i'd leave on happy terms. And
Speaker 1: then I'm praying to God that I would be fully
Speaker 1: trusting in his plan. It sounds like he's a worrier
Speaker 1: a little bit, and it sounds like the way that
Speaker 1: this is worded. I don't know a lot about it.
Speaker 1: So we're in the cab of the truck. I need
Speaker 1: to ask more questions. But I think this boyfriend has
Speaker 1: started to become an idol to D. There's a worship
Speaker 1: element here. I don't know how I could talk about
Speaker 1: this person without breaking down. I don't know how I
Speaker 1: could be happy. Really, it's what D's saying, I don't
Speaker 1: know how it could be happy away from this person.
Speaker 1: And then the very next sentence, I've been praying every
Speaker 1: day to God over fully, trusting in his plan, giving
Speaker 1: him full control. First of all, the God already has
Speaker 1: full control. That's an interesting thing to think about. It's like,
Speaker 1: I want to give God full control. God's like, oh,
Speaker 1: did you think you had any Did you think you
Speaker 1: had You thought you had controlled that you were going
Speaker 1: to give to me. I am God. We could read
Speaker 1: this in the Book of Job. Read the back half
Speaker 1: of the Book of Job. If anyone's wondering about this.
Speaker 1: God is certainly in full control and doesn't need us
Speaker 1: to give him any We don't have any and and
Speaker 1: so it's his world we're living in it. He's got
Speaker 1: the whole world in his hands. And he is not
Speaker 1: in our hands at all. D. A. Carson has written
Speaker 1: a lot about this. J. I. Packer has written a
Speaker 1: book called Knowing God that's just fantastic, but understanding who
Speaker 1: God is. God doesn't need any more control. He already
Speaker 1: has it all. So what what you mean? And I
Speaker 1: think D what you what you're saying is you're wanting
Speaker 1: to submit to his full control. Surrender maybe is the
Speaker 1: word to his full control. So what does D do?
Speaker 1: We think the boyfriend's an idol struggling with trusting God?
Speaker 1: What does D do?
Speaker 2: Does it in the Bible say you can't have two idols? Yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe talk to the boyfriend.
Speaker 1: I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 2: Just like just sort of ask them what's going on
Speaker 2: or if they meant what they said, and just tell
Speaker 2: them how you feel. And if they don't, if they
Speaker 2: don't like understand or if they don't yeah, I guess understand, then.
Speaker 1: I think that's a really good idea. Honesty, vulnerability, just
Speaker 1: open up, just say hey, I think I got a
Speaker 1: bad sign. It could be nothing, but did you mean this?
Speaker 1: And is this where this is going? And if the
Speaker 1: boyfriends may give them a chance to say, yeah, that
Speaker 1: was and then okay, well then I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: move on. The's asking how do you prepare for a heartbreak?
Speaker 1: You prepare for a heartbreak outside of marriage by not
Speaker 1: fully giving your heart, protecting your heart, protect your heart,
Speaker 1: d protect your heart at all costs. Protect it. How
Speaker 1: do you protect it? By not going too far? And
Speaker 1: so many different things emotionally, spiritually, physically, don't go too far,
Speaker 1: guard your heart, have tough conversations. So you know, I
Speaker 1: really like you, but this is I'm going to guard
Speaker 1: my heart in this situation. Don't go ahead.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I was thinking. This is actually happened to me
Speaker 2: before with a friend. And you don't have to give
Speaker 2: them one hundred percent, and you don't have to make
Speaker 2: them your number one because they'll take advantage of it.
Speaker 1: First of all, because you can't give they can't be
Speaker 1: number one. Yeah, that's God. And second of all, you
Speaker 1: can't give them one hundred percent because you're not married.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: A lot of times people approach me wanting to start
Speaker 1: their own business and they ask about EE Apparel, and
Speaker 1: they ask about the e commerce side of things and
Speaker 1: the website and how we do that, and I usually
Speaker 1: say it was very difficult. Before we used Shopify, Me
Speaker 1: and my brothers said, eee, there was a time when
Speaker 1: we had to build all that stuff ourselves with web
Speaker 1: designers so that you could go in and enter your
Speaker 1: credit card number and have a checkout place and add
Speaker 1: to KRT and all that stuff. We build it from scratch.
Speaker 1: It was difficult because there was always something wrong with it,
Speaker 1: or someone would have a problem, or their shopping cart
Speaker 1: wasn't working, or it didn't take their credit card or
Speaker 1: their address right, and we had to focus on that
Speaker 1: instead of the creative side. Now that doesn't happen anymore.
Speaker 1: We get to focus all on the creative side because
Speaker 1: we use Shopify. And it's not just us. Thousands of
Speaker 1: businesses use Shopify to take care of their customers and
Speaker 1: check out and you could do that too. Upgrade your
Speaker 1: business and get the same checkout we use with Shopify.
Speaker 1: Sign up for your one dollar per month trial period
Speaker 1: at shopify dot com slash granger all lowercase. Go to
Speaker 1: shopify dot com slash granger to upgrade your selling today
Speaker 1: shopify dot com slash Granger. Next question is very simple.
Speaker 1: It's Riley, but this is a different Riley. This is
Speaker 1: our y L e Y Riley from Montana sixteen years old,
Speaker 1: and Riley says, my question is how do I commit
Speaker 1: to Christ? Because I can't seem to do it? Also,
Speaker 1: how do I cut all the things that I find
Speaker 1: important that truly aren't important in the grand scheme of things?
Speaker 1: I appreciate it? Riley, that's a good, honest question for
Speaker 1: Riley from Montana. Where was the other Riley from do
Speaker 1: you remember Oregon? No? That was d do I don't know.
Speaker 1: This is the second Riley on the podcast. So do
Speaker 1: you have an answer? How do you commit to Christ?
Speaker 1: Because I'm trying so hard and I can't do it?
Speaker 1: You start, Okay, Yeah, let me start with the back
Speaker 1: half of the question. How do I cut all out
Speaker 1: all the things that I find important that truly aren't important.
Speaker 1: I think I think what you're saying, Riley is I've
Speaker 1: got a lot of stuff going on. I've got a
Speaker 1: lot of distractions. I got a lot of shiny things
Speaker 1: that I'm chasing, and I want to and I want
Speaker 1: to embrace the truth of the Gospel fully fully surrendered
Speaker 1: to Christ. I think that's what you're saying. And we
Speaker 1: have to be careful sometimes to get rid of the
Speaker 1: idea that it's up to us to give a certain
Speaker 1: percentage of ourselves to Christ. When Jesus says I want
Speaker 1: all of you, and we can't let it become a
Speaker 1: work that we work to give him all of us,
Speaker 1: because it's a surrender as it's the opposite of working,
Speaker 1: it's releasing. Right. So instead of how can I do
Speaker 1: more things? How can I read my Bible enough times
Speaker 1: or show up show up at church enough times to
Speaker 1: be fully committed, I want to be all in. Instead,
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit works through us when we release everything,
Speaker 1: and then the Holy Spirit fills us with the desire
Speaker 1: to read the Bible, fills us with the desire to
Speaker 1: have a meaningful relationship with the Church. It fills us
Speaker 1: with the desire to repent or turn away from our sin.
Speaker 1: And this is a lot for sixteen years old, but
Speaker 1: you're thirteen and so we could talk about it in
Speaker 1: this asp. Typically, when I see something like this, how
Speaker 1: do I commit to Christ? But I can't do it?
Speaker 1: I say, you can't do it. That's why Jesus did it.
Speaker 1: Christianity is not about doing. It's about It's not about
Speaker 1: what we do, it's about what Christ did. So once
Speaker 1: we once we understand once we have a right understanding
Speaker 1: of God incarnate, the son of God incarnate, God became flesh,
Speaker 1: the outward working of his word. When when God speaks
Speaker 1: creation into existence, he speaks with a word. And in
Speaker 1: John One, John says, in the beginning was the word,
Speaker 1: and the word was with God, and the word was God.
Speaker 1: The word became flesh. John says, So Jesus is the
Speaker 1: outward working of God himself, the triune God. Yahweh's the
Speaker 1: it's the outward working of God. Is Jesus came to
Speaker 1: earth as a baby. That idea we're closing in on
Speaker 1: Christmas time right now. I will never fully unpack God incarnate,
Speaker 1: God Emmanuel with us. God entered his own creation. And
Speaker 1: how did he do it? As a king as we
Speaker 1: know kings, no a baby and a manger, son of
Speaker 1: a carpenter, earthly son. He spoke a God that speaks
Speaker 1: life into existence, spoke with a a northern accent, Northern
Speaker 1: Judean accent. That just doesn't It's like would be like
Speaker 1: it would be like a world leader with a Georgia accent.
Speaker 1: It's like hard to it's hard for anyone to take
Speaker 1: that seriously. And they were like from Nazareth. I hear
Speaker 1: the way you guys talk, Man, you are from Nazareth.
Speaker 1: That would be like, where are you all from Georgia?
Speaker 1: Or it's hard to take you seriously. So everything that
Speaker 1: happened in the incarnation, meaning God became flesh was it
Speaker 1: came in it in a form of humility, like it's
Speaker 1: not about what you think it's about. So God comes
Speaker 1: in the flesh, and he lives a perfect life, sinless,
Speaker 1: sinless life. He goes to the cross and dies on
Speaker 1: the cross, taking on sins of the world, taking on
Speaker 1: the sins on his own body. And here's the This
Speaker 1: is called the Great Exchange. He takes your sin on
Speaker 1: his body on the cross, and you get you take
Speaker 1: his righteousness, you guys exchange. God in the Sun, in
Speaker 1: the person of the Sun, gives you, gives you his righteousness,
Speaker 1: and you give him your sin. And he takes your sin,
Speaker 1: and he says, I will remember it no more. He
Speaker 1: becomes the sacrifice, that the sacrificial lamb, the perfect, spotless
Speaker 1: lamb for all time. He takes it on himself and
Speaker 1: he says, I give you my righteousness. So now when
Speaker 1: God sees you, you're already you were imperfect. You're flawed
Speaker 1: in every way, sinful, rebellious. And now God looks at
Speaker 1: you and goes, I see perfect righteousness, not because you
Speaker 1: did it, not because you're trying to commit it to it,
Speaker 1: but because He did it on the cross and gave
Speaker 1: it to you. That is unbelievable. That's the gospel. And
Speaker 1: to embrace that. We believe with faith that that's what
Speaker 1: He did for us, and we trust that our sins
Speaker 1: are forgiven. And then the last part we repent, we
Speaker 1: turn away from Why would we live in a sin?
Speaker 1: Why would we live in any kind of sin knowing
Speaker 1: that Jesus took it on his own body. Why would
Speaker 1: we do that? We wouldn't. We said, I don't want
Speaker 1: that anymore. I don't want the sin that that was
Speaker 1: taken onto the body of my Lord. I don't want
Speaker 1: I don't want to be you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: any part of that anymore. That's the great exchange. It's
Speaker 1: called imputed righteousness. Now that's a big word. Have you
Speaker 1: heard that word imputed? His righteousness was imputed to you.
Speaker 1: This is this is the breakthrough that Martin Luther had.
Speaker 1: You know, Martin Luther, you studied Martin Luther. This is
Speaker 1: the breakthrough he had. He understood it was by faith.
Speaker 1: It was it was a gift through faith. It was
Speaker 1: not his righteousness. He couldn't do it. He couldn't be
Speaker 1: good enough for God, he couldn't be good enough for Heaven. Instead,
Speaker 1: it was a gift from Jesus on the cross for
Speaker 1: those who believe. So, Riley, if that takes root in
Speaker 1: your heart, if that gospel message takes a hold of you,
Speaker 1: and you could be like the thief on the cross
Speaker 1: next to Jesus and say, will you remember me when
Speaker 1: you go into your kingdom? And Jesus looked and said,
Speaker 1: today you will be with me in Paradise. It's like
Speaker 1: the old thing where that Alister Begg said, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite pastors, he did this thing and went viral.
Speaker 1: But he said he did this thing about the man
Speaker 1: on the middle cross. Have you heard that the man
Speaker 1: on the middle Cross. It's basically, you get to heaven
Speaker 1: and imagine this hypothetical situation and there's the Angel at
Speaker 1: the gates of heaven and you show up and he says,
Speaker 1: why should I let you in? And you say, it
Speaker 1: wasn't anything I've done, and the Angel says, do you
Speaker 1: know the doctrine of atonement, No, sir. Do you know
Speaker 1: the doctrine of election? No, sir. Do you know the
Speaker 1: doctrine of whatever could be anything? No? Sir? Then why
Speaker 1: are you here talking to the thief on the cross,
Speaker 1: the man on the middle cross that I could come?
Speaker 1: That's it. That's the gospel. The man on the middle
Speaker 1: cross so that I can come. He invited me, and
Speaker 1: the Angel says, come into paradise. That's faith, belief, repentance,
Speaker 1: all of it put into one. And Riley, that's you.
Speaker 1: How do I commit to Christ because I can't see
Speaker 1: him to do it? Stop doing it? Jesus already did it.
Speaker 1: Tyler has the next one. Tyler Cape says, Hey, mister Granger,
Speaker 1: I love your podcast. I'm sixteen years old. What is
Speaker 1: the deal? Oh my goodness, just because you're here, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: I didn't plan this. I love your podcast. I'm sixteen
Speaker 1: years old. I'm trying to figure out how to date
Speaker 1: the right way. Could you talk about this on one
Speaker 1: of your podcasts please? I am a leader at my
Speaker 1: school high school FCA, and we absolutely would love it
Speaker 1: if you come speak at one of our devotions. I
Speaker 1: understand you're very busy, but I just thought i'd ask,
Speaker 1: thanks so much. Tyler Cape trying to figure out how
Speaker 1: to date the right way? Can you help him? How
Speaker 1: do you date the right way?
Speaker 2: I have no idea because I have no experience, but
Speaker 2: I would say give God one hundred percent first, like you,
Speaker 2: like we were saying, find a godly woman, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good start. It's a good start. I
Speaker 1: think how they're finding finding a girl that loves Jesus.
Speaker 1: First of all, I think sixteen is too young to date.
Speaker 1: So we'll just say that likes nothing to do. You
Speaker 1: have nothing, no business dating at sixteen, there's nothing good
Speaker 1: to do. I didn't say. I didn't say you can't
Speaker 1: like a girl. It's like for you, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to say you can't like a boy. How that's impossible.
Speaker 1: That's like saying you can't breathe air until you're eighteen.
Speaker 1: Don't breathe air, London. It is impossible. You might, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Hopefully it'd be a while, but you might
Speaker 1: one day start liking a boy and I would never
Speaker 1: tell you can't like him. But dating is different. Dating
Speaker 1: is the is action. It's planning it's it's going, it's
Speaker 1: going steady exclusively. It's all that stuff that's that's unnecessary.
Speaker 1: It seems to necessary, but it's not. And the more
Speaker 1: you do it, the more it is necessary, because you
Speaker 1: start to get attached. At the very beginning, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't think we're going to date yet.
Speaker 1: I really like you, but I'm not going to take
Speaker 1: that next step into dating until you do that. Whenever
Speaker 1: you actually start dating, then you get addicted to it,
Speaker 1: and then you need it, and then one day it
Speaker 1: leads to two and three and ten fifty, and then
Speaker 1: months go by and you you need it. But right
Speaker 1: now you just say, hey, I'm gonna I'm not going
Speaker 1: to date. And then if you're saying how do I
Speaker 1: date the right way, eventually you're going to find a
Speaker 1: girl that loves Jesus and you're going to date with
Speaker 1: the intention to marry. Not casual dating, not sport dating,
Speaker 1: not dating because you're trying to learn about yourself or
Speaker 1: about the other person. You're dating with the intention to marry.
Speaker 1: If you're not ready to marry, don't start dating.
Speaker 2: Not dating just to say you're.
Speaker 1: Dating, especially that right you know that, Yeah, So there are.
Speaker 1: It's pretty distinct. You say, you know, I'm in a
Speaker 1: position to get married. Like Brianna was pretty young, your friend,
Speaker 1: my friend, and they're families, dear friends of ours, both
Speaker 1: sides of the family, both you know, husband and wife.
Speaker 1: They got married. She's super young, eighteen now super young.
Speaker 1: But they were they were dating with the intention to marry.
Speaker 1: They weren't like, hey, let's just see how this goes
Speaker 1: for a while.
Speaker 2: They always talked about getting married.
Speaker 1: Yeah, with dating with the intention to marry. So I think, Tyler,
Speaker 1: I would think, if you can get those things right, wait,
Speaker 1: find a girl that loves Jesus and dated with the
Speaker 1: intention to marry her. That would be the right way.
Speaker 1: And you save yourself physically completely until marriage. That's the
Speaker 1: right way. I had another one. Okay, this is interesting.
Speaker 1: The subject says no desire for marriage, dear granger. When
Speaker 1: I was in college, my parents got divorced and it
Speaker 1: was not a clean breakup. It took years and it
Speaker 1: made me and my three siblings miserable. My last relationship
Speaker 1: was when I was in college, and it was terrible
Speaker 1: to me, emotionally abusive and controlling. I've developed a misindependent
Speaker 1: lifestyle I take myself on dates, I go to church alone.
Speaker 1: I enjoy doing what I can when I want. Between
Speaker 1: a negative example of a marriage and being single for
Speaker 1: almost ten years now, how could I have any desire
Speaker 1: to get married. I'm also twenty nine, and so my
Speaker 1: time is running out, thanks Courtney. First of all, Courtney,
Speaker 1: twenty nine.
Speaker 2: Is not two times not running.
Speaker 1: Your time's not running out. So there's that. But there's
Speaker 1: this idea that you know, all your friends are now
Speaker 1: married and you got little baby, they all have babies,
Speaker 1: and because they got married at twenty five, twenty six
Speaker 1: and you're twenty nine, you're like, this is way too late.
Speaker 1: So it's not the the negative example of marriage and
Speaker 1: your family. You're gonna have to beat that. That's there's
Speaker 1: no there's no other way to say it. Besides, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to break that generational curse. You're gonna have
Speaker 1: to say that happened to me, but it's not happening
Speaker 1: to me currently, and I will break that curse and
Speaker 1: that's not gonna happen to me. I'm gonna date to
Speaker 1: to I'm gonna date to marry, and I'm gonna marry
Speaker 1: for life and until death do us part and sickness
Speaker 1: and health. That's that's the way that the old Anglican
Speaker 1: Prayer Book said, and that's the way I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: it till till death do us part and make that decision.
Speaker 1: And today in this world, we don't make decisions like that.
Speaker 1: We base our we base marriage, like anything else, on
Speaker 1: what makes us happy. I'm going to marry until it
Speaker 1: doesn't make me happy anymore. Then I'm gonna get out.
Speaker 1: And no one says that in a vow.
Speaker 2: No one says un till I don't feel like it anymore.
Speaker 1: Doing this part, Yeah, till I don't feel like it anymore,
Speaker 1: till you stop making me happy anymore, and then we
Speaker 1: might get a divorce. No one says that in the
Speaker 1: wedding vow. But that's what they do. That's how people
Speaker 1: live their lives. They live their lives with what makes
Speaker 1: them happy, and marriage is no different. And so misindependent Courtney,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to understand that that when it comes
Speaker 1: to dating to marry, and when you finally do get married,
Speaker 1: and I think you probably will, then it's for life
Speaker 1: and you're not gonna You're not get a divorce like
Speaker 1: your parents did. How do you do that. You make
Speaker 1: a decision that even through tough times, through rough arguments,
Speaker 1: through financial problems, through sickness, through any amount of problems,
Speaker 1: you're going to stick it out and you're going to
Speaker 1: find somebody that agrees and goes, yeah, we're gonna stick
Speaker 1: it out together. It's not always going to be easy.
Speaker 1: Sometimes its gonna be tough. Sometimes I'm going to be
Speaker 1: really mad at you, but we're going to stick it out.
Speaker 1: Because marriage is for life. That's the way God intended,
Speaker 1: and marriage is sacred. That's what God intended. And marriage
Speaker 1: is a government covenant under God. That's what he intended.
Speaker 1: That's a sacred covenant. So we don't break it. So
Speaker 1: you make that kind of decision, Courtney, that's something. If
Speaker 1: you figure that out, now, that's great. You don't meet,
Speaker 1: you don't meet somebody, and then later decide that's maybe
Speaker 1: something that you want to do. You go, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to even date at twenty nine until I find
Speaker 1: somebody where I go I would make this kind of
Speaker 1: commitment to them for life. And then you also decide
Speaker 1: that maybe if I don't find that someone, I just
Speaker 1: won't get married. I don't think that's gonna happen, But
Speaker 1: you go, I would be fine if I don't get
Speaker 1: married instead of getting in something without making a full commitment.
Speaker 1: Now take what I just said lightly, because, like I said,
Speaker 1: I think you will, and I think there's something at
Speaker 1: some level you need to step into the world and
Speaker 1: find a husband. Thin You got to make yourself available.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying go hide in the corner and disappear.
Speaker 1: So what do you say to miss independent?
Speaker 2: Miss independent?
Speaker 1: She goes to church alone, she takes herself on dates.
Speaker 2: I think that's good, and I think that you just
Speaker 2: need to wait and be patient because God has a
Speaker 2: plan in his His plan is perfect for you and
Speaker 2: just how he intended it to be, and he's going
Speaker 2: to bring that guy along. He's going to bring that
Speaker 2: lucky guy along, and y'all will get married in his time.
Speaker 1: Perfect well said. And I think Courtney, to wrap this up,
Speaker 1: you say, you say, basically you're saying I don't have
Speaker 1: a desire to get married. That's basically what you're saying
Speaker 1: at the end, I don't have a desire to get married.
Speaker 1: And I say, why would you. You haven't met him yet,
Speaker 1: But when you meet him, you'll go, oh, that's funny.
Speaker 1: I suddenly have a desire to get married because you
Speaker 1: met the one that you desire to marry. I think
Speaker 1: it's as easy as that. So to not have a
Speaker 1: desire before you've met him. I think that's totally normal.
Speaker 1: Your history being single for ten years change the generational curse.
Speaker 1: And if you find a guy for the right reasons
Speaker 1: and make that commitment, that desire will create itself and
Speaker 1: you will desire to get married. Thank you for being here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go. Of course, we're gonna go eat dinner,
Speaker 1: which I'm excited about. We'll see you next Monday. Ye.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate
Speaker 1: all of you guys. You could help me out by
Speaker 1: rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe
Speaker 1: to this channel, hit that little like button and notification
Speaker 1: spell so that you never miss anytime I upload a video.
Speaker 2: YII