Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. Welcome to the channel, Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I've been wanting to do this episode for a long time.
Speaker 1: I didn't know if it was actually going to happen.
Speaker 1: And I want to do something on this podcast and
Speaker 1: i'll show you a little bit later that I've never
Speaker 1: done on any of my channels. And in a way,
Speaker 1: it's a bit risky. Some of you might get offended.
Speaker 1: My hope is that all of you stay for the
Speaker 1: whole thing, and that all of you are receptive to
Speaker 1: what I'm going to talk about. So bear with me.
Speaker 1: I know that's quite the intro I have with me today.
Speaker 1: A good friend, a such a genuine guy. This is
Speaker 1: the senior pastor to Celebration Church, which has several campuses
Speaker 1: in the Austin, Texas metroplex, and there's one in Italy
Speaker 1: and one in Africa's online and he's changed lives all
Speaker 1: across the world. I'm lucky to have him today. His
Speaker 1: name is Joe Champion. We met a terrible, terrible way
Speaker 1: that we met at my son's funeral. That's the first
Speaker 1: time I met Joe and the first time I saw
Speaker 1: his heart. Since then, we have become friends and you
Speaker 1: could see me on Sunday mornings on the front row
Speaker 1: of his congregation. I respect him his knowledge as a pastor,
Speaker 1: I respect his wisdom, and you can't punch holes in
Speaker 1: this guy. It's good to get the guy as solid
Speaker 1: and I think he's the perfect candidate to come sit
Speaker 1: here with me on this podcast and go through some
Speaker 1: life questions. And the guy has quite the rest. I mean,
Speaker 1: he grew up son of a football coach. He is
Speaker 1: one of three brothers, just like me. His other two
Speaker 1: brothers go off into the military, one as a former
Speaker 1: general and one is a former fighter pilot. And he
Speaker 1: is the black sheep of the family, if that term
Speaker 1: is appropriate when you become a pastor. But he has
Speaker 1: such an energy to him, such a the an ability
Speaker 1: to lead that you could you could see with all
Speaker 1: three brothers as he grew up and with a dad
Speaker 1: as a football coach, you could see how he fit
Speaker 1: right into that category, but used his calling in a
Speaker 1: very different way. This podcast, I'm grateful that it is
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Speaker 1: And I've led you into this, this curiosity of what
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about. And I've led you into
Speaker 1: me saying this is going to be something I've never done,
Speaker 1: and it might offend some of you. Hopefully you're curious.
Speaker 1: I want you to be curious. That's what I said it,
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm trying to clickbait you into listening,
Speaker 1: because I want you to go all the way to
Speaker 1: the end to hear what I have in store without
Speaker 1: further ado Welcome to the podcast. Yee mon Tis and
Speaker 1: long Line. I'm fool up and down go back Rangeyation.
Speaker 1: So you're cruising down I thirty five seventy miles an
Speaker 1: hour going south, heading from Georgetown, Texas, cruising almost a
Speaker 1: round rock right before the outlet mall, and you look
Speaker 1: over on your left and there's a big hill and
Speaker 1: there's a beautiful cross, a big white building, and I
Speaker 1: know a lot of you guys have seen this in
Speaker 1: Central Texas. I'm sitting next to the gentleman that is
Speaker 1: responsible for it, and then he will probably say that
Speaker 1: he is not responsible for it at all. Pastor Joe Champion,
Speaker 1: I've been looking forward to this day. I didn't know
Speaker 1: if I would ever actually get you booked on this podcast,
Speaker 1: but I'm so excited to have you and to tell
Speaker 1: a little bit of your story and to dig in
Speaker 1: a little bit to people's questions. I've had so many
Speaker 1: questions come into this podcast to people all over the world,
Speaker 1: asking life, love, God questions. It's gonna be nice to
Speaker 1: sit next to a brain as good as yours and
Speaker 1: a heart as full as yours to help me with
Speaker 1: some of this stuff. And I want to start with
Speaker 1: your story on the church that I just explained on
Speaker 1: I thirty five. It's an amazing story. I got my
Speaker 1: brother Tyler sitting in here. He hasn't heard it. Have
Speaker 1: you heard this, Parker? The story? Okay? Great, at least
Speaker 1: we have a two person audience. At least here you
Speaker 1: go tell us a little bit about where this church
Speaker 1: came from. Yeah, well, my dad was an NFL football
Speaker 1: coach and not raised in church and had zero clue
Speaker 1: about God and church and even the even the idea
Speaker 1: of being a pastor in our family would be the
Speaker 1: biggest waste of a God given talent. In fact, my
Speaker 1: family has said, you're gonna waste your God given talent
Speaker 1: on God. You're gonna do what? And that was when
Speaker 1: I came to Christ at LSU. And but it was
Speaker 1: in two thousand after leaving LSU, moved to New Orleans
Speaker 1: to go to seminary, thinking I was going to be
Speaker 1: a chaplain in the military, and then realized quickly that
Speaker 1: the chaplain see was going to be a pretty narrow platform.
Speaker 1: And then my wife and I we get married, and
Speaker 1: we pastor in Louisiana, in New Orleans and then in
Speaker 1: the home of Swamp people, pure part Louisiana for five years,
Speaker 1: and then from there to Baton Rouge, and then in
Speaker 1: two thousand. While we were there in Baton Rouge, I
Speaker 1: was traveling full time, but I began to sense for
Speaker 1: for about almost two years, from ninety eight to one day,
Speaker 1: I would go to a city and we would start
Speaker 1: a church and spend the rest of our life there.
Speaker 1: But I told God, I don't want to pick the
Speaker 1: city because I don't want to get there and when
Speaker 1: not if things get hard, I didn't want to. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to have the Lord say, well, you picked it,
Speaker 1: like in other words, you that was your choice, not mine.
Speaker 1: But so I said, Lord, I want to I want
Speaker 1: to go where you tell me to go, and I'll
Speaker 1: spend the rest of my life there and give me
Speaker 1: a put me in a city where it's wired for
Speaker 1: me and my story because we come from a wild,
Speaker 1: non spiritual family. And then now looking back twenty years later,
Speaker 1: here's Austin, in a very non spiritual world of Austin.
Speaker 1: It's very liberal, very different, very anti church. It's one
Speaker 1: of the most unchurch cities in America. Really, they call it.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the Seattle version. And about seven to
Speaker 1: ten percent of ten church. And I've always enjoyed talking
Speaker 1: to people who have no church background, no God background,
Speaker 1: no Christ, no buy I don't know nothing. And because
Speaker 1: that's where I came from. So in two thousand, the
Speaker 1: phrase it is Austin just on a Sunday morning, just
Speaker 1: came alive. Never been to Austin, never been, never even
Speaker 1: thought about being here, didn't know anybody from here. And
Speaker 1: you're in Louisiana and Louisiana live in the dream man Wow,
Speaker 1: eating wonderful food and of course having gone to LSU
Speaker 1: played football there, you know that was that's our mecca,
Speaker 1: you know, living in battles and all that. But move
Speaker 1: here with my wife and our three little boys at
Speaker 1: that time, and we start about a month later, just
Speaker 1: on a Sunday morning, we opened up the church in
Speaker 1: the round Rock Library downtown round Rock. We had fifty
Speaker 1: four people come that first Sunday, and about forty five
Speaker 1: of those people were from Louisiana that came over to
Speaker 1: be with me that Sunday morning to encourage us and
Speaker 1: help us set up the chairs for the For the
Speaker 1: eight people that weren't from New Orleans or from the
Speaker 1: Louisiana area, and the next week I think we had
Speaker 1: about ten people, you know, and it got down on
Speaker 1: a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night, I think we
Speaker 1: had as low as I don't know, four or five people.
Speaker 1: So you started at fifty something in there. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: had fifty four people, but frankly only about ten of
Speaker 1: those from Texas. And then we just started every week
Speaker 1: and we from a Wednesday Sunday Wednesday Sunday in the
Speaker 1: Round Rock Library and it grew to about eighty people.
Speaker 1: And then we went to the Wingate Hotel and then
Speaker 1: it grew to about one hundred and fifty. And then
Speaker 1: we got a little Pisa well actually an industrial plex.
Speaker 1: We rented six thousand square feet and in that six
Speaker 1: thousand square feet of an industrial plex building, it went
Speaker 1: from about two hundred to about two thousand people where
Speaker 1: we were just adding services. People just started showing up
Speaker 1: out of nowhere. We had no website. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was everything you would not tell. You would just say,
Speaker 1: this is how you don't do a church. But God
Speaker 1: was sending people and it was just crazy. And then uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we've been doing that for twenty years now. And then
Speaker 1: and then this piece of property. Yeah, here, let's talk
Speaker 1: about the property. Yeah. So I just said, on a
Speaker 1: Sunday morning, let's let's just believe to the church. I said,
Speaker 1: let's believe God for one hundred acres on I thirty five.
Speaker 1: And this couple came up and said, Pastor Joe, we're
Speaker 1: with you. When we heard you say one hundred acres
Speaker 1: on I thirty five, we believe with you. And I said,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. And even my wife said, why did you
Speaker 1: say that. That's the stupidest you said. I said on
Speaker 1: a Sunday morning. She said, that's the stupidest thing I've
Speaker 1: ever heard. We don't need one hundred acres on I
Speaker 1: thirty five. I said, I don't know why I said it,
Speaker 1: but I believe it, and I think we're going to
Speaker 1: get it. Well, anyway, this couple comes up and they said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're just going to pray with you about this.
Speaker 1: I said, great, thank you, because my wife is not
Speaker 1: praying with me about this. And so they came back
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks later and said, Paster Joe, we
Speaker 1: saw in a vision a church on this hill at
Speaker 1: the corner of I thirty five and Westinghouse Road, and
Speaker 1: I said, you did, like in a vision, like that's
Speaker 1: kind of weird and pizza and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And so they, I mean, they wouldn't let me go.
Speaker 1: They would not let me drop it. And they said,
Speaker 1: Pastor Joe, we're going to be on this it, We're
Speaker 1: going to be on this hill. And I said, that's great,
Speaker 1: God bless you. Well, then one day they said, we're
Speaker 1: going to knock on the door of this home and
Speaker 1: ask people who owns this property? And this guy said,
Speaker 1: who told you? And they said, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Who told us? Nothing? Nobody has told us anything. We're
Speaker 1: just from Celebration Church and that we just feel like
Speaker 1: this would be a great piece of property for a church.
Speaker 1: And our pastor's believing for one hundred acres on my
Speaker 1: thirty five and he goes, how do you know? Because
Speaker 1: it's an old farmhouse. Yep, an old farmhouse built in
Speaker 1: the eighteen eighties. And he goes, how do you know?
Speaker 1: And the story is this? He said, well, come on in.
Speaker 1: He said, here's the deal. He said, thirty six hours ago,
Speaker 1: this in this home, we had a prayer meeting with
Speaker 1: our family about what to do with this property because
Speaker 1: our father bought the proper one hundred and sixty five
Speaker 1: acres in nineteen forty two, and mister Barton, he said
Speaker 1: that was his father in law, dedicated the property to God.
Speaker 1: He died fourteen years ago, and he said, do not
Speaker 1: sell this property, and don't sell the bulk of the property.
Speaker 1: So the one hundred and ten acres, he said, the
Speaker 1: one hundred and ten acres is going to be for God,
Speaker 1: and one day there will be a church that will
Speaker 1: reach the world on this property. Do not sell it,
Speaker 1: don't make money for it. It's all for God. He
Speaker 1: died fourteen years ago. We have never talked about what
Speaker 1: to do with this property until thirty six hours ago.
Speaker 1: We got together and said, God show us what to
Speaker 1: do with this property. What church is the church? Who
Speaker 1: are we supposed to sell this property to, because it's
Speaker 1: going to be a blessing to them? And now you're
Speaker 1: telling me that God's to this couple. David said, you're
Speaker 1: telling me that the Lord spoke to you that there
Speaker 1: will be a church on this hill. My wife is
Speaker 1: at school. This is her property in conjunction with her brother.
Speaker 1: They're the owners of it. They'll be home, she'll be
Speaker 1: home from school couple hours and I get a phone
Speaker 1: call a couple hours later. This is a Thursday, and
Speaker 1: that was the sister who inherited the property with her brother,
Speaker 1: and she said, we'd like to meet with you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: So Friday, I met with the sister and the brother
Speaker 1: told him our story moved from Austin. We now have
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred two thousand people in our church. We're believing
Speaker 1: God for one hundred acres on I thirty five. And
Speaker 1: when I told the story, they said, we believe you're
Speaker 1: the church that our father saw in nineteen forty two
Speaker 1: that one day would be on this hill. And they
Speaker 1: sold us the property for two point two million, one
Speaker 1: hundred and ten acres, And now on that hill there
Speaker 1: are thousands of people that come Tim Tebow a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. That was kind of a big deal
Speaker 1: when Tim came to our church. And for those people
Speaker 1: that don't know this area, you say two million on
Speaker 1: I thirty five, Yeah, this is going for what a yeah,
Speaker 1: almost a million on the service road. Seven hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety thousand an acre now on I thirty five service road.
Speaker 1: So this is one hundred and fifty million dollar property
Speaker 1: that you got for two just in case anyone missed that.
Speaker 1: But the amazing thing is that nobody knew anything. And
Speaker 1: how literally out of my mouth came this hundred acres.
Speaker 1: This family believed it with me, even though they had
Speaker 1: more faith than I did. And then knocked on the
Speaker 1: door of this farmhouse and this guy said, how do
Speaker 1: you know because we told our family don't say anything
Speaker 1: to anybody. It just tells you the power of a
Speaker 1: couple things. Number one, that God is more in control
Speaker 1: than we realize, and then number two, the power of partnership.
Speaker 1: And how had it not been for mister Barton. I'm
Speaker 1: really just stepping into mister Barton's dream, Like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: came to Austin with a dream to build a church
Speaker 1: that would reach a lot of people and help people.
Speaker 1: But mister Barton saw that in nineteen forty two, way
Speaker 1: before I was born. And if we're faithful to just
Speaker 1: be where God wants us to be, get where we're
Speaker 1: supposed to be, He's already got the people and the
Speaker 1: provision prepared for us if we just are faithful. And
Speaker 1: I'm just a you know, you said, I'm not responsible
Speaker 1: for anything that's happening at Celebration Church. I'm just the
Speaker 1: the vessel like Joseph and Mary. You know, here we
Speaker 1: are coming up on Christmas time and they're just this
Speaker 1: couple that God said, Hey, I want to send my
Speaker 1: son to the world. Can I have your Can I
Speaker 1: have your life? You know, Mary? Can I have your womb?
Speaker 1: And they're like, okay, I think they were LSU grads.
Speaker 1: So so, do you consider yourself a mega church? And
Speaker 1: what does that term even mean? Only only mega in
Speaker 1: the form in the definition of what they have ascribed
Speaker 1: the definition of a mega church too, which is anything
Speaker 1: above two thousand people or twenty five hundred in regular
Speaker 1: attendants on that definition, Yeah, I guess you got to
Speaker 1: say we are just because of the numbers. But no,
Speaker 1: in the sense of what it denotes or what is
Speaker 1: a negative connotation. It's a one hundred percent negative connotation
Speaker 1: that you're a mega which means you're that church that
Speaker 1: nobody really gets to know anybody and there's not real
Speaker 1: relationship or accountability or connection. You're the You're the home
Speaker 1: depot versus an ACE Hardware, right because at least when
Speaker 1: I go to an ACE Hardware if I need one screw,
Speaker 1: if I need one washer, that dude is going to
Speaker 1: walk me to the aisle or walk me to that
Speaker 1: ben and give me that washer. If I go to
Speaker 1: a home depot, we can't even get help to buy
Speaker 1: a washing machine, much less a washer. So we have
Speaker 1: this thought of a megachurch being that home depot mega store.
Speaker 1: We did the baptism with Amber in London and celebration
Speaker 1: and then we released that video on our family vog
Speaker 1: Dismiths and I the reason I even said that is
Speaker 1: because I saw a comment that said, I didn't know
Speaker 1: you're a member of a megachurch. I had no idea. Basically,
Speaker 1: I didn't think you would stoop that low to join
Speaker 1: a megachurch, mister Granger Smith. And it's funny because you
Speaker 1: actually brought it up that same Sunday in your sermon
Speaker 1: and you talked about why would we not want to
Speaker 1: grow a congregation? Do you want do you want to
Speaker 1: have a seat available next to you every Sunday or
Speaker 1: do you want to fight for that seat because so
Speaker 1: many people want to come and hear the message that day.
Speaker 1: It's interesting that you brought that up, I say to people,
Speaker 1: because for us, it's been the hardest part about our
Speaker 1: church is the growth of our church, because there was
Speaker 1: the day when I knew every name and every phone
Speaker 1: number and made every event. I mean, I would go
Speaker 1: to kids ball games, and I would event make every
Speaker 1: kind of anniversary or birthday, and frankly, as do you
Speaker 1: have more people showing up, things change. But the reason
Speaker 1: why we grew was we've always attacked dysfunction. We've always
Speaker 1: tried to make sure that in our church we don't
Speaker 1: do drama. We're not a soap opera. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of churches don't grow because most or a lot
Speaker 1: of churches are more of drama filled. It's more of
Speaker 1: a soap opera, a lot of dysfunction, and therefore it
Speaker 1: stops growing. It'd be like your world. You don't have
Speaker 1: any problem doing an event with one hundred people, or
Speaker 1: five hundred people or a thousand people, but you've also
Speaker 1: done events with tens of thousands of people. It's not
Speaker 1: to say one's better than the other. They're different. But
Speaker 1: there's a reason why some people have a bigger platform
Speaker 1: or a bigger stadium, or a bigger congregation or a
Speaker 1: bigger concert than those that maybe are still doing coffee
Speaker 1: shops with fifteen people. It doesn't mean they're bad. It
Speaker 1: just means more people want to hear them song or
Speaker 1: the message. And I think for some megachurches, let's face it, yeah,
Speaker 1: you could probably say there are some ways and techniques
Speaker 1: that you could maybe insert the word compromise to get
Speaker 1: a bigger crowd, no question about that. Jesus said that
Speaker 1: there will be those types of ministries. He said that,
Speaker 1: And then there's others that you can say what you want,
Speaker 1: but gosh, they're really speaking and doing good yea, and
Speaker 1: they're not compromising, and there's just more people showing up.
Speaker 1: And what do you I've always said, what do I
Speaker 1: tell people? Do I say? What dysfunctional thing do we
Speaker 1: start doing so you won't come anymore? We don't do politics.
Speaker 1: We're not a politically charged church in the sense of
Speaker 1: in other words, we don't do these committees or we're
Speaker 1: not run like a board often a board run church
Speaker 1: where you have these various angles and agendas and whose
Speaker 1: families who we don't do. We just don't have that.
Speaker 1: We're just kind of like, yee, I'm looking at two
Speaker 1: brothers with you and man, y'all are just your struct
Speaker 1: for growth, your structured to move, your structure to go
Speaker 1: and there's people listening right now, going, Man, I just
Speaker 1: I like a small church. This guy, you know, this
Speaker 1: guy's good looking and tall and charismatic and ex football player.
Speaker 1: And how do you fight that stigma? How did you
Speaker 1: get past? Because because as long as I've known you,
Speaker 1: it hasn't been too long, it's been a couple of years.
Speaker 1: I can't poke holes on anything that you do, right well,
Speaker 1: I can't, And I'm just I'm impressed with you daily
Speaker 1: with the things that you say, but you do. You
Speaker 1: are a charismatic alpha with you come across as the
Speaker 1: person that you don't want to trust. There are people
Speaker 1: exactly I get that a lot. I hear that, like
Speaker 1: there's no way that guy up there on that platform.
Speaker 1: In fact, a couple of weeks ago I met actually
Speaker 1: he was a friend of mine that I had started
Speaker 1: playing golf with. We had had three or four rounds
Speaker 1: together and we were really like, Wow, I like this
Speaker 1: guy and he likes me. And we were playing golf
Speaker 1: and then we went to launch after and there's a
Speaker 1: room of about twenty guys in the room and I
Speaker 1: walked back in after washing my hands playing golf, and
Speaker 1: he goes, you're that MF for preacher, and I went,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? He goes, you're that MF
Speaker 1: for a preacher. I said, well, stop time out. You
Speaker 1: and I have been playing golf. Now, we've had four
Speaker 1: or five rounds. This has never come up. How am
Speaker 1: I all of a sudden an MF for preacher? Maybe
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say that on this podcast. But he goes,
Speaker 1: I did not know, Joe that when we were playing golf,
Speaker 1: that was you. Were the guy that I went to
Speaker 1: church with a couple of weeks ago. And I walked
Speaker 1: into the Sea of Humanity and all these people and
Speaker 1: I was watching this guy up on the platform and
Speaker 1: he goes. All I could see was this was a
Speaker 1: mega church, and he goes, I liked what was he said,
Speaker 1: but I just had my mind made up that this
Speaker 1: guy couldn't be real. And now here we are playing
Speaker 1: golf and I didn't realize that was you. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I went, so what are you? What are you saying?
Speaker 1: He goes, I can't believe that's the same guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a normal guy. Because I didn't like the church size.
Speaker 1: I wasn't used to that. But then yet I've grown
Speaker 1: to really like you. Yeah, And he goes, I'm conflicted, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because we do label people, sure, and we and so
Speaker 1: with that, you know what, I just you they did
Speaker 1: that to Jesus. They did that as he became famous,
Speaker 1: you know. They they were always saying, well, you're the
Speaker 1: Carpenter's son. How can you be all of a sudden
Speaker 1: now the son of God? And how we've known you
Speaker 1: since you were born? And who do you think you are?
Speaker 1: And frankly, that was it was a lot of It
Speaker 1: was jealousy that put him on that cross. Sure, that
Speaker 1: was the motivation of jealousy. You just have to keep going.
Speaker 1: And I always say, you know, having played, and I
Speaker 1: know you're an A and M guy. I'm an LSU guy.
Speaker 1: We're an SEC guy. I kind of like that. The
Speaker 1: South Eastern Conference has been kind of the They've been
Speaker 1: pretty good, you know, and people hate it and they
Speaker 1: hated and they don't like the idea that the SEC
Speaker 1: has won a lot of championships. I don't have. It's
Speaker 1: just part of I think in any world that in
Speaker 1: any man or any woman, or any organization that gets
Speaker 1: some level of success and some momentum, you're always going
Speaker 1: to have the haters that are just going to come
Speaker 1: out I mean right now, even in your own world.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've watched there's a meteoric rise with you,
Speaker 1: and there's going to be, you know, it's just I'm
Speaker 1: sure you've already heard it. Well member back in the day, sure, Granger.
Speaker 1: Now you're the big boy, and I don't know. And
Speaker 1: with the new people we meet, we hear all the
Speaker 1: time people say, Man, I just I just didn't know
Speaker 1: you'd be like normal guy? Right, What do you mean?
Speaker 1: What do you mean you didn think I'd be a
Speaker 1: normal guy. I just thought you'd be you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: being fake takes more energy than being real. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: hard to be fake. It's hard to put on their
Speaker 1: appearance and to put on that label and to just
Speaker 1: not be real. Being real is a lot easier than
Speaker 1: being being fake. I can't do fake because I'm from Louisiana.
Speaker 1: We have nothing to be proud about except food. Our food,
Speaker 1: and it's good. Most of the shows on you know,
Speaker 1: most of the reality shows are Louisiana motivated. They're Louisiana
Speaker 1: based because we're weird. We're just Louisiana listeners. My people,
Speaker 1: I'm from Dynasty. Now that we know you're real, let's
Speaker 1: answer some of their questions. You want to do that, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love to. We'll take a quick break and do that.
Speaker 1: As we take this break, I got to tell you that,
Speaker 1: no matter where you're thank you for listening. I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of different apps to listen to this podcast,
Speaker 1: whether it's YouTube or Spotify or Apple or whatever podcast
Speaker 1: app you're using. Thank you for being here. It is
Speaker 1: free to you to watch this, but it's not free
Speaker 1: for me to put it on put it on. So
Speaker 1: I'm very grateful to have some sponsors for this podcast.
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Speaker 1: production costs for you in this podcast back to pass
Speaker 1: your job. So I divided as some of these were
Speaker 1: coming in. I made a folder called God Questions, and
Speaker 1: I don't ever dig too deep in the question when
Speaker 1: I read it as it comes in as an email,
Speaker 1: because I want to be a little bit surprised by
Speaker 1: it when I read it on the podcast. But I
Speaker 1: do want to read the first one because the title
Speaker 1: the subject is God and our Existence and pain. It says,
Speaker 1: Hey Granger, it's Jenny in England. I love you and
Speaker 1: your family so much. There's something I'm battling with and
Speaker 1: I would love your help. I know you're a man
Speaker 1: of God and I want to know about your relationship
Speaker 1: with Him. I lost my mom at a young age,
Speaker 1: but before she passed, she was cheated on by my
Speaker 1: dad and it was all around very bad and all
Speaker 1: I remember is her praying for God and Jesus, and
Speaker 1: most importantly, she was praying for death. She was very
Speaker 1: ill with multiple sclerosis and my dad was cheating on
Speaker 1: her and all she wanted was release from the illness
Speaker 1: and a bad marriage. She couldn't get that through her
Speaker 1: prayer for many years, even though I prayed for her
Speaker 1: as well. It has now been ten years since she passed,
Speaker 1: and I'm unable to forgive my dad for all he
Speaker 1: put her through. I'm thirty five with my own life
Speaker 1: and family, but I can also not forgive God and
Speaker 1: Jesus for all that my mom had to go through
Speaker 1: before she passed. I'm wondering, how is it possible for
Speaker 1: me to have faith and believe in God after all
Speaker 1: that I have seen. I really want to believe, but
Speaker 1: at this moment, I'm finding it impossible. I know you've
Speaker 1: experienced a significant loss in your life. I just want
Speaker 1: to know how do you go how do you go on?
Speaker 1: How do you move forward and ignore all the bad things? Jenny? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And of course I'll brace your heart to hear that
Speaker 1: and to know that kind of pain is in the world, Yes,
Speaker 1: and it's all over the world. I know it is,
Speaker 1: and Jenny's is very specific because it's her pain, but
Speaker 1: then it's also a common problem. Yes, around the world.
Speaker 1: It's it's all over the world, but it's still her
Speaker 1: pain and it's personal. It's what Jesus said about this world.
Speaker 1: In this world, you will have pain. No one was
Speaker 1: more dogmatic or even more open about the pain in
Speaker 1: this world. This world is a it's not a riddle.
Speaker 1: Let me say to Jenny, the world is not a riddle.
Speaker 1: It's a war. And Jesus, as God in flesh, when
Speaker 1: he came and died on the cross for our sins
Speaker 1: to redeem us and was raised from the dead, did
Speaker 1: not And nor is he the gesture like he's sitting
Speaker 1: up in some booth or with God, the Father, God,
Speaker 1: the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, and they are throwing
Speaker 1: riddles at people and jesting with people and messing around
Speaker 1: with people. And oh, try this, and let me show you.
Speaker 1: Think you know what pain is, experience this problem or
Speaker 1: have this affair, and it doesn't work like that. We're
Speaker 1: in a We're in a fallen world. It is filled
Speaker 1: with pain, it is filled with tragedy. This is why
Speaker 1: we need a savior. This is why Christ suffered this
Speaker 1: is what he came to give us was the hope
Speaker 1: of good news. I say it like this, Before there
Speaker 1: is the hope of good news, or even the preaching
Speaker 1: of good news, there had to somebody has to make
Speaker 1: the news to preach. Christ first made the gospel. Before
Speaker 1: there was a gospel. There is no gospel except first
Speaker 1: Christ made the gospel, which is I have overcome the world. Well,
Speaker 1: what world is he talking about? Overcoming pain? Death? He
Speaker 1: keeps quoting John sixteen thirty three. In case you're wondering biblically,
Speaker 1: this is very you know more scripture than I do.
Speaker 1: And that thought is that it is paramount in why
Speaker 1: Christ came. Someone, in fact, a guy that the great
Speaker 1: Scottish theologian was asked about pain and this was written
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighteen during World War One where millions of
Speaker 1: people it changed the world that war, and most people
Speaker 1: died by disease, you know, and infection and dysentery and
Speaker 1: all that. And they said, this war is unsettling the
Speaker 1: faith of people in God, in a Father who is God,
Speaker 1: and a kingdom. It is taking the faith of people away.
Speaker 1: And he goes, Nay, he says, it's actually the opposite.
Speaker 1: I would be more disquieted in my soul if there
Speaker 1: wasn't a catastrophe based on the europe that we are
Speaker 1: in the form of walking away from God. He said,
Speaker 1: because of our choices, because of the world's choices. That
Speaker 1: is why we have catastrophic event. That's why we're having tragedy.
Speaker 1: That's why we have sickness and disease. This wasn't made.
Speaker 1: This world was not made to have this, but because
Speaker 1: of sin, it entered into the world. Sickness entered into
Speaker 1: the world. Death entered into the world, infidelity and adultery
Speaker 1: and everything with it. So he says, it's actually the sign.
Speaker 1: He goes, I would be more upset if this world
Speaker 1: was perfect without God, then there would be no need
Speaker 1: for a savior. There would be no God. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: the actually, he says, this is just the sign that
Speaker 1: we need a savior. This to me is actually encouraging
Speaker 1: that there is pain. Yeah, and it never gets better.
Speaker 1: Decades go by, centuries go by, and suffering doesn't decrease.
Speaker 1: We don't find a way to overcome it any better
Speaker 1: than we ever did thousands of years ago, even with
Speaker 1: our technology. This is my thought about evolution, and of
Speaker 1: course there's a lot of debate about it, but I
Speaker 1: don't understand if evolution was true, why are we not
Speaker 1: evolving into a better species. Why are we not kinder?
Speaker 1: Why why are we not more unified? Why is there racism?
Speaker 1: Why is there more racism? Why are there why are
Speaker 1: there more bombs? Why is there more uh? Bloodshed? Because
Speaker 1: man has a unique way of taking even technology and
Speaker 1: turning it into something worse Like that's just the sign
Speaker 1: that wherever sin is and sins in the world, and
Speaker 1: it's in our heart, and that's what Christ came to do,
Speaker 1: to take it out, to forgive us of it. A
Speaker 1: little sin leavens the whole lump. It just, it's just.
Speaker 1: And so to say to Jenny man it is. It
Speaker 1: is heartbreaking. But the good news is that this will
Speaker 1: not last forever because we have been There's three things
Speaker 1: that Jesus came to do on the cross for us,
Speaker 1: and I put it in a rhyming way. He came
Speaker 1: to claim, he came to reframe, and he came to rename, reclaim, reframe,
Speaker 1: and rename us. So he he claims us, We're not alone,
Speaker 1: you're not by yourself, You're not without a father. Number
Speaker 1: two he comes to reframe us, He changes our constitution,
Speaker 1: he makes us new. Behold, all things become new in
Speaker 1: his name. But then he names us like you are
Speaker 1: my child, you're you're my daughter, You're my family. And
Speaker 1: we all want a place called home. And that's what
Speaker 1: Christ offers us. He is our home, and that home
Speaker 1: has been secure. And he goes, Guys, I'm telling you
Speaker 1: this is real. I would tell you if it wasn't.
Speaker 1: And he goes, in my father's house, are many mansions,
Speaker 1: are many rooms, Be not troubled. Believe in God, Believe
Speaker 1: also in me. When he said that, believe in God,
Speaker 1: Believe also in me. Believe everything I've been telling you.
Speaker 1: This is real. And then of course he proved it
Speaker 1: by being raised from the dead. So pain, I would
Speaker 1: love for us to say we have enough faith to
Speaker 1: pain our or to faith our pain away never never, never.
Speaker 1: It's a misconception to think if I pray hard enough
Speaker 1: that in my lifetime all this will just go away, right,
Speaker 1: And and that's kind of what Jenny's saying with She's
Speaker 1: she's mad that her mother prayed, She watched her mother
Speaker 1: pray so hard for for the peace in her lifetime,
Speaker 1: and and she witnessed that her mother never got it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and her time on earth. Yeah, and if and of
Speaker 1: course it comes back to us personally, We've got to
Speaker 1: We've got to own what is the door or the key,
Speaker 1: and that is forgiveness, because when it does come down
Speaker 1: to it, we're gonna have to We're gonna have to forgive.
Speaker 1: She's gonna she's gonna have to forgive her father, she's
Speaker 1: gonna have to forgive God. She's gonna have to to
Speaker 1: forgive those that have hurt her, like we all do
Speaker 1: every day. We all could be offended every day, we
Speaker 1: could all be hurt, and we are every day. I
Speaker 1: have a reason to say to Laurie, my wife, after
Speaker 1: thirty years, and you don't love me like you should
Speaker 1: or you know, I want more of this so that
Speaker 1: I have to make a decision. You know what, As
Speaker 1: Jesus said, unforgiveness puts me in prison, it does imprison them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I have to just continue to trust in what
Speaker 1: he said. And as bad as it is, the day
Speaker 1: my dad died was the day that I gave my
Speaker 1: life to Christ. Through death became my doorway to the
Speaker 1: reality that God is real. It should have been the
Speaker 1: worst day of my life. It actually became the best
Speaker 1: day of my life because I believed in what Jesus
Speaker 1: said in his word. It's amazing how that happens. And Jenny,
Speaker 1: you say here, it's been ten year years since you
Speaker 1: passed and unable to forgive my dad. I'm thirty five
Speaker 1: with my own life and family. So right there, I'll
Speaker 1: stop you right there and say, look at the blessings
Speaker 1: that you've had now thirty five with your own life
Speaker 1: and family. And I don't want you to skip over that,
Speaker 1: to glaze over the fact that here you are and
Speaker 1: you're thinking back to another time when you're missing the
Speaker 1: moment that you're in. That could be the very very
Speaker 1: blessing that God has given you today right now, in
Speaker 1: this moment. Very good. It's tough that the forgiving God
Speaker 1: question comes up a lot, a lot, and I think
Speaker 1: the first step is gratefulness in the today, right now,
Speaker 1: in this moment that's right, and taking this moment, taking
Speaker 1: this day and choose ye this day. Do you believe
Speaker 1: that that God is good? Or do you believe that?
Speaker 1: First of all, do you believe in believe in God?
Speaker 1: And number two, do you believe He's or if he's bad.
Speaker 1: And it really does come down to a trust. You know,
Speaker 1: Christianity is not the work of sacrifice. It's trusting in
Speaker 1: the one who sacrifices for us. A lot of people think, Okay,
Speaker 1: when you're a Christian, you just have it's just a
Speaker 1: sacrificial life. I gotta sacrifice this. I No, it's putting
Speaker 1: your trust in the one who did the sacrificing for us.
Speaker 1: It's not getting or attempting to get victorious. It's you
Speaker 1: have the victory. The victory has been purchased. It's done,
Speaker 1: it's finished. Christ said on the Cross, it's done for you.
Speaker 1: I've forgiven you, I've forgiven the world, and he came
Speaker 1: for this reason to offer this good news. It's done,
Speaker 1: it's finished, it's yours, and it's frankly, just a it's
Speaker 1: a whisper, it's a thought away. You know. We can
Speaker 1: call it prayer, but prayer can be a whisper, it
Speaker 1: can be a thought, it can be a gesture. And
Speaker 1: he is good despite boy everything that we would attempt
Speaker 1: to say, He's not. In the midst of death, in
Speaker 1: the midst of our pain, in the midst of a
Speaker 1: crazy world gone wild. You know before there was Girls
Speaker 1: Gone Wild, there was a World Gone Wild. Now I've
Speaker 1: never seen that show, but I live it. Yeah, World
Speaker 1: Going Wild. Jitdy, we we're thinking about you today and
Speaker 1: thank you so much for writing in. And I hope
Speaker 1: that you could be grateful today right now, in this moment,
Speaker 1: with your family and your life. So sorry, we're all
Speaker 1: going to have suffering. It doesn't make it any easier
Speaker 1: to say that, but that's just the reality. Let's go
Speaker 1: to Let's go to another one here past to Joe.
Speaker 1: Here's one with the subject living and working in faith,
Speaker 1: says Hey, my name is Scott. I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Green Bay. It's difficult to live and
Speaker 1: work in faith, especially in my career field. I currently
Speaker 1: work as a correctional officer in the intake or booking
Speaker 1: section of a large county jail, which means I'm one
Speaker 1: of the first faces they see when they're arrested. We
Speaker 1: have our share of frequent flyers, so it's no surprise
Speaker 1: for them or us when they show up. We do
Speaker 1: have the individuals who have never been to jail or
Speaker 1: have charges that are shocking in nature. The latter is
Speaker 1: the most difficult ones to process simply because their charges
Speaker 1: make them less desirable humans and very hard to deal with.
Speaker 1: It's difficult to treat the individuals the same as someone else.
Speaker 1: You can't have your feelings affect your interactions. The level
Speaker 1: is high for alcoholism and divorce in this career field
Speaker 1: because many have very poor coping mechanisms, and when you
Speaker 1: need to rely on your faith to get you through
Speaker 1: the day. It's very hard in this career to keep
Speaker 1: the mindset when it comes to people and changes who
Speaker 1: you see like this in person, so when it gets
Speaker 1: dangerous and when you change but don't realize the change.
Speaker 1: I feel like being a musician, you could express your
Speaker 1: faith through song, but with my career you could express
Speaker 1: your faith through how you talk and interact with an
Speaker 1: individual and reserving your judgment for their wrongdoings, no matter
Speaker 1: how difficult it may be. How could I be better
Speaker 1: at this? Scott? Yeah, I would first of all shout out,
Speaker 1: as you said, the Green Bay my dad coach for
Speaker 1: the packers. Part of your problem is you live in
Speaker 1: a early cold cold. It's cold, it's it's hard for
Speaker 1: anybody's faith in the tundra. But when you're dealing with
Speaker 1: people like he is, and we do every week prison ministry.
Speaker 1: We're in nine locations, nine prisons, some federal, some county
Speaker 1: here in Texas, where we bring our church to a
Speaker 1: whole team of people set up church. And it's something
Speaker 1: that I say every week, especially for those that are
Speaker 1: watching within one of the nine correctional facilities, as God
Speaker 1: didn't give up on us, he doesn't give up on you,
Speaker 1: and that sometimes those that are insider prison are more
Speaker 1: free than those outside of prison. It's just a different bar,
Speaker 1: it's a different wall. And I say that on purpose
Speaker 1: every week, as you've heard me say it, because I
Speaker 1: want those that are sitting in that seat to never
Speaker 1: become so skeptical of people. Which the longer you live
Speaker 1: in life, the longer you're in parole or officer work,
Speaker 1: or especially jail work, prison reform or prison work, I
Speaker 1: get it, we work. I've been the chaplain of various
Speaker 1: police departments Austin and Georgetown, and when you're dealing with
Speaker 1: police officers like he is, and dealing with criminals every week,
Speaker 1: and the same ones over and over, it's very it's
Speaker 1: very likely that you're going to get jaded, You're going
Speaker 1: to get hard. And I see it. In ministry. I
Speaker 1: deal with people who week in week out, promise this,
Speaker 1: promise that, and go back to their old life, come back,
Speaker 1: and then go back. And Jesus made a statement he says,
Speaker 1: be harmless as a dove, wisest serpents and harmless as
Speaker 1: a dove. And I've always taken that to mean when
Speaker 1: you're dealing with people, you do have to have your
Speaker 1: eyes wide open. Back in the early day, when I
Speaker 1: was first a Christian or even especially as a pastor man,
Speaker 1: I believed every story. I believed everybody. I would go
Speaker 1: to any situation or any length to help that person.
Speaker 1: The podcast, Yeah, I would show up and go God
Speaker 1: of Cars, I'll be out there in the harvey. And
Speaker 1: then I get out here and it's all this is yo.
Speaker 1: Yo said ye no no, and I would. I had
Speaker 1: to learn through trials and UH and through being taken
Speaker 1: advantage of Joe. You don't. Faith doesn't say you're faith
Speaker 1: in Christ. Faith does not close your eyes and just
Speaker 1: you know, do this or go here. Faith is very wise,
Speaker 1: and I think the more faith you have, the more
Speaker 1: wise you becoming. Yeah, you can spot people a mile away,
Speaker 1: especially if you're in police work. You better, You better
Speaker 1: know those that you're walking with, and you're going to
Speaker 1: see those same criminals. And so there is this wisdom
Speaker 1: that you've got to be able to be business. I mean,
Speaker 1: he is he's hired to do the business of police
Speaker 1: work or prison work. But then that's harmless as a dove.
Speaker 1: In other words, what he's saying is stay sweet, stay kind,
Speaker 1: because I was sweet to you everything. Jesus always came
Speaker 1: back to say, was I forgave you. You're gonna have
Speaker 1: to forgive them. You are a cheater, and therefore I
Speaker 1: forgave you of your cheating. Therefore forgive those that have
Speaker 1: cheated or those that will cheat you. Every time Jesus
Speaker 1: came back and he said, listen, what did I do
Speaker 1: for you? How could you have a higher standard of
Speaker 1: other people than you do of yourself. So that balance
Speaker 1: of being wise, being smart, being sharp, being good at
Speaker 1: what you do, being business. As a pastor, I have
Speaker 1: to deal with people sometimes I said, I would love
Speaker 1: to tell you my own inclination or my own desire
Speaker 1: would be to say this, But I can't say that,
Speaker 1: because that's not what the truth is. The truth doesn't
Speaker 1: say that I'd love to be able to say, hey,
Speaker 1: you can go and have this and do that and
Speaker 1: you're all good. Everybody's just be happy and there'll be
Speaker 1: no consequences. I can't. I'm just gonna tell you there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of pain with that, so I
Speaker 1: have to come back and bring the business side. Jesus
Speaker 1: was full of grace and he was also full of truth.
Speaker 1: And that's that hard walk. How do you stay gracious
Speaker 1: to people but true? And that was the beauty of Jesus.
Speaker 1: When they said, John, what was Jesus like? He goes
Speaker 1: It was amazing. This guy was the nicest, kindest, loving,
Speaker 1: forgiving person you would ever want to meet. But he
Speaker 1: was true, like he'd knock your head off if you
Speaker 1: did wrong. And I say that proverbally. He would correct you,
Speaker 1: he would pierce you. He didn't let you get by
Speaker 1: with anything. And isn't that as a parent or right?
Speaker 1: That's we're trying to walk that same line, like I
Speaker 1: want my kids to love me. We have three boys,
Speaker 1: they're twenty eight, twenty four, and twenty and we have
Speaker 1: a great relationship as now they're men, and I try
Speaker 1: to be gracious and kind and loving like a father
Speaker 1: supposed to be. But at the same time, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna let them get away with Like the other day, Jackson.
Speaker 1: I was watching my youngest son. He's home for Christmas break,
Speaker 1: and he's just waist Jackson. Yeah, Jackson. He loves all
Speaker 1: things yee and you and the family here. And I
Speaker 1: watched Jackson way all day long. He's playing xboxes, he's
Speaker 1: home from college. And then his mom asked him to
Speaker 1: do one little thing. He goes, I don't have time
Speaker 1: for that. I went, whoa time out? Time out of
Speaker 1: time out? I said, let me just let's talk about
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you don't have time for your mom.
Speaker 1: Now you hope she has time to buy you a
Speaker 1: set of golf clubs for Christmas that are going to
Speaker 1: be pretty expensive. But you don't have time to do
Speaker 1: this one thing like hey, or you're home from college.
Speaker 1: You live on your own. You got your own dorm room,
Speaker 1: but this is not your dorm room. I need those
Speaker 1: shoes picked up. You're not going to just live like
Speaker 1: you do, yeah, on your own. So oh, wait a minute, dad,
Speaker 1: I thought I was home for break and no, yeah
Speaker 1: you are. But I told him, I said, act like
Speaker 1: you don't live here anymore. Pick up your junk. So
Speaker 1: it's a god is like that, and I think you
Speaker 1: have to deal with people like that. It's funny you
Speaker 1: you brought that up because I kind of thought my
Speaker 1: mind went to my kids, because I can't relate to you.
Speaker 1: Scott in your job, can imagine how difficult it must
Speaker 1: be dealing with these people. You're looking them in the
Speaker 1: eye and you know probably what they did. It was
Speaker 1: a terrible thing, and you want to just knock their
Speaker 1: head off. But it's I thought about my kids. It's
Speaker 1: the closest thing I think of is when they do
Speaker 1: something wrong, I do my best discipline if I take
Speaker 1: a breath, collect myself and keep anger out of it,
Speaker 1: keep keep my hostility out of it as a as
Speaker 1: a father, and look at it as the correctional side.
Speaker 1: Only use the wisdom and correct them calmly, collectively and decisively,
Speaker 1: and not an anger or retaliation like you might want
Speaker 1: to do when you see one of these guys. And
Speaker 1: I'm sorry if that's the closest relationship I can get
Speaker 1: to you, Scott is disciplining some young children, and you're
Speaker 1: looking at these hardened criminals. But I believe if you
Speaker 1: could take your anger as Pastor Joe said, Jesus would
Speaker 1: have done. Take the emotion and the anger and the hostility,
Speaker 1: not that Jesus had that, yeah, but take it out
Speaker 1: as your human self, yeah, and do the job. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Jesus was the same guy as we know, who loved
Speaker 1: the world. But he also made a whip, and he
Speaker 1: made a whip, and he drove out the money changers
Speaker 1: and overturned tables in the temple. But what's interesting is
Speaker 1: he made a whip. So he walks in and he
Speaker 1: sees what's going on. People were not able to worship
Speaker 1: God and connect to God because they were charging people
Speaker 1: and for their sacrifice and for their offerings and a
Speaker 1: rate that the average person couldn't worship God with it
Speaker 1: back as it was in that day. But he goes, guys,
Speaker 1: if I'm finished, if i'm if I start making a whip,
Speaker 1: and if you're doing what you're doing now, by the
Speaker 1: time I'm finished with this whip, y'all are gonna get whipped.
Speaker 1: He made a whip. So in other words, what he
Speaker 1: was saying is I'm in control. So in just about
Speaker 1: five minutes, you might say, oh, look at that guy,
Speaker 1: he's out of control. He's whipping people. He's overturning David.
Speaker 1: What kind of god is this? He would never do that.
Speaker 1: He's a loving god. Guys, I just want you to
Speaker 1: know I'm in complete control. And he starts braiding this
Speaker 1: whip and guess what they were still doing it when
Speaker 1: he was finished making the whip. And now judgment kicks in.
Speaker 1: Now discipline kicksin. I tell people in life, and it's
Speaker 1: like this, in every facet, we're free to roll on
Speaker 1: the rails. A train is free to roll as long
Speaker 1: as it's on the rails. Get off the rails. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be discipline. Guy breaks the rules, there's gonna be disciplined,
Speaker 1: There's gonna be punishment. But stay on the rails. And
Speaker 1: I would say to especially people that deal with people
Speaker 1: as intimate a setting as he does in especially police work.
Speaker 1: And I would say even to those that my be
Speaker 1: pastors and those that might be leaders in their church.
Speaker 1: We have a bunch of pastors to this, boy, can
Speaker 1: it get to where you don't like people anymore? And
Speaker 1: that's where you always got to come back to faith?
Speaker 1: And it's not faith in faith. I don't have faith
Speaker 1: in a thing. I don't have faith in a system.
Speaker 1: I don't have faith in a theology. I don't have
Speaker 1: faith in a concept. I have faith in Christ, and
Speaker 1: I have this relationship to this man Christ, Jesus, who
Speaker 1: was of course God, and he's inside of me, and
Speaker 1: my faith that faith makes me connect back to him. Okay,
Speaker 1: you're here, Lord, you're here. How have you handled me?
Speaker 1: I want to handle people the same way that you've
Speaker 1: handled me. And even as a father, I look back
Speaker 1: and go, where were my dad's best moments? And I
Speaker 1: try to emulate those best moments. And then I have
Speaker 1: some moments that my dad wasn't so successful, Like we
Speaker 1: all have our failures, and I don't want to I
Speaker 1: don't want to emulate that. I don't want to drop
Speaker 1: the ball in certain ways when it comes to our
Speaker 1: handling of people. But I would say in a big picture,
Speaker 1: when it comes down to it, boy, you can mess
Speaker 1: up in a lot of ways. But I have always said,
Speaker 1: the fastest way to get off of our team, the
Speaker 1: fastest way to be fired. At celebration, we have a
Speaker 1: staff of one hundred and twenty five people. The fastest
Speaker 1: way to be fired is be mean to people. I
Speaker 1: can work with you on other areas, we'll talk through
Speaker 1: some things. But boy, you're mean to people in the story.
Speaker 1: It's just and that's got to be Scott. That's got
Speaker 1: to be your thing is how do you balance doing
Speaker 1: your job and being mean because you don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: to be mean to do what you do. No, I
Speaker 1: hope that helps you. Thank you for your service, Scott.
Speaker 1: We we need find gentlemen like you out there. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break. I'm goingna come back and
Speaker 1: do something that I've never done on this podcast, and
Speaker 1: I've been thinking I should probably do it. I'll be
Speaker 1: right back. I thought I was gonna I was gonna
Speaker 1: try to get to a bunch questions, but you your
Speaker 1: answers are too good. So we'll have to do this
Speaker 1: again one day. Hey, God, willing in your schedule if
Speaker 1: it's flexible enough, you figure out something. I want to
Speaker 1: do something that these these listeners are from all over
Speaker 1: the world, all different walks of life. Some of them
Speaker 1: are from different religions, and some of them have no religions.
Speaker 1: Some of them are atheists. And I know this from
Speaker 1: questions and from social media interactions. What is this, Tyler?
Speaker 1: When does this podcast fall under category? Is it music.
Speaker 1: This is a music categorized podcast, and I want to
Speaker 1: do something here. And I'm no surprise Pastor Joe because
Speaker 1: this is right up his wheelhouse. But when I have
Speaker 1: him here, Jesus said that if you don't acknowledge me
Speaker 1: in public, and I have no reason to acknowledge you
Speaker 1: to the Father in public, right, And so I want
Speaker 1: to I want to offer you to give these people
Speaker 1: a prayer, an invitation to Christ. There's probably a lot
Speaker 1: of people that think it's very complicated and it takes
Speaker 1: a long time, but it doesn't. No, you could do
Speaker 1: it in three minutes. Absolutely, Billy Graham did it in
Speaker 1: three minutes every night. It's very simple. It becomes extremely complex,
Speaker 1: but it starts very simple. And I would like to
Speaker 1: offer up a moment of prayer with Pastor Joe. And
Speaker 1: before we do it, I want to give anybody an
Speaker 1: opportunity to hit the exit door on this podcast if
Speaker 1: they're thinking this is too much. This is I sign
Speaker 1: up for music and I'm gonna go ahead. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna give you a heads up so I
Speaker 1: don't surprise you. But those that are curious and want
Speaker 1: to hang out with us in this room. Right now.
Speaker 1: We'll end the podcast with this, so hang out, but
Speaker 1: I'm also giving you the exit door is open. This
Speaker 1: is going to be a an invitation to know Christ personally,
Speaker 1: the Prince of peace in a world of suffering, and
Speaker 1: he is. And before we do, I'll say this, most people,
Speaker 1: if they knew the true God, if they really knew
Speaker 1: who God was, and he came. The Bible says Christ
Speaker 1: explained God, he revealed God, he broke the mystery, if
Speaker 1: you will, He ended the question who is God? And
Speaker 1: Jesus came to express or to manifest Paul the apostle
Speaker 1: maybe one of the most religious people in all the
Speaker 1: world at that time, most learned. The dude was the man.
Speaker 1: And when he had that encounter on that road to
Speaker 1: Damascus and Acts nine, he goes, who are you? Who
Speaker 1: are you? God? Like God? What's your name? And of
Speaker 1: course Paul was the most learned religious man on the
Speaker 1: planet probably, and he was a rising star. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was the number one pick in church world, if
Speaker 1: you will, and he goes, I am Jesus whom you
Speaker 1: are persecuting. I think that's what rocked Paul's world more
Speaker 1: than anything else, was when he realized, whoa, I've been fighting.
Speaker 1: I've been thinking, I've been fighting for God, and I've
Speaker 1: been actually fighting against God because he was persecuting the church,
Speaker 1: killing Christians anyway, killing Christians, Yes, killing Christians, and not
Speaker 1: just that. Worse than that. Before he'd kill him, he
Speaker 1: said this, I caused them to blaspheme. So, in other words,
Speaker 1: before I killed him, I asked, in fact, I got
Speaker 1: them to deny Christ. So what are you saying is
Speaker 1: I didn't just have an effect on their earthly life.
Speaker 1: I had an effect on their eternal I got them
Speaker 1: to walk away from God. So Paul then has this
Speaker 1: encounter and he says, who are you? And he goes,
Speaker 1: I am Jesus. My name is Jesus. And he goes,
Speaker 1: what would you have me to do? Lord? And he says,
Speaker 1: go to the city where I tell you to go,
Speaker 1: and there I will tell you what to do. And
Speaker 1: we know the rest is history. Now, for those that
Speaker 1: struggle with God, probably your biggest struggle is probably a
Speaker 1: representative of God in the form of an experience with somebody,
Speaker 1: a Christian, a church pastor, a pastor. Yeah, believe me,
Speaker 1: they're out there and there's been some kind of reason
Speaker 1: that would cause you to be like that. Paul probably
Speaker 1: had his reasons why he was doing what he was
Speaker 1: doing until he said yes to Jesus, and when he did,
Speaker 1: his world was changed. You're not saying yes in this
Speaker 1: prayer to Christian Ristianity. You're saying yes to God. Christ
Speaker 1: did not come to set up a thing called Christianity.
Speaker 1: A lot of people think a religion a religion. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to come and offer another meat option on
Speaker 1: the buffet line at Babe's Chicken in the Dallas Metroplex.
Speaker 1: He didn't come to offer another option. He just said
Speaker 1: I am I Am the Way, the truth and life.
Speaker 1: So it's interesting the way offered the way, and it
Speaker 1: just is simply, if you'd like to ask Christ to
Speaker 1: be the lord of your life, you asked Christ to
Speaker 1: forgive you of your sins, which is what he came
Speaker 1: to offer. The biggest problem we all have is a
Speaker 1: sin problem. That's the problem in all of us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and none or too big, that's right. We've all even Scott,
Speaker 1: even the guys you looked in the eye in the
Speaker 1: in the prison, none of those were bad enough. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've all sinned. Yes, none are righteous, no, not one,
Speaker 1: but all of sinned. But Christ came to pay the ransom.
Speaker 1: We were all guilty, we all belong in jail, we
Speaker 1: all deserve judgment. But Christ said, I'll pay for your ransom.
Speaker 1: I'll pay to bail you out of eternal damnation, and
Speaker 1: I'll give you eternal life. All you have to simply
Speaker 1: do is is say yes to me, and I'd like
Speaker 1: to offer that prayer right now is as simple as
Speaker 1: right where you are. You can say this with your mouth,
Speaker 1: because the Bible says one has to confess Jesus with
Speaker 1: their mouth that he is Lord and he was raised
Speaker 1: from the dead, and believe in their heart Romans Chapter ten,
Speaker 1: Verses nine and ten. So it's both. It's believing in
Speaker 1: your heart, but it's also confession with your mouth, because
Speaker 1: that mouth is the gateway, it's a door. It's out
Speaker 1: of the heart speaks the mouth. We know that's to
Speaker 1: be the truth. So it's his simplest saying, Jesus, I
Speaker 1: ask you right now to forgive me my sins. I
Speaker 1: ask you right now to come into my heart. I
Speaker 1: confess that I have sinned. I confess that I need
Speaker 1: a say, and I believe in my heart that you
Speaker 1: are the Savior. You came to this world, and you
Speaker 1: walked among this world for thirty three years until you
Speaker 1: walked up that hill to a place called Galgatha, and
Speaker 1: you died on a cross. But then three days later
Speaker 1: you raise from the dead, and you prove that you
Speaker 1: were the Lamb of God that takes away my sin
Speaker 1: and the sin of the world. Take my life and
Speaker 1: my life now belongs to you, and say this out loud.
Speaker 1: I believe that I am your child through Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: and I will live forever because of Jesus and his
Speaker 1: blood that was shed. Thank you God. Beginning right now now,
Speaker 1: I have eternal life, and that's it so powerful. If
Speaker 1: you said that prayer with Pastor Joe, comment below because
Speaker 1: I would personally like to see if you're watching this
Speaker 1: on YouTube. I know you can't comment on Spotify, but
Speaker 1: comment below whatever platform you're using, I would love to
Speaker 1: see where you were. Hopefully, if you're driving a big
Speaker 1: truck right now on the open road, pull over before
Speaker 1: you comment, but I would love to hear if you
Speaker 1: if you said that prayer. Maybe you unsubscribed from this channel.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know, but I would love
Speaker 1: to get some feedback because it means a whole lot
Speaker 1: to me. It means a lot to me to know
Speaker 1: that this message was repeated, as Pastor Joe said, And Buddy,
Speaker 1: this was an honor. Well, we have watched your life.
Speaker 1: My sons are the biggest fans, always have been years
Speaker 1: ahead of you and I and our families meeting and
Speaker 1: even being connected together now UH through the church and
Speaker 1: through other circumstances. My boys have always been fans of
Speaker 1: what everything this company, your your life, your platform is about.
Speaker 1: And I I'm the biggest fan. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: watch all that's gonna happen for for eee and all
Speaker 1: things concerning the Smith family. Thanks for letting me be apart, Buddy,
Speaker 1: my pleasure. We'll see you soon maybe absolutely. I'm here
Speaker 1: for I almost forgot. UH tell everybody where they could
Speaker 1: watch you give your sermons every Sunday morning. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be in Central Texas, right, And I'm glad
Speaker 1: I just remember this. You could tell you could tell
Speaker 1: them where to watch it wherever you are in the world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's Celebration Church in Austin, Texas. So it's Celebration dot
Speaker 1: Church and UH our website. I think it's also a
Speaker 1: Celebration Church dot com, but it's in Austin, Texas. Or
Speaker 1: if you just type in Celebration Church Texas, there's a
Speaker 1: Celebration Church in Jacksonville. And there's several other Celebration churches
Speaker 1: out there. Some are connected to us, uh not necessarily
Speaker 1: under us or US under them, but there's just that
Speaker 1: name out there. So if you just type in Celebration
Speaker 1: Church TX or Texas dot com and I probably just
Speaker 1: gave you that five websites, right, but anyway, it's Celebration
Speaker 1: that's freaking out right, you'll find it faster. Job. I'm
Speaker 1: not a big technology guy. Just trust that you'll find us.
Speaker 1: We'll link it in the top of the description. To
Speaker 1: watch his sermons every Sunday is absolutely free of charge
Speaker 1: and super easy and you might even see me and
Speaker 1: Amber out there in the front row. Love you, Pastor Joe,
Speaker 1: thank you, I love you. See you guys. Thanks for
Speaker 1: joining me on the Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate all of you. Guys.
Speaker 1: You could help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes.
Speaker 1: If you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel, hit that
Speaker 1: little like button and notification spell so that you never
Speaker 1: miss anytime I upload a video. If you have a
Speaker 1: question for me that you would like me to answer,
Speaker 1: email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. Ye