Speaker 1: Do not be afraid of society. We raised children up
Speaker 1: in this society for times like this. Hey, everybody, welcome
Speaker 1: to the podcast, episode one eighty seven. Glad you're here.
Speaker 1: Happy Monday if you're listening in real time. And we
Speaker 1: do these every single Monday, and I'm so thankful for
Speaker 1: this platform for you guys coming on and watching and
Speaker 1: listening wherever you're coming from. And I want to tell
Speaker 1: you a little update on Bernie, who was our guest
Speaker 1: last episode, who was saying he was going to go
Speaker 1: run this crazy thirty mile altering, crazy man running thing.
Speaker 1: He lived, He survived. Everything's good, He's doing great, and
Speaker 1: he finished that was his goal. So I had some
Speaker 1: people in a meet and greet say, hey, whatever happened
Speaker 1: with Bernie? Is he okay? Yeah, he did great, And
Speaker 1: so I'm here to report all good on the Bernie front.
Speaker 1: And what I do here on this podcast is I
Speaker 1: answer your questions and you email me Granger Smith Podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com, and we walk through these like
Speaker 1: we're just sitting in the cab of a truck and
Speaker 1: you have a question. You say, hey, man, can I
Speaker 1: run something by you? I got a question for you,
Speaker 1: and we talk it out in the podcast form allows
Speaker 1: me to talk slowly and think through it and answer
Speaker 1: like I would if you were sitting with me as
Speaker 1: a friend. Now. The key is I don't have notes
Speaker 1: in front of me, or books or quotes, and in fact,
Speaker 1: I haven't even read these questions, so this is the
Speaker 1: first time I hear the question as I react to
Speaker 1: them as you hear them. Okay. Also been talking the
Speaker 1: last few weeks about possibly taking this podcast on the road,
Speaker 1: doing a live recording of the podcast in your city.
Speaker 1: So comment below. If this is a platform that you
Speaker 1: can comment on like YouTube, comment or go to my
Speaker 1: social media. If it's not a platform you comment on
Speaker 1: and go to my latest post on any of the
Speaker 1: social media and just say, hey, man, I would love
Speaker 1: for you to take the podcast to my city, take
Speaker 1: a tour, and then we could have a live audience
Speaker 1: as we record. We could answer questions from the live
Speaker 1: audience in real time, and then have a meet and
Speaker 1: greet and talk to everyone afterward, and then maybe go
Speaker 1: over some stuff in person with you live in your city.
Speaker 1: What I need to know from you, guys is what
Speaker 1: city and what venue. I have no idea. I've been
Speaker 1: doing music for twenty four years touring, and I don't
Speaker 1: know what it looks like to do a podcast tour.
Speaker 1: So you got a venue idea, or at least just
Speaker 1: a city that'll give us a good plan. Or we
Speaker 1: could look at a map of the US and go,
Speaker 1: all right, we need to hit these cities because they're
Speaker 1: within driving distance of these towns, these regions. Okay, so
Speaker 1: live podcast tour. I think that'd be really cool. And
Speaker 1: then leading up to that will be the book, my
Speaker 1: first book, Like a River, coming out August first. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited for that. I'm starting to read the audiobook.
Speaker 1: Actually today, I'm going to start recording that so you
Speaker 1: can get that and the copy of the book, and
Speaker 1: that'll be just a great conversation starter to a lot
Speaker 1: of these questions that we have writer on this podcast.
Speaker 1: Enough about me, let's flip the mirror over to you,
Speaker 1: pull out the email here, and I'm going to go
Speaker 1: randomly and see what we find you guys. Ready, first
Speaker 1: question that pops up here says subdecline, how do I
Speaker 1: communicate the want of attention? Hey, Grander, been a fan
Speaker 1: of you and your podcast for a few months now.
Speaker 1: I've been listening to them every night before bed. I'd
Speaker 1: like to stay anonymous. My question to you is this,
Speaker 1: how do I tell my girlfriend that the amount of
Speaker 1: attention she gives me isn't what I'm used to compared
Speaker 1: to the past and what I prefer. I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm the one making the effort to ask her about
Speaker 1: her and how she's feeling, and overall, I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm committing seventy five percent of this relationship effort. Everything
Speaker 1: is fine in person, but I just don't know how
Speaker 1: to bring up this conversation without the fear of upsetting
Speaker 1: her or killing the mood. You've helped me give my
Speaker 1: life to Christ and to trust his process day by day,
Speaker 1: and I am forever thankful. Thank you, God blessed. Okay Anonymous,
Speaker 1: thank you for the email, brother, and let's walk through this.
Speaker 1: You are feeling it. You're giving everything you have to
Speaker 1: this relationship. Seventy five percent is what you say to
Speaker 1: this relationship. You're getting hardly anything back. And what you
Speaker 1: mean by that is you want someone to ask you
Speaker 1: about your day and to pour into you and ask
Speaker 1: you how you're feeling and talk. Oh buddy, oh buddy,
Speaker 1: I'm hesitant to tell you that. Okay, let me reiterate
Speaker 1: what this podcast is. Okay, this is not therapy, this
Speaker 1: is not counseling. This is not a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
Speaker 1: I am telling you. I'm gonna tell you things to
Speaker 1: all these questions, as a friend would say, Okay, so
Speaker 1: there's the difference. I'm not a psychologist. I'm a friend
Speaker 1: of yours. That's two different answers. Okay, a psychologist is
Speaker 1: going to go deep into these feelings and the reason
Speaker 1: she's not giving them, and maybe the underlying ways for
Speaker 1: you to be able to and on and on. But
Speaker 1: as a friend, I'm gonna say this, brother, I don't
Speaker 1: think this is the right girl for you, and I
Speaker 1: think it's the wrong girl. I think the problem is
Speaker 1: this is the wrong girl for you. You could probably
Speaker 1: force this to work. You could probably you know, do
Speaker 1: the square peg in the round hole for a while.
Speaker 1: But some girls and some guys are just not talkers.
Speaker 1: They're not people that ask about other people's feelings. And
Speaker 1: they don't. It's just not something it's not in their wheelhouse, right,
Speaker 1: It's just not something they do. It's not something they
Speaker 1: get home from work and they go to dinner and
Speaker 1: they just cannot wait to hear all about your day.
Speaker 1: But the good news is some girls are and so
Speaker 1: I believe, I know that there are girls out there
Speaker 1: that would be compatible with you in this but it
Speaker 1: feels like this one's not. Now Whise it's so difficult.
Speaker 1: Why do I say, I hesitate to say, because you
Speaker 1: probably love her, and you probably have a connection, and
Speaker 1: you're in deep on this relationship, and that makes it tough.
Speaker 1: It makes it tough, man. But when you're sitting here
Speaker 1: saying I feel like I'm the one always making the
Speaker 1: effort to ask her about her day and how she's feeling,
Speaker 1: and overall, I feel like I'm committing seven five percent
Speaker 1: of this relationship's effort. I think when you say it
Speaker 1: that way, you're saying, I wish this leopard didn't have spots.
Speaker 1: And my old drummer Mike used to always tell me
Speaker 1: a leopard is always gonna have spots. You can't get
Speaker 1: rid of them. And it's so true, and it's just
Speaker 1: not a bad thing for her. I'm not saying she's
Speaker 1: a bad girl. I'm just saying she's a leopard with
Speaker 1: spots and you can't try to wipe them off. That's
Speaker 1: just who she is, and you're you're asking for things
Speaker 1: that it's very difficult. If you were married, listen to this,
Speaker 1: if you're married for ten years, fifteen years, twenty years,
Speaker 1: I would say, Okay, let's work through this. Let's work
Speaker 1: through this. Let's try to find a way that you're
Speaker 1: compatible with her personality in this way that you guys
Speaker 1: stay together and you become close friends and lovers and spouses.
Speaker 1: But that's not your story. This is just your girlfriend.
Speaker 1: I don't mean to minimize it by saying just your girlfriend.
Speaker 1: I know you love her, or you wouldn't have emailed me,
Speaker 1: But I'm saying there's a way out now, And I'm
Speaker 1: saying you if you'd go down this path, which you
Speaker 1: can and you might, You're you're you're looking at a
Speaker 1: tough road. It's not gonna get easier. You might have
Speaker 1: some seasons you go through where she's a little bit
Speaker 1: better at asking you about your feelings, but then she's
Speaker 1: going to go back to her leopard spots, because that's
Speaker 1: just who she is, that's her DNA. She's she's gonna
Speaker 1: end up great with a guy that doesn't need to
Speaker 1: talk about his feelings or his day. She's going to
Speaker 1: be more compatible with that guy. Okay, I know this
Speaker 1: is not the advice she wanted. It's probably not what
Speaker 1: you wanted to hear. But as a friend and not
Speaker 1: a psychiatrist and not a marriage counselor because you're not married,
Speaker 1: I say, I think it's I think this is the
Speaker 1: wrong girl for you. Next question, subject Cline says interesting
Speaker 1: says dying while intoxicated. Hey, grangel, my question is if
Speaker 1: you are born again, If you are a born again
Speaker 1: Christian but happen to drink alcohol to the point that
Speaker 1: you're intoxicated, and then something happens and you die, will
Speaker 1: you go to heaven? By the way, love the podcast
Speaker 1: and your music and your YouTube channels. Keep out the
Speaker 1: good work. Evelyn from California. Evelyn, thank you for emailing
Speaker 1: and the answer to your question simple. The answer is yes,
Speaker 1: you will go to heaven. Next question, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: What if I did the next No, let me explain
Speaker 1: the answers. Yes, but let me explain it's yes because
Speaker 1: you qualified it with one thing. If you are a
Speaker 1: born again Christian, regardless of the middle part that you write,
Speaker 1: take it all out. Doesn't matter what you say after that.
Speaker 1: When you die will you go to heaven? The answers yes,
Speaker 1: no matter this is crazy, no, no matter what you
Speaker 1: put in the middle. If you were born again, you
Speaker 1: will go to heaven. You're regenerated, you're new creature, You're
Speaker 1: alive in Christ. Here's the catch. When you're a new creature,
Speaker 1: when your new creation, when you are reborn, born again,
Speaker 1: born anew, when you are alive, you're dead to your
Speaker 1: old self. You're dead to your old self and now
Speaker 1: alive a new creature in Christ. You are. You used
Speaker 1: to be a caterpillar, now you're a butterfly. When that
Speaker 1: happens to you, a lot of these things start falling off,
Speaker 1: start shedding off. So the chance of you getting it's
Speaker 1: so intoxicated to the point of death. Then you start saying,
Speaker 1: were you born again? Maybe you weren't born again? Right,
Speaker 1: because if you're a new creature, and it is possible,
Speaker 1: because it's not about what you do. It's never about
Speaker 1: what you do that gets you to heaven. It's not
Speaker 1: about what you do right, it's about what has been
Speaker 1: done for you through Christ. That's the story of Christianity.
Speaker 1: That's what separates it from every other religion. It's not
Speaker 1: about how good you are, How clean your plate is,
Speaker 1: how washed, how whitewashed you are, perfect, and how clean
Speaker 1: you how clean your hands are, how clean your conscious is,
Speaker 1: how little you sin. It's never been. That's never been
Speaker 1: the qualifier for heaven. It never has been. Has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with what you do. It has to do
Speaker 1: with what has been done for you. And when something's
Speaker 1: been done, as in Christ dying on the cross as
Speaker 1: a replacement of your sins, as a substitute for your sins,
Speaker 1: so that you are forgiven, and you repent and you're
Speaker 1: reborn through that, and you turn away from your old life.
Speaker 1: You turn away from your sins, and you believe, and
Speaker 1: you accept Jesus as your lord and savior. Maybe I
Speaker 1: shouldn't Eve say I don't even like that word accept.
Speaker 1: You know I don't. That's just an old That's like
Speaker 1: an old Billy Graham saying I don't even like that
Speaker 1: word accept. When you believe and surrender, I like that
Speaker 1: word a lot better. You surrender to Jesus as your lord,
Speaker 1: you're born again. And those two things are two parallel
Speaker 1: lines that intersect only in Heaven. Those two things your
Speaker 1: responsibility to respond and believe and Jesus ransoming you as
Speaker 1: an adopted son. All that has nothing to do with
Speaker 1: you getting intoxicated. But the thing is that as a reflection,
Speaker 1: as a response to the new creature that you are,
Speaker 1: you're gonna start hating this idea of being intoxicated. You're
Speaker 1: gonna start hating the old sin. It's not gonna go
Speaker 1: completely away, but you're gonna hate it and you're gonna
Speaker 1: be wrestling with it and you're gonna be fighting against it.
Speaker 1: That's what a new creature does in Christ. That's that's
Speaker 1: a really good sign that you're reborn. Is if you
Speaker 1: start hating the old things that you used to do,
Speaker 1: and even when you still do them, and you will occasionally,
Speaker 1: you still go back into that old life, that old sin,
Speaker 1: and you repeat some things that you used to do,
Speaker 1: and when you do it, you hate it, and so
Speaker 1: you wrestle and you fight against it in that constant battle.
Speaker 1: That that is a good sign. That is that's a
Speaker 1: good sign that you're battling you're killing sin. Right. So
Speaker 1: it's a very complicated way of saying, yes, you go
Speaker 1: to heaven if you die intoxicated. Yeah, I was hit
Speaker 1: another one. Oh I loved I love doing these guys,
Speaker 1: I really do sub decline In the next one says
Speaker 1: demonic attacks in spiritual warfare and grand your My name
Speaker 1: is James some twenty one from Michigan. Long time listening
Speaker 1: to the podcast. It has helped me through so many
Speaker 1: hard times. God bless you. I have recently gotten more
Speaker 1: serious about my relationship with Christ and have been battling
Speaker 1: against lust and alcohol. Along with this, I believe that
Speaker 1: I have been under attack from the devil. I've had
Speaker 1: nights where I wake up with figures at the foot
Speaker 1: of my bed, nightmares, constant anxiety, and just recently I
Speaker 1: picked up my phone to watch a video and I
Speaker 1: received in the middle of the night. And when I
Speaker 1: picked up my phone and I put it to my ear,
Speaker 1: and I heard sell your soul, followed by hissing and screaming,
Speaker 1: and I felt dozens of hands grabbing me and pulling
Speaker 1: me downward. I cried out to Jesus and I felt
Speaker 1: him pull me back up. Praise Him for that. But
Speaker 1: now I'm always scared to sleep, for I know that
Speaker 1: I most likely will be attacked again. What can I do?
Speaker 1: God Bless James? All right, my brother, let's discuss let's
Speaker 1: talk about this, me and you driving down the truck,
Speaker 1: you know, driving down the road in the truck, wind
Speaker 1: is down, and this is what you bring up to me,
Speaker 1: and I sad. I'm gonna Start's start with the basics.
Speaker 1: Let's say first, let's look at what happened, considering that
Speaker 1: you're being sincere about all of this. Right there at
Speaker 1: the end, it says you cried out to Jesus and
Speaker 1: he pulled you back up. Good, right, okay, good. That's
Speaker 1: a great acknowledgment, and that's a great understanding of what happened.
Speaker 1: You got your answer, right. You don't need me to
Speaker 1: tell you that you got your answer. And here's the
Speaker 1: bad part next line. But now I'm always scared to
Speaker 1: go to sleep, for I know it may most likely
Speaker 1: be I may likely be attacked again. What can I do?
Speaker 1: You see how you just a circular argument? You just did.
Speaker 1: This is what you said. Let me repeat just so
Speaker 1: everyone that listens to this podcast knows. When I read
Speaker 1: these emails so many times, I see the answer to
Speaker 1: your question in your own email, in your own words,
Speaker 1: And I don't have to do anything but take this
Speaker 1: mirror and turn it back to you. So you see yourself.
Speaker 1: Let me repeat these lines. All this stuff happened to you,
Speaker 1: these hands pulling you downward. Right, you say this. I
Speaker 1: cried out to Jesus and he pulled me back up.
Speaker 1: But now I'm scared and I don't know what can
Speaker 1: I do. You just answered, what can you do? Cry
Speaker 1: out to Jesus. That's what you did, and it worked.
Speaker 1: Here's a psychology behind it. I told you I'm not
Speaker 1: a psychiatrist, but let me give you Let me change that.
Speaker 1: Let me give you the theology behind that. Jesus is victorious,
Speaker 1: God Lord of host is victorious. He is victorious over
Speaker 1: all satanic activity, all demonic activity. He wins in the end.
Speaker 1: We have the book and we could read the last
Speaker 1: chapter and we know he wins. Stay on the winning side.
Speaker 1: When you know you're on the winning side, when you
Speaker 1: trust in Christ, when you cry out to him like that,
Speaker 1: then you don't have to worry about going to sleep,
Speaker 1: because you're sleeping with the General of the army. He
Speaker 1: has got you. He's not only the general of the army,
Speaker 1: but he is the victor of the war. And you
Speaker 1: already know it. He won the war. So you're sleeping
Speaker 1: with him now. When you go to bed, you don't
Speaker 1: worry about this. I wouldn't worry. I would not worry
Speaker 1: after reading your story, I wouldn't worry. But what can
Speaker 1: you do in the meantime?
Speaker 2: What can you do?
Speaker 1: What can you do in the daytime? I would feast
Speaker 1: on the word of God. Did you know that the
Speaker 1: word of God is very addicting. It's meant to be
Speaker 1: that way. Read through the Psalms. Read through Psalm one
Speaker 1: nineteen and you start seeing how the psalmist David is
Speaker 1: addicted to the word of God. Oh, your word is
Speaker 1: like honey to my lips. Honey too much, it's sweeter
Speaker 1: the nectar, right, is addicting. And you need to read
Speaker 1: this word. It is living and breathing and alive and abiding. Okay,
Speaker 1: this word that I'm talking about is the Bible. You
Speaker 1: take that word and you open it up and you go,
Speaker 1: I'm going to Matthew one victorious today. I'm victorious over
Speaker 1: all demonic activity in my life. Why because I've got
Speaker 1: I've got the general, I've got the victor. And here
Speaker 1: it is, here's his word, living, breathing, alive. This word
Speaker 1: is Christ John One. It says in the beginning was
Speaker 1: the Word, and the word was with God, and the
Speaker 1: word was God. When you read that word, when you
Speaker 1: feast on it, you are literally feasting on the Lord.
Speaker 1: So you take that book and you take Matthew one
Speaker 1: one or any other place you want to start. Maybe John,
Speaker 1: we just said that. Start there, Start John one. You
Speaker 1: open that up and you go, Lord, I'm reading your
Speaker 1: victorious word. Pour this word all over me. Let me
Speaker 1: taste the sweetness of it, Let me feast on it.
Speaker 1: Let me eat it up, because it is my life
Speaker 1: sweeter than honey. I love this word. And if you
Speaker 1: don't totally believe that, make that your prayer. God. Let
Speaker 1: me see. Let me hunger for this, Let me taste that.
Speaker 1: The Lord is good. And when you start tasting and
Speaker 1: you start feasting, and you get rid of all that
Speaker 1: other fast food that's just filling you up with junk,
Speaker 1: so that you're not as hungry for the Word, the living, breathing,
Speaker 1: abiding word. When you feast on that in that way,
Speaker 1: you ain't got to worry about going to sleep. Brother,
Speaker 1: you're sleeping with the general of the army. Well, let's
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Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to the podcast here. Going
Speaker 1: to your questions, you email me Grangersmith podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. It's super simple. I check these and they
Speaker 1: go to a special folder Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com,
Speaker 1: and I go through these and you could talk about
Speaker 1: any subject you want to. Okay, we're gonna read them
Speaker 1: randomly without me haveing ever seen them before. Okay, first one,
Speaker 1: let's see subject line is question for podcast about giving. Hey, grangerd,
Speaker 1: thanks for all you do. Have a question about financial
Speaker 1: giving and would love your perspective from someone who is
Speaker 1: well off. My husband and I are very fortunate to
Speaker 1: have good jobs. We are Christians who work very hard
Speaker 1: and try to be generous with our money, with still
Speaker 1: having enough left to save and provide for our family.
Speaker 1: Hope this doesn't sound like boasting. I'm just trying to
Speaker 1: give some context I've been reading in the Bible about
Speaker 1: Jesus stating it is harder for the rich to make
Speaker 1: it to Heaven than the poor because they give out
Speaker 1: their extra So I am wondering what is your take
Speaker 1: on this and recommendation to those who want to make
Speaker 1: sure that they're on the right path with giving and
Speaker 1: helping others financially. I love the direction of your life
Speaker 1: and can't wait to see your farewell tour in Fowlerville,
Speaker 1: Michigan this summer. Emily. Hey, Emily thank you for the email,
Speaker 1: thoughtful email you have here. And you know, this is
Speaker 1: one of these questions that I get sometimes when sometimes
Speaker 1: I read it and I think, just the thought, just
Speaker 1: the thought that just the fact that you're reading into this,
Speaker 1: you're digging into the subject like this, gives me an
Speaker 1: indication that you're going to be okay because you're processing
Speaker 1: this kind of stuff. Because if you're not processing it,
Speaker 1: if you're not thinking about it, if you're not always
Speaker 1: listen here it is, if you're not always trying to
Speaker 1: bounce your lifestyle off of the Bible and make sure
Speaker 1: that it's coming right back to you, making sure that
Speaker 1: everything you're doing is biblical in every biblical way, and
Speaker 1: then wrestling with it and wondering and hoping and praying
Speaker 1: and digging back into the Word again and then reflecting
Speaker 1: it back on your life and going, I don't know
Speaker 1: about this. This is weird right here, because sometimes we
Speaker 1: get sanctified in certain areas that other people don't. That
Speaker 1: is so important to understand, y'all. What do I mean
Speaker 1: by that? It means it means that you could be
Speaker 1: doing something that is not a sin to someone else,
Speaker 1: but it becomes a sin to you, because it becomes
Speaker 1: a form of idolatry, that it's not an idology, it's
Speaker 1: not an idol to someone else. Here's my point. I
Speaker 1: noticed a few years ago that I was starting to
Speaker 1: care a little bit too much for college football in
Speaker 1: a way that it was affecting my Saturday morning wake
Speaker 1: up on Saturday morning, and I would get a little anxious,
Speaker 1: like my heart would start beating. I start watching college
Speaker 1: game Day and start thinking about the Aggies and thinking
Speaker 1: about whoever they had, and then they would play, and
Speaker 1: that would go two different directions for the rest of
Speaker 1: the day. Either one direction I'm like on cloud nine
Speaker 1: and super happy, or I would be really mad or
Speaker 1: sad or upset or frustrated or mildly I'm gonna use
Speaker 1: this word lightly depressed. But I realized that my emotions
Speaker 1: were being affected by the Aggies in a way that
Speaker 1: it was dictating happiness and sadness. And as I started
Speaker 1: wrestling with that, I realized, I'm being sanctified in a
Speaker 1: way that I need to drop this idol. I need
Speaker 1: to get away from college football until I could until
Speaker 1: I have learned to manage it in a in a
Speaker 1: responsible way. And I remember my tour manager Chris was
Speaker 1: like he was hearing me talk about that, and he
Speaker 1: was like, wait, worry. So you tell me college football
Speaker 1: is a sin. You tell me watching the Longhorns is
Speaker 1: a sin. And I'm like, no, no, I'm not. And
Speaker 1: that's what I mean that some things can become idols
Speaker 1: for certain people, to become a sin and not for others.
Speaker 1: So as you feel with your question, with your with
Speaker 1: your finances and your giving, and you're reading the word,
Speaker 1: and you're you're you're attending church and you're you're plugged
Speaker 1: into your community, and you're you're living with your palms up,
Speaker 1: hands open, no closed fist, and you say, God, it
Speaker 1: is all yours. Everything I have is yours. Let me
Speaker 1: be the steward of it. Let me be able to
Speaker 1: pour into others with the gifts that you've given me
Speaker 1: and anything I have, every penny, every every piece of
Speaker 1: food on my plate is from you. So let me
Speaker 1: steward that. Don't let me hold back anything, don't let
Speaker 1: me be selfish, don't let anything be from self intentions. Right, So,
Speaker 1: if you're living that way, then that's when you could
Speaker 1: better see the sanctification. As things start coming off and
Speaker 1: you go. You know what, I feel weird about getting
Speaker 1: those shoes. I feel weird about getting a new car
Speaker 1: like that doesn't feel right. I feel strange about taking
Speaker 1: this family vacation this year. None of the things I
Speaker 1: just said, getting shoes, getting a car, taking a vacation,
Speaker 1: none of those are sin. But it could be for
Speaker 1: you if you're living and breathing in the word and
Speaker 1: you're feasting on it and you realize, oh, the Lord
Speaker 1: is sanctifying me here. The Lord's sanctifying me on this
Speaker 1: jewelry that I've been shopping for on Amazon that I
Speaker 1: don't need. I'm not telling you not to get jewelry.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, listen, listen to how you specifically are being sanctified.
Speaker 1: That's a general answer to begin the conversation that I
Speaker 1: think it's a great question you're asking and that you're
Speaker 1: asking it. But what I want to go to next
Speaker 1: in your question is I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: you are plugged in to a good local church, a
Speaker 1: church that's not too big, a church, that there's enough
Speaker 1: pastors in your church, even if it's just one, to
Speaker 1: be able to shepherd the flock personally and appropriately and responsibly.
Speaker 1: So if you have two thousand members in your church.
Speaker 1: I hope you don't, but if you do, you're gonna
Speaker 1: need about two hundred and fifty pastors or more right,
Speaker 1: not really, not really, I'm exaggerating, but you need to
Speaker 1: have enough pastors and elders or whatever your church is
Speaker 1: run by that could responsibly lead the flock. These shepherds
Speaker 1: need to be You don't. I'm just rambling all you
Speaker 1: don't want too many sheep for the one shepherd that
Speaker 1: he can't be able to tend to the flock in
Speaker 1: the personal needs. So I want you to be plugged
Speaker 1: into a church like that, Emily, so that you could
Speaker 1: walk through this question with your elders or your pastor
Speaker 1: or other church members. So you could say, Pastor, we
Speaker 1: we just you know, my husband just got a bonus
Speaker 1: at work and we are kind of deliberating on what
Speaker 1: to do with this with this bonus, the pastor looks
Speaker 1: at it from an outside perspective with a biblical foundation,
Speaker 1: so that you aren't being self deceived with your own money,
Speaker 1: so that you avoid this situation of hoarding our feeling
Speaker 1: prideful or feeling greed as you hoard in money, and
Speaker 1: at the same time that you're not irresponsible and giving
Speaker 1: it all out, so then you have you have nothing
Speaker 1: to pay the bills next month with. You could make
Speaker 1: that same mistake and be homeless as well. Bible does
Speaker 1: not call us to be homeless. So I think a
Speaker 1: pastor leading you through this stuff helps you to stay
Speaker 1: out of it is. You're not stuck in the vacuum.
Speaker 1: So he could say, I would take twenty percent, put
Speaker 1: it here, ten percent, put it here, take a couple
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, and you guys go enjoy a nice steak
Speaker 1: dinner so you could relax away from the kids a
Speaker 1: little bit. He might say something like that. In a
Speaker 1: situation that you might have felt guilty to take that
Speaker 1: steak dinner, the pastor says, I feel like you'd be
Speaker 1: good stewards to yourselves by going out and enjoying a
Speaker 1: nice meal away from the kids. I think that's a
Speaker 1: great idea to have someone else be able to pour
Speaker 1: into you that way, and that's what a pastor is
Speaker 1: supposed to do. So it's so important to be plugged
Speaker 1: into a body of believers around you, and you could say, hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: we're trying to be the best stewards of the wealth
Speaker 1: that God has blessed us with. How do we do this?
Speaker 1: It's really interesting that someone at that very moment might say,
Speaker 1: I've got a cousin that's going on a mission trip
Speaker 1: in Uganda and they're needing some funding, and you go
Speaker 1: there it is the Lord's now put that on my heart.
Speaker 1: How much money do you need? He needs forty seven
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, and you go, okay, I'm living open handed,
Speaker 1: open palmed. Here's a check for forty seven hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting how the Lord works through those that
Speaker 1: that kind of faithfulness. It's a good question. Sorry for
Speaker 1: the long answer, but thanks for asking it. Next question
Speaker 1: subject cliente says hil excuse me, homeschool or public school.
Speaker 1: Subdecline says homeschool or public school. My husband and I
Speaker 1: are becoming increasingly more concerned with the state of our
Speaker 1: public schools. We are God fearing people. The indoctrination of
Speaker 1: our children is real and it's happening. I feel like
Speaker 1: the Lord has placed homeschooling on my heart. The homeschooling
Speaker 1: world is evolving and growing. My husband has asked God
Speaker 1: to reveal his will to us in this regard what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts? Colby from Alabama? Thanks Colby, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you listening and writing in shout out to beautiful Alabama.
Speaker 1: And let's walk through your question here. What I want
Speaker 1: to make sure Colby. I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: in Kobe's a girl, I want to make sure you're
Speaker 1: not living in fear of man or society. Okay, So
Speaker 1: I want to make that distinction. I don't think there's
Speaker 1: anything wrong with what you're saying, as long as when
Speaker 1: you say we're God fearing people, the indoctrination of our
Speaker 1: children is real, as long as you don't mean we
Speaker 1: believe in God and we believe that we believe that
Speaker 1: we are now fearful that man is going to change
Speaker 1: our kids and turn them away from God. So there's
Speaker 1: a there's a there that you have to live partly
Speaker 1: by saying God is sovereign, God is providential. He has
Speaker 1: put us in this community, he has he has the
Speaker 1: whole world in his hands, like the song says, and
Speaker 1: and the indoctrination doesn't happen to my kids because I'm
Speaker 1: bringing them up in the Lord. And so instead of helicoptering,
Speaker 1: instead of protecting them from the world, you are preparing
Speaker 1: them for the world. How you deal with that is
Speaker 1: up to you and your own household. You have to play.
Speaker 1: You have to understand the dynamics of your family and
Speaker 1: your kids. I don't know that. You have to understand
Speaker 1: the dynamic of your your local public school. You have
Speaker 1: to understand the dynamic of your wife and you and
Speaker 1: your excuse me, your husband, and your ability to be
Speaker 1: teachers in your own home and to be stewards of
Speaker 1: the curriculum that you're that you need to teach. So
Speaker 1: these are things that you have to wrestle with that.
Speaker 1: There's too many questions that I don't know from one
Speaker 1: message here. As long as you know that the end
Speaker 1: goal is not protecting from the world, but preparing for it.
Speaker 1: Whatever gets that done, how do you prepare them from
Speaker 1: the world, That's really important because I just can't say broadly, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, everyone should homeschool. Can't say that because I
Speaker 1: think in a lot of situations public school is going
Speaker 1: to be the best bet to prepare them for the world.
Speaker 1: And a lot of people don't have the means for homeschooling,
Speaker 1: or they don't have the money or the space or
Speaker 1: the ability because they also work full time jobs. So
Speaker 1: that's just you can't. I can't say it to everyone. Okay,
Speaker 1: that being said, the next part of your question is,
Speaker 1: my husband has asked God to reveal his will to us. Well,
Speaker 1: his will is revealed through the renewal of our minds.
Speaker 1: We know that the Bible, it's very clear that to
Speaker 1: understand God's will for us happens through the renewal of
Speaker 1: our minds as we study God's word, as we fellowship
Speaker 1: with other brothers and sisters, as we are under sound
Speaker 1: teaching from our local pastor that has prepared a message
Speaker 1: every week from us and then continues to walk as
Speaker 1: the shepherd for us throughout the week. This is I
Speaker 1: give you this advice, and I live this advice myself
Speaker 1: as well. Okay, all everything I'm saying, I'm living myself.
Speaker 1: So this is not something I'm putting on you. I
Speaker 1: need to follow this myself as well. But we understand
Speaker 1: that God and his will for us revealed doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: can But it doesn't happen through a dream revelation or
Speaker 1: a wild writing in the sky. Okay, it happens through long,
Speaker 1: long games of slow, patient reading and studying and serving
Speaker 1: and self denying, and as that happens every day, our
Speaker 1: minds are renewed, and then we could we could have
Speaker 1: a better sense for what He needs for us. Part
Speaker 1: of it, you could say, right here through this podcast,
Speaker 1: God uses human agency to enact his will and to
Speaker 1: speak to us. So part of it could be what
Speaker 1: you're hearing right now through this podcast. But I think
Speaker 1: the most important thing to take away is there is
Speaker 1: no right or wrong answer. Do not be afraid of society.
Speaker 1: We raised children up in this society for times like this.
Speaker 1: We need good kids to be raised in this society,
Speaker 1: and we shouldn't shy away from it. We should build
Speaker 1: them up up from our own homes and send them
Speaker 1: out prepared with armor on. They go out into the world,
Speaker 1: and we don't care what the world brings. Nothing in
Speaker 1: the world surprises us, nothing catches us off off guard
Speaker 1: because we have prepared them, we have armed them. So
Speaker 1: go out because you're made for a time like this, right.
Speaker 1: That's that's how we view our children going into the world,
Speaker 1: instead of.
Speaker 2: I'm scared of I'm scared of society because they are
Speaker 2: indoctrinating us. They are forcing their ideas on our children,
Speaker 2: and their whole plan is to make our children conformed
Speaker 2: to their ideas, and so we want to shield them
Speaker 2: from that and keep them in our own homes. Make
Speaker 2: sure I'm not saying homeschooling is bad. I'm saying in
Speaker 2: a lot of cases, it's actually really good. But make
Speaker 2: sure that.
Speaker 1: That's not your motivation, because that motivation is driven by
Speaker 1: what fear. Stop being on defense and go on offense.
Speaker 1: As a parent, we stay on offense. Don't go in this,
Speaker 1: don't go in this cave where we're defending against the
Speaker 1: crazy ideas of twenty twenty three. The indoctrination of our children.
Speaker 1: Oh man, hold their ears, hold their eyes. No, we
Speaker 1: prepare them and then we go out with their weapons
Speaker 1: on offense. Does that make sense? Please don't take that
Speaker 1: literal when I said weapons. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's a great question, and I hope I was faithful
Speaker 1: in walking through that with you. Next question, here got
Speaker 1: another one coming up. Oh man, that's so funny. Ironically,
Speaker 1: the next question, subject client says, what is God's purpose
Speaker 1: for me? A grand dr. I'm sixteen years old, I'm
Speaker 1: finishing my junior year in high school. I don't know
Speaker 1: what I want to do. After I graduate high school.
Speaker 1: I don't really have interest in college at this point,
Speaker 1: and I don't have something specifically that I would love
Speaker 1: to do as a career. I want to fulfill God's
Speaker 1: purpose for me in life. Do you have any advice
Speaker 1: on how to find what God has for me to
Speaker 1: do in this life? Is there anything wrong with working
Speaker 1: at a non career business instead of getting a career
Speaker 1: at college or going to further schooling. Thank you for
Speaker 1: doing this podcast. It's so enjoyable and encouraging to listen to.
Speaker 1: I love your music too. Yee Okay, And you don't
Speaker 1: say Joel is your name? You don't say anonymous. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say Joel, thanks for emailing sixteen years old. I
Speaker 1: love it when sixteen year old listens to this podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm extremely encouraged by that. So it feeling is mutual. Joel.
Speaker 1: Let me talk about this a little bit. The first thing,
Speaker 1: those of you all that have heard this a long time,
Speaker 1: you'll know that I'm probably gonna lead with this. First things. First,
Speaker 1: be sixteen. You're worrying about adult problems, and I don't
Speaker 1: want you to worry. I want you to think about them,
Speaker 1: but I don't want you to worry about them. I
Speaker 1: don't want you to stress over them. Because you're sixteen.
Speaker 1: It's cool to have a plan. It's cool to say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of thinking about this and this and this.
Speaker 1: But as soon as you start saying I'm really worried
Speaker 1: about this, there's a problem. Because you're sixteen, and really
Speaker 1: the most important thing you could do right now is
Speaker 1: get good grades. And that's so cliche to say, but
Speaker 1: getting good grades prepares you for all of the above,
Speaker 1: prepares you for all of the answers. Every scenario is
Speaker 1: well equipped when you have good grades going through high school. Okay,
Speaker 1: you're finishing your junior year, so these are things that
Speaker 1: you know. As you get to be a senior, it
Speaker 1: becomes more and more important. So get good grades and
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna kind of touch on the God's purpose
Speaker 1: that don't get hung up on that. We get hung
Speaker 1: up on this God's purpose thing, or as in the
Speaker 1: last email, said God's will, trying to discern God's will
Speaker 1: for me, trying to find out my purpose. You know
Speaker 1: what you're purposes, Joel. Your purpose is at the end
Speaker 1: of the Book of Matthew, go forth making disciples of
Speaker 1: all nations. Teaching them to obey. That's your purpose. It's
Speaker 1: all as believers. If you are a Christian, that's your purpose,
Speaker 1: going into all nations preaching the Word, teaching them to
Speaker 1: be disciples and to obey Jesus. That's what it is.
Speaker 1: That's your purpose, and there's many ways of accomplishing that
Speaker 1: through all kinds of different jobs and vocations. Next, I'm
Speaker 1: going to say this so that you don't get hung
Speaker 1: up on that God's purpose thing. Don't do that. Don't
Speaker 1: get hung up on as if God is going to
Speaker 1: speak to you through the clouds and giving you a
Speaker 1: big announcement that you're doing this Now, it's a slow thing.
Speaker 1: You're slowly churning that, butter buddy. I just said that,
Speaker 1: didn't I. You're slowly churning that, butter buddy. So don't
Speaker 1: be looking for big revelation, be looking for small steps.
Speaker 1: They're in the right direction. The next thing I want
Speaker 1: to say is the end of your email says should I.
Speaker 1: Basically you're saying should I go to college or go
Speaker 1: straight into a business, or should I pursue further schooling.
Speaker 1: I want to say it this way. If you get
Speaker 1: to that crossroads at the end of your senior year
Speaker 1: and you still have the same question should I go
Speaker 1: into work or should I go into school? If you
Speaker 1: still are there and nothing's clear to you yet, which
Speaker 1: it might not be, It's okay, I didn't have a
Speaker 1: clear picture when I was your age at all. When
Speaker 1: I was sixteen, I was an idiot. So if you
Speaker 1: still have that question at that point, it's always better
Speaker 1: to equip with as many tools as you possibly can
Speaker 1: before you go out into the world. And a tool
Speaker 1: comes from learning some kind of trade or further schooling
Speaker 1: for a some kind of degree, So you're either padding
Speaker 1: your resume with a degree or you're gaining another tool
Speaker 1: for your belt through a tech, some kind of tech.
Speaker 1: That's just the that's just the better way to do it. Always,
Speaker 1: instead of going, okay, I'm at a crossroads, which way
Speaker 1: should I go? The way that you should always go
Speaker 1: if you're there and you still don't know, is equip
Speaker 1: equip yourself with tools. Now, you could do that while
Speaker 1: you're still working. You want to still work and either
Speaker 1: go to night's school or work, or go to school
Speaker 1: in the day and work nights. But equip yourself with
Speaker 1: some kind of trade will just just matter so much
Speaker 1: down the road, it will matter to you in ways
Speaker 1: that you can't possibly understand. Personal example, I went to
Speaker 1: I went to Texas A and M. And I left
Speaker 1: after two years to go write songs for EMI Publishing
Speaker 1: in Nashville. But then I was at a crossroads about
Speaker 1: twenty two years old, thinking I want to go play music.
Speaker 1: All I want to do is play music. That's all
Speaker 1: I want to do. It's all I cared about. It's
Speaker 1: all I thought about was playing music, touring with a band,
Speaker 1: and I was romanticized about that. But I knew probably
Speaker 1: the best move is to finish that degree that I
Speaker 1: started at Texas A and M. So I went back
Speaker 1: to college station, lived with my uncle, slept on his couch,
Speaker 1: uncle Johnny, and worked at different places and worked for
Speaker 1: him in construction, worked as a painter, worked as a
Speaker 1: lawn guy, and hosted some open mic nights. As I
Speaker 1: was playing music and was able to finish up school
Speaker 1: and I got a history degree because I loved history.
Speaker 1: But I didn't know how much that was going to
Speaker 1: mean to me until literally twenty years later. I was
Speaker 1: called out of music and into industry, and guess what
Speaker 1: I was able to go into seminary and pursue a
Speaker 1: graduate degree on top of the bachelor's degree. I got
Speaker 1: to Texas A and M. And if I hadn't done
Speaker 1: that when I was twenty two, if I hadn't thought
Speaker 1: about going back, then I would be in a different
Speaker 1: situation where I wouldn't be able to go seek that
Speaker 1: master's degree in seminary. And so my point is it's
Speaker 1: better now to equip when you don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of responsibility and a bunch of kids running around and
Speaker 1: a wife and bills to pay, it's better to go
Speaker 1: grab as many things as you are interested in. And
Speaker 1: that could just be a general studies degree at at
Speaker 1: a junior college or some kind of tech school. If
Speaker 1: you're into something that's techie, do that. I've heard Dave
Speaker 1: Ramsey say, You're like a caveman in a cave, and
Speaker 1: you want to gather as many tools in your cave
Speaker 1: as you can sol when you go out of the
Speaker 1: cave to make your kill, which is in business or
Speaker 1: life or career, you want to have the right tools
Speaker 1: to make the kill. And so your tools are something
Speaker 1: you could get right now. Joel, don't forget the first
Speaker 1: part of this question. Just be sixteen. Don't dig too deep,
Speaker 1: just make plans responsibly, but also enjoy being sixteen. That's
Speaker 1: all we got today, guys, love y'all so much, See
Speaker 1: you next Monday. Thanks for joining me on the Granger
Speaker 1: Smith Podcast. I appreciate all of you guys. You could
Speaker 1: help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If
Speaker 1: you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel. Hit that little
Speaker 1: like button and the 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. Yi