Speaker 1: Just one of these examples of just a tough situation,
Speaker 1: and I'm so sorry that you're in it.
Speaker 2: What's up, everybody? Welcome to the podcast, Episode one eight four.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being here. It's been a crazy week for me.
Speaker 1: I have announced to the world something that I've known
Speaker 1: for a while now, that I am leaving touring country music,
Speaker 1: getting out of touring completely and focusing on ministry.
Speaker 2: What does that mean for me exactly?
Speaker 1: Well, that doesn't mean that I'm starting a church tomorrow
Speaker 1: or I'm starting a revival on What it does mean
Speaker 1: is that I'm going to serve my local church lower case,
Speaker 1: with my family and sit under the teaching of my pastors,
Speaker 1: have them disciple me and pour into me. I'm currently
Speaker 1: attending seminary and so as I continue to learn and
Speaker 1: grow in knowledge, then then that the pastors around me
Speaker 1: at our local church, which is a pretty small church,
Speaker 1: they can then affirm for me around me the next
Speaker 1: steps in glorifying God best from my platform that way,
Speaker 1: and the reason I say it that way is so
Speaker 1: important to articulate it that way so that I'm not
Speaker 1: being self deceived, right, so that so that I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm just not just announcing my calling from God that
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to the ministry now, and and so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go and start the yeee church or whatever.
Speaker 1: Come come one and come all, yeee church is now open.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not it's not what I'm to do.
Speaker 1: That to me, that's equivalent to a young freshman football
Speaker 1: player on a college team declaring for the draft, the
Speaker 1: NFL draft, and everyone thinks, no, don't, you're don't go
Speaker 1: into the draft. You're not ready yet. You need to
Speaker 1: learn under this the current quarterback or the current coach,
Speaker 1: and you need to learn how to how to be
Speaker 1: under leadership, how to serve. And that's similar to what
Speaker 1: is happening here. So that that might take ten years
Speaker 1: of me just serving the local church or more. That
Speaker 1: time is not up to me. And I believe that
Speaker 1: God provides us with local churches with pastors and elders
Speaker 1: so that he could equip the believers for ministry through that,
Speaker 1: so that he's not writing messages on a cloud or
Speaker 1: shooting lightning down and writing in the sand saying you
Speaker 1: are called no offense to Moses here, you know, but
Speaker 1: I don't think the burning bush doesn't happen anymore. Okay,
Speaker 1: all that being said, this is the most elaborate intro
Speaker 1: I've ever done for the podcast, but I felt like
Speaker 1: I need to say it because a lot's been going
Speaker 1: on this week, and this is the first podcast I've
Speaker 1: done since that announcement. Here's something interesting though, Now that
Speaker 1: music touring will.
Speaker 2: Go away, this will be the last tour.
Speaker 1: I'll fulfill the rest of the dates and play the
Speaker 1: rest of the tour dates out and then when they
Speaker 1: finish up around Labor Day, I have a book coming
Speaker 1: out called Like a River, comes out August first, so
Speaker 1: then so then my focus will be on that and
Speaker 1: I'll have all that time freed up from music touring.
Speaker 1: What if during that time we do some kind of
Speaker 1: minimal city podcast tour, get out to your town, do
Speaker 1: a live podcast, you know, to a live audience, and
Speaker 1: you ask questions from the audience.
Speaker 2: I think that'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 1: The format of this podcast, by the way, if you're
Speaker 1: new to it, is I answer your questions, you email
Speaker 1: me Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com, and I walk
Speaker 1: through without notes without reading your email beforehand, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, would That's why it would be interesting to
Speaker 1: have a live one where you just stand up, we
Speaker 1: hand you the microphone and you tell me your story,
Speaker 1: and then I could ask another question, because like one
Speaker 1: of my problems here with reading your emails is I
Speaker 1: don't get to ask the follow up question like how
Speaker 1: old are you? A lot depends on how old you are,
Speaker 1: you know, something like that. Enough of this intro, Let's
Speaker 1: get to the meat of this podcast, what you came for,
Speaker 1: and that is answering your questions. Let me get to
Speaker 1: the first one, the subject line, which I have not
Speaker 1: read any of these yet. The subject line on this
Speaker 1: first one says I need some advice, says Granger. I've
Speaker 1: been married for twenty years. I've given everything i've got
Speaker 1: to try and make this marriage work, but I just
Speaker 1: can't do it anymore. Since the first few months of marriage,
Speaker 1: my husband has been abusive physically and verbally. Let me
Speaker 1: read that again. Since the first few months of marriage,
Speaker 1: my husband has been abusive both physically and verbally. The
Speaker 1: physical abuses have only happened a handful of times, but
Speaker 1: the verbal abuse has gotten worse and worse over the years.
Speaker 1: At first, he would apologize and vow to change. Now
Speaker 1: he doesn't even bother to do that. On a good day,
Speaker 1: I'm ignored and it's like I don't even exist. But
Speaker 1: on a bad day, the verbal assaults, the put downs,
Speaker 1: hateful talk is almost unbearable. For years, I have stayed
Speaker 1: in this marriage because God hates divorce. I also got
Speaker 1: married when I was eighteen, so I have never been
Speaker 1: out on my own. I finally got to the point
Speaker 1: that even if I have to get out because this
Speaker 1: isn't sustainable, I feel like I am trapped.
Speaker 2: He controls all the money and I can't even afford
Speaker 2: a lawyer.
Speaker 1: The abuses left me with diagnosed PTSD depression and anxiety,
Speaker 1: and a myriad of others their health issues which have
Speaker 1: left me unable to work outside of the home for years.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to push past my anxiety and get out
Speaker 1: in public more and more, doing some instacart orders, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But I'm not even making a dent in the cost
Speaker 1: to retain a lawyer. Part of me just wants to
Speaker 1: leave and figure it out later, but I have kids
Speaker 1: and I don't want to make a quick decision that
Speaker 1: will leave us in a worse scenario, So I'm trying
Speaker 1: to wait until I can save up for a lawyer,
Speaker 1: but I don't know how much longer I could do this.
Speaker 1: Any advice message comes from anonymous, and so I will
Speaker 1: keep it anonymous. And and all of us listening right now,
Speaker 1: me and then everyone listening to this podcast are just
Speaker 1: kind of giving that resounding sigh for you, because this
Speaker 1: is just one of these examples of just a tough situation.
Speaker 1: And I'm so sorry that you're in it, and and
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you emailed. I'm glad that you feel
Speaker 1: like you could have this podcast to grab an email.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe you're desperate, maybe you've emailed a bunch of people,
Speaker 1: But I am honored in a way that you have
Speaker 1: shared and been so vulnerable. And I want to back
Speaker 1: you up on your thoughts here. I mean, you're not crazy.
Speaker 1: The thoughts you're having about this are normal. I think
Speaker 1: it's an appropriate reaction in every way to everything you're
Speaker 1: going through. I think you're kind of processing this and
Speaker 1: you're saying I was young when I got married. I've
Speaker 1: been married now for twenty years. I've never been on
Speaker 1: my own. He abuses me physically a handful of times,
Speaker 1: verbally all the time. But I've got a lot to
Speaker 1: think through. I don't have much money. I don't have
Speaker 1: any skills to have a job. I can't afford a lawyer.
Speaker 1: I've got kids. You're thinking through all this, and that's good,
Speaker 1: and that's good. As you know, there's not a quick
Speaker 1: answer to this, so me just telling you that I
Speaker 1: agree with everything you've said is a good starting point.
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 1: It's ironic that I started this podcast by talking about
Speaker 1: my plans to go into ministry. And it's important that
Speaker 1: we could relate my story to your story.
Speaker 2: In one way. We need community, we need wise counsel
Speaker 2: around us.
Speaker 1: I heard a very interesting thing. I was visiting my
Speaker 1: younger brother, Parker, who is an intern at HBC in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. That's Capitol Hill Baptist Church, and he's working
Speaker 1: as an intern under Pastor Mark Dever, and I was
Speaker 1: sitting in for the week with them, and I sat
Speaker 1: in on an elders meeting. And in this elders meeting,
Speaker 1: they have a church body where membership is looked after,
Speaker 1: intended like a flock of sheep, and they guard the
Speaker 1: defenses of their sheep, of their flock, and the elders
Speaker 1: sit like under shepherds and watch the flock and help
Speaker 1: the flock, and encourage the flock, and protect the flock,
Speaker 1: and rebuke the flock when necessary. But it is a family.
Speaker 1: And I heard a conversation in the elders meeting as
Speaker 1: they're going through conversations about people struggling in marriage, and
Speaker 1: I heard something said that I thought was so profound.
Speaker 1: But I heard them say. One of the elders said,
Speaker 1: when you're a Christian, divorce is not.
Speaker 2: A private matter. Wow.
Speaker 1: That's so profound and so provocative, and in some circles
Speaker 1: disturbing and intrusive, and in other circles it's so comforting
Speaker 1: and so fulfilling knowing that we don't have to walk
Speaker 1: through this kind of stuff alone. All that you're going
Speaker 1: through right now is indications that you are alone, and
Speaker 1: you're needing to make decisions alone. And I'm here to
Speaker 1: tell you I don't think you could do it. Sure
Speaker 1: I could. I can encourage you to be strong and
Speaker 1: and and stand boldly against your husband and find a
Speaker 1: way out, or you stop this abuse and find an attorney.
Speaker 1: I could say all that, it's just meaningless if I
Speaker 1: say it, First of all, it's not true. And second
Speaker 1: of all, it's just not It's not possible without me
Speaker 1: knowing you and hearing your story and walking through this
Speaker 1: with you, side by side with you like an elder
Speaker 1: would or a pastor. I can't speak into it, but
Speaker 1: what I can say is that wherever you are doesn't
Speaker 1: say there's a local church. And this is when it
Speaker 1: gets This is the most difficult part of the conversation
Speaker 1: right here.
Speaker 2: It needs to be a faithful church.
Speaker 1: Faithful in the sense of what they teach, how they
Speaker 1: teach it, and how they shepherd their flock, Like is
Speaker 1: the flock too big for anybody to shepherd it? Do
Speaker 1: they guard the fences?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Just thinking metaphorically on this, do they guard the fences
Speaker 1: of their flock at your church? Or do cheap just
Speaker 1: roam to and fro however they want? Can they come
Speaker 1: and go? Can they disappear? Can they do good things
Speaker 1: and never be rewarded? Can they do bad things and
Speaker 1: never be rebuked? Is that just how it works? Or
Speaker 1: are they closely guarded? Which one do you think is biblical?
Speaker 1: Out of those two scenarios, one of those churches, there
Speaker 1: is a church like this with a tightly guarded fence,
Speaker 1: And that does not mean that they don't accept people
Speaker 1: to come in the door. That is not what we're
Speaker 1: talking about. We were talking about the members that are
Speaker 1: that are the good standing members that have that have
Speaker 1: invested in the church and gone through membership with the
Speaker 1: church that are then could be protected by the church
Speaker 1: body itself. I'm not talking about people walking in on
Speaker 1: Sunday morning and they're not allowed in there. It's not
Speaker 1: what we're saying. Okay, So there is a church like
Speaker 1: this in your town. Maybe you go there, But if you,
Speaker 1: I don't think you do, because I don't think you
Speaker 1: would have said this in your email. You would have
Speaker 1: acted so alone. But there is a church that I
Speaker 1: would encourage you to go to and lean into and
Speaker 1: tell them this and walk through this with them. Don't
Speaker 1: walk through this alone. Don't walk through this. I gotta
Speaker 1: find a lawyer's thing. I gotta figure out what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do with the kids. Maybe I was too young.
Speaker 2: Is this abuse verbally or is it not. Don't walk
Speaker 2: through that stuff alone.
Speaker 1: Walk through it with with your elders, walk through it
Speaker 1: with your your church congregation, with the members around you.
Speaker 1: And the only reason I'm saying all this is because
Speaker 1: you said one little sentence and it mentioned God. It
Speaker 1: said for years I stayed because God. You put quotes
Speaker 1: around this, God hates divorce. You mentioned that God is
Speaker 1: involved somewhere. That's all I'm saying about it. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna I'm not gonna comment on whether or not God
Speaker 1: hates divorce, but I'm gonna I'm gonna lean into the
Speaker 1: fact that you believe he's involved. You believe he has
Speaker 1: a say in this, and I believe you're right, and
Speaker 1: I would lean in through the body that He has
Speaker 1: ordained that He has given us the lower case. See
Speaker 1: church in your town. Lean into that walk with them.
Speaker 1: If you don't know him yet, if you haven't met
Speaker 1: him yet, now's a good time. It wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: bad thing to just meet him and then go right
Speaker 1: into your problems.
Speaker 2: It's okay, did you know?
Speaker 1: That's why they exist to walk through brothers and sisters,
Speaker 1: walk through life with them together, finding out finding out
Speaker 1: how you can best glorify God from your position in.
Speaker 2: Your life life.
Speaker 1: Do the good and the bad. That's what I'm gonna
Speaker 1: recommend here. Let's go to another another email. Subdecline on this.
Speaker 1: This is interesting. Subdecline says allergies. Hello Granger, Please keep
Speaker 1: me anonymous. For all of my life, allergies have been
Speaker 1: a part of me. I always have egzema, hives, stomach aches,
Speaker 1: and reaction to gluten and dairy. I'm fifteen years old.
Speaker 1: My brother has had the same allergies as me, and
Speaker 1: my mom is even more sensitive than both of us.
Speaker 1: Last August, someone from my church told me that when
Speaker 1: he was a kid, he had the same problem, but
Speaker 1: he prayed to God to take it away and it worked.
Speaker 2: He told me that if.
Speaker 1: I truly believed that God could take away my allergies,
Speaker 1: and if I truly wanted them gone, I could ask
Speaker 1: God and if it was in his plan, he would
Speaker 1: take them away. In the end, I was completely healed
Speaker 1: of my allergies, Thank the Lord. Now I'm wondering if
Speaker 1: I should tell my mom, whose reaction to gluten are
Speaker 1: much worse than mine, or should I just not tell
Speaker 1: her as she thinks that I have grown out of
Speaker 1: them me personally, would I be hating her not to
Speaker 1: tell her about what truly took.
Speaker 2: My allergies away?
Speaker 1: I love my mom so much and I would like
Speaker 1: to see her react to gluten and be and it
Speaker 1: be my fault.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I might have read that last part wrong, but it
Speaker 1: says sorry for the long email, love your podcast, love
Speaker 1: your music. Okay, Anonymous, fifteen years old. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to go into extreme detail here, but it sounds like
Speaker 1: you're you're you got this information from a maybe Pentecostal
Speaker 1: church something like that, some kind of charismatic healing church
Speaker 1: where they like fall in the carpet and get picked up.
Speaker 1: You're fifteen, and so that's gonna be part of my
Speaker 1: answer is based on you're fifteen and not thirty. But listen,
Speaker 1: God is gonna heal when God's gonna heal, and we
Speaker 1: should always ask, We should always pray, we should always
Speaker 1: pour out our heart to God.
Speaker 2: We should always.
Speaker 1: Ask him for our request. But we don't expect healing
Speaker 1: in this kind of charismatic way, as if it's some
Speaker 1: genie in a bottle. And that's a little bit what
Speaker 1: this email feels like, like, Hey, I know a secret.
Speaker 2: I prayed a secret.
Speaker 1: Prayer about my allergies, and God healed. He didn't heal
Speaker 1: because he wanted to. He healed because it was a
Speaker 1: secret prayer that I truly believed that I.
Speaker 2: Wanted gone or you know something. However you worded that.
Speaker 1: We need we need to be very careful with stuff
Speaker 1: like that, because it starts to get weird. It starts
Speaker 1: to get a little weird, you know, it starts to
Speaker 1: get like TV evangelist type stuff when we start saying that.
Speaker 2: God gave me. God healed my allergies because I was
Speaker 2: sincere in my prayer.
Speaker 1: And if you do this, if you say this magic
Speaker 1: prayer and you're sincere about it, he will heal you too.
Speaker 2: Brother.
Speaker 1: It's starting to sound a little weird, and we need
Speaker 1: we need to go to the Bible. And reason I say,
Speaker 1: you're fifteen, it's this gets a little gets a little deep.
Speaker 1: But you can be reading your Bible and we could
Speaker 1: start to get an idea of who God is. You
Speaker 1: said one little thing in here that I loved. You said,
Speaker 1: He told me that if I truly believe that God
Speaker 1: could take away my allergies, and if I truly wanted
Speaker 1: them gone, I could ask God and then this one
Speaker 1: little part right here, and if it was in his plan,
Speaker 1: lean on that, lean on that effect, make the prayer
Speaker 1: about that, Stop making the prayer about what I need
Speaker 1: to make me breathe better. It's okay, but don't make
Speaker 1: that what it's about. Instead, make it about what's in
Speaker 1: his plan. God, I want to I just want to
Speaker 1: live in your plan.
Speaker 2: I hate these allergies. These allergies bother me. But maybe
Speaker 2: these allergies are in your plan.
Speaker 1: I don't know what, why, or what, but maybe God,
Speaker 1: maybe you need me to have allergies right now. Have
Speaker 1: you ever thought about that, like, maybe I need to
Speaker 1: have allergies for some reason. But God, let that be
Speaker 1: your plan and not mine. If you could take them away,
Speaker 1: do it. If you could take moms away, do it.
Speaker 1: It's annoying and I hate it, but let me live
Speaker 1: for you. Let me live for your purpose and your plan,
Speaker 1: not mine. You know, Paul had the thorn in his side,
Speaker 1: and he prayed and prayed and prayed for God to
Speaker 1: take away the thorn, but he didn't. He says, is
Speaker 1: sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness,
Speaker 1: So through your weakness, his power is perfected. Remember that
Speaker 1: when you're praying for healing, then don't expect it. Expect
Speaker 1: his plan to happen, but not for your allergies to
Speaker 1: go away. You could still ask, but remember his plan
Speaker 1: is the purpose.
Speaker 2: Of the prayer, not yours. Let's take a break. This
Speaker 2: podcast is sponsored by Better Help. You Know.
Speaker 1: Getting to know how you react to certain situations, why
Speaker 1: you feel certain ways, depending on certain things that you're
Speaker 1: dealing with in your life can be a lifelong process.
Speaker 2: In fact, it.
Speaker 1: Most likely will be because we're always growing and changing,
Speaker 1: and therapy is all about deepening your self awareness and understanding,
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Speaker 1: thinking of starting therapy, you should give Better Help a try.
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Speaker 1: LP dot com slash Granger. Back to the podcast, All right,
Speaker 1: back to the podcast. Thank you guys for being with
Speaker 1: us this morning. And you know, if you want to
Speaker 1: know how you could help this podcast out, you could
Speaker 1: just send it to a friend. You know, word of
Speaker 1: mouth is so much better than anything else when it
Speaker 1: comes to like marketing things.
Speaker 2: So that's all I really.
Speaker 1: Care about is if you feel like this podcast is
Speaker 1: meaningful to you, just share it with a friend, Just
Speaker 1: text him and be like, man, I get a lot
Speaker 1: out of this podcast comes out every Monday morning, and
Speaker 1: you could ask a question too. Or if someone's struggling
Speaker 1: with something and you go, hey, man, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but you could ask Granger Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot
Speaker 1: com and then check out his podcast.
Speaker 2: That would be helpful to me.
Speaker 1: That's all I ask, really when it comes to this podcast,
Speaker 1: that's all I ask. I'm not selling anything. I just
Speaker 1: want you to listen. Let's get to the first question here.
Speaker 1: Subject line says should I date him? Hey, Granger have
Speaker 1: been going to try. I'm going to try and keep
Speaker 1: this simple. I've been talking to this guy for five
Speaker 1: months now, and I really like him. We both mutually
Speaker 1: like each other, but his parents won't let us hang out.
Speaker 1: We've tried countless times, and his parents always say no.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I could be in a relationship
Speaker 1: with someone that I can't see them. And on top
Speaker 1: of that, let me say that again, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I could be in a relationship with someone if
Speaker 1: I can't see them. And on top of that, he's
Speaker 1: had his phone taken away for like three weeks now,
Speaker 1: little to no contact, and I don't really know what
Speaker 1: to do. Any advice, Yeah, this comes from Millie and Millie.
Speaker 2: This is super easy, super simple.
Speaker 1: Super super This would be the easiest answer I've ever given.
Speaker 1: If he is over the age of eighteen, then you
Speaker 1: need to have a serious conversation about this with him.
Speaker 1: If he is younger than the age of eighteen, a
Speaker 1: relationship's done.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's it.
Speaker 1: He's got to honor his parents, and you have to
Speaker 1: honor that he's honoring his parents. Next question, subject line
Speaker 1: says eighteen and confused with religion.
Speaker 2: There's that word religion. Hey Grande, I'm eighteen years old.
Speaker 2: I've been raised in a very.
Speaker 1: Catholic household my whole life. I choose not to get
Speaker 1: I chose not to get confirmed this year after finishing
Speaker 1: my religious education classes because I felt like it, because
Speaker 1: I felt like I would be going through the motions
Speaker 1: and not actually committing myself to the faith. My mother
Speaker 1: is very upset about my decision, and I feel bad
Speaker 1: about making her so sad. I believe in the Christian faith.
Speaker 1: I just feel like I should attend services with other
Speaker 1: denominations before committing to one. The difference in the faith
Speaker 1: has caused problems between my mother and I for years already,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, and I don't want to ruin
Speaker 1: our relationship. I also feel it would be wrong to
Speaker 1: keep practicing the Catholic faith just to make her happy
Speaker 1: and to continue a family tradition. Any advice on navigating
Speaker 1: the situation, thanks all right. Question comes from Jenny. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for the email. Jenny, I am not
Speaker 1: going to I think it's probably best if I don't
Speaker 1: like get into Catholicism versus Protestantism and all that. Right now,
Speaker 1: I don't think we should do that, and I've done
Speaker 1: that before on this podcast. I don't think that's what
Speaker 1: this is about. So I'm gonna try to stick with
Speaker 1: what you're asking.
Speaker 2: First. I want to say your intuition about all of
Speaker 2: this is correct.
Speaker 1: I want to affirm your intuition. I think that you're
Speaker 1: approaching it from a very very shallow sense, which is okay,
Speaker 1: it's fine. I think if you want to get into
Speaker 1: the deep water, you gotta start shallow. Right we're walking
Speaker 1: out into the lake. It starts very shallow, and that's
Speaker 1: where you are. You're standing in toe deep water because
Speaker 1: it gets very deep after this, Jenny, And that's okay.
Speaker 1: When I was eighteen, I wasn't asking deep questions. But
Speaker 1: what I want, what I want to dig into here
Speaker 1: is your I want to affirm your feelings on a
Speaker 1: couple of sentences. I feel it would be wrong to
Speaker 1: keep practicing the Catholic faith just to make her happy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good call, continuing a family tradition, that's a good call.
Speaker 2: What else did you say?
Speaker 1: I believe in the Christian faith. I just feel like
Speaker 1: I should attend other services before committing to one. I
Speaker 1: kind of affirm that too. And what else here? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I chose not to get confirmed this year after finishing
Speaker 1: my religious education classes because I felt I would be
Speaker 1: going through the motions and not actually committing myself to
Speaker 1: the faith. Yes, I confirm all those things. Okay, so
Speaker 1: I think you're you're you're thinking great, you're in toe
Speaker 1: deep water, which is totally fine. You're way ahead of
Speaker 1: the game of where I was probably at eighteen. And
Speaker 1: now let's dig a little bit more.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So, so many times when I get emails like this
Speaker 1: and we're talking about religion and faith, those two words
Speaker 1: come up a lot, and they're usually tied together, religion
Speaker 1: and faith. It sounds like and it feels like we're
Speaker 1: talking about a good vibe lifestyle. It sounds like we're
Speaker 1: talking about a club or a like a fraternity or sorority,
Speaker 1: or like a like a master's class or something like.
Speaker 1: I've been really thinking about, like what if we looked
Speaker 1: at it as a master's class that you bought online.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about committing to this master's class because my
Speaker 1: mom did it and she thinks it's great, and I
Speaker 1: see that there's great benefits from the master's class and
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool, and in fact, I want to raise
Speaker 1: my kids with the idea of going to this master's
Speaker 1: class because it's going to make us smarter, and it's
Speaker 1: gonna just make us a little more peaceful and a
Speaker 1: little more relaxed or whatever. Like put any definitions or
Speaker 1: any adjectives in there. That's that's kind of what this
Speaker 1: email feels like. And I don't blame you for it.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what a lot of people look
Speaker 1: at when they think about those two words, religion or faith.
Speaker 1: You choose yours, whatever floats your boat, whatever makes you happy,
Speaker 1: whatever's a good vibe for you, whatever gives you tranquility,
Speaker 1: whatever gives you peace, whatever, whatever gives you, whatever equips
Speaker 1: you to be able to kind of navigate life with
Speaker 1: less anxiety or something. Did you know that that's just
Speaker 1: that has nothing to do with any of that. Did
Speaker 1: you know that that's just not the definition for any
Speaker 1: of that stuff. But that's kind of what we've gotten
Speaker 1: into now in the modern age. We think that the
Speaker 1: Christian faith is a good vibe. It's like a master's class.
Speaker 1: It's like something you do because it's a family tradition.
Speaker 2: So just kind of follow it.
Speaker 1: And just like repeat these words and drink this cup
Speaker 1: and say these things and kneel here and then go
Speaker 1: back into the world and like touch your chest a
Speaker 1: couple times and wear this and say that, and in
Speaker 1: return you just kind of you're just kind of living
Speaker 1: out fulfilling a family tradition and making mom happy and
Speaker 1: it feels nice. That just has nothing to do with
Speaker 1: the Christian faith. The Christian faith is a relationship with
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: That's what it is.
Speaker 1: We're saved by faith, right, So if you're gonna mean saved,
Speaker 1: if you're being saved from.
Speaker 2: Something, what's the alternative death?
Speaker 1: So you're being saved by grace by the way, you're
Speaker 1: being saved by grace through faith. That faith is the
Speaker 1: mechanism that God's grace uses to save you belief, repentance,
Speaker 1: and belief. So if you're being saved through faith by grace,
Speaker 1: then that means the alternative is if you're not if
Speaker 1: you don't have faith, if you're not believing, which is
Speaker 1: similar to saying faith is saying believing. If you're not believing,
Speaker 1: then you're dying. Not like bad vibes, not like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm I'm losing a groove, I'm a little anxious, not
Speaker 1: like I'm out of the family tradition. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: you're dying like eternal death versus eternal life.
Speaker 2: Now, that's what it means. This is not me. I'm
Speaker 2: just the mess here. I'm not making this up. This
Speaker 2: is not an interpretation.
Speaker 1: It's not like a translation error or it's not like
Speaker 1: something I'm just picking up. This is what the Bible says,
Speaker 1: and this is what has been taught for two thousand
Speaker 1: years in the faith.
Speaker 2: You can go back.
Speaker 1: We could read writings that go back thousands of years
Speaker 1: in this faith. That is what they're talking about. Is
Speaker 1: not a good vibe. It is not a tradition. It
Speaker 1: is not something that we continue to make our kids
Speaker 1: happy and raise them up in it so that they
Speaker 1: can have a nice, happy life.
Speaker 2: That is not this. But somehow that's where we have gotten.
Speaker 1: I am no, I'm simpile to get my mouth gets
Speaker 1: ahead of my brain. I am not blaming you for
Speaker 1: thinking this, because I understand what it's called is cultural
Speaker 1: Christianity in your case, cultural Catholicism. And I'm not blaming you,
Speaker 1: but it is a trap. And what I feel like, Jenny,
Speaker 1: because I feel like you might be elect and I
Speaker 1: feel like you might. You might feel the draw right now.
Speaker 1: I feel like Jesus is drawing you. I could be wrong,
Speaker 1: but I feel like Jesus is drawing you, and he's
Speaker 1: opening your eyes slowly, It's okay, He's opening your eyes
Speaker 1: to some stuff here, like, hey, mom, this sounds great
Speaker 1: and I've studied these classes.
Speaker 2: But I kind of feel.
Speaker 1: Like this isn't the right way to do it, Like
Speaker 1: I feel like there's more to it.
Speaker 2: I feel like I need to.
Speaker 1: Go to another church or to or read an article
Speaker 1: or book or two, or talk to a couple other
Speaker 1: people that might give me a different perspective. I feel
Speaker 1: like I need to go out because why, because I
Speaker 1: don't know. Because something inside me is kind.
Speaker 2: Of stern a little bit.
Speaker 1: I would call that a draw.
Speaker 2: I would say that your Savior is drawing you.
Speaker 1: Once again, I could be wrong, because I'm not you,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to I don't want to falsely
Speaker 1: affirm you in anything because I don't know you and
Speaker 1: I don't know the rest of your story. But I
Speaker 1: just want to point out that this sounds interesting that
Speaker 1: you're now. You're kind of the blinder is kind of
Speaker 1: coming off around you, and you're going hm. Bible says this,
Speaker 1: we practice this. I don't think these two things add up.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's more to the story you email me. I
Speaker 1: tell you this, do with this information what you will.
Speaker 1: But I would say, lean in to the draw, go
Speaker 1: find out.
Speaker 2: All right, I'll still let's hit another one here, man.
Speaker 1: I'm a lot of these questions are about religion, So
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, y'all. Maybe I shouldn't apologize, but that's just
Speaker 1: kind of where this podcast has gone lately. Next question
Speaker 1: says subject line Heaven. It says, Hey g, when you
Speaker 1: close your eyes and think of heaven in your own mind,
Speaker 1: what does it look like? Please describe? It comes from Lori,
Speaker 1: who's a longtime fan of mine in the music from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lourie,
Speaker 1: what's up? Thank you for the question, and let's oh.
Speaker 1: I love this question. M We can kind of connect
Speaker 1: it to the last question as well, and I want
Speaker 1: to make that connection, but let me repeat it because
Speaker 1: it's super short.
Speaker 2: Hey gee, when you close.
Speaker 1: Your eyes and think of heaven in your mind, what
Speaker 1: does it look like?
Speaker 2: Please describe?
Speaker 1: And instantly we think of like country music songs and
Speaker 1: we think about I hope heaven has a bass fish
Speaker 1: and pond and a creek that's just bubbling with fish
Speaker 1: and deer in the meadows, and I hope that all
Speaker 1: my loved ones are there and we're playing you know, football,
Speaker 1: like it's Thanksgiving afternoon and the weather is beautiful and
Speaker 1: I could fly and and I really hope that they
Speaker 1: have you know, this and this and this and this
Speaker 1: this and then we give here. You know, countless country
Speaker 1: music songs about this kind of thing, and people people
Speaker 1: will describe it in ways that it's like, man, I
Speaker 1: love mountains, as I just hope there's just incredible mountains there,
Speaker 1: Like I hope they're just snow capped mountains, and and
Speaker 1: there's game in the woods and then and there's beautiful
Speaker 1: villages with streets of gold and pearly gates and there's
Speaker 1: no tears. You know, we just kind of we think
Speaker 1: of this and we kind of go down this this
Speaker 1: long like dreamlike journey through our minds thinking about heaven.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's a bad thing, but I think
Speaker 1: it's an immature Christian thought. And Laureate, this is this
Speaker 1: is not on you, Okay, this is this is not
Speaker 1: this is not a knock on you. This is not
Speaker 1: a knock on anyone that has imagined that Heaven hopefully
Speaker 1: has bass fishing. This is not I just I want
Speaker 1: to say that I think that's an immature Christian thought.
Speaker 2: Here's why.
Speaker 1: Here's why, because when you hear the Apostles talk about heaven,
Speaker 1: they're talking about one thing, one thing being in the
Speaker 1: presence of Christ, being in the presence of God himself
Speaker 1: with unveiled faces. That means, right now, our faces are
Speaker 1: veiled to Christ. They're veiled to God because.
Speaker 2: We can't possibly see.
Speaker 1: We can't see something so bright, so beautiful, so perfect,
Speaker 1: our eyes cannot comprehend it. We're going to be in
Speaker 1: heaven with Him with unveiled faces. Can you imagine for
Speaker 1: a second everything that we've mentioned about heaven, everything that
Speaker 1: you've thought would be in heaven, because you've seen it
Speaker 1: on earth and it's like the best version of what
Speaker 1: you've seen on earth. You've seen you can imagine that
Speaker 1: being in heaven, right, So imagine everything you want to
Speaker 1: see in heaven because it's perfect on earth. Imagine the
Speaker 1: creator of all of that stuff. Imagine the creator of
Speaker 1: that stuff is there. And I fully believe that once
Speaker 1: you're there you're not gonna want to see anything else,
Speaker 1: and not in a boring way and not in a methodical,
Speaker 1: weird way. But I think when you see the creator
Speaker 1: of everything, and you see the creator of that embodies
Speaker 1: love and perfection and art and music and bass fishing
Speaker 1: and whatever else, all these streets of gold and green
Speaker 1: grasses and fish in the waters and game in the forest,
Speaker 1: when you see the creator, the visionary, the poet of
Speaker 1: all of that, You're gonna want to be at his feet.
Speaker 1: You're gonna want to be right there at his throne
Speaker 1: and and just soak that in and just say, guys,
Speaker 1: I want to be here, and I just want to
Speaker 1: worship you, and I want to gaze on you with
Speaker 1: unveiled face and just stare at you and that this
Speaker 1: is not If you don't understand what I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: then you might be an immature Christian.
Speaker 2: Then it's not a knock on you, because I've been
Speaker 2: there before.
Speaker 1: Most of my life, I had a veiled face and
Speaker 1: I had blinded eyes to this. But I think you
Speaker 1: could look at it like the equivalent of going to
Speaker 1: your favorite band, go to the concert of your favorite band.
Speaker 1: George straight for me right, So I'm sixteen years old
Speaker 1: and in the height of my fandom for George Strait,
Speaker 1: and I go see him at the stadium, and I
Speaker 1: have tickets for.
Speaker 2: The front row center.
Speaker 1: Right hypothetical speaking, I go to the front row Center.
Speaker 1: I got the tickets there, and I'm holding the tickets
Speaker 1: and on my way to the stadium.
Speaker 2: What am I talking about? Man? I wonder what's gonna
Speaker 2: be in here. I hope there's popcorn. I hope they
Speaker 2: I hope they have Doctor Pepper.
Speaker 1: On the fountain. I hope they have huge uh, Sonic ice.
Speaker 1: I love Sonic ice. Oh you know I love Sonic Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Sonic ice and a big plastic cup and doctor Pepper.
Speaker 1: And I hope they pop Oh maybe they're gonna have
Speaker 1: hot dogs. I wonder what kind of merch they're gonna have?
Speaker 1: T shirts, hats?
Speaker 2: Oh, you know what else?
Speaker 1: I think about the chairs. I bet those chairs are
Speaker 1: so comfortable. I can't wait to see the chairs.
Speaker 2: What else? Oh? The lights.
Speaker 1: The lighting is gonna be so cool. From up at
Speaker 1: the top, They're gonna have light. Seriously, No, that's not
Speaker 1: what goes through the mind of a sixteen year old
Speaker 1: and he's walking in the stadium.
Speaker 2: He's thinking, I.
Speaker 1: Can't wait to see George straight. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see him in all his glory, standing there holding his guitar,
Speaker 1: singing to me. That's what I care about. Everything else.
Speaker 1: This is going to be there, but it's secondary. I'm
Speaker 1: not worried about it. I'm not thinking about it. I'm
Speaker 1: not envisioning that. That's not my dream.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking about just him. And that's the way I.
Speaker 1: Think of heaven, Streets of gold, pearly gates, bass and
Speaker 1: the rivers, game in the fields, I've got, you know,
Speaker 1: flying ability.
Speaker 2: Whatever.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about, standing in the presence of my Creator,
Speaker 1: standing in all of his glory, hands raised, soaking him in.
Speaker 2: Forever. That's seven. Love you guys, See you next Monday.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith Podcast. I appreciate
Speaker 1: all of you guys. You could help me out by
Speaker 1: rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe
Speaker 1: to this channel, hit that little like button and notification
Speaker 1: spell so that you never miss anytime I upload a video.
Speaker 2: If you have question for me that you would like me.
Speaker 1: To answer, email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Ye