Why Do We Need A Topic After Hours

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Simply go to Geico.com or contact your local agent today. This is the Truth Network podcast where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's word. Your chosen Truth Network podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth podcast network. A time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast. So sit back and join us on this adventure. The masculine journey after hours starts here. Now, even without Sam, we're still on the air.

How about that? Well, folks, you know how we like to always give each other a hard time about what the topic is, whose topic it is and trying to put all the pressure on them to come up with either talking points or say they got to lead the show or whatever we do. Well, Sam and his wisdom as he's going to be out for a couple of weeks doing some other things, we do miss him, but he's left Danny and I in charge for two weeks.

This is probably the bravest thing that that man's ever done. So I know all you longtime listeners out there, which means Andy's mom and my mom are out there, that we really appreciate you all listening up, but those two would actually know what we're talking about. The rest of you, I don't know.

The other three of you probably haven't been listening as long. But we really like to rib each other about whose topic it is. Well, and this week when he made the mistake of letting me host, he's like, well, it's your show. You can name the topic. And I just kind of went a little rebellious when it came to my mind and says, why do we need a topic? So that is our topic this week is why do we need a topic?

And as my brothers were pointing out in the first show, and if you haven't listened to that, just put the pause button, go back, listen to the first show and then get the then listen to this one on the podcast. But they pointed right to Jesus as I knew they would, which is kind of was my whole point when I even started with the topic was, why do we need Jesus? You know, why do we need a savior? That's what really came into my mind when I was like, why do we need a topic? Because if we're not pointed in a direction, if we're traveling aimlessly, if we're stuck on the roundabout, as Andy was talking about in the previous show, we're not on the path with God, we're off on our own path and we own it. And that's not what God wants. God wants us to surrender to him so that we can join him and his path and that narrow path that we can travel with him.

So that we're not just aimlessly wandering, trying to take a bunch of things into our own self control, which is one of the hardest things for us to do is to surrender to Jesus fully. And that's what we talked about a little bit on the on the original show. So we left a few clips in the bag for the after hours. And I'd like to go to Mr. Marsh with his hard to believe Andy Griffith clip. I know it's a shocker, right? Um, so with this being a topic that maybe not a topic was a Rodney, this is not your topic. I'm kind of confused.

But that's exactly what you would do. So the clip is from the Andy Griffith show is Gomer has lost his job at garage and his apartment or room in the back of the garage. So Andy has put him up for a little while. And Gomer is living in, as we say around here, the smaller story. He's just self absorbed.

He's clueless as to how his actions affect other people. And so it's creating a little bit of chaos at the Taylor house. And so Andy is trying to get some rest because he's been up all night. So he escaped to his office.

And that's where we'll pick the clip up at. Hey, Andy, you asleep? No, Gomer. I just come by to tell you I hadn't had no luck getting a job yet. Oh, don't worry about it. Something turned up.

Yeah, no sense in open. That's life. That's life. Through and through.

Through and through. Speaking of life, Gomer, I didn't get much sleep last night. You didn't? Maybe you ate too much stuff.

No, Gomer. I mean, I appreciate what you're trying to do. But all that sawing and messing with the vacuum cleaner and singing and everything kept up so much racket that I couldn't sleep. Oh? Well, I'm sorry about that. It's all right.

Don't go punishing yourself inside or anything. Just try to keep it down a little quieter tonight. I'll do that, Andy. I'll tippy-toe around. Good. That'd be good. Better yet, I'll go to bed when you do and I won't make a sound. Good.

I'd appreciate it. Say, you ain't had any luck finding a job, huh? No, but I'm going off to market now. They're advertising for an experienced butcher. You know anything about cutting meat?

You think they'll ask me that? A lot of times I'm like Gomer, about three french fries shy of a Happy Meal. But, you know, Andy brought him back on topic. Well, you know, he wasn't getting any rest because of his actions, Gomer's actions, and he pointed him out to it. And so often in my own life, you know, God's had to bring me back to, hey, here's the topic.

Your actions are doing this, this and this because I was clueless to the fact of how my actions affecting other people. And the, you know, and I love the way the clip closes because he says he's going over to apply to be a butcher. And Andy says, you know how to cut meat?

You think they'll ask me that? Once again, clueless. And but, you know, as far as topics go, you know, we Jesus compared us to sheep a lot and it was not a compliment. It was, you know, we need direction.

We need someone to lead us in a direction. And, you know, doing that with topics. I love what Harold shared the first show was that, you know, hearing other people's perspective on the same thing is really does help me because I get my own blinders on and I'll run off the bridge. And sometimes hearing what others have to say will take you off topic. That's the other thing that's a burden is sometimes when we're doing that, it's like you hear that and it's like, oh, I'm going to chase that rabbit like you were talking about, Harold. And it's very easy for me to be so intense on what's in front of me right now that I do forget the larger story. That's one of the things for me that at work a lot of times, it's one of those things where I just got to pause, let things happen, and say, okay, now what's the intent of this?

Because there's so many problems, so many places we can go. We can say, okay, I'm going to be in this Bible study. I'm going to go do that service thing over here.

I'm going to do this. And you find yourself in so many things that you're just pulled in so many directions that you just want to kind of give up. That's where Sam in his season right now, he's really engaged in some things and he's wholehearted and that's really wonderful. I just know for myself that I've got enough bit off and chewed off right now that I don't need to take anymore in. And it's a good place to be. It's nice to have that comfort of I've got enough going on.

I don't need to be burdened with it. Jimmy, why don't we get on to yours. I really, really love this clip for this.

We do kind of hit on the same things. This movie is, I usually can anticipate what's happening in movies before I go to them. This is one of the few in my life that has blown me out of my seat. It's from the original Matrix and this is, last week I complained about Tom Cruise being God in the clip.

I'm a lot better with Laurence Fishburne being the God in this clip and we're going to listen to what he has to say to Neo. The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us.

Even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work. When you go to church.

When you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. What truth? That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is.

You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more.

Follow me. This is a movie that to me did parallel the gospel quite a bit. A lot of people don't see that. My wife is the best. She always sees Jesus in every movie we go see.

I play that game as well. But in this he's talking about being a prisoner and not even knowing who you are. And that's what living in the flesh, living in the world is.

It's the only reality you know if you don't know Jesus. And what is being offered to Neo here is the truth. And that's all he promises him.

But the truth is a person. That's Jesus Christ. And one of the things that hit me about this is Neo is having a pretty miserable life. He knows something is wrong. He can't put his finger on it.

What's going on here? And so he starts acting out in society and gets in trouble. And that lands him in this scene. And he has no clue that living in the physical world that he thinks he's in is an illusion. And until he takes the red pill and goes down the rabbit hole he does not know what reality is. And for me this is why we all need God. I mean we're sinners but most sinners don't know it until they've seen the law and understood that's a problem. And you don't have a solution until you get to Jesus Christ.

And he's fighting battles but he's not succeeding at it before he gets in. And then he becomes a mighty warrior once he's in the spiritual realm which is their reality as opposed to the deceived realm they're in as being batteries. But if you haven't seen that movie I guess you're five or six years old and you will get a chance to someday. But it's worth saying just to see that theme through there. For all our younger listeners.

That's the two or three that he was talking about earlier. So that's always the challenge is how do we see God in everything? How do you go live your life, walk down the street, go to your job, drive down the highway, and yet keep your focus on Jesus while there's so many distractions in our world today? You knock. You seek. You look.

You open your eyes. You want it. It's a desire to go after. But when does that desire come? He draws us to that place in little pieces and the more you are obedient and those moving forward in one he gives you a little more. He'll draw you a little more and he'll draw you a little more. God is so willing to give us as much of himself as we want.

I just think back to me. I wasn't searching for Jesus. Nobody ever searches for Jesus. The Bible is very clear that none seek him but he seeks us. And then once the truth is finally revealed, just like you said there, Wayne, you want to cling to it.

You want to grab a hold of it. You can see it in people's eyes and their hearts and how they act and what they do. It just becomes a part of who they are and they just continue to grow and want to be fed even more. And it doesn't mean that they're perfect either. They've got it all together. You'll find most of the ones who walk with them, they just love people.

Because they know their own state. Peter. Or was it Paul? I can't remember which one.

Richard Maynard. Yeah, and like we were talking in the first show about the walking in the mud with Jesus and the mire in the pit. And that's where we're at. And when we truly can see the stark contrast between us and him, it becomes much more alive for us.

Jim? I forget the name of the character in The Matrix, but there is a Judas. And what I thought of when you were saying that is that we can know the truth and want to get back into the world and get away from it if those are the things that mean the most to us. And it is a danger that we all can face from time to time. And I mean, there are pastors that have fallen that are now atheists because they couldn't handle the truth. Because they were a different soil than the good soil. That sounds like another clip. They couldn't handle the truth.

Harold. I was just going to summarize this thing of topic or no topic by saying that there are two dangers. One deals with each subject. You can learn less and less about more and more until finally you know nothing about everything. Or the reverse is you know more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing. So we need to be careful about choosing what we learn and how we learn. I can't wait to get the podcast so I can rewind that about ten times if I can actually figure out what you said. That's some sage-ness right there. I know. And Harold's laying it on us tonight.

I love that. So the last clip, since I missed our last clip now, my clip is about a man named Simon Sinek. This is a clip that, actually I used the whole talk not just a clip, but this is going to be the preamble how he sets up his talk. But this is called Start With Why. And Simon Sinek uses this to kind of help people understand how to go either promote something or to run a business or to get people to follow your cause. Because it's about my belief and your belief coming together so we believe the same thing.

So let's give it a listen. We assume even we know why we do what we do. But then how do you explain when things don't go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions? For example, why is Apple so innovative? Year after year after year after year, they're more innovative than all their competition. And yet they're just a computer company. They're just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media.

Then why is it that they seem to have something different? Why is it that Martin Luther King led the civil rights movement? He wasn't the only man who suffered in a pre-civil rights America. And he certainly wasn't the only great orator of the day.

Why him? And why is it that the Wright brothers were able to figure out controlled powered man flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded, and they didn't achieve powered man flight and the Wright brothers beat them to it? There's something else at play here. About three and a half years ago, I made a discovery. And this discovery profoundly changed my view on how I thought the world worked and it even profoundly changed the way in which I operate in it. As it turns out, there's a pattern. As it turns out, all the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it's Apple or Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers, they all think, act, and communicate the exact same way.

And it's the complete opposite to everyone else. All I did was codify it. And it's probably the world's simplest idea.

I call it the golden circle. Why? How?

What? This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren't. And what he's really coming across here when he's talking about things that we talk about and trying to meld them together, it's smaller story, larger story. The small story is the what. What the thing is that you're making.

I just go to work and because I got a job, I get paid. Well, nobody gets inspired over that. You get inspired by what other people believe and what they say and what they stand for, the bigger, larger purpose of things. That's the larger story. Our larger story, of course, is Jesus. That's where we focus our attention.

That's where we want to go with our story and say, how can I step into it with him, pray into those things, and ask, how is it that I can walk a life, like Wayne was talking about, in obedience? We aren't going to be perfect at it. We are going to fall.

We're going to struggle. But that's where, thank God, he puts other godly people into our lives and allows us to stumble and fall with our brothers and sisters and help pick each other back up and refocus and re-energize in Jesus Christ himself. I know at work, like this talk here, it helps people to get focused back on the bigger picture. Why are we doing what we're doing? As you're moving through anything in your life, in your hurting, or maybe things are going great, because that's where I can really go wrong. When things are going well, I take my focus off of Jesus, which is even easier there than what I do when I'm having troubles. But when things are going well, if you're not focusing back on what you need to be, that's where having that pause to be able to say, where am I going? What am I focusing my life on? And if it's not Jesus, you need to stop and pause and focus your life on him. And there's just so many ways we can do that.

So that's why I'm going to ask my band of brothers, how do you guys get your focus back? I know Mr. Dilmore has many ways. Well, I was just going to speak to the offer of intimacy. It's like the stuff of a thousand love movies, whatever, where you see that moment where the girl kind of blushes and the guy is gazing at her, and there's this spark and she's the one or he's the one, and you have this sense of, oh, I really can trust. I really can have intimacy. I really can have that place of delight in my soul.

There is the actual what we're medicating in so many different ways with all the little other things that we go off and try to do to get to that place that only is available inside your heart in intimacy with him. And oh, he gives you his story. Like if you watch one of those movies, you're going to see that they share each other's story, right? They tell, this is what happened in my life. That's what happened in your life.

And there's a connection. Well, God gave us his story in the Bible, but we have to share our story through prayer, right? Through our connection with him and developing that relationship to where we can get to that point from my perspective of like, oh, he loves me more than anything I would ever see in one of those movies or anything that I could experience there, and how can I get to that place and how can I experience that so that, like Moses, you know, he came down off the top of that mountain.

He had to put a veil over his face because he was shining so bright, right? And because he had been in intimacy with God like face to face on the top of the mountain. Well, truth is that's available for every single one of us every single day, you know, and how are we going to engage with our band of brothers in order to make our way to that place if we don't focus, like you guys were all saying, on the topic, on what is the why. You know, I love that clip, Rodney, I really do, that those were people who had a passion and went wholehearted at something. But, oh, to have the passion to go wholehearted at intimacy with God is like man. You know, for me, that's where I want to be. Yeah, that is a place that, it's indescribable other than, and the best thing to do is when you can see other people walking, and that's one of the things that happened to me when I walked in my first boot camp was to see other men basking in the glory of God and telling their story of whether it was happiness or it was brokenness or where they were at.

You could see that and you could see where you have real men sharing real stories of life and there's life inside of that that comes out of those men into your life. I had been through the past couple of weeks with something and I've always viewed, I guess, what Robby was describing as, that intimacy with God is this mountaintop experience where you're up on the mountain and it's like that, but the intimacy is in the valley as well because this thing that I've gone through with my hands and with the air conditioning, I've had to come to realize that, you know what, I've had it rough, but I ain't had it that rough. What I realized is that when things are going good, I can get very spiritual, but the reality of it is when we hit the valley, I come back to the smaller story and it's, oh, woe is me.

One of the things I'm known for saying is that I get into that nobody knows the trouble I've seen, that what I call, it's eluding me now, the train wreck, no survivors there, but what I'm saying is that to get called back into, there is a larger story and God wants that intimacy for me regardless of what's going on in my life, that He's there all the time and that's tough. I mean, maybe not for you guys. I'll say you sanctified and all that stuff, but I'm a work in progress. Yeah, we're about to cross the finish line. That's right. Yeah. Jim. Come on. Come on, Mark. Come on. Oh, mine is different than that, but each of us have a different story. I get into the, oh, I'm doing all these good things and I know it's not about works, but when I'm in that, I'm feeling like, okay, well, I've never really had rough times in my life. Carolyn tells me otherwise, but I've always felt like I've been blessed, but that's a problem too because I know that in my very worst, I'm still, as Robby loves to put it and I've grown to love it, I'm his favorite and he owes me nothing and he's given me everything.

Yes. And Andy, thank you so much for calling in and giving us your wisdom from overseas. I want to make sure I invite you guys to bootcamp. Remember, it's November 17th through the 20th, or I say the weekend before Thanksgiving.

It's a lot easier for me to remember that. And we have the F-R-E-E free, Robby. The free entrenchment is coming up really soon, September 30th and October 1st. We look forward to all coming to those events and you listening to the next podcast. Send in anything, requests that you have for a topic. See you next time.