This is the Truth Network. Coming to you from an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours, 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. Welcome to Masco and Journey After Hours. We are in the middle of an exciting topic for this week. Andy, do you want to share with us briefly again what that topic might do?
Of course. Briefly. What this might do is. Of course. I would be glad to.
Briefly. Briefly. Um so Sam, um w we were talking about topics and Sam had an idea, but he didn't he didn't really want to pursue it or something. I didn't articulate it well. Yeah, he was like, Shouldn't we do something around Holy Week?
I was like, Well, yeah, so where's your topic? But He allowed me to throw an idea out there, so I did.
So I said, you know. Can we look at How we've seen both death and resurrection in our masculine journey. you know, that's a scriptural Principle of how we die to ourselves, to die to sin, and resurrect with Christ in baptism. But I think we have to let things die off in our lives, or kill them off, actually, or allow God to kill them off so things can be resurrected.
So, that whole principle of life and death, or death and life, rather. And then. you know, just testimonies on the impact the Easter season has. And I know From what I gather, there may or may not be some good memories around it. Easter because there has been You know, the enemy's going to do everything he can.
To take the meaning out of the day. And to Darren's point, we should be celebrating that. Resurrection life should be a daily thing. But you know, when you're trying to do the anniversary and celebrate it, you get people that aren't actually spiritual thinking about it. But we don't as a church always do a good job of representing what it really looks like.
And I think that's what his concern is. But uh you know my experience It'll go along with my clip was I was in my late 20s, hadn't been Walking with God for some time, had a lot of guilt built up. I had a broken relationship. It seems like a theme in my life. But I began to think about God again.
And it was a Easter time I can remember still. Um it was a Sunday morning. layin' in bed, just reading the Easter story on a Easter Sunday. weeping because I'd walked away from that. And that's really the first time in my adult life that I really began to see God.
And, you know, it's been a. It's been a a journey since that. since that day. But my mom was so happy she had been praying for it, she had actually been given up She actually gave up smoking. is a f s act of faith to try to, you know, just for me to come back to God and it it all timed out right around that same time.
But anyway, church started going to did a play, and I'd never been around anything like that, but a big production, and it was very effective to reaching the lost, of really presenting the gospel story, right? Very powerful. A lot of time and effort went into it. And, you know, I remember the first time I saw it, and then I actually, you know, be began to be like a greeter when the play. It was like a full week.
People are at, you know. Giving up their nights every night for leading up to this. It was really a big part of the church's ministry. And then I actually was in the play. I was a disciple a couple of years, or no, a a a Roman soldier a couple of years and then a disciple what one or two years I thought.
Judas. Yeah, no thank you. I think I asked to be Andrew, maybe. That would make more sense. Yeah.
I don't think it was, actually. I don't think Andrew was in the story. But anyway, it was really impactful. And this song. It's just a a blip out of it.
If you you Listeners probably heard it. It's from a new song called Arise, My Love. Very powerful. Just listen to the words and. Talk about it coming back.
Turn his back on his son. despising ourselves. All hell seemed to whisper. Just forget it, he's dead. Then the farther look down To his son and sin.
It goes on, and it's more hopefully powerful.
Well, that was supposed to be the bump, but somebody beat me to it. We won't say who. Yeah, it was just a different bump. But uh It was just really powerful, especially when you pair that music. It's powerful.
We had a full-on orchestra and Jesus is coming out. And I mean, it's. You know, it's it'll it'll um it'll really stir you. And I remember just being a greeter before I started was in the play and just the powerful wi w the love that was in that environment and how Um you know, all everybody was excited about the story. And it impacted the community, it really did.
But anyway, um Just a That's just something, a memory that I have that I'll never forget. It's part of me. It was a short time, probably less than five years that I was directly involved with it. But it was very powerful time. I figured I'd tell a funny story about that.
One night I'd been at. at at the play. I'd been that was when I was a Roman soldier. Got home that night, and it was just like you felt like you were constantly going, you get up and go to work the next morning, do the play the next morning. I was very tired.
Got home, ready to go to bed.
Well, I walked in. And somebody had thrown a cinder block through my back glass window, and glass is everywhere. I was like, okay, devil, right? But uh I had to call the cops, obviously, and they get there, and I'm telling them about it, and they keep looking at me weird.
Well I still have my garb on with my skirt. Oh wow. All maked up up? Yeah. Like.
Oh, you've been at church. Yeah, right.
So we're going to help them.
So that was a memory. You know, that was a memory. For them, too. Exactly. They're telling that story a little different.
Did you ask for a ride-along? I mean, that's classic, man. That is awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
It just didn't transfer the generations of old Roman Garb, right? Uh Danny, what are your thoughts on the topic?
Well, a couple of different things. Um Number one, I've always been suspicious of the Easter Bunny. Oh, yeah. Because rabbits don't lay eggs and he paints them, so he bound to stole them somewhere.
So, you know, dude, but anyway, no offense, Harold, for your shirt. I mean, I'm sorry. It is a nice shirt, Harold. Tell Jan she did a good job picking it out for you. The uh you know, in the in the first show, uh, several of you talked about the passion of the Christ.
And I can remember We went to see it. you know, when it came out. Went to a movie theater and saw it. I remember sitting there and, you know, the the agony of watching All this transpired. It was condensed in a movie.
Yeah, 'cause it went on for hours and and and And I remember coming away thinking So that's what it looks like to crucify the flesh. It looks that tough. Because, you know, Andy, you mentioned, you know, died of self And you you have to and and I think Paul writes, you know, crucify the flesh. And that's what it looks like. It's brutal.
And it's it's time consuming. And but that's what it looks like. And I thought, wow, he went through all that for me. And you know, and then you know, the resurrection, obviously, you know, you get new life. But none of that was possible.
without. You're what he did. And, you know, I mean, only he could have done it. You know, there was nobody else who could have done it. And when I think about that, I tie that with communion.
And that you know He has shed blood and his broken body. is a reason I can sit here today and talk about his stuff. You know, there's the reason I can do lots of things because there's been lots of flesh that's had to die. And lots of flesh has been resurrected, it shouldn't have been. But that's the kind of thing that I think about at Easter.
in that, you know, that and and I agree with Darren that A lot of the pomp and circumstances, you know, really unnecessary. And most time with all that stuff, what you get if you're involved in it, is tired. Yeah, you really do. You're tired. You feel like you're going to be laid in a tomb because you're going to die.
But I've been through those kind of things. you know, n never lose sight of, you know, Christ died for our sins. But he rose again.
so that we could live on the other side of that. And you know, through joining this ministry and you know several other things. I have found some resurrected life. I found some of that abundant life that he promised. That That you know, there is new life in Christ.
There's, you know, I'm a different guy. I'm really a different guy now. I weigh like 70 pounds less than I did last year. Yeah, got nothing to do with Easter. But you know got a lot to do with Some things died off, yeah.
Um, but uh, but you know, that kind of thing, but you know, realizing that you know, as he walks day to day. with us. in resurrection power. That same power lives in me. Yeah, the original superhero.
The original superhero. Yeah, he didn't even need a cape, you know what I mean? He didn't. And but, you know, that that kind of thing just, you know, just sticks with me really a lot more now. Yeah.
You know, having been through some some real trauma. And that, uh, that, you know, that you know, he he's been there And it says, you know, he was at all points tempted, such as we are, yet he was without sin. And he, you know, did that.
So I could identify with him. He knew it. But but he did that so I would know. That he knew it. What a powerful thing.
You know, I mean, I hope everybody has a great Easter experience, I mean, like you never had before.
some way, shape, fashion or form, and it touches our hearts in ways. That has never touched us before 'cause we need it. Yeah, you're you guys are talking about the play and being tired and all the the different things, I think that So often, we're so focused on trying to give to others so that they have a good Easter that we don't let. God give to us.
so that we can have a good Easter. Right, and we walk away tired, we walk away. Not the people we want to be. You know, because when you're tired, you don't make the best decisions or say the best things and those types of things. My clip I I've actually used before and I struggled to find one from a T V show, as I talked about before, or a movie.
I just couldn't find something that articulated how I was feeling about it. And so I went back to a song that I've used before, and it's from an artist named Riley Clemens. And it's called the song's called Love by You. And so I'm going to play a portion of about a minute of it. And initially you'll think, Okay, what's this have to do with Easter?
But we'll bring it back around. And if you have trouble hearing the lyrics and the chorus, I'll talk you through those briefly when we come back. But here's the clip from her, and just listen and let her words sink in. Uh Sometimes I feel like I'm a A bit too broken, unseen, unknown.
Sometimes the doubt starts creeping in.
So come remind me once again. I am believed in, I am held on to. Don't have to wonder who I belong to. I've always wanted, always known, and always treasured. It's true.
I am left by you. It's in your blood, it's in your scars. How far you go to reach my heart. You call me chosen, you call me yours. And that's all that matters.
And then she goes back into the chorus. And so at the beginning, she's singing: Sometimes I feel like I'm alone, a bit too broken, unseen, unknown.
Sometimes the doubt starts creeping in, so come remind me once again. I am believed in, I am held on to, and Don't have to wonder who I belong to. I'm always wanted, always known, and always treasured, it's true. I am loved by you. And then the second verse is It's in your blood, it's in your scars, How far you'd go to reach my heart You call me chosen, you call me yours It's all that matter for evermore.
And when you hear that second verse, obviously you can relate that to Easter. Right. But if you think about The enemy had had his way with uh God's people. for years and years and years and had him believing even scripture. Incorrectly, right?
That Jesus came to correct. But he had his way. And when I listened to her lyrics at the beginning, The enemy is having his way with her heart, with her mind, with her spirit. Telling her, this is who you are. Right?
And when Jesus died that we could have freedom, yes, it was so that we could be reconciled with the Father, but it's also so much more than that, that all those old lies. are not true and and and we're free of those. If we choose to walk in them and choose to step in them, and as we've mentioned so many times, I need that resurrection every day. Because the assaults continue to happen. I'm a much different Christian than I was years and years ago, and hopefully I'm growing and getting stronger, but the attacks are relentless.
and they keep coming, and they attack you on your character, they attack you in all different areas, but they attack you at the core of identity. Who I am You know, I am chosen. I am his. Right. And if I can only remember that every day, Every day is going to be completely different.
Yeah, and his death proved our value to the Father, not in our sinful value, but I'm valuing the essence of who we are and our innocence and Oof. And before we were actually on this earth and sinning, we were a spirit. And that value carries on, and the whole redemption thing. And I haven't really thought about it like that because you just start a relationship, but something had to d Be provided for that relationship to happen. And we know that is.
you know, the death and resurrection, but Through that It all gets back to, again, like what you you were saying, breaking every lie about what the enemy wants to tell you about that's not true about the essence of who you are and the way he created you. I know it sounds weird, and I'm kind of talking in circles, but I'm getting revelation here. I don't think that sounds weird, and I don't think you were talking in circles at all. it actually was Great. And I the reason I wanted I wanted to ask you.
Was that kind of where you were? On that Easter Sunday feeling unseen, feeling too broken, all of those things, but Through the power of the Holy Spirit, through Scripture. among other things. the Holy Spirit was able to grab hold of you and And convince you that there was more. And you might have been wallering in a little bit of guilt or shame at that moment in time, but.
The Holy Spirit did something to draw you in. Right. Even with us before and after. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the dying to who you were and believing that lie.
I'd like to say that it happens instantaneous. I was talking to a friend the other day who got a. Done a lot, and he felt like he had done a miracle and changed. That's true, that does happen, but then it becomes through relationship a process to. to walk this out to really You can understand that you're a son, but the more that you walk and you have an experience, not just a Bible knowledge of it, but an experience as a son.
It deepens your faith, it deepens your walk, so Yeah, when we I know for me when I got when I accepted Christ, yes, there was a complete conversion. I felt it immediately and I like many others said, Oh, I'm never going to be the person that I was and then I stepped right back into my everyday life with my everyday friends, with the family dynamic I was born into, good, bad, indifferent. Nothing there changed. And to think that, yes, there was something in me, but the the seed, you know, they took out my heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh, but I have to learn how to live out of that. That's right.
Right? I have to learn to grow in that, the sanctification process of becoming more and more of that new creation and killing off more and more of the old creation. And sometimes relationships had to die because they weren't healthy for me. To continue where I wanted to go. And so there's a lot of layers of this death.
to life in those conversions. Yeah, no doubt. And that's kind of where I was going because It's not just one thing. To experience life, whatever is not living needs to be die to die in your life. It may be dead already.
It is. It's not producing fruit, right? But it has to die off and to where it no longer has a hold on you, to where you can really step into that life. We've said it quite a few ways now. We have.
We continue. I didn't know if you had something else you wanted to say, Darren. No. I mean, other than just that the whole process of death and resurrection both happen regularly. Yeah.
You know, the new self continues to be resurrected, right? The new creation in Christ, the new name that you're given, learning to live deeper into that new name. Every time you experience that at a deeper level, It it is as if There's a a new resurrection, if you will. And I know those moments are that way for me when when I hear God you know, give me clarity. on things that have been hard for maybe a long season.
And then in that same clarity say But This is who I'm calling you now. This is your upcoming season. and the the resurrection, the spring. the looking forward to things growing and blossoming and blooming and all of those different aspects of it. To have that relationship with him that you're going, oh man, this is going to be good.
It may be scary. But there's going to be some fruit borne out, to Andy's point. Didn't even dad something. Ogres aren't the only one that have layers.
Okay. You know, what's funny is I asked Danny about something. I'm looking at him, and this voice is going, but his lips aren't moving, and I'm like, that's not Danny's voice. I was totally confused for a minute, Harold. I'm starting to sound like Harold.
Yeah, I know. It's like, that's not you. I thought I was going to say it sounded like God.
Well, I was going to tell you, when we went and seen The Passion of the Christ, when we came out of the movie theater, it had snowed. And there was a layer of just snow and everything.
So everything was just pure white. And it was about as spiritual a moment as we'd all had. I mean, everybody out there going. Wow. 'Cause you just sat through this death and resurrection And you know He washes white as snow.
And you walk out in the parking lot and everything's white as snow. Mm. It's awesome. Andy, it sounds like we're having an awakening here, which takes us to your clip.
So your other click. Robby got back from NRB and was telling me about this movie or this. movie that was coming out about George Whitfield and Benjamin Franklin. I was like, What? I've never heard Heard that story.
And so they did a pre-screening this weekend, and I went and saw it. And it really made. I'm big into history of it. You know, these guys get tired of hearing me here, American history. But really, you know, church history and stuff.
It's just I didn't know the story, but It's about the first Great Awakening, and it really it deals with Whitfield and Ben Franklin's relationship. Ben Franklin was the printer that printed a lot of his messages that went out, but there's a lot of depth to it. And he was like, what does this have to do with it?
Well, they released the movie at Easter because of spiritual things, but it didn't take place at Easter, but. George Whitfield, his first initial Um How he was How he was presented the gospel is through the Wesleys. The Wesley brothers, and really, really accepted it. But then he felt like he had to work for this salvation, what we're talking about. And he struggled for a long time.
And then they finally said, Look, you're not going to ever do that. He was fasting like 40 days and trying to really put a lot of effort, like a lot of us do. And that had to die.
So that you could have a resurrection. This is a trailer. That's all that's out there for this movie. I'm just trying to advertise it. Go see it.
There's not, you won't pick up a whole lot in here, but it's something I'm excited about. I think you would enjoy it. You were friends with a preacher? Was he part of the revolution? George Whitfield was a revolutionary.
The Constitution needs to speak to the heart of these people. My friends, let us not be asleep, but awake! Benjamin Franklin. Reverend George Whitfield. A match made in heaven.
Or just a deal made in a print shop. Let us proclaim freedom to the captains. Clips. You're the lightning bolt, George. I'm just a lightning rock.
And who is the source, Ben? One tiny candle.
Okay. Illuminate a thousand. Yeah. Arise, oh sleeper! Awaken!
The good thing about that too is, and I really I just encourage you to see it. I mean, I can't really ex explain it. We don't have a detailed clip in there. The good thing is, it's not just like one of those two-day documentaries. They're running it full run like any other movie, and it's out this weekend.
And it's a good movie. Because sometimes they have a lot of good intentions, and you're like, I felt like it was good. Sam's pretty hard. He's Siskel and Ebert with him. I mean, he's pretty hard.
I'm the heavy set one, whichever one that was. Yeah, I got your saying, Agent. You know, I was thinking earlier. I didn't say like you were both of those. Yeah, same thing.
Yeah, it's like Ben and Jerry. You know, you're just trying to combine them. You know, I'm Siskel and Ebert. Anyway, I was kind of wondering, you know, if you would have stuck with that, you know, could you have played Jesus at some point? But then I thought your hair didn't match.
You know, it just wasn't going to work. You always got wigs, though. Yeah, no, but this actually sounds like a really good movie. I'm excited to see it. Yeah, I know there's just so much history to our spiritual foundation as a nation and I you a lot of times we start at the Revolution.
We don't really think about how The first Great Awakening really impacted the revolution.
Well, it talks a lot about that. Our country was founded on religious freedom. That's right. You know, and somehow we forget that. Yep.
That's how everybody ended up here.
Well, not everybody. Most people ended up here. No doubt. Right. Oh guys, we don't have much time left.
Is there anything that we have not talked about that's just burning on your heart that you would like to share? If not, I'll talk about boot camp, you know how I am. I would say talk about boot camp.
Okay. I mean, we've seen a lot of. We've seen a lot of men that have realized what God was trying to do in crucifying the flesh and maybe understood it for the first time, not because we put them on a cross or took them outside and beat them or anything like that, but because we gave them time in the wilderness or in their bunk or wherever. undistracted from anything else. And usually that Dying comes first.
And then, hopefully, shortly thereafter, they begin to experience the resurrection of. a new joy in Christ, a new freedom in Christ. Yeah, absolutely. You know, there's death to what we've seen ourselves as. The truth of who we are in Christ, it does go through.
The whole weekend is a resurrection process. That's really good. We do have one coming up the weekend before Thanksgiving. This November, if you don't remember when Thanksgiving is. Do you remember the dates?
Sorry, Darren. 19th to the 22nd. I didn't know what they were. That's why I kept saying the weekend before Thanksgiving. I know.
I was trying to help you. That does help. Go to masconejourney.org. You can register now. Get it done while you can.
Love on somebody well this Easter. We'll talk to you next week. You started. Mm-hmm.
