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 Masculine Journey After Hours. We are continuing our conversation of Who am I? Right, they come from the Casting Crown song, is where we got that from.
And apparently, Country Joe and the Fish. Is that who that was, Jim? That's absolutely right.
Okay, okay. They did it first, too. They probably did. Not as well, but they did it first. That's true.
And so we're, that question was: who am I? Right. Who am I? to those around me whom I more importantly, to God. And so, what I wanted to play first is we use a song at boot camp a lot, mainly because I like it a lot, but no, I think other people do too.
But it's Jason Gray. And he's asking God to remind him who he is. And so the reason that's important is the world labels us Right. Dani, you talked about the label of addict. Right.
Or maybe you have divorced. Or maybe you have whatever, right? Whatever that is, you have labels the world puts on you, and sometimes that can start to feel like your identity. And so the world's really good, and the enemy is even better at trying to make your identity as far from God. as it can be.
And so I love this song from the standpoint y and it's a great visual song. I would I recommend you go watch it on uh YouTube because it's very visual, but everybody's holding up these signs of what they've been told who they are. Neglected, abused, those kinds of things. And so this is what the chorus of it is. Tell me once I get who I am to you, who I am to you.
Tell me lest I forget who I am to you, but I belong to you Yeah, and it's just a good reminder because the world will come at you. You know, maybe one day you come to work and all of a sudden you don't have a job. and all of a sudden you label yourself as unemployed. right, or may be unemployable. Whatever that may look like.
And so we're constantly taking on these identities that are different than what God gives us. You all have some in common, right? We're all children of God. And Danny, you talked about being a friend of God. But there's ones that are unique to us as well that God has with just us.
And we've talked about it on other shows, but a lot of times if you have more than one child, or maybe if you only have one child, you have nicknames for 'em. And all my kids had nicknames.
Some of them they didn't enjoy as much as others. But no, they all had nicknames and they stick with them the whole time. You know, because it's a term of endearment. And God has names that He knows His children by. And so I think it's a big part of our identity.
That's another show we do on learning some of your names. But anyway, I just wanted to touch base on that because you're going to need to ask that question many, many times in your life. And you're going to need God to remind you many, many times. I love what Danny said earlier. Uh that we tell people all the time, take your question to God.
And That's what Jason Gray is asking. Remind me, because he knows. like so many in the Psalms, how many times you see Psalms Where David takes off in an absolute wrong direction, and you know he is, but it's like, this is how I'm feeling, this is what I'm experiencing. God straightened me out. And that's the beauty of taking your questions to God.
What David was doing in the Psalms is saying, I feel horrible. I know this isn't true, but here's how I feel. And then and then God begins to straighten that out. I I think that's wonderful wisdom. But there's another song that's creeping into boot camps because I think I'm responsible for it.
It's the one we heard. up in Ohio when we went up there. And you know, part of the phrase from Jonathan Helser, I'm your beloved. But one of the phrases that always strikes me in that song, no matter how many times I hear it, he says, The one who Who knows me best is the one who loves me most. And that just rings through my heart every time I hear it because I'm a hot mess, and nobody has to aim in that here.
No, no, we weren't going to contradict that. But even though I know I'm a mess. I know that I know that I know. That God looks at me and goes, Man, I love you. That is awesome.
Yeah. It is. You know, I think that probably when you talk about, um, David, You know, why do we try to hide things from God? You know, that's what really. You know, we can be in the worst mood ever and then we sit down to pray and you know and we throw on our pr prayer mask or whatever you want to call it, right?
God knows, you know, and so at least David was authentic. I think that's part of the reason God calls him a man after his own heart, because he was just himself. with his father. It's beautiful. Yeah, Robby, you have the next clip.
Yeah, so. I hope some people have gone out and seen the new movie that's out. It's Young George Washington. You can get it on that on Prime now if you hadn't seen it. It's amazing.
Anyway, it's a young George Washington which was phenomenally ambitious. Mike. You're going to hear this in this clip: how ambitious he was, and how God met him there. Interestingly. And uh I I think that it just set it up by saying that at this point in time George Washington has lost his father.
He he he got some help from a step from a half-brother that that helped raise him somewhat, but he's out to prove something and It's not hard to hear it as he begins to discuss what he thinks should happen. And historically, this is the setup for the French and Indian War, like what starts the French and Indian War.
So go ahead and play it. By whom, sir? We don't even know where they are. Sure. that I could lead this expedition.
to deliver your demands to the French. I know the land, sir, better than anyone. You? In the fifteen years since the Crown sent me to serve, I've yet to have a good experience with a colonist.
Well, I look forward to changing your opinion.
So you have ambition. Yes, sir. I do. I see you met the savage you would call the half-king. Yeah, I have met the man.
You led me to this information, but Whether he can be trusted I'm not certain. I should be alarmed if you were. Go and parley with this half king. Learn all you can from him. Then take your men to Fort Le Boeuf, demand the French leave.
Mm. My m my men, sorry. Yes, recruit 150 of your fellow Virginians. Lead them. and deliver this message.
Which says what, sir? That they leave immediately. And if the French refuse? Do not permit them to refuse.
So then I'm to fight. You are to deliver a message and await further orders. Your Excellency, if I may, will he not need the assistance of professional soldiers of the Crown? No, militia will do. especially under one of such ambition.
You shall receive the rank of major in the Virginia militia, which is not a royal commission, understood? There's an interpreter here, Von Braun, Dutchman. Take him. Will my men and I receive equal pay, sir? It cut off there.
It cut off. Yeah. So he goes on to tell him that he's totally offended by it because he's asking for the equal pay to the royal officers, right? Like, what are you thinking? And Mm-mm-mm.
The I guess brashness of The way he handled the whole situation is really remarkable.
However, God met him in all that. and gave him you know, this this unbelievable command which he Unfortunately, what happened was it started the French and Indian War. He ended up. leading his men into this horrible place called Fort Necessity, where they're essentially wiped out. Many, many of his friends, including his best friend, gets killed laying in his arms.
And which would crush anybody. Right? He lost his father as a young man.
Now he's gotten this... command is major and completely destroys his his men. And fascinatingly God uses all that. right, with George's ambition and all those things to begin to define who George Washington ends up being. And as Harold pointed out very eloquently in the premeeting, that You know, when it came to being king, all of a sudden that ambition, you know, got waned through wisdom.
Right? That what God did with George Washington. And so This week I interviewed a rabbi in a podcast I do called Robby and the Rabbi. And he we were talking about Adam and Eve in the garden. And from the Jewish perspective.
They had two different ways to go because they were really not capable of sinning like we are capable of sinning. Like they wouldn't have thoughts about evil because they had no idea what evil was, right? And so here they were in this position in the garden, not really, we really can't relate to how they thought at that point in time, and this is the way the Jewish rabbis have discussed it over the years, is that they had option A, which was. What can I do? To glorify God to the maximum extent.
What can I do to glorify God to the maximum extent? What could be done? to glorify God to the maximum extent. And when you listen those two options, it may become obvious to you what's missing. In option number two.
Is I Uh Yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Yeah. And if you think about the result of what happened when you all of a sudden you put I see, they couldn't necessarily sin the way we could, but they could put I into the equation. And if you put I into the equation, all of a sudden all sorts of things become quite different, which is exactly what George Washington did not do.
at the moment that literally changed history. That He did not become king because he took I. out of the equation. And I'm quite sure that Harold or or Jim would agree with me, as they're both my elders. That the older you get, the more opportunities you get to see where you can take I.
out of the equation and watch God still make it absolutely gorgeous. Um, because he he's doing that for all his friends. And it's an amazing understanding. I really. Haven't unpacked it all completely.
But I do see it in this particular. idea of who am I.
Well, the older you get, the more in Christ, I guess, you become you become. You know, more introspective of those kinds of opportunities. And you know what I'm talking about, Jim? I see you're grinning, like, yeah, go for it.
Well, and we when you mentioned our ages, Bob's still grinning because we still have lessons to learn. Wasn't that long ago somebody very special to me wanted to go to celebrate recovery. And uh The I in that for me was, well, you know, I Abused alcohol, but I was never addicted to it. I don't have an addiction, but I'll go to support this person that I love. And Got there and Right.
separated us in small groups and the small group I was in. Everybody was going around the circle and talking about their addiction. And I was sitting there, well, God, I don't really have an addiction. And this is how I often tell the difference in Saba Grace. More often than not, when God responds, it's with a question, not a answer to my question.
So I said, you know, What am I going to talk about? And he said, You don't have an addiction? I said, well, what is it, Lord? And this is what I got a statement. It was one word.
It was control. And uh I'll be Another reaction, but it's definitely God is blows me out of the water, and I immediately recognize that's true. And that might be the worst addiction there is. I want control of everything around me. I want God to have control, but you know, let me sit in that chair if you've seen that video.
I'm going to give everything, all the control to you, Lord. Yeah, move over out of the chair that is the control chair of my life.
So that's a a late lesson. But one that really hit home and is is my addiction and I'm Working on the Getting rid of that. Like some have in other addictions in this group. It's okay, brother. Thank you.
Yeah, I think uh a few of us battle with control, you know, so we can relate to that obviously. Uh the uh next clip uh is mine and it's from um A talk that John Lynch does to the Navigators, which is a group out in Colorado, and it becomes very famous in Christian circles as the two roads. John talks about two different roads you can take, and one road leads you to a room that above the door it says, pleasing God. Or one path says pleasing God, the other path says trusting God. You know, and which do you pick?
And so he's talking about the whole thing, and I won't go into all of it. And nothing sounds wrong with wanting to please God, but Robby, it gets to your point. It's all about the I. What am I doing to please God? And it's a very well-done talk, but this is a snippet from it where he talks about.
God has already changed us. We don't have to worry about changing. He's already changed us. We just need to learn how to become who we already are. Then so we'll go ahead and play it.
Have we been changed? Yeah. As day is from night, we've been changed. We've been changed. We've been getting a brand new core identity.
We've already been changed and now we get to mature into who we really are. You see, if I brought a caterpillar to a biologist and asked him to analyze it and describe its DNA, he'd say, John, I know it looks like a caterpillar to you, but scientifically in every testable DNA result, this is fully and completely a butterfly. God is wired into a creature looking nothing like a butterfly, a completely, complete, perfect butterfly identity. And because the caterpillar is a butterfly in essence, it will one day display the behaviors and attitudes and attributes of a butterfly. the caterpillar matures into what is already true about it.
In the meantime, berating the caterpillar for not being more like a butterfly will probably just hurt its little ears. And so it is with us. God has given us the DNA of godliness. We're saints, we're righteous. And nothing we do will make us more godly than we already are.
God knows our DNA. He knows we're Christ in me, and now He's asking us to join Him in what He already knows is true. May I dare believe. That God means I'm a new creature right now. May I dare believe that God's crazing about me right now.
May I dare believe that I'm not on God's B team. May I dare believe that I don't have to do penance after I fail. May I dare believe that I don't have to put on appearances because God knows the exact pace of my maturity. May I dare believe that I'm considered righteous right now, even though I still act out in wrong ways. May I dare believe that I'm godly because I share this nature fused with the king of the universe.
May I dare believe that God doesn't keep a logbook of my offenses, bringing them up to me from time to time. May I dare believe that God's never disgusted with me or shame. of me, may I? because it would free everything. God isn't interested in changing you, He already has.
The DNA is set. God wants us to believe that He's already changed us so He can get on with maturance and He's already made us. And trust opens the way for God to bring us to maturity. As I listen through that and you think about some of the things we talk about, when John's saying, could I dare believe, when you really think about it, what he's going at is all the things the enemy throws at him. Right, as you know, you can't be this way because remember what you did back here.
Right, or this is who you really are when no one else is looking. All these kinds of things that the enemy uses to tear you down, but there's things that he's saying: if I can believe in this, which God tells me is true, I am a new creation in him, granted, as you read in the scripture earlier today, then I'm just having to learn how to be that new creation. I just need to walk in it, and we're not going to do it perfectly. And I love this whole thing from John Lynch, and I'd recommend going to watch it. It's on YouTube.
It's not the best audio quality that's there, but it's an amazing, amazing talk. To the point, you learn a lot about grace, you learn a lot about identity, those kinds of things. But for me, it was very important to realize that, and Darren talks a lot about this, if he was here, that on my worst day, I still have Christ in me. On my worst day, I still have hope inside me. And I already have his love and his righteousness.
I just need to learn how to live in it. and live through it. And so I really, really enjoy that. But it helps me hold on to who God's told me I am. Right?
Because at the end of the day, that's what we try to get eroded from us. Yeah, and I would point out that a lot of times What you're hearing, it it it Comes from the enemy, but it may well come from your brother. It may well come from your child. It may well come from your parents. Yeah, oh, yeah, ask Job.
Exactly. It's just, you know, but our battle is against. Not flesh and blood, but again spiritual forces in high places.
So but understand that it what you where you heard it may have come from a person that's actually probably quite close to you. Because interestingly, the way that Jesus was betrayed, to point out that the best thing that can possibly happen to you According to the way Jesus put it in order, is persecution because when he says in Mark You know, 10:30 that you'll not fail to receive if you're rejected for the gospel. You know, Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, lands, and persecutions. And so when you start to hear those things from people that are close to you, It's a really good opportunity to go back, to take your question to God, listen to what He is saying. and identify the fact that, oh my goodness, these people that are saying this to me Yeah.
That They need some love. They need somebody to help them see the truth. Not just the fact that you're not that, whatever it is that they're trying to point you out to, but the fact that they need the truth in their life because anything that's not the truth breaks peace. Mm-hmm.
Okay. Jim, did you want to say something?
Well, something silly, but that's me. I think we need to adopt. John's new word into the vocabulary. Comperfect. I mean, we are is it complete and perfect or completely perfect?
Yeah, that's from all. But we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And that is how God sees us. And accepting that, Well, it's tough 'cause, oh, I know myself. That's not me.
But no, we really don't know ourselves. and won't until we're home. I think about what John Aldridge talks about. in and wild at heart, but it's when you give somebody when you ask your question to other people, you give them the report card on you. Right, but no one has an accurate report card on you, including yourself.
'Cause most often you're the worst lens to go through. Right? Because you know your every thought, you know your actions that you've done, you know all these things that other people don't know. But God knows it. And Danny, as you said, he knows me better than anyone else, and he still sees me as righteous.
Right, but when you take that report card to anyone other than the father. It's gonna come up short. That's the only place you can take it. You reminded me of the disc personality profile. And one of the thing I really loved about that was it had Three different views of who you are when it rated you.
It's how you see yourself. how others see you, and then the real you. Mal To take that out of their context, only one person knows the real us, and that's God. And the more we can go to Him to find out. Who we are.
the closer we'll be to who we are supposed to be and will be eventually. The interesting part of uh The butterfly is I did a study on it back several years ago. is the caterpillar and the butterfly. Not only does the look of the caterpillar changes, his diet changes. Everything changes about that in the transformation.
And if you Assist the butterfly in coming out of the cocoon, you'll toward its growth. And but it's just fascinating that all of a sudden now, you know, you've got a creature that crawled. And now it can fly.
Now everything has changed. And that's us, and that's what God is saying: fly, butterfly. Yeah, so Yep. Which brings home the meaning of the butterfly circus we often talk about. And this is quite a circus.
It is. Grant, did you want to say something? Yeah. I think it's one or the other. the Lord.
Or the double. Yeah. Well, there's a saying that says, you know, you're being fathered by somebody. Yeah. Right?
You don't you can't sit on the fence, so who are you letting father you? The enemy? Or God. And it gets back to that. You're exactly right, Grant.
Any other thoughts before we close on this topic of who I am? Anything that comes to mind for you guys? As you look around, I see heads shaking, which you can't hear on the air except for a couple of you. I wanted to ask, Sam, who are you? I am a child of the Lord.
I am an imperfect person that is made perfect through Christ. And I have to continue to remind myself of that because I fail every single day. And I like to I love to say I always look back at the victories, but more often than not I look back at the failures. and try not to repeat them. And there is some truth in that and you want to learn from them.
But you don't want to be drugged down by them either. And so I walk that fine line sometimes of not being drugged down unless. I take my question to him. There you go. There you go.
And that question was to you, so that you didn't ask us that question.
Well, yeah, I was going to ask you that. Let's ask you that. You mean minute or day? I mean, like, two seconds from now, like when I messed up on the last show going into break. There's plenty of opportunities throughout the day to list failures, but there's the thing that I just love is my morning time.
Is sitting down for just a few minutes. I don't have the hours that my buddy Robby does and things, but those few minutes in the morning when I do, the only thing I do in front of God in that, and I probably need to break it, is I have a drink of coffee, you know, because I need to get the taste of coffee. And then my first priority, I don't care what's going on, is I'm going to go spend time with Him. And that's most often Exactly everything I need to get through the day. It's just holding on to it the rest of the day is the hard part.
And he may be giving you the coffee so you enjoy your time with him more. Yeah, I make a beeline to the customer. Yeah, he did. He did. He knew how it would taste the way I like it anyway.
So, a question for you guys. What will you take from here today that you're going to look differently at this week? For me, I'm going to continue to ask myself. When I get in those situations when I feel uneasy, I get in those situations when I feel less than. When I get into those situations of fear and worry, is whose report card am I looking at?
Right, and continue to remind myself of that because at the end of the day Okay. That's important, but it doesn't matter. When Um It was the word introspection was used by someone else earlier. Was wondering if I was going to be asked the definition of it. When I'm introspective, it usually goes negative pretty quickly.
And I think that's the change I need to make is when I'm looking at myself. Use gods. vision of me instead of my failures. But it takes constant conversation. Amen.
You know, you can't just ask him once and then expect to hold on to it forever. It's something that you need to just walk very, very intimately with him in. And so we ask that you do that this week: that you spend some time asking the Father, the Creator of everything, the one that loves you the most, that knows you the best, what He thinks of you. And get your head around that concept of I'm already righteous because Jesus. Paid that for me.
I have that in me. Go to masculinejourney.org to see anything we have coming up. We'll talk with you next week.
