This is the Truth Network. The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.
So, how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now. Welcome to Masculine Journey. We're glad that you're with us this week.
It's a revolving doors here at Masculine Journey Radio Show. We never know who's going to be here and who's not. We've just had a lot of life stuff coming at, I think, pretty much most of our group. You know, from health stuff to lack of air conditioning and. Everything in between.
Many. Yeah. Work travels. Work travel. Yeah, absolutely.
Well, we're continuing our topic, our series. I think we called it Boulder series. You know, we couldn't think of anything else, and Jim liked it, so we went with it.
Well, it was Danny's, and I couldn't argue with that.
Okay.
Well, I like it better now that it was Danny. Everybody likes Danny. They never laugh at anything I put online. They laugh at everybody else. Because we'll be Boulder after that.
Is that what I mean? Sure. Double. I think we were making fun of the Foundation series. You're cutting in and out, I think.
I am cutting in and out. Yeah, try lowering the mic, see if that helps. We'll play with it and see what happens.
Well, it's an adventure. Thank you. It's part of our adventure. Yeah, just don't breathe or talk.
Okay.
And we should be fine. We should be great. Don't move. No, we're continuing the series, and we've touched on so far justice. Yeah.
And mercy. Yeah. Right. And so this week, where are we going, Darren?
Well, we're going to go to peace. We kind of handled mercy and grace simultaneously last week. And so we're going to move into peace. Ultimately. I think peace is what everybody's looking for.
We don't usually start out saying, hey, I want mercy or I want grace or you know, I we clamor for justice sometimes, but everybody Everybody wants peace in their life. Peace Almighty wanted grace. Yeah. Well, go watch that one. There's a few others.
Nope, sorry. I almost pulled a clip that referenced that from another movie. But. Um ultimately we're we're going to be talking about peace and and and Kind of what we're looking at is what's What's your definition? I mean, you know, just as you're listening to the show, just be thinking about, you know, you might go through that exercise right now before you hear us talk too much.
You know, how would you define peace in your life? And so we're gonna we're gonna kinda dig into that. Yeah, another thing we hope to talk touch about on is, you know, how do you start pursuing peace? What are the different pieces that keep you from having it? And also, what's the answer?
You know, we know it's going to be Flannel Jesus, you know, from Sunday school. That's going to be the biggest part of the answer, which is great because Jesus is the answer, but there's much, much more that goes into that warfare and things. But the first clip is mine, and it's a mashup of different songs from different genres from actually a few different countries. And so I'm just going to play it, and they all talk about peace in one way or another. And then we'll come back and talk about it.
Cause I gotta be small Oh easy feet. And I know. No, you won't let me down Cause I'm all that you stand On the ground. See the love and Woman's eyes, feel the touch of a precious child. And no woman's love.
It's funny how it's the little things in life. That mean almost not where you live What you drive or the price tag on your clothes There's no dollar sign on a peace of mind This I've come to know One love, one love, what about let's get together? And the random bee. As it was in the beginning, one love shall it be in the air. One heart praise to the Lord, and I will feel alright.
Let's get together and feel alright. All we are saved if it be the chance. All we are saved if he's a chance and the rest will follow. Be colour blind, don't be so shallow. That was actually a minute 58.
It seemed like it was so much longer than that, and I realized that. But the reason I'd throw that together, you have lots. Lots of different things going on there. You have different genres of music. You have people from different countries.
You have at least America, the Bahamas, and England. Right, are in there. You have different decades that are represented in different demographics, right? But they all have something to do with peace. The last one is hard to pick up on if you don't know the song.
But the artists were, of course, the Eagles with Peace Weez of Feeling, and then Sack Brown Band, a song called Chicken Fried, and then Bob Marley, One Heart, One Love. Uh then The peace song from John Lennon, I can't remember. Give Peace a Chance. Give Peace a Chance. And then the last one was In Vogue, which they were singing: Free Your Mind, and the Rest Will Follow.
be color blind, don't be so shallow. And so they're all approaching, to your point, Darren, different views of what peace means. All of those represent peace, peace in their world. Right, some are individual piece. Yeah.
Right?
Some of our corporate piece. Yeah. You know, but it's something we're all made for. Yeah, we would all have a very peaceful life if we could agree on what peace was. Exactly.
It's, it's, you know, no, it's not that, it's this. And, you know, we argue and fuss and fight over, you know, what peace is. I mean, honestly. You know, take John Lennon. You know, his idea of peace was the lack of war.
Right. Well, lack of war doesn't mean peace for everybody. Right. You know? I mean, if there are people that are being...
Abused and misused and mistreated, and have a tyrant. killing them and their families on a regular basis, then That's not peace. It might not be war, but it's not peace. And. you know, uh Andy, I'll I'll I won't steal your thunder, but you mentioned, you know, before the the show that Jesus even talks about those two things in the same verse.
So I think when you talk with people and you ask about peace or you hear them talking about peace, you'll hear things like absence of conflict, right? Absence of pain, absence of fear, absence of turmoil, right? It's all those things that make us, drive us into anxiety, drives us into fear and depression. Those kinds of things, but it's peace is the opposite of all that. Right.
Right. And all of them are right. But it's hard to put a finger on it and define it completely. Yeah. I'll be Robby for a second and go to the Hebrew shalom.
Right. Shalom has so many different meanings. that and we say peace and yeah, most people immediately think no war. But one of the, and this Hebrew professor told me this, so hopefully he knows what he's talking about. One of the meanings of shalom.
is the death of your enemies. uh which isn't a very peaceful sounding thing based on our version of peace. But it is more of a fulfillment, a reaching the place where things don't bother you, I guess is a good Like my definition. Yeah, and you can see where the other boulders play into effect. Yeah.
Right?
You're talking about justice, or you're talking about mercy or grace, those kinds of things. Yeah, there can't be any peace if I don't get justice. Right. Right. If mercy's not shown, these people won't have peace.
Right. And so it just it goes and goes and goes. Um One of the things that, you know, you take the eagle's song there, the peaceful, easy feeling.
Well, I can think of a lot of. times when I've had a peaceful, easy feeling. Did it mean I was at peace? No, but I was feeling it maybe in the moment. But what we're talking about is a much deeper peace.
I think Paul would call it contentment, you know, to be able to be content in all situations. That's what we're calling peace. It's not necessarily the absence of fear, the absence of turmoil, the absence of strife or struggle, all of those different things. It is an internal, it's a very spiritual thing. But when you when you have justice, grace, mercy put together, Then you can have some peace.
When you understand that you aren't the one that's the arbiter of justice, sometimes you might have to be. you know, between your kids. Mm-hmm. But Jesus is the ultimate arbiter of justice, right? And so if you can.
Go okay. I really want justice, but I'm going to trust Jesus that he's going to get justice one way or the other, because I don't even know exactly what justice would mean in every situation, right? And if you can depend on some mercy for yourself and give others mercy. that the same mercy you've been shown. Then maybe then you're closer to peace.
And then when you realize the grace that you've been given and you turn around and give other people that same grace, well now we're getting closer to peace. And We're commanded to live at peace one with another. One of the one another passages, there's 53 of them in essence in the New Testament. One of those is be at peace one with another. As long as you have the ability to be.
Basically, it's saying within your power. Yeah. If it's in your power, you live this way with one another. But at the same time, Jesus says you're going to have trials and tribulations in this life, right? And so obviously peace is available in the midst of all that.
Yeah, Andy, you. Matthew 10. Mm-hmm. Jesus, I mean, he's the Prince of Peace, right? And that this hit me this the first time I really got into the scripture, but it says, you know, um Jesus says, I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword.
And he's talking there about whether people are choosing God's kingdom or. or the enemy's kingdom, righteousness, or evil. And uh You know, He's wanting people to make those choices. And there is a division that comes on that. And but he's still the prince of peace.
He doesn't lose that title. It's what his definition of peace is, is what we need to really go to. Right. And Jesus is the dividing line. He is.
The good in the world, and the enemy is the evil. And you got to pick a side. You can't play in the middle. Out of all those song clips, the ones that spoke to me the most was free your mind. Because where my mind goes, my heart goes.
Right. And we'll think about that. We'll talk to you after the break. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there.
The first one, I had no clue what I was walking into, and then realizing that other people are in the same boat and how open everybody was to share their struggle is a great group, and a lot of impacting was able to be done. It is a tight bond of men. Everybody's the same. And each and every time that I've come to food camp, I've learned something different. And not one man that's ever been there neglects not to take time out to talk or to share.
It's serious business, and you need to come one time to break bread with the men and fellowship. Feel the atmosphere. Hear the people pray and get down to earth about what's going on in life and get real. Register today at masculinejourney.org. One love, what about a one-on-one?
One heart. What about a let's get together and be alright? Cause it wasn't the bigger end. One love. One heart.
Let's have a praise to the Lord. And I will be alright. Let's get together and feel alright. Yeah, I know I just played that. But the reason I chose that, and there was a whole bunch of ones I could find Christian songs on peace.
And yes, that's a big part of Christian faith, right? But we're all wired, regardless of your Christian or not a Christian, for a desire to have elements of peace in your life. And so that's why I chose the secular region. Eden effect, I believe. Yeah, yeah.
And I did think it was interesting in the midst of the reggae, you know, he's saying, let's just praise the Lord. And we'll be all right. As it was in the beginning, it shall be in the end. Yeah. I mean, there's truth right there.
Absolutely. Absolutely. That was Bob Marley, as we talked about earlier. But as we left, we were talking about. Piece and talking about different aspects of it.
I want to follow up on something I said as we were leaving. The reason I liked that En Vogue clip and that part of that song that comes to mind is: you know, free your mind and the rest will follow. Whatever I focus on is where my emotions go. It's where my fears start to develop. It's where my anxiety starts to go.
I can focus on good things and feel joy. You know, that takes me back to the scripture to make every thought captive. Yeah. Right. And why that's really the key.
You know, to not, as we talked about on the air, not making agreements. Right. Or not ending up in a place or not ending in a fight you shouldn't have had because you spoke your mind without thinking. Right. And so it's just all those things of.
It seems like it's so simple and it's so hard at the same time. and so much that we let disturb our peace never happens. I'm not going to give you a percentage, and I'd make it up if I did, but a vast majority of things we worry about never come to pass. Right. And I fight that battle.
With a fearful person fairly often. And it it makes me very sad to recognize that you know, this could be a perfectly fine, peaceful moment. But we need to worry about this. Yeah, well I'll actually share too much information on this. But uh as we're at dinner tonight, as I went to go to the bathroom to wash my hands, I went in there and uh there was a guy getting sick.
You know, in there. It was very obvious. They're obvious what was going on. And so I held my breath as much as I could and washed my hands and got out of there. But I could honestly focus on that because we're coming up on a long weekend and I'd be like, oh, my throat's a little scratchy.
I wonder if I'm getting sick. You know, and I could make that worry all about it up until one day when I go, I guess I just didn't get sick. Or you just say, Okay God, it's going to be what it's going to be. You know, you're going to be with me in either way, and I'm just going to enjoy the moment and keep going. Yeah, my addiction, which I think I've shared, I found out about not terribly long ago.
it's well, and it's not a reality. It's control. I want control of things. And that's an illusion because we don't control anything. And the more we could allow God to be who he is and be in control.
without us our input, the More peace we're going to find, and the less we're going to be worried about things that we can't do anything about anyway. Absolutely. Well, Jim, while you have the mic there in front of you, which we all have the mic in front of us, but a rare, it doesn't happen often. While you have a mic in front of you, you have the next clip. And uh this was set up beautifully in the first half by Darren.
Um This is about KING ARTHUR pointing out that You can't have peace except sometimes on the other side of war. And it is a situation where. If he goes for peace. Injustice is done.
So it's back to that connection there. Yeah, and if you haven't seen the movie, What's Happening is this guy comes in who had been a knight. Right, and he's been out. Yeah, there's still a place at the round table that he vacated because he left. Yeah.
And when he comes back, you'll hear a lot of rattling, and that's everybody grabbing their sword, wanting to kill him. Yeah, and and the strife that's going on at the moment is he's been attacking uh King Arthur's uh fiancé's land. Right, they're people, so here we go. It's just May God grant us the wisdom to discover the right, the will to choose it. and the strength to make it endure.
Amen. Amen. Amen. My friends, as you all know, I am soon to be married. And about time, too.
Uh we've had our share of war.
Now I look forward to quieter days. But first. Admit our guest. Prince Maligant is here at my invitation. Come.
Your hand on it. We'll all live together as friends. You offer me what isn't yours to give. You all know me. You know I'm a man of my word.
Don't make an enemy of me. I mean no harm to Camelot. You know the law we live by. And where is it written, beyond Camelot live lesser people? People too weak to protect themselves, let them die.
Other people live by other laws, Arthur. Or is the law of Camelot to rule the entire world? There are laws that enslave men. and laws have set them free. Either what we hold to be right and good and true, is right and good and true for all mankind under God.
Well we're just another robber tribe. Your fine words are talking you out of peace. and into war. There's a peace that's only to be found on the other side of war. If that battle must come...
I will fight it. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying. So much for my quieter days.
Yeah. Okay.
And I can identify with that since I have had my quieter days now. But uh The one of the things we were looking at is the difference between God's position on in this case, peace and our position on peace. And God doesn't have to Fight. a battle or a war. The war has been won when Jesus came here.
That doesn't mean we don't have battles to fight, and they should be to fight injustice, to fight for those that can't fight for themselves. And that is a huge difference in the definition. But For me, the being peacemaker, which was my word for the year, which is why this clip may sound familiar for those that listen regularly. This uh clip defines it for me in a way that I've always been a peace seeker. I don't want any conflict.
I'm the big guy that would never fight, so I was in lots of fights because people knew I was the big guy that didn't want to fight.
So they could. come after me and That Lesson that I learned was: any fight I'm in, I lose. I either beat up the little guy or I got beat up by the little guy.
So that makes for a much more peaceful countenance. But underneath, it's like the duck he's gliding or the swan, I guess it's better, gliding along on the water, but the feet are going to town underneath. And that was a big part of my life. And finally, um giving everything up to God. And saying, okay, I control nothing, this is all yours.
Whatever the situation, you can use that for my good, for your glory. And if we truly believe that, will have his peace. And if we don't, we'll be paddling like crazy underneath, trying to get where we want to be and it won't do us much good.
Okay.
That clip reminded me that I could use AI to figure out who Robert Tripe was. Because I tried looking it up before my robber tribe. Oh, okay. Robert were just another robber tribe. Oh, okay.
That's why I couldn't find it. Although, that's like, you know, rise and walk with Eunice in life. I didn't know who Eunice was, and I wasn't going to go anywhere with her.
Okay.
I was willing to get baptized, but I wasn't going to go with Eunice anywhere. Oh, that makes sense. All right. I feel better now. I feel stupid, but I feel better.
Yeah. Oh, I'm going to go. You should have failed out between the chips. I mean, people are still misquoting, you know, I'll be your Huckleberry. Yeah.
So, anyway. Um yeah, I i the the issue that I see here is God's peace I can be at peace in my spirit, in my soul, even when there is some discomfort.
some lack of peace around. And that's no, that's only Christians are the only ones that get that. Mean we I don't know how other people go through things. I have plenty of strife, plenty of struggles in my life. I have plenty of times when I.
Really want justice, you know, and I really need mercy, and I, you know, and I, I. all of those different things. And if if my peace was always dependent upon getting that as I see it, I would be in turmoil all the time, which explains Why we use more antidepressants today than we ever have in the history of the world, and we still have more. sadness, hatred. crime, you name it.
Suicide. Yeah, suicide, depression. Um the all the drugs aren't touching it.
Well What might touch it? The Spirit of God. You know, set your minds. You said it earlier. you know, what I set my mind on, and Jesus says, Paul says in Colossians, set your mind.
on things above. things like Peace, joy, kindness, goodness, self-control, all of those different things. You set your mind on those things, that's where you're going to head. About 15, 20 more. He goes crazy with that list, but it's a wonderful list.
Do you have something you want to say, Andy? You're looking like you ought to say something.
Well, we're all looking everybody's out of words. No, no, I just wanted to stare at you. I didn't see what you thought.
So. How would you guys quickly define peace? We're still not there, right? We hope to get there in the after hours a little bit more. Right.
Uh for me, peace is being content. with knowing God has This, whatever the this is. I can't stand all the modern, you got this.
Well, no, you probably don't, actually.
Well, just good. You're probably gonna fail miserably, but God has it, and you can attempt it even if you're going to fail because God has it. Um, but yeah, I think contentment is where my heart goes. I got a five-second one, which is what we got left. No, uh, surrendering my will to God's.
Okay.
Well, thank you. And guys, this week, just focus on what peace means to you and let God work on your heart. We'll talk to you next week.
