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 talking about a topic. It's Darren's topic, so I'll let him just briefly talk about it again. But we were talking about it last show.
We're going to continue this show and hopefully go a little deeper.
Well, the topic is... How are you filled up? How does God fill you up? How do you let Him fill you up? Maybe even through other people and that sort of thing.
And And it happens in a lot of different ways. And Robby, and you have a couple of clips that'll. allude to that but um For me personally, it It usually the the best filling.
Sounds like I'm eating a three musketeer. Filling or failing? Yeah.
Well, filling, as in like cherry pie. Yeah, yeah, like nougat. Nougat. Yeah, we need some nougat. That'll be our nickname for now on nougat.
Love it. But the best experience of being filled.
Sorry, it's like magical fluffy stuff. I don't know what it is. I don't know, but it's sticky. Just like this topic. Anyway, sorry.
Let me digress a little bit. Yeah.
The times that I am filled by God, the best, seem to be kind of sneak attacks. You know, not expecting it, not. don't have an agenda. I can sit down in the morning and I can, all right, God, here I am. I've got four hours.
Nobody's going to bother me. Everybody's asleep except for the dogs who will be back asleep shortly. Let's go. Crickets, you know, I mean, and it just, it sometimes is just so hard to get into that feeling of, all right, God and I are, we're here, He's in my presence, I'm in His presence, and we are one with each other as Jesus prayed for us to be one with each other, and He is just filling me with all of the goodness that I, you know, need, or He's setting me free from all the badness that I don't need. I mean, you know, all of those different things, right?
oftentimes when I walk away going, Man, That was amazing. was when I I had no agenda and I wasn't expecting it, you know, a a a Sunday at church, you know, um, when the worship set is just amazing or, you know, everybody came that week deciding they were going to actually sing and not in the views. Um but Those sorts of things, they stick with me. They last.
Now, There was a time in my life when I was searching for things to fill myself with. And those were more addictive qualities. Um pornography or anger or control or validation, any number of things. Um Expecting others to come through for me, that sort of stuff. And those always left you hungrier.
They always didn't leave you filled. They left you empty and you wanted more. Kind of like nougat, which fills you right up. I know. Nougat does fill you right up.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for nougat.
So, yeah. I'm going to get a Snickers. No nougat in that one. The premises here is just a king of nougat. Yeah, it is.
It's nougated out. Yeah.
Nougated Max. There's a little nougat in Milky Way, but Snickers has got a little bit, but it does.
However, I think Robby has got a clip coming that is really going to enlighten all of us. And I, with Andy, we're going to go get a snack.
Well, before Robby gets to his clip, I was thinking about a couple things. I remember one boot camp, Robby had this idea to play this stupid song where everybody. Had to get up and dance. And I'm like, yeah, we'll do it. You know, this is going to be stupid.
I'm glad I missed that one. Yeah.
Oh, did you really? I did. You what? He missed out on that beer. Yeah, but you know what?
I was like, oh, this is just a stupid idea. It's not going to work. But we'll play it. Everybody, it was so incredible. Everybody up was dancing around, people you'd not expect, and you could just feel the spirit.
you know, coming in over just something where you just kind of let go and let God be him, right, instead of trying to control stuff. And it it's one of those times where I'm like, okay, uh, I can't be so judgmental on things and I gotta let God just do what God does. That's a plum that's a great memory, it really is. And I I th I thought the same thing when Darren brought up that he sneaks up on you. You know, that's that's definitely...
Um Where that goes. And it connects very strongly to the clip that I want to use. And the clip is from Andy Griffith and Danny Stahle. Um In fact, the first time I really paid a lot of attention to this clip is is what Andy's response was to it. But in this particular clip, we're hearing what Opie is confronted with this choice of Saying he didn't really experience it, or he did experience it, but at the end of the day.
It comes down to faith. And I can't be filled if I don't believe. And it seems like God is forever testing to see if I believe. And so, as you listen to this clip, it's about Uh OP has seen this man. and he really has seen him.
Mr. McBeevy, and he's been in the trees. He's wearing a silver hard hat. For those who know, but Andy doesn't know that at this point in time. Certainly Barney doesn't know it.
He does a joke where he blows smoke out of his ear. But again, it all requires faith if you're going to believe. Opie here, and so as you listen to the clip, I just want you to consider Do you really? Do I really? believe God.
Go ahead and play it. Hope they uh there comes a time. When you have to stop the play acting. Tell the truth. And that time's now.
Write down. Hope, I want you to be man enough. Tell me And mister McBeebee is just make-believe. That's all you have to say and it'll all be forgotten. But if you don't, then something else is going to happen.
I believe you know what I mean, don't you? Yes, pa. All right. Tell the truth. Just go ahead and say right out.
Mr. McBaby is just like that.
Well Go ahead. Mr. McBea, stress. Say it. I can't Paul.
Mr. McBeeview is a make-believe. is real. Don't you believe me, Paul? Don't you, Paul?
I believe. Why did you do it? I told him I believed him. You told him you bliss. But Andy, what he told you is impossible.
Well A whole lot of times I've asked him to believe things that to his mind must seem just as impossible. Oh, but Andy, this silver hat and the jingling and the smoke from the ears. What about all that? Oh, I don't know, Bart. I guess it's a time like this.
and you're asked to believe something that just don't seem possible. That's the moment that decides whether you got faith in somebody or not. Yeah.
Yeah, but how can you explain it all?
Okay. Exactly. Yeah.
Exactly. I can't tell you how that line of OP hits me. You believe me, Pa, don't you? You believe me. And What God showed me over the weekend, I was I thought preparing to have a talk that got rained out, but nonetheless, I.
Was trying to ask the Holy Spirit where he wanted me to go. And fascinatingly, for some reason, he sent me. To 2 Corinthians chapter 1, which is the God of all comfort comforts us so that we might comfort others with the comfort we were comforted with. Meaning that, oh my goodness, how many times in my life have I been. Comfort through cancer, comfort through the loss of a loved one, comfort through all sorts of things in my life, and then God used that to comfort somebody else.
In me seeing him do that time and time and time and time again, it has increased my faith. It's like. Look at that. The word is true. What he said is right in front of me.
I see it again.
Somebody else is applying what they learned and being healed from addiction or being set free from some other thing, and they're using that. And then for some reason While I'm thinking about that and just processing it, the Holy Spirit says, yeah. And you know who the Mac Daddy of all that is?
Okay. Hebrews 4. It was Jesus. He was tempted in all ways, our great high priest.
So he is like the ultimate, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, comforter of all comfort, with the comfort that he's been comforted with. And as I was thinking about, oh my gosh, Jesus, you. are the ultimate Comforter because you have seen so much. And as I thought about it, as I was picturing it, I was picturing actually. that sense of Opie's face Because he took me to Sunday Easter Sunday morning Easter Sunday morning How many people were lined up at the tomb?
Waiting for him to do what he do you believe me, Paul? There was nobody expected him to come out of the tomb. The only one that might have thought possibly were the dadgum Pharisees. They put a seal because he said it, right? But where were the disciples?
Not one, not one little kid, not married. They came to carry the body. But no one believed him, not even one. And that's pretty easy to judge all that. But then when it comes to these promises he gives me in the scripture, et cetera, et cetera, and my heart's troubled and I'm not taking on burdens and all that stuff.
I could just see. I'm sorry, man. I don't believe. I didn't believe. Help my unbelief.
I believe, but help my unbelief. And as I was experiencing that, He took me on other journeys. That just seemed totally Mr. McBeevy. Like, you don't expect me to look that up, and you don't expect me to do this and that.
And the fascinating thing that about that clip is That A So many times I'm Andy and I don't believe either him or somebody else, but other times I'm Opie and not and people look at me after I've had one of these experiences and I'm like, oh my gosh, do you realize how amazing God is? I can't believe that this just happened. And they're all looking at me like I just saw Mr. McPeavy, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever needs.
Go get you some nougat. That's right. I have seen smoke come out of your ears before. That's true. I bet you have.
That was when I wasn't believing.
So, Robby, do you feel comfortable sharing the story about Slate Street? I do. I do. So.
So right out you know, I'm still in the midst of processing all that and then Holy Spirit flips This idea of Slate Street in my mind. And so I'm like, Slate Street? I'm supposed to be doing a talk here in about an hour, like Slate Street, what does it have to do with anything? I think that's the street when I was in third grade, we're talking like 1965, 66. in Naperville, Illinois.
I went, okay, all right, I'll go with it. I'll look up Slate Street and see if I see anything on it or the address where maybe I lived at the time. And there's no Slate Street, and I had spelled it S-L-A-T-E. I thought, man, no, I'm sure. And the Holy Spirit's like, no, I want you to go find Slate Street.
And I'm like, okay.
So I So I know that North Central College was right in that area right there and we lived only a couple of blocks from there. I bet if I find the college, I'll know where the street was. I used to go down to go hunt snakes and I could find it, right? Mm-hmm. I took can't be with me, by the way.
I uh I went over to that street and I went down and I knew I turned right right there and when I looked it said Slate Street, S L E I G H T. And the feeling started like, oh. This is real. You have something for me here. This is that my anticipation went up about 40 knots.
Right? And so, you know, with Google Maps now, you can put it on satellite and you can see the houses.
Well, as I'm looking down. It's given me addresses and all of a sudden wow. The address hit me like a ton of bricks, like it's still in my mind. Like from however long ago it was, 60 years ago. And here is 611 State Street.
And so then I just. just w put that address in and when I did, the front of the house showed up. And when I saw the front of that house, there's no explaining the wave of emotion that came I was totally McBv'd out. Like in fact, I just I just You know, wailed. because there was so much emotion from all the things that had happened in that house when I was a child.
Um Yeah, we we lived in this basement and You know, honestly, She didn't think I was crazy. I was certain there were ghosts down there. And I would get so scared, I would wet the bed. And then I. You know, I wouldn't get up and it was traumatizing to me.
And it was just an opportunity like Okay, God, now you have me on Slate Street, and you got me where obviously I have.
something you want to push into.
Okay. And so then we just, in spite of the fact that I'm supposed to go speak here in an hour or whatever, you know, I just start, okay, God, take me in here and show me. And so I got a chance to actually have Jesus in real time laying in bed with me as a third grader, terrified to get up and what's going on. And, you know. Big.
He believed me? He He believed me. Yeah.
So it probably wasn't the most joyful thing to go through, I'm assuming, but on the other side of it, I'm sure the filling was amazing. Feeling and filling. Oh, yeah, it was a complete like because it was a he it was a Number one, It was the the healing, but the other thing was God, when I follow you, you take me amazing places I never would have dreamed. And oh, by the way, as a sidebar, The place I was going to speak at got rained out, and so I didn't need to even. I mean, it was like he knew Robby.
I was I was fine with what. I would have had to say anyway, but nonetheless, he took me on this adventure that. Certainly would. Um, filmy. And it did.
And it did. The IT guy doesn't shut off his phone. Always like to dig it Andy a little bit, you know. And no, that's not from the odd couplings by the fact that it does. It di it does sound a little bit like it.
It really does. Anyway, um kind of comes up with my clip. And I was trying to look where you were talking, Robby. I was mostly listening. No, I was trying to look up because I didn't credit where I got this.
And I really would like to do that. But I couldn't find it'cause it seems like when you find something on YouTube It never takes you back to the same place that you were. And so I was looking up the same thing I looked up before, and it just didn't really tell me anything. It gave me a lot of stuff I didn't get before. This young lady, and it kind of jumps all over the place, but it's a young lady talking about.
The control that she feels. Feeling like she has to be in control, and what that does to her heart, what that does to her spirit, what that does to her being, right? And then what the answer to that is. And it's not really perfect, but I want to get glean some stuff out of it.
So we'll go ahead and listen to it. It is hard to hear in some areas because they let these waves come in really loud. It's hard to pick it up, but hopefully you can hear it. Hope they uh the radio guy doesn't set up the thing again, right? Good old Thank you, Lord.
Yeah, it always Nougat for everybody. You would think that I would know that every time I do that, I have to put my foot in my mouth. It's like five minutes later. Yes, God, I understand. Anyway, I think this is right clip now, so we'll listen to it.
Yeah.
Lately, there's been a lot of my mind. A lot of things have been happening way too fast. And yet I can't find a way to think. Breathe or feel any of it. I know when I was a kid.
I could never have these kind of thoughts. Back then. Life felt so much like a breeze. And I can feel that everything is a peaceful Mm-hmm. Recently, I've been bringing myself to the shore because the waves remind me what it was like to leave the troll.
Let's see a web. A wave crashes against the shore, breaking free from any sort of control. I know the easiest thing would be to let go. What? It's hard.
And with control, sometimes it's even harder. If you think of control as a glass of water. The fuller the glass, tougher to control. And at any time, that control can break away. leaving a restless sea of thoughts rushing through my head.
I'm feeling like I'm crowded for no reason at all. Oh Yeah, lately there's been a lot of my mind. But I've mainly been thinking about what it would be like when I let go of what I can't control. Letting life bloom through the cracks. Letting every thought come to pass.
And living in the moment. Because that's where we all have control. I'm sure. Life can turn on our heads. But we shouldn't let that take away from our lives.
That's what it feels like. Select go. No, she's a little bit of everywhere. Right, but it's somebody that's verbally processing. I think I know that actress.
Yeah, I think she played Charlie Brown's mother. Yeah, she did. She did. The teacher was the one that was the biggest one like that. Yeah.
Yeah.
I did love the Amy Nugget. Yeah.
Amy Nugget. The what? No, I did love the light through. I mean, if you stuck with it, you would hear. There was a nugget in there.
Well, what I got from it was, regardless of where your faith is. You know, you get these glimpses. Right, even I don't know if this person is a Christian, not a Christian, but God's moving her heart in the right direction. And she's still not landing at the right spot. But she's getting closer and she's realizing the things that I've relied on, don't work.
All they do is lead to deeper anxiety or more depression. You know, it takes me to places that aren't healthy. That sounds like Solomon. Right. Yeah, everything is meaningless.
Right. And so she's on a good path. You know, eventually she's going to find that the light that she's seeking to get through the cracks, all those things she talks about is God, right? It's Jesus and the relationship with Him. But He continues to move His children even when they don't believe.
Right, and that's the really cool thing that he's always trying to move our hearts towards Towards him. And so it made me think a lot more about, and I said about it on the last show: but what are the things I let get in the way of that? Control's a big one for me. You know, and I'm learning to let go of that a lot more. And I continue to do that.
But also, You know what, priorities, as you talked about, Andy? You know, what am I putting as a priority in my life? Right. And and usually anymore it's not bad things. But it's not God first mo a lot of the time.
And so when I get that out of whack, it leads to those other Feelings of feeling oppressed, feeling lack of freedom type thing. Yeah, the uh it reminded me, Robby reminded me of a story that uh And I'm not sure I'll make it through this one either. But the. Several years ago, my buddy George Chollander, we had a men's breakfast at the church we were attending, and He approached me, he said, Hey, you want to go to a conference out at the headquarters of the Church of God? He said, I got this flyer.
He was the head over the men's ministry there. He said, I get them all the time. They have something out there all the time. He said, Usually I just kind of throw them away. He said, For whatever reason, This one just got my attention.
There wasn't any like big-name speakers or anything like that. He said, I just felt like I was supposed to hold on to this brochure and ask you, Do you want to go? what company I was working for, I said, Well, I have to see if I can get off.
Well, I called the and the lady was making the schedule at the moment I called her. She said, I'll just write you off. And so we went to this conference, and it wasn't about God sneaking up on two guys. The it wasn't about the conference at all. We drove his Toyota pickup truck.
He drove, or well, Jesus drove, I'm pretty sure. across the mountains of North Carolina into Cleveland, Tennessee. And neither of us remember much of the ride as far as scenery and everything. Because we begin sharing one with another and confessing stuff and and just exposing lots of lies and stuff. And praying and I don't know.
This is my Pentecostalism coming out, if you will, but I've never in my life since then. felt the presence and seen the glory of God like I saw in that pickup truck going out there. And then we had a conference. One speaker just kind of lit up our world. He had a whole lot of different stuff.
But coming back, the same thing happened across the mountains. Talk about a mountaintop experience, ain't it? A literal mountaintop experience. And it literally changed our life. And at the time, Michelle was trying to get me to agree to let her go back to school or to to home school.
And I'm locked into the dogmatic life of, you know, we've got to have two incomes and everything.
So we I come back from this conference and my world has been rocked. I'm just beginning to process everything. And She, and I look at her and say, you know what? God is our provider. I knew He was our provider.
I said, So, if you, whatever you want to do, do it. And she burst into tears and I went, oh no, I've done something wrong already. But I said, What's the matter? She said, I have been praying God changed your heart. She said, but now he has it.
I don't know what to do. But that just opened up a whole lot of she ended up getting her teaching degree and the whole nine yards. And I mean, everything just kind of hinged on that weekend for lots of different reasons. But I will never dare and alluded to it earlier. I can go back and pull.
I don't have to recreate that scene. I can just go back in my mind, and I was just sitting here remembering and the freshness. of being just Washed over. I mean, my cup run over and run down the mountain and everywhere else. And just an amazing experience.
And you know, just life-changing stuff. That's very cool, Danny. Thank you. We got just a little bit of time left. Any thoughts on the topic that we don't think we've talked about?
Yeah.
So we covered that completely, fully, without it. We covered it all. No, I. What Danny said is brilliant. And you.
You go back to now that he said that, I'm going back through, you know, the Rolodex of Mind. Right. And, yep, that one, that one, that one, that one. And God is always sneaking up. We have a horrible memory though.
So write those things down. Tell them to somebody else fairly quickly and make them promise they'll call you back next year and say, hey, Andy, did you stay with your word of the year? Or, what was your awarded to you? Yeah.
Love their awarding. Yeah.
That's openness. It is, absolutely.
Well, thank you guys for listening. Hopefully, that God's going to continue to fill up your heart this week. We'll talk with you next week. Yeah.
