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 Mascone Journey. We're glad to have you with us today, and we are talking about.
A unique topic. But it one that touches every one of us. We just don't always realize that it does. Right, and so Darren, it was your topic that you kind of brought to the team. You want to share your thoughts on it before we get going?
Yeah, um it The topic is, you know, how do you get filled up? I don't know what the title's gonna be. It'll probably be like, you know, Fill Her Up with Ethel or something. But anyway, how do you get filled up, right? How do you get the good stuff, the high test, whatever?
Spiritually. And There's a lot of ways, obviously. We get filled with the Holy Spirit. We're told that it's a promise. Jesus got it.
It was a promise to him. But we also get filled up in a lot of other ways.
Sometimes we're filled with things that we wouldn't mention on a Christian station. Bad humor. But there are times when me, me, me. Yeah, me. Yeah, right.
I was thinking Sam, Sam, Sam, but I wasn't going to say it. But anyway. Hey.
So, you know, I'm filled when I study scripture. I'm filled when I read scripture, when I meditate, when I pray, when I journal, when I just sit and be, you know, be still and know that He is God. But then there's other ways that it just kind of jumps on you, you know, and and that feeling. Seems to last longer, and it usually doesn't take. nearly As much effort.
Maybe that's why we focus on it more in corporate worship and things like that. But for me, that's one of the ways: it's a lot of corporate worship tends to really, really bless me in a way that sticks with me and I want to remember it for a while and I'm hungry for it and I want to go back and get more. But the question was honestly: you know, how do you get filled up as a man? How do we get filled up? And what would it look like?
If we were totally full, Paul says in Ephesians 3 that he wants us to be filled with the fullness of God.
Well, What is that? What does that look like? And what would my life look like if I were filled to the fullness of God? Would I say no to more things? Would I say yes to some?
Would I. Would I treat people differently? Um All sorts of questions start coming to mind when I started thinking about that. And so that's basically where we're jumping off. Yeah, it's always interesting to see when we throw out a topic how many different directions God takes it with different people.
I think we're going to see some of that today as we talk through it. You call it interesting. I call it scary. Yeah, it is. It is.
You know, there's the old saying that we're all born with a God-size hole in our heart. Yeah. Right? And we try to fill it with so many other things, but nothing's going to fit right unless we have that. And so the song that I have, which is the opening clip that they're giving me a hard time about because I called it the opening clip, is from a song, it's called Searching for Something.
And we're going to go ahead and play it. It's short, 30 seconds, and then talk about it, and then we'll go on with the rest of the show. Searching for something Whoa, yeah. I climbed up the mountain, I drank from the fountain, I'm lost in the stars, I'm still reaching and searching for something. Whoa, yeah.
So that was Dan Breams is his name that sings that. And I just like that it made me remember what do I need to be searching for. Because if I don't search for God and I don't open my heart to Him, I don't free up room for Him. You know, I'm going to land on other things that are temporal, right? And probably not real good for me.
At times. And so I just like that, you know, whether we want to admit it or not, we all are searching. For more of God. As we go along.
Well That's that God has set eternity in our hearts, right? And we want that. And so that's part of the equation, but. God's the one that put the search in us. It's not just us searching.
He's the one that put it there. Absolutely. But he's also the only one that can truly answer the question or fill the void. And it's continual. It's not a one-time event, right?
Danny. Sam, how are you? I'm good. How are you? It's good to have you in person.
Good to be here. Good to be here. Good. Hey, you have the first real clip of that. The first real clip.
I should have labeled it like first real clip. First real clip. Yeah. But. Anyway, I missed that chance.
I didn't see the other one first. But um Yeah, I have an Andy Griffith clip. I know that's a shocker. But there are actually two tonight.
So I didn't do but one of them. But uh the uh it's from the first episode of the Andy Griffith Show. And it's called The New Housekeeper, the episode is, and and The old housekeeper got married and Obviously, moved away and that thing, and Opie has been upset about it the whole episode. And because Rose was his buddy, she knows she played baseball with him, she did all this kind of stuff.
Well, Aunt B comes into the picture, and Aunt B doesn't do all that stuff. And the whole episode is them trying to get her and fool Opie into thinking she's going to be as good as Rose.
Well, it didn't work, and so Opie's just. Trying to get rid of her. And because she's not Rose. And he's upset about it. But here Aunt B is there.
And so this clip leads into Aunt B's finally going to leave. And when we play the clip, we'll talk about it on the back side, but but Opie's reaction and the way things pan out i is outstanding, and I'll tell you why I chose it on the back side. Uh no, Andy, it's much better this way. Not that I wouldn't give anything to do the things he likes to do, play baseball and fish and all, but Well, he's a very smart little boy. I couldn't fool him.
And you know, Andy. He's going through a very, very hard time. I think we better get going. I'll help. You mean it, Opie?
Sure. What changed your mind?
Well, if she goes, we'll laugh into her. She doesn't know how to do anything. Let's all catch fisher on the brook, she'll be helpless. Yeah, yes, that's right. Don't know how to do important things like that, why?
Why, she'd just be laws. I can't. Say, so I can teach him to her. Your name! Yeah.
Yeah, Opie's heart has changed. He's figured out that Aunt Bee is helpless. I mean, if you can't hunt frogs, I mean, life is bad. I mean, life is really bad. But the reason I thought about that when this topic came up was that you know God puts people in our life.
I had a friend who passed away last year, and he used to say, God puts people in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. And most of that is true. that, you know, some people are there just for a reason, just for a moment. Or, you know, for a season, somebody walks alongside you and then you part ways. You know, may reunite somewhere along the way, but maybe not.
And then there are those people who are just there. They're the the Mm-hmm. that are there for a lifetime. And But they're all there for a reason. And most of the time I figured out I am clueless why they're there to begin with.
Takes me a while to figure it out. And you know, hindsight's always twenty twenty. But, you know, that was the case with Opi and Ant B. Both of them needed each other, but they really didn't know why. But you know, it unfolds in the episodes to come.
the you know, I think about the many people that that I didn't know I needed them. Or they came into my life for a reason that I was unaware that I needed them at the time. But there's always a. What's the old cliche? You know, when the student is ready, the teacher appears, and you don't really know.
I mean, there's been tons of time that God has put someone in my life, and my thought process was. Oh, I need to disciple this guy. And I ended up learning more from the guy than he ever did from me. That, you know, because God was teaching me lessons and this kind of thing. And so.
That's kind of what and that's what fuels my soul. Just one way, you know. Darren mentioned lots of different ways, and there's not just one way. And I figured out a long time ago the reason I always need to be fueled is because I leak pretty bad. You know, I leak pretty bad.
There's lots of cracks in this vessel. And I love that. And what you said, yeah, that's why I hang out with you guys. Island of Misfit Toys here. That's right.
But you know, you said something earlier about a God-shaped hole. I heard a speaker one time that flipped that and made a lot of sense to me. that there's a danny shaped hole in God's heart. And only I can feel it. And that's why he did what he did to reunite us.
And I love that. Sir, upstage me. Way to go, Danny. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Well, that's what you get for naming your first clip. Yeah, that's right. I deserve it. I deserve it. Harold, I wanted to get to you before we get right to the break and always give you like three seconds.
Anything on this topic that comes to mind for you?
Well, uh when I was thinking about it, uh one of the ways that I get filled It's look at my life. to see what is and was and could have been, but wasn't. And when I when I focus on that, and realize what God has done for me And with me I'm four. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's that's a really good way to look at it.
So what fills you up, the listener out there? What what do you go to? What are your standbys? And I think that there's things that we put in our life that aren't bad. at all.
There's a season where my kids really fill me up. But it's not the same as God filling me up. Right. It's not the or a spouse that that fills you up and you know, the Jerry McGuire, you complete me kind of thing, right? And that's needed and it's necessary, but it's not the same as God filling you up.
As you point out, Danny, God will use those people to help fill you. Right, but he's gonna have to do the rest of it. And so that's where I just kind of asked myself, and I'll talk more about it later on on the show or next show: that what gets in my way of letting things fill? They give God space. What am I giving too much time, too much attention?
What are the things I'm chasing of this world? that really doesn't give me space in my heart to say, okay, God, come in here. Because I've got it filled to the brim with other things. Yeah, I think it gets to priorities.
So if you go to the other things. The Additional things that can help fill you if you put them first. Right. That's really a bad, you'll really get a lot of leakage that way. Better way of saying what I was saying.
So, thank you. Yeah, it is a priority. But if you put God first, it blesses everything down below that if it's done right. Absolutely. Well, we're going to go to break, and we'll come back after the break and talk more about this topic.
We'll see you in a few seconds. 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. What brings you here this weekend?
So, I met Robby and he invited me to come to the boot camp, and there were just so many doors that were closed before I was able to come here, but God allowed these things to happen. And I said, You know, God, I'm gonna ultimately acknowledge what's going on for all these doors to be open for me to come to this camp. I just want to seek you.
So, throughout that time, since I've been here, you know, just the illumination of God speaking to me through my heart, through my mind, and through my soul is just It's going to a whole nother level since I've been here at the boot camp. The covenant of silence after the talks and being able to go out and just submit myself to being able to hear from God and what we've been working on, and it's just been transparent in my life. The level of the sanctification process, the discipleship process, and coming here, I feel like this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. Register today at masculinejourney.org. Birthday.
That's enough. Welcome back. Those are deep lyrics. They are, yeah. You got to think about them a lot.
There's evidently a lot of fans of his that still haven't found what they were looking for.
Well, yeah, good music. That's just my opinion. A lot of people like him. Bono is a great writer. Yeah.
Or whatever his name is. I don't know. You know, our friend Mark, friend of the show, that's with us at boot camps most of the time, that's one of his favorite bands, and I like to give him grief about it.
So I thought it was only fitting I labeled this one the Mark Barner Tribute, right? Because I didn't think I thought we were going to get a custom video or song or whatever until I played it. I'm like, wait a second. Oh, yeah. It goes way back to the first boot camps.
Mark would always play him as we were getting ready. But even there, the world is full of the question: searching. What am I searching for? We know the answer. You know, it's it's Jesus, right?
But how's that play out? How's it look in everybody's life? And so Darren, your clip is next, if you'd like to talk about it. Yeah, my clip comes from Shellshank Redemption. We've not played this particular clip.
I think we've played around it and talked about it a little bit. But this is where Andy, kind of the main character. one of the main characters in it. He's out of prison now. He's in the studio with us.
But he was in prison and he was getting some special treatment and things that probably a lot of other guys were very envious of. But it wasn't doing anything for him, right? I mean, when you're a prisoner, especially one that probably doesn't. deserve to be there. it's hard to get your heart filled.
And so he. has the privilege of going into the warden's office one day and and he locks himself into the office, locks the the ward or the deputy into the bathroom at that time, and he picks one of his favorite Um Mozart. Tunes and plays it and then decides, you know what, it's not good enough just for me, the whole prison needs to hear this, and so he puts it over the PA system and that's where we'll pick it up. Frame Can you let me out? Andy?
I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know.
Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words. and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you those voices soared. higher and farther than anybody in a great place dares to dream.
It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away. and for the briefest of moments. Every last man at Shawshank felt free.
So That every last man at Shawshank felt free and they didn't, they weren't expecting it. They didn't know what they were looking for. They sure didn't know that it was going to be opera. But That's kind of That Takes me to a place where there are times in my life. You know, Danny talked about it in relationships.
There are relationships that come into your life that you don't know you needed, but you did, and God chooses to fill you that way. And there are times in in my life when I have forgotten Kind of the thing that is so important to me. And, you know, I pastored churches for a long time, and I typically pastored pretty small churches where it was a struggle to find a great worship leader. It was a struggle to find, you know, more than 30 people that could. pretend to carry a tune.
I mean, you know, things like that. And so when I would get to a a place, we used to have this huge conference in Tulsa every year, and there was about ten thousand people there and And in that place, and it was a cappella too, in that place with 10,000 voices that are passionate about why they're there, and they're all on the same mission, and that mission is to bless others and to praise God. There's Few things that are like that. There's nothing to distract. It's just.
Perfect. And you experience that a few times in life and you long for it more. And you tend to forget about that until you get a little glimpse of it again.
Now, That's the same way with Addiction. You know, you go chasing that good feeling. The difference is that good feeling doesn't leave you feeling good. It leaves you feeling horrible. It leaves you feeling guilty.
It leaves you feeling ashamed. It leaves you wanting a bigger fix the next time. the difference between that and true worship. that fills you. Is that true worship stays with you a long time, and you don't even have to have it again necessarily.
But your mind can go back there very quickly and be just as blessed. as perhaps the moment that you experienced it the first time. Yeah, I know that um When I've had mountaintop type experiences, you know, you always want to stay there. Mm-hmm. But you know, we're not called to stay there.
Right. We were called to draw upon them. Yeah, I used to preach that all the time. You know, that mountaintop experiences, yay, but you know, come on out here and get the work done.
Well, now I'm thinking more about the mountaintop experiences. I think there's probably not nearly enough mountaintop experiences. I agree wholeheartedly, we're not called to stay on the mountaintop. We are called to be in the fields and where the harvest is ripe, right? But.
far too little mountaintop experiences these days, I find. Yeah, uh even the military gives their people R and R, right, even in the middle of wartime. Right, there's time that we need to regroup, times that we need to refill up so we can use it to draw a line as we keep going through this life that we have. Grant, you had something you wanted to add? Yes, I think.
Feel it. Filled up. And don't close it for the Lord.
Okay. Danny, do you have something you want to add, or did you just stick the microphone in front of you? Darren did it.
Okay. Well I mean, we've talked about it many times, but Jesus is a picture of that. He was always up on the mountaintop. Getting filled, he came down, and a lot of good stuff happened. He carried that with him.
And I have to imagine all through that ministry, he stayed filled up. He didn't get drained out. But whenever he did, whenever I guess he naturally ran out or something, he'd go back up to the mountain. He was on the mountain a lot. A lot of references to Jesus was the E thing like we do around the gas tanks.
He's a little bit different. Yeah, he's three quarters full. He's still getting filled back up, right? Exactly. But the point is there.
It's an example for us for sure. Yeah, and I'm probably remembering the scripture wrong, but when Peter and Jesus went up on the mountain, wasn't it Peter that wanted to build. Yeah. I wanted to stay there. Yeah, right.
Yeah. Let's camp out here. Yeah, let's build a home here. Let's stay here. Exactly.
Well, Andy, while you got the microphone, I'll actually have you do the next clip. You've got about four minutes, I think. Oh, gosh. But if we can continue in the next show, if we don't get it all in.
So, this is, my clip is from. Bruce Almighty. And this script I mean uh this is a clip we played on The show quite a few times, but I added a little bit to it. And it's Bruce, who has met God and he's complaining. He wants to get a lot of success out of his career and be this news anchor.
And he's not getting promoted and he's feeling like he's being ripped off on life. And God comes into his life and says, Oh, you're so you think you can handle all this? I'm going to give you God powers. And he does. And he loses them after a while.
He gets hit by a car and he. He's talking with God about what he wants. In the meantime, during all this, he's got a girlfriend that. They're He's just kind of taking her for granted. She's not been a priority in his life.
Then he loses her and she becomes the full priority. He's trying to be filled first by the stuff that he's looking for, then her. And God kind of comes in and interrupts all that. And that's their conversation. And then right after that, you hear him meeting back up with Grace, his girlfriend.
Okay, here we go. Thanks. Ah, come on. What do you really care about? Grace Grace You want her back?
No. I want her to be here. Happy. No matter what that means, I want her to find.
Someone. We'll treat her with all. Yeah. She deserved from me. I want her to meet someone who will see her.
Always as I do.
Now through your eyes.
Now that's a brown. Yeah. Yeah, it's good. It's good. It's good.
I'm gonna get right on it. That didn't feel very good. Favorite? Gotta rhythm.
Alright, I got a pulse.
Alright, let's let him up. Yeah, get the backboard and brace. Welcome back. You're lucky to be alive, son.
Someone up there must like you. I hear all that stuff winds up in a warehouse somewhere. Great. Hi, baby. Oh my god, look at you.
I was such an idiot. That's okay. I don't know what I would have done. I swear I wanted to be mad at you forever.
Well, what what it uh didn't play there was after all that, after he Uh God brought brought Bruce and grace back together, he holds up his rosary and says, Now you're just showing off and and really, truly, God was. He had become he got his priorities straight. And um it you know, that's was my example of like So Things were out of order. He wasn't really. being filled or stayed filled.
But when he got things in order then, you know, with God first. There was that connection with him. It's going to improve everything. There was this desire to truly love grace, not just take from grace. And when he, I mean, whenever you're filled with God, you're going to love.
And that was evidence of their relationship. Absolutely. Thank you, Andy. Go to masculinejourney.org. If you want to reach out to any one of us, specifically, ask a question about the show, have ideas about the show, watched a great movie, want to share a clip.
Just take our first name at masculinejourney.org, so it'd be Andy. At masculinejourney.org or Darren. Or Robby, and then we'll be able to get back to you, and we'd love to hear from you.
So we'll talk with you next week, and as always, love somebody well.
