Battle to Fight After Hours

This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. 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. You know, right before we came on, welcome to Masculine Journey After Hours. Right before we came on, I was looking around, being very glad we didn't have a camera because you guys were doing like pirouettes or something. What were you doing?

Super high swimming. Oh, that's what it was. Okay.

I couldn't figure out what the whole thing was. Yeah. Yeah. That's what it was.

We were just breaking out. In order to understand that, they'd have to go back and listen to the first show. They better do that. Yeah. It's important because it's imperative to what we're doing now. Imperative. That's a big word. I think I used it right.

Yeah, you did. Okay. Yeah. It's important. Yeah. To what we're doing now.

We are talking about a battle to fight and that we all have a battle, not, yes, personally, but collectively, we have a battle and that battle is against evil. Right. And it's been around since longer than we've been around. It's been around since mankind's been around.

Long as Harold's been around. Yeah, almost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

He was just outside the Garden of Eden. Thinking about it. Yeah. They walked out. It was kind of like cheers. It was like, Harold. Instead of Norm. But yeah. Anyway, we're talking about this. It was cheerful. It was cheerful.

We're talking about this battle to fight and Rodney, you have a clip and it's from the TV show, The Chosen. Is it a TV show or an app? It's both.

What is it? Yeah. I watched the TV show on my app. Okay. So it is a TV show. Yeah. I would call it a TV show because it's a series. Yeah.

But it's not on any networks. No. Okay. Nope.

The app's the best place to get it. But in this scene is the healing of the paralytic and you have Tamar. She's up on the roof. They're starting to rip the roof open and lower the paralytic down into Zebedee's house.

Zebedee's house is completely filled with people inside and outside listening to Jesus' teaching. And as this is going on, you've got Nicodemus walking by and you have two other Pharisees with him. And then the scene shifts back inside and the paralytic is going to come get lower down and Jesus is going to basically go ahead and start to heal him. But in the middle of it, you get broken in by Shmuel, who has turned into the Jesus hater from, you know, H.E.

Devil toothpicks, right? So this guy is like, I'm out to stop Jesus, whatever I can do, right? That's what his whole mission is now in life. So he's coming over to the window and looks in and peers in and trying to get his attention. And that's when he breaks in and says, who are you? Basically, challenging Jesus' authority here. And that's where Jesus clarifies that, when he reads his mind and says what he's thinking, says what he's thinking, and then answers his mind.

And then he ends up healing the paralytic. By whom do you teach? Certainly not the authority of any rabbi from Nazareth.

Where did you study? Your faith is beautiful. Son, take heart. Your sins are forgiven.

Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God our own, right? But I ask you, which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk. It's easy to say anything, no? But to show you.

And so that you may know that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. I say to you, my son, rise. Rise.

Pick up your bed and go home. And for me, the biggest thing I've been getting out of boot camps and going to several now, and the repeated pattern for me became, I can't recognize the battles to fight or not to fight until I understand the spiritual battle behind it. I can just jump into fights real easy.

I'm really good at that. But basically being able to discern, is this one I should be in or I should not be in? I've got to understand, God, where am I supposed to go with this?

So again, really trying to stop and understand where my heart is, okay, Jesus, where is your heart for me in this right now? Am I supposed to fight this one? Or how am I supposed to fight it?

What should I say? How should I battle here? To me, it's a struggle to understand these things. And the only way you get through it is by constantly going back to Jesus in prayer and God in prayer and saying, what are we doing? Where am I going?

Help me. And just kind of stay with it because you get better and better at a sermon as you go along. You stay in the Word and you start to work at this.

And it's a battle to be in battle. And that's where I find it's like so refreshing to get to the point where you kind of grow and mature a little bit in being able to understand where you are, where others that are in relationships with you, where is their heart? Understanding, asking God, take me, show me, understand where they're at right now so you can have a place to go and understand when to engage and when not to.

Yeah. For me, it's not as much knowing whether I need to engage because I think sometimes the passion behind it, I feel it. But I've often made the mistake in the past of not asking how to engage or where to engage. I mean, I know I'm being called sometimes to be in the midst of it, but then I just jump in and make a mess of it. And I've had to learn to go back to Jesus, not just with the question you asked about, you know, should I engage, but how and where and when, right?

And getting some of those answers because I could really mess things up if I'm not careful, right? And blow the whole thing up instead of, you know, wandering in and doing it the way God would like for me to do it. Interesting thing about that clip and that story is that you don't hear much from the guy.

His four friends fought for him, four I think it was, tore the roof off the place, brought him in there. The girl is talking to Jesus. Well, you healed my friend. So here is an example of what we've been talking about is that I'm glad that you guys fight for my heart. I'm glad that I get the privilege of fighting for other people's hearts. And that's kind of the heart and soul if you will, of that story is that you don't hear much from the guy, even in scripture. It's just there are people who go, hey, we know this guy named Jesus and the miracles he can perform and they battle for the guy because a lot of times I've been like Gideon or somebody that I've already taken myself out of the battle. I've already taken, I'm wounded.

I'm done for, just going to ride this thing out, see where it lies, but people have fought and re-engaged. Honestly, I hate to admit this, but the most that I took out of that clip, honestly was I watched way too much TV because you were saying tomorrow, whatever name, and I kept thinking of Abbott and Costello. Is a picture today and that one's tomorrow? So I'm thinking of Abbott and Costello clip and then Shamil or whatever you said the guy's name was. I think of Laverne and Shirley. Just Shamil, Shamazel, whatever that went. And I'm like, wow, I got to get a hobby.

I got to read the Bible somewhere, baby. One of my most favorite examples of a battle comes from World War II, the battle for Britain. I may get this quote wrong, but I think Churchill said something along the lines of, never before have so many owed so much to so few. The RAF was completely outnumbered by the Germans and these young guys, 18 to 20 something, they won. They were willing to give themselves in order to protect their families and their country from a sure invasion.

If Hitler could have conquered them, then he could have taken them over. And that's just one of my most favorite examples of fighting a battle for someone other than yourself. And I think that's key. Thanks, Harold. Jim, did you want to set up your clip?

Sure. Part of the reason I picked this clip is it's a battle against overwhelming odds. And I'm dealing with a person that feels like that's the battle they're in now.

And all of us get there sooner or later. But this is the final battle in the final movie of The Lord of the Rings. It's before the Black Gate. When the clip opens, they are pulling back from the gate because they see the overwhelming odds against them. And then they end up being surrounded by this huge horde of orcs. And this is Aragorn challenging his men to fight.

It's not over yet. And one of the things you don't see in this, but at the same time, you have Samwise, we'll start with him, and Frodo that are trying to destroy the ring, to destroy the enemy. And that enemy is the devil incarnate, really. That was what I think was written in there by Tolkien.

But the battle that they're fighting is really just a distraction. But we'll start off with this speech. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down. But it is not this day. This day we fight. By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West! I thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf. What about side by side with a friend?

I could do that. There are two things that really hooked me in this clip, and even wept a little over the first one. One is Aragorn, who's now been accepted as the king of men, says, I see in your eyes the fear that would take the heart of me. So he's admitting that, you know, this is more than he could even handle. But he is appealing to them to join him. And then the last clip, which is just a little bit later but doesn't seem to be kind of a non-sequitur, but that is elves and dwarves and middle earth were at best very antagonistic and often at war with one another.

And Gimli's hard to understand because he has a Scottish accent. But he basically says, I did not think I would be fighting my last battle next to an elf, because this is what they think is going to be the end of them. And then the elf responds that, is it okay that you fight next to a friend? And they become friends through this. So this would be like having a Democrat and a Republican on the extremes fighting side by side. There's no love lost between them, but by fighting together in the right same direction, they become close.

And it's about a leader willing to lay down his life with his men and admits that he is just a man that has weaknesses too. I think it's probably more likely to see a dwarf and an elf than a Republican and Democrat. Darrell Bock Oh, so it's like me and Harold, is that what you're saying? Scott Horrell Yeah, a little bit. Darrell Bock But we love each other, so we're already through that battle. Scott Horrell Not from the look Harold's giving you right now. That's not love.

If you're not sure, that's not what that is. No, Harold has a good heart. He loves us well. All right, so question time. What's your battle about now for you? Where is God calling you to battle? All right, I'll let you think for a minute.

I'll throw a couple things out there. In a lot of things that's going on socially, even politically, you know, I'm not without a lack of opinion. But over the last few years, God's really not, I've not felt God wanting me to share my opinion.

Because a lot of times the people I'd be sharing that opinion with are on the opposite side of the equation. And I think he's calling me to go after their hearts, first and foremost, that there's a greater battle than those battles. And those battles are important. I'm not minimizing them. But I find myself saying, okay, it's not worth what the damage can be to the bigger battle of trying to go after their hearts.

Right. And so that's one he's made me very aware of over the season that we've been in with a lot of social turmoil and things going on. And people definitely landing on different sides of equations.

If there's not one you land on, you can't walk that many fences, people. I'm telling you, you got to be on one side of the equation, the other on some of these. And he's just really called me to stand in my beliefs, not necessarily give into my beliefs, but to fight the bigger battle that's going on. And the other one that I would throw out there is just a constant battle to guard my own heart. Because a lot of times I can be my worst enemy. Right. And I can get myself taken out a lot quicker than the enemy can take me out if I give in and just fighting hard for my heart so I can have a better heart towards others.

Darrell Bock And since the mic's right in front of my face, I'll go ahead and give you mine. But my battle right now is for individuals. And God's putting a number of people, some I'm happy to deal with, others I'd rather not. But they're there and I have to fight for them and for their hearts. And one of the things I loved in the clip with Good Will Hunting. And I suddenly can't think of Robin Williams, Robin Williams, Robin Williams name, which is sad. But with Williams character, he basically says, and I quit thinking about you and was able to go to sleep. And that's not exactly the feeling, but it reminded me of I have very little trouble going to sleep at night when I have gone to battle for others.

Whether battle won, battle lost, or still questionable. If I go to battle, that I know I've done what I'm supposed to. Stop, stop. Make sure you think this thing through. You have some options. Because I got all kinds of people saying, well, this is what I'm hearing, what I'm hearing, what I'm hearing. So I'm like, I feel like I've got to go tell them they have some options.

And plus the last thing you want to do is quit because then you quit, you know, things like that. So there's this battle to fight. But what I'm also getting is that's not the big battle. Because where I'm at is, like you said, fighting for somebody's heart. Both my daughter and my wife, I just, that's what I have now because I've been trying to fight for my own heart for the past few years. And I think I'm finding that position where I've got some perspective of me and my own heart where it can actually do some good in their lives. And that's where it's like, yeah, go after the women in your lives.

Work with them, talk to them. It's time to step up and lead. And which is someplace that I haven't been where I'm supposed to be.

And it's really being called out big time right now with me. Who wants to go next? Don't everybody fight for them. I get us flung in my face again.

Yeah. The battle that I'm fighting right now is really just figuring out what it is God's calling me to and understanding that he's shown me how I'm going to be a leader in these things and how I'm going to start these fires in the hearts of men. The problem I'm having right now is how do I start those fires with the issues that I'm having in my own heart?

How do I lead others whenever I'm dealing with these things and these doubts, these not being faithful towards God in certain things? And the thing he's showing me is it's actually those things that really allow me to be able to lead in those things. So the idea, again, we were talking earlier about the fight for others. I think that's the waypoint of is this battle one worth fighting? If I'm fighting to be right, if I'm fighting for me, probably not the right battle. But whenever we start fighting for others, again, last night, this whole show is just more confirmation of that. The reality is it's not about me. The kingdom of heaven is not about me.

It's about those around me, those that I'll touch, their lives, et cetera. Thanks. In my case, my word for the year was engage.

Wow. And so it appears that that's what he had in mind. Interestingly, where he had me go with that was in memorizing scripture. In other words, as I like, okay, you want me to engage?

Why am I engaging here? And as I began to memorize the scripture, I realized why he put me there. That in prayer is where so much of what battle happens, right?

And I've found myself desperately wanting to help family members go after their hearts. In prayer is an awesome way that God has me there. And through, honestly, the scriptures that he's given me to memorize is clearly spiritual warfare stuff where I'm breaking where I'm breaking agreements that this is beyond hope.

I'm moving forward in spiritual ground through prayer. And I don't mean that because I'm losing, like, if you looked on the outside of this, yeah, you're losing that one. You're getting your butt kicked right there. That's just not working out over here. However, you know, I realized that he has me kind of where he wants me.

Like, I don't have any answers in these situations, especially with the family members. But the neat thing about it is that through where he's had me in the Word and in where he's had me in continuing to work on these scriptures gives me new ammunition I didn't realize was available to me. It's been kind of an interesting season two with because there's actually a battle for my own heart and having been around this genre of wild at heart, but not been immersed in it. And, you know, sitting and preparing for a talk has opened up the floodgates at times. But I also know that it will allow me to engage with my family in a different way and fight for their hearts in ways I've never been able to do because I've never fancied myself as a leader either.

But here we are. So, yeah, you definitely have to take care of your own hardest if in case of loss of cabin pressure, please put your mask on first and then put it on, you know, of other people. I think we find that that, you know, obviously you have to be in a place to where your hearts are taken care of. I'm going to do this real brief.

I'll talk to the guys about it later. But one of the things that's come up recently, I've been, you know, off and on, you know, just with this message, it is pervasive in your life. And I've been fighting for the hearts, my mom, my daughter. But recently, we talked, we had the obedience show and God asked me to, I mean, through my brother, he asked me to go and visit him in Missouri. And I came back from that and we had a really good time. But my heart broke for my brother and some of the things that he said.

And I knew that all the things, all the wounds and stuff I had, I knew where the answers were. And all these years, I've talked to him, we've talked a lot about the Lord and different stuff. But I wrote him a letter, kind of explained to him in that letter, you know, where my heart is at and just kind of just shared with him what I saw in his own life, and encouraged him to read Wild at Heart. So I get a call on Saturday. He left a voicemail, just basically said, you're right, this thing is all the questions I've had in my life.

This is it. And he read more of it, told me more about it. You know, I thought he would really focus kind of on the wounding that my dad had given him.

But he really turned it and focused on where he had taken the question to Eve. I'm like, this is my brother. This is awesome. So right now that he's the one, I'm engaged. And, you know, it's just like, just sharing the truth of what I know to be true from this message. And he's able to take it and, you know, see where God takes it.

But that's my example. One of the real cool things that happens, Andy, and I don't know if it's happened to you yet, I'm sure it probably has, is that in his excitement of discovering some of these answers that are as hard as you're in for, it answers some of your questions that you didn't even know you had, right? And so it's not a give relationship.

It's a give and take relationship. You get as much out of that as he does, if not more. And that's one of the cool things that I don't know who told me years and years ago, but you can't out-give God, right? You know, you try to, but God always gives you so much more in return. So Harold, what are you battling for right now in your life? Where's God got you battling? I need to battle stronger for the lives and the salvation of family members. Okay. Yeah, that's a good one.

It's kind of cool. You know, we all have a collective battle that God lets us share in, and that's battling for the hearts of men, right? And knowing that it's not just men that are affected.

It's everyone that's affected by those men, right? I can't imagine the person I would be had a boss not given me wild at heart many, many years ago, right? Or, you know, my first boot camp and those things that I can't imagine how my kids would not be different today, right? You know, just based on the fact that God helped me be different, which allowed me to love them differently.

Let me give you my example of not being able to out-give God. I'm taking my teaspoon, and I'm dipping out, and I'm feeling really proud of myself. And all of a sudden I hear this beep, beep, beep, beep, and I look around, and here's this great big earth mover, and it's God dumping blessings out on me. So you were so much nicer than me. I thought you were going to say it was me backing up, but I wasn't really quite sure where you were going to go with that. No, thank you, Harold. That was awesome. Go to masculinejourney.org.

Please, please, please register for the boot camp. This is about your heart. It's about what God's wanting to do for you, with you, through you, with others, through you.

I mean, just fill in the blank. You are the most important thing on His agenda for that weekend, and I can't tell you that enough. And we just want to be a part of it. Go to masculinejourney.org to register. We'll talk to you next week, and we're going to talk about the next one, which is Adventure to Live. So join us next week.

This is the Truth Network. Say, what would you do if you were a new Christian and you didn't have a Bible? It's Michael Woolworth, by the way, from Bible League International. And you'd probably say, well, I'd hop in my car. I'd go to a Christian bookstore or have one shipped to me.

What if those weren't options? You'd say, well, I'm new to the faith. I mean, I need to know what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

You know, you would pray that someone, anyone would bring you a Bible. And that's exactly the way it is for literally millions of Christians around the world. They're part of our spiritual family. They're new to the faith. They want to know what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. But God has them planning where it's very difficult to access a Bible. And that's why the Truth Network and Bible League have teamed up to send God's word to 3500 Bibleist believers around the globe. Our campaign is called The World Needs the Word. Five dollar sins of Bible, one hundred dollar sins twenty, every gift matched. Make your most generous gift by calling 800-Yes-Word, 800-Y-E-S-W-O-R-D, 800-Yes-Word or give at truthnetwork.com.