Boot Camp Activities

Not key to cool off the Russian nightmare.

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Welcome to Masculine Journey. This is Andy filling in for Sam or Robby or whoever is usually here. But we're excited to have you.

Welcome. We have Sam via satellite calling in. And we're kind of running a skeleton crew this time, aren't we guys? It's about a skeleton and it's been a long time.

I'm a long way from a skeleton. I'm just saying. As I look around that room, Rodney's the only one.

Thanks, Sam. If you were here to look. You can't look around the room. You're on the phone. Well, yeah, but I know you guys well, so I know. So we're, today we're talking about another topic related to boot camp. But, you know, I'm not, you know, the Eve caller is out. Robby's not here. So we're not going to talk about Eves. We're just, we're about two and a half weeks out from boot camp coming up soon. But we'll wait till he gets back to start throwing out Eve counts again.

So you can do the math at home. But glad to have you. We've got an interesting show. I'll let Sam talk a little bit about the topic. We think we did a poll around the room and I believe it was Robby's topic. And then he goes, you know, out of that.

Yeah, out of he's out of town. So we're left with the topic. So Sam, you want to set the topic up for us? No, not especially. But I will. Yeah, but I will. Okay.

Yeah. The topic is, you know, we have these covenants, not covenants of silence. Yeah, covenants of silence.

Not cones of covenants. I get confused. But we have these covenants of silence at boot camp where you go out and you spend this quiet time with God.

And if you've never done it, it sounds like, really? How's that work? Well, you just go out and you're quiet with God and you ask him some stuff and God will talk to you about what he wants to talk to you about. And so conversations with the Trinity, you know, because you're talking to all three at once and maybe one at a time. I don't know how it all works, but, you know, they all know what's going on. And so, you know, you may be talking to the Holy Spirit, but, you know, you're really kind of talking to all three. And so we're calling them Trinity conversations, especially regarding around, you know, around boot camps.

Yeah, I think whenever you do the talks or sit there and listen to a talk, you know, we were talking about this before is, you know, why does talk? Yeah, we're here. Can you hear us?

Hello? Well, Sam's having audio problems, so we'll keep on going. I'm having audio.

Yeah. Now I'm back. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. All right, did I set anything up or did it go completely gone?

No, you set it up. I was kind of taking the handoff from that. But anyway, we're just talking about boot camp. You hear the talks and these covenant silences is just an opportunity for you to go out and really get quiet and let God talk to you. The problem with us in our day-to-day life was a lot of times we're busy and we don't take time to hear. Plus, you know, in combination with the talks that you hear, it's usually a topic that's really pricked your heart and the Holy Spirit started working on you. It's just an opportunity for God to follow up on that. So, you know, it's a powerful time and I think each one of us have heard some really cool things from God. Everybody has testimonies of what God speaks of boot camp.

One of the points I wanted to make, though, too, is that, you know, it usually just gets the pump primed. You usually hear from God on those particular topics. He starts talking to you at boot camp, even after boot camp. So, we're going to jump into clips now. Danny, you want to set yours up? Yeah, my clip is from the shack and it's a, though it's a fictional movie, it really opened up my life to more of who God is and maybe who he's not. And the clip is where Mac, the character, meets the Trinity for the first time at the shack. And it's an interesting exchange and it's beautiful the way they kind of lay it out. So, you can play it. Mackenzie Allen Phillips.

My, my, my. Look at you. Do I know you? Not very well, but we can work on that. I've been so looking forward to this, to finally see you face to face. Can I take your coat?

And that gun? We wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, now would we? I understand it's confusing. We will do.

We will do this on your terms and time. How about some introductions? I'm Aluja. I have a lot of names, but that's one of my favorites. Or, if you want, you can call me what Nan does. You know Nan? Oh, yes.

Very well. Are you saying that you're... I am. The I am. I am that I am.

Look at that. Already quoting scripture. You bet my son.

Great to see you, Mack. Your son? Of course. And, um, son are you? They're who?

In Syria, it means a breath of wind. All right. So, which one of you is... I am. And you have no idea how much I love you.

You know, I said you guys a text the other day. I had a good friend, Dr. J.L. Williams, who, uh, he was doing a teaching on the Trinity one time, and he said, if you understood the Trinity, you'd be the fourth member. And, you know, it's so true that those conversations, and I love what's already been said, that, you know, you are talking to the Trinity. And I think God laid it out that way so that we could experience Him in a way we needed to at any given time. You know, my first story is not a boot camp story, so I'm probably going to be exiled after this.

I'm going to make this run good. So, yeah, I went with Jim Vitti to a men's camp there in Ashboro and didn't know where I was. And I had not known God or even thought of God as Father, I don't think, up until this point. Just that God who sat on the throne, who was in judgment and had about three lightning bolts with Danny Marsh's name on it.

And just one more time, you know. Then this guy taught about God being Abba Father, and that you could crawl up in His lap and talk to Him. And I had never thought of God that way. And my whole life changed at that moment, knowing then that, you know, and just cracked the surface of being able to encounter Him that way. You know, I knew Him as Jesus as Lord and Savior, and knew a little bit growing up Baptist about maybe there was a Holy Spirit or something. But the encounters in that, you know, so that was kind of my first experience with even a conversation with God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, if you will. Yeah, I tell you, the Father seemed to me to be very inaccessible. Not that He didn't love me, but He was just kind of busy taking care of the universe and wasn't really totally involved. So, yeah, I hear you on the view of Father. And that kind of speaks to the fact that we're all going to see Him differently, because I had a wonderful Father, so I had no problem relating to God the Father. In fact, in some of my more sacrilegious days, I said I didn't really pray through Jesus.

I cut out the middle man and went straight to the source. But in retrospect, I think back on that man, I was really in the wrong place then, and I was. But, Danny, one of the things I love about the clip, and actually that was the first thing I looked at was that clip, but then I couldn't really relate it to mine, and I still wanted to play it, so I'm so happy you did. One of the things in that clip I love is you've got a female that reminded me of someone that, well, I'll just say it, that I made that helped raise me as a child, and she was such a wonderful example of God to me that that really hit me, because she sort of reminded me of her. But one of the things that's said in the movie later that's real meaningful is that she says, I appeared this way because that's what you'd accept. And God is going to look different to each one of us, and he will come to us in a way that we will see him as God, and it's not going to be the same for each of us. Yeah, and later on in the movie, he appears as a man, and he says, because you need a father today. That is just interesting. So God does show up in many different ways to many different people, so thank goodness.

Yep, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, there is some scripture that backs up the whole mothering aspect of God, that we need a comforter. I mean, the Holy Spirit is looked at that way, I think, but I think there's much more to the depth of God, of what we see, even in our thoughts of what he is as father. It goes beyond that. Well, if you go back to creation, where he says, we created them male and female in our image.

And the words that are used there, and I'm not the Hebrew that Jim and Robby are, and I ain't even going to attempt to go there, but the word there means almost like China. It's a delicacy, because men are rough like buckets, so to speak, and women are the fine china, different purposes, different things, but equal values kind of thing. So I want to hold off on getting a clip before the break. Anybody else got anything? Sam, you have anything on that clip or anything? Yeah, that clip is pretty powerful from the standpoint, it's very direct but very loving. And as God spoke with me, there's nothing condemning in it. When the father figure, or the mother figure in this case, is speaking to Mack, there's nothing condemning, and it's all very direct, very honest, and very truthful, but in a loving way, and that's why God's always responded to me. It's never been condemning.

It can be convicting, and that's two separate things, but it's very loving all the time. Yeah, your brothers here are condemning, but the father is convicting. Make sure we distinguish between the two different ones.

Everything has a purpose. Absolutely. Brothers are a different category. Yes, except Jesus, the son, that brother. He's a little bit better than the rest of us brothers. Yeah, he's the best big brother.

Yeah. So we're going to go to a break, but just remember the boot camp coming up. We're all excited about it. About two and a half weeks away, March 31st through April 3rd. We're really looking forward to having you. Go to masculinejourney.org to check out what we have there, particularly with the boot camp and other things.

Hope to see you there. What does that mean? We set the tone. We bring the energy of Christ into the room.

We're not wavering back and forth. The thermometer measures the temperature. The thermostat sets the temperature. Are you bringing with you the positive, encouraging energy of the Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit? Be a thermostat, not a thermometer.

Get this right and watch the atmosphere in the room change every time you enter. True Commentary with Stu Epperson, author of the book, Last Words of Jesus. Available now in bookstores. Learn more at thelastwordsofjesus.com. The voice of truth tells me a different story The voice of truth says do not be afraid And the voice of truth says this is for my glory Out of all the voices calling out to me I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth Welcome back to the Masculine Journey radio show, The Voice of Truth. We want you to come to the next boot camp and hear The Voice of Truth. Sam, that was your clip and I love it. You beat me to it.

Perfect. Well, a lot of times we have songs that support listening and hearing from God and the Word of God and I love that song. Yeah, you know, it was either that one or Word of God Speak.

Yeah, true. You know, it's the two that go back and forth, but you always love the casting crown song, The Voice of Truth, because there are things clamoring at our attention. I kind of stumbled through that word, but they're trying to get our attention. You know, and it's the enemy, it's the world, it's the old self. It's, you know, those things that I've always used to try to get through life. You know, those old ways about me and, you know, hearing his voice is what we're really after.

Absolutely. You know, we hear in this day and age, there's a whole lot of lies out there. A lot of fake news, a lot of stuff that's not true. A lot of, you know, the enemy loves to take a twist.

It says a thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but he's the father of lies. And, you know, that truth that we – so important. A lot of times when they come to a boot camp, I know IDEA brought a lot of baggage with me and I brought a lot of lies that I'd believed over time.

We call them agreements. And so The Voice of Truth will be there at the boot camp. Man, Andy, you're bursting my bubble. There's really lies out there being told? No, not at all.

Everything you hear, you can believe, right? Oh, man, yeah. Just Google it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, there you go.

Exactly. The old Googler machine, that'll tell you. All you need to know.

You need just a good Googler. So while we got you on the mic, Sam, let's – you can go ahead and set up your clip. Yeah, my clip is one we've used from time to time in regards to boot camp. It's from the movie Bagger Van. And what's happened, if you haven't seen the movie, his main character, Juna, has gone off to war with all of his – you know, World War I where they sent everybody locally together in the same group. And he's the only one that came back alive. He happened to be the leader. And he takes a lot of that on himself and withdraws completely from everybody, just tries to stay completely out of anyone's focus until the Holy Spirit character in Bagger Van comes in. And so he's been working with Juna to get him back. And it's at the point where he has to make some decisions of what he's going to believe, either the old lies, the old things enemies told him, or is he going to follow what Bagger says and step into the truth and step into what he calls his authentic swing. And so we'll go ahead and play it and then I'll talk about it. You going to be wanting a different club there, Juna? I can't do this.

Yeah, you might as well just loose your grip up a smidge, you know, a man's grip on his club just like a man's grip on – That's not what I'm talking about. I know. No, you don't. What I'm talking about is a game, a game that can't be won, only played. You don't understand. I don't need to understand. And the soul on this entire earth ain't got a burden, Kiari. He don't understand.

You ain't alone in that. But you've been carrying this one long enough. Time to go on, lay it down. I don't know how.

You got a choice. You can stop where you can stop. Start? Walking. Where?

Right back to where you always been and then stand there, still, real still, and remember. It's too long ago. Oh, no, sir. It was just a moment ago. Time for you to come on out the shadows, Junior. Time for you to choose. I can.

Yes, you can. But you ain't alone. I'm right here with you. I've been here all along and played a game. Your game, the one that only you was meant to play, the one that was given to you when you come into this world.

You ready? Take a stance. Strike that ball, Junior. Don't hold nothing back.

Give it everything. Now's the time. Let yourself remember. Remember your swing. That's right, Junior. Settle yourself.

Let's go. Now is the time, Junior. Well, for that clip, you know, for me, there's been a lot over the years. The guys worked with me on wounding, you know, at the different boot camps and outside of boot camps. And it's been one thing for me to forgive the people that's wounded me.

It's been a much harder thing for me to let myself off the hook on things that weren't necessarily my fault. You know, in this clip, you've got Juna that lives like it's his fault that all these men died. Well, they were at a war. He was doing the best he could.

It was not his fault. He was just in charge, and he feels ownership for that, and I can appreciate it. You know, but for me, God's had to come after me a couple distinct times to help me write in my head and in my heart, was I at fault and what was I at fault for and what was I not at fault for. In the most recent boot camp, you know, I had struggled in relationship stuff quite a bit after my divorce and just trying to figure some things out. And through a time of listening prayer and some people speaking into my life, God speaking into my life through a couple people, helped me understand that I was really taking a lot of things on that weren't mine to take on. There were things in the relationship or relationships that I owned that was mine, but I was taking on way too much.

And when you take something that's not yours, that's not your responsibility, and you treat it like it is, enemy holds you in bondage. And that's what he was doing with me, and that's what that clip meant to me. You know, as I was able to, you know, peel back and recant those agreements that I owned things that weren't mine, I've really stepped into not just healing and restoration, but freedom.

You know, into a place that my heart is just free to really be in a relationship and be in a healthy way from my end. And it's been amazing just to see what God's done. And, you know, I wish he would have done it years ago, but, you know, he does it when it's time. And it was pretty cool and very encouraging. Yeah, that's cool.

It's very hard to escape for something you have no control over, right? Right. If you're taking on the ownership of somebody else, but it's what we, it's again getting to those lies the enemy will take and use against you. You did that, or where it was, you contributed to that, you know, you were involved, so therefore you're responsible. And yeah, that's cool.

And you're not going to hear what I'm talking about. Yeah, once you take that. Sorry. No, once you take on that agreement, then you own it. Right.

Then it's what keeps you in bondage. Absolutely. Go ahead, Jim, sorry. I'm used to Sam seeing me stick my nose up on the mic and not talk. What I was going to say is, in that clip, we see God speaking to him in a way that is unique to him.

And one of the lines in that clip that I love is that, you know, he's got to play his game. And each of us are in the same position. God's going to speak to us each differently, different quantity, different methods, and it will be the best way he can speak to us. And we have to seek him and hear his voice in our unique way. And as you're going through pain in your life, and again, I love the clip a lot, because every time you unpack it, there's always more there for you to kind of get. But it was just a moment ago. Again, the father of time who lives outside of time has us in time, and that's all we can relate to is this time thing. And it's just we let that eat us up. And it's hard to be – I think that's such great advice.

No, it was just a moment ago. Just go right back to it. We talk about it a lot where, you know, we use clips, you know, when you're younger self, things of that nature. Letting God work on things in your past so that you can get past them and do some healing to finally bring some restoration, it is a process. And you're going to have a lot of those moments in time, and you just have to use them as that. And it's hard to do that when you're in the middle of trying to live today. Yeah.

Scripture says that Jesus said, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Right. And most of our lives, we're yoked to things we shouldn't be yoked to, and we've burdened ourselves with things that don't belong to us.

Right, yeah, absolutely. One of the things you said kind of triggered in me the fact that we often, being in time, will be stuck with something that was a long time back, but it really is just a moment ago if we haven't let go of it. And it says, you know, it tells Bagger at one point that, you know, you have to play your game and you stay where you are, you go forward. And a lot of times we aren't willing to go forward because we're holding on to things of the past, and God wants us to let go of those and be free.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And this is saying the same thing around what you all are saying, but, you know, he is hung up in the past, no doubt. But what I like is, this is my favorite part of the clip, is it's time to come out of the shadows. And you can't fulfill your purpose and your calling and live out of a whole heart if you're in the shadows. God calls us out of the shadows, and he is stuck there, and therefore he's not really able to, you know, live the life.

I mean, you can see it. You can watch Juna all through the setup of what he's going through and the pain and stuff, but he has a lot to offer, you know, not just on the golf course, but to his girlfriend, to other people in the community. He kind of gives hope to that community. Well, that community didn't really have that hope until he actually came out of the shadows and decided to quit being scared and go for it in his golf game.

Yeah, it's amazing how we just did sports wounds here not too long ago and things like that, and we're talking about another sports movie, because this is a movie we talked about for that as well. But that's where life's wounds just come at you, and I lived most of my life in my shadow, and I was just always in the shadow of who I really am, what I really thought, what I really thought I could bring to the table. And you just live there, and you get so comfortable in that, it becomes your identity. And you're like, no, no, no, no, that's not your identity.

And boy, trying to have faith, hope, and trust in what God says about me has been a journey, but it has been a fun journey. Absolutely. Fellas, it's time to come out of these shadows and come to boot camp. We'd love to have you there.

Again, it's March 31st through April 3rd. We're really excited to have everybody. We've already got a lot of people signed up, and we want you there with them. We're going to have a great time. Come and join us. Listen to God.

He'll tell you, come on over. One of my favorite things about boot camp, well, the favorite thing about boot camp is every time I go, I encounter God. And as anyone that has encountered God knows, generally speaking, it's nothing we expect. A real encounter with God out of the blue. He knew what I needed. I knew what I wanted. And those two were rarely the same thing. Register today at masculinejourney.org. This is the Truth Network.