Word Of The Year 2022

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I see that somebody's not got the mic by them. This is the most, well, I don't know, not the most popular eve, but second most popular eve, New Year's Eve. Right.

And so just like we, I don't remember doing many Christmas Eve actual, the eve itself shows, but here we are on New Year's Eve. And what a fun time to do what it is that we're doing, right Sam? Absolutely. There's not a better time than New Year's Eve to talk about our topic today. Right. And so our topic today is, Rodney?

That would be the 2022 Word of the Year. That's right. In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would know. In hopes.

Nick's is like, are you ready to rumble? Yeah. So the idea of the Word of the Year, we've talked about it every year, and it's a good time to be thinking about this because we obviously, 2023 is kind of around the corner. Could be a new year coming.

Yeah. Just in a few hours, just saying that we pray and we ask God, tell us about our upcoming adventure, give us an advanced word of kind of where you want to go for the coming year. And so we all embark in that adventure sometime in November through December to work towards getting our new word for the year. But then after we get our word for the year, we begin the adventure like we did in 2022, where everybody heard a word, and then you begin to pray that word daily with your time with the Lord and see where he's taken you throughout the year. So we've all had a chance to experience that adventure. And so in this week's show, next week's show, you might guess it's going to be the Word of the Year for 2023, but at this week's show, we're going to talk about where God took us, where God took us on that journey in 2022.

And just in good fashion, I feel like it's only right that we end 2022 the way that we started with Danny having the first clip. Here we go again. I protest. I protest.

Yes. And the shocking thing about that is, A, it's not a clip. B, it's not from Andy Griffith or Star Trek and not even from a TV show. It's actually just brand, but it's still so good. I just had to start with it. You know what I'm saying, Danny? Well, I got outside my jaundra all across the board and still made first clips. Your jaundra.

That's why he makes first clip. So take us there, Danny. What was your word?

My word for the year was contentment, and it has been quite a journey over the year. And this clip is from an interview with a guy, Nick, who I can't pronounce the last name, he's in the butterfly circus, the guy with the arms and legs. Right.

He's got no arms and legs. Yeah. And it's an interview with him. And I cut out the interview lady, just wanted part of the thing. And he's talking about contentment.

And for a guy like that, and his story is awesome. So we can play the clip and we'll talk about it on the backside. My dad was saying that his head was next to my mom's head as I was being born. And he saw my shoulder and he just went pale. He was hoping my mom didn't see me because he saw that I had no right arm. My dad had to leave the room and he couldn't believe what he saw. And the doctor came in and my dad said, my son, he has no right arm. And he says, no, your son has no arms or legs. And he said he nearly fell on the floor.

He couldn't believe it. And the whole church was mourning, you know, like, why would God let the pastor's son be born that way? And my mom, at first, she didn't want to hold me. She didn't want to, you know, breastfeed me and all that.

She just felt very uncomfortable for the first four months. And it took them quite a while before they could trust in God that he didn't make a mistake, that he didn't forget them or me. I said, God, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I won't probably have peace until you're in my heart, but I will not let you in my heart until you answer me why. Why did you take my arms and legs?

Why didn't you give me what everybody else has? And I said, God, until you answer me that question, I will not serve you. And so I wanted to end it.

If God wasn't going to end my pain, I was going to end it myself. So at age eight, I tried to drown myself in a bathtub of four inches of water. I told my mom and dad, I'm just going to relax in the bathtub. Can you put me in the bathtub? And yeah, I turned over a couple of times to see if I could do it.

I couldn't do it. The thought that stopped me from going through with it was the love for me. I have a choice to either be angry at God for what I don't have or be thankful for what I do have. And my mom, she said, Nick, God's going to use you.

I don't know how, I don't know when, but God's going to use you. And those seeds started penetrating in my heart. And that's when I started seeing that there is no point in being complete on the outside when you're broken on the inside. And I found out that God can heal you.

He's talking about his circumstances. And you know, I've spent most of my adult life looking for the next greatest thing, the next greatest, you know, having been through two divorces and hopped from job to job and looking for something to make me happy and content on the inside. And, you know, this word of the year had been so impactful this year because, you know, last year was a year of loss for us.

We lost, you know, my father-in-law and my mother. But it catapulted me into this word of the year, interestingly enough, to be grateful for what I've got and where I'm at. And, you know, because literally the scripture that, you know, God restores what the locusts have eaten, that is so true in my life because I did everything in the world in my addiction to destroy my life.

And I was, you know, at that point of suicide at one point. But to know now that I'm a pretty happy, content guy. I mean, I've got a roof over my head.

I got a good job, got a large family. And, you know, those kind of things are just, that's really what it's all about. You know, and I got Jesus.

I mean, if you got Jesus, what else do you need? And that's just been the kind of the theme this year as this word has come up and kind of unpacked a little bit. And I said, as I said in the prep of the show was that, you know, I think it may be the word of the decade because there's no way you can pack this into just a year, but we're always just pursuing and growing and hopefully so. Take us into, you know, one of your favorite things that you brought up to us this year was the idea of the alabaster box. And, you know, can you tie that into, you know, where God was taken? Because I think that was a big part of your journey this year was the alabaster box that apparently due to lack of contentment or something you wouldn't open.

Yeah, what happened was in a time of prayer at church, I just saw a vision, if you will, of, you know, somebody taking an alabaster box off of the shelf and just crashing it on the floor, actually in the sanctuary. And what God told me was, he said, that's your heart. He said, what I really want you to do is to take your heart, those hidden things, those things that you treasure, that you've not let anybody in.

And I want you to just pour them out on me. That's the true heart of worship. And when you're able to do that, and it's a continual thing, it's the thing that you, that's where contentment comes from, is that he has everything. He has it not that God doesn't know everything. He knows everything about me. He knows more about me than I know about me. But the reality of me saying, God, I'm pouring all this out. And the things that have come out of that, Robby, have just been astounding because, you know, I've been able to tell parts of my story that I've never mentioned to some of my family. Just, you know, because that was like one of those.

But, you know, the closet is open and the box is shattered and, you know, here we go. But that's the thing is that you get to be more comfortable in your own skin than you've ever been before. You know, I'm not totally there, and there's times when I'd like a full head of hair and be about 175 pounds.

Well, I might get 175 pounds, but the hair ain't coming back, I'm just saying. So, but that's just kind of the way it is. Darrell Bock Well, the fascinating thing, theologically, of what you're describing, and I've thought about this often, is that the name Christ, you know, that's Jesus' last name, if you ever wondered, but it means the anointed one. And so, it's kind of cool to look in the Scriptures to see how he was anointed, by whom he was anointed, in so many different ways he's been anointed. So, what Danny just described, as I've thought about it theologically, is am I willing to anoint Jesus with what I think are my biggest weaknesses or my biggest failures? But when you think about it, you know, when it says that he took the nails because of the rejoicing of his, in other words, he took those, you know, it says in the Song of Solomon, it says, Behold King Solomon with the crown that his mother crowned him with on the day of his espousals, on the day of the rejoicing of his heart.

Well, the crown that he was crowned with was a crown of thorns, right? And so, he's literally, the rejoicing of his heart was that he could give you contentment for those horrible things. And it is fascinating to me that here what you're picturing in the way you're describing is literally pouring out your infirmities on him as anointing him. To take him and to give you contentment, it's mind-blowing. I really have thought about, you know, and this is part of the way you brought it out, Rodney, that we enjoy each other's words, and we can see what God's doing in the midst of working within those words, right, Rodney?

It's a bigger picture. You know, we're always trying to get a picture of ourselves so that we can help others. You know, we're scrambling every year to try to figure out, okay, what's God going to do with me? How am I supposed to fit here, fit there?

But the real gift is seeing how everybody else fits in with you. Seeing, oh, that's how Robby's word fits in for him, which helps me understand something. And Danny going through the alabaster box and breaking something open, I'm just sitting here going, wow, where are those things that I keep hitting? Because boy, I'm like you, Danny.

Yeah, you know, Robby. I keep some things hitting. But that's the joy of seeing what other men are going through, your friends, people you're doing life with, where it's like, you know some of the behind the scenes stuff, and you're like, okay, we're going to join together in that. And you can see how God works in the bigger picture.

No, for all of us, I would think all of us. We've really enjoyed Sam this year, with, you know, where he's gone with this word. So, Sam, you've got a clip, too.

I do. This is from the movie Coach Carter. And I really like this clip, because it kind of sums up where I was living. Oh, I did it to you. It was perfect timing. Or something. Heard about it, fair play.

We'll come back, we'll hear from Sam's clip. But in the meantime, wow, you need to go to maskandjourney.org and sign up for the entrenchment. It's coming up January 27-28, right around the corner.

What a New Year's idea, right there. It's F-R-E-E free, too, by the way. maskandjourney.org. We'll be right back. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger, and it gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you better, better, better, better.

It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. I've been coming regularly, and it's just such a blessing. When you guys invited me, I was at the worst time of my Christian walk. I was going through some things. The first time I came, I don't know if you remember, I couldn't even walk.

I couldn't even stand up straight. And I'm walking now. I ain't running around the lake yet, but you know. The greatest things is just being around a group of men that love the Lord and sharing His kindness and His love. All of you guys, I done sat and talked with all of you guys, different occasions, different conversations, and it's all been unique and refreshing. You guys gave me a whole different perspective in life, and you can't hide the true, genuine love of God.

You can't hide it. Register today at masculinejourney.org. In your holiness, Word of God speaks. Word of God for 2022 today on The Masculine Journey, and when we left our hero, Sam, right before we went to the break.

But that's also your bump. I know you want to speak to Sam. Yeah, that's, we've used, sorry, we've used that before in the past, but it's such a good song. And when God's Word speaks, oh my gosh, you just, you can't believe the impact it's going to make.

Yeah, it really is a beautiful concept that, we always see the way that boot camps work the best is when we see people get a word from God and all of a sudden, man, you know, their life just changes from there. And so, what an opportunity we have coming into this new year to get that word. So, you've got a clip to share with us, Sam. I do.

The clip is from a movie called Coach Carter. But before I get to that, this is a year of firsts for me. I never once forgot my word, which is pretty amazing for me. I didn't have to ask Rodney what it was for a way through the year. Another thing was, I really don't want to let this word go.

I'm still attached to it very deeply, and I'm really not looking forward to a new word. Are you guys still there with me? Yeah, we're here. Maybe that's what you're here again. It might be.

It might be. I'm praying about it. So, in this clip from Coach Carter, I want you to listen to it. It's about shrinking back and not letting your God-given ability be shown. And that's really where I was living before God gave me my word.

So, let's play that, and then we'll talk about it. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were all meant to shine, as children do. It's not just in some of us. It's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same, as we are liberated from our own fear.

Our presence automatically liberates others. For me, that was such a powerful little minute, whatever it was, from that clip, because that's where I lived. I lived in fear of what stepping into what God was calling me into would require of me. I wasn't afraid of God.

I doubted myself a lot. And so, when God gave me the word talent this year, and very clearly told me, I want you to walk with me and enter into the things I asked you to enter into, man, what a game changer. It's been just an amazing year. Doing the work that I do at the Hope Center, which has just been so good for my heart, stepping into our ministry more fully in a lot of ways, man, God's just been all over me in a good way, just guiding me and leading me and giving me strength, and letting me reflect something that He put uniquely in me that would just go hidden if it was totally up to me and me listening to the enemy in the world.

And so, I just love this word. I've been tired this year, because it's taken me into some stuff that's been kind of tiring, but it's been very fruitful and it's been very good for my heart, and very good for other people's hearts, I believe, at the end of the day. And you can't let God shine in your life and not fail to impact others.

It just doesn't work that way. And, you know, I think that part of this word of the year is us being called into a different view of our unique glory that God gives us of His to give to this world. Yeah, that was really—I know it was so encouraging for all of us to watch your journey. And like I said, we knew Danny's journey along the way, we knew David's journey along the way, and so we're moving over to David, since this was like, wow, talk about it first. You know, Sam had first, but you really had some first, because you never went through any of this stuff. No, no, this was the first year, you know, of hanging out with you guys and being, you know, forming the band of brothers with y'all, and definitely first time that I got a word.

You know, I remember sitting here last year and y'all talking about it, I'm like, what are they talking about? Word of the year, I have like five days to figure this out. And I didn't get it right in the beginning, but, you know, my word of the year for 2022 is relinquish. And, you know, since that's not a word I typically use, you know, it's let it go, or let go. And so my clip is from Jack Cassidy, the song Let Go, Let God.

And it's kind of cool how that song actually worked out with something that Robby actually experienced as well. But, you know, we'll listen to this, and we'll come back and talk about it. I mean, so growing up, and even in my, you know, teen years, and early 20s and 30s, I remember talking to friends and hearing preachers preach about letting go of things and just giving it all up to God. And I just like, you know, never could I possibly do something like that.

This is crazy. And, you know, it's more about, you know, giving up the control over things that, you know, ultimately, if you just do that, you know, things get better for you. And once I started actually going through this year and realizing what it meant to let go of the things and lay it at the feet of Christ and just move through that and walk with Him through that, I mean, y'all have seen it.

Y'all have heard about it on the radio. You know, it's just, it's totally transforming. So I encourage anybody that's out there right now listening, that's just, you know, saying the same things I was saying. What does He mean by letting it go? Just let it go. Pray about it. Let all your worries go.

Just give it all to God. And I promise you, you know, things will start to turn around. Won't be instantly. And it'll be a lot of tough work, but it'll definitely happen.

Yeah. And, you know, I know for some of you listening, it's a bit complicated to think, how do I get this word of the year? You know, how does that actually happen? And so, it seems complicated, but it's really not all that much. It has to do with letting go and letting God. Like, am I going to let Him do the talking in this prayer? Because usually I'm doing the talking in prayer.

What if I just say, God, what is my word for the year? And then I begin to listen with my heart. And so there's a really neat line that helps me in the Song of Solomon.

It's in the fifth chapter. Second verse says, I slept, but my heart was awake. Is the voice of my beloved knocking?

Well, that's an interesting thing. It's, you know, that His voice, it's what's knocking. You feel it on your heart almost as much as you hear it on your heart. If you've ever thought about when you're hearing God's voice, He's knocking. It's like He's trying to get your attention and you can feel it with His voice.

You know what I'm saying, Danny? It's a good word. It's the voice of my beloved knocking. And so, you feel that knocking on your heart and quite often it is a word you never would have dreamed up in a million years. And you go, this isn't from me because I wouldn't have come up with this. And that's a pretty good confirmation that this is something and then, you know, obviously, you know, really fun. But I had a very dear brother text me this morning that has been in this message longer than me, much longer.

And he said, Robby, I think I got my word of the year, but it doesn't make any sense. Is that normal? Very normal.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. That's, you know, that's how that quite often is. You know, how we know that something is, you know, that it doesn't necessarily make sense that that's what He's up to.

Yeah. If it was normal, it's probably some in vain and that you're already thinking about something that's on the heart. God is wanting to take you to a different place with these words usually.

It's out of those ruts that you may have been to get you out of those ruts and get you into something different that's unique and it helps your art come alive. Yeah, you can hear that in Sam's story. You know, it's him doing the work at the Hope Center, right? And actually, you know, David, you had a big part in what Sam, you know, was because he came to church just so you wouldn't be alone.

Yeah, definitely, definitely. And now, you know, I've been, I think I've left him on a couple Sundays by himself. So sorry about that, Sam. Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of heartbroken there, David. I do want to say something though with you talking about, you know, you didn't want to let go of your word of the year. You know, one thing I've noticed with just listening to the previous words of the year and listening to everybody talk, a lot of times the words that we get this year are building on next year's word and then that builds onto that one and that one and that one. So honestly, I don't think, you know, your word, if you're feeling like you don't want to let it go, I wouldn't at all.

It'll be interesting. Thank you. I'm going to continue, I'm going to continue to pray about it because I feel like there's still a lot more God wants to do there, but you know, he's got to guide that and lead it, but thank you. Well, you had such a big moment with your grandson and the wolf. That story was the one that just jumped out for me for you for the year. Oh, that was an amazing story. That was so cool. You know, the way God just showed up and just handled things from my heart, from my grandson's heart, from my daughter's heart.

It was just amazing. Yeah, which just speaks back to if, you know, we could all just pause, you know, time and again when we're at these places where we, you know, we sense him pushing on our heart that this is a moment that, you know, well let's take the time to actually get some feedback and bring him into the deal. And so that's what happened is you heard God say, you know, something that really was like didn't seem to make sense to you at the time, did it?

No, it really didn't. You know, we're walking through a gift shop in South Dakota and he's like, you need to buy that shirt for your grandson. And I'm like, okay.

I mean, it's a cool shirt and it has wolves on it. He's howling at the moon kind of thing. And when I give it to him, I'm a little nervous. I haven't seen my grandson much in the last four years and he's, you know, five. And so anyway, when I gave him the shirt, he got it, he opened it up and he howled, not knowing that he and his dad howled all the time like a wolf. It was so amazing to see God come through. Oh, he always does. And so we were praying that you would take time to hear your Word of the Year.

And if you're wondering what the words, you didn't hear mine and you didn't hear Rodney's and you didn't hear Andy's, that's because they're coming up After Hours. So you've got to go to masculinejourney.org and listen to that podcast. It's right there at masculinejourney.org, the After Hours podcast.

You can do that at the same time. You're registering for The Entrenchment coming up June 27th, 28th. We would love to see you there. We thank you so much for listening and Happy New Year. This is the Truth Network.