Word Of The Year 2024 After Hours

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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 Masculine Journey After Hours. And when we left the regular show, we were getting ready to play my clip, but I'm not going to do that yet. I'm going to do it here in a minute. But Rodney, will you tell us a little bit about just very, very succinct summary of what we're talking about?

Because we've done it for the last three weeks, so we shouldn't have to talk a whole lot about it. We're talking about the 2024 Word of the Year. That's about as succinct as you can get. Okay, but a little bit more than that. Yeah, a little bit more. Expand just a little bit more.

It's a time for us to dive into God through a word that he's going to take you on a journey for, and you pray for it at the end of the year, for the beginning of the next year, so that you've got a whole year to work on one single word or one concept with God. Yep. And so we've been doing it, each of us, a different amount of time. Robby's been doing it the longest.

I'm probably pretty close to second longest, but if you count when I actually did it, I'm probably not. When I said I was doing it for those couple years and didn't really much. Define that, right?

Yeah. You got held back a couple years. I did. I had to repeat a word. God gave me the same word two years in a row because I didn't do anything with it the first year, so after that I kind of took it more seriously. But the more seriously I've taken Word of the Year, the more I've gotten out of it, and I will not discount it again moving forward because it has made a huge impact in my life. And so thank you for sharing that, Rodney. When we left, we were talking a little bit about, from the regular show, my Word of the Year, just to set it back up a little bit.

I got my word last week when we were getting ready to come to the radio show, and the word was generosity. And I really found a clip from a movie called Brian Banks. It's based on a true story about a really exceptional top recruit high school football player that, as a sophomore, is already pre-committed to USC at the time.

Oh, I just lost his name. The coach of Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll. When Pete Carroll was a coach at USC, he wanted to sign him, say, hey, I'm going to sign you.

I'm committed to you. He'd invite him out to practices and stuff and all those kinds of things. Well, Brian makes a bad decision and gets in a situation where he can be accused of rape. He didn't do it, but he was accused of it. And then from there, he's given a really bad public defender who gives him some really bad advice and says, look, you don't have your prior record, just plea. And when you plea, you're going to get probation. Well, he says, okay, plea. I say no contest, meaning I'm not going to say guilty. You're not guilty.

I'm just going to say no contest. And so he ends up getting sentenced to eight years in prison with five years of parole on top of that. And he ends up doing his eight years in prison. Anyway, he gets out, and then he starts on a journey to try to get his name cleared, because he realizes when he gets out, the real prison starts then. Because he can't get a job. He can't go. Because he's registered as a sex offender, he can't be anywhere near a school, anywhere near a park. There's things that he tries to do, and every time he tries to do it, he gets a call from his probation officer because he's wearing an ankle bracelet saying you're within so many feet of a school, that type of thing. His life's just really in prison.

And so he sets out on an adventure to get his name freed. And I'm not going to tell you more about it. It's an amazing movie.

Please get a chance. Go watch it. It's a pretty clean movie.

Obviously, it's dealing with some pretty tough topics, so I don't know if it's a family-friendly movie, from that standpoint, depending on how old the kids are. But in this movie, what happens is he gets out of prison, and he meets a lady that's a trainer at a place that he's put in for a job, and she offers to train him working out. She's a physical trainer. And so they become friends, and he finds that she's an artist, and she's really good at it. And so he wants to take her to a museum. And so he's living with his mom at her house, and she looks over and sees him on the computer, looking at the art museum on the computer, and offers to give him her car money that she saved up to make her car payment for the month, so he can take this girl that he wants to say thank you to to the art museum. And so we're going to pick it up and listen to that, and we're going to talk more about it.

So when did you become interested in art museums? You remember that training I told you about, Karina? So she's an artist? Yeah. And she just sent me this.

Check it out. Baby, she painted this? Yep. So you want to take her to the museum?

Just to thank her for all the free training sessions. But there's some special exhibit going on right now, and the ticket prices are crazy. I don't... Get the tickets, baby.

Oh, my, come on. Look, I know things are tight right now. I mean, Bailey made the car payment last month.

The car payment can wait. Your happiness can't. Brian, you deserve happiness. Not shame, not guilt. Happiness.

Thanks. When you listen to that, you know, the mom is obviously being generous with her finances. She's giving up what she doesn't have, but she also gives him so much more.

She speaks truth back into his heart to remind him of, you know what, you've been robbed of a lot, and it wasn't fair, you know, and you don't deserve what you've been given, you know. And you don't deserve the shame. You don't deserve the guilt, right? But society is still heaping it on you.

And the thing is, the enemy is still heaping it on us today, right? The shame, the guilt, those things, we don't deserve it. And her generosity changes him in ways, you know, he knows his mom loves him, but she gives us something she doesn't have. She's a single mother, been through some really hard times. As he said in the clip, she had a hard time making the car payment the last month. She doesn't know where the money is going to come from, but she sees her son need is greater than her own need.

You know, the spirit of generosity. This word kind of scares me a little bit. I'm excited and scared at the same time. I trust God.

It's not that. I'm scared from the standpoint of the fact it's going to take me way out of my comfort zone, and I know that. Because when you go on an adventure with God, you're probably going to go outside your comfort zone.

Otherwise, you're not going to grow, right? And so for me to get the growth that my heart really needs and desires, he knows I need, it's going to require me to go to that place. And so, but when we talk about generosity, it's not just financial, right? You can be generous with money, you can be generous with time, you can be generous with listening, right? Truly listening to somebody instead of trying to respond, listening to hear, right? That's generosity in another way.

It's serving people in a way. You can be generous with your emotions, right? I tend to be very emotionally distant sometimes. You know, I know God's going to call me to break that. Not really looking forward to it so much. Because where I'm at is comfortable. But a pig's also comfortable in mud, right? And I don't know that I want to be in mud the rest of my life, right? And so in order to get past that, I need to let that down and let God take me to a place of growth, a place of uncomfortableness, and a place of deeper life.

And that's what I'm really looking forward to for this year. I don't know how it's going to play out. I have some thoughts on where God might take it. But I quit trying to out think, well I haven't. I still try to out think God. It doesn't work. It hasn't worked yet.

I don't know why I think it's going to work the next time. I try to do it, but you know, he's going to take me where he knows I need to go. Now my words from the last couple years, you heard me say on the last show that my word of last year was family. And I think where they're going to tie in is my word two years ago was talents. And God really challenged me to quit hiding and to step into things that he created me to be able to do and handle. You know, and I did a lot of that with some ministry stuff, with the Hope Center, you know, which is a food pantry and clothing closet that I'm a part of. Really called me into entering into those things in a deeper way. And two years ago I really did that for the year. And in order to do that, I had to kind of put some other stuffs off to the side.

Right? And sometimes that was family. And so when God gave me the new word last year of family, I knew why he had. I didn't know how it would all play out and didn't know exactly why, but I knew part of the reason was I probably went too hard at the other word and neglected my family some. And it would come at a cost.

And God said, no, I need you to reevaluate. And so last year I did honestly a really good job of pushing into family all year, but I probably let the pendulum head bend real far to the left, you know, on the whole talent thing go really far to the whole right on the family thing. And I think generosity is going to probably get me to swing back somewhere back towards the middle. You know, I think that's going to be part of why he has me have that word of having a deeper understanding, how do I balance those? Right?

But again, it's just a guess. Yeah, I just got to be open to where God calls me to go and be willing to go there and trust that he has my heart much better than I can hold onto it myself because honestly, I haven't done a great job with it. You know, I'm probably harder on my heart than just about anyone else at the end of the day.

And when I look in the mirror and I'm really honest with myself, that's the truth of the situation. Right? And so I need to just continue to trust in him and step more fully into it and say, okay, God, you're the most generous person I know. Right? You're the most generous person there ever was.

Right? So won't you let me understand from you what you want that to look like for me. And so that's my goal for this year. I know I'll struggle with it from time to time. I know sometimes I probably won't be obedient when I'm supposed to be and I'll probably learn from those lessons as well.

But I look forward to going on this adventure and seeing where we end up, you know, 11 and a half months from now. We've already been a recipient of that generosity this year. It's been wonderful for us already. Yeah, yeah. When he gave me the word last week, I actually bought your guys' dinner last week, which is totally unlike me. I could tell you some of you were surprised. You're like, really? Wow.

Did you win the lottery? No, no. God's calling me not to be so cheap. Anyway, well, thank you. Rodney, you actually have a microphone. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your word?

Sure. But I think before I actually go into my word, I'm just going to kind of play the clip. So this clip is about Winston Churchill's Never Surrender speech. And the reason I end up choosing this one, because it does play into my word, but I have recently, just before Christmas, because I watch a lot of World War II movies, watched a really good one with kind of a perspective of Churchill, FDR, and Stalin, and kind of played out their relationship and how they were thinking of each other and of each country and things of that nature, and it was really good. Next thing you know, there's Churchill movie, Churchill movie, Churchill movie, Churchill movie. And I'm like, wow, there's a lot of movies on Churchill out there. And it was just great getting to understand him more and the times of what was going on in World War II.

But just through all of that, there's a lot, I think, in this clip, and then I'll kind of draw those out after we play it, but this is his Never Surrender speech, which was given very early on in World War II. Sir, I have myself full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do.

That is the result of His Majesty's government, every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation, the British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets.

We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender until in God's good time, the new world, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old. He was devoted to the task at hand, which is obviously defeating Nazism and Hitler and all kinds of other critics, and he had opponents everywhere when Hitler was starting to take over, and people did want to listen to what he had to say, and that's a part of why they probably ended up in a world war. But you had a lot of things going on, but he was devoted to his people, his country. He was devoted to those he was fighting with. Even when it comes to somebody like Stalin, he was like, no, we're saying we're devoted, and we're going to be what we said we're going to be to them, because Poland getting invaded was kind of the lynchman. He was devoted to saying, we are with Poland.

If Poland gets invaded, we're going to war, and he did. That's kind of those kinds of things that went on that said, we need to be linked with who we say we are and be devoted to this, and we are supposed to be with God. And some of the things that I really loved in his speech that I pulled out of there was, he says, full confidence, prove ourselves able, shall go on to the end, growing confidence and strength, whatever the cost may be, and we shall never surrender, and in God's good time. Those are some of the phrases for me out of that, and then my word is devote.

So that's where I'm like you guys. I don't know where I'm going, honestly. So in an election year, you're going to devote? Probably that's how it works out. You get a devote, right? Did your vote even count anymore?

I'm sorry. We get political. Back to this topic. So I was like, what actually does the definition of devote, because I got an idea in my head of devoted, what a devoted person is. So like Merriam-Webster says, to commit a solemn act, or to give over or direct like time, money, effort, kind of like what you were talking about there a little bit, and then to a cause or an enterprise or activity, then dictionary.com is to give up or appropriate to or concentrate on a particular pursuit, occupation, purpose, cause, et cetera, or to appropriate by or as if by a vow, set apart, or dedicate to a solemn formal act, to consecrate.

I'm like, okay. I was trying to soak in this word a little bit and learn about synonyms, to allocate, to consecrate, to dedicate, earmarked, to give up to, which, you know, I'm like, okay, giving up. That's something I probably need to be thinking about.

And to reserve, save, or set by. And there's just different places that I think I'm going to have to be kind of open to where he wants me to go with this word, because context-wise I can think of a lot of things, and I just run through a ton of things like, well, where are you going to go with this? And part of it was kind of interesting because you talked about like where we've been with our past words, and my last one was breaking, and it broke a pattern in my words that were very connected, and maybe that's where I'm starting basically break off for a year and going to start a new trend is kind of what I'm thinking also as far as just into the word of the year and how that's going to work. So just kind of excited to figure out where this word is because it's a little more meaningful than breaking, you know. But there are certain things you have to be broken in order to devote more fully. Right.

So I mean they do count them in. Sometimes, you know, break my spirit of myself, me, myself, and I, and yes, move from that into devoting more to God and just interested in seeing how that's going to play. Good. Well, thank you. David, it's your turn for your clip or whatever you want to talk about mostly.

Just whatever I want to talk about mostly? Within reason. Okay. So my previous year's words was relinquish and impatience leading up to 2024. And really as I was thinking about it, as everybody was talking about how their words tied in, I was like, you know, my two words, how do they tie into that? Like how do they tie into my 2024 word?

And then I thought about it a little bit more. And, you know, really when relinquish means let it go, and then, you know, obviously patience is patience. But when you're going through like actual military boot camp, what's one thing they do that you have to relinquish all control, you have over your life, right? So basically, you know, they're breaking you all the way down to the ground to build you back up into whatever branch of the military you're in, that soldier.

So my word of the year this year is warrior. That's how I feel it tied into it. You know, if you follow along with my story, you know, even with the breaks of me not being on the show and not coming for a little bit, you would see that, you know, I've been in a lot of battles, a lot of fights with the enemy and just things going on in my life. And one thing I always, when it happened, when it would start is I'm just always like, man, again, like I don't want to do this again, like I'm tired of this, like over and over again. I mean, I can tell you for a fact I asked Sam in the very beginning, probably several times throughout, I was like, does it ever get any easier? Does this ever end? Is it going to be always forever? And, you know, so my work coming into the warrior is more of a standing in that presence, I think. We'll see. Still very, very new.

I just, you know, finalized it last night or God finalized it last night. So I think coming into this is more of a, hey, I'm a warrior in Christ, so just stand up and, you know, man up on it, right? So my clip comes from Kingdom of Heaven.

We've used it on different shows to portray a warrior and other things. It's a really good clip. It's when they're in the woods training and he's going through some different items of, you know, how long he fought and what he did when he fought, and it leads all the way up into, and if you watch the movie, this clip actually leads into a battle itself.

So we'll listen to it and then come back and talk a little bit. In the person training, the warrior is his father. Yes. Right, so the father is the one actually doing the training.

Correct. Okay, so here we go. Pick it up. Let's see what you're made of.

His hand is hurt, my lord. I once fought two days with an arrow through my testicle. Never use a low guard. You fight well.

Let's work on your skills. Take a high guard like this. The Italians call it la poste di falcone, the guard of the hook. You strike from high like this. Do it. Sword straight up. Come on. Think back. Bend your knees. Sword straight up. Defend yourself.

A blade isn't the only part of a sword. Attack. I have your lead.

What's this? Uncle. Have you? You have with you a man, Balian, who killed a priest, his brother. I'm charged by both my father and the Lord Bishop to bring him back. What he says is true.

They have the right to take me. I say he's innocent of the charts. If you say he's guilty, then we'll fight. And God will decide the truth of it.

My German friend is a close student of the law. Just give him to me. I'll fight you for something else.

Uncle, he's a murderer. So am I. Whoever dies here today, you will certainly be among them. So, yeah, that, as Sam said, going into it, that was the father training his son how to be a warrior. And, you know, not only me, but all of us have been being trained throughout our entire life by our Heavenly Father to be warriors in Christ. So my warrior of the year is 2024 of his warrior, and, you know, I'm excited to see the adventure that I go on with God with this. But I'm also a little bit nervous as well because, obviously, if my word is warrior, it probably means I'm going to be in a lot of battles throughout this year. And as much as, you know, they're not fun and they're ugly and gross, you know, I'll do it with God and do it with my band of brothers and, you know, check back in with you on the mid-year update on it. When you look back at your words, though, you couldn't have gotten warrior before you got relinquish or patience.

No, no. I mean, he wanted me to let go of everything so that way he could build me back up into it. And it wasn't going as fast as I would have liked it to go. So therefore, he threw patience in there to say, hey, in my time, you know, you've got to be patient with that. And, you know, honestly, relinquish and patience are still part of my words.

Like, it's not like they're not gone away. I mean, I'm still learning patience on an everyday basis, still, especially at work. So, you know, and, you know, a lot of times relinquish and stuff.

So, you know, closing that chapter, I had to let all that go and move into something new. Yeah, you don't want an impatient warrior. No. Because it's ready, shoot, aim. You don't want that, right?

I mean, you want a patient. Yeah, it's just like in Braveheart when they're holding the stakes down before the horses come, they're like, hold, hold. I mean, their pride is patience there because if they lifted it too soon, then the horses would be able to get right over them.

And the armies would get behind them. Right. Yeah, that's a timing thing. So we have a couple minutes left, but I want to ask you guys a couple questions. If someone's out there going, I don't have a clue about how I get my word of the year, right? Yeah, I pray, but then what? So what's some ways that you've gotten your word of the year or ways that words have been confirmed? Anything that kind of comes to mind? A couple years ago, I was struggling with the word and I'd given a friend of mine something that I had done that I'd written and a person I worked with. And they came out to me and they showed it to me and they said, why are you hiding your talents? Right? And I thought, well, that was a weird comment. And then I heard God say, yeah, why are you hiding them? And so a little bit later, you know, I'm still not convinced. I'm like, God, is that my word? He's like, well, what do you think? I'm like, yeah, okay, it's my word.

Right? And so that was, you know, someone else said it, prompted by God, I believe, and God confirmed it. There's been other times where God said it and he's had someone confirm it. And there's been other times God said it and I'm like, okay, I'm just going with it because I think that's what it is and I didn't need a confirmation.

What's some of your guys' stories? I mean, I think, just like you said, it's praying, but you also have to listen. I mean, you know, and if you're not listening or something's clouding your head and you're hearing from God, then you've got to pray to, hey, what can I do to get rid of that? Let's get that.

Let's start there. I mean, usually for me so far to confirm it, that it's coming from God is usually it's not a word that I would personally use myself. I mean, one thing I've noticed, and I know y'all have talked about it in talks and we've talked about on the radio is the enemy likes to use words and put them in our head.

Usually the words he puts in our head are words that we would typically use on a daily basis, or not necessarily daily basis, but it's words that you would hear yourself saying versus God I've noticed for me anyway puts words out there that's not typical to what I might use. It's not your normal vocabulary. No, I'm not going to go out there and be like, hey, relinquish my tools in your hand. Oh, I've known you a while. You're not going to go, hey, I need more patience, although you do.

Yeah, I'm not thankful. So for me, you know, into my life, I just find it absolutely necessary to get up very, very early. You know, by most people's standards, I get up really early and, you know, begin to spend that time with God in his word. And when I know that I'm in that place of deep intimacy with him in his word, and he lays out something for me in there that I know that's in my heart. You know, that's where I'm meeting with him in intimacy, in my heart, in his word.

And I don't have much doubt that this came from him kind of thing. Well, thank you. Go to masculinejourney.org. We do have a boot camp coming up. It's coming up April 4th through 7th. We don't know if it's an advanced camp or a beginning camp or an introductory camp. If you haven't been to a boot camp and you're thinking about coming to your first one, please let us know because we'll do the introductory camp, right? So we'll talk with you next week. And we'll love somebody well this week. This is the Truth Network.