I Am Statements Week 2

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This is the Truth Network. The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.

So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now. We're going to specialize on him in the second part of the After Hours, which you have to hear the After Hours show to really get that joke. And he was part of the inspiration.

Oh, he definitely, definitely, definitely was. So, you know, I was looking up for somebody that would be ready to explain the topic today. And so Danny, might that be you? I am. I am. We're continuing this week. We talked last week about some of the I Am statements of Christ, and we're continuing that this week. And the idea come from, and to follow in Sam's footsteps, but not all the way to After Hours, but to view, talk about, he said it come from a talk that you guys were at a boot camp that Darren and the church hosted. Right.

And Todd Clark did the talk on Fathered by God, right? Yeah. And he mentioned some of these, and Sam kind of took off with the topic. And so we've selected different ones and got clips and stories to tell and an adventure to live. Right. So in the book of John, there are several of the I Am statements, seven of them from what, you know, some way some people count them.

And so he did. You made it eight last week, but yeah. You know me. The perfect number. I never use anybody else's count, right?

Yeah, the perfect number. So this week we have, I know the one I dealt with was that I Am the Vine. You were the branches, right? And then a lot of you guys did I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And then you got a different one, right, Jim? No, I'm the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The other, the third, the first one is I Am the Resurrection and the Life. Yeah, I kind of combined the two. Yeah, me too.

A combo platter. Yeah, exactly. That's right, yeah. Yes.

With fridge fries. I Am. So speaking of the combo platter, then Danny, why don't you shut it up for me? What now? Since you're on the Danny cam and all everybody watching on Facebook and, you know, YouTube, wherever they are, you know. I think he set you up.

I set you up to do your clip. Oh, my first. Oh, no, I was actually doing Jim. Yeah, I can see how you would confuse us. Yeah, we did look so much alike. Yeah, about the same height, everything.

Both good-looking, both brilliant, you know. Oh, but they can see that now. Okay, my clip, and it is the way, the truth, and the life is about following Jesus, but in this case, Jesus is represented by Gandalf. The Fellowship of the Ring is about to set off. They're being sent away with blessings. And Frodo, who is the key figure, is not the leader.

He needs to be led, and this is, oh, you're not the key leader either. No. Oh, they do see you. Raise your hand. I forgot.

He's waving to the friends on the canny. Yeah, I'll try not to mess with my nose. Okay. And the – That's not the way, Jim.

I like radio. It was the truth, though. I am trying to be truthful.

Stick with the way, Jim. But this is Gandalf's guidance for the entire group, and you'll hear some crows in the middle, so I'm not going to simulate them. So, yeah, if you haven't seen The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is this really old kind of sage-looking character with a long white beard.

You've probably seen pictures. Yes. Right. And he's kind of the leader of this group, and Frodo is what they call a hobbit, which is kind of like, you know, a – They're resilient little people. Resilient little people that seem insignificant but end up being tremendously significant, not unlike us, right? Gandalf is older than me.

Yeah, and is – Gandalf is older than me, which makes him very special. Yeah, very, very, very. So do you want us to play it?

Let her rip. We must hold this course west of the Misty Mountains for 40 days. If our luck holds, the Gap of Rhone will still be open to us. From there, our road turns east to Mordor. Two, one, fire. Good. Very good. Move your feet. That's good flipping.

Thanks. Faster. If someone was to ask for my opinion, which I know they're not, I'd say we were taking the long way round. Gandalf, we could pass through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome.

No, Ghibli. I would not take the road to Moria unless I had no other choice. Spires of Solomon, the passage south is being watched.

We must take the pass of Caliphas. And throughout this series of scenes, it's patched together as you probably figured out. There are several times when they needed Gandalf to both tell Gimli that that's not the best way to go, though that was the way they ended up going. But he's directing the path for the entire group, and it takes a lot of twists and turns.

This is just the beginning. And if you haven't seen it, shame on you because it's written from a perspective of God's mission in a fantasy setting, which will appeal to lots of folks. But Gimli is one of my favorite characters in there. And he is a dwarf, and he wants to go the way that's familiar to him, which is through dwarven mines. And that gets shot down, but ultimately that was the way they had to go because the other better routes were tragedies in the making.

They were led to take the best path, even though even Gandalf did not think that the way they went was the way they were going to go. But if we're following God, we rarely end up going the way we expect to go. Darrell Bock So when you think about Jesus is essentially the I am the way in your own life.

So is there a path like that that you could relate to? Darrell Bock Well, we don't have time for me to go through my different careers. Darrell Bock That's true. That would be a pillars series.

That would be the rest of the time until Jesus returns, I think. But I have taken many different paths. And in retrospect, lots of things I saw as failures were really necessary for the ultimate journey. Darrell Bock So can you take us into one of those?

Darrell Bock One of those. Okay. Getting this took place in Morganton, three decades ago, and I was a Boy Scout executive and I loved it. And they wanted me to move and I was raising my kids there.

I said, Okay, I'm not going to move. And I ended up playing around with computers for a while. But ultimately, something I'd never considered was offered to me by a wonderful and even better named pastor named Bob Shepherd. And Bob said, Well, you know, you ought to think about going to this new Divinity School down at Mars Hill. Where's my brain?

Gardner Webb. And I said, Well, that's not really something I'd ever considered. So I'll just go take a course, see what happens. And a few years later, more than most people take, I had a Masters of Divinity as a Southern Baptist, which when I was 16, I swore I'd never step foot in another Southern Baptist church. So God had other plans and he steered me well. Darrell Bock So was Garner Webb Divinity School closer to Mordor or was it? Darrell Bock It was about, for me, it was about a 45 minute drive for normal people, maybe an hour.

What kind of divinity did you learn to make there? You've heard of Andy Devine, I'm Jim Devine. Darrell Bock Interesting. But nonetheless, you know, it was an interesting turn, right?

Because you had your heart set on the Boy Scouts and God had something that opened up your heart. Darrell Bock And before that, my heart was set on chemistry and then geology. Darrell Bock But at the end of the day, you know, just for me personally, because I've known you for a lot of years, you know, had that not happened, I never would have mentioned it. Darrell Bock That's true. Darrell Bock And that would have been, you know, there had been a lot of steelhead trout that would have appreciated that.

However, it worked. But you know, it's really cool to listen and then think about like, man, my good friend wouldn't be my good friend if it hadn't been for, you know, Jesus being the way in so many different times and in a path that, you know, that we really didn't, you know, anticipate picking up, right? Darrell Bock Everybody that went to high school with me would and some have laughed when they heard I'd gotten into ministry. That was not an expectation for anybody, including me.

But God is in control. And if you don't recognize it, you will. Darrell Bock And so, you know, since you mentioned that you're older than Gandalf, and Darrell Bock No, no, no, reverse. He's the older one. Darrell Bock By how much?

Darrell Bock Not enough. He was a senior when Harold was a freshman. Darrell Bock So Harold, you two have had some interesting paths, right? And I you know, when you when I think about how, you know, your way, you know, was turned from what you thought Oh, yeah, that's several things. I was, as a matter of fact, I was thinking just a few minutes ago that probably most of us in this room didn't realize that we were going to be here. But we ended up here. Yeah, I guess first change that happened was for several years, my idea of my life was going to be as a fighter pilot in the Navy.

And I did pass the written exam for AOC. Darrell Bock And you weren't too tall. I mean, that's clear. Darrell Bock No, I could easily fit in the cockpit. Darrell Bock Could you see over the window? Darrell Bock Smallest plane they had would work for me. But as it turned out, I met my sweetheart on a blind date that her brother set up and there went my future as a pilot.

She told me she couldn't be married to a pilot because of her nerves. Darrell Bock Oh, well, we got to go to a break. But when, you know, we want you to go to masculinejourney.org, register for the boot camp coming up April 3.

We'll be right back. Gary Barnes What we have in our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. Darrell Bock How things been going since the last boot camp? Gary Barnes Doing good growing. I've got growing pains. I came up here as a little boy falling down, getting up, and now I'm a cowboy ranger going into adolescent hood. It's a pleasure to be here. Darrell Bock So you're speaking about cowboy rangers. Is that one of the talks that really came alive to you this weekend? Gary Barnes Yep, I don't want to grow up real fast. I had to do that a long time ago.

I'm just taking baby steps along this journey and I can't think of any place or group of guys I'd rather be with because you are appointed and accountable for me to learn and listen and I got a notebook full of good tools that's going to help me grow. Darrell Bock You can register today at masculinejourney.org. Darrell Bock Danny, you bumped it.

Gary Barnes I did. That was Tim McGraw and Live Like You Were Dying. It's a song about a conversation he had with a guy who's had a bad diagnosis and he asked him, you know, what did you do when you heard the news? And that's the chorus. He went skydiving.

He did go skydiving before he went Rocky Mountain climbing, but we ain't got so much room for adventure around here. But the song speaks to, you know, the way, the truth and the life. And so, you know, if you do live like you're dying, because there are things far more important than what you think they are. And all of a sudden you get a traumatic diagnosis or a life event happens and you think your life is over.

But, you know, it makes you think a little different and the positive way to think about it is, you know, forgive a little deeper and, you know, live a little bit. Darrell Bock So we left our hero, Harold, you know, he was going to be a fighter pilot in those Sopwith Camels. I don't know if you remember. Going to take on the Red Baron and things like that, I suppose. But, you know, we never did clarify when you were going to be a fighter pilot, Harold, you know, what kind of plane would that have been? Harold Pollack Well, I guess it would have been the Sopwith Camel. No, that's another place where, you know, one of the things where God intervened in my life in a very positive way.

My sweetheart and I will be celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary on June the 6th of this year. Had I made it through all the training and actually become a pilot, I likely would have been shot down over Vietnam. The Sams really took a toll on the pilots over there. So, you know, God directed me in a different direction. And instead of flying jets off of a carrier, I coded programs for a computer, which was not the same but safer.

But a lot of changes that I think God has directed. My first job after graduation was there in my hometown with a company I'd worked with during the summers. And I thought, you know, I was a perfect fit. I knew the business, et cetera. And it didn't really work out.

There were some promises that had been made that weren't being fulfilled. And so I left and went to Columbus, Mississippi with a company there. And after eight years, that necessitated a change, and that's how I ended up in Moxville.

Interestingly enough, both of those first two companies no longer exist. And to quote a t-shirt of my good friend, where the heck is Moxville? Moxville is the center of the universe. Ask anyone in Davie County and they'll let you know. The only place to live is Davie County, North Carolina. There you go. It is the county seat of Davie County.

And for those who don't know, it's between Statesville and Winston-Salem. And so, Danny, you have our next clip on the hit parade. And you are going where no man has gone before. Yeah. This comes from Star Trek Next Generation. And the interchanges between Lieutenant Worf, who is a Klingon, and Commander Riker, who is basically the first mate of the ship.

And they're good friends. And Worf has had a traumatic life experience. His spine has been messed up in an accident.

And they're pretty much telling him he's not going to be able to walk. And for a Klingon to die an invalid is an insult and no honor. And so there's a ritual that they perform, a suicide ritual. And he's asked Commander Riker to assist him in it.

And Riker basically is having no part in it. And the interchange between them, they're talking a lot about life and death. And, you know, speaking to, you know, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and the resurrection and the life is the two that kind of stuck out to me.

But listening to them talk about the differences between choosing death and choosing life. So we can play it. We'll talk about it afterwards.

I am ready, Commander. I've been studying this ritual of yours. Do you know what I've decided? I think it's despicable. I hate everything about it. Casual disregard for life, the way it tries to cloak suicide in some glorious notion of honor. I may have to respect your beliefs, but I don't have to like them. It is not something I expect you to understand.

No. All you really expect me to do is bring you the knife and then walk away so you can kill yourself in peace. Well, I'm not going to make it that easy for you.

It is not easy for me. But each of us must die in our own time. At my time- Remember Sandoval? Hit with a disruptor blast two years ago. She lived for about a week.

Fang Li, Marla Aster, Tasha Yar. How many men and women, how many friends have we watched die? I've lost count. Every one of them.

Every single one fought for life until the very end. I do not welcome death, Commander. Are you sure? Because I get the sense you're feeling pretty noble about this whole thing. Look at me. Aren't I courageous? Aren't I an honorable Klingon?

Let me remind you of something. A Klingon does not put his desires above those of his family or his friends. How many people on this ship consider you a friend? How many owe you their lives? Have you ever thought about how you've affected the people around you? How we might feel about your dying? Will you or will you not help me with the Hepa? You are my friend. And in spite of everything I've said, if it were my place, I would probably help you.

I love to interchange. And Worf has obviously chosen death. And so often in my own life, I realize over the past few weeks that I had chosen death many times. Not consciously going to kill myself.

Maybe once there was that choice. But choosing death in the way I act, other than the way God would have me act. Choosing hatred over love. Choosing to distance myself or to make choices that bring death rather than life. Jesus tells us, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

The only way to live is to live Jesus' way. It's not a set of rules. It's a set of guardrails to keep you out of the bushes and hedges, basically. And so that's been kind of my take on this topic, so to speak. But it's been so often to come to those events. Because we've all been there, that some life-changing event hits and depression sets in the whole nine yards. And you just end up going down a path that leads to death, basically. Yeah, it's interesting.

I actually did a funeral service or celebration of life on Saturday for a group that may not be the typical church-going group. And I couldn't help but notice a sign that they had in their house that said, happiness is not the destination, it's the journey. And as I reflected on that statement, I thought, well, isn't that interesting? Because it really is saying something that I think this passage is saying that Jesus isn't the destination of this I am the way, the truth, and the life, right? He is the journey. He is the journey, yes. And so it's interesting that in so many ways, in his presence is fullness of joy, right? So it's interesting that the accuracy of that would be that happiness is the journey. The journey is that to some extent, but the destination, Andy, that's another whole thing, right? You're talking about the Father? Correct.

Yeah, absolutely. Jesus did say in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. But no one, we leave this out a lot of times, but no one comes to the Father but by me.

And it's such a core message to the masculine journey, everything. It's been phenomenal to me to really find God as Father and to realize that Jesus constantly said it. I've been reading in the book of John, he's constantly saying, it's not about me, it's about the Father. I'm here to bring you to the Father. But in doing that, you see that there's joy, there's – I mean, he also references himself. He says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, we act as one.

So you're really getting a two for one, three for one, actually, when you talk about the Holy Spirit, too. More of a buffet. Yeah, buffet, yeah.

You get everything that you're – Not the combo plate but the complete buffet. Everything that you were created for to receive, right? But anyway, yeah, it's definitely the Father is the destination but Jesus clearly points that out.

Yeah, and so – and I know in your life, certainly, Danny, that's been one of the neater things I've seen just kind of unfold in the last couple, three years. And so speak to that a minute because that's what comes at the end of that verse. What's that, to the Father?

Right. Oh, yeah, it's amazing how that is where Jesus is taking you is to be ultimately fathered by God. And that's kind of the journey that hit on that I met you guys. We were reading the book by John Eldredge, Fathered by God. And there's so much that speaks to the boyhood and that kind of thing.

And I've got to live a lot of that over the past three or four years. And God's done so much healing and, you know, like Saturday was an amazing day going up fly fishing in the river in waders, almost a near-death experience if I fell down. But, you know, never done that before.

Never probably would have done that. But, you know, God fathered me in this. Show me, you know, and to be out in his wilderness in all wonder, knowing that you're in his presence because he's there and just having fun.

And he even let me catch a brown trout. Right. And it's fascinating to me that it's also connected to the idea of life, right? That when you decide, hey, I'm going to let God father me in this rather than just not go fly fishing even though I wanted to my whole life, right? You know, I'm going to trust the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit kind of point you in that direction. And away you go, you have this information to experience a part of life you otherwise never would have, right?

Yeah. And along the journey, you know, God puts people in your life. And I sent some folks some messages today. But he puts people in your life to follow you along the way and to speak into your life. And what a decorated life it becomes that, you know, the joy of meeting folks and seeing Jesus from their eyes and just, you know, living life to its fullest at times.

So beautiful. Wow. So if you've attended a boot camp, you have an amazing opportunity right in front of you in just a couple weeks. We have an advanced boot camp and that's coming up April 3rd through the 7th. So if you go to masculinejourneyradio.org, that's masculinejourneyradio.org. Go register for that or join us at some other event. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening.