Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:09 Hey, welcome back to the grease ops podcast. We are a band of brothers being screened by grace to conquer darkness and empowerment of upright. It's really exciting to be part of building a culture out all across this country. Men are coming into this to be inspired, to be fueled and to be sharpened in the things of God or their lives right here. And right now we got a powerful episode three today. Learning how to use fear when we feel fear, are we sense fear, but to actually use that as fuel, to really walk in valor and to be men who are courageous. And the, I got a great team here with me today. Ryan, Tom, Ryan, Evan, and Josh Thompson from Kansas city are with us today. And the premise for today, Joshua one nine, have I not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord.
Speaker 1 00:01:05 Your God is with you wherever you go. So we want to talk about this concept today, about walking with God, walking with God in your assignment and learning how to not let fear trap us. And there's a lot of trappings of fear in this culture. And if we're saying allow fear to fuel valor, your fear can also fuel other things. And actually it can cripple you. And one of those, I want to kind of point out the sneaky fear today. There's fear gets sneaky like a snake. It creeps into your life. It can literally suffocate you. So I have a story I'm going to share a little later in the episode. Um, so we've got a great, uh, great game plan here with everybody. I'm going to bring all these guys in. So Hey, welcome to the show today, guys. It's good to see you. What's up Josh? What's up Brian. Josh's in Kansas city, man. We love Kansas city. I'll be in Kansas city, uh, July 8th, actually through the 17th and, and we are going to, I'll be out there for the ATC camp. It's going to be really powerful. So your water bottle, it's a hundred degrees today. Does it really have you guys, are you guys like on a drought? Like we are, have you gotten rain? Or we had ran about
Speaker 2 00:02:18 A week ago, but it's not a crazy drought, but it's just odd. It's all good, man. It's wild down here.
Speaker 1 00:02:26 Yeah, dude, yesterday I did a wedding outside at 3:00 PM and it was one of those weddings where they were like, we're going to be formal. I was like, oh my gosh. I'm like, that's important planning and contract stuff in a suit and tie, oh my gosh, dude, it was brutal, but it was a great couple. Huh?
Speaker 3 00:02:49 I said full jacket, full jacket,
Speaker 1 00:02:52 Dude, everything. Luckily I was in the shape. You know, I was out there at Killbuck. I at least had that little pergola thing over a sword around well guys, uh, we want to jump into this topic. So be strong and courageous. Uh, this passage comes out of a Joshua's life, right when Moses had passed away, right? When, uh, the great promise of God I'm going to take, I'm the Lord, your God taking you out of Egypt. And I'm going to give you into a land of promise. And so God is actually getting ready to bring his people into this promise. That's hundreds of years old. And so they're right on the cusp of like, you know, Moses had just passed. Joshua was this amazing, uh, young leader under Moses his life. And, uh, even when Moses would like leave the tent of meeting Joshua linger in the presence of God, you know?
Speaker 1 00:03:41 So I want to make that a strong premise about intimacy today. Like we have to know God, you know, this isn't like just cute little podcasts, like, oh, I hate this whole verse of the day concept of like, and I get it. It's all cool stuff. But sometimes if you're just reading the verse of the day and you're just trying to add a little bit of good luck Jesus to your life, you know, that's really missing the point. You know, we, you got to kind of go, you're a burrow in, you gotta actually be a man of purpose and intention and actually go after your goals. And one of your goals should be to know God, it should be to be in God's presence and to know God's word and to be a man of faith. And so many of you can rise up and actually fight and conquer.
Speaker 1 00:04:23 And so Joshua was a conquer. I mean, he was a general in God's army. And so, you know, here he gets this Moses just passes on. He's like all bummed out. God's like, suck it up, kind of get up. You know, it's like got a lot of work to do. Um, let's look ahead. So guys, let's talk about this. Uh, let's talk about what it means to be strong and courageous. I mean, how do we, you know, do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord, your God is with you. So how do we go forward in our 21st century culture with all the fear trappings? You know, we just came out of COVID-19 and the opinion of COVID is all over the map. I'm not here to voice my opinion on it necessarily, but there was fear, uh, all across our globe. You know, so fear is actually a very powerful tool that we know governments use to, uh, to take advantage of people and stuff. So we've seen some of that in a lot of ways. We've kind of come, we're coming through that still. We're still not all that, but, but let's talk about that today. Gentlemen, what do you guys got to say about being stronger, courageous, even doing things afraid, knowing God and doing all of it at the same time. What do you guys got today? Going back to
Speaker 2 00:05:37 What, uh, you were saying in Joshua one nine and the premise for Joshua's leadership. It talked about in Exodus 33 in the tent of meeting when Moses would go in and meet with the Lord. Joshua was in there too. And when, when Moses would leave to go to the people, it says an Exodus 33 verse 11 and 12, that Joshua would never left. Joshua stayed in the tent of meeting, stayed in the Lord's presence. And that was as much of a training for him to lead God's people as it was the day-to-day face-to-face with Moses. So as Moses was in the tent of meeting, Joshua was observing Moses and the Lord interact. And when Moses would leave, Joshua stayed. So when, when the Lord commands Joshua and in establishing his leadership to be strong and courageous, that foundation was already set very firmly and established a strength that he had. He had spent the hours that it took to have a confidence in his relationship with God, his communication with God, and that that command to be strong and courageous was really established before the command.
Speaker 1 00:06:56 Yeah. And that's so important that we have a foundation of knowing God and really being in his presence. You know, that's, it's, it's the concept of like, I kind of like look at it as getting drunk and God right. Like intoxicated with his love. And like, he, he really is, uh, the presence of God really does release, release, like endorphins and remind. And it releases that, that, uh, drug kind of, if you will, and it it's, it helps us to actually know him and be intimate with him. Like he's our addiction, you know what I mean? Like yeah. For some people that don't know Christ really intimately think that that's crazy talk, you know, like, oh my gosh, I've never heard that before. Well, you need to not pass by it so quick. You need to kind of slow down and hear what we're saying, because Joshua, you know, you, we want to be men like Joshua.
Speaker 1 00:07:44 I mean, you read Joshua story, but then if you want to be like Josh, or you have to burrow into his life and find these little nuggets of what he was like, so now they're getting ready to go conquer the promised land. They're getting ready to go fight and battle the enemies of God. And they're going to, God's going to use strategies that probably no person, none of us would probably come up with these strategies, right? Like March around the city and then, you know, blow your trumpets. Like we would never. So what I'm saying is don't
Speaker 3 00:08:14 Put them down. What's that I said, raise up your hands and don't let them fall. You'll win.
Speaker 1 00:08:21 You're gonna win. It's just crazy. So, so they're getting ready to enter into this crazy dependency on God as if they hadn't already had it up to this point. But the statement of be strong, courageous and fear not is, is going to be one that they're going to get to know about a lot in the next many chapters of Joshua. So how do you guys see fear in your own life? Yeah. What's what do you got wrong?
Speaker 3 00:08:47 I just had a few things to add to the beginning statement. So just, uh, kind of going along with what Josh was saying, and when you guys were saying about, you know, the concept of knowing God and, you know, like, like knowing who, who is with you knowing, you know, and, uh, for me it goes back to something, you always say, Brian, right? Like that, that whole, like, you know, when we're in a pursuit of God, right. And we're, we're, we're developing intimacy with God. There's that, there's a difference between get like, like developing and growing in intimacy and growing in information, you know? Um, and I think that's, you know, a lot of people in this, in, in our culture and just the church world today, like there's a, there's a huge separation between somebody who is growing in information about God, right growing and information about the father information about Jesus and th you know, someone who is actually growing in intimacy, right.
Speaker 3 00:09:46 Building, building relationship there, they're pursuing the man, the person of Jesus Christ and not just information about him, you know? And so there there's that real relational aspect that we see in the tent of meeting with a guy like Joshua, who is, who is, is, uh, diving in. Right, right. Who's chairing with God in his presence, right. He's not, he's not in the tent of meeting to seek out the next heavy Revy. Um, and to gather more information about, about Jesus, but he's growing in intimacy with God. And I think that that's a really important distinguishing factor, um, when, when facing fear and, you know, is, is really understanding that as we're moving through scripture, as we're, you know, you know, uh, um, you know, moving in, in relationship with Christ that we're not meant to God, didn't call us to grow in our, in our understanding of the information about him.
Speaker 3 00:10:45 You know, the Bible was given to us to, to, um, to, to, to highlight, um, who he is, you know what I mean? So we are growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ because we are growing in our relationship and our intimacy with the person of Christ, you know, and, and as we grow in that knowledge, um, and that, you know, which is, which is both, uh, both informational and experiential, you know what I mean? It's like standing in the middle of both and just bracing the bracing in the tension. Um, but, but that has to be our main focus is, is that relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, understanding that scripture is here to highlight, um, the very nature of God, right? The very desires of his heart. Right. And so, because of that, we're growing in the knowledge of our intimacy with the person of Jesus Christ. And when we do that, we have a solid rock to have our confidence, you know, our confidence gets put in him, our, you know, it's, it's that thing that we hope in. It's the thing that we trust. I'm not trusting in pages, in a book I'm trusting in the person of Jesus Christ. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:11:56 An actual person makes all, all the difference yeah.
Speaker 1 00:12:02 Who actually came and showed us valor. I mean, you know, when we, when we compare ourselves as Christ, knowing we're growing into the headship of who he is as the body. Yeah. Well, that's, he's the best example of all the examples. Sorry. We like David's example. Cause we can identify with all of his weaknesses Christ as the example, you're like, whoa, man, he's calling who's in power and we actually have to live that way. It's actually pretty awakening. You know, it's exposing what, all of the areas that he would call us out of. So do you guys have, so in a 21st century culture, we've got, you know, we've got like the pressure of like even the American lifestyle, you know, live a particular way, make sure, I mean, you see commercials all the time, what's your number and you know, they've, they've got these big numbers above their head of their retirement numbers and yeah.
Speaker 1 00:12:53 So much of our lives and none of that, stuff's all, I'm not saying that stuff's bad. He shouldn't have it. I think you should plan and you should be a good planner and you should have a, you know, you should have a retirement plan, stuff like that. But, but if that's our main focus, which it seems like so much of that pressure of the American lifestyle, cause I've kind of lived the opposite. I know all of us here are opposite of the American lifestyle. None of us are in, um, just typical jobs. We've all taken like what I call like a trailblazer, a risk takers, a route. And um, why, why did you guys take the path of a risk taker and how have you overcome the fear in a 21st century culture? How have you applied Joshua one nine in your modern day lifestyle? Um, so how has fear come against you? How have you overcome fear? What are some of the current fears maybe that you, you might have back here? If you'd be vulnerable enough, say some of the stuffs creeps me out sometimes, but sure. And then how do we go for, how do you guys do that in your lives? Because none of us are like normal guys.
Speaker 2 00:13:57 Well, for me, um, you know, being at the international house of prayer and coming on to staff with a family, the, to be honest with you, the last thing I ever wanted to do was raise financial partnership and that kind of, kind of thing. And I told Laura, I didn't want to do it. And he's like, well do it anyway. And so it's just part one would be stepping out in faith and, and doing that and seeing the Lord meet me. And second though, probably the biggest source of fear in my life right now is my family. To be honest. I mean, when I was a young guy with no wife, no kids, no real responsibilities. Other than myself, it was really easy to be cavalier, you know, go out and I'll die for Christ today. No big deal I'll do anything. But now I'm thinking about my two little girls at home, my wife and a big priority in my life is keeping them safe.
Speaker 2 00:14:55 That's why I have means of protection in my home. That's why I have a plan. And for a while, honestly, um, the enemy came at me with fear about my, about my kids and my wife. And sometimes I would even be gripped with fear that they were going to, I don't know, die in a car accident on the road, or I'm a police chaplain and hearing some of the stories and the roll calls in the mornings of some of the kidnappings and shootings and stuff and neighborhoods around our arts, our city, the enemies come after me trying to get me to believe that that's, what's going to happen to my family, but really that fear that's coming against my heart, come against my mind, coming against my emotions. I've found it to be an invitation to really pursue the truth. Because fear when I was a kid, what my, uh, my parents told me is fear.
Speaker 2 00:15:55 And you look at it as an acronym. Firas false evidence appearing real and what the enemy intended for evil. The Lord sees it the opposite way. And not that I'm saying that the Lord is going to protect my life from any, you know, bad circumstances forever. But I, as I step into faith, I choose to pursue the Lord's truth. It really does. There's something that happens in our hearts. When we say, no, I'm not going to believe this. I'm not going to allow this to slow me down. I'm not going to allow this to cripple me. I'm going to pursue the truth. I'm going to pursue the Lord's heart. And I'm going to trust. Trust is active. It's not like, uh, you're sitting on your hands, waiting for God to come do something for you. But really trust is I'm going to fight for my own heart. I'm going to fight for the heart of my family. And I'm going to believe what the Lord says. And I'm going to stir myself up in the word. I'm going to start myself up in prayer. I'm going to pursue worship. And the Lord really does strengthen our hearts when we make that decision.
Speaker 1 00:17:06 So you're, so you're saying in this one sliver of your life and Josh, I know your, your life, and you've got some health issues. You're walking with one of your daughters, you know, your life. Isn't like in this perfect little faith bubble where it's like, no harm comes to nine, my dwelling, right? Like that's a promise that I engage and believe, but I'm going to pursue God. Even if harm is coming into my life. Right? Like I don't that's and that's kind of what we're talking about is like not letting we don't have to have perfect. It doesn't have to have the perfect scenario for us to step out in faith. So you're saying one of fear you identified, right? My family could die. Right? The enemy is getting in your head, all these subtleties, where the enemy comes, like those are thoughts that hit you like at four in the morning, right?
Speaker 1 00:17:52 Like you can get late or 10 o'clock you're, you're doing something in an office. And all of a sudden you get this thing that hits you. So that's kind of what we're talking about is how we deal with that. So you, you're saying to build the valor in your life and to be strong and courageous instead of entertaining that thought over and over giving it a place to live. Because that's very key for us to remember, the more you repeat a thought, the more neural pathway it has in your brain in a particular way. So you actually give it a place to live. One time I was going to write a text message. I was going to take my phone and I was going to text my wife a particular thought about, and it was basically about like, oh, another way I could make money.
Speaker 1 00:18:32 And, but it didn't have anything to do with the assignment in my life. It was just going to be a cute little joke. And I remember I deleted the whole thing and I never pressed send. And it was so clear to stay as like, if I hit send that has a place to live now. Yeah. Created the path in her head and I created it. And I'm like, I don't even want to give that thought a place to live. Even though that can make me thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably I'm not going to do it. So, um, that's really, and that's what we're talking about to be strong and courageous. So you said when your fear rose up, you used it to trigger. You kind of like you use it to fuel you into discovering the truth. I'm going to go right here. Right. Even harder. Right. And it's kind of like a,
Speaker 2 00:19:10 A weird deal because sometimes fear kind of like will kickstart you. You know what I mean? It'll kind of like jolt, you awake from, you know, whatever is going on. And sometimes the enemy he'll try to bring in, you know, something to distract you, but really what it does is it wakes you up. And if, if he's going to spend the time to come, try to disengage my heart and, and try to engage my heart with fear, I see that as an opportunity to wake up from what my own mind is producing and to pursue something in the Lord, you know, he, he thought that he was going to have some kind of victory there, but maybe what he didn't understand was he was waking me up. And the Lord was waiting with an invitation in this at the same time. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:20:08 I would say my biggest fear, you know, as I've been on, on my journey and path has always been, um, the fear of humiliation, right? The fear of me, I don't want to necessarily just say failing, right. Because what really is failure, you know? Um, but I think that within each of us, uh, you know, we get an assignment from God and then we begin to predetermine, um, the outcome, you know what I mean? Like, like the, the, the imagination and the mind that God's given us is so powerful, you know, we can receive of encouragement because it received prophetic words. We can receive, um, just an assignment God's saying, go here. This is, this is what I'm calling you to do, you know? Um, and then our mind begins to predetermined what that should look like. You know what I mean? Like what it's going to look like, what, what outcome that, that we are predetermining that we want to see?
Speaker 3 00:21:08 You know what I mean? And, and really what, what ends up happening is we begin taking the reins of our, of our assignment, of our journey, of what the outcomes should be, of what success looks like within the confines of what we believe God has spoken to us about. Um, and, and really that could have been that never could have been what was God God's intention, but we've now developed this expectation. You know what I mean? And so then when we don't meet our expectation, it wasn't God's expectation. That was our expectation that we created, um, around our, you know, uh, around our assignment. Um, now we begin to feel like a failure. Now we begin to measure ourselves to another man's journey or another man's accomplishments or another man's, um, th the way his journey and his assignment is working out, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 00:21:59 Um, so I've always had fear, I would say in that regard of that, I'm going to be humiliated. Um, you know, and for me, some of the lessons I've learned, and I've got to, you know, Josh, you shared an Ackerman I'm to share an acronym it's as well. It's just the way my brain works, but my brain starts, I'm not going to share that Brian, but, but you know, this, this, this for me is like, w when I, when I, when I get into these places of fear, I really do, I come back to this, right. Is, is the fact of like, what do I need to overcome fear? Right, right. What helps me with the courage? It's, so-so for fear, it's fortitude, it's engagement, attitude, and resolve. Those are the four pieces that I need to, to engage in my life, to overcome fear fortitude.
Speaker 3 00:22:48 It's the courage to keep moving forward in the midst of adversity, right? In, in the opposition of fear, I need to be confident in who I am as a son of God. And I need to be confident in who he says he is, you know, um, that's one of those things. That's that foundational piece, it's an identity piece for me, you know, of like, I got to remind myself that God is faithful. You know, God is faithful to provide God's faithful to, to, to keep, um, supplying my, every need, you know, engagement for me is like, it's that, it's that outward action part, right? Like, I think what happens is we get into the midst of fear and we allow, you can either allow fear again, to fuel that place of action and valor, where we take courage and say, you know what, I'm going to press in.
Speaker 3 00:23:33 And I'm going to, I'm going to move forward anyways, despite how I'm feeling, despite how the enemy is trying to paralyze me with this feeling of saying, you know, and, and it happens to so many people, like how many people are working dead-end jobs and how many people are not living the life that they really want to live, because they're too afraid. You know, it paralyzes us to the point where we don't take action anymore. So, so the next question for me is that engagement piece. What am I engaging? You know what I mean? Like, am I, am I taking action on what I'm believing for? You know, I have to ask those questions and, you know, so it's that whole thing of like, just do something, be courageous to keep acting towards what you're believing for. Um, the second thing for me is I, I check out my attitude, right.
Speaker 3 00:24:18 It's it's, for me, it's that settled way of thinking about something, right? Like, um, you know, and I really kind of based that on the concept of that, you know, I heard, I can't remember where I heard it, but it said that your attitude will determine your direction. You know what I mean? And so when I'm in the midst of those things, you know, like I've got to check my attitude, man. I got to check, okay, like, am I getting negative? Am I allowing these thoughts to really drive me into depression? Am I allowing it to drive me, you know, uh, you know, into laziness, into, into other comfort, into numbing myself through, you know, you know, as far as sin, right. Am I numbing myself because I don't want to feel the pain of what I'm facing anymore, you know? Um, and we all have different ways that we ended up doing that. And the second thing for me is just, is that old concept of resolve to just, I'm just going to determine within my heart, no matter what, I'm not going to surrender and I'm not going to quit. You know? And I, and it's just for me, it's that reminder, man, of like, I know who he is. I know what he says about me. And I know what he says about himself, you know? And I'm just going to simply resolve within myself when I have an assignment from God that I'm not going to quit.
Speaker 1 00:25:32 That goes back. That's those things we've taught on many times on this podcast. And it's, it's the essence of our culture is building a community of men that you do life with. So as you build comradery and you start to get what we call like spiritual wise counsel in your life, you can, uh, when you, when you make big decisions, like, you know, all these paths that we've all gone down, when you vet vetted through like spiritual wisdom and spiritual counsel, you, uh, the scriptures actually have this phrase that you can wage your war. You could go into that battlefield. You can go into that place where Valor's demanded and you can not quit. Like, I literally have been through that in my own life, personally, that in my own assignment, I've been so pummeled down to where like, but I was just holding on literally for dear life going well, I'm just not going to quit.
Speaker 1 00:26:25 That was my only strategy is I'm just not going to quit. I'm going to spend time not quitting. And then God was a, you know, God used all that and worked it all out for his glory. And the turnaround part of that story is just absolutely brilliant and glorious, but it's, none of it was my strategies. I wouldn't even in the middle of that, those timeframe in my life, the wilderness years, I was trying things that worked a year or two ago, and they wouldn't work in the wilderness. It was like a, it costs me more costs me more time and more finances. And it was just crazy. So what do you, what do you got Josh? And are you feel you feeling something there? Huh? Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 2 00:27:12 It comes down to it. The Lord is all about laying out invitations in front of us and knowing, having a grasp of what he's called us to is just incredibly important. And Ryan, I love the acronym that you gave, um, especially about fortitude and knowing that your identity and standing strong in it. And I'm, I'm thinking about, uh, first John four 18, when the Lord says that there's no fear in love, but perfect love, casts out fear. And a lot of my life before I had to really with what fear was, I was assuming that if I'm operating in God's love, then I wouldn't have fear, but really what it, what it's turned out to be is inviting his love to fuel my heart and to really a, a love that is without mixture from the Lord. It drives out fear, just like if you have a cup full of, you know, all boil and you pour water into it, the oil rises to the top and, and flows out.
Speaker 2 00:28:29 And eventually you'll have a cup that just contains water. And it's not that love instantly turns your heart completely into fear, but you have to allow the process of being filled with God's love, even though you have fear in your heart, you're, there's a level of fear that you're having to deal with. When you step out, when you begin to pursue the call on your life, that the Lord has placed. There, there is a level of fear that you have to deal with, but it can't be something that causes you to stay where you are or to retreat. There is no retreat in love. There's only advancement. There's only pursuit. And the Lord has called us to be men that pursue our calling that pursue his love, that pursuit, relationship, and intimacy. So as we step forward and we ask the Lord, let your perfect love drives out fear. He's saying, as you come to me, that's going to be the process that works that out. That's going to be where it gets. Its it gets done. There is no sitting and waiting. And just before you start your call, the Lord's drive driven out fear. That's just never how it's going.
Speaker 1 00:29:46 Yeah. There's my mind goes all over the place right here. There's so many things we could talk about, but when we can give fear a place to live, like we've, we've mentioned, and that's kind of how the people of God were when they actually came out of their slavery there. Now they're on this new journey of freedom, but they also don't have daily comforts. Even in slavery. They had things like, well I knew when I was going to eat, I knew when I was going to sleep and I, my life wasn't as stressful as it is in this journey with God thing. And they gave them, they gave their fear, they gave it a power through their words. They, they allowed those words to be unrepeat. They started grumbling and complaining. And that actually fostered into like, you know, literally tens of thousands of people's hearts.
Speaker 1 00:30:36 And it caused them a whole generation to not, to not even make it into the promised land. You know, they had to wait for a whole generation to die off in the wilderness. And so you can give fear such a place in your life that it cripples you. I mean, you think about day and age, you think about like, I think the number one drug in America is actually fast food. Yeah, you're right. Nobody wants so talk about their, their driver, uh, drug addiction, but that's a, that's the big one, right? Like, you know, you know, but we've got all these other, the plethora of just ways we can, um, you know, get release and distract ourselves. And we live in the most drug, uh, you know, we're indebted, we're, we're, we're using more drugs in this adult cohort than ever in the history of our country.
Speaker 1 00:31:27 We're more depressed, indebted, obese, where it's just, it goes on and on and on. And you, and I'm using that to say, you can actually give fear such a place and anxiety such a place in your life. And unfortunately we live in a culture that a lot of times, even in the Christian culture, and I'm not saying this is necessarily wrong, but we think, oh, I'll go take a pill and that'll fix it. And uh, and you might need a pill to help you. I'm not saying that you don't, I'm just saying that it's sad in our culture when that's more of our default thinking where it's like, God wants us to come to him. So I've actually created two strong practices in my life that helped me overcome fear or live do it afraid. You know, if we want to talk about it from that perspective, because I do things afraid all the time.
Speaker 1 00:32:08 One is when I have fear, like you guys have brought up these, these subtleties, these little subtle fears, I cast them upon the Lord. I literally have a conversation with God. I say, father, I know you love me. And this circumstance is taking up a lot of time in my heart because I'm scared or I have anxiety over this thought and I give it to you today. God not so I can ignore it and not be responsible in it. But because I need your strength in your perspective, to help me, I need your power and your presence to actually give me fuel right now, because this is wanting to stop me. This is wanting to take a couple hours. And if you ever realized that there was a statistic, I can't remember exactly. I heard it wrong, but there was a statistic that 80 to 90% of the things that we actually fear never come, never even come true.
Speaker 1 00:32:58 Yeah. Here's such a facade. It really is such a fake, you know, and it just gets in our way. It wants to cripple us, wants to spin our emotions. Uh, the second thing, you know, so I spend time, um, casting my cares on Christ whenever I need to. That's one of the practice. The second thing is I, I, my day off, which is Mondays, I take my Sabbath on Monday. I take, I take the whole day off and I sleep. I rest, I read. And one of the things I practice on my, on my Sabbath is I practice being thankful. I will spend an hour just thinking of the things I'm thankful for. And that actually is a very powerful fuel that gets put in my tank. Now it's not that I don't, I'm not thankful the rest of the week, but I specifically focus on thankfulness on my Mondays and I find it to be a very powerful weapon, um, to fuel the assignment. My that's good. I'm good. So you guys got any thoughts to throw out there? Um, one thing real quick, not to this has come to my mind a bunch, but October 1st and second, we're going to be in Kansas city doing a gray SOPs men's advance. It's going to be very par, powerful time together. If you can make that, we would encourage you to get on our website, grease ops.net/events and check it out and get registered. If you can. We'd love to have you there at Casey. It's going to be a really powerful time.
Speaker 2 00:34:18 Yeah. Is looking forward to it a lot.
Speaker 1 00:34:24 All right. Well, one of the new developments in, uh, gray SOPs, and I'll kind of bring this to a close here. If you guys got closing thoughts, we can throw those in, in a moment. But, uh, the, one of the things I want to be clear on is if in Joshua one nine, be strong and courageous, don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed for the Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go, knowing God, knowing his assignment for your life. We've talked about all that. Um, so they're actually getting ready to go in and actually conquered lands and conquered peoples. And they actually went to fight the physical enemies of God. And in our culture in the 21st century culture, we've talked about how fear comes in in subtle ways. And it's basically a John 10 kind of play playout, right? Where the Jesus taught.
Speaker 1 00:35:13 And he said, the enemy only comes to steal. He only comes to kill and he only comes to destroy. He says, but I have come that you could discover life. And that's what we're all about, about how grace empowers us to discover the life of God, the holiness of God, the beauty of God. And so you got, this are be strong and courageous are live a life full of valor. Guess what guys, every day, you still wake up and you slay the enemies of God. They're just not in a physical realm now, like it was for Joshua, but then we slayed darkness every day. Every decision, every, every day, every time we say no, I'm not going to let fear live in my life. I'm not gonna let fear be my, my father today or my teacher today. I'm going to be strong. I'm going to be courageous.
Speaker 1 00:36:01 Those, that type of action in our lives actually destroys darkness. That's why that's our motto is we're being trained by grace to conquer darkness. And so we want to empower you and encourage you with our, I mean, what a powerful thing for Ryan Evan to open up. Like I know him, I've journeyed with him over a decade. And I know that when he says, you know, the biggest fear for me is to actually be ho to be humbled by my risk-taking and not make it, you know, to actually be humbled in that whole, like God didn't show up, you know? And, and some of the, the gnarly terrain that he walks her, I've walked that with him for over a decade. And I've always come to him like, no, man, you got to see what God's calling you to do. You've got to continue to be strong.
Speaker 1 00:36:43 And, and he's done the same to me. Like we've, we've encouraged her and we've sharpened, we're in this lifestyle. So I want to be very clear. We get up and we conquer every day. We conquer darkness every day and fear is going to want to come in like a boa constrictor. It's going to want to kind of snuff out the will of God, the love of God. So, you know, this is why this is wild, right. But when I found Christ or Christ found me, however you want to say it when I was 17. Well, when I was 27, I was still on fire for God. When I was 37, I was still on fire for God. Guess what? Next year I'll be 47. And I'm still on fire for God. And that's a goal, right? Like when I'm 57, how about when I'm 67?
Speaker 1 00:37:19 How about when I'm 77, we've got to keep that zeal and that passion. And we've got a model, something better for, for the generation that's coming up underneath us. And so I just want to be clear that we still fight God's enemies. They're just on the physical realm. And, and uh, and it's still just as glorious to fight darkness. I love it. You know? So when, when we know God and intimacy, we partner God, we partner with him in the great commission in this power. And we get filled with the holy spirit to go fight and conquer. So I have a closing story, but I know I'm kind of stirring up the atmosphere. You guys,
Speaker 4 00:37:52 You're gonna get us talking again, right?
Speaker 1 00:37:55 You guys want me to drop anything and then I'll offer a closing story. I do have
Speaker 2 00:38:00 A couple of verses, but Ryan, if you want to go first, uh, go ahead, man. I I'll I'll drop here in just a second. Okay. Well, the, the biggest encouragement to me in the battle is that we have a realistic victory in our, in our, in our sights that we actually are going to win and we're not doing it alone. And so the Lord said in John 1633, he said, I've said these things to you, that you would have peace in this world. You will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome the world. That's one of my favorite verses. And he also said in Matthew 28, 20, he said, be sure of this. I'm with you even to the end of the age. So we're not having to go through this alone. And a big point that we make as, um, as men in pursuing this, uh, and, and grace ops is to do it together.
Speaker 2 00:38:57 And it is good to have brothers to be able to, you know, pray with and talk about life with. But also it's just as crucial to know that Jesus is there. That we're, our spiritual battle is won. He has the victory. He did it. He's overcome the world. We're not out here trying to fight our own battle. We are engaging with a war that he's already won. That, that gives me hope really. Cause if it was, if it was completely up to me, I would be screwed. I mean, there's no chance of winning, but he having overcome the world being with me until the end, he's going to help me figure it out. We're going to get it done. We're going to win together. And the victory that he's already won, I have access to. So that, that really just, that's what gives me hope in the midst of fighting the battle of life and overcoming
Speaker 1 00:39:49 Fear. Yeah. I think, I think you make a great point that we can do these things because we know God and when you know, God, you know, he's sovereign. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. Yup.
Speaker 3 00:40:03 Yeah. And I'll just end with this, you know, we, we always hear that, like those statements, you know, God's with us. Right, right. And he's, he's telling Joshua, he's telling all these people throughout scripture do not fear for, I am with you. Right. I go before you, um, but I think it's that whole concept of like, you know, and then we hear, we hear the statement, um, if God is for you, who can stand against you. Right. And I think that's the harder, the harder one I really do. Like, do I believe that God is with me? Yeah, I do. You know, I know he's with me somewhere around me, like fighting the battles, but do I believe that God has formed good? Like that that's a, that that comes into an identity thing for me. You know what I mean? Like, do I actually believe that when he looks at me, he sees value, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 00:40:45 That he's like, I value you as my son. Like I am for every part of who you are. Right. And everything, all your development, all of, all of, uh, all, all that you're setting your hand to, am I for you? You know what I mean? Um, that for me has been, um, something that I've been kind of shifting my focus. I know God's with me and I do, you know, it's like, I know it, but I got to remind myself that he's for me, you know what I mean? Like, like he's in an intimate way. Like, he's, he's a part of the intimate details of my life. You know, he's, he's, he's providing these opportunities as his invitations and to experience more and more of his love, more and more of his nature. You know what I mean? It's like, it's kind of that whole concept for me of, um, you know, everybody wants to know the provider, but they don't want to be provided for know, they don't want to experience the lack, you know, like I don't want to be in need, but I wanna, I wanna, I want to see the provider.
Speaker 3 00:41:40 Right. I, I wanna, I wanna see God the healer, but I don't want to be sick. You know, like I don't want to experience that the healer, you know what I mean? Like I want to see God's yelling, but don't let me get sick. You know what I mean? Like don't put me into these circumstances where I have to trust in you, you know, completely. I have to abandon all everything and put all my confidence and all my hope in you, you know? And, and when we look at some of these stories in the scripture, man, th that is what these men were doing. You know, I, I think there's so many scriptures, like, um, you know, Gideon, you know, for one to, to, to, to take an army of 30,000 men and boil it down to 300 and say, Hey, yeah, this is, this is sufficient.
Speaker 3 00:42:19 This is how I want you to go out and fight this battle. Even though the odds were, I believe somewhere around four, eight, four hundred and eighty soldiers to one of his, you know what I mean? I'm like that those are some serious odds. You know, these guys over here don't drink their water. Right. They can't compete with you. You know what I mean? Like, like, what are you talking about, dude? Like, um, but, but my, the one principle for me is that intimacy always precedes our fruitfulness. You know what I mean? Um, it always does. And, and when, when, when we say that, we also have to understand that the great commandment, right, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength will proceed. The great commission, you know, so there's this, this real part in us where intimacy is first, right. We have to, we are growing again. It goes back to kind of some of the things we were talking about earlier, but we are growing in the knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ. Right. And when we understand his nature, um, we, we have the ability to move forward, you know, in confidence because our confidence isn't in and outcome it's in, it's in the nature of the very nature of God.
Speaker 1 00:43:27 Um, and then both. Yeah. So one of the new developments, uh, I want to, I want to close with a quick story here, and it's been an amazing time here today, guys. We, I want to talk to you guys a little bit about Jake Swader. He's been a, kind of a wind of a breath of fresh air, kind of in the sale of the grease ops culture. And I've known Jake for over a couple of decades now, and we always have talked about doing a, uh, a school, a discipleship training center. We've always talked about making disciples. We've actually done it for small, uh, kind of capacities here and there, but just in January, we were doing some fascinating praying and, and, uh, out of that fast and prayer time, Jake came to me and he said, Hey, we're, uh, he literally, this is really powerful.
Speaker 1 00:44:18 He's like, God exposed to me that I've been living in fear and I've been living to safe. And, you know, Jake's probably getting close to being in his forties now. And he's starting to really think through like, man, am I gonna do with the rest of my life? And I really want to impact this world. And so it's really tender before God, and he's just really soft. And he's like, cause he's had, he built a really good career. And, but that's really not as assignment or as calling for him specifically for him. And he came to me and he was like, he's like, we're just going to, I'm going to quit my job. And we're just going to do whatever God tells us to do. Well, when I heard that, I was like, well, that's really cool. And I had two thoughts. I thought, well, that's, I want to know what God's telling them to do.
Speaker 1 00:45:00 And then the second thought I had was I think I know what God would tell him to do. And, uh, we've been talking about doing the school for years and we've made plans and we've even done it to serve capacities. We've had students that we've, we've done some of this in gray SOPs. I want to have in gray SOPs, a discipleship training center to where, uh, people across the country can send their sons and daughters. We can be one of those places that will have a backbone and can help detox your children from the world and really put them, um, just continue to build that powerful foundation of God, their life. And so Jake, uh, I met with him and his wife and my wife and we all met and, and, uh, we had this little talk. I said, well, Hey, I want to know what God's telling you to do, but I, I might know. And he's like, okay. And I was like, Hey, what about the schools? So I, I threw that out there in this restaurant that we'd like to eat at literally three days later. I think it was two days later, God he's texting me, you're calling me. He was like, we're all in, we're in, we're doing that. That's that's right on. We have a hundred percent peace and I was so excited. So then the next meeting was couple of weeks later and I was like, so when are you going
Speaker 4 00:46:02 To quit your job? He's like already quit. I was like, whoa, bro.
Speaker 1 00:46:05 I was like, dude, you're anyways. I was like, he quit the sparkle court career yet. And it just really Mo he's like, yeah, there he goes. And I love this about Jake and the season he's in. He's like, he's like, yeah, I, uh, cause I I've wasted time. I'm not wasting any more time. He goes, I'd rather jump out and have to trust God fully with everything in my life than to live safe and live. Um, and so I'm not recommending that everybody on the podcast does something like that. But Jake, uh, Jake, Jake's one of those guys that, like I said, have known for over two decades. And, and so he is actually getting mad, devoted and passionate, and we're starting the school this fall in our, our faith is to have three to five students by the full time for three months set a timeframe.
Speaker 1 00:46:55 And then the, uh, the six month terms will start in January. So I just love it, man. We're just, we're, we're, we're in a season of like a lot of faith and all the things God's kind of put in our heart and all these different things that we could do are starting to kind of fall in line, like tumblers almost kind of like unlocking things. And so we're really, I'm excited. I've told Jake, I'm like, man, your story of valor in this hour of your life is really encouraging me. Um, makes me want to quit everything again. You know, I just, I have that kind of weird thing in me too, where I'm like, Aw dude, there's something powerful about only being able to depend on God to come through. Um, so that's a great story that I want to kind of put out there that Jake kind of looked for you right in the face.
Speaker 1 00:47:35 And he looked all these crippling things that he's allowed root. He allowed it to come in for, for many years and he just went ahead and just took pack like a sword to it and just slayed all of it and killed it. It's like, I'm going to go fully after the heart of God. So, wow. Yeah. It's powerful stuff in the guys to continue. Cause I remember my twenties to live as a risk taker was one thing like you were saying earlier to be cavalier in your twenties. In my thirties, it had different meaning, uh, you know, in my forties. And so whether you're whether you're a ministry, assignment is in church work or your ministry assignments and marketplace work, um, fear comes to all of us. And so you, you know, your assignment in the marketplace and you know, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're, if you're called to be a good, uh, worker and stewards in somebody else's vision, um, do a lot of your heart, do all your mic, you know, but don't let the fear stop you from the, your, your own assignment.
Speaker 1 00:48:30 And I, Jake has just been kind of like my recent story of inspiration. You know, I see the guy I'm like, man, cause he didn't come to me and say, Hey, pay my salary. Um, I came to him and said, I want to pay your salary. I don't have the means right this moment, but I want to do that. And, but it was just one of them. He didn't even wait on all that stuff. He didn't wait for any that he didn't wait for any of that stuff to determine what he was going to do. Homie. Just been like, no, I'm just going after it. Like everyday, I'm just praying. I'm going to do what God tells me to do. And I'm going to build this school and I'm going to, it's just really cool and exciting. So if you're interested in this, in the school, if you're a like post high school and you want to check out the school and you want to be one of those students for those three months or might, you might know somebody they're going to come hang with us for three months and get kind of like baptized in our culture and in the grease SOPs world.
Speaker 1 00:49:18 And it's not just for men. I mean, you can send your sons and daughters or friends, uh, to this. So, um, get ahold of us, gray, sops.net. Again, our website. There's a email. There's a way you can email us, get on our social media. Be cool. So guys, thanks for pouring your hearts out today. It's been a great time together. Great podcast, Josh. It's always good to have you on. I love you guys. Love doing life with you. So Hey guys, until next time be strong, be courageous and live upright. That was good.
