Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:07 Hey, welcome to the Grace House podcast. It's an honor to be here today with you. We're going to be discussing the war of, of endurance our lives. I'm going to start over. Sorry. I'm going to, I'm going to answer one more time. I just want to come in a little better than that. Um, yeah.
Speaker 1 00:00:29 Hey, welcome out to the grease offs podcast. Brian Phillips here with you today in the studio. It's an honor to be here. It's amazing to see all the guys doing in grace ops. Um, our team is just excited. We're excited. We're starting to hit cities. We're starting to get traction. It's really awesome. So we would encourage you to jump on the social medias, all of our social media platforms. You can find us anywhere at grace ops two 12. Just find us at grease ops two 12 on whatever platform you love. We'd love to connect with you there. I've got a great personal friend of mine. Who's a philanthropic entrepreneur in the studio day here. He's in Texas. I'm up in the Chicago area. We're going to be bringing him in in a moment, but he's a great friend of mine. Steve Wilson. We're going to be discussing the war of endurance.
Speaker 1 00:01:16 So the, the, the goal in life, any, any goal that we set is the goal is actually to complete it, to finish it, to actually finish the work. And there's this quote and scripture that comes to my mind, well done, good and faithful servant. And we want to hear that in our lives. We want to hear that our assignments and you know, maybe you don't live on the same planet I live in right now, but things are difficult. Things are very tough. I mean, there's tensions everywhere. Like, like I would say Epic, like things we've never really experienced at this measure in our lifetimes. And it can kind of put you in a sense of like, what's going on. And what's, what's really, what's around the next corner. What's the next storyline. And we've got to stay anchored and centered in our assignments, no matter what happens, you know, so that we can deal with anything that comes our way.
Speaker 1 00:02:03 So we want to be faithful. That's a very powerful thing. And to be faithful, we actually have to walk in endurance and there's this, there's a Hebrew word that I love emo. Nah, it's a word I loved from, Oh, well over a decade ago when I heard the meaning of it, actually of all the times in the new Testament, when you hear the word faith, you know, cause like what is faith? Like I always, you know, I always, I'm gonna, I lift weights and I'm a strong guy and I know I'm kind of a tough guy guy. You know, I, I have that thing about me, but so sometimes I think faith is like, ah, just be tough. Just grow through it. Just, you know, believe so hard. Your veins are popping and you're in your forehead and you're just, I'm going to do this.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 Nothing can stop me. But actually when I learned the Hebrew word, <inaudible> it actually relaxed me a lot because the word faith, 99% of the time in the new Testament is actually to be faithful. It's just that simple, no matter what my emotions, no matter what I'm going through, I'm just going to be faithful and see when we learn to be faithful. And we learned that grace empowers us to be faithful and to live with a faithful heart, then we can actually endure whatever is before us, no matter how difficult the terrain we can endure, no matter it's just like David, right? David was either, he was either running or he was ruling. And when David was running, he was a man of endurance. And even when David was ruling, he was a man of endurance. So that kind of sets the stage there a little bit for us.
Speaker 1 00:03:31 Um, you know, one more touch point for me, I'm a big believer that this little phrase here, there's nothing more biblical, nothing closer to the heart of God than community. It's, it's the plurality G God is building a body. He's building eight people and we've got to get that in our narcissistic 21st century, you know, selfie scroll. Everything's about me culture. You know, we're talking about a God who we're just in the recent part of history. Did everybody have a copy of the Bible? I mean, they used to have to come together. There's a power about together community. And why am I saying this? Because you will never find your individual assignment. And I, Christianity is in a self-help movement. That's, that's a such a deceptive thing. It's a self death movement. Christ wants you to die to yourself, to your energy so that you can live in him. Now, I always say, Hey, you know, you, we got to have the plurality. We got to see the big picture of what God's doing in his peoples. And then I find where my piece of that fits in the individual part. So there you go, that I kind of laid some framework for the war of endurance and Steve, welcome to the show, man. Welcome to this episode, the war of endurance. How are you doing today, man?
Speaker 2 00:04:53 It's great to be with. It's great to be way through Brian. It's a, it's an honor to be with you on this podcast.
Speaker 1 00:05:00 Yeah. Tell us about your life, who you are now. I mean, or we could start off with this, right? I've known you for 25 years. I lived in your basement man in Waxahachie, Texas.
Speaker 2 00:05:12 Yes you did.
Speaker 1 00:05:14 When I was training for the ministry in my early days. Uh, that's how I met Steve and it's been a powerful time. So yeah. Tell to share a memory, tell, tell people something stupid about me. If you want to, and then tell us about yourself, tell us about your passion because you don't want to live in your basement. You were actually becoming this entrepreneurial passionate.
Speaker 2 00:05:32 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:05:35 Because you had a day job and then you had this company, you were starting some kind of tax on utilities.
Speaker 2 00:05:40 Yeah. You know, I was always working on something and uh, you know, it's, we can get into that a little more as this program progresses, but, um, you know, a lot of times, you know, culture tells you to go to work for somebody. And, um, I was kinda grew up that. So, you know, I grew up, uh, not in a Christian home and, uh, came to the Lord, uh, at an FCA meeting, uh, played football in junior high and the football coach said, you guys need to come to a meeting tonight. So I showed up and uh, kinda got a trap where they presented the gospel. And then the coach was probably, I think he became a convict later on. And, uh, but you know, God used the voice that, you know, his word did not return void. And, uh, that changed my life that night.
Speaker 2 00:06:27 It was just a simple gospel message, but it 13 years old, uh, it's the first time I really felt the drawing of the Holy spirit. And, um, my, my world I'll say, went from black and white to color that night and, um, has never changed the love for the Lord. And I didn't know any Christians and I didn't have a church to attend or anything. So, uh, interests that I kind of self disciple myself for about the next three years before I got a car and started attending church. So, uh, really grew in the Lord during that time. And it was very sweet and just, uh, God did so many miraculous things for me during that season. But, um, uh, I'm married at 21, so I'm just, um, a little over 41 years married to a wonderful woman, Valerie. And, um, we have three children and a grandchild and, uh, lived in Texas most of our life and, um, have a small business and, um, a lot of kingdom contacts and, um, just, um, um, enjoying the assignment that God gives us and, uh, focusing on that. And, um, once you, once you learn your assignment, uh, it will sustain you for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 00:07:45 Yeah. So you got any memories of when we like you guys, when I was twenty-five years ago, I lived with you guys and you were starting texts on, and I remember all that cause like your, your desk and office. So it's like right outside that room, I stayed in and uh, I would come in late at night or something. You'd always be sitting there just, you know, just grinding away at something. And Derek would obviously always be running around, talking about owning farms and corn and stuff like that. Like, you know, like there's a, he'd go out and he's like, I'm going to own corn. And he's like, I'm like the, kid's a genius. I'm like, dude, you're already smarter than you have already forgotten more than I've remembered, you know, forgotten, whatever. However you say that. And so I'm in this house I'm down in Texas, never lived there. There's a, there's a few, there's one funny story. That really there's a lot that I could bring up. But there was a time I came home around 11 o'clock at night. You guys remember that when you put a dead translate in my room, you freaks of nature
Speaker 2 00:08:41 For Angela.
Speaker 1 00:08:41 Oh, you were okay, well I'll let you share it, man. Cause it, or however you want to save that. That was the most frightening thing in the world. Dude, I get home. It's like 1130. I turned the lights on. I'm just kind of doing whatever you do in your room and putting, you know, taking stuff out of my pockets. And I looked down and on my nightstand next to bed, there's this freaking transla. I mean, it's as big as my hand. And I'm like, I'm sitting there thinking about killing that thing and I'm like, that's going to be so messy and I don't want to kill that thing. How do you even kill it for Angela? And I'm just kinda like I'm sitting here. I was, I remember as up against the dresser and I was like, hope it doesn't jump. Who was on a jumping tram trenches. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2 00:09:22 I didn't
Speaker 1 00:09:23 Know. And all of a sudden I hear the, these Snickers at the top of the stairwell there, I'm like, Oh, I've been set up. So, so funny. Oh my gosh. Now I remember Texas. I experienced in Texas Southern hospitality. Prior to that, it was the first time I remember I pulled into your neighborhood and people were like waving to me like all the time. I'm like, I don't know these people where they freaking wave at me for all their Southern they're. They're nice. I was like, they're just being nice. I think that from the North, like we don't really do that. We stare people down, like where are you driving by my house?
Speaker 1 00:10:03 So I had sweet tea for those years. And I remember a weird Valerie's mom and dad's house once for, I think it was Thanksgiving dinner. And you guys thought it was funny because I was eating the roast or whatever it was. You guys had cooked and you're like, you guys really did you like it? I'm like, yeah, I liked it. That was good. Is that good? There was venison in there. I'm like, Oh, cause I'd never had venison and you guys were like, you tricked me into it. So I was like, give me some more. That's funny. So anyway,
Speaker 2 00:10:35 Do you remember Brian? Uh, you tell him is, uh, uh, there, there in the time you were there cause he, you could, uh, you could eat forever. It seems like. And I remember you telling us, I don't think I've ever been full in my life. I still feel that we're never eating.
Speaker 1 00:10:52 I remember that because I still say that line. I haven't, I have never really felt like I could get full. I it's a terrible problem. So I have to watch my calories now. Cause I'm not as, uh, you know, my tabs are not as fast so, well, I just have always loved you guys. You guys became very influential in my life. I mean, that was a really strategic year. God definitely wanted us to connect because you know, you guys kind of had your own, uh, way of choosing who lived with you and you know, just the Lord was just in and all these years later we've always stayed connected. And so you're on you're on this episode because you're someone who I really respect and really a lot of different ways of, from the spiritual aspect to just the way you father, the way you lead, the way you kind of. And when I thought of endurance, I th you know, when I thought of having you on as an episode, I thought, well, what can we talk about? I'm like, man, this is one of the guys that as has been, you're running the race of your life, into your assignment very well. And I've watched you navigate, uh, church cultures that God's called you to be in. I've watched you navigate your businesses and how that stuff's working. You still with me, Steve.
Speaker 2 00:12:10 Okay. Brian, I'm back now.
Speaker 1 00:12:12 Oh, that's fine. Yeah, we'll just keep going. So, um, I really have a lot of respect for you. So I kind of like for you to kind of talk through some of our questions that we have, like, how do you define success? Um, and has, you know, obviously success hasn't been easy for you. That's an easy question for anybody, I guess probably, but how do you define success in your life? And, uh, we've got some questions here. Like what type of pain, fear of the unknown have you had to endure, uh, to navigate through? Like what, how do you define success? What have you faced and you know, what keeps you tenacious like you are? What keeps you going?
Speaker 2 00:12:55 Well, you know, is, uh, I'm 63 years old now. So I figured, you know, you really wanted to, um, bring me on because I'm probably one of the oldest people, you know, so, um, it's still around, but, um, I, um, I define success a little different than I probably did. Uh, you know, if you'd asked me this question 20 years ago, but, uh, I think definitely, um, I think the first part of being a success is discover your purpose or assignment. What are you here for? Why are you breathing air on this planet? And that's a, that's huge to, to understand what that is. And I think a lot of times, sadly, a lot of people get through life and really never discover that. But, uh, I think it starts there. And then, uh, I think preparing and to work and to serve on your assignment, uh, you know, and that, that takes many, many disciplines where you become focused.
Speaker 2 00:13:53 You may prepare through schooling through training, um, and then to really serve in that assignment. And then, um, as well as we talked about the endurance is just staying faithful to that assignment to the end. I think, um, you know, when you talk about faithfulness, I was thinking, um, I enjoy watching sports and occasionally you'll, you'll watch a game, that'll go into several overtimes or it's in, um, basketball and football, college football. They can go into many overtimes and you watch those guys they're just worn out, but I've never seen a team yet that just walk off the field and said, I'm too tired to play anymore. You know, they stay with it. They keep adding to the very end, you know, and how disappointing would it be to see someone do that? I think in our culture, a lot of times that's almost accepted and people say, why aren't you still doing that? Why aren't you still, you know, in that, that he see all the obstacles, don't you just retire. Why don't you just move on? And our culture kind of expects that. And I think it's alive seitan that a lot of times we buy into because our friends, our family, people say, yeah, this has just gotten too hard. You just need to give up and just go enjoy life.
Speaker 1 00:15:09 Yeah. Because the path you've chosen is a lot of the same path I've chosen. You know, we talked about the other day on the phone. I'll, we're both kind of like starters and that, that puts us in a category of like being trailblazers. I'm not wired to, uh, go to like who needs a pastor.com and find a church that needs somebody like me, you know, I I'd rather just kind of start my own thing. So you identified something very powerful to, to endure in the war of endurance, this battle of enduring till the end has to do with knowing your why. So w how did you discover your why? Like, what's your, why? Like when, cause I know you've been through and I'm not saying you have to share here, cause a lot of stuff gets personal, but you've been through some crazy pain in your business and I know firsthand how difficult your road has been. And so what, how do you know your why? Because that, why does sustain you when you can come back at the end of the day? So what's like one thing you would, how did you help? How can people find that wide? Cause that's kind of not, that's not easy. It doesn't ha it's not overnight. It doesn't happen in, so what's a, what's a tip you would have on discovering your why.
Speaker 2 00:16:28 Yeah, I think, uh, as a process, that question, I think I'd have to relate that in our culture and even in our church culture, um, at, after I became a Christian, uh, everybody in school all the way through high school and call me preacher, cause I was very passionate about Christ and sharing it. So, uh, you know, my thoughts was I was going to go become a preacher in full-time ministry and that didn't work out. And I, you know, I got in the business world and stayed there and felt for many years, like a second class Christian because I wasn't in full-time ministry and uh, the, the church, uh, and I, I think a lot of pastors and people within full-time ministry don't really understand the marketplace and just how vital that is. And then, you know, started understanding as you read through the old Testament, you know, there's, uh, 61, I think high priest named in the, uh, in the Bible.
Speaker 2 00:17:26 That's the top of the church map, if you will. Uh, yeah. How many sermons have you heard preached about a chief priest or how many chief priests can you name, uh, yet all the patriarchs of the old Testament or marketplace people, business people, um, not ministry, even the Kings were basically we can correlate that to the business now in business place marketplace. So, you know, w we've we've bought into this narrative for many years, even in the new Testament, if you think about it, Jesus was marketplace and, uh, that's where he operated was in the marketplace. And so Paul was very influential in that as well. So we see all these examples through the word yet in our culture and especially in our church culture, if you've been involved with that for a long, um, most church cultures really encourage people to get into full-time ministry and to abandon the marketplace ministry.
Speaker 2 00:18:27 And, um, I've dealt with that for many years. And, uh, I think it really, uh, inhibited me for many years because there wasn't that encouragement to be that entrepreneur and, um, to go out and start something. And we looked at, uh, guys in our church that were in the marketplace and successful as a people that could help the church with finances, but not with ministry whenever look to them for a minister. We just looked to him for finances. So, um, my paradigm was very, um, probably very wrong because of what I grew up in. And, uh, it took a while to, to sort that out. And I, I feel like, uh, that's happening now. And there's pastors like you that see the value in that. And it's so critical for all of us to understand our assignment, wherever that's at. Uh, it's critical that we just thrive in that assignment.
Speaker 1 00:19:24 Yeah. That's man, you brought up a huge black guy. I would say that the church has that I've worked really hard on the languaging over the, over the last decade. So I don't call, I don't, I don't, I've trained myself to not say I'm in the ministry because you're in the ministry, Steve. And I know you know that, but I don't use that language around people like I'm in the ministry. I actually use the language that I'm called to church leadership. I'm called to the church. I'm called to the church. You're called to the marketplace. And I ran into a very powerful entrepreneur many years ago. He's a good friend of mine now. And he, he was, he was kind of dealing with these tensions of like, maybe he's trying to do what I do, start a church, all this stuff. And he'd already had a super successful business.
Speaker 1 00:20:15 And I went out to breakfast with him and I'm like, Hey, I prayed about this. And no way, dude don't do this. I'm like, I'm like, you can like make your, you make mistakes and make gold off of it. You know, I'm like, you're, you have an anointing, you have a skill set to make money. And to don't, don't get, don't get that cross with the church, confusion, the messages, the church send us somehow leading a church or having one is like more powerful than what you do. And, um, I've tried a lot of entrepreneurs and, you know, helping them go, go, go start. You got to take faith and go out and do this. So it's really powerful. So I say church and marketplace, and I love what you're bringing up here because you're totally right. Who knows any of the high priests? Like, I don't know if I could name many of them, you know?
Speaker 1 00:21:00 And, and I agree that we have to understand our why, you know, like when I think about when I said early in the beginning, when I said that we had to understand the big picture of what God's doing. Here's the big picture in a simple statement, God called Israel to be his people. So he sanctified them. He called them to be set apart. He put his love, his law, his grace inside of these people. So in turn, by the way they live, that they would go out into the world and sanctified God. They would set God apart because they would be his people. It's that simple. That's what God's been doing for 6,000 years through, through the, uh, some people might call it the old Testament or old covenant all the way through the new, the entirety of the scriptures. That's what God's doing. Some of the framework has changed, but that's what God's doing.
Speaker 1 00:21:56 So in our assignments in business, like what you're saying, the why, the reason why it's important to know your why is because exactly what Steve was saying. Like there's a scripture I love that says in the, you know, with many, with what is it with, uh, many advisers you can wage your war with wise counsel. You can wage your Wars, what scripture says. So we don't have to camp on this forever because we can't really answer it specifically on this one episode, but discovering your, why has a lot to do with running with the body of Christ? It does. You want to be with some healthy minded believers. You do need to know cause you might, you know, maybe your church is all about, Hey, go in the ministry, go in the ministry. And they don't use the separated language. I I've trained myself. Steve Wilson's in the ministry, I'm in the ministry.
Speaker 1 00:22:51 I happen to be an administrator in the church format and culture. He's in the marketplace. If I had to do it all over again, forget church, the church, man. I just do all marketplace. Anyway, that's a whole nother episode. It's a whole nother point pain point in my life. But, but, um, yes. Do you have, I think you bring up up, that's a really powerful thing. The language, it gets confusing. You've been very successful in business. You know, you, you kind of had a humble introduction of yourself. You know, I run a small business, well, you're not selling like, um, you know, little trinkets on the side of the road, you're you, you you've actually done some really big things and you've actually built out some really large frameworks for some really big global type things. So that was a really nice, humble introduction you gave, but I know who you are. Um, yeah. So I th so I think it's just important for you to understand your, why, how long do you think that took you, Steve, you're saying that it took five, six years for you to understand?
Speaker 2 00:23:59 Nah, it took decades. I would say probably 25 years. I've been in the church and starting to understand, um, as I, uh, studied the scriptures and really began to understand, uh, and really hearing from the Lord. And, and I think, I think God's always broadcast in, at a frequency that if you dial into that frequency, a lot of us start hearing the same thing, you know, cause we're going well, I heard the same thing because the Lord is, is publishing if you will, and broadcasting. Uh, and I think, uh, as the, uh, if you're familiar with the seven mountains of culture and, uh, that, that really was a release for me to understand that, uh, you know, I I'm in the business sector, there's people in the education, political arts, uh, media, there's many avenues that we work and it all affects the culture so immensely.
Speaker 2 00:24:55 And when, when, if you just look at the church, the church really it's a piece of the culture, but it's not the entire culture. And I think a lot of the issues we have in our nation right now is because we've abandoned many of these other mountains in our culture walk the media, especially, but politics, um, education, business, um, the arts it's, it's all so influential to the culture and we need Christians, we need. And I think we all have assignments in those, you know, and each of those sectors and, uh, if there's a deficiency there, the entire culture suffers
Speaker 1 00:25:38 Well, you're, you're bringing up. Cause we, in a lot of ways we failed in the area of endurance as some of these areas. I mean, I believe even the governmental political state that our country's in is because the church kind of, uh, kind of abandoned the political realm, you know, and we in there's just been such a misunderstanding it's it's so talk about that. Why, why is the marketplace so important to God's God's heart? Like what, what is it about the marketplace? Why w what are some, some key factors? Um, I think you pointed out a big one, like that's where most of life takes place, but how does the kingdom work in the marketplace? Like what, what are the goals of that setup? What what's God trying to do there? What's, what's the, what's the point? Why, why is it so important to God?
Speaker 2 00:26:31 Well, ultimately what I've found is if, uh, if you're talking to any business person that the, uh, the heart of a strong business person is, is service offering the service it there. So it's such a kingdom concept that you serve people. And, uh, you know, that shines through, if you think about the local restaurant, you go to the local businesses, you go to, you're attracted to that service. And basically it starts at the top and it filters down all through the organization. And, uh, the, you know, the organizations that, that desire to serve, um, prospect. And a lot of times you see organizations that prosper for many years, but ultimately it gets all about money and it gets about other things outside of the, uh, serving people. So to me, business is so critical, uh, and in so many areas yet, uh, you know, the profits from business and the activity of business funds some much, uh, it influences some much it influences virtually every other area of culture is business.
Speaker 2 00:27:41 And I think, uh, now with technology and the way we're driven in technology, we see that, uh, there's technology that really blesses mankind throughout the world, just think of even the platform we're using a day and how we can get a message out, and we can get information out and disperse it through technology. And, uh, you know, there's so many areas, be it transportation, uh, be it, uh, electricity, telecommunications, all that has just made the world so much more livable and so much more smaller yet if we allow. Uh, and I think we've, we're seeing this, uh, certain authorities in platforms and in technology, they're actually starting to control things instead of blessing people. They're basically telling you what you can and cannot say. And it's because we've given that over to people that have, uh, I think may have started, right, but now they've become, are controlling and dominating. And, um, that's where we need the believers and we need, uh, the Christians to come forward and take dominion over those areas.
Speaker 1 00:28:52 Yeah. I mean, I'm a big believer in the, the only problem. Now, again, you can look at spiritual issues and you can talk about how we're more godless in our society than we've ever been, or, I mean, I'm not, I'm not dismissing all of those tensions, but I believe constitutionally in this country, the biggest problem we have is is we, the people are not the, we, the people part need to be doing the, we, the people stuff. And we really got to wake up in the church. It's not about being mean or cruel. It's about really, it's about living the way God created us to live. I mean, God gave us a great gift in this, in this land and in the government that we have in the moorings and the, so yeah, marketplace. I like how you're putting all that out there. I mean, because I would rather champion someone to be in the marketplace.
Speaker 1 00:29:51 Well, let me rephrase that. I mean, obviously you want to discern and kind of, you know, maybe they are called to the church and for those, I have a special message, but, uh, and, and then if you're called a marketplace, because it's like 80% of life happens in the marketplace, you know, you think about the few times we gather, that's why the scripture says don't forsake the gatherings. Cause they don't. I mean, yeah, the first century church gathered every day, we tend to gather at least on Sundays and then maybe a couple of times a week, it depends on how the church has structured that we go to. But most of our life is either going to be in a family unit structure, which that's really under attack and, and destroyed and a lot of places in our country. Um, and then the marketplace. So the opportunities we have the marketplace, the opportunities to share our faith, the opportunities to actually, to actually live right.
Speaker 1 00:30:45 Like, think about the message of just living up that we have. If you just go to a, to a good job and your you're a faithful, you're going to the war of endurance as an employee or business owner, however you fit in the business structure. If you just live upright and do the right thing, you're probably going to Excel because finding people, Oh, they have some more and more popular thing nowadays come into a company and teach them about character, teach them about ethics. Um, so yeah, I like it. I like how you're saying this in the church, we need to have a vision and a passion on why Jesus emphasized the marketplace in such a powerful way, because it's where, it's where the kingdom activity takes place. So, Hey, Steve, we're gonna kind of shift here to wrap up. So I was shrinking, um, I put this crazy question on the, the episode for us. Um, if you had 10 million men in front of you, um, what, w what's the one thing that you would say to them? What's that one passionate thing that you would communicate to them?
Speaker 2 00:31:53 That's a challenging question, Brian. Uh, really what, um, what I feel larger activity, uh, the answer to that would be in Matthew 28, 18 through 20. And, uh, just read that right quick. I think most of us are familiar with that passage, but it's just so powerful. And, uh, it says that Jesus came, this is rod is he's about to ascend, to heaven. And his foul words were Jesus came and spoken to them saying all power. And actually that sec, uh, ecstasy, which really means authority, all authority in heaven and in earth are giving them to me go you there and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you and lo I am with you always, even until the end of the world or the end of the age.
Speaker 2 00:32:56 And, um, you know, I don't think that deserves a lot of commentary outside of understanding that a lot of times we look at situations and we think we think authority has been given over, be it to seitan or to governments or whatever. But I go back to this scripture and go, now, all authority is under the Lordship of Jesus. It's, it's, it's delegated to us right now. And we're living in such an amazing time that we can type back that authority. But, you know, you can go to a bad neighborhood and get mud. They didn't have really the authority, the muggy, but they had the, they still have the ability to do it. And I think a lot of people are getting mugged right now. They're getting beat up. They're getting, uh, eliminated sometimes not because there's an authority, that's doing it, but because we're, uh, we're allowing it, if you will. And, uh, Jesus said, Hey, all authority now he's taken the keys to everything. All authority is given to him and delegated to us to, to, to spread his word, to spread his teachings throughout the world.
Speaker 1 00:34:10 Wow. So you started off by answering that question. I want to go to a passage we're familiar with, and I was right when you said that I'm like, that's the problem? Cause we're, we've grown to familiar and I'm glad you read that scripture. And you just highlighted that there was a transaction on the cross of authority to Christ and it's still mysterious, right? There's it's, it's not a magic formula, right? Like, but yet it's so true. And it's part of the ancient, prophetic moorings of God's heart that the Christ took the authority back. The enemy still has abilities. He's been bruised, but not destroyed yet. He's been defeated and not destroyed, man. That's a good word walking. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:35:01 It does put a lot of responsibilities still on us. You know, even though, cause I can delegate authority, I can delegate authority to my employees, but they still have to go out and work and you know, take the marketplace. Even though I gave, you know, I gave him the authority. Maybe I gave him the resources to do it. It's still up to them to do it. And I think that's where Jesus is saying to us. And he was saying to his followers in that day, all authority is mine. I'll give it to you guys, go out and change the world. Wow. Go ahead and change your world.
Speaker 1 00:35:38 I just say yes to that. Like that's yeah. I need to hear that now, you know, 25, 26, seven years into this walk with God and I loved your answer earlier. How long did it take? You find your, your, uh, your why five years, no decades.
Speaker 3 00:35:55 So
Speaker 1 00:35:55 Important for people to realize it's this is a relationship and in the journey of following Christ in, in the, in, in gray SOPs, the message of, you know, the word ops and grace together are, are actually kind of, they don't belong, right? So it's kind of, it's this tough grace, it's grace training and you just kind of fall in this daily, these rhythms with God and intimacy and coming close to him. And yeah, it, it takes time, you know, it takes time. And so one of the things I've been, I love your word. I want, I want to stay on that authority that we would go and let's take this word Steve gave in, man, if you're listening to this, take this seriously, like how can I go in the next 24 hours? How can I be more aware? Maybe go read those scriptures. Don't just be familiar.
Speaker 1 00:36:52 Go, go look up Matthew 28 and read, read the whole chapter. I mean, get, get the whole point of, and if you want to go further out, read the whole book of Matthew, like go all the way. Cause it goes, all it culminates all the way at the end there of the cause we, we like to emphasize go, but what are we going with? It's like what Steve said, we're going with the authority of Christ. And the concept of living upright is basically when we live upright, it establishes that authority in the earth. I have a phrase I've always kind of loved it's it's this it's stand until the earth moves. Stand in. The authority that Christ has given us until the circumstances of the earth change that for more of endurance is standing faithful. Even if you're the only one on the battlefield, even if you're the only one, the most offensive thing to the heart of God is unbelief.
Speaker 1 00:37:50 So standing in the place of belief and you can only do that. If you know your why, and I'm convinced you can only know your why in the plurality. So when I say plurality here, I'm talking three to five wide council and that's a whole nother episode. We've already done episodes on that. You can dig some of those up, but we're not called to walk alone. Brothers and sisters. We're not, you're not going to be a, an overnight success. God's not God doesn't care about making you famous. He cares about making you faithful. He doesn't say, well done, good and famous for it. He says, well done though. Good and faithful servant. Right? Faithful, servant. And I want to take this, this last word Steve gave. I just, I want to personally challenge myself in the next 24 hours, 72 hours 40. And I love how you spread it, Steve, because it's been taught wrong. It's not necessarily authority of the believer. Although you can look at it that way. You said it. It's the authority of Christ,
Speaker 2 00:38:52 The Florida, Brian, and a couple of years ago, I, the Lord showed this to me. Um, we, we see people that carry authority. Let's say the local police force, uh, when that policeman pulls up behind you and flashes those lats, pull you over. You're not looking at him and go on. I looks at Brian Phillips, you know, I bet he kicked his dog on the way out of the houses. You know, he he's, you know, I look at the authority, you carry right in the spiritual realm. We have to start seeing ourselves. Not that wow, I messed up and uh, you know, said something I shouldn't have said or whatever. They don't see that they see the authority of Christ on us. If we carry that, there's a confidence we can have. And while God's colonists today that it's not about us. It's about that sacrifice he made. And that delegation of authority that now resides on us.
Speaker 1 00:39:51 Oh, I love it, man. We should do another episode just on that. You just, you just ended with like a mic drop. Is that what you just did? You dropped, you got the mic at home, like boom, man. What a great answer to that question. One of my passions, and as we close this up here, um, there's this quote. I will use my whole life and I don't even remember who said it, but there's this quote. I've always loved that. We're all born originals, but so many of us die. Most of us die as copies. God doesn't want you to die as a copy. You know, there's, we're supposed to walk in unity, but not, um, that doesn't mean there's a uniform like uniform. You're going to all have to do the same thing. It's not, that's why I've always hated cookie cutter Christianity, like be like me, look like this.
Speaker 1 00:40:38 You know, say what I, you know, and there's, there's power in some of that. I don't wanna throw all that away, but, but the scripture says that God's building us as his body and he compares it to living stones. And if your building was stones, that's very hard work. I mean, stonework is to get two stones to come together, you know, versus two bricks. That's that's what most church culture done. Let's go. It's like Brittany and bricky entity, right? Like let me create you into the fertile brick. And then we can build something cool and fast. And the church is more concerned about how fast I grow. Um, but I've always been more attracted to like slow, methodical growth that nothing can stop. You know, I've had a different mindset and really what we're talking about. Days, mindset, the war of endurance has a lot to do with your mindset, your heart set, your spirit set, right? Like how all that stuff functions together, man. I feel rich right now. Just being with you, Steve. I love you. Love your passion. Um, it's been an honor and heavy on the show. Thanks for taking the time, man.
Speaker 2 00:41:42 Thank you, Brian. This has been wonderful blessings to grease off. So very excited about what the vision God's given you for gray socks. It's so critical right now. It was, uh, you know, I grew up in a, almost a whole different culture of masculinity was celebrated and the attack on it has been just, uh, um, scary, uh, or where things are or have gone. And just how fast they're deteriorating. We gotta have, uh, this message in our culture
Speaker 1 00:42:14 It's working and you know, I'm so glad you said that and said it that way because it wasn't too long ago. I was like, God, it's too late. The Lord revealed to me. It's like, no, this is like perfect, perfect timing. I've got, this has hidden all at perfect timing. So I'm like, yeah, I'm in let's lock and load. Let's do this thing. It's it's about encouraging the heart of a man and then really reaching the family. You know, we really want to impose the families by reaching the man, encouraging the message. Well, man has been, this has been a rich episode. I'm going to really love sharing this out with our platform. And thanks for the time I look forward to having you back as a future guest. You know, we're friends, we'll, we'll be doing this. I gotta come down to Texas and see you
Speaker 1 00:43:00 Anyway, man, it's been awesome. And I just want to tell everybody on the podcast, this has been a really rich time, take a moment or two read through Matthew, or that lasts focused on that authority Christ or for authority of Christ, which happens to be yours. But I love the emphasis it's Christ authority first, then it's mine to be responsible to walk in and to know how to, to, to kind of wield it in the earth. And so that's our heart. That's our passion and grace SOPs until next time, be passionate for God and live upright. Okay.
