Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:06 Hey, welcome to the Grace House podcast. Brian Phillips here with you today for a special episode when war demands all it's Memorial day. And we want to take time to remember, to reflect, to appreciate so that we can move forward in our own lives with focus and vigilance and the days in which we live. And boy, are they not interesting days, interesting days to say the least I've got some quotes. I want to read off of a website that I found that put together 25 quotes pertaining to Memorial day it's town and country mag.com is where I found these. And they're very powerful quotes. So I'm going to go through five of them here as soon to take me a little time to kind of navigate through them. So I'll go slow and read them and kind of pause in between. And then I want to bring some reflection.
Speaker 1 00:01:00 I want to bring some specialty, some reflection on the life of Christ as we remember Memorial day and in Christ, I kind of see how they both connect and go hand in hand. Um, before we get into this, I do want to just kind of put it out there. We do live in some interesting days and, and I'm, I really am excited about the team that God has built for gray SOPs and, uh, Ryan, Evan and I, the, the, the amount of time and energy report into this. And I shared this in a recent conference. I was speaking at how I kind of laid down grace offs many years ago. Like I laid the whole concept down. I, I was in this time of worship and, and a reflection of God. And I just told God, Hey, I just don't think there's time. I, I just know that there's time to do all this.
Speaker 1 00:01:49 There's just the, world's crazy. And I'm just going to lay this one down and maybe plant more churches and do, just do more of what I've been doing. And, and it was really wild because the next day I woke up and I just kind of felt like God was kind of laughing at me in a fatherly kind of way. Like, Hey, that was cute. Thanks for your heart to lay it all down because I was like, this is it. Couldn't be more perfect timing. And when, and then I could kind of see the heart of God. He's like, you gotta go after the men of this nation, you got to go after the men of this nation. And we're bringing a culture to the men of this nation, a Titus two 12 culture, a culture that helps men to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lifestyles.
Speaker 1 00:02:37 I mean, that is so needed in this world right now to, to focus on virtue, to focus on character and doing the right thing. And there's so many good men out there. So we want to cause, uh, we want to create this culture that kind of rallies them together so that we can encourage one another in this journey of life. And we want you to step into the grace of God to be trained by the grace of God, so that we wouldn't just know the statement saved by grace, but we would know the statement trained by grace. It's a powerful way to live. And we created the five-star charge, honor, affection, Liberty, war, and valor. That's like our Advil in our culture. It's like what we throw ourselves upon this charge, these words, these virtues to continually forge ourselves into the men that God desires us to be in, in, in speaks real, really releasing, allowing grace to release the identity that God has really spoken over us.
Speaker 1 00:03:40 So we want to do this together. There's no such thing as a man unto himself. I mean, yeah, there is such a thing and it's a sad thing actually, when you run into that and that's not how God created us to live. So I just want to kind of talk about that for just a few moments. And this grace I've seen, who really knows what will happen as it grows. That's not the point. The point is that we're doing the work and we're putting in the time and we're, we're, we're hearing from God and we're, we're building it out. A small team, uh, is now a growing team and we're, we're, we're really aiming for the whole country respond to go after the heart of men. And it's really cool to see, um, men drawn to this thing, all kinds of men, all different variances, a man.
Speaker 1 00:04:25 I mean, I don't know. I just really think God's doing a mighty thing. So it's really cool to see this kind of kickoff and get started and start launching our country. And, and, uh, so we're just getting mad kind of busy at building out resources for this culture. So that's kind of what we're really dedicated to. I want to get into the content here today, right out of town and country, mag.com. I want to read right off their website, uh, five quotes pertaining to Memorial day opened up with that. I want to get into this now here. Uh, George S. Patton said this, he said it is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather. We should think God such men lived. I love that. I love it. That's bold. And right on target. Another quote here says this nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave Elmer Davis.
Speaker 1 00:05:24 The next quote says, no, man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation general Douglas MacArthur. All right, get into the next one here. Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. If flies with the last breath of each soldier who died, protecting it unknown. And the last one I want to read here on this podcast says it take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into that Norman Schwarzkopf, what a powerful statement. It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. Wow, man, so much can be said about that in life and leadership and the way we live as men. But you think about the battlefield and you think about like, you know, the, this whole episode is about when war demands all and you're in battlefield.
Speaker 1 00:06:30 I don't know if you've talked to soldiers or people who've been in the military and you hear just the way they had to live the way they had to make it through. Um, sometimes what they describe as gross and it's unthinkable unimaginable. And you think about in war, just this quote of it, doesn't take a hero to order men in a battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle. Oh, wow. Today on Memorial day, I'm thankful for those types of men who weren't just ordering people to go into battle, but they themselves were willing to go into battle. I think as some of the movie scenes I've seen, uh, just to pick the different wars and you know what I mean? It's just a movie scene. Right. But it puts your imagination, that place of joy, just, you can't even fathom, uh, you think of D day, you can't even fathom, like what would be going through your mind?
Speaker 1 00:07:36 What would be going through your, your, your heart and your, the entirety of who you are knowing that, you know, just to step on the beach, probably even if you made it that far. Right? Like just some of the movie scenes that I've seen. And I remember on days like that today, I have a hard time. Um, I didn't serve in the military. I, I desire to really my whole life. I was planning Marine. Um, I had this thing between being a Marine and, uh, an entrepreneur and kinda, and do a mixture of those careers. I also flirted around with, uh, going into professional bowling so you can laugh. That's funny. Um, but, uh, I can still be in bowling probably right now, now, but anyway, um, but my 17, I gave my life to Christ and that really change the trajectory of my life.
Speaker 1 00:08:30 It changed, it really changed everything and it's kinda wild cause the, the life I've actually lived in following Christ led me to eventually creating gray SOPs, which really isn't like connected to like this military thing or anything. It, uh, I wouldn't even try to do that. That's that would be disingenuine. It's a, but it comes from God's heart and God has a, of he's a militant God. And he leads us into battles and he leads us, you know, he's the great gen general commander. Um, but yeah, it's, it's, it's just a powerful story, right. So I had this past to be a Marine my whole life and then a Marine bowler entrepreneur kind of guy and, uh, Christ. It just changed, you know, but yet it's funny because everywhere I go, like we were in the military, you a copy of this or that, like, you just look like this.
Speaker 1 00:09:21 It's just kind of funny, but not to get off point here. I, I wanna, I wanna stand point. I, I struggle in our country because I don't feel like we remember very well. You know, we, we go through Memorial day cookouts and we go, and sometimes we don't even talk higher day about remembering. Like, I don't know. I mean, it, you know, we're, we're all kind of guilty that maybe not all of us, but I think a lot of us are guilty of celebrating something that we don't even give tribute to on that day. And how many of us are like two advantage of like a Memorial day sale? Like in some kind of marketplace, some kind of commercialized opportunity for companies to make money off of this day. I'm sure we've all bought stuff. Cause we got 20% off or something like that. And then we, we didn't do what the whole day was purposed for was actually to remember.
Speaker 1 00:10:26 And so I wanted to dedicate an episode to just remembering that there are men and women who actually paid the ultimate price in war. There was a timeframe in their lives where it demanded everything that they had their last breath and they were willing to give that they were willing to lay down their lives. They were willing to allow their own blood price tag of what it would cost them that day so that I could have a life of freedom. And I want us to get better at this as a country. I want the men listening to this podcast, or if there's moms on this podcasts, whoever you're listening to this, if you could like do something to remember why we, we have this day off, why this is actually a holiday, do something on your social media, do something at the cookout, say something, say something powerful, say something to help people remember a Google search it.
Speaker 1 00:11:36 Maybe you don't know a whole lot about it, right? Like Google search, what is Memorial day and start getting your heart connected to it and start, you know, sometimes these endless scrolling we do on our phones and this just digital media, it just consumes us. I always think it's a little funny when we call our phones devices because the word vices in them. And, uh, we kind of are in a vice in our culture. We live in one of the smartest cultures and yet we still make a lot of dumb mistakes. So, um, I don't know, my heart kind of fills a certain amount of pain when it comes to, to those who have passed and died. And then I get to live the life I'm living and, and I want to remember them. And I want to remember the chain of like, um, all the energy that people put into our country, being what it is in our world, being what it is.
Speaker 1 00:12:38 And right now, you know, like I want to like move out of a day like this with the kind of a tenderness I want to move out of a day like this being thankful, uh, being very appreciative, but also knowing that this is our watch. This is when we're alive and, and I want to move forward in my own life assignment in my own heart after God, um, in the, in the dude and dude the diligent things in my life so that I live focused. So they don't take for granted the gift that was given to me from somebody else's life. And also so that I would be vigilant that I, that I would be one willing to, to pay any kind of price that was needed for me, for my own country, for people that I would be willing to lay down my life.
Speaker 1 00:13:31 If it was demanded of me, if, uh, I even voluntarily had to go serve and do whatever mean, and I'm not really talking about military stuff or battles or wars, I mean, yeah, maybe we might have to make some decisions like that. I don't really know what, what the future holds. None of us do. We live with some weird days, but it's just having a heart that would be willing to be focused on the things of God, be focused on his kingdom and in a powerful way that we would be vigilant and we would move forward with strength and might and focus. That's the reason why I want to remember today. That's the reason why I want to take a moment of silence. That's the reason why I want to be appreciative and thankful.
Speaker 1 00:14:18 And I just think of all the lives that we're given. And I just want to, I like what Patton wrote, thank you, father, that such men and women lived. Thank you. You know, God, thank you today for men and women who really have been brave souls, who actually, when war demanded all from them, they were willing to give all thank you father for that bravery. And for people died in circumstances that we can't even fathom in our own personal lives, in so many different ways. I also want to focus on Christ today. Think about the life of Christ. Okay. Think about the battle he fought for your soul. For our souls. You know, he came into the earth, God prophesied that there would be a battle in Genesis three. He said, you know, this, it was right after Adam and Eve fell and God has prophesied dealing with the enemy. And he says, Mike we'll come into the earth in his heel will strike your head. And that was the cross. There was a battle on the cross. The cross did not. Um, it did not destroy the enemy. It defeated the enemy, stripped the enemy of all of us power stripped the enemy of all of them. <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:15:41 that's what Christ did. Christ came and said, I'm going to get back. What was taken, uh, given from Adam, uh, to the enemy, the first Adam, and I'm going to be a second Adam type and I'm going to come and I'm going to take in battle in war. I'm going to take that authority back and in order to do so Christ himself, that war, that he fought demand at all, he willingly died for you. And I, I think about that stuff even on Memorial day. So I go, you got to make it about Christ. Yeah. I kind of do that with everything. I do that with everything. Yeah. Think about Christ today. How he was willing to pay the ultimate price for your life. Now, he, he also went on three days later to be raised from the dead and his grace is available for all of us listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1 00:16:40 His grace wants to lead you in to the kind mercies of his goodness that tenderness of God's heart towards you, his mercy would lead you to repentance. And then that, that leads us to find that the powerful taste of his salvation would also be there with us every day, training us to walk a holy life. And you don't learn it overnight, but you learn it and you allow grace to train you. And it's a powerful thing. So on a day like today, yeah, my heart's kinda S you know, mixed. It's like, yeah, I'm going to enjoy a lot of fun stuff with my family. I'm going to sit with my kids and help them remember, remember for I'm gonna help them remember snapshots of, of why the state is so important. And I'm also, you're going to talk to him about the battle cry Christ fought or Christ paid all that war demanded all from him, him, but in that war, he took back from the demonic realms.
Speaker 1 00:17:46 He stripped them of all authority, and he's like, I'm going to have a people who cherish my salvation in such a mighty way that they're going to be able to take my thorny into the earth, through my name, through living the way I called them to live and created them live in all of us together in this new family of the kingdom. God, we're gonna, we're gonna globally renew all things with God with Christ. So that's happening now and it's ever increasing in ever full unfolding until the age to come when the full installment of God's kingdom arrives into the, into this time into this space. So it's been an honor to be with you today on this Memorial day episode, when more demands all take time and reflect, take time to remember, to give tribute and also be focused and be vigilant. And until next time live upright,
