Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the Path. You're listening to Live from the Path. They're joining us on a… I don't know why I feel like I've got to tell the weather, like there's weather going on in the studio. Anyway, it's out of nice out. Alright, that's beautiful. Alright, Nate, you're listening to Live from the Path. Thanks for hanging out with us already tonight. We appreciate it. I've got to extend that thing. It keeps cutting off real early. I think we look lame. I don't think it's the music that's causing that problem. There may be other lame things. That's completely impossible. Hey, well, it's good to be back in the studio. Boy, I was not in last week. And I tell you what, it is difficult for me to not be in and not looking in on what's happening on the show. I was out with my wife. And I found myself even going home. And like when I'm supposed to be kind of paying attention to what's going on around me. And I'm like, hey, what's going on?

What do you think is going on on the show with Tim Ferriss? I think I've got to go use the restroom. Let me grab my phone. It wasn't good. It wasn't good. Hey, here's what we've got going on tonight. Mike seems to have got some Jehovah's Witnesses hanging around his joint. Yeah, yeah. My wife's after them. They're like, come into your house? Yeah. They've got to go there on purpose. What do you mean? Well, it's not like a large neighborhood. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. It's very rural. No. In fact, I'm really intrigued. And actually, it led to like a really good Saturday night with me and my wife doing some Bible study, listening to some sermons, and coming up with why we disagree. Because I thought, I read their pamphlet, you know, and just like any pamphlet written by a somewhat suave character, you know, you read these pamphlets, you're like, I suppose.

You know, that makes pretty good sense. That's solid. You know, they only put certain stuff in the pamphlet. I'm like, yeah, this sounds all right. Look at those bright colors. It has to be true. You know? But I thought about that. Like, how easy is it for someone who reads that pamphlet, right? Because, like, it's well written. It has biblical backup. You know, there's verses that point to what they believe and why. And, like, if I didn't have any previous connotation of what I thought of a Jehovah's Witness, if I didn't know before that they were wrong, I don't know that I would have believed they were wrong. You would think they sound pretty solid. Right. Right. And I thought, well, this is a mistake. Like, how am I getting sucked into this? And then after the Bible study, and my wife and I were talking about it, I thought, I'm not reading my Bible well. Like, I'm reading it. But I'm not reading it well. Right.

Like, to the point where I can, you know, be, I don't know, sucked away. You know, it's not like I threw my faith in Jesus out the door. But, like, we're going to talk about it a little bit. Like, the basic biblical differences between, you know, our view of Christ and their view of Christ. And the distinction is really small, but it's there. Like, they have some other offshoots that are a little easier, you know, that I find a little farther out. But, like, their distinction on Jesus is, it's pretty small. But, biblically, it's pretty small. But, like, the biblical idea is huge. Yeah. How, how, how am I trying to say, how can you, how far from Jesus, how far from correct, that's the key word I'm looking for, how far from correct on Jesus can you be and still be a Christian? Exactly. Like, I've just, I'm having a heart, like, I've been thinking about it the past couple, three days. And I got to a point where I'm like, you know what, like, like, I understood what they were saying. But, like, what's the difference of what you're saying and what I believe, right? Let's, like, let's break it down to the main point. So, we'll talk about it. I think it's going to be fairly, fairly interesting. And, you know, some of the, some of the parts that are really, are really interesting and where you think you get into danger is trying to make the decision or distinction between a quibble or a quandary. You know what I'm saying? Like, is it something where, like, they're just using a word and, frankly, it doesn't mean a hair of difference to me.

You know, a dog had five legs. Well, I don't care. Right. You know, or, I mean, does it, does it change what you believe? Does it alter the character of God? Does it alter what you otherwise believe about Christ? You know, and then there's where you have a quandary. Yes. Yeah. All right. So, we're going to talk about that. We're also, we're going to start talking through, this might be a long journey, but we're going to talk through proofs of God, or maybe on the other side of it, you know, there's a lot of folks out there that are, like, 50 proofs that God doesn't exist. Yeah. That God is not real. And so, we're going to be trying to hit those pretty consistently. Maybe it'll be a 50-week journey. But we're going to, we're going to start hitting these one by one and see where we're at. I mean, there's. That sounds like a plan. I know. I know. We might, we're going to lay that out there.

We've never had one. Yeah, no doubt. We've never had a aforementioned idea. I'm feeling kind of uncomfortable. My shirt is getting smaller. Well, so, yeah, I mean, these are, these are always very interesting to me. It's always interesting to see where people are coming from. And I'll be honest with you, as we go through 50, I mean, there's bound to be someone here that I'm like, you know, I don't know. I just don't know. Being, not being the Lord, I feel like I'm going to run into some things where I'm just not sure. Yeah, yeah. It's going to happen to me. But it'll be interesting to kind of talk through it. So, so we're going to do that. Also, we're going to do some secular versus Solomon. And we're going to hit to your advice, some iron versus iron. Oh, buddy. And I think that's what we've got going on. Hey, just a real quick plug. Adam Cates was in town over the weekend. He played at Green Grounds on Saturday and then came by Pathway Church and played the two services on Sunday. He did an excellent job. He did.

His voice is smooth like butter. That's what I'm saying. You could put it on toast and enjoy it every morning. It's fantastic. And he sounds very good live. And he's got one of those voices where, like, some people, when you put them in front of 50, 60 people or, you know, a couple hundred, you know, they get worse. They get worse. There's just something about the performance that starts to tank. And he gets better. You put people in front of him and he rocks. So, anyway, make sure you check him out. If you go to adamcates.org and you can pick up his CD. And I would highly recommend checking out a live show if he's in your area to go find him out. And that reminds me that the Spirit Midwest Music Festival is coming up August 3rd and 4th. And this thing's shaping up to be a real wing ding. And I'm pretty excited about it. Now, here's the deal, fellas. It's going to a different location. It's going to be in St. Charles. And they don't have internet connection out there yet. Ooh. So, I don't know. I think we're going to go out.

I think I'm planning on going out regardless. We'll see what it makes sense for us to do. Yeah. So, Life in the Bath is planning on being there. But the venue is very, very cool. Like, they still have three different stages. But this acoustic stage is back in, like, a woodsy area. There's, like, a natural canopy. So, you know, it's not scorching hot. It's probably got a 10 degrees difference back there. That'd be nice. So, it's open air. You're surrounded by trees and stuff in, like, an open area. Boy, it just sounds really cool. It does. Yeah. So, anyway, I keep asking this because I keep forgetting the answer. Do we have a camper lined up? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got one. I just talked to the owner a week ago. And I said, can I borrow the camper? And they said, sure.

And then my brother-in-law said, why? Where are you going? I said, we'll be in St. Charles. And he said, you guys, you should come stay at my place. I said, do you live in St. Charles? He said, no, but really close. I said, me and Pastor Dan and Ben and Big Troy Engel there, come stay at your place? He said, no. No. And so, we're back at the camper. Yeah. So, I like the camper. The camper sounds fun. All right. Yeah. So, we've got to figure out some type of mobile internet connection. I think they're working on it. I think they're going to work on trying to hook something up. Mobile internet is, I mean, pricey. Big time. Because you've got to get the satellites out there. Or we've got to get a truck. A broadcast truck.

Well, let's just increase our budget. Let's write the checks. Let's talk to management. Oh, you know, I've been thinking for a long time that we need to do a fundraiser. Like a phony fundraiser. Because I don't think, obviously, anybody would give legitimate money. But we could get Troy one of those Elmo phones, you know, that little kids have. And then have calls and whatnot. I think it'd be pretty funny. Obviously, we wouldn't gain a dime. But it would be. Like cut to Troy in the fundraiser center and have Mike on the phone with him. That'd be awesome. Yeah, picking his nose or something. You know, getting not much done. Hey, Troy, who you got on there? Elmo uses the potty. All legitimate Christian radio has fundraisers. Yeah, you know, we don't shill for anything. We really should be shilling. We don't do our own telethon. It's hard to bleed from stone, you know. I didn't read Leviticus closely enough.

Maybe that's where the shilling comes in. Because, oh, man, I heard the most depressing shill for money. And it was this morning, flipping through the radio stations. And it was like a guy who was running to do a Bible teaching. And he goes, you know, it was basically, if I can sum it up, was, you know, if you want people to ever learn about Jesus, you'll need to send us some money. Oh, man. Like, oh, no. Oh. Yeah, it was kind of the same thing. We were driving. I think it was today or yesterday. We were driving down the road and had a station on. They were playing music. And then they stopped and gave some really nice story of some gal whose life she would never have known Jesus if it wasn't for this music that was playing on the station. And by the way, if you don't give us money. I'm like, the whole car just turned sour. Like, are you serious? Can't you say maybe God did this? We did this. Look what we've done. I heard that.

And it was pathetic. I mean, it was like, she fought with her kids and her life was bad and her car was breaking down. And then she got in the car and she was lifted up by this wonderful music. The power of Christ and the love of him and what he did on the cross is fantastic. But this powerful music by somebody else. You know, the problem is, is that like that message doesn't even begin to take hold except for people's perception of their own responsibility and evangelism is terrible. Like, it's terrible. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, if you didn't, you feel like I gave money to the Christian radio station, they'll lead people to Jesus. I gave money to the church. Turn the hook. They'll lead people to Jesus. You know, I gave money. I gave time. I did this. Other people will lead people to Jesus. Well, and doesn't that violate the whole idea of 1 Corinthians, you know, to not try to connive people into giving? Yeah. Giving under compulsion?

You know, we're going to try to, we're going to guilt you into this. I just, I don't know. It's because I enjoy the flip side of the coin, right? Like, like you get people to complain like, hey, you know, we don't have enough worship space or, hey, these donuts aren't good or, hey, this coffee isn't great. And I think, hey, you're cheap and we can't afford anything because you don't give money. That's what I think. If you gave better, we'd move up to Folgers. Right. You're like, we need more missionary work. Well, we'd like to fund them with, we have nothing. You know, like people just sitting there like, hey, our church isn't doing this. Our church is doing that. And we'll say, hey, we're broke. We don't have any money. You know, you're ignoring God's commandments. And so we have no room to work. People keep dropping like IOUs in the, in the offering plate that says, you know, I'm, I'm paying for streets of gold. I can't afford anything down here. I feel like I'm 50, 50 on that. Like, I understand, I understand where the verse is coming from. Like, like not to give them out of compulsion, you know, compulsion, but like the truth is

the truth. And if the truth compels you to do the right thing, I don't feel wrong about that. And I don't, I don't know where that, like that line seems to be sticky. No. You know, I think the distinction for me is when it comes to giving is, in fact, I think we oftentimes we back away from this. We, we, because people get offended by money, uh, you shouldn't have to compel them in any way outside of what God, that God has asked you to be faithful in that manner. And frankly, he's doing it for your protection. Those two things should be repeated often because they're necessary to, for people to keep control of their lives. Um, but beyond, if you have to bring in any other element than that, then I think you're, you're trying to compel them, uh, outside of God. You're trying to tell them a sad story or say, you know, we had a, we reattached so-and-so's ear because you gave $85 last year, right? You know, it's like, you know, you should be able, because God put it as a protection in your life to make sure you didn't worship money. And frankly, because he uses it, you know, those two reasons should be, should be forefront, but past that, you know, everything past that, I think you're, you're trying to twist money out of people. Um, and, and here's the deal is like people do that for like, they do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Um, but which is not cool.

It's not acceptable. I mean, you, you gotta do the right thing for the right reasons. And the, the, the right thing is that you don't compel somebody by trying to sell them a human story around it. It's because God said, be faithful because I'm fit, you know, so, um, yeah, that's, that's the arm twist. Yeah. That don't work though. You guys, I mean, it don't work. Sorry. What's that? I mean, all right. Twist to the blue. Got enough of that. Yeah. You're out. Okay. We're back at Barola. Yep. Sat in the middle of the camera. Uh, I'm just kidding. So anyway, like, uh, I hear what you're saying at all, but, uh, it's not really lying in the coffers.

You know what I'm saying? Like your, Jesus's message isn't getting through, I guess. Maybe you should yell when you say it. Maybe you could keep the same verses that you're quoting, but just yell when you do it. Maybe they would be, well, that's compulsion. Yeah. I, you know, I, I mean, how do you get the message across? Do you know? What do you do? I think I don't, no, I mean, here's the thing. Like it's not compulsion. If it's stolen, God's word is God's word. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, you don't, you don't have to put a flower on it. It just is what it is. People will respond how they're going to respond. Some people will not respond at all. They respond terribly and this guy right here, like I get on kicks where I'm like, I'm giving God the money and I'm going to be in good shape and I'm going to be faithful and, and, and I'm not going to keep putting myself in a bind. And then like, and then it goes off the tail end. And then I look back and I look back at two months where I haven't done anything.

I'm like, yeah, that's where it went. That's where it went askew. Oops. I start, you know, I, and it's, and it's not because God, I don't think God is reaching his hand into my life and like trying to taint my finances. I think it's a natural consequence of, of, of, of not putting God first when it comes to something in your life, regardless of what it is. For me, it, it tends to be money. It just tends to be where I'm like, I'm going to do this thing. Hey man, you're the problem. I know. I know. Now, now see, you're talking to me. I want to be better. I want to be, and I make commitments and then I fall down. Look, listen, do you like the crappy donuts we have? No. Well, no, actually they're pretty good. We've upgraded donuts. That guy's good. Yeah. Those are fantastic as a matter of fact. Hold on, I dig this story.

So here's what happens to me. But first of all, whoever ordered the new worship cups, like the cups that we have for coffee are just terrible. I mean, they're like kid-sized cups. They're awful. Yeah, that's me. Yeah. Terrible. Thanks, Dan. That's the reason why. Usually I have to pay for them first and then I get reimbursed and I thought, this is silly. The whole world's going through my bank account. So now I just order them when we get billed from them, but that's the only size they have. There's no other company that makes cups, seriously, that we have an account with. Okay, so here's the problem, right, is the, I picked a cup out and I was holding it, I got the coffee out and I poured it in there and there's coffee all over the floor. And I'm like, I missed. I missed the cup. I've been doing this for years. So I look at the cup, I'm like, I don't understand what happened. So I look more intently at it, like I'm going to get it this time, you know. I mean, it's an inch away. I pour it again, there's coffee all over the floor.

I'm like, how am I missing? This is really embarrassing. And like 10 people are watching me laughing at me. It turns out there's a hole in the bottom of the cup. I never pick up a coffee cup, look in it to see what's happening and then pour stuff in it. I just assume there's not a hole in it. And I thought someone had set me up as a practical joke. And that is not the case. I just, there was a hole in my cup and I was blown away. That's what you get for buying those short little boy cups from your cheap dealer. I think they actually cost more. Do you know that people have to walk out of service twice to go get more coffee? Back to the other cups. Because the cups are so small? Now, that's not a good reason to walk out of service. Mostly it's because they're being convicted of sin and feel better about themselves in the hallway. Because people are looking at them. But they can also just walk out in the hallway. I can see right through it. I sit in the back. I see everybody. All right. You're listening to Live from the Path.

We are broadcasting every Monday night from 10 to midnight at livefromthepath.org. Big Ron, thanks for joining us. Nope. Nathaniel's in. All right, Mike. Hit me with it. What are your interactions with the Jehovah's Witnesses? Okay. So the lady tells me that the Jehovah's Witnesses are two ladies are stopping by the house. And she said two ladies Jehovah's Witnesses? Two ladies. Two ladies. Okay. And so the first thing I think is, man, you've got to admire their evangelism tactics. You know, I don't go door to door. That's all right. And they drop a pamphlet off, you know. And I read through it. I'm like, you know, woman, don't let them in here. You know, just don't let them in the house. She goes, well, I had a good conversation with them. And, you know, I told her that I'm not a Jehovah's Witness and I don't believe in it. But what can I pray for you guys about?

And the Jehovah's Witness lady is like, well, you know, I'm not sure. And she goes, well, why don't I just pray for your safety as you travel around and that God's will be done. And she's like, well, that'd be great. And can I stop by next week? And my wife says, sure, you come by next week. So they come by last week with the what does the Bible really teach book. And this thing is good. It's 207 pages. I mean, it's and there's pictures of gang members and old people and heavenly gifts. And it is just the I mean, I could be a Jehovah's Witness after reading this 200 page book. Right. And so can I can I join? And so me and my me and my wife starts to read through it. Right. And I said, she goes, oh, well, I want to talk to him. And I said, OK, here's the deal is you can't you can talk to him with the love of Christ. But, you know, you don't let him suck you in. We got to make sure that you're we're Bible up here. You know that we know what we believe and why we believe it. Because I read through it. She read through it. And and one of her questions was, is that I said, I said, I read through their pamphlet and they don't believe that Jesus is the is God. They don't believe in the Trinity.

Right. And I said, that's a problem. And she said, why? And I said, I don't know. I just think it is. I said, I don't know why we think it's the Trinity. And I thought, crap, I don't know. Like, I really don't know. And so we did some Bible study and we got the Bible out and we looked at all the verses that they quoted. And we looked at the and the way the ones that they picked and the ones that they quoted, they basically said that Jesus is the son of God. True. Not God, but the son of God, a created being that God sent to do work. And God bestowed him these characteristics and the ability to do this. And he's still very holy. And still very much from heaven through the virgin birth. All believed. Sin is still fixed through Christ dying on the cross as the sacrifice. All that's true. He's just not God. How is how? What good is the sacrifice if he's not God? If he's not perfect sacrifice? Well, he's sinless.

But he's not God. I mean, Jesus himself said no one comes to the father but through me. They believe that. They believe that. That you have to believe in what Jesus says and what Jesus did to get to God. To get to Jehovah. They're messed up. But why, Dan? See, that's the thing. It's like if you ask the common, everyday Christian, right? Like myself included. Why do I believe that Jesus is God? And I would say, the Bible says. And they'd say, where? And I'd go, crap. You know, I just don't know. And so we read through it, right? And we found some Bible verses that some of them I think I could sit on. Some of them that I wasn't so sure on. But there's at least two that I think that I reconciled really well. And I'll have to pull them up to look at them. But one of them was the Great Commission. You know, when he talks about baptizing people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, right?

He does not say baptize people in the names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He just says baptize people in the name. Meaning that is one person. That is one entity. Not three separate names. Not three separate people. The other one is when Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one. I am in him and he is in me. Right? The he is in me part is not impressive. If he's God's son, right? He is in me is acceptable. But right, I am in him is different. You're saying that you are in God and I and the Father are one. Like, I don't know how, quite how they dispute that. Some of it helps that they have their own translation of the Bible and that's the only one they allow. But it's not, it's not that far out, you know? But I think where I wrestled with it was, is like, where does it matter? Like, if they believe that, and I think I've reconciled a little bit of it. But like, where does it matter that if they say Jesus is not God, but all the other Bible, all the other tenets are true? Like, they believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. They have to believe that.

Every part of the New Testament is true. All the things that Jesus said were true, except for he is not God. What act of faith are they losing? Well, they're losing out in the deity of Christ. I mean, he is God. You're denying that God is God. I mean, it… That's solid, Dan. You're right. I'm just, I'm going to convert from Jehovah's Witnessism right now. You're denying, and I say yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Well, I mean, like, ultimately, it's, what you're saying can, is not, can't be true. Because it would be, there's certain parts of the Bible that you have to deny to be able to do that. There is no… Jesus is God in the flesh. Yeah, like, like, for example, I mean, he says, it falls into, it's actually a, it's almost an atheistic perspective to a certain extent. It's the same discussion because, like, Jesus claims to be God. So, like, if he's not God, then he's not sinless. He claims to be God. Well, but I think that's where they, I think that's where they run aground, right? Is because they'll say that Jesus never said he was God. And that's, that's to a certain extent true. John, hold on, John 20, 28 and 29.

Thomas answered and said, my Lord and my God. Thomas referring to Jesus. Jesus says, and because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe. He has accepted Thomas' calling him God in that interchange. That's, that's true. And they say, it's just Thomas being overzealous. And what kind of lazy God goes, you know, I'm just, or non-God goes, you know, I know you just mistook me for God, but I'm not going to correct that. I'm just going to continue forward. That's the thing. Wouldn't that be blasphemy? Yes, it's blasphemy. That's what, that's where they fall, that's what I think where they fall short is they, is they, is Jesus accepts the title of God, like on three or four different occasions. Yeah. You know, right? And, and, and, and I think it's in the Psalms where David says, against you, Lord, only have I sinned. Right? And Jesus is forgiving sins. Jesus says, your sins be forgiven. Go. Right. He's, he's, he's, if he's not God as he's acting as God, he is a, he is a blasphemer. Well, but that's, uh.

By his actions. Right. Like, like the, the direct, the, the Thomas example is fairly good on Jesus accepting the title of God, right? Him forgiving sins, they will say, uh, God just gave him the power to do that. Because it's really God's power. And he's just giving it to somebody. Jesus was also, I, I mean, you can't make the case that the first century Jews, or the Jews in Jesus' time did not think he was claiming, they were very well thought he was claiming to be God. That's why he was arrested. Yeah, and in fact, there's another, uh, passage in, in John. It's John 10, 30. It says, I and the Father are one. The Jews took up stones and tried to, and again, to stone him, Jesus said, I showed you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you stoning me? The Jews answered him, for a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy. And because you, being a man, make yourself out to be God. They're going to stone him, not because he's going around healing people or causing trouble. It's because, uh, under the charge of blasphemy, which means the people that actually were trying to get Christ crucified, uh, were very much trying to do so because he was claiming to be God. So, like, any, any appearances within the scripture that they're gonna, that you can try to curve and say, well, you know, he just let that go, or that was someone else's mistake. Uh, he got crucified for that very thing. That's what got him into trouble. Yeah, well, and, and, and, and, and, I don't know. It's like a, the thing is like a, and I thought about it, and, and, and, and like I said, the wife and I talked about it after doing some Bible study to make sure we knew where we sat and where and why we sat there. And, uh, I thought, you, you're not gonna be able to talk them out of it.

You're not gonna be able to, you're not gonna be able, you physically aren't gonna be able to talk them out of, uh, not a triune God. Like, they're, they're set in it, they're set in it, as much as I'm set in a triune God, they're set against it. You know, and, and, and, and frankly, um, I think you, you could get what you wanted to out of the Bible, right? You could say that Jesus said, my father, and so he's a created son, and you could, you could ignore the parts that you don't want, because there's way more my father in heaven than there is direct inferences to I am God. You know what I'm saying? Like, the Thomas thing is still someone else saying it. The Pharisees thing is still someone else saying it. You know, it's biblically sound and biblically true, but Jesus never said, you know, Matthew 17, 4, I am God incarnate. I am the son of God, but I am really God, part of a triune God. Me and the Holy Spirit and God have always been, always will be, you know? And so, like, they're, they're all inferences, not direct statements. And so I think they, I, I think there's enough there that if you didn't want to believe that, you, you could get away with that, and you could think that was fine. You know what I'm saying? So I don't think, on a theological doctrine level, you're gonna talk them out of it. I just don't think that's what's gonna happen. But, you could certainly, you know, pray for them. And, and, and, and, and at first, at first I was like, I just don't want these people in my house. I just don't want them here. You know, they freak me out. I don't think, I don't think I, I don't think I want their brand of Bible in here. And then I thought, you know what?

My wife's got her stuff together. She loved Jesus, loved the Bible. We went through and, and Bible studied it, and, and, and me and her learned some things. And I thought, you know what? The Holy Spirit be with you. Let them in. Let talk to them. Don't let both of them in. Leave one of them in the car. Make somebody stand up. You keep the car warm. Maybe the burly one really can handle herself. I don't know. You know? But, I, it just, it got me to thinking and being very, I wasn't depressed, but I was, I was humbled on what I don't know. On the things that I don't know. The things that I say that I stand on and I have no idea where they come from. A guy, a valuable human Bible teacher has told me these things and I didn't know why. You know what I'm saying? Like, the Bible is inerrant and there's, there's no error in it. But, but the Bible teachers are. Now, they're probably right most of the time if they're preaching the Bible, but sometimes

their interpretation is backwards. You know? So, you know, I, I, I just think I, if, if you're not getting in your own Bible and you're not getting things out of the Bible and you're leaving all your teaching up to somebody else, you, you are really binding the Holy Spirit. And, and, you know, we, we have to be careful with that, especially this day and age because we are a Wikipedia, we are a Google generation, right? So like my first reaction is say, Hey man, tell me about what you think of the Trinity is to go online somewhere and type in, tell me about the Trinity and then wait for it to show up. And then like when I get Bible, no results. I wig out, I pull out my hair and I sit on the toilet for three days. I'm just saying you got, I mean, that's, that's a, that's a lack of, of in-depth study. That's just saying, here's the words that I remember them saying in church, I bought into it because I love Jesus and that's what you're supposed to do. And we, we can't really provide a defense of, of, of what the Bible actually says and why we believe what we truly believe. And I think that's a danger. I think that's a, I think that's a, an issue that we're going to run into is, is people can be, um, they can feel like Jesus is shallow because they recognize that their following of Christ is shallow. Um, and if they direct that in the wrong place, they try to put that on God and not on them. Um, they can sort of easily start to fall away as if, as if Christ promises were shallow

or Christ action were shallow or God himself does not, you know, is. Is a shallow being based upon hard words, firm statements and, and, and broad stories. And that's not the case, but if you're not spending time in the Bible, you don't know that you don't have any reason to, to affirm the things that you believe. You just remember, well, here's what they, here's what they told me. There's something about, um, um, it's a double sided coin when it comes to like Bible memorization, right? Like you remember the verb people, verse memorization is actually very good at the rope memorization so that you can, you know, you're actually taking it in and, and, and something that you can recall. Um, but, but sometimes we just, we just remember like key things without, without remembering why we, why we think it or why we know it. No, I don't think anybody was Googling that. Actually, that's another good point that a woman had is, is, uh, like, uh, when God is referred to, uh, first of all, uh, Jesus referred to as Emmanuel, which is God with God with us. Bam. Um, uh, okay, take that. And, uh, uh, number two, uh, you know, when, when God's referred to, he's, he's often referred to as, uh, Elohim, which is a plural Greek, you know, these are weird things that I would never seek to know except for, you know, to know things like this. And frankly, I used to think they were not, not important and really they're very important. Why don't you know, like, why don't I know the simple doctrine of my own faith?

Like I've read it enough times that I believe it, but I don't know why I believe it. I just believe it. I think that's a process of growth though. You first have to just kind of understand it and then you accept it and you believe it. And then you just kind of figuring it out. And later on, as you're growing mature in Christ, you, you get into digging a little deeper to go, well, really, why do I believe this? And, and it takes you to a, to a different level. I think it's like continual. You're always growing into faith. If you're not, you're going backwards, which isn't, isn't healthy either. That's when people like this and come by and snag you and, um, and get you in trouble. Because it sounds so biblical, you know, well, yeah, most of it. And plus, I mean, the pictures are very telling. I mean, they're seriously, there's a picture of a gang member with a gun and a knife and his buddy in a, in a, in a wife beater. You don't, he believes in the Trinity. They're like, uh, uh, well, Jehovah does. Uh, Jesus is just a servant. You know, I'm like, you better stop talking about my Jesus that way. He, he's going to be mad. He wouldn't be a gang if he thought that, uh, there were not three gods and one God. I would, I, I would just, I, I would put that out there that if you, if you cannot stand

on the doctrine of your own faith, it's time. Like, it's time. Here's, here's what I'm going to tell you, uh, and maybe as an encouragement to you and your wife is you don't know that those guys aren't in the same position, that they're not just handing out books and going door to door. They could be just as, as like shallow in some of their understanding that if they were, yeah, and you can tell people cause they refer to you to the book. Oh, that's all covered in the book. Oh yeah. You read the book. It's right next to that gang guy with the tattoo. Do you see that guy? He's intense. He's got three tattoos. Don't you recognize the problem? Um, so I mean, it's very possible that someone that's pushing that faith on you might be just as shallow and with some, with some quick Bible wit, you might be able to flip them. Well, that's what I was afraid of. I'm like, if these guys are professional Jehovah's witnesses, like they could probably screw me. They only send the lower tier guys. What? They don't send the big, the big. No, that's how you get, that's how you, you move up into the upper echelons to get into

the 144,000s. You got to beat streets. It's like a pyramid scheme. Yeah. It kind of is. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. I think, I think you can flip them. And I think a lot of those folks, like they, uh, in fact, they're probably right for the picking. They're, they're, they've, they've committed to something. They, they have to be sent out on the road. They're, they're zealous for it. They, so they obviously have a personality that wants to say, Hey man, I'm, I'm willing to jump on board and go gangbusters for something I believe in. And, uh, and they obviously jumped on board with this thing and that I would believe is untrue. So I mean, they're, they're the same folks that are buying the sham wow. Dude. Now listen here. We, we totally need to find that with the economy, the way it is, we need to find a couple of people who go to our church who are out of work and we will fund their gas money and

we'll just have them follow door to door where the Jehovah's witnesses have gone. Like they'll go in there and talk and then we'll just pull it right behind them and then we'll go in and do the same thing. Well, we got to come up with a book. We need a pamphlet. Their book is what does the Bible really teach? And then we, how can we like up that one? What does the Bible really, really teach? Really, really teach. I like it. How did that last guy lie to you? What the pamphlet before you was wrong about. Yeah. I don't know. I think we can upgrade the pictures too. Cause you're right. They have some nice pictures, but we can do better. Oh, you got to find the gang members. Some, uh, meaner gang members. Yeah. You think you know salvation? I'll show you who could be saved. Look at this guy.

Look how rough this man is. He's got a scowl. Jesus only saves your phony cartoon bin. They get some nice printing though. Where do they get this money? What do you think? They hose people in? I don't even know how they're tithes. Anyway, like the whole point is not to like, uh, uh, down. Despair. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the Jehovah's Witness folks. Cause frankly, I think they got us beat hands down in their zealousness. Have we, I think we suck. What about the, the Mormon, the, the baptism? The Mormon baptisms? Uh-uh. Here's it. Here's another thing that sticks out to me is like, uh, other people that are way more committed to their faith. And I think they're committed to the wrong thing, but like, I'm actually impressed by it. We were talking about, uh, with people at work about, um, about cults and stuff.

And, and we, so for some, somehow we got to, it's like clip art. That's creepy. Is that a girl like an exorcist? Oh yeah, they got, one of the guys really angry. The other guy's hitting his wife. Like, are you victims of this? You know, or do you prefer to, do you, uh, perpetrate these crimes? I'm not a wife, Peter. Uh, so, so anyway, they, um, we were talking about, about Mormonism and there was a story in the news about, uh, these guys that got in a bunch of trouble from like, uh, doing baptisms. And, and basically they, the Mormons believe in baptizing of the dead. Oh yeah. Yeah. So everybody goes to heaven. Everybody goes to heaven, but like you get up there. Actually, they're very similar because Jehovah's Witness in the same boat. Uh, they don't believe in hell. Uh, no, right. People stay on earth. Some of the other people go to heaven. Uh, Mormons believe everybody goes to heaven. They're just different levels.

And so, uh, but like this baptism is supposed to like, you know, make your way. And so what they were doing is like finding people dead, lying in the streets or like in their Korean with order or whatever. And they'd go, they'd go get the body and then baptize it. Yeah. And it was, it was really like really angering some Jewish folk who didn't want their body desecrated in a Mormon baptism. Now, uh, people's reaction was like, oh, that's terrible. And the first thing I thought was, if you really thought that like, that was really going to do something for somebody and help them out in the afterlife, if you believe that was true, I would do it. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's like, I actually, I don't support it because I think they're wrong, but like, I appreciate their commitment to the thing. Because if you thought it was going to help somebody, steal the body, dunk it. What do you care? You're helping them out eternally. Yeah. Although you're not. That's true. Like the question is like, how far, like how, do you really believe what you say believe and how far are you willing to go to do that? Are you going to steal a body and dunk it?

Like, that sounds total creep, creepal, right? But like, if you honestly believe that, uh, you know, if you didn't dunk my carcass after I died and was led, led astray, uh, you know, I'd kind of- You went to the morgue and saved five souls last night. What'd you do? Yeah, no doubt. You're the new John the Baptizer. You bring everyone to Jesus. Uh, yeah, I don't know. I, I, I think some of those other religions who don't have as much, uh, I feel biblical ground to stand on, uh, fall, uh, like they got us beat hands down in the work department. Like we're soaking in, soaking in. And these guys are like, I know enough. Let's get the bodies. Dunk them. Why is that? I don't know. Do, do, do we, uh, stress grace so much that we misunderstand it and think at least it just, it means we can be lazy. I think there's a lot of a societal, I don't know. I don't know. I've been trying to think about that myself. Well, they live in the same society, so, uh.

No, they don't. No one talks to those guys because they're nutty. They got a tie with a little, with a little name tag. Yeah, it's not like you. The Stormin' Mormon. It's not like you were out at the subway and ran into a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. They're out there in the parking lot eating a sandwich out of their backpack. You know, like they don't, they don't hang around with everybody else because they're not really socially accepted. You know, but to be socially acceptable. They, they also, uh, they send some, I think when I lived on the south side, they, there was like a lady in a station wagon that was driving around like a young Namibian boy. And, and so like, she would like drop him off and then wait like creepy mom style in her station wagon out in the thing. And if it was taking too long, she'd kind of like creep up and look in and, uh, you know, she'd bring the literature and stuff and ask if he could come back. Like very much, you know, can, can, you know, Poundabi come over to play? It was like weird. It was a weird experience. I feel like I, I'm like, I've had a Jehovah's Witness stop by one time and I was confrontational. I wasn't mean, but I'm like, uh, you know, cause they had a creepy dude standing in the

back. I'm like, and who are you? He's like, Oh, I'm Michael, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, are you coming in? Are you going to stand out there like a creepo? He's like, well, I guess I'll come in. I said, well, come on then. Stop being so creepy. Seriously. I mean, uh, I, I don't know. I don't know. I, I just, I feel like, uh, I, it was just a very humbling experience to realize I don't know anything. You know, like, like I just, I, I need to know what I'm talking about. Not so much to get into my theological debate with a Jehovah's Witness. That's not really what I'm after. But like, do I really know the God I say? No. Do I serve him the way I say I serve him? Or do I, am I just taking a guess based on, uh, uh, some preaching that I got? You know, and, and there's, it's okay coming to the faith through verbal instruction. That's okay. But like, if, if God's word is living word and I don't listen to it at all, you know,

you're putting it through somebody else's filter and that's not always the best way to go. You know, one of the things that I think get back to your question about, uh, why don't we, why don't we do that? I think we are very, uh, or we are at a disadvantage in our culture as an individual, individualistic culture. Like you couldn't get me to go up to knock on someone's door. I'm like, I'm not going to be bothering them during dinner. You know, like I, you know, I, I'm not going to leave my family to go walk around the neighborhood and like, you know, Hey, you want to learn about Christ? It just doesn't work. Well, it's, you know, it's in effect. I would agree that it's ineffective, but like, I think we are less, this is, this is weird given our, the, the, the types of things that we do that have the word social in it, but I think we're less social culture. Um, then I think a lot of other places that we are, we are connected, but we are connected in, in very, in binary ways. We're not connected in like, we know enough about someone to influence their lives. I know, I know someone to the extent that they will permit whatever's on my mind to flow into them whenever they want to hear it. They'll make the choice to look at it on, on Facebook or an email or whatever. Right. But like, do I have close relationships where I can actually influence people's, you know, how they see Christ?

Um, and I think as a, as it's going to be much, much more difficult as we, as a society continue to be more, you know, binary and we control what we hear. And we, frankly, we control relationships. It's weird. We're actually puppeting our friendships, right? We're not, they don't develop in a dynamic fashion. We choose what we see, when we see it, how we see it. I only see stuff on Nathaniel on Facebook, like most updates. The computer decides for me what, what important updates are from Nathaniel and it sends me those. I don't get to decide what's important. It doesn't send me everything, uh, unless I choose to, but I don't because he's constantly posting weird stuff. But, but see, that's just awkward. But that's the thing is like we are, we, you puppet your friendship. You decide what you see, how you see it. And so you don't actually live in a dynamic friendship or relationship with people. You just end up in picking and choosing what you see. So if you are the person that chooses what you look at, people cannot influence your life in a personal way. Everything, everything is propaganda. Everything that someone sent you is, is, is, is, you have to try to influence them that way.

So it sticks out. So it jumps out and you don't get to influence them in close personal ways. And I think that's going to be very difficult to, to witness to people for Christ if that's the relationship you have. But that's where our, like our society is as a whole. So how do you beat that? Do you find a new best friend every year and, uh, talk to that dude for a year? Well, I think you do. Now here's the deal. I think you do have to be intentional about relationships, about, um, setting a higher standard on how you interact with people. Cause it's easy to say, oh, I just heard from, I have the same interaction with certain people that I've known for, I mean, years that I'm close with as people that I haven't seen in, in 10 years. We interact the same way. I see from them as often on social media, right? So for all practical purposes, I have the same relationship, but it, but it gives me the sense that we're closer than we are, right? It's like saying that the guy sitting outside your window with the binoculars is really close to you. No, he's just creeping on you. Like he's just a guy that can see your life and says, oh, you know, uh, it's her fourth birthday and you had a wonderful cake.

Well, that doesn't mean you're like close to that family. It just means you saw it. Right. And so I actually think you have to be intentional because that type of relationship in social media is misleading. It gives you the impression that you have an influencer, that you are close. It occurs to me, there's people that I, that I agree to be friends with on Facebook. I'm like, you know, I don't know where they're at. I'm not sure that they even like me, but maybe I'll spread something about the church, about Christ, and maybe they'll check out the show or something, you know, like, well, I'll, I'll, I want to be friends. But then it doesn't occur to me. They might've blocked me a long time ago. It's very likely that they're not seeing anything from me because they're like that guy keeps saying stuff about Jesus. You know, or his family or that mole on his arm. And so, you know, you know, they could not be seeing anything, but me, I got, I was like, oh, I'm the people of these. I wonder if he saw that one. I wonder if I might watch the show. We'll put this out on the internet. Yeah. And so, you know, I think you actually, you have to be cognizant of where your relationships

are at and actually be more intentional because the way that our society is set up is to make it more and more convenient to be the arbiter of what you see and what you don't see. And frankly, to keep people from influencing your life in a way that you don't want them to, which means if you don't love Christ, you've got a lot of easy barriers to keep people who do love Christ that will try to influence you that way away from you, which makes it difficult if that's what you're trying to do. Yeah, I agree. That was my social media Jesus rant. I thought that was great. That was good. I'm going to post that on the Facebook just so the guys who are blocking me already can enjoy it. Okay, hold on. Here's another one of my favorite Jesus stuff from Facebook this week. When you carry a Bible, the devil gets a headache. When you open it, he collapses. When he sees you reading it, he faints. When he sees you living it, he flees. And just when you're about to repost this by hitting share, he will try to discourage you. I just defeated him. Share this. Share this if you're in God's armor.

I didn't see that one coming. I just defeated him. No, no, no. The suffering of Christ on the cross, defeating Satan, sin, and death. That wasn't what took him out. It's the Facebook share. Seriously? Copy paste. Yes. I did it. I'm going to cry. I just, I don't know what, it's not the people who are sharing it, right? It's the guy who wrote it, that I just want to kill him. I just want to kill him. Like, whatever guy come up with this, I thought, you should totally, why do you lead people down this path? You know, Jesus made it really clear in Matthew 28, after the resurrection, he had resurrected in power, and there he is talking to the disciples, and he said, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Okay, I have more authority than social media, I have more authority than the fishing place, down, you know, he knew it all. And he said, as you go, make disciples. So, yeah, you have some close relationships, those are the people you're going to reach

the most, but he said, as you go. So he is going to open doors, he will provide opportunities at times for you to share the gospel to the right person at the right time. And we've got to keep our eyes open, we've got to keep that radar on, and we need to be in prayer, and asking and looking for those open doors and opportunities, and most of us shy away from them, you know, I think we're just, because we don't want to be the socially awkward person to step across the line and say, well, what do you think of Jesus, you know? Have you heard the good news? Yes, the good news is for you. And it is, and it's awkward. You know, back when I first started preaching, I used to, that was the big thing, that was still the big thing, you go around and you knock on doors. And I actually did that for like one summer, and I thought, this is the most ridiculous thing, I mean, because people are like, I don't even know who you are. Why are you knocking on my door? Of course I don't want to, I don't want to hear what you have to say. And I thought, this is ridiculous. And so I took the next step, and I just, this was back when you had typewriters, you know, we didn't have computers yet, and I typed up a really bad letter, and I copied it, and I went through the phone book, and I just mailed a whole bunch of letters down this, you know, like I was the first direct mail guy in churches, and we actually had a few families show up to church from it.

And then, you know, the church, you know, it was like, the average age was 95, and people didn't stay. And it's like, it's just kind of scary the things churches do, to try to attract people, a crowd, rather than just be real, genuine relationships, rubbing shoulders with people. It's worked for generations, for hundreds and hundreds of years, and we're trying to make shortcuts now, you know, if I just send a postcard, if I just make a phone call, they did that for a while, if I knock on their door, and how about the Holy Spirit lead you to someone who's seeking? Yeah, it's so much a person-to-person relationship, and I feel like we just, I don't, and this may just be the Holy Spirit working on me, right, but like, just abdicated all responsibility for it, right, like, just get them to somebody else, you know, convince them to come to church, trick them to get into church, and Jesus will handle them from there, you know, where, I mean, really, your personal relationship should speak pretty loud from your actions in your mouth, opposed to everybody else's, right, like, because the, like, the relationship you see coming out of someone that you know closely, it speaks way more volumes than a guy you don't know, right, especially if Dan's leading worship or something, and screaming like a crazy man, I mean, I think that really draws in a lot of Holy Spirit, okay, here's Dan's move this Sunday, who deserves grace, not you, here we go, hey, that was a lot better than the first service, I felt like I was a drunk Bon Jovi cousin, so here's what happened, see, Danielle's home from college, and I'm thinking, this is great, Danielle's home from college, she can lead worship, and she's, like, not in the mood to be leading any worship right now, she's, you know, she's just coming out of the college bubble, and the whole reality of life is, like, she'd much, she'd be much more comfortable if she was

going to school in the fall, that's all she's done for, you know, her whole life, and she's like, what do I do, you know, and she's in that figuring out stage, so she's not in the mood, and as the week went on, I kept giving her, how about this song, hey, will you do that one, too, so I got down to, I only did one, which was kind of conniving, I probably, maybe, I was trying to help her, but I don't know if it helped her at all, and, you know, Dan, it would have been fine if you wouldn't have run your hillbilly mouth in between the songs, that's the problem, yeah, we didn't have a good, well, we don't have that many, you know, we need to double our boards, we have all kinds of, you know, we didn't have space to have us, both have guitars and vocalists, and we don't have two booms, I mean, there's a lot of things we don't have, so we just, Dan, you're still, you're trying to explain everything away besides what has come out of your mouth, none of these problems keep you away from the microphone, it makes so much sense to me, all you have to do is just to start playing singing, and instead you do weird 80s interludes every time you get on that worship stage, you know, how's everyone feeling, all right, come on, you know, that's, you know, people see right through that, like they're some kind of, he does, it's an extended, he goes, grace coming at you, these are the days of Elijah, brothers and sisters, when I say I love you, say Jesus, I love you, I just, I'm a product of the 80s, did you not hear the sermon, here's the, here's the funniest part, there was a line on the screen, it's like, you, the one thing that you do in ministry, that always comes through, is like, you see cheesy coming a mile away, right, like, you're always like, that's cheesy, we're not going to do that, that's just cheesy, until you get a guitar in your hand, and then all of a sudden, like, you bought a guitar with extra cheese, with cheese on the side, and all you do is lick the guitar and save up for Sunday for your cheese ball fest, that is because of my low

self-esteem, I think, I am not a musician, I shouldn't even be up there, and I think, why am I even here, and so I've got to detract from the fact that I am not a musician, so I throw all this cheese out, and I'm like, going, and before you know it, the song's over, they're like, what was that, and then Danielle jumps back in. To be clear, though, it's not really the song, it's not your singing, it's not the performance, it's the three-second introduction to the tune. Yes, like, if you just be quiet and start playing the tune, it'd be fine, but you always have to say something so ridiculously cheese ball, like, it just, it never fails. How's worship going? Welcome to God's grace, Dan Hudson. Are you ready for a tingle on your spine? It's about to come. I melted in my chair for having known you. I'm like, I hope no one knows I know Dan Hudson. It'll go down as one of my greatest regrets in life is not recording the opening of Dan's worship set, just so I'd have something to play back. So the worst part is, is we had Adam Cates in this Sunday, who's been on this show, who knows that I associate with Dan, right? I could have just been a faceless worshiper in the crowd, but I wasn't, because he's like, you know Dan. Did he look at you like, you chose to be friends with Dan? Before the service, Adam came up to me and he goes, I didn't know Dan played guitar! And you said, he doesn't.

I said, oh yeah. It was groovy. We should, oh Dan, we should totally do like a 1 a.m. Dan program. What you do like, 80's renditions of him. I feel like the duo of Dan Hudson and Chris Roloff could really make some travel. I mean, could really beat the streets and head out. I think it'd be something fantastic. And you're listening to Live from the Path. Thanks for joining us so far this week. You can find us online at livefromthepath.org. Also, make sure you check out the YouTube channel. It's youtube.com backslash livefromthepath. You can check out clips. The Ryan Sheeter clips are slowly but surely coming up. Boy, getting those clips on there has not been, could not have been any more difficult. Like the numerous problems I have of getting clips on YouTube is a plight that no one will ever understand. But we're rolling. So Ryan's clips are posted. We got posts from Adam. The Chris Roloff posts are out there. They're rocking. Yep.

Make sure you go out and check out those artists. Support them. Also, a reminder, we talked about this a little bit earlier in the show. Go check out spiritinwoodmidwest.com. Find more information about that festival. Look, it's in St. Charles. You're going to have to travel just a little bit. Make some plans to come out there and camp. All right? It's going to be a good time. I hear tell of a Christian rave going on at midnight. Get pumped. Getting pumped. What is a Christian rave? I don't know, but we're totally broadcasting this thing. Get pumped. Pumped. Dude, we're totally going to make Dan the emcee of this Christian rave. Yeah. Hey, boys and girls. Are you ready to rave? Come on, boy. I'm made for this.

I see people ready to party, but I don't see anybody ready to rave. And then all you do is hear, Dan, put your shirt back on. Oh. Does anybody have any extra glue sticks and knee pads? I'm on my way back to dust. Take my nowadays of stuff. I'm half there. Oh, man. All right, so anyway, you're listening to Life in the Back. I'm pumped. Now I'm going to go. We should do our Midnight Gaither special jam at the Spirit Midwest. No, they're doing the rave. We can't compete with that. What is a rave? What does that even mean? There's like a DJ there. It's like dubstep, like heavy electronic music, and then people dancing in a lot of flashy lights. I think it's going to creep me out. I think you're going to have a room of like 98% of charismatics who don't even care the music's going. Yeah. Be like throwing around. I don't see.

Most raves are not very Christian-like. It's kind of a foul place. I don't know how it's going to happen. I'm kind of worried about it. It kind of goes down like this. I'm still pumped, though. I'm pumped to be an innocent bystander. Someone's got to witness to the rave people. Seriously, like where are you going to find Christian rave music, right? Does it just go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom? Well, most dubstep doesn't have lyrics anyways. Did they just break it down and somebody goes, Jesus? And then they go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I have some on my iPod. They remix popular Christian songs. There's a Chris Tomlin one, Our God is Greater. It's like, our God is greater. It's wild. It doesn't sound great. I'll give you that. I love it. I listen to it in my truck, and I jam along to it. I feel like it's going to be just like you're 30 minutes outside of a root canal.

Like after they've taken you out of there, and you're like semi-coherent, and you're trying to listen to the radio. That's my guess is what it sounds like. Let's see. What do journalist Daniel Pearl, Holocaust victim Anne Frank, and now members of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family have in common? They're all old. They're all posthumous members of the Church of Mormon. What? Yeah. A number of now-dead members of the Dutch Royal Family, formerly members of the Dutch Orthodox Church, have been baptized by overly enthusiastic church members. The trow news? Is that really trow? That's possible. Does that mean pants? Yeah. That's cool. Trousers? Several members of the Dutch Royal Family have been made members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after their deaths. In order to do this, members of the Church have performed substitute baptisms for Prince Klaus, Prince Bernard, and Princess Juliana.

This is evidence from non-public information gleaned from the genealogical database of the global church. They have a controversial custom whereby, in place of an ancestor who did not undergo the procedure while alive, Church members can immerse themselves in holy water, the body and sisters, but research can still enter heaven. Just for a heads up, Dan is watching a YouTube video, How to Dance at a Rave, just so he'll be ready for this thing. Okay, you're going to have to pull it up so we can see Dan's future dance moves. In the meantime, I'm going to throw some advice out there, or some questions that people have called in, or written in to ask, to see how we can help them. Is it the first one, Dan, with the white background? Yes. Okay, hold on. I'm learning a few things here. Dance? Hey, man. There's a guy on a chair. This is sweet. This website is dancewithleroy.com. Yeah, get yourself about three minutes in, and we'll take a little bit of Leroy here. Okay. All right, you go ahead with that. Okay.

I agreed to be a maid, uh, Dear Life on the Path, I agreed to be a maid of honor at my best friend's wedding. I'm now planning her bridal shower and just received the guest list from her mother and the groom's mother, Alicia. Alicia has given me the names of about 30 guests and says there are more people she wants to invite. Live from the Path, the entire list will amount to nearly 70 guests. I thought showers were supposed to be for close friends and family only. Would it be out of line to suggest to Alicia that if she wants to invite that many people, she should give a separate shower? Ooh. I don't understand. What does she care? What do you mean? How many people are invited? Yeah. Where are you going to put them? She's having the shower at her house. Well, you're going to have to move it right out of the hole. Yeah, she needs to divide that up. Get a church. Have a rave. You've got to be courteous of the people hosting the party.

You don't invite 70 people to the one bridal shower. Why? You just put them up. Just have one every night. Just do the bride's side and the groom's side. You know how much it costs to serve 70 people in a gracious manner? That's pretty bad. Even to have a place to keep them? Maybe she's rich. Did she say why she doesn't want to do it? Maybe her house is bigger. No. She just said, should I suggest something else? Rent out the hall. I mean, be blessed for friends, doggone it. Rent the hall. You're outrageous. Get the Legion Hall on a Tuesday. No. Does that sound like that'd be a 12-hour long party? Why? Those things are horrible. Showers?

Think how long it takes to open 70 guests worth of presents. Well, then they've got to play 12 games and they've got to have more mixers. You don't have to play two games. You've got 70 people. Oh, so now the people are getting short-changed of a good party because you invited so many people. I'm sure they're going to leave. Oh, I didn't get a game. This is the worst party ever. You can't maintain relationships at 70 people. You know that. How are you ever going to meet anybody or have honest conversations? Not you personally. Some of the worst things in life is when you have these showers and they're like, oh, this is a couple shower. I'm like, we want the guys to come. You ever have done those? No. No. That ain't what it is, Dan. No. I'm saying that they have them, though. And I try to find, oh, look at that.

Oh, I got some counseling. You know, so I try not to make it. I tell lies. I tell lies to get out of things. I call sometimes. How are you doing? I'm pretty bad. Do you want me to talk to you? Yes. I got some counseling. I thought you were just saying that you give counseling sessions away as a gift at these parties, and I thought, you're a jerk. Two sessions. I can see things are going to go poorly. Here's three sessions for you. Judging by this party, you need to be in my office. Oh. Nathaniel? She needs to divide a bit. Yeah. Divide them up. Nah, do the big one. Do it.

Have a rave. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Have a rave. If whoever's still standing by morning, they can stay. Seventy people aren't coming anyway. You're going to invite seventy people. Twenty are coming. That's not the way it works at bridal parties. Everybody shows. Everybody comes to the shower. Yeah. That's a big deal. Here's what Secular says. You and the groom's mother are not on the same wavelength. She may be trying to repay social obligations while you are simply trying to perform your attendance duties. That's the truth. Social obligations. Re-invite because you invited me. That's the best way to go. Because Alicia is so insensitive, that might be a bit of a stretch. You must tell her to firmly the maximum number of guests you can accommodate at the

shower. It would not be out of line to suggest that she ask one of her friends to also host one. If she insists on inviting everybody to your shower, ask her to share the expenses with you. Remember, bridal showers are usually hosted by attendants, friends, or relatives of the bride, but not members of her or fiance's immediate family. Did she say that's what they were doing? What? Did she say that she was inviting people for social obligations? No. Well, so, I mean, all that's based on the premise that she's inviting unnecessary people, which may or may not be true. Yeah, vindicated. We got it there. Do the big one. No, that's ridiculous. Yeah, do the big one. No, split it up. Two. Do two of them. One more time. Seriously, what can the Legion Hall cost for a couple hours? It's probably $300.

Pay a high school kid to play the flugelhorn, put $70 down on the Legion Hall, and get some mints. Put something together. And then you've got to feed the 70 people. No, you don't. The Quiznos. That's like $800. No. You're doing finger. Do meatballs and smokies. That's it. Meatballs and smokies. Smokies are expensive. All right, drop the smokies. What's a melon cost? Those watermelon are huge. Run out of a warehouse. Talk to a realtor. Get a warehouse for free. Why would they give it to you for free? Because they're trying to sell it. And they think maybe you'll go in there and like it and then buy it later? Yeah.

Well, realtors aren't very sharp. I would submit any realtor that would give you that as an idiot. And most likely it should not be your realtor, you know? Okay, hold on a second. Let's see if we can get this dubstepper in here. He's calling it. Pet in the nose. What's he speaking? He's speaking rave. Is this how it's done? Nathaniel, you see dances like this? No. Here's what you do. There's a part in the song called the drop where the bass just really comes at your face. And you just wait until then and then when the bass drops, you just have a seizure. You're milking the cow. See, you've got to put the music behind it and that makes more sense. Okay, Ben, turn it down a minute. Hold on. Let's wait until he fires back up. Nathaniel, do some kind of rave sounding tunes when he starts dancing. Who's this guy on the chair? Look at this guy.

You mean like this? You're late. Yeah, I got it. Oh, the other hand. He's the stool dubstepper. I don't know why the women just don't come over to me. I'll just sit here. You guys will get worn out. I like how the guy dressed up real nice for this. Oh, yeah! It's a disabled chicken. That's where it's at. That's what people do. Oh, no, it's your normal child. That's terrible. That's not funny. You see that at raves. How many raves have you been to? None, but I watch a lot of YouTube videos. Oh, yeah, I forgot. I forgot. How can they be so insensitive? Dear Life from the Path.

My father absolutely refuses to turn off the ignition when fueling his car, despite the warning signs at the pump. How can I convince him to stop endangering himself and my mother? Nah, everybody does it. I don't do it. Depends. If it's cold outside, I don't turn it on. That's what I'm saying. I turn it off always. If I'm just lazy. If I'm at Sam's Club, I do because they come out and say, hey, so turn your car off. Yeah, all right. You've been busted by the Sam's Club guy? Oh, absolutely. So I'll do it for my five cent discount. I've never had anybody say anything to me about that. Hey, this is Trevor from Murphy, USA. We're going to have to ask you. Here's what you do. You run up behind him, and then while he's fueling up, you just shout, boom! So he thinks stuff is exploding. Boy, I've learned my lesson. Otherwise, a guy that yells boom is going to come up behind you.

You're right. He'll see how scared he was and realize the consequences are steep. Okay, this Pavlov concept doesn't entirely fly with some kind of wild man at the gas station. Yeah, he's not going to change. Give it up. Whatever. You haven't blown up yet? Give it up. I'm just wondering how many people have blown up by putting, I don't know, gas in their car. I don't even know why they put it on there. I mean, the explosions in the engine are happening 15 feet. Well, here's the thing, if it was that explosive, your gas tank would just explode all the time. You'd be dying all over the place. You couldn't get two feet away, and your gas tank would go boom. And so there's obviously inherent safeties in the fuel system to keep it from flying back there. But I would submit this. The lower, if you have less than an eighth of a tank of gas, I'd shut it off. If you have more than that, pump her up. It ain't going to cause you no problems. But there's a problem with the fumes. Because if you're putting gas in that's going directly to the engine, there's not quite as much of a buffer there. I'd probably shut her down. But if you have an eighth of a tank or better, I'd fill her up.

If you have a diesel, I wouldn't even worry about it. Why is that? Because they don't spark. They don't have spark plugs. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, they just work on compression. They just compress gas. And so there's no spark involved. So really, the danger of you filling your vehicle is not there. So it compresses the gas, and then it ignites it or something? Yeah, diesel fuel has a higher combustion point than regular gasoline. Gasoline has to be fired to ignite. Where diesel fuel, it gets compressed to the point where they inject the fuel with compressed air already. And so air gets compressed, and the fuel gets compressed, and then it ignites itself. Huh. So there's no spark plugs in diesel engines, and so there's really not. That's why you see truckers leaving their stuff running all the time when they fill up with that kind of tank. Plus, it can't survive the cold. So, yeah, if you have a diesel, don't worry about it. And also, according to my father, diesel smells like Mike Fust. Yeah, take this story. So, genius Nathaniel here, it was mowing the lawn, right? Run out of gas.

Okay. And I go down to the shed, and there's two different gas cans. One has diesel in it, and one has gas. I don't know which was which. So I just wait for my pop to come home. And I say, hey, which one is diesel and which one is gas? And he opens up the gas one, and he goes, put your snobs in there. Give that a whiff. What's that smell like? And I went, uh, and he goes, a gas station. Now, he opens up the other one, and he puts it in my nose and goes, now smell that one. What's it smell like? Mike Fust. I smell like the diesel on Burling. And I thought, man, that's a real bummer. I smell like some kind of diesel station. I think the chat's right. Dan has learned about diesel engines and rave dancing. It's an educational day for me. You're twice the man you used to be. I think I am. I will incorporate that into the next worship service. Who's ready for grace?

Who deserves it? Nobody. Who wants to explode like diesel? Do you feel like Jesus is going to run you over like a diesel? Let me see you rave. The secular advice is, motorists are instructed to stop motor while refueling for good reason. Okay. Gasoline is highly flammable. However, it's not actually the liquid that burns. Even at temperatures as low as 45 degrees, gasoline gives off vapor. It is the vapor that can ignite. Gasoline vapor is heavier than air. So when it ignites, it does so at ground level. All it takes to create a violent explosion is fuel vapors, enough oxygen, and a source of ignition. A spark from a cigarette, a hot exhaust pipe, that's ridiculous. Faulty wiring, possible. Static electricity, definitely. Or the vapor reaching an open flame all can cause gasoline vapors to explode. Please show this to your father. I'm sure as a stubborn old man, he would love to take advice from a 50-year-old woman writing a newspaper column who doesn't have a real blue-collar job. This sounds like it's certainly advice my old man would accept. Here we go. Old dudes are weird.

Wait, now isn't… Now, if it's the vapor, the vapor will hang along, hang around after you've stopped pumping your gas. At least for a few seconds, right? Right. So if you hang up the thing, there's a little vapor hanging around, isn't you starting the car way more likely to start a fire than leaving it running? That's what I always kind of figured. So, I mean, it seems like you have to put your car in neutral and push it out of there. And then fire it up. Have a little fan. Well, actually, it's way more dangerous. Yeah, actually, the gas station should be a haven of dangerous activities. Like, you should have to turn the engine off when you pull within 300 feet, coast in, and then fill it up, and then get dudes to push you out. You've got to ice down your exhaust system first, too. Yeah, no doubt. But they let any yahoo in the free world drive a car. He seems to get gassed in and out. I don't know. I feel like it's overdue. I'll tell you what. Look it up for me real quick. We'll find out what the point of ignition is for gasoline, like the combustible point. And I'll read the next one. Okay.

Let's see. My daughter recently became engaged to a wonderful young man. I've looked forward to planning her wedding for years. Uh-oh. She always said she wanted to be married in her hometown, but now she says they want to get married near where he lives, which is four hours from where I live. I feel she has been persuaded to do this. I'm paying for the wedding and work full-time, and I'm really stressing about planning the dream wedding she wants from far away. Weddings are usually in the bride's hometown for obvious reasons, but I'm concerned her mind was changed by his family for their convenience. What did I do? What do I do? Nathaniel? I'm not very good with these questions. I don't have good advice. I would say just quit complaining. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Her daughter's getting married. True. They're having it in the hometown of the husband? True. But the wife's paying for it. The wife's mom is paying for it. And she thinks, well, did she just talk to her daughter about it?

I don't get it. Use your words. Hey, how come you're putting it there instead of here? Well, his family really would like to have it there. Now, we found a beautiful spot with me and my future husband that I think would just be a glorious place to be married. That sounds awesome. I can't afford that. Why don't you do it here? I can rent out the Legion Hall. 80 bucks. I got some meatballs and some smokies. Scratch smokies. We're doing melon. Well, what if we covered half the cost, Mom? I really want our wedding to be here. Oh, that's fine. That sounds fine, then. I think it's a pretty simple solution. You're an adult. You have it where you want. If you want me to pay for it, it's going to be here. Are you serious? I wish you guys would hardline your daughter on where she holds her wedding.

It's her wedding, man. She can do where she holds her. Is it a price issue or isn't it? It doesn't appear to be that way. It appears to be how far away it is. A convenience issue. A convenience. Exactly. If it's that far away, they can have two receptions. Do a wedding and a reception at home where all your people who know you are. Why don't you just do what you said you were going to do? You don't have it. It's not the money, man. It's the convenience. It's four hours away. She says it seems like it's going to be hard to plan because it's four hours away. It would be pretty hard. Well, then I don't care. Then she should just pay for it. She should just do it. She should respect her daughter's wishes. If it's not a money thing, then, oh, I'm sorry. Your plan is inconvenient to me.

She only gets married once. Go do it. Quit being lazy. I think that's pretty selfish on the daughter's part. If she wants her mom to pay for it. Why? Go wherever she wants. But don't expect it. It's like I want the tradition of my mom paying for my wedding, but I don't want the tradition of me going to my mom's home. I don't know. That's actually a tradition. It's just something she wants. I've never heard it. That's a tradition. No. I've never heard it. No, it's not. Yeah, it is. No, it's not. Oh, it is. Chat says, in the Bible days, I believe the marriage was held at the husband's home. Wizard.

That's my punchline at the end. I'm with this fellow. Go ahead, Grace Dan. Tell us if that's not the truth. Well, the wedding night took place in the mother's parents' bed. Often, I'm going to mix it up with something else. They'd come out and do it with the whole story. Secular says. Thanks, Dan. Wave the blanket. You see, this is why I'm not worried about my Bible teaching. I'll just read it for myself. You know what I'm saying? I have a… Secular says, have a frank talk with your daughter and ask her why she changed her mind. Tell her that you have dreamed of planning her wedding for years, but the change of venue is causing stress for you. Yeah, guilt tripper. That's solid. Yeah, I don't like that. It's like… Then ask if she would prefer you just give her a check for the amount you can afford and whether it would be more practical for her to do the wedding planning herself.

I tell you what I'm going to do. You take the money and you plan it. No, here's the… If it's a money thing, like you can't pay for it that far away, then that's different for me. She just offered to cut a check. What I'm saying is if it's merely that, it's four hours away, you would prefer to have it there. I don't see any reason why you should argue with that. I think it's the idea of them being involved together in the planning rather than just writing the check. And she's asking… Well, but she's saying she doesn't want to do it because it's four hours away. It's inconvenient for her. Right. That's what I'm saying. So she's saying, why don't you come here and have the wedding? Like, you know, generally it's done and we'll all be happy. You surprised me with your tradition bandwagoning. Oh, well, that's just… That's how it's done. And you'll do it how everyone else is doing it. I'm just saying, why is she assuming then that mom should pay for it?

Just because that's tradition. That's the only reason. Otherwise, well, you're an adult. Go pay for your wedding. Have it wherever you want. Go to Hawaii. I don't care. Boy, that seems like some really selfish parenting to me. You're going to do what I tell you to do for your wedding for the day. Like, I don't care what you want. You're going to do what I want. Otherwise, I'm not going to fund it. Yeah. Yeah. That seems pretty selfish. That's saying, hey, I know this is your wedding, but this is about me and what I want and what I'm willing to do. She's not like being outrageous. She's just saying, I don't want to have it in my hometown. I want to have it over here. Does it say how far it is? I mean, it sounds like it's four hours. Four hours.

That's pretty far. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was right the first time. No, I'm just saying that there's a lot of stuff that I don't even know that goes on in wedding planning. They do a lot of back and forth and getting together and doing stuff. I mean, I didn't take part in any of that. At my wedding, I just say, okay, I'll show up and say I do. That's all I care about. That's usually what guys care about. Yeah, Dan. Go ahead. Bring it home, Dan. Hit me with the rest. It's a spoiled daughter saying, I want you to pay for it. I want you to do it on my terms. And rather than coming to an agreement saying, okay, let's work this out together. It's a mom who has her feelings hurt because there's another family involved and she feels like her daughter is spending time with them and not spending time with her, share her feelings with her, and she's overreacting. That's it. That's it. Like, I get her perspective.

Her daughter could probably facilitate that better. You've got to put the color on the attitude of the daughter that's not in the story. Anyway, but why are you guys so insistent on the mom paying for it then? I mean, the daughter can get married wherever she wants. I'm not. No, I think she still should. I think it's childish for the mom to not pay for it, but if she doesn't want to because it's not, if she's going to take her ball and go home because she doesn't get exactly what she wants, that's her right to do so. I think it's selfish. But, you know, I think they're both being selfish. That wasn't how you were selling it. Like, you were daddy crying pants over here at the top of her, some kind of spoiled ninja trying to leave town. Here we go. Dear, oh wait, hold on, combustible, hold on, I got the answer. This seems really high. Maybe I don't get this. It says that gas is combustible at 495. Ignition temperature is 495. That's probably about right. So, like, the temperature of your exhaust at the tail end of your car, right, like after the catalytic converser, probably around muffler back, is somewhere around 250, 275.

So it's not going to start a fire? No. No. I would say no. It's not going to happen. Okay. I would say no. But static electricity's got that 500 degrees? The electricity does. Yikes. Yeah. I don't know anything about it. No wonder it hurts when you go, ow. No doubt. I just got burned, singed. Well, I mean, that's all that a spark plug is, right? It's basically static electricity. Here's the thing about this, right? If static electricity jumps to you, electricity jumps an inch per 1,000 volts. And so if you see a spark of static electricity that even went half an inch, how many volts does that have to be? 500 volts, right? So that's a serious static charge.

And so it's something to know. That's some serious voltage. Now, there's not any amperage behind it. Amperage is what will kill you. I mean, the volts will hold you hostage, but the amperage is what will move your heart. But yeah, I mean, I wouldn't fool around with it. I always fill the gas tank on the ground. That's a solid recommendation. But the car running, I wouldn't be worried about it. So one of my favorite things to do in the wintertime is to put a blanket over my head at night and watch all the fireworks go on. And you go on the blanket. That's a lot of electricity going on. I thought you were going to say I put a blanket over my head and put gas in the car. Like some kind of creepo with a big blanket. I don't know that what he suggested is any different or any less creepy. There's any gas involved, but I've never thought about it being a creepo. I just know for a fact my kids won't be babysat at Uncle Dan's house. Hey, Dad, you put a blanket over my head. And we ran around in a plastic bag. I said, okay. Haven't you ever done that? No.

Really? We had TV in my house. I didn't know that. I didn't do that, guys. You never had the lights off and then moved the blanket and it goes, you know, you're like, oh, that's kind of cool. I have. I know what you're talking about, Dan. Yeah, thank you. And then your old man came in with a banjo and the night had begun. But he said, who deserves grace? Who has an electric blanket? Who's going to bed? Dan. Daniel, put on your sin blanket and go to bed. I'm now even more embarrassed than I was. Here we go. I can't imagine the time when Dan learned the phrase fireworks in the bedroom was not what he thought it was. Hey, wait a minute. I love fireworks. I was so excited for my wedding night. I brought a new blanket and everything.

Hey, what are you doing? No. No. This is weird. This is not what I thought I was. No, seriously. Drag your feet on the floor and then go in. Dear life in the past, I am 19 and have a dear friend, Emily, who was offended by cursing. She literally has never said a curse word in her life. When I'm around her, I never use swear words because I respect her and her friendship. My issue is that Emily gets very upset if people swear around her. There have been nights that she ended up in tears because someone used foul language. She also angrily confronts people on the issue. I commend my friend on her decision not to curse, but I think it's unrealistic of her to expect everyone in the world to bend to her morals. I also think it's wrong for her to try to force them. Abby, what are your thoughts? This might be a deeper question. Who is this, Abby? I have more concern about the person, about the girl who is not swearing and the impact of her reaction on her than I am about the people around her. Because, like, obviously, you've got to be pretty high-strewn if you're so upset about somebody swearing.

I mean, like, I'm going to grant you it's probably not healthy for the person who's using the language, but, like, it's not doing anything to you. I mean, don't raise up the persecution flag when you're not actually being harmed. Leave. But, like, there's obviously some sort of, like, something else. You're harming your ability, frankly, to talk to other people and be social. So, you know, and, you know, you can't expect to influence other people's lives, you know, by haranguing them. I don't know. I think it depends on your worldview. If you have a Jesus worldview and you don't swear and that's your deal, like, if other people are swearing, you need to learn that, you know, God's had grace for you. You need to have grace for others until they know. You know, if they don't know Jesus, that's what's going to happen. And you get yourself in some pretty pharisaical territory when you put yourself up on a pedestal that God did not give you, you know. I mean, you have sin in your life that is not swearing. And so, like, being a prideful beast about you're not swearing. And so you need to have some grace for some people like God had grace for you. Now, the swearing thing, like, it's the confrontation that probably should be more concerning, right? Yeah. But on the other hand, like, that's kind of hard, right? Like, I think that's always the double-edged sword for telling people about Jesus.

You know, you have to have grace for them, but you have to, you know, you have to tell them where they're running astray as well. You know, so you have to be able to do it in a non-judgmental, not an angry fashion, maybe as Emily has prescribed. But, I mean, there has to be a way to do that. I think she is kind of following the theme of some of the other people is very selfish. What do you expect out of someone who is not a Christ follower? And her concern isn't that they don't know Jesus. Her concern is that they're saying something that she's offended by. It's like, well, get over there. I mean, the world is filled with people who don't, you know, I mean, I don't want people to act like me. I want people to believe in Jesus and go to heaven. And now that Jesus worry about what their actions are, he'll fix that stuff. Oh, what did I get, somebody said something to me, was talking today at work about, oh, you know, last week someone was really upset by the elevator about such and such. And they were looking at me for a reaction. I'm like, okay, and? I was like, oh, I just thought you should know. I said, what about, how was it that my behavior at all, given the impression that I care? I was like, well, you know, someone should say something. I'm like, why? Someone had, someone had a, like, some sort of moment in their lives where they weren't,

like, top of the line. And I'm going to go have a talk with them about it. Hey. Hey, now. You weren't acting like the perfect person. Oh, you had some emotion about something. Oh, I see. Well, then. Yeah, and it's not so much that, like, yeah, I mean, people, you got to guard your behavior. I'm more concerned that the person who was behaving in the way that someone was talking about has ruined their chance, to a certain extent, to be an effective example to people. I mean, people are always going to fail you. But, like, you know, if people have this impression of you as being a certain type of thing and they write you off or they put you in that category, everything you do is going to be painted with that brush. So you got to be careful on how you act. But, like, ultimately, it was, like, way petty. And I'm like, what do you – seriously, why don't you start by looking at people and assuming that whatever it is that happened on that given day was the very worst of them, right? And, like, that is not an example of their personality. You know what? I find this – and this happens as I have matured in our marriage that, like, I start

– stop taking everything that my wife has done and think, oh, it's indicative of, like, some flaw in her character. Of her behavior. Yeah. Oh, no, I didn't know she was like this. Right. She said – you know, like, something she didn't do or something that she said that took up five seconds of her day and suddenly now it has painted her as if she's a completely different person than the person I love and married. You know what I'm saying? But that's what we do with people. You see, one thing that they're doing is, like, oh, that guy's a jerk. Now, he might have done a jerky thing. And, frankly, he could be a jerk. Who knows? He could be. But, like, don't take the one jerky thing he did and say, oh, he's always a jerk. Remember that time he's a jerk? And I'll tell you what, the worst place for this, I really hate this about my job, is in a corporate environment, people love this feedback. Oh, we're going to give you feedback. And they feel like they're not doing you service if they don't tell you, if they don't share something.

So what do they do? If they have nothing to share, nothing bad, or nothing that's happened in the last year and a half, they reach for the one thing that they remember that happened two years ago or three years ago so that they're contributing. Well, I want to help by giving you something. Well, you know, we did have that one time where something happened. And they paint with such a broad brush. And you have a building that has 95% of those people who are holding on to something that happened five years ago in the name of improvement. I'm going to help this person by remembering that one thing that they did and providing feedback to them on it and see if they've changed as a person, as if that particular moment was an instance of which they were defined in their humanity. What did you do, man? It's not at me. Yeah, what did you do two years ago? It was by the elevator. It honestly is not at me, but part of my responsibility is to have to give that to other people. So people will come to me and say, I think you should know this about so-and-so so you can talk to them about it. And I could care less. I just don't care. You say it like that? I don't care.

I can't. I have two reactions. Oh, hello, corporate man. Please feed me more money. I said I didn't say it like that. I have two general reactions. My first reaction is, did you talk to them about it? Because I don't know why this is my problem. If you were personally offended or something, why don't you go talk to them about it? Because I'm not offended. I'm not going to put it in the same light as you. Tell them why they hurt you or whatever, and then you can work it out as people. And if they refuse to do that, my second thing is, this is just a moment in somebody's life. So unless you've got three other instances or something that establishes a pattern for me where I need to be concerned about how people are dealing with you because they have a problem, I'm going to chalk it up as just a moment in someone's life. Why don't you be a little bit gracious and assume they were having a bad day and move on? That's it. But the world is like they write stuff down, and they put it in a file, and they say three years ago, well, you, sir, remember that you've always had a problem with attitude. And something happened today that someone had sent me, and I'm like, I'm really disappointed. I'm disappointed in people's behavior to think, you know what, I'm going to record

this thing, and I'm going to send it off to somebody, and then they're going to know that I saw it, and I'm going to be looking out for it. Because the comment was, someone had been acting one way, and they said, I noticed that person for the rest of the day, and they were still like that. Like, I was sitting at my desk, and I totally could see it on their face that they were like that, just like they were a few hours back, acting like that. And I could just, boy, I really don't like this guy. It's so, it's very, he seems to have a pattern of bad behavior. And it's very broad. People are just like that. And the corporate environment, like, encourages that. Like, oh, you need to provide. Make sure you tell us about that stuff. It's like, oh, it's just very deflating for, like, that kind of stuff going on around me. And I just don't have the stomach. I don't like it. In kindergarten, you tell children, you know what, just, how about you, man, am I enjoying your own business? Yeah, just move on. Then they grow up, and they're like, why don't you be to the tattletales? Yeah, why don't you just… Keep your eyes open. Yeah.

If you see something, say something. People, people are going to be in a bad mood today, and they need to be told about it. It's like… You know, it's kind of funny, talking about kids, I was actually marveling at my daughter and I, when I was talking to her, like, it blew her away that some people don't know Jesus. Like, she's blown away. She just can't understand that people, there's people out there that don't know who Jesus is. And she goes, because we always pray, there's a friend of hers in her class that I've deciphered through various evidences that I'm guessing his family doesn't know Christ, just by his behavior. And so we pray for him. We just pray that he'll get to know Jesus, and hopefully his family gets to know Jesus, and we'll do our best to facilitate any way we can. And so we pray for this guy every night. And my daughter, we finally, she asked me, like, how does he not know Jesus? And I said, well, some people don't, just don't know who he is, you know, they haven't been introduced to him, and they don't understand that God loves them, and then Jesus died for them. And she goes, Dad, everybody knows Jesus. I said, no, they don't. Haven't you read Romans? There's no excuse. Don't sass me, you know.

I'm just saying, don't give me that back, Sam. And then I thought, I am the worst evangelist ever, you know. I'm getting pro-Jesus kickback from my own kids, and I'm like, shut up. You know, I just told you that Jesus, some people don't know him. She's like, Dad, everybody knows Jesus, and that God is in heaven. People know those things. I said, I tell you something. I said, okay, well, let's just keep praying for him, and maybe he'll come and talk to you about it. And she goes, okay, but people know Jesus. I thought, I really love you. I love you, children. You know, you do a good job. I don't know, I did something about the faith of the kids. It just drives me nuts. It's humbling, you know. Everybody knows Jesus, and I said, sometimes we'll read the Bible, and I'll ask. Like, we just read it the other night about when Peter cut off the ear of one of the soldiers, you know, when they're coming to pick up Jesus. And I said, what do you think Jesus did? She goes, whatever he wants. He probably threw that guy away, and then he probably escaped. I said, Chris, we've read this story before.

You know that Jesus gets crucified. She goes, yeah, but he could have done that. I said, he put his ear back. She goes, oh, Jesus, you always do that. Like, oh, crazy old Jesus. When will he learn? He always fixes people. And then her second response was, what happened to his friends? She goes, I would have kicked him and punched him and said, get away from Jesus. I thought, I like your style, little lady. You know, get away from Jesus. And then I thought, well, but that wasn't the deal. So we had to talk about that Jesus allowed all these things to happen. Could have stopped him at any time, but allowed these things to happen. And she's like, okay. But, you know, she's like, if Jesus would have had a four-year-old named Grace by his side, he'd have come out of this thing alive without being persecuted at all. I thought, well, we're going to get you on a coalition. I think you're smart. Did you say that girl never sworn in her life? Yeah. You never think she tried it out at home secretly? That's weird.

Go in the closet, dagnammit. Swearing's weird. It's not even like singing bad, bad Leroy Brown. Yeah. So that you can use the D word. I always change the word. Did you really? Oh, yeah, it's like, I can't say that. Oh, man, my mom approved it. She goes, that's the only time I want to hear you boys swearing. You can swear if it's in music. In the whole downtown. Downtown. You say downtown? Yeah. You at least kept it with dang town. In the whole downtown. No one deserves grace down there. I do the radio thing and I just kind of stop and then jump back in. Beep. There are a few songs where I will edit it because the direction of the wording is like something I just, I don't want it even coming out of my mouth so I don't have to let it go. If it's not mean-spirited swearing, I tend to not have as much of a problem with it.

Because some swearing is not like, it's not vulgar really. It's just like an um or a uh or just a filler word. Like I was at Dolls this morning eating some breakfast in the cafe and there were a bunch of old dudes in there. And they're like, every single, like every other word out of their mouth was a dirty word. A dirty. But they, they were not using it in a dirty fashion. It was just like, and the stock markets. Really taking a beep. And you're like, okay. And cases, I think they were bought out and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Old dudes swearing are kind of funny. They really do. They just go at it too. Old dudes get away with a lot of, like if me and my friends were sitting around in the Dolls talking like that, I think a Dolls Pearson would come up to us and go, you boys need to get out of here. No loitering. No loitering. We don't like that language. We don't like that language, but old dudes do it. Would you not? They were in the war.

You would be, you know, foul Nathaniel. They're just like salty Bill. He was in the Navy, you know. All right, let's, let's get to secular advice and then we'll haul out. Dear person, if Emily prefers not to be in the company of people who use four letter words, that's her privilege. And if she finds it offensive, she has the right to speak up and make it known. But to wind up in tears because someone used foul language, as long as it wasn't directed toward her, is overreacting. And for her to angrily confront someone about it would only invite more of the same. Emily would be much happier if she spends more time in the company of people who feel as she does. Or become a Jehovah's Witness. Good luck finding sinless people to hang out with. Secular. All right, here we go. God is imaginary. I knew it. I mean, proof number one. Here we go. Here's 50. Here we go. Proof number one.

Try praying. How might we prove that God is imaginary? One way would be to find a contradiction between the definition of God and the God we experience in the real world. But what would happen if we got down on our knees and prayed to God in this way? Dear God, almighty, all-powerful, all-loving, creator of the universe, we pray for you to cure every case of cancer on this planet. Tonight, we pray in faith, knowing that you will bless us as you describe in Matthew 7-7, Matthew 17-20, Matthew 21-21, Mark 11-24, John 14-12-14, Matthew 18-19, and James 5-15-16. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray sincerely, knowing that when God answers this complete, heartfelt, unselfish, non-materialistic prayer, it will glorify God and help millions of people in remarkable ways. Will anything happen? No. Of course not. This is very odd. Jesus makes specific promises in the Bible about how prayer is supposed to work. It says in many different places that he and God will answer your prayers, and Christians believe Jesus. Fifty percent, four percent of American adults believe the Bible is literally true, and something is seriously amiss based upon his promises about prayer. And I'll give you just a couple of examples.

One was Matthew 7-7. It says, Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? And one more verse example. For truly I say to you, Matthew 17-20, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you. Is the lack of God curing cancer by everybody's prayer tonight proof that God is imaginary, and in contradiction to what the Bible says about prayer? Nobody? Nathaniel? Daniel? God is not a genie. He is sovereign. He does as he pleases.

We can ask. He can always say no. He answers a prayer sometimes with no, or wait, or I know more than you do. And he knows if you're just testing him. Like, okay God, here, do this trick. If you do this trick and heal everybody, I'll know you're God. He's like, I already know I'm God. You got, you know, you got the word. You know I'm God. The premise here, so he's looking back at Matthew 7, 7, says, for everyone who asks, receives. I mean, do you think his premise is wrong, his proposition is wrong simply because it is being done not out of direction from God, but because he's just trying to test God? Yeah, yeah. I mean, Jesus himself, was it Capernaum, where he left because people had no faith? They just, I mean, he was being ineffective, and he was like, well, let's move on. And, you know, there's got to be some faith involved as well, and some belief of who he is and what's going on. So just praying for some random nameless person in a hospital isn't really even a request. It's a generic, you know, hey, help all the cancer people, or who, who, who specifically? No, let me ask you this. So, well, first, I think it's reinforced by the example where some of the Pharisees are trying to get Jesus to do a certain, a miracle to, like, prove that he who is God.

He's like, I've already, I've done this. I mean, you're not doing this because, for anything but to try to, it's something that I've already done. You know, it's not going to change your mind, whether I do it or whether I don't do it, you know? Right. And so, but that brings up the question, though, because if we're saying, would it be right to say that prayer is, in the way that Jesus is talking about, about it being answered or praying in the Spirit would be, you are simply putting voice to agreement with God, something that he has put on you to pray about. Like, it's not like you are, are you petitioning and he is responding, or are you simply talking about something that he is already doing? Because he says, asking you shall receive, but is that because you were going to receive it, he just put it on your, on your mind to ask it? Kind of, kind of yes and yes type of, type of thing. I mean, the more you are in tune with God, the more you're in relationship with him, the more you, you know his heart and you will ask what is in line with his character. The less you know him, the more you're just going to make outlandish, you know, hey, he had all the cancer patients. So, so, well, okay, but so let me ask this, then, I mean, you get stuff where like, hey, so-and-so is in trouble, will you pray for them tonight? How is that any different? It seems like it's just a little more local, but I mean, you don't necessarily know that

person. God hasn't really put it on your heart. You're just responding because someone sent out a Facebook message or a text. Maybe that's how God put it on your heart. Well, then why couldn't the cancer thing been the same? Well, yeah, but that's, again, going to a specific person that, that has been by name brought to you as opposed to a generic, all the cancer patients, whoever that is. I don't really know any, but I know they're out there somewhere. It's very, that's a very vague prayer. So, I mean, is there a biblical backing for saying, do not pray in vagary? I don't, I don't answer vague things. I think that there's a, a biblical precedent of being specific. I mean, is it because, is it because if you're not specific, then you are treating God like a genie? Like, then you are saying, uh, you're not, you're not petitioning him with your needs or your, or things, um, you're, you're just saying, you're just throwing stuff out there. God, will you do this? Yeah. Do me a magic trick. Like, do you really have compassion on every cancer person in the world? Or do you, like, you're just saying, I mean, I think it's perfect if I didn't say, I hope that this is so, that, that people could be cured. But I always said, like, I was trying to think of a biblical example of prayer that was not

specific. Yeah. Is there always, even the Lord's prayer, which is the model prayer was, you know, he paid for daily needs and specific things. Yeah. But there's a lot of prayers in the Old Testament where they say, you know, heal our land, oh, Israel, you know, like praise for the entire nation of Israel. Well, that's fairly vague. True. Yeah. I feel like we're not gaining a lot of ground. Well, here's the thing. Like, I think it's the full, I think once again, it's the full counsel of God, right? Like, I think you have a misconception of who God is when you ask a question like that. Like, I think it's okay to ask a question when you're asking a question like that. But from a believer's point of view, like, I think you lose the fact that God is a God. God is God, right? Like, he's not a God through your eyes. He's God regardless whether you think it's true or not or whether you obey it to be true or not. He's a God who's interested in him and his glory. And he does as he pleases. And he's a God of justice.

And there's a lot more facets to God than just the loving, giving, handshaking, you know, I'm going to tap you on your head kind of God. Like, you feel the earthly effects of sin. That's a God of justice, right? Like, he's offered you grace to not pay the actual effect of sin, which is you being apart from him for eternity. And so he's a loving God in that respect. But you still feel the earthly effects of the things that you've done or the sin that you've caused. Some may be illness, disease, whatever. You know, you get fired from your job, whatever, you know. So he's a, and he's actually a God of justice because the grace was paid for by his son. You know, so, you know, when you make a broad prayer like, hey, you know, I pray that you can cure all the cancer tonight. Some of that, you know, some of that cancer is brought on by sin that's been committed in the world years and years and years ago. You know, diseases that have been spread and allowed to spread. But, I mean, or it could be, I mean, it's simply a consequence of people's current behavior. Yeah. Oh, you could have made poor choices and you're sick because you made a poor choice. But, I mean, then on the other hand, you know, people will get a disease and go, God, why have you given me this? And, and, and that, that is answered in the same realm because God has not given you.

Sometimes he has. Like, that's not completely out of the scope of God. You know, I mean, there's, who is it, Uzziah got a leprosy due to his sin. And so, but it's, I wouldn't say it's a general theme of, of the Bible, but it's certainly not. Actually, there was a spot, and I remember that this jumped out at me because I don't remember having seen it before, but somewhere when they talk about leprosy or disease, it says, when God sends disease to your house, do the following. I mean, they're attributing, Moses is attributing, like, God sent that to you. He's sending it through your place. So, you know, it's, some of it's not a direct cause of your direct sin. It could be a direct cause of someone else's sin, or, or it could be your own. But in, in either case, like, God is a, it's just putting him on the throne where he belongs, right? Like, yeah, he acts like a king. He is a king. And he does things like a king does, which is, look, I know what I'm doing. I've created you. I've created this earth. It's, you're going to, I'm a God of justice and fairness and, and, and love, and I'm going to give you an option to get out of this thing forever, but you have to suffer the consequences of what you've done. There's certain parts of justice that you have to walk through. Yeah.

You know, and so I think if you take that part out of it, then you are seriously limiting your thought process on who God is. Well, I think you also run the risk is, like, what his claim here is that, um, if you, your petition God, everyone would know that God did it and God would get his glory. Although God is all is after his glory, you know, he is, he also, uh, he is after the salvation of his people. And like, if, if, if it results in like everyone going, oh yeah, God did this, which is unlikely anyway, given Jesus' previous example of, of people reacting to miracles. Um, but even beyond that, if it doesn't ultimately accomplish the ends that God also wants, which is people coming to him, um, and believing him, like maybe this, you know, if that doesn't translate, then it's, uh, was to no benefit, right? There's no, there's no point in you having a great life here that you really loved without Christ in it, right? Because in the, in like, and I mean, that's, that's the same thing from an evangelistic standpoint. It's the same thing from God's standpoint, right? That's God's heart. He wants you to be with him. He has a much higher perspective, wider perspective than we do. You know, we, we look at the, the here and the now and, and, and we think the end of life is the end of all things. And he knows that's just the beginning of all things, you know, and, and, you know, it's also like as, as a dad, if your daughter comes up to you and says, dad, I'd really

like some cotton candy and, and I'd like to have a funnel cake and I'd like to have a snow cone and, and, and then, you know, maybe some peanuts and, and, you know, these, all this absolute just junk, maybe peanuts have some protein in them, but you know what I'm saying? Just sugar and just empty stuff. As a dad. Let me take a drink of my stuff. Yeah. Have a little monster drink there. At, at some point as a dad, you go, you know what? Uh, I know you're asking for all that, but, but you know what? I, I know more than you do and, and you're going to have some, some green beans. You hate fun, dad. That's right. You hate fun. I know it's best for you. But the example they gave wasn't like, uh, bad stuff. It was killing people from cancer. Well, cotton candy's not bad. It's sweet and yummy. You know, but I think this is where you run in the problem with a non-biblical worldview, right? Like that's, that's just an, an odd perception of God.

You say, look, we're, we're, uh, we're praying a self, uh, not a selfish prayer that will glorify God. Right? Well, here's the thing. You don't decide what glorifies God. God knows what glorifies himself in the, in the hearts of the person. Right? Like there could very well be a cancer guy who, you know, while you're praying for them, he's been sitting in his hotel room, uh, down in lima beans because he read in some book that if he eats lima beans and prays to Allah six times a day, along with rubbing the belly of a Hindu God, he will be cured. So God says, okay, cure all the people with cancer. The next day the guy wakes up and goes, praise be to Allah, you know, and Buddha. And then did God get glory out of that? No, no. Right? So you're putting in a human perspective and you're trying to throw at like, like everyone would understand that God did it. And that's not, that wouldn't be the case, right? People would, would, would two days later be glorifying, uh, whatever they were glorifying before they had cancer medicine, you know, and maybe it is, maybe it's not. And God doesn't need to, to, to do that specific. I mean, he could just show up, he could just show up and, and like inscribe the words, I

am God, yes, me on top of everybody's forehead in a split second, if he wanted to, you know what I'm saying? It's not like he needs a human serving item to demonstrate who he is. The Bible says that the, that the, his creation shows we, you can look around. At the, at the world around you and say, this came out of happenstance, but unless I see God cure all this cancer, he's not, he's not him. Um, so I mean, I, I don't know that that actually furthers, it's the premise that is off here. It's the premise that like somehow something may is, is not true about God because he doesn't bow to my demand that this thing happen. Um, or, or that he is, he, the assumption that this fully accomplished it or brings God glory, which it may or may not. It almost falls in the line of, of when Jesus was tempted, you know, and Satan's like, Hey, throw yourself from the temple. Come on and press us, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Show us that you're God. Yeah. And Jesus is like, uh, I really don't need to do that. Right. Right. It's, it's, it's our, our small, I mean, I suppose that you could, it sounds like a cop out on, on all of these.

You could say, look, he's got no burden of proof on us. He is who he is. Um, but following this line of reasoning, um, is I think is to follow someone who's saying, you know, why, why doesn't God do that? And a lot of the way that he's approaching is, is from a very, it's from a very human perspective. It's not from a God. He's not sitting on God's throne. You know, he's sitting underneath it, calling it a lie. And then, you know, the, the, the, the reactions he expects to see from God are human, the things humans would do people without a eternal perspective, people who didn't make the creation, people who don't see the consequences of people's actions and what actually happens, uh, in those circumstances. It's just someone who says, I think I figured this out. And if he doesn't agree or do the thing I said to demonstrate that I thought this out correctly, then he must be imaginary. Well, and, and, and, and like that solution is from a very prideful angle, right? Like I would take it that way too. Like Mike, I don't believe that you can do your job correctly. And I would think, yeah, I can, I'll show you. And then I would do it. And I say, ha, see, you know, and, uh, this guy's doing the exact same thing. God, I don't believe that you have the power to do this. And, and God is not easily, uh, peer pressured into much, you know what I'm saying?

Like it's pretty hard to get God to go, oh, fine. Stop bothering me here. You know? And so I, I think it's very much that way. You're trying to put God to the test. You're trying to say, prove who you are and take every bit of faith out of it. And, and good luck. You're not going to push a God of, uh, of supreme deity and being into doing what you want him to do. Well, and this guy's acting like this is like something God can't do. You know, go back to the child example that you just, your, your child has a piggy bank with, you know, 15 pennies in it. And they're thinking, man, that's a lot of money. I'm going to, I want to really pull one over on dad. Hey dad, I want a hundred bucks. You're thinking, okay, I can give you a hundred bucks, but I'm really not going to. Right. Yeah. You don't know what to do with a hundred bucks. Right. I mean, you think 15 cents is, is pretty big time. You know, he'll give you a dime. Right.

You know, that hundred bucks doesn't mean anything to you. It's not worth a hundred dollars to you. And a hundred bucks, yeah, is like, I'll give you 500, but, but I mean, you know, you're just like, and that's really what he's saying. Heal all the cancer people. I know you can't do it. He's like, yeah, yeah, I can. I could, I could heal everybody of everything if I wanted to. Well, and ultimately all he's doing is pushing the timeline here because it will happen. Right. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. Like, it's not like the thing that he's saying, everyone will see God and then believe. The Bible clearly states that everyone will see God and not everyone will believe. You know what I'm saying? So like, like you are going to have these circumstances. It's not like God will not be revealed. It's not like, you know, everyone who is, uh, who is, who is following Christ will not be healed. He's just, he's just begging the timeline. He's, he's pushing that it's going to happen here at his whim, not at God's will. This guy needs one of those little, uh, God and, and Job encounters. You know, who are you?

Are you serious? You know, uh, I'll, I say the word and I let go of the four winds and the whole earth collapses or however, you know, who tells the ocean, who tells the waters where you're going to stop. Yeah. I would like to look at water and say, you come no farther. I mean, seriously, the water would laugh at me. So that, I mean, that, that does beg the question as a, uh, as someone following Christ, you know, when you see stuff like in Mark 11, 24, it says, therefore I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. How am I supposed to apply that? Well, you know, in what circumstances in my life am I, you know, can I say, you know, what, what should I be praying or what should my prayers be or what type of position should I be in for me to, for this to apply to me? Cause like, it's obviously not generally true that anything I ask for in prayer will be provided. If God can say, you know, no later, then it's not, he's not providing me for whatever I asked for in prayer. So the question is, is, is in what circumstances is something like that true? Cause it has to be true. I went 14 different directions all at once and then they all exploded and so I have no answer. I think it's the biblical teacher here.

I don't know the, the, the, the, the verse we're looking at again is, uh, Mark 11, 24. Therefore, I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. Uh, I think that's, I, that echoes the faith of a mustard seed, correct? Yeah. And that's basically saying the exact same thing as the faith of a mustard seed. If you believe that Christ has the power to do so, you, uh, you, you know, he probably would, I would propose not in a sinful manner. Uh, like I, I don't, you're probably not covered under sin in that category, but like, it's not a sin to drink chocolate milk, but if I asked for the Lord to provide me free chocolate milk in the front yard, I don't think it's going to happen. I bet if you believe that, I bet if you believe it, it would, it could. Yeah. I think you should, you don't believe it. You never have chocolate milk at your place, Ben. You don't believe the mustard seed. I think you should always enter every prayer with absolute faith that God has the ability to do it. That, that there's no doubt in your mind, God can, God can do as he could do it or that he's, he's pretty, well, but it's not though, because this, that verse is clear. It will be given. He's, I mean, he's not pulling punches there. I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you've received it and it will

be yours. He's not saying I can do it and I might. He's saying that whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you've received it and it will be yours. Right. But you got to put that in context with the rest of the scripture. I mean, you can't just pull out one verse and say, Hey, this is, this is my genie verse, you know? Well, so that's what I'm asking is like, like what, what makes that and what instances is that not true? Yeah. That's where I think you're approaching. This is how I approach prayer in my own life. Okay. God, I mean, I really love chocolate milk and I'd love to have some chocolate milk in my yard tomorrow morning. You are God. You are sovereign. If you know that's not best for me, then change my heart. Um, on the other hand, I'd love to have it. That'd be kind of cool. Surprise me. Um, but I submit to your Lordship.

So it's kind of that kind of attitude kind of covers the whole sovereignty thing and realizing he's smarter than I am. Um, at the same time saying, this is what I really like to have. I just didn't seem like an answer to the question. Yeah. What part of that statement is not true? Like it can't be any of it. I mean, God has God, God can say no. It doesn't say that. It doesn't in that particular verse. You got to put it in context with the rest of scripture. It says, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. It seems like an odd contradiction that you wouldn't say unless it's against me or my will. It just says, ask and you'll believe it. Now, hold on. Now, on the other hand, you're right. Hold on. You got to back up here. Look who he's talking to. Like he's not talking to a crowd of people, a crowd of Gentiles, a crowd of people that he's talking to his disciples, people who've already claimed to know who he is, follow

him. Where were we on? Chapter what? 11? Yeah. 11. Okay. So, so they've seen some things. They understand some things. He's talking to his disciples. And so I think that puts it in a different frame, different frame than a throw out to everybody in the world. You know, like this applies to you right now, regardless if you believe in me or not. I think, I, because I think if once you, once you understand Jesus, those prayers don't come out of your mouth anymore. You don't ask for the sports car anymore. And maybe, maybe you're secretly thinking at the end of the prayer, you say, and father, chocolate milk thing. I'm only half kidding about that, but, uh, that'd be kind of cool. That'd be pretty sweet. But I'm going to, I'm going to leave it. I'm going to leave it in your hands, Jesus. I'm just saying that chocolate milk is sweet.

Uh, you know, like I'm totally okay with that kind of relationship with God. And I think it's, you still have them in a, in a, in a, in a fatherly, uh, you know, lordship position. And, uh, I think God's a God of a lot of things and humor being one of them. I don't think he's going to stone you cold for saying, I'm just kind of, you know how I feel about that chocolate milk. Let's deal with this later. It's kind of like Nathaniel, your, your mom's and dad's too, but their, their prayers, uh, I see them as pretty mature prayer prayers, you know, I, I, I doubt they pray for chocolate milk in the front yard. That's kind of what you're saying. Yeah, that's, that's what I'm saying. Like after, after a while, I think you're like, you let your heart become Christ's heart and you let, you let Jesus occupy more of that heart than you're not willing to let him into. And your prayers change. Part of your prayer is God lead me in prayer. Right. So that my heart is, you know, what, what is it you want done on this, this earth, your will on heaven be done, you know, on earth. And, and here I'm praying for it. And I think that's. Here's the thing though.

Does, does God have a will for every decision that you make? So should you pray for every decision that you make? Whether you eat eggs for breakfast or toast? That's a good question. I don't think so. I think he gives us a lot of freedom to, yeah. I tend to only pray for the big stuff. I agree. I, I, I, I, I tend to, I've started to pray anyway, even if there's not a big thing going on, but just in general, uh, but definitely, in fact, I, I've kind of been praying for something specifically, which I've not done a whole lot of. And, uh, uh, I've just been praying on it specifically, uh, because frankly, here's the thing, right? If you think, if your frame of mind is I can pretty much do, do what I want as long as I'm not sitting, you know what I'm saying? As long as I'm not against God, then I can kind of do whatever I want. Like, if that's your frame of mind, I think you're missing a direction from God. Like, you're taking, not so much that you're, I just feel like you're ignoring him. Like, you don't have to ask him whether you have eggs or toast, and you don't have to ask him whether you should, you know, should turn right on red, because these things are inherent in his creation already. You know, logic is kind of given to us as a gift and can be used in such. Uh, but like, I find it hard to believe that God says, my direction for you is nothing.

You know what I'm saying? It could be just a working stiff, you know, the Lord has led me to do this. That's true. You know, but there has to, there's, there, I think there is a direction for you. I don't think there's a turn by turn direction, but I think there's a general direction because it's all about bringing him glory and bringing people to know him. And if your life does not reflect that, then I think you've missed that direction because that's, that's a biblical direction, right? As you go make disciples, right? That's a, that's a, that's a Bible direction. And if you don't go anywhere or don't do anything or don't, or have, or are not walking in that direction, then it's pretty hard to say that you're still walking. So is that the only direction? Like everything else, as long as it's not moral, like, uh, as long as you're bringing people to Christ, every other decision vocationally, uh, whatever you do, as long as it's not moral, is, do you have to pray about it? Do you have to seek, uh, God's will? I don't know if you have to, but I would say you could and I should, and yeah, I would say I would want to, like I, I would, I would always, uh, I think that's, and that's the relationship aspect. I think when you look at it is, is God is not saying, you know, petition me for every step you take. Um, but, but as, uh, as, as your father, you know, do I not, do I not go to my dad when

I need help? You know, do I not ask him questions? Do I not seek guidance? Do I not seek wise counsel? Um, he's saying, you know, I want you, I want you to bring it to me. I'm not saying you, you run every decision by me, but what I'm saying is, is like, I'm here, you know, and where else, where else are you going to go? Well, that's one of my favorite parts of the book when, when, when Jesus is talking as a, so it's a hard word, what God, what Jesus is saying. And he's, you know, and they're like, where else are we going to go? Who else are we going to follow? I mean, we, there's just, there's not anybody else. So like, if there's something going on in my life, where else am I going to take it but to God? And so I don't think that you have to, it's that I want to, it's that's, that's, that's where I would go. Um, that's where my choice would be. And I think that with, um, on the chat said in context, the scriptures are about trust. And actually I think that kind of, um, I, you know, we, even with in the scripture, you have that, um, specification in this, uh, in this part of the scripture that it said, and Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart.

So there's a qualification he's starting off when he's talking even to the disciples about this, he's saying first have faith in God. It's the premise of you are believing, you are trusting in God and then, and, and does not doubt in his heart. So I mean, the only, the only qualification within the scripture itself is centered around your doubt and on the premise of your faith. And so I think, I think it can be translated into, you know, if you are trusting God, if you have faith in God, you're not asking for spurious things, right? You're, you're, you're looking for God's guidance in your life and you're asking for things that otherwise are a part of his, his direction. Um, and then, and then ultimately you're not doubting, which is not you doubting. It's you doubting, uh, your heart, but it's doubting God or it says doubt in his heart. So I think what I meant was it's like ultimately becomes, did you doubt that God would, right? Did you, did you ask for something and then doubt that God would, would pay it off? And that's, that is the only restriction I think I can, I can take away from the scripture directly. Um, but I think it fits into kind of what we're saying is that you end up, you've just, you've matured in the types of things that you're asking as part of your basic faith, as opposed to testing God to see whether he produces, right? But your relationship with God has brought you to the point where you're asking for things that he will produce, that prayer will ultimately produce. So yeah, there you go. Love on it.

I don't know, man. Do I need to give you these proofs ahead of time? I think so. Yeah. Yeah. We better, I better do so. I like the Bible study. So hit me. You better hit, you better hit me with them and I'll do some Bible study. Okay. Well, so hold on. I'll give you this right now. So I think the second proof is also, um, the second proof is also on prayer. Uh, let's, I, we're, let's keep, let's, let's talk into that because I'd like a little bit more discussion about what we think from the, what the biblical context of prayer is for. How was it? What are the examples of how prayer is being used? Um, these, this level of interaction, like because someone sends me something on Facebook, I mean, you can say that it is, it is, that's how God may have given it to me or it could just be completely legitimate. Right. I mean, like what expectations should I have of God answering prayer?

What should I think if I feel like my prayer is not answered? Um, that kind of thing. So let's hit that and then I'll, I'll, we'll hit the second, uh, the second proof, which is next week was also focused on, on prayer being ineffective. Uh, so we'll hit that next week. Hey, you've been listening to live from the path. You catch us every Monday night from 10 to midnight. Catch us during the week at live from the path. Or you links to our YouTube channel, our blip TV and watch full episodes. You can also check out our, uh, if you go to our YouTube channel, uh, if you go to youtube.com backslash the path online, you can find full archives of our previous shows, uh, for the last three weeks, including this week. So, uh, we will see you next week. Thank you for joining us. Have a wonderful night.