Leaving Sorrow Behind

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:04.320 At the end of the day, if we carry a load of guilt or 2 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:10.359 sorrow with us from circumstances that we have no control over, that stuff will 3 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:16.239 weigh us down. I Am Yours, I am yours, I am yours, 4 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:22.079 and me, Lord, I am yours, I am yours. I'm 5 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:27.160 welcome to the Gospel Center Pro Life Podcast, a podcast designed to equip, 6 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:31.679 encourage and challenge you in pro life ministry, and always with a focus on 7 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:41.719 the Gospel. Stay tuned. I felt show passish, touch your heart. 8 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:49.479 Use He there. Welcome to the Gospel centered pro life podcast. I'm Vicki 9 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:53.640 Cos yerk. I'm here with Daniel Parks. How's it going? So we're 10 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:58.280 here in Charlotte and, as always, hoping to encourage and equip you with 11 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:06.599 these weekly podcast this one was really pretty interesting because three times this very week, 12 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.840 three of our volunteers came to me with basically the same question. Yeah, 13 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:15.040 and that's the the crux of this of this podcast. Okay, they 14 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:19.439 they said, they all three, had seen some pretty awful things. We 15 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:23.359 always see awful things on the sideback, but this was for them all pretty 16 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:29.359 particularly awful and sorrowful. And they said, how do you fully engage your 17 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:33.239 heart, do what you need to do, feel the level of compassion, 18 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:37.719 the the gravity of what you're facing while you're on the sidewalk and then, 19 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:42.120 when your shift is up, disengage right and be able to leave all that 20 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:48.719 behind you go home and live your life without guilt and without sorrow. Yeah, 21 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.280 that's basically the crux right, the crux of their question. Yeah, 22 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:53.280 yeah, I mean I think there's a sense in which, as we talked 23 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:57.680 about this episode before we started recording, there's a sense in which you feel 24 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.480 guilty when you leave the sidewalk. You feel guilty for kind of going on 25 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:06.840 with your life right, feel guilty. Okay, after you get done with 26 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.319 the sidewalk, if you're there in the morning and you're hunger you go eat 27 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:13.039 lunch. Yeah, and like realizing, okay, I just left from a 28 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:16.400 place, Hmmm, where babies were dying inside, and now here I am 29 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:21.199 at chick fil a or nonmals or whatever, eat lunch, enjoying life. 30 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.960 It's two babies died today, to tell you the truth, that that did 31 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:27.840 happen today and they're all going out for lunch today to build to immunity. 32 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:31.479 And that's the disconnect that that is what these three counselor said. How, 33 00:02:31.479 --> 00:02:35.360 how do we do this? Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, and 34 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:39.240 it's a very to me it's a telling question. It's these people understand the 35 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:43.759 gravity of what they're doing exactly, and I think that's a good thing. 36 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.759 It's a good thing that we don't just kind of we're not doing this to 37 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:49.879 check a box, and I would say the vast majority of people that are 38 00:02:49.879 --> 00:02:53.520 involved in this ministry are not just check in a box, right, right, 39 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:55.919 doing it because their hearts are engaged. So I guess the crux of 40 00:02:55.960 --> 00:03:00.360 the issue is, how do you how do you keep your heart soft before 41 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:04.080 the Lord without hardening your heart? How do you deal with the guilt of 42 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.280 like, yeah, just left a place that babies are dying and even sometimes 43 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:12.800 no babies were saves? We don't know that allows or change yeah, and 44 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.039 go home, for example, and play with your own kids, like there's 45 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:20.879 just this weightingess there that I think is a necessary weightingness, but it's also 46 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:25.360 necessary that we deal with it and, like we've always said, we cannot 47 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:30.439 be driven by guilt. I cannot be driven by guilt. Now, does 48 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:35.159 God use guilt and can God use guilt in the lives of Christians to get 49 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:38.520 them to do things that they're supposed to do. Yes, he can, 50 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:42.400 God can use guilt. Guilt is not a bad thing. It's not a 51 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:46.479 bad thing as far as like an initial motivator, but it's a horrible sustainer. 52 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:50.199 Right, right, and so guilt might get you on the sidewalk, 53 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.400 but it's not going to sustain you there. Yeah, what's going to sustain 54 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:57.479 you there and keep you from going bonkers, because that's what can happen, 55 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:01.639 is a love for Jesus and an acknowledgement of who Jesus is, right, 56 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:08.840 that he's the Lord over everything. Now, he's not controlling the abortionist forceps, 57 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:12.800 he's not influencing the abortionist to kill babies. Right, God's against that 58 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:17.240 stuff. So God's not doing the wickedness, but he is Lord over everything 59 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:21.600 and he's going to right all the wrongs. It's not our charge to right 60 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.879 all the wrongs. Yes, we should, we should right the wrongs that 61 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.759 are within our control. Hey, but what's within our control? Using our 62 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:34.560 voice, HMM, being out there, reaching out, offering literature, speaking 63 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:39.879 the truth and love, proclaiming the Gospel, like we can do those things. 64 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:44.120 But what's not in our control is the changing of a human heart. 65 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:48.360 Yeah, Paul, the this man of God who walked more closely with God 66 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:55.279 than probably anybody, said that basically all he's doing is planning seeds and watering 67 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:58.720 seats. Yeah, and God gives the increase. Even Paul, a man 68 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:01.759 of faith and power who God used to turn the world right side up, 69 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:08.000 realize that he couldn't do more than just plant seeds and water. Yeah. 70 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:10.079 So, a matter of fact, that one point. He says, I'm 71 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.759 going to butcher the scripture. It's in First Corinthians, of believe, first 72 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.319 couple of chapters. But he talks about people who are rebellion against God and 73 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:18.480 people who are receptive toward God. And he says to one we are the 74 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:24.360 fragrance of life unto life, and to other the fragrance of death leading to 75 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.800 death. And then he says, who is sufficient for these things? The 76 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.560 question is like a rhetorical question. We're not sufficient. Where the fragrance of 77 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.600 life to life, death to death, like we're going to be received in 78 00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:36.519 some ways, we're going to be rejected in some ways. WHO's sufficient? 79 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:43.240 Like who can do this work? Nobody can. The Lord the Holy Spirit, 80 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:45.519 he can do it through us, and so we've got to be yielded 81 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:47.800 to him. And so I guess what I'm getting to is it's not our 82 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:53.240 job to change hearts. We can't take ownership of the babies that were like 83 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.319 we said, we don't take ownership of the victories. Are Glory and God 84 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:00.000 for the victories that are aught, but we can't take glory for those things 85 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.399 things. It's God doing the work. Yeah, in the same way, 86 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:05.360 we can't take ownership of the apparent defeats, like fifty two babies dying. 87 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:11.519 Yeah, those women, those men that are associated with that, the abortionist, 88 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:14.639 the abortion workers, all they're accountable to God. We warned them, 89 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:16.800 we shared the truth and it's between them and the Lord. We did what 90 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:20.319 we were called to do. We planted seeds, we watered seeds. It's 91 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:24.720 between them and the Lord if the increase comes. Yeah, so once again 92 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:28.079 we could probably step right here. Daniel has summarized in five minutes, but 93 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:30.800 my long article. But actually we do have an article. Yeah, the 94 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:33.360 company says, and what Daniel did, I think can what you always do 95 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:36.879 so well, is kind of give us summary of the issue. Yeah, 96 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:43.439 and and what I did in this article was I really thought through how do 97 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:46.240 I deal with it, because I of course I have to deal with this. 98 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:48.519 Anyone who's been out here for any length of time has had to deal 99 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:53.879 with this, and I kind of broke it down into this steps of how 100 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:57.199 I deal with it. Okay, I'm sure you'll have some stuff to add 101 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.319 to that, but but well, I hope to be able to teach you 102 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:02.040 guys something at the end. Hopefully we'll have enough time. We'll try and 103 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:04.680 leave teach you kind of like you know, I've taught about putting on the 104 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:08.879 armor of God and and that sort of thing, and just something the Lord's 105 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.399 taught me over the years. I don't think I'm great or anything, but 106 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.680 the Lord's been very gracious to teach me some things and just ways to pray. 107 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:18.199 That helped me to process and unwand by mine and kind of, like 108 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:21.519 the Bible says, cast my cares on the Lord. Yeah, because we 109 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:24.439 have to do that. So I'm going to teach you guys, maybe a 110 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:28.959 little something from the gospel of John that that I do on a regular basis. 111 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.800 That really helps me and hopefully it will help you guys. Okay, 112 00:07:30.839 --> 00:07:35.040 that would be a great way to end to end all this. But I 113 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:41.000 think the very first step is to acknowledge the horror. Don't deny it, 114 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:44.839 don't intend it's not there. It is there. This is a grievous, 115 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:49.800 unspeakable sin. Yeah, unbearable sin, knowing what really happens out there, 116 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:54.759 and I think to just kind of gloss over that fact doesn't help us. 117 00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:58.600 I think we have to first acknowledge. Yes, what we are facing is 118 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:03.959 absolute horror, right, and it grieves the heart of God deeply and that's 119 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:09.360 part of why we're coming back out. We recognize the incredible depravity that that 120 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:15.040 we are seeing day after day. So, like in in all this isn't 121 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:18.120 an illness. The question that they're asking it's how to cope. But in 122 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:22.319 anything that needs to be healed in a way they're asking, how do I 123 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:26.439 heal from this? Well, the first step in any healing is acknowledge that 124 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:30.920 that this is an assault, this is this is horrible. I think that 125 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.200 some point in this article I say it's clear that there are mothers that are 126 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:39.879 being wounded, babies are clearly being worded. Yeah, but what we do 127 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:43.679 need to recognize as so are we? So are we as we watching? 128 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.879 Yes, and I think to one of the kind of, I guess, 129 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:52.000 perspective things that we need to understand is, yes, this is horrible to 130 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:54.679 us, it grieves our hearts, but how much more does it grieve the 131 00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:58.080 heart of God? Right, God, God created these children in his image, 132 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:01.759 he formed them in their mother's womb, and he's actually seeing, because 133 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:05.559 the Bible says the eye the Lord is in every place. He's seeing the 134 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:11.120 the the graphic and the gruesome reality that's happening. We're we're spared from seeing 135 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:13.720 that, right, for the most part. Yeah, and we don't see 136 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:18.320 all the repercussions. We don't see all the family members, all the society, 137 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:20.919 all of the all of the effects that God does. Yeah, and 138 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:22.759 so if he grieves our her how much more the heart of God's wo just 139 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.799 helps us to just know that the Lord is in this grief with us. 140 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:30.919 He is him. But we can't stay there, we can't rest, we 141 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.120 can't abide in that grief because we'll never be effective. Yeah. So the 142 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:39.440 second thing I think you touched on really well was we need to recognize our 143 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:43.919 role right in the in the face of this grief. What is our role 144 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:46.919 and what's God's real and you've already said that perfectly. Our role is to 145 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:52.919 show up, to speak, to do everything that we are biblically commanded to 146 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:58.039 do and expressing truth, compassion, offering help, but we're not responsible for 147 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:03.159 the results. Those totally up to God. And the third step really blends 148 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:07.639 into that, which is look for God. Yeah, and what I mean 149 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:11.120 by that we've talked about that another podcast. Looking for God, looking for 150 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:15.679 his miracles. They are always there, even in the darkest of darkest place, 151 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:20.440 God is always there and if you seek him, you will find him 152 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:24.279 and you can see him moving, even if it's not a save to baby 153 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.720 like. Think at about the little things, the fact that there's a friend 154 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.279 next to you who may be a charm around you and notice it you tears. 155 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.080 Yeah, knows that you're sad and it is is there to offer help. 156 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:39.440 And Yeah, the fact that team member show up at all, right, 157 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:43.360 the fact that a mom ever stops and takes her there to church, 158 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:46.480 every one of those things are miracles. Yeah, and if you start to 159 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:50.559 look at look for the miracles, I think it helps you to see past 160 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:54.000 the darkness. I think so time. Yeah, we do kind of look 161 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:56.759 at and certainly the wins, the big wins, or when people come to 162 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:01.440 the Lord, when babies are saved, right, those are those are big 163 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:05.919 wins. But sometimes we miss sort of, I guess, the little wins, 164 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:07.480 but they're kind of big wins. Yeah, so some of the things 165 00:11:07.480 --> 00:11:11.559 we get to see his churches getting mobilized judges. I was in a church 166 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:16.480 just a couple of nights ago. WAS ONE BIGGER CHURCH HERE IN CHARLOTTE, 167 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:20.639 a church that about ten years ago, I would have said is never going 168 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:24.360 to be involved there, that pastors never going to talk about abortion, he's 169 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:28.360 never going to do with the issue. For Fourth, rightly, I was 170 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:31.480 in a service the other night where the pastor was plainly from the pulpit calling 171 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:35.759 abortion murder. Wow, and plainly saying the church, we need to do 172 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:39.759 something and step up. Yeah, open it up the whole service to talk 173 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:41.360 about the issue of abortion. They've adopted a week with love life. That's 174 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:46.799 like a massive victory. Yeah, another victory. I just heard from my 175 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:52.000 team in northern California and anyach there and there's a guy who now is volunteering 176 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:54.919 on the sidewalk. He's kind of getting trained up to volunteer on the sidewalk. 177 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.120 He was driving by the local plan parenthood and the Holy Spirit spoke to 178 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:03.039 his heart and essence like what are you doing? Where are you at when 179 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:05.320 this thing's happening? Where's my people? And so he saw, ended up 180 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:09.440 seeing the team out there. Got Actually came to a prayer wall, got 181 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:11.679 plugged in at sidewalk out reaching. was broken over the fact that he's done 182 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:16.720 nothing about abortion and now he's doing something. So those are victories. Like 183 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:22.320 you're talking about people standing next to you. God's building a team of people 184 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:24.600 in your city, maybe slowly, but surely he's building that team, and 185 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:28.519 that's something the glory in as well. So I'm going to share a scripture. 186 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:33.720 Okay, let I think is helpful and I hope I could find it 187 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:41.039 here in Philippians, and this is Paul the Apostle encouraging the church in Philippi 188 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:46.159 to meditate on the things, to think on the things that are good, 189 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:48.039 because we can. I was I was just cheering with my family last night. 190 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:52.080 We're going through the doing a scripture a day, just kind of talking 191 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:54.399 through it. I'm kind of teaching my family through it, and this is 192 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:58.120 what it was. The scripture for yesterday, and just telling my kids. 193 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:01.000 My wife like how our minds gravitate toward the negative. Look at news, 194 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.519 or all the news is negative because they know that's how they get ratings and 195 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:09.279 stuff. As our mind's, a human mind, gravitates toward the negative. 196 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:13.240 And so Paul says here. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, 197 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.639 whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, 198 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:20.600 whatever things are lovely, whatever things over or of good report, if there 199 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:26.480 is any virtue, if there's Anything Praiseworthy Worthy, meditate on these things in 200 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:31.799 mad and so he's not just talking about kind of letting your mind just. 201 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:35.919 You're freeing your mind now. He says, think about like what you're going 202 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.720 to eat when you get home. He's saying, look right here at there 203 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:43.039 is something lovely here. Focus on what that is, focus all meditate on. 204 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.120 Yeah, think on the things that are lovely, even on the sidewalk. 205 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:50.360 Fifty two babies dying. Yeah, but are there are some things that 206 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:54.240 we can meditate on that we could have a thankful heart toward God. They're 207 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:58.559 happening. Yes, God is raising up an army of people. Yeah, 208 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.919 God's Word is going forth. Yeah, right, there's a you have a 209 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:07.759 team that's with you in this thing. They're speaking truth, despite being taunted 210 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:11.799 and ridiculed, they are speaking truth. How many people will do that? 211 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:16.320 What amazing people we get to stand alongside. Yeah, those are good and 212 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:22.799 worthy and noble things to think absolutely and to dwell upon this. That feeds 213 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:26.440 into the fourth thing that I came up with. What I do, anyway, 214 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:31.320 is trust by faith, not by sight. We are told the word 215 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:33.759 of God never returns void. We are planting seats, we are speaking the 216 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:37.399 word of God. Very briefly, I come from the perspective of being an 217 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:41.679 atheist, agnostic at best, and there were so many people that witness to 218 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:48.320 me early in my life and as a Nonbeliever, I remember making fun of 219 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:50.559 them, taunting them, even sometimes to their face. I was downright nasty 220 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:54.320 to some of them, but and some of them I never knew. They 221 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:58.840 were strangers. But as I look back, once I came to the Lord, 222 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:01.519 every one of them, God brings them to my mind. I remember 223 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:05.679 those faces, I remember those things they said that I made fun of, 224 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:09.720 and I didn't even know their name, but God does, and they were 225 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:18.159 planting seeds that did come to fruition many years later. Trust that we are 226 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:22.440 doing the same. Yeah, God's word never returns for it. Amen. 227 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:26.480 Yeah. I think a fifth thing is to keep an eternal perspective. I 228 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:31.279 think that is really important. Remember who wins, who wins? In the 229 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:37.080 end, everything will be made right, justice will be served, every wrong 230 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:43.240 righted. Everyone will basically give an accounting for their life. And and Jesus 231 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:46.600 has the victory. He's had the victory. Hates had the victory ever since 232 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:52.000 he rose from the grave and overcame death, proved he was Lord. Satan 233 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:56.320 was defeated at that moment. So we know that God has the victory and 234 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:02.080 we need to cling to that perspective. Yeah, yeah, some, some 235 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:04.159 preachers have said, and I think it's good to say this, we are 236 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:08.039 battling from a place of victory. Yes, right, yes, we're already 237 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:11.720 victorious. If you're in Christ, yeah, you get everything that he gets. 238 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:18.039 Yeah, and if you're in Christ, eternal victory is one right. 239 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:21.360 You don't have to fight for your own salvation, right, you don't have 240 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:26.759 to fight for favor with God. You're already in. and Jesus has already 241 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:30.960 won the battle between the devil is the devil still live and doing his thing 242 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:36.519 currently, but he knows his time is up very soon and we're on Jesus 243 00:16:36.679 --> 00:16:40.639 side. So we're winners, because Jesus is the winner. We're victorious in 244 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.039 him. Now that doesn't mean we lay down our you know, and go 245 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:48.440 eat chocolate cake and we are still called to the battle until it has been 246 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:53.120 all played out. Yeah, but bating from a place of victory correct and 247 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.720 so and we know the ending, we know God wins. Thinks that we 248 00:16:56.759 --> 00:17:00.519 can think about. Did you show up? Did you speak his truth? 249 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:04.039 Did you consuct yourself in a math manner worthy of the Lord? Are you 250 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:11.880 faithfully presenting Jesus as his ambassador? And if you've done those things, praise 251 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:15.519 God. Those those are all keeping an intern eternal perspective. The last thing, 252 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:19.640 and then we'll get into your little scenario that you wanted to tell us, 253 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:25.079 is at when it's over, when you have finished with what you've been 254 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:30.440 doing on the sidewalk, brush off the dust of that place and find something 255 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:33.720 where you abide in and recharge in the Lord. Yeah, that you love, 256 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:37.160 something enjoyable. Maybe it's a you're just being with your family. For 257 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:41.839 me, I've said this many times, it's it's being alone on the river 258 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:49.240 in my Kayak, but but do find that thing that restores your your spirit, 259 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:56.000 your soul in God. Yeah, absolutely, so. So two things. 260 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:00.480 Okay, that helped me and they tie into one another and I'll share 261 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.240 this, these things with you, guys, and in my mind this is 262 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:07.799 okay. The scenario is I'm leaving the abortion center right I've just dealt with 263 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:11.799 the heaviness of seeing sixty people go into the abortion center. I remember years 264 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:17.440 back on a Saturday when I was out there volunteering, they would be sixty, 265 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:21.440 sometimes seventy five people. I remember those stays staring out on the street. 266 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:23.720 Parking lot was so full. Yeah, and that was heavy. And 267 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:26.319 then on top of that, of course, you have pro abortion people yelling 268 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:32.680 at you and all kinds of false accusations and you are I remember seeing scenarios 269 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:34.960 where I saw a young girl, she had to been twelve, thirteen years 270 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.160 old, her, I guess it was her mom or grandma, whoever, 271 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:42.240 was driving her into the abortion center and as she was pulling in, the 272 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:47.799 young lady got out of the back of the car and took off running and 273 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:51.000 she obviously didn't want to have the abortion. And I've seen a couple of 274 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:53.920 scenarios like that yeah, the grandma of the Moma whatever, went after her 275 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.519 in the car, got her in the car. We called the police to 276 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:02.240 hey, this girl's being forced to have an abortion. Police didn't do anything 277 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:06.000 either. They couldn't do anything or whatever. I was heavy. So stuff 278 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.640 like that. You've gotten cussed out by someone. You just trying to offer 279 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:11.920 him help and they're cussing you out and they're accusing you all these things. 280 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:15.400 Again, the pro abortion people are accusing you of all kinds of things, 281 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:21.559 right, and that's stuff. Sometimes it'll kind of stick to you don't even 282 00:19:21.559 --> 00:19:23.880 realize it, it'll kind of stick to your psyche. Right, it'll start 283 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:27.759 to if you're not careful, these false accusations and the things that people say 284 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:32.720 about you. Um, you know about you, Ikey, Vicki, Vicki. 285 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:37.440 Yeah, they call me little D chrhyind. You know, these people, 286 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:41.440 these pro abortion people, are really just bullies that when they were in 287 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:45.119 school it wasn't really socially acceptable to bully people and now it is because we're 288 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:48.279 in opposition to them. So they're just bullying people and all of that. 289 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.599 And you think what doesn't really affect me, and for the most part, 290 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:55.839 if you been out there for long enough, it really doesn't, because you've 291 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:57.599 learned to kind of not take it personal and not, you know, kind 292 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.799 of pray these things off of you. But still, these things can stick 293 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:04.000 to you you don't realize and they start to define you and they start you 294 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:07.680 start to think, okay, am I actually like that? Am I actually 295 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:11.319 harassing people? I don't think I am. I'm not trying to harass you 296 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:15.799 know, these things will kind of stick in your psyche, yeah, and 297 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:18.720 start to weigh you down. And so one of the things that I do, 298 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:22.519 and I tried to be conscious about this, especially if I've had some 299 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:26.799 kind of heated thing happen at the abortion center, somebody yelling at in my 300 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:30.240 face or threatened me or whatever it might be, is what I'm leaving the 301 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:33.759 abortion center. I do something called debriefing with Jesus, okay, and this 302 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:38.559 is me praying back to the Lord the things the Bible says again, the 303 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.000 eye of the Lord is in every place. He sees everything. He knew 304 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:44.680 it all, he knew it before it was going to take place. Right, 305 00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:47.599 but it does help you to get it out of your psyche, out 306 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.480 of your mind, out of your heart and kind of cast your cares on 307 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:52.799 the Lord to pray it back to the Lord. Lord, you hear, 308 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.799 you saw that person come at me and threaten me. You heard what they 309 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.720 accused me of, Lord, and I just want to bring it before you 310 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:03.400 got so I'll just be kind of rehearsing what happened, if especially if it's 311 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:07.799 an intense situation, and just debrief it with the Lord. And even if 312 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:10.559 there's some things I need to repent of, because sometimes there are. The 313 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:12.599 Devil can really get you on that. If you got in the flesh or 314 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:17.480 something. Listen, just because you got in the flesh and you responded in 315 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:21.039 a way maybe you shouldn't have responded. Maybe you responded, you snapped back 316 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:23.839 at somebody. That does not disqualify you for being on the sidewalk. Let 317 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.400 me just say that. Okay, but you might need to repent before the 318 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:30.799 Lord. Just just bring it to the Lord and you can do that. 319 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:34.039 And so that's one thing. Debriefing with Jesus, that's a good one. 320 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:38.400 Yeah, but this is kind of taken it to the next step, to 321 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:44.039 the next level, I guess. And and this is really a powerful thing, 322 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:49.319 and I call it this is kind of how I encourage people asking Jesus 323 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:53.880 to wash your feet. HMM. And it comes out of John Chapter Thirteen, 324 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:57.640 and I can there's a whole like teaching I can do with this, 325 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:00.839 but I won't go into all of that. But kind of the picture is 326 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:07.160 one of Barnacles. Ships. They're in water, sea water. By virtue 327 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:10.839 of the fact that they're in water, they get these barnacles on them and 328 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:15.200 these barnacles calls drag on the ship. Actually it costs us about fifty million 329 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:18.400 dollars a year in the United States of America to deal with Barnacles and also 330 00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:25.240 the fuel inefficiency on our navel ships that barnacles calls. So there's barnacles has 331 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.359 to be removed so that that ship can the glide through the water like it 332 00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:33.440 needs to. Great symbolism lot that. Yeah, and so the barnacles need 333 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:37.279 to be removed or they'll cause drag. They just not the chips not doing 334 00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:40.799 anything wrong. It's where it's supposed to be. It's in the water on 335 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:42.359 the sidewalk. We're not doing anything wrong. We're doing what God's called us 336 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:47.279 to just by virtue of the fact that we're on the sidewalk, just living 337 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.319 in a sinful world. It's going to be barnacles that attach themselves to us. 338 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:53.880 Yeah, I think Jesus gives the example of dirty feet here in John 339 00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:57.759 Chapter Thirteen. So, John Chapter Thirteen, the disciples are in the upper 340 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:03.000 room with Jesus. Jesus gets a basin and a towel and begins to wash 341 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.799 their feet. We all know the scenario, right. This is during the 342 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:10.079 the Last Supper here and John Chapter Thirteen, and he comes to Peter and 343 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:12.359 Peter says you're not going to wash me right, you're not washing my feet 344 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:15.599 because after I should be washing your feet. That's kind of what what peters 345 00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:21.920 implying here. And Jesus says and John Chapter Thirteen, verse eight, he 346 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:23.559 says, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. 347 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:26.759 Well, Peter, in his zeal, says, okay, Lord, 348 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:29.240 not my feet, then everything just okay. I want to have a part 349 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.519 with you, like Lauren. I want to I'm going to serve you, 350 00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:34.039 want to follow you. Right. And he says in verse ten, he 351 00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:37.440 says he was bathed, needs only to wash his feet, but it's completely 352 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:41.920 clean. You're clean, but not all of you. And so he's talking. 353 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:45.880 I want to shift gears too much. He's talking about his betrayer, 354 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:51.319 so about Judas is not clean. But he's saying in essence, guys, 355 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.119 you're clean because you're my disciples, like you're clean from the sin of the 356 00:23:56.119 --> 00:24:00.759 world, like you've been washed. Hey, he's talking about ultimately, his 357 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:03.720 sacrifice on the cross and what that's going to do to take care of the 358 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:07.319 problem of sin. But he's saying we don't need to be cleaned the whole 359 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:11.000 of you. Listen, believer in Jesus, follower of Jesus, under daughter 360 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:15.240 of God, you're already clean. You're washed in the blood of Jesus because 361 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:18.480 of your faith in him. But sometimes you need to have your feet washed. 362 00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:22.599 Sometimes you need some maintenance to happen. Just like that ship. It 363 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.039 needs some maintenance, needs to barnacles removed. Sometimes, just by virtue of 364 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:30.799 the fact that you're walking through a dirty, dusty, sinful world, you 365 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:33.079 get stuff on your feet, right, that's the picture here. You can 366 00:24:33.079 --> 00:24:37.240 take a bath in those days and just walking from the place where you took 367 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:41.000 your bath to the house you're going to get dirt on your feet because they 368 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.079 didn't have paved roads and gravel and all that stuff. Right. So just 369 00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:47.480 by virtue of the fact that you're walking in the world, just by virtue 370 00:24:47.480 --> 00:24:48.440 of the fact that you're on the sidewalk, you're going to get barnacles, 371 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:52.279 you're going to get dirt, sin, stuff's going to stick to you, 372 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:56.400 stuff that other people say, stuff that other people do. It's going to 373 00:24:56.440 --> 00:24:59.799 stick to you and and start to try to define you and weigh you down. 374 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:03.559 And so what I've learned to do is to sit before the Lord and, 375 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:10.279 just like Jesus, remember in this passage Jesus not only washed John and 376 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:14.799 James and Peter's feet, but he also washed the feet of Judas. It 377 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:18.799 is straight right. Yeah, if he would wash Judas feet, who betrayed 378 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:22.720 him, how much more would he wash your feet, as you're serving him, 379 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:26.599 as you're doing the best you can to love and serve Jesus and serve 380 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:32.160 people and Love Them? And so what I do is I get along and 381 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.880 I sit in a chair and I just say, Lord, would you please 382 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:38.319 just wash my feet, and I might I might voice some of those things 383 00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:41.039 that, you know, kind of stuck in my mind. I'll ask the 384 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.200 Lord, like Lord, bring anything to my mind that I've let stick to 385 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:51.920 me that's defining me circumstances, people's opinions, false ideas, these things. 386 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:53.920 Like bring anything to mine and I'll just bring those things before the Lord in 387 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.279 prayer and I'll just say, Lord Jesus, would you just come and would 388 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.680 you wash my feet? Would you wash the stuff off of me? Lord, 389 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:04.519 if there's anything I need to repent of, Lord, I repent right 390 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.920 now. If he brings it to my just repent of it. Be Specific, 391 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:11.720 but also if there's anything that's defined me, Lord, would you wash 392 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:15.480 my feet, and I'd actually literally do put my feet out in front of 393 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:18.720 me and I just imagine. God has given us an imagination, air and 394 00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:22.799 not. I don't have the basement and and a towel. I let the 395 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:26.839 Lord bring those things, okay, but I use my imagination. The imagination 396 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:30.319 is a powerful thing and it's a God given thing and we can imagine, 397 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:33.480 Jesus, and I believe there's a spiritual sense, and let me not get 398 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:37.519 cooky and weird here, guys, but there's a spiritual sense in which the 399 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:41.400 Lord does that, like he graciously removes that stuff from my mind. Yeah, 400 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:45.359 and I feel a weight lifted from me. I feel like you know 401 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:48.480 that ship, you can imagine that ship that's had the barnacle scraped off of 402 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:52.839 it and now it's it's smoothly gliding through the water. Right, you're ready 403 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.119 to go at it again the next yeah, with that person has this build 404 00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:00.240 up of cake mud on their feet and they don't know what's dragging them down, 405 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.279 but in reality it's like that's that mud. Yeah, and the Lord 406 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:07.160 just comes and washes that stuff off. Yeah, and I believe the Lord 407 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:10.680 will do that. So I don't encourage all of you guys, if you've 408 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:14.000 never done that. I want you to do that. I want encourage you. 409 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:18.400 Just get before the Lord in quietness alone and just let the Lord bring 410 00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:22.279 those things to mind that may have stuck to you, and just bring it 411 00:27:22.279 --> 00:27:26.000 to your mind and just imagine Jesus washing that thing off of your feet. 412 00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:30.519 Yeah, yeah, and then do this on a regular basis, I would 413 00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:33.559 say. Even let me ask you because, as yours talking, I'm thinking 414 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:37.400 so much of what these people expressed to me was it was sorrow. It 415 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:41.559 wasn't so much the attack and the dirt, it was the sorrow. And 416 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:47.240 I was thinking when you said anger, I forget what you said. Will 417 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:51.039 never be a motivate or it will neither will sorrow. Right, sorrow will 418 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:55.240 not be what will motivate you to keep coming back. Joy Will. Yeah, 419 00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:57.359 joy in the Lord, and there's many verses about joying the Lord. 420 00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:00.640 But would you do that in your feet washing thing would you say? Would 421 00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:06.960 you say please wash away even the sorrow? Yeah, yeah, I mean 422 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:10.960 when I'm debriefing with the Lord or when I'm doing this before the Lord, 423 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:14.960 I'll say things like God, you saw that young lady walk in and her 424 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:17.880 heart was broken. Yeah, the fact that she was going to take the 425 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:18.920 life of her child and she thought there was no hope. You know, 426 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:23.079 you saw this, you saw that, all of that stuff, anything that 427 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:26.200 kind of wighs you down, it could be sorrow of what other people are 428 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:30.400 doing to themselves or they're doing to others, what's been done to you. 429 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.000 So, yeah, just not not just stuff that's been done to you, 430 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:36.000 but stuff that you've seen. It's like, yeah, at the end of 431 00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:41.039 the day, if we carry a load of guilt or sorrow with us from 432 00:28:41.079 --> 00:28:45.519 circumstances that we have no control over, that stuff will weigh us down. 433 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:49.839 Right, you don't have control over other people and what they do, and 434 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:56.640 so we've got to just bring those things to Jesus to wash off of us 435 00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:59.519 so that those things don't weigh us down. That's the point. Yeah, 436 00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:06.640 sorrow, shame, guilt, anger, failures, victories, all of that 437 00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:10.200 stuff. We've got to bring it to the Lord to ask him to wash 438 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:12.720 us, and I believe you'll do it. Yeah, that's good, Daniel. 439 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:17.160 Yeah, Great. So, guys, hopefully this episode was a blessing 440 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:18.799 to you, guys, and we encourage you to share this episode with who 441 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:22.559 are, whoever else you think it would be a blessing to. We also 442 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:26.039 encourage you to reach out to us. Maybe there's other subjects that you would 443 00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:27.759 like for us to cover. We'd love to cover those subjects. You can 444 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:30.599 reach me, Daniel, at Love Life Dot Org. You can reach her, 445 00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:33.680 Vicki, with a why I love life dot Org. Also leave us 446 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:37.200 a review. If you're able to do that, that would be a tremendous 447 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:40.640 blessing to us. But until next time, God bless God. That's you 448 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:56.000 all. Our love for love. Give me our love for gratitude. I 449 00:29:56.279 --> 00:30:06.119 know it will cost me my love, if nothing's too precious. Since I 450 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:08.319 met you,