Rush Hour
RushHour helps RushChurch members stay connected to each other, informs them about current RushChurch happenings, and also includes bible study/theology talk. We will speak about RushChurch specifics but also on current events, tough questions on faith, church and the Bible
Rush Hour
Cold Plunges, Sleepless Nights, & The Authority of Jesus
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We swap stories about bone-deep cold, weekend chaos, and why people chase ice baths, then turn toward sleepless nights, a vivid debt-free metaphor for grace, and practical ways to live a new normal with Jesus as our authority. We end with one simple challenge: surrender one more area today and let freedom shape your week.
• cold plunge curiosity and quick energy claims
• weekend highs and lows across sports and lock-ins
• sleepless nights as a cycle of stress and control
• debt paid analogy clarifying grace and freedom
• living differently after forgiveness with new habits
• obedience from love not guilt and desire to change
• authority check across schedules, people, and Jesus
• one-degree surrender to make change sustainable
• reading Colossians, tough Old Testament perspective
• church words made simple for real life
Come and join us February 8th. We’ll be watching the big game. Even if you don’t like football, you can just enjoy hanging out with us.
www.rushchurch.com
Hello everyone. Hope wherever you are right now is warm and comfy. Good morning if it's morning. Good afternoon if it's afternoon, and so on and so forth. But right now, this is rush hour time, and I'm here with Brittany and Ashley for our next episode today.
Frozen Morning Banter
SPEAKER_05How you guys been?
SPEAKER_02Cold. Very cold. Frigid.
SPEAKER_05It's what I like to call bird chilly cold outside. That's when it's really cold. It's like unnecessarily cold.
SPEAKER_01When that wind hits, it takes your breath away and it cuts all the way to your bones.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you can feel it in your bones. Yes. Yeah. That's how cold it is.
SPEAKER_01And I thought yesterday outside, I was like, I've cold plunged multiple times. Is this worse? It might be worse.
SPEAKER_05You've cold plunged?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, cold plunge. Like when you jump in ice water.
SPEAKER_05Like you jumped into a pond.
SPEAKER_01Guys,
Cold Plunge Confessions
SPEAKER_01people do this for health. For health? Yes, cold plunging. Okay, stop.
SPEAKER_05Take us through this real quick.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_05Right? First putting in the episode. Just you tell us about cold plunging.
SPEAKER_01I don't even know where to start. Okay. It releases shock proteins in your body, which are really good for you, but your body only releases them when it thinks it's going to die from being cold. So you jump in. I promise. Time out. I promise.
SPEAKER_00Hold on. I really should have Googled to explain this better before. Let's make our body think we're dying.
SPEAKER_02We do this for on purpose. Yes. Should we try it? No.
SPEAKER_01Yes. You could probably jump in the pond and be the same, but we just take like you take a bucket or a little pool. We we use our bathtub and we fill it with just cold water. Like only turn on the cold faucet. Fill it all the way up. And then I go down in my freezer where I have frozen water bottles and dump those water bottles in the bathtub. And then I get in it for three minutes.
SPEAKER_05What if you don't want to be in it for three minutes?
SPEAKER_02Guys, it's like it takes for your body to think it's dying.
SPEAKER_00Oh as soon as your knees hit, you're close to death.
unknownOh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Wait, you guys don't know this. No. Oh, we're doing it.
SPEAKER_05We're not doing it.
SPEAKER_01We're doing it.
SPEAKER_05I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm glad it helps you.
SPEAKER_01It's so it makes you so happy. It gives you so much energy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05She might not know the exact science, but she knows it helps you.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it releases proteins, but it makes you really happy. Makes your skin feel great. It strips fat off your body. Oh, I'm in. It's like seriously, the best thing you can do for your body in the quickest amount of time.
SPEAKER_05I jumped off board when you said it makes you happy. No, I'm not happy. I'm gonna be very angry if I'm getting water.
SPEAKER_02You have so much energy. I mean, I go to a tanning bed. I thought that made me happy. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It does. But I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_05Okay. I don't know how we got to ice water.
SPEAKER_02Have you guys never heard you asked us about the temperature outside? Well, it's cold.
SPEAKER_05It's like windshield minus 11.
SPEAKER_02You could just step outside in the bathing suit right now and it would equal the same thing, right? I don't think so. No?
SPEAKER_01I don't know.
SPEAKER_05It's gotta be submerged in ice water. I've heard this theory before where some people like wake up and they stick their face in a bucket of ice water to wake up in the morning.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, to wake up, not to not to almost make your body die.
SPEAKER_01I don't think that's it. Pretend like I'm just saying that it's something that is released to when it thinks, oh, you just fell in a lake. I don't know. Like maybe one. I think the goal would be like 11 minutes a week. I think that's what the goal is.
SPEAKER_02So almost four times a week.
SPEAKER_05There you go. Yeah. Ashley's gonna try it for us and report back next week.
SPEAKER_02Yep, that's my mission.
SPEAKER_01Maybe we'll videotape it. Oh my please don't videotape me. It's really hard to breathe. You're really making this sound. I promise it's worth it.
SPEAKER_02It's like the best thing ever.
SPEAKER_05I don't think you should be the one to talk people into doing this.
SPEAKER_02So fill the bathtub up completely with cold water, put it just start with that.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Just do straight cold water and try
How To Survive An Ice Bath
SPEAKER_01to get in.
SPEAKER_05I'm not getting in. Okay.
SPEAKER_01But you have to go. Like as soon as your feet touch the water, you're gonna be like, this was a mistake. You gotta do it.
SPEAKER_05Like me going around the edge of the pool putting my foot in, like testing.
SPEAKER_02Like submerge like to your neck. I mean, it'd be great if you went under. Okay.
unknownInteresting.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, as much as you can.
SPEAKER_05Hold your breath.
SPEAKER_02I'm a lifeguard. I can't hold my breath for a little bit.
SPEAKER_05See if you can lay all the back and float, just your nostrils hanging out of the water so you can breathe.
SPEAKER_00They're like, Mom, are you okay? And then they stick their hands in the water, like, oh, it's cold.
SPEAKER_04She's on her own.
SPEAKER_00Never mind at all.
SPEAKER_05Wow. Ice them. Alright. This has been very informative. And I bet you didn't expect this when you turned on rush hour today. But hey.
SPEAKER_02Hey. I like it. It's the life of the rush hour.
SPEAKER_01Right in, if you've ever been. No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02Let us know if you have jumped in an ice bath before or done this for health reasons. I mean, I've heard of the polar plunge. I think that's just for fun. That's just for fun. Okay.
SPEAKER_05That's just for weirdos. Um but yeah. If you can find a way who do that.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say also lots of love to people who do the polar plunge.
SPEAKER_05No, I don't. You can love them. You can think they're cool people, but they're also never mind.
SPEAKER_01Well, I yeah, I'm probably weird to do the cold plunge, but you do the cold plunge.
SPEAKER_05That's fine. I'll take a steamy hot shower later.
SPEAKER_01That's one way you can start is you just turn, like you get done with your shower and you just turn it to all the way cold and just stand in there.
SPEAKER_05I've heard that before.
SPEAKER_01I thought I'd same idea. So that's like the baby step to get to the cold plunge.
SPEAKER_05I'm not doing that.
SPEAKER_02So why did you tell me to do that first before you tell me?
SPEAKER_05Because honestly, she thinks you're strong and you just handle the initial.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, wait, doesn't Randy do this? Maybe.
SPEAKER_05Randy does.
SPEAKER_01Cold plunges? Cold plunges on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_05Seems like you'd be the type of guy that would like to cold plunge. I don't know why.
SPEAKER_01I think he does. He'll tell us if he does.
SPEAKER_05I'll ask him later.
SPEAKER_01All right, moving on to our talk about church.
SPEAKER_05Talk about back to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02What'd you do on the weekend? What was what were your weekend things? Did you have anything fun?
SPEAKER_05I watched so much football.
SPEAKER_02Football? Yeah. Yeah. Like NFL football.
SPEAKER_05Both NFL. College championship
Weekend Recap And Sports Highs Lows
SPEAKER_05was last night.
SPEAKER_02Was it?
SPEAKER_05Me and Timmy stayed up late and watched it all the way to the end. Who won? Indiana.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_05Which is Indiana football has been the worst football program in college football history for the last hundred years.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_05And uh it's the biggest turnaround in college sports history.
SPEAKER_03And they won the championship.
SPEAKER_05The undefeated season.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05Well, it was a great game. And my Denver Broncos, they won Saturday to move on in the NFL playoffs. So I was really excited. You know, my team won, it was overtime. We won. Celebrated, I was excited. I was like, oh, that was a stressful game. And I sat down and got a notification on my phone. Our starting quarterback broke his ankle on the second to last play out for the playoffs. So it was I've never experienced being really excited after a win, and then all of a sudden, like really sad, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Destroyed.
SPEAKER_05So I watched a lot of sports this weekend. That's about all, really.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Brittany, did you do anything about over the weekend?
SPEAKER_01Lots of basketball. Lots of basketball.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Your kids' basketball games.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Well, I coaching the eighth grade or eight-year-olds and then high school. High school. Yes. And middle school.
SPEAKER_02And middle school. Wow. We're running all over the place. I am.
SPEAKER_01All the time. Yes. We'll go to Marion ton or Elgin tonight.
SPEAKER_02Okay. We go to Northwestern tonight. Yeah. Well, I stayed up all night with my teenagers for Carter's birthday.
SPEAKER_04Carter's birthday. Did you have chicken bowls in the lock in?
SPEAKER_01Did you have chicken bowls?
SPEAKER_02We did. Yeah. How did you know that? You told me on Sunday. I'm still not completely thinking straight. There's something about being in your 40s and pulling it all nighter. There's no way. It's not healthy for you at all.
SPEAKER_05I don't think it's ever healthy for you, but it's just easier to do. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02At some points in your life. Did they stay up all night? So two of them made it all the way. That's why I say that, because I couldn't sleep unless anybody else unless they were all out. Physically just made it until the last 20 minutes of the night. Before that, before I had to wake everybody up.
SPEAKER_05And that's the worst.
SPEAKER_02So I got like I got like a 20-minute cat eye nap. You know. Okay. But other than that, and then when I got them all up, I'm like, you guys, you almost made it. And she's like, that counted. I swear that counted. I'm like, no, that doesn't count. You you still went to sleep. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_05Nobody made it.
SPEAKER_02No. So no, but it was a blast. It was the kids were very respectful. Good. Some kids. Great night, Carter, great night. We played Murder of the Dark. Those kids are hilarious. They never played it before.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I don't think I've played it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's so much fun. Our family plays it all the time. Like every family gathering. We're in the basement playing it. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. But no, it was good. A lot of basketball. A whole lot of basketball. And they actually like the the we were the foyer most of the time, and they like dammed all the lights and had the fireplace on, and they were all like just doing artistic things. And I'm like, you are 14, 15, and 16-year-olds. Yeah. Like painting. I found art supplies by the fireplace.
SPEAKER_05I was like, what the heck? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So that was fun. That sounds great.
SPEAKER_04I would never do it again in my life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Good choice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So all right. Give me some warm coffee. It's actually kind of cold in this room. It's how cold it is outside. Yeah, it's a little too. Seeping into the wall. Winter jam is Saturday in Columbus, like we talked about. But we're not going because it's gonna be too cold. So it's called Winter Jam. It's too wintery to jam. So we're not jamming. It's supposed to be like five degrees Saturday with wind, and standing outside in line for a few hours doesn't seem like the good idea. So we're not gonna go. But that's okay. We'll do other things. Yeah.
Lock-In Tales And Teen Chaos
SPEAKER_05Um, like in a few weeks we'll get together and we'll just watch the Super Bowl and eat chili and eat pie. We talked about that last week. Um what's your guys' favorite type of pie? Do you guys enjoy pie?
SPEAKER_02Peanut butter pie. We talked about this last time. No, I don't think so. We told we asked what your favorite pie was. It is not cherry. We know that.
SPEAKER_05No.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if I have a favorite. Maybe like fruit pies? Strawberry.
SPEAKER_05So it's more fruit.
SPEAKER_02I like fruit pies. I don't know if apple pie is I mean, I'll eat it. There's a place for apple pie in everybody's life. There is. So I'm I'm a sugar pie. I like I like the peanut butter and the chocolate, the butterscotch.
SPEAKER_01I don't know that I don't like any pie. I don't think. I don't know. I don't really eat a lot of pie either.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like I couldn't be a fair pie judge because I I wouldn't like any of the fruit pies at all.
SPEAKER_05So I'd be like, this is my apple pie, like gross. Because I help judge the pies usually. Like I'll put that to the side and be like, if I liked fruit pie, this would be pretty good. Like I can be like, okay, I don't like this, but somebody that would probably be like, man, that's a lot of cherry flavoring. It's nice and sweet. I'd be like, this is a nine out of ten. Um because I'm unbiased like that.
SPEAKER_02No, that's good. I'm honest and I cannot be unbiased.
SPEAKER_05You can pie. That's where it's at. But so come and join us February 8th. We'll be watching the big game. Hopefully the Broncos are there. They're backup quarterback. I highly doubt it. But we'll see. And we'll have a good time. It's just fellowship. Even if you don't like football, you don't have to watch football. You can just enjoy hanging out with us. Did we play games last time? Played games.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think we brought like some people were playing cards.
SPEAKER_05Did we bring uh what's the what's the game?
SPEAKER_02Flip seven.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I think we played that at the Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's where that's the first time I played. Taught you how to play that. All right. I'm like, I don't think I played that.
SPEAKER_05Oh, it's so fun. I wanted to paintball camp, but oh, I was late.
SPEAKER_01I was later last year. I didn't come on time because I didn't feel real great. I didn't know if I should go, but then I was like, nah, I'm going. So I went.
SPEAKER_05Everybody else's well help well-being.
SPEAKER_00I feel like really sick. I just beer on people. So I miss my friends. I'm gonna go.
SPEAKER_05Chili or get everybody sick. Um so maybe we should like it's always been chili pie since I've been here. I was thinking maybe we should add something else to it.
SPEAKER_02I I would love it if we had soup. Chilies and soups. Yeah. Or do you have like chili and soup or soup? Doesn't matter. Like I feel like anything, anything liquidy like that, you can enter.
SPEAKER_05Here's a pot of broth I brought. Drink up.
SPEAKER_01Delicious. Right? I have a ton of bone broth. I also drink bone broth, just for the record.
SPEAKER_05We've got a broth table. Chili and
Winter Jam Plans Nixed
SPEAKER_05pie and broth is over there, if that's your thing. Beautiful.
SPEAKER_01I'm not laughing because now you're in. I'm not making fun of you. I said it before I even knew you did. Oh, okay, good.
SPEAKER_05Good. Um, but she was just talking about anything liquid.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I was like, well, just broth. Enjoy.
SPEAKER_02I mean soup base. You know, chili. What soup would you make? Soup base. Oh, I would make my my uh oh my gosh, what is it called? The ganochi, the chicken ganochi soup. Oh. Gnocky. Noki.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Just for the record, I have no idea which one of you are right.
SPEAKER_05I don't even know, but I've heard it but said both ways. And I was like, maybe I think it's Naki. Maybe that's the but you made that that one time and not unagi. You watch Friends. He's like, UNagi.
SPEAKER_04That's what I think of every time I hear it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I know I just I I love that soup. I think it's really good. I would enter that one.
SPEAKER_05Do you guys when it comes to the chili, do you like the white chili or the meat, meaty chili? The white chili and red chilies.
SPEAKER_02I think it depends. Some people don't want to be able to do that. Yeah, I'm not a heavily bean chili person, so if it's got too many beans in it, I don't really like it.
SPEAKER_05Wait, what do you want in it? I'll take my chili with no beans. You just want broth and meat. Okay, got it. Sorry.
SPEAKER_00I mean, what I don't understand. Like, if it didn't have beans, I'd be like, what is this?
SPEAKER_04Take my chili. Beanless. All right.
SPEAKER_01So back on track here. I don't I don't know if that would be good or not.
SPEAKER_02I have feeling that Mercy will not eat chili with beans in it. It's yeah, it's still, you gotta think, it's still onions, green peppers, meat, you know, the the sauce, the tomato sauce. Okay, the liquid.
SPEAKER_05Made your point. You can still have chili without beans. There's also like chili sauce for like cheese conis. That's different than chili in a bowl.
SPEAKER_02It is true.
SPEAKER_05Maybe you'd like chili sauce.
SPEAKER_02No, I do like okay.
SPEAKER_00I bought listen to me. I will give you a dollar, Cody, if you go buy a can of chili sauce and just put it in a cup for Ashley and enter it.
SPEAKER_04I just I just get like 10 cans of Skyline
Chili, Pie, And Soup Debates
SPEAKER_04chili and put in a crock on it. It's like, here you go. She'll probably be like, this is the best chili. This is the best chili.
SPEAKER_02I do like chili with some beans. I don't like it with a ton of beans.
SPEAKER_01You would not like my chili. Okay.
SPEAKER_02All right. Probably true. I would not like your chili.
SPEAKER_01Because I don't even put chili beans in it. I put like real beans. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Those are the things coming up. We have. I mean, we have a lot of. Did you go to the website rushchurch.com, see all the things. Somebody really cool's in charge of that. Brittany is updating her website, making it look spiffy.
SPEAKER_02I saw my picture changed.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I changed your picture.
SPEAKER_05You can change our pictures.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Have you looked at it recently?
SPEAKER_05Nope. Brittany said.
SPEAKER_01Oh, don't worry. I got your pictures from your wife. So they're all very nice.
SPEAKER_05Oh, well, yeah. That's probably a good idea.
SPEAKER_01Um she picked good ones because she's in them as well. Rustarch.com.
SPEAKER_05You can see all the upcoming stuff and all the things you need, questions answered, you can ask us. But so yeah, I think that's all the things, announcement-wise. We've been talking the last few episodes about John's sermon series that he's doing this January. Kind of a different style than he has been doing. He was in Romans for a while and then did a Christmas series, and this one's been really good. It's called the New Normal. We've been talking about on the podcast. If you missed those last couple episodes, you can go back and listen to those. But we're going to talk about this past Sunday, which was January 18th. This past Sunday was. We've been talking about this idea of the new normal. Have you guys been enjoying hearing what he has to say about it?
SPEAKER_01I'm really enjoying this short little series.
SPEAKER_05Yep. This mini-series that he had an idea for and was like, I'll just do this for a Sunday. And then he did it, and he was like, This is gonna be four Sundays. So can you imagine him trying to do all this in one?
SPEAKER_02No. Yeah, well he can I think he he finishes this coming Sunday. This will be the finish. Yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he's supposed to wrap it up, I think, pretty soon. But so I have notes from the sermon from this past Sunday. First thing I have down is kind of the idea of we can all kind of relate to the idea of sleepless nights. We don't want that to be the normal because you ever been like trying to sleep and you can't sleep for whatever reason? Is that kind of a the worst feeling is like when you when you know you have to do something the next morning, you have to be up early and you can't fall asleep. And you're like, I should be sleeping.
SPEAKER_01I can't go to sleep because I'm counting the minutes of sleep I would get if I went to sleep right that's a little bit.
SPEAKER_05I fell asleep at this minute. I'd get this much. I do that all the time. Like if I fell asleep right now, I get that much time. So I probably won't, and then I'll get this much because I'll take me a while to fall asleep, and then I'll think about it like now I gotta start over because Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then I'll set like multiple alarms because I'm afraid that uh once I do go to sleep, I won't get up. That's it. Yeah. There's definitely a panic that sets in with sleepless nights.
SPEAKER_05Usually it has to do with worries and stress and things that you have running through your head. And so stress we talked about a little bit being about like a prisoner of sleepless nights, I guess you started out the sermon with. I have in my notes kind of like we shut down instead of working towards doing something better that will prevent this the next time. Like you're laying there like, next time I need to be more on top of things, so I'm not laying here. I can't sleep at night, and then you later on find out in the same spot again. And so it just seems to be in like this cycle. Do you have any notes on that first part?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that can roll over you, that you have an emptiness.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, you just you're upset. I mean, there are times where I'm upset, and that is the reason. Right. But then I'm also upset for that as well, and it can really just roll over into the next day. Ruin your next morning.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I remember when we
Site Updates And Upcoming Events
SPEAKER_02when I first got married, like Darren, we he would not let me go to sleep unless we worked something out. Yeah. Just because he didn't want to you know, he didn't want it to carry over the next day. Right.
SPEAKER_01I feel like we're sometimes it's like, okay, I'm still upset, so are you, but we know that we have to go to sleep and talk about it later, but If I you know, I'm going to bed with my husband, so we can talk in that way. But if I'm arguing with one of my kids and I they're upstairs in bed now, they're peacefully asleep, by the way. Right. Yeah. But I'm I'm a mess. And I will stay up all night when it comes to that. I mean, it just there's no there's no end to that.
SPEAKER_05So the next thing I have kind of written down. So sleepless nights is the way he started out this whole message. And then we kind of went into the next part and talked about why this is my favorite part of the message. We talked about he used the example of like you get a phone call and it's somebody saying that all your debts have been paid off and whatever you owe to anybody or anything is completely taken care of. And he's like, you know, your first questions would be, What? What would you add? Like you get a call, you're like, well, why? Why and how and who paid off who paid off the debt, you know, like we would have all these questions of like and not even just like maybe not financial debt, but just things that you know paid off all the things and you don't have anything to worry about anymore. You know, it's like, you know, you're debt-free, you don't owe anybody anything, whether it be, you know, favors or financials or any kind of stuff like that, and like the feeling that you would have. And then your questions would be like who, why, how'd this happen? And John used the example of like all the person would say is, Well, someone must love you a whole lot, and that's all you get. And it kind of ties this back into Christ paying our debt of sin that we could never pay ourselves. And then showing how much he loves us because of that. And then the whole the point I liked a
Introducing The New Normal Series
SPEAKER_05lot from this this little section is what are you gonna do about it now? You're so you you wake up, you get a call, you're debt-free, you don't owe anybody anything. It takes away a lot of you know, sleepless nights, I guess you'd say, of worry and and stress and things like that. And so your debt's been paid. And and now what? What's next? You're debt free with you, and so it's like a fresh start. It's like a fresh start. And then once you get a fresh start, what's next?
SPEAKER_02Like you get to start over.
SPEAKER_05You get to start over.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think there's a sense of disbelief for a while. Yep. I think that's what like if some if that happened to me, then there'd be a time of like you keep checking.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like you keep checking your accounts. Really? Do I not have to pay that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like just that sense of sense of disbelief.
SPEAKER_05Well, too good to be true. This can't really this can't really be how it is, you know. This really can't gotta be some kind of catch. There's gotta be you're waiting for the uh the other side of it to, you know, what yeah, you know, it can't be real because it's and so what are you gonna do about it now? Well, first you'd have that time of it's too good to be true, and this is really and then you wait for, but it never comes. It just is what it is. It's your debt's completely gone, no catch, no only be all because someone loved you enough to pay it for you and could do it yourself. You're like, ah, somebody loved me enough to do it for me. And so, debt free, would you go back to piling up more debt? Would you go back to the old way of living before you were had all your debt paid off?
SPEAKER_01I mean that you might.
SPEAKER_05You might.
SPEAKER_02I mean, if you want to. Right. That would that would be my desire.
SPEAKER_01I wouldn't want to, but if I had really bad habits that I didn't address, right, then I could. Right?
SPEAKER_05You could.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You gotta change the habits. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05You'd be debt free and you'd have this experience of like I'm free now, I I have I can do things differently, and then you go about it, and then you're you feel freedom from those sleepless nights, freedom from being trapped and restless and all these different things.
SPEAKER_02But that's kind of like how what he's talking about. If if we're free, if that debt is paid off, then why would we return back to what our normal
Sleepless Nights And Stress
SPEAKER_02life was? We would want to change, right? And to becoming that new, that new path, that new normal.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Is that what you think about getting at? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I'm taking this into the you know, the whole phone call of debt and stuff, but it comes to Christianity, that's exactly what Christ has done for us. He says, I've paid the price to get you back from sin and death that you would have never gotten out of on your own. And he does it for us. And now it's a sense of once you understand it's real and it's true, be like, this is how it is. Jesus loves me so much that he gave his life for me. I can be free, I can do these things. Are you gonna go back backwards into your old life the way things were, you know, full of things that you know don't make life better? Or are you gonna be different now? The new, the new normal. And so I think it's really hard those sometimes. Well, you'll be like, you'll say, like we talked about this a little bit earlier of well, we're not perfect and we still mess up, we still make mistakes, we we pile up more debt, I guess you'd say, in the idea of sin. And but the difference is what difference is now that you don't want the debt anymore. You're more aware of what you're piling up before when you're when you're in debt and you're just it's the way it's always been, you're just like well, it's working. It's working, you didn't buy, and and now it's the whole idea of once you realize what freedom from this looks like. I don't want to go back to the old normal. I don't want to go back to the old life anymore. It's still difficult, it's still hard because of the world we live in, temptations and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02But but we have the desire to to be better, to to do to do what God actually actually wants us to do. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05The desire is the thing, I think. Yeah. Like you know. Yeah, I could go back and do other things because I'm like the idea of I'm forgiven, I can do whatever I want, and God'll forgive me. God'll forgive me. Which is the thing how some people view it or have viewed it before of I got baptized and I'm saved, and I believe in Jesus,
The Debt Paid Off Analogy
SPEAKER_05and that means I can do whatever I want because he's paid for it.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_05No, that's not like you shouldn't want to go back to the old way. You should want to, like we talked about, obedience and do the things Christ asked us to do, not because we have to, but because you want to now, and you realize his ways are much better than my ways. And so, Paul, somewhere in one of his letters off the top of my head, I can't remember, but you know, should we go on sinning to let grace cover even more? Since grace is so good. It's like, no, you don't keep on sinning. You know, we want to, if it's a real relationship with Jesus, you don't you don't want to go against what he says. You don't want him to, you know, look at your life and be like, that's not good for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05It's in with any relationship, I guess.
SPEAKER_02You know, you have real remorse when you mess up, then, you know, and you want to fix it, you want to turn turn from it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So I think that was one of my favorite parts of the message from this past week was the idea of debt, and we're debt-free now, and don't go back to the old way of doing things. Just because you can. Just because sometimes you slip and pile up with more debt. You you know, you're gonna mess up, make mistakes, but you look at it and be like, Well, I can't go back to where I was before. I don't want to be that same same position. And so we work on it now and we we see our sin, we're like, I recognize this is not good, and so I'm gonna work hard not to let that derail me anymore. You know, fix it, whatever caused it before.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. I think part of the his sermon, I don't think it meant like I don't think he meant for this to come across like this, but it was a reminder to me. Like, I was thinking about okay, if I really got a phone call about all of my debt being forgiven, you know, and I got to start over. Like, I started thinking the excitement and the joy that I would feel, I'm like, oh my word, like that would be incredible. And then I was like, duh, that's what God did. Like He literally called me up and said, Ashley, your debt is paid for through Jesus. And I'm like, I I was reminded that that same excitement I should that I would feel if my financial debt, you know, was taken care of should be the same excitement and joy to remember constantly that my debt has already been paid for, yeah, you know, spiritually.
SPEAKER_01He said something, not gonna remember exactly what it was. And I don't even know if he meant it to be like a big point, but it was you're not gonna pay it, you're not gonna pay it back. Like this is a gift that you're receiving, and you're not gonna pay it back. You don't have anything, you couldn't pay your debt that you already had in the first place. And that that was a big one for me that it's like I don't I I'm a person that like if you do something for me, I want to do something. My initial thing is to do something in return. So this giant gift from God, the only thing that I can do is follow him and listen to him. Like that's the literally the only thing that I can do to remotely pay, yeah, give back to the situation. Like that's all all he wants is that he's like, Hey, this is how to not be in debt and listen to what he's saying. So that that was a big thing because as soon as he's like, You don't have anything, what are you gonna pay back? And I'm
Living Differently After Freedom
SPEAKER_01like, true. I couldn't figure out my debt in the first place before that. So that was just a tough one.
SPEAKER_02I love fear miners though. Yeah. Because these are things that we know. Yeah, we know things that we think about on a daily basis. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Realizing that you don't have anything really to give in the first place because none of it's yours. It's all yeah, you know, whatever you have was given to you. He allowed you to have it in the first place. Right. And be like, well, I'm gonna give you this. Well, and God's like, all right, that's already mine. I don't know what you're trying to do.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah.
SPEAKER_05You wanna he it's a gift for us. Jesus is our is a gift. And so, yeah, I I I like that a lot. The joy that comes with that. And then, you know, it's like Christmas time when you like somebody like you're not you're not expecting somebody to give you something, they give you a gift, or you immediately think, Yes, oh, I didn't get you anything.
SPEAKER_02I didn't get you any. I gotta get that person.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, let them just give you something because they wanted to give it to you because it's joyful for them, and they thought, I love you, I want you to have this gift. And it's not meant to make you feel guilty about not getting it, getting then something, it's because they care about you and they want to give you this gift, you know.
SPEAKER_01I am getting better. I getting gifts.
SPEAKER_05Like well, Jesus is like, I I give you this gift. I give this is a gift I'm giving you. You can have it, and it's for you. And even when we try to think of it as, well, I'm gonna live my life out to pay you back, he's like, I don't I don't want being paid back. I the whole thing's a gift. I showed you how to live life a better way, and you know, and so some oftentimes when I was growing up being a Christian, I thought, well, I need to repay Jesus for what he did for me by living out this good life. And I don't think that's how it's supposed to be. We live out a good life, and because we love him and we know it's what's best for us now because he showed us this is the best way to live the life. It's not about paying him back. Yeah, it's more about he gave you a gift, now use it and and do the things that he gave you. Represent it well. Yeah, represent it well. So that kind of changed my mindset about my relationship with Jesus when I was like, this isn't about paying him back for what because I can never do that. This is about taking what he gave me and and putting it to good use, I guess, and not letting it be a waste or in vain. And so I kind of like that. One more thing I have on my list that I wanted to get to was the end he was kind of like, who or what is the authority in your life? Like, what are you letting be the authority in your life? This is one of the last things that he talked about. I think he's gonna go into this more this Sunday. Um, but it was a little preview, and he got thinking like, you know, who has authority or what has authority in your life? What do you follow? We could have a lot of things that are authority in our life. Sometimes we let our schedules be the authority in our life. We're like, I gotta be this place, I gotta do this. Yeah, and it takes over, or a person, or but Jesus should be ultimate authority on what we decide to do behind our decisions, behind our actions. We think about him and our relationship with him first. And it and I really like the part where he at the end he was like, Don't tell me your authority is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_05Don't don't just don't just tell me, don't don't say it, but actually
Grace, Obedience, And Desire
SPEAKER_05show it. Show me that Jesus is the authority in your life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, people should be able to recognize that without you saying anything.
SPEAKER_05Well, yeah, his point that at first I'm like, yeah, show other people that Jesus is the authority of my life. Before you do that, look in the mirror and remind yourself that Jesus is the authority of your life. Show yourself that it's Jesus. Remind yourself that Jesus is in control of your life. Do that first. Because we have to remind ourselves that I'm not the authority. It's not me. I've surrendered my authority of my own life to Jesus. And now if you can remind yourself daily that he's in control, I follow him, he's the authority about all my decisions, then you people are gonna see it, and then people will notice it. But I think so so many times I'm like, I gotta live like Christ because I'm representing him to all these people and they gotta see it. And that's true. But for before I do that, I gotta remind myself that he's the authority, and I don't really have anything to give except what he has. And so he's gonna talk about more of that this Sunday, I think. Yeah, because I I like that thought process he was going down.
SPEAKER_01But um, I think also he started talk like there at the end, he said that we can just start, like when we do look in the mirror, just start by turning one more area over. Like look at your life, look at the way you're living, just choose one one more area, which I kind of goes with your one degree, yeah, you know, but one more area in your life that you can turn over to Christ and make him the head of it and handle it better.
SPEAKER_05The process is not gonna be all at one time, right?
SPEAKER_02Because we don't wanna be the chicken, you know, right? Constantly like, I gotta fix that, I gotta fix this, I gotta fix this, you know, because that's a lot. And then you get overwhelmed and you're like, Well, the way I was living before was much easier than this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh, it is a lot easier. I mean, it's easy not to care. Right. It's easy to just do whatever you want.
SPEAKER_05But new normal. And we talked a little bit about debt. We talked about oh, you have to go, don't you?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I'm dead.
SPEAKER_05Oh no, there's no school.
SPEAKER_02There's no school.
SPEAKER_05That's right. We're doing this recording later than I was like, oh my gosh, it's the dude. We don't ever record this late uh in the day, but today we had to. But no, panic for a minute. I was like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01It's like no kids are waiting at school. The school's calling me. I'm denying their call. It's fine.
SPEAKER_04Okay, everybody's good. Everyone's good.
SPEAKER_05So, but yeah, we'll wrap it up.
SPEAKER_01I think you got anything else in your notes that you wanted to say or I mean that was he went through Colossians a lot, which I haven't done a study in that one, in that book yet, which I need to.
SPEAKER_05Colossians is good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I get it confused with Corinthians sometimes just because it's but two different things.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, I've I've read it, but I just need to do a study. Yeah, getting into Ruth. Oh, yeah, because we just finished judges today.
SPEAKER_05How many chapters Ruth is?
SPEAKER_01Like five, right?
SPEAKER_05Five or four. Four. Yeah. It's not very long.
SPEAKER_01It'll still take us a little while, I'm sure. We we do a really good job.
SPEAKER_05In my reading plan for the year, I'm gonna finish Genesis tomorrow. I'm like, thank goodness. Yeah, I feel like I've read Genesis like six times this past year. Yeah. But um, it's been
Gifts You Cannot Repay
SPEAKER_05good.
SPEAKER_01Judges was that's a hard read. There's some rough stuff in there.
SPEAKER_05It's there's the hard stuff in there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I was just having a conversation this weekend about the world and how it is and how everything's so bad. And I'm like, you know, I used to think that. I did. And it turns out it's always been pretty bad. Even kind. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05My mom always says that. She's like, I saw this on the news today, and I just the world's worse than it's ever been. It keeps getting worse. I'm like, well, it's pretty bad, but it's always been pretty bad. It's always been pretty bad.
SPEAKER_02I'm your response to being like, read Exodus. Read this, read those.
SPEAKER_05You want to hear about the world being bad, go read the Bible. You'll see. It's always been terrible.
SPEAKER_01I mean, really, though. Yeah. If you read it, it really puts everything in perspective.
SPEAKER_05Does it but why is it terrible?
SPEAKER_02Because we don't listen to Because we didn't do what God said to do.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Read the Bible, do what it says.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Weren't we gonna talk about fruit or something?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh no, I said lingo, like Bible lingo. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, show me those should be like what, you know, Christian talk, Bible lingo, such and such, you know. And she was like, Yeah, show me your fruit. And they're like, Oh, you can oh yeah, show me your fruit. Yo, show me your fruit. And I was just like, oh, we can talk about Christian, like Christian cuss words, you know, like Christian cusss.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you like the Jehosaphat like we were so close to being just wrapping this up and moving on. That's my fault.
SPEAKER_02Sorry, but yeah, we were gonna talk about fruit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a good, a good podcast idea, which goes into what we're talking about here. It's linked together if you think about it.
SPEAKER_02It's all the whole Bible's linked together.
SPEAKER_01It is not just kidding.
SPEAKER_00I'm just kidding. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert.
SPEAKER_05Spoiler. Bible is connected. But yeah, church words. Is that kind of what you mean? Church words.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_05Right now at the after school at Ben Logan that we do, me and Drew and Laura Ramsey, we do after school at Ben Logan on Thursdays, and we've been doing a series called Church Words. Just big words. So we've done like what we do, sanctification.
SPEAKER_03Ooh.
SPEAKER_05And we did redemption. And next week it's my turn. I haven't really picked my word yet. Any suggestions?
SPEAKER_01Evidently those were your words are actually good words.
SPEAKER_00The words that we're doing over here is like fruit.
SPEAKER_05I don't know what to tell you, but But we can do whatever we want.
Who Has Authority In Your Life
SPEAKER_05It's fine. I just thought there's big words that we talk about just in a church setting that we don't usually we don't use sanctification much everyday conversation. It'd be weird if we did.
SPEAKER_02It would be. Are you sanctified? Are you sure this water is sanctified?
SPEAKER_05But I can't think of a word for maybe like I thought about doing sovereignty. Like God is sovereign.
SPEAKER_00That's good.
SPEAKER_05I just gotta look up what it means first. Then we get to the city. What grade is this?
SPEAKER_02Middle school. All middle school, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05We usually have about 25. We had almost 30 last time. So they're coming to hang out with us. We get them snacks, just play some games, and then we do different Bible devotion studies and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02So awesome. Yeah. And that's that Benjamin Logan. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05So. Alright.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_05We are good.
SPEAKER_02Show me your fruit.
SPEAKER_05Show me a fruit.
SPEAKER_02That's gonna be the next episode title is Show Me Your Fruit. Alright.
SPEAKER_04Show me the fruit.
SPEAKER_05Like a game show, kind of like show me the money.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. What's behind the pear?
SPEAKER_05Alright. Let's pray before we talk about fruit too much. Lord, thank you for this day. Thanks for opportunities to do stuff like this and discuss your word, have conversations about who you are, and how we should strive to be more like you. And yeah, I just thankful for opportunities and blessings that you put in front of us. Be with all those listening this week and keep us warm and safe. And we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, that's it for this episode, and we'll be back next time, probably about fruit or something like that. Thanks for listening.