Cold Plunges, Sleepless Nights, & The Authority of Jesus

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

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_05 0:16

How you guys been?

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Cold. Very cold. Frigid.

SPEAKER_05 0:21

It's what I like to call bird chilly cold outside. That's when it's really cold. It's like unnecessarily cold.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

When that wind hits, it takes your breath away and it cuts all the way to your bones.

SPEAKER_05 0:34

Yeah, you can feel it in your bones. Yes. Yeah. That's how cold it is.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

And I thought yesterday outside, I was like, I've cold plunged multiple times. Is this worse? It might be worse.

SPEAKER_05 0:46

You've cold plunged?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah, cold plunge. Like when you jump in ice water.

SPEAKER_05 0:51

Like you jumped into a pond.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Guys,

Cold Plunge Confessions

SPEAKER_01 0:54

people do this for health. For health? Yes, cold plunging. Okay, stop.

SPEAKER_05 1:01

Take us through this real quick.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:03

Right? First putting in the episode. Just you tell us about cold plunging.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

I 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_00 1:24

Hold on. I really should have Googled to explain this better before. Let's make our body think we're dying.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

We do this for on purpose. Yes. Should we try it? No.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yes. 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_05 2:05

What if you don't want to be in it for three minutes?

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Guys, it's like it takes for your body to think it's dying.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Oh as soon as your knees hit, you're close to death.

unknown 2:17

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Wait, you guys don't know this. No. Oh, we're doing it.

SPEAKER_05 2:23

We're not doing it.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

We're doing it.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm glad it helps you.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

It's so it makes you so happy. It gives you so much energy.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:35

She might not know the exact science, but she knows it helps you.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yes, 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_05 2:50

I 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_02 2:58

You have so much energy. I mean, I go to a tanning bed. I thought that made me happy. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

It does. But I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_05 3:06

Okay. I don't know how we got to ice water.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Have you guys never heard you asked us about the temperature outside? Well, it's cold.

SPEAKER_05 3:11

It's like windshield minus 11.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

You 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_01 3:18

I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 3:19

It'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_02 3:27

Yeah, to wake up, not to not to almost make your body die.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

I 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_02 3:51

So almost four times a week.

SPEAKER_05 3:54

There you go. Yeah. Ashley's gonna try it for us and report back next week.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Yep, that's my mission.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Maybe 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_02 4:10

It's like the best thing ever.

SPEAKER_05 4:12

I don't think you should be the one to talk people into doing this.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

So fill the bathtub up completely with cold water, put it just start with that.

unknown 4:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Just do straight cold water and try

How To Survive An Ice Bath

SPEAKER_01 4:22

to get in.

SPEAKER_05 4:22

I'm not getting in. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

But 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_05 4:30

Like me going around the edge of the pool putting my foot in, like testing.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Like submerge like to your neck. I mean, it'd be great if you went under. Okay.

unknown 4:39

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

But yeah, as much as you can.

SPEAKER_05 4:41

Hold your breath.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

I'm a lifeguard. I can't hold my breath for a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 4:45

See if you can lay all the back and float, just your nostrils hanging out of the water so you can breathe.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

They're like, Mom, are you okay? And then they stick their hands in the water, like, oh, it's cold.

SPEAKER_04 4:56

She's on her own.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Never mind at all.

SPEAKER_05 4:59

Wow. 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_02 5:09

Hey. I like it. It's the life of the rush hour.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Right in, if you've ever been. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Let 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_05 5:23

That's just for weirdos. Um but yeah. If you can find a way who do that.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

I was gonna say also lots of love to people who do the polar plunge.

SPEAKER_05 5:32

No, I don't. You can love them. You can think they're cool people, but they're also never mind.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Well, I yeah, I'm probably weird to do the cold plunge, but you do the cold plunge.

SPEAKER_05 5:43

That's fine. I'll take a steamy hot shower later.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

That'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_05 5:53

I've heard that before.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I thought I'd same idea. So that's like the baby step to get to the cold plunge.

SPEAKER_05 5:58

I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

So why did you tell me to do that first before you tell me?

SPEAKER_05 6:01

Because honestly, she thinks you're strong and you just handle the initial.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

I'm like, wait, doesn't Randy do this? Maybe.

SPEAKER_05 6:07

Randy does.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Cold plunges? Cold plunges on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_05 6:13

Seems like you'd be the type of guy that would like to cold plunge. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

I think he does. He'll tell us if he does.

SPEAKER_05 6:18

I'll ask him later.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

All right, moving on to our talk about church.

SPEAKER_05 6:23

Talk about back to Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

What'd you do on the weekend? What was what were your weekend things? Did you have anything fun?

SPEAKER_05 6:28

I watched so much football.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Football? Yeah. Yeah. Like NFL football.

SPEAKER_05 6:33

Both NFL. College championship

Weekend Recap And Sports Highs Lows

SPEAKER_05 6:35

was last night.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Was it?

SPEAKER_05 6:37

Me and Timmy stayed up late and watched it all the way to the end. Who won? Indiana.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:42

Which is Indiana football has been the worst football program in college football history for the last hundred years.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 6:49

And uh it's the biggest turnaround in college sports history.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

And they won the championship.

SPEAKER_05 6:53

The undefeated season.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:55

Well, 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_02 7:20

Destroyed.

SPEAKER_05 7:21

So I watched a lot of sports this weekend. That's about all, really.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Nice. Brittany, did you do anything about over the weekend?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Lots of basketball. Lots of basketball.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Yeah. Yeah. Your kids' basketball games.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yes. Well, I coaching the eighth grade or eight-year-olds and then high school. High school. Yes. And middle school.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

And middle school. Wow. We're running all over the place. I am.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

All the time. Yes. We'll go to Marion ton or Elgin tonight.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Okay. We go to Northwestern tonight. Yeah. Well, I stayed up all night with my teenagers for Carter's birthday.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

Carter's birthday. Did you have chicken bowls in the lock in?

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Did you have chicken bowls?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

We 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_05 8:19

I don't think it's ever healthy for you, but it's just easier to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

At 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_05 8:42

And that's the worst.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

So 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_05 9:01

Nobody made it.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

No. 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_01 9:14

Yeah. I don't think I've played it.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Oh, 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_05 9:42

I was like, what the heck? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

So that was fun. That sounds great.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

I would never do it again in my life.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

Good choice.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:51

So 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_05 10:24

Um, 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_02 10:36

Peanut 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_05 10:44

No.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

I don't know if I have a favorite. Maybe like fruit pies? Strawberry.

SPEAKER_05 10:50

So it's more fruit.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

I 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_01 11:05

I 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_02 11:14

Yeah. Like I couldn't be a fair pie judge because I I wouldn't like any of the fruit pies at all.

SPEAKER_05 11:20

So 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_02 11:42

No, that's good. I'm honest and I cannot be unbiased.

SPEAKER_05 11:45

You 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_02 12:06

Yeah, I think we brought like some people were playing cards.

SPEAKER_05 12:09

Did we bring uh what's the what's the game?

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Flip seven.

SPEAKER_05 12:11

Yeah. I think we played that at the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Yes, 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_05 12:18

Oh, it's so fun. I wanted to paintball camp, but oh, I was late.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

I 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_05 12:31

Everybody else's well help well-being.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

I feel like really sick. I just beer on people. So I miss my friends. I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_05 12:40

Chili 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_02 12:51

I 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_05 13:02

Here's a pot of broth I brought. Drink up.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Delicious. Right? I have a ton of bone broth. I also drink bone broth, just for the record.

SPEAKER_05 13:13

We've got a broth table. Chili and

Winter Jam Plans Nixed

SPEAKER_05 13:16

pie and broth is over there, if that's your thing. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

I'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_05 13:26

Good. Um, but she was just talking about anything liquid.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Yeah, I was like, well, just broth. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

I 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_00 13:48

Yes. Just for the record, I have no idea which one of you are right.

SPEAKER_05 13:52

I 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_04 14:06

That's what I think of every time I hear it.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yeah. I know I just I I love that soup. I think it's really good. I would enter that one.

SPEAKER_05 14:13

Do 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_02 14:20

I 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_05 14:26

Wait, 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_00 14:38

I mean, what I don't understand. Like, if it didn't have beans, I'd be like, what is this?

SPEAKER_04 14:46

Take my chili. Beanless. All right.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

So back on track here. I don't I don't know if that would be good or not.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

I 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_05 15:14

Made 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_02 15:21

It is true.

SPEAKER_05 15:22

Maybe you'd like chili sauce.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

No, I do like okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

I 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_04 15:36

I just I just get like 10 cans of Skyline

Chili, Pie, And Soup Debates

SPEAKER_04 15:39

chili 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_02 15:46

I do like chili with some beans. I don't like it with a ton of beans.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

You would not like my chili. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

All right. Probably true. I would not like your chili.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Because I don't even put chili beans in it. I put like real beans. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:00

Those 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_02 16:11

I saw my picture changed.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Yes, I changed your picture.

SPEAKER_05 16:14

You can change our pictures.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Have you looked at it recently?

SPEAKER_05 16:18

Nope. Brittany said.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Oh, don't worry. I got your pictures from your wife. So they're all very nice.

SPEAKER_05 16:23

Oh, well, yeah. That's probably a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Um she picked good ones because she's in them as well. Rustarch.com.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

You 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_01 17:13

I'm really enjoying this short little series.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

Yep. 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_02 17:27

No. Yeah, well he can I think he he finishes this coming Sunday. This will be the finish. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_05 17:34

Yeah, 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_01 18:03

I 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_05 18:09

I 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_01 18:20

And 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_05 18:33

Usually 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_01 19:13

Yeah, that can roll over you, that you have an emptiness.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

But 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_02 19:36

Yeah, I remember when we

Site Updates And Upcoming Events

SPEAKER_02 19:37

when 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_01 19:49

I 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_05 20:27

So 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_05 21:57

lot 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_02 22:30

Like you get to start over.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

You get to start over.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Well, 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_02 22:47

Yeah, like you keep checking your accounts. Really? Do I not have to pay that?

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah. Like just that sense of sense of disbelief.

SPEAKER_05 22:55

Well, 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_01 23:45

I mean that you might.

SPEAKER_05 23:47

You might.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

I mean, if you want to. Right. That would that would be my desire.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

I wouldn't want to, but if I had really bad habits that I didn't address, right, then I could. Right?

SPEAKER_05 24:03

You could.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Yeah. You gotta change the habits. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:07

You'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_02 24:24

But 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_02 24:34

life was? We would want to change, right? And to becoming that new, that new path, that new normal.

unknown 24:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Is that what you think about getting at? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:46

I'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_02 26:23

But but we have the desire to to be better, to to do to do what God actually actually wants us to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:31

The 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_05 26:56

and that means I can do whatever I want because he's paid for it.

SPEAKER_03 27:00

Right.

SPEAKER_05 27:02

No, 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_02 27:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:44

It's in with any relationship, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

You 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_05 27:54

Yeah. 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_02 28:28

So 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_01 29:18

He 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_01 30:27

like, true. I couldn't figure out my debt in the first place before that. So that was just a tough one.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

I 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_05 30:47

Realizing 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_01 31:02

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

You 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_02 31:24

I didn't get you any. I gotta get that person.

SPEAKER_05 31:26

Yeah, 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_01 31:40

I am getting better. I getting gifts.

SPEAKER_05 31:45

Like 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_01 33:39

Right.

SPEAKER_05 33:40

Don't don't just don't just tell me, don't don't say it, but actually

Grace, Obedience, And Desire

SPEAKER_05 33:44

show it. Show me that Jesus is the authority in your life.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Yeah, people should be able to recognize that without you saying anything.

SPEAKER_05 33:51

Well, 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_01 34:47

But 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_05 35:18

The process is not gonna be all at one time, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Because 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_01 35:32

Yeah. 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_05 35:40

But new normal. And we talked a little bit about debt. We talked about oh, you have to go, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 35:49

Oh, I'm dead.

SPEAKER_05 35:49

Oh no, there's no school.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

There's no school.

SPEAKER_05 35:51

That'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_01 36:04

It's like no kids are waiting at school. The school's calling me. I'm denying their call. It's fine.

SPEAKER_04 36:11

Okay, everybody's good. Everyone's good.

SPEAKER_05 36:14

So, but yeah, we'll wrap it up.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

I 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_05 36:31

Colossians is good.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:32

I get it confused with Corinthians sometimes just because it's but two different things.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Well, 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_05 36:49

How many chapters Ruth is?

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Like five, right?

SPEAKER_05 36:51

Five or four. Four. Yeah. It's not very long.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

It'll still take us a little while, I'm sure. We we do a really good job.

SPEAKER_05 37:01

In 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_05 37:13

good.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

Judges was that's a hard read. There's some rough stuff in there.

SPEAKER_05 37:19

It's there's the hard stuff in there.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Yeah. 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_05 37:37

My 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_02 37:50

I'm your response to being like, read Exodus. Read this, read those.

SPEAKER_05 37:58

You want to hear about the world being bad, go read the Bible. You'll see. It's always been terrible.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

I mean, really, though. Yeah. If you read it, it really puts everything in perspective.

SPEAKER_05 38:11

Does it but why is it terrible?

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Because we don't listen to Because we didn't do what God said to do.

SPEAKER_05 38:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Read the Bible, do what it says.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:22

Weren't we gonna talk about fruit or something?

SPEAKER_02 38:25

Yeah. 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_04 38:48

Yeah, you like the Jehosaphat like we were so close to being just wrapping this up and moving on. That's my fault.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

Sorry, but yeah, we were gonna talk about fruit.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Yeah, 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_02 39:07

It's all the whole Bible's linked together.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

It is not just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

I'm just kidding. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert.

SPEAKER_05 39:14

Spoiler. Bible is connected. But yeah, church words. Is that kind of what you mean? Church words.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

No.

SPEAKER_05 39:22

Right 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_03 39:38

Ooh.

SPEAKER_05 39:38

And we did redemption. And next week it's my turn. I haven't really picked my word yet. Any suggestions?

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Evidently those were your words are actually good words.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

The words that we're doing over here is like fruit.

SPEAKER_05 39:55

I don't know what to tell you, but But we can do whatever we want.

Who Has Authority In Your Life

SPEAKER_05 40:00

It'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_02 40:12

It would be. Are you sanctified? Are you sure this water is sanctified?

SPEAKER_05 40:21

But I can't think of a word for maybe like I thought about doing sovereignty. Like God is sovereign.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

That's good.

SPEAKER_05 40:29

I just gotta look up what it means first. Then we get to the city. What grade is this?

SPEAKER_02 40:33

Middle school. All middle school, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 40:36

We 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_02 40:48

So awesome. Yeah. And that's that Benjamin Logan. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 40:54

So. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Okay. Yeah, I'm good.

SPEAKER_05 40:58

We are good.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Show me your fruit.

SPEAKER_05 41:00

Show me a fruit.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

That's gonna be the next episode title is Show Me Your Fruit. Alright.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

Show me the fruit.

SPEAKER_05 41:08

Like a game show, kind of like show me the money.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Oh, yeah. What's behind the pear?

SPEAKER_05 41:15

Alright. 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.