Church vs The World? - A conversation on Romans 12:2

We talk through what it means to live in the world without letting the world shape us, using Romans 12 to keep our minds and choices centered on Jesus. We also get honest about the daily tension of conversations, approval, and culture, then land on a simple challenge: represent Christ with truth and grace without hiding or blending in. 
• Summer plans and what’s coming up at Rush Church 
• Fifth Sunday Backyard Kids takeover and what to expect 
• Pineapple Palooza volunteer needs and how to help 
• Youth cookout night and summer pause with pop-up events 
• Icebreakers that spiral into sandwiches and what counts as one 
• Defining “the world” as culture that pushes against God’s way 
• Romans 12:1-2 and the call to renew your mind 
• Two traps to avoid: isolation from people or blending into culture 
• Seeing the world as broken and in need of Jesus, not as the enemy 
• The danger of an us-versus-them mindset and why people are not the enemy 
• How humility, forgiveness, and serving others become a Christian witness 
• Practical ways to guard what you consume and reset your worldview daily 
• A better response to failure: learn, practice, and try again 
If you're interested, please sign up at the Welcome Center on Sunday or call on the office, let us know 
You can follow the Instagram page, Rush Church Students 
Also, we have a Facebook page, Rush Church Student Ministries 
Check the bulletin this summer 

www.rushchurch.com

Transcript

Welcome And Summer Plans

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Hey everybody. Welcome to Rush Hour Podcast. It's me, your host, Cody. And I'm here with Brittany and Ashley too. They're kind of the host, also. Also, would you guys consider yourself hosts or my co-host?

SPEAKER_04 0:26

Co-host?

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

That's what more than one person is. Oh. The co-host. That's true. We're just guests. You can't have like three hosts.

SPEAKER_05 0:36

We'll just be the guests that you constantly invite back.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Yes, because we're so good. You guys are my guests. Welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

But if we're guests, then we might be able to get kicked out. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_05 0:49

You don't get fired, remember? Nobody gets fired.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Only promoting. Whatever you are, whatever your titles are. Thanks for being here on Rush Hour and uh talking about Rush Church and the Bible. All kinds of different things that we talk about. But hope everybody out there listening is doing good. Summertime is right around the corner. Today's the last day of school.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Woohoo!

SPEAKER_02 1:10

So that's exciting. Big summer plans.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

I do. My summer is packed.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

I'm going to you know to tell us about them. That's okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

You'd act like you didn't want to tell us about your plans. You're like, no, I was thinking of everything. I don't know if I want to tell you.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

We have paintball camp. We have outer banks.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

I'm going to that one too.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

With you.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

We'll find room in the camper.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Out of the cow, just get there and they're like, what?

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Carter keeps asking, like, can I bring a friend? I'm like, no, we already have friends coming. You don't need anybody else. We got kids. Ruin his summer. Paintball, please. Ruin his summer. He's the one who's got me running everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Okay, what else are you doing? Beach, paintball. Beach, paintball. Kids' jam. Yep. All right. Brittany, you got anything? Big summer plans?

SPEAKER_05 2:03

Woo-hoo. We're going to be playing baseball for a while.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Yeah. They got baseball and softball.

SPEAKER_05 2:07

They got baseball through June baseball for a little while.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Camps. Kids' jam. Fourth of July.

SPEAKER_05 2:16

I'm going to try to go some places, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays.

SPEAKER_05 2:21

Yeah?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:22

Because you get to blow things up? Exactly. Exactly. I feel like that's a very man thing to say.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Well, the Fourth of July is the best holiday. Just in general.

SPEAKER_06 2:32

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Because it's in the summer and it's warm and there's cookouts everywhere. And you get food and you're just like outside and you got a fire and and you get to blow stuff up and explosions happen in the sky.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

I don't it is a pretty good holiday.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

I do like that.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

I don't even I don't I don't care that it's patriotic, really. I don't either way, take it or leave it. But cookouts and fireworks. It doesn't matter what we're celebrating.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

I don't care what we're celebrating. We're celebrating our freedom.

SPEAKER_04 3:02

I mean. Thank you. Thank you, please, to those who we are.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

I'm very I yeah, I love America. All right. So don't take this. I'm just saying. It's okay. We're trying to make you look bad. We're doing a really good time. It could be anything in the summertime, and I'd be like, yes, let's blow up.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

Let's blow things up. I still have tannerite that I need to use. We should get together and use that.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Sure. We should. Let's do that.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Well, you said you like to blow things up.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yeah, I don't I just like to watch stuff blow up, but I'll blow some up to. It's fine. Just around a random Thursday in May.

SPEAKER_05 3:39

Let's uh we'll be pretty Ashley unzips her book bag of dynamite.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I'm like, I'm ready. I'm like, what are we celebrating? Ashley's like, doesn't matter. It's warm outside. It's warm.

SPEAKER_05 3:50

Have a hot dog. Spray you with a hose and blow this up.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

That'd be so fun.

SPEAKER_05 3:56

We should do that.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

All right. Announcement

Church Announcements And Volunteer Needs

SPEAKER_02 3:58

time about actual things that are gonna happen. I mean, summertime is all gonna happen, and we're gonna do all anyway. So, fifth Sunday.

SPEAKER_04 4:06

Yep, fifth Sunday's coming up, May 31st here at the church. All backyard kids, I'm gonna take over both services. Teachers have a break that day, and I have something a little less chaotic planned this time, but still very impactful. So excited.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Sounds pretty good. Uh let's see. What was the other one? Oh, pineapple Palooza in Bell Fountain.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

Yes, that is on June 6th. I got my date right this time. June 6th. Pineapple Palooza downtown. We need three more people for that. So if you're willing to manage the bounce house, the obstacle course, I'll give you a chair. I'll even set up a canopy for you so be out of the sun. I just need you to sit on both sides. Three people from I believe it was the first shift that needs coverage. Yes. Two to five. Five. Two to five. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

I had a dream I was in charge of the bounce house.

SPEAKER_04 5:02

How did it go away?

SPEAKER_02 5:03

It was terrible. Like the person like that was in charge of sending people wanted to just send them all like ten at a time through the house. And this bounce house wasn't ours, it was a different one. It's an optional course. And then at the end you had to you had to climb up the side and then come back down the same way. So people were coming to the slide, but people were coming down the slide like a V shape and like knocking people over at the bottom. And like I went down to try to like help the situation, then I couldn't get back up to the top. They were just like everywhere. So I woke up in a panic.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

It does sound like a nightmare.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

But your volunteer will not be a nightmare. It will be very easy.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

You'll send one at a time.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

That was just a dream.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

On each side. And then let the person in the front know. It's clear.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

It's a different bounce house. So it's good. Our bounce house is top shelf. It is. And it's easy to run.

unknown 5:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 5:53

So if you're interested, please sign up at the Welcome Center on Sunday or call on the office, let us know. We'll put your name down.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Great. Great. Great. Great. Uh kids jam volunteer signups are coming up.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

They are in June, beginning of June. I don't know that date yet. But they will be coming out here soon. We are going to try to do electronically less people. Yeah. So we'll get that, get that started for you. And I think that's all. Oh, you have information on the Rushovania stuff. What's going on there?

SPEAKER_05 6:22

Well, we'll put a sign-up sheet out at the Welcome Center this Sunday to sign up for the different activities for Russell Vania's Independence Day celebration. So we've done that. That was our first Rush 1.8 event. So this is year three.

SPEAKER_06 6:38

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 6:39

Doing that, which I really enjoy. But we have all of it out except for the bounce house. So lots of volunteers are needed.

SPEAKER_06 6:48

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 6:49

Yeah. And that sign up sheet will be at the at the Welcome Center this Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

That's a big day.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

It is a big day.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

A fun day. Because it's the 4th of July. There's food and environment.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

And we're outside. We're outside. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

But those are, I don't think we have anything else.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

Well, you have something for youth, right? Coming up.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Oh, we have, we're not meeting this weekend because it's Memorial Day weekend. But the Sunday after, which is the 31st. 31 days in April, June, May. May's got 31 days. We're having a cookout and a fire and probably some volleyball and some games and some stuff for the youth that night. So it's a big end of school year kind of hangout night, which will be good. And then we take a break in June and July from Sunday nights, just because we have camps and 4th of July and kids' jam and vacations and stuff. So but be on the lookout for pop-up days that will do some fun things throughout the summer. You can follow the Instagram page, Rush Church Students. Also, we have a Facebook page, Rush Church Student Ministries. I post everything on those and then check the bulletin this summer. So there you go.

SPEAKER_05 8:03

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Very nice. All right.

Jokes And Icebreaker Questions

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Next, what do we have? Icebreakers.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

Do you want icebreakers or jokes?

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Oh, let's do jokes just because we can.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Ashley's joke time.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Joke time. My cheesy jokes. What do you get when you cross a kitten and a fish?

SPEAKER_02 8:29

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

What do you get when you cross a kitten? I heard you. And a fish.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

I'm gonna throw this at you.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Sorry. I've had Brittany. Say I don't know, so she'll tell us the answer.

SPEAKER_05 8:41

I was thinking, what if I did know? Thank you, Brittany. Thank you for being interactive. A kitten and a fish.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Ten minutes later. Kitty and a fish. Meow, tuna.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Kitty tuna. Kitty tuna. Okay, I'll give you the answer. A piranha. Oh, I would have never.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

No, we weren't even. I was in the vision of meow or whiskers.

SPEAKER_05 9:08

I definitely went with meow first.

SPEAKER_04 9:10

Okay, try this one. Hey. What did the DJ say at the veggie dance?

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Let's cut up the dance floor. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

No, that's not it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

Lettuce turn up the beats. Nice.

SPEAKER_04 9:34

That was good.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Lettuce turn up the beat. Lettuce turn up the beat.

SPEAKER_04 9:37

You got lettuce in there. You got turnips and you got beets. Oh, didn't even catch the turnip. Didn't even catch the turnip.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Didn't even catch the turnip. Me neither. Yeah, no. No one ever catches a turnip.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

There you go. All right. Those are the jokes for the day. One back. Feel free to use those.

SPEAKER_05 9:53

We don't know which one was bad and which one was okay, but Yeah, we do. No, we don't.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Oh, sorry. Sorry. Well, what are we gonna talk about icebreaker-wise so we can have a little conversation?

SPEAKER_04 10:07

Yes, icebreaker. Yeah, we have to force each other to talk. To talk to each other? Because we don't know what we're saying to each other. All right. Excuse me. If you could make the ultimate sandwich, what would be on it?

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Sandwich. Let's see. Lettuce.

SPEAKER_05 10:34

Tomato.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

No.

SPEAKER_05 10:36

Yes. Lettuce, tomato. Is this his sandwich? Oh. Fine, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

What's like the Tell everyone about your lame sandwich? When you think about a sandwich, Jim, like there's all kinds of sandwiches.

SPEAKER_04 10:46

What is your ultimate sandwich?

SPEAKER_02 10:48

There's too much to like you could meatball subs, cold cuts, chicken bacon, ranch sandwiches. I don't, there's just too many.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

Okay. If I could make an ultimate sandwich, you were first start with a slice of rye bread. Okay. Oh my gosh. And then you would lightly toast it. I was just gonna make a joke that was like lightly toasted.

SPEAKER_05 11:14

You're like, no, it's toasted. Okay, got it.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

Then a a small thin swipe of mayonnaise, okay? A little bit of drizzle of spicy mustard. And then you've got your roast beef. You gotta like kind of fold it up. But it's thin. I like all my lunch meat, it's cut very thin. Yeah. Then you got your roast beef and then a little bit of turkey. Okay. Then I would do the green lettuce, like the really dark, like the leafy green lettuce, really crisp. Then a nice cut tomato. Then you sprinkle it with salt and pepper on top of the tomato. Okay. Then a few little pickles, like like the good pickles.

SPEAKER_05 11:48

What's a good pickle? Bread and butter?

SPEAKER_04 11:49

Those no, ooh, yuck. Okay. No, like those velastic, those ones like the crunch, you know, the really crunchy pickle. Okay. Oh, by the way, there's no cheese on this because I don't really like cheese. Remember? Then you take.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Yeah, you remember? Everybody remember?

SPEAKER_05 12:08

Everyone remembers from my last testimony that I don't like cheese.

SPEAKER_04 12:12

Then you take the other slice of rye toast, lightly toasted, but that one has butter on it. And then you got it's the ultimate sandwich. Have you made this sandwich before? Nope. I just made it in my head. Sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_05 12:29

I will bet a dollar that actually makes this sandwich this weekend.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

We just spent two minutes listening to a sandwich that never has existed. She hasn't never made this sandwich.

SPEAKER_05 12:41

Nor has she ever tasted it.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

It tastes like crap or not. Hold on. I've had a rye bread sandwich with like turkey before, lettuce, tomato, pickle.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

We're talking like lunch meat sandwiches, I guess. If you you just the category was too big for me to comprehend. Because I'm thinking like chicken sandwiches. I'm like, is a hamburger a sandwich?

SPEAKER_04 13:04

No, a hamburger is not a sandwich.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Why not?

SPEAKER_04 13:07

No, it's a hamburger.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

I think I I don't know if I agree or disagree. What makes a sandwich a sandwich? Two pieces of bread with stuff between it, like a hamburger.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

I'm sorry. Okay, you are feisty today. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:27

Oh maybe. I would never eat this sandwich anymore because I know what's in it.

SPEAKER_06 13:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:37

But white bread, mayonnaise, cheese, and bologna with ruffle chips.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

Yep. The typical elementary sandwich. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Give me fried bologna, cheese, mayonnaise, chips. Yeah. I like the crunch. I like to put chips on a sandwich because the crunch and the saltiness. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:55

I'll do chips on peanut butter and jelly too. That sounds great.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Oh, we were so close to just, you know. I was like, me and Brittany the chips. And she's like, ooh, peanut butter. And I'm like, oh.

SPEAKER_05 14:06

Go make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich right now and put ruffled chips on it.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Hey, listen, this is what we're gonna do, okay? Our first week here together, which is next week, right? Because you're here all day or every day.

SPEAKER_05 14:20

Yeah, we actually have been working together for a while.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

It's been like I mean like you're here all week next week. Okay, right?

SPEAKER_05 14:29

I mean for years I've been working on the side.

SPEAKER_04 14:33

We're going to make all three of those sandwiches.

SPEAKER_05 14:36

Okay, remember I'm allergic to bread.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

She can't eat hers. She already said that. She's like, I would never eat this, but this is what the sandwich would be.

SPEAKER_04 14:44

Don't put yours on gluten-free bread. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

You're gonna eat bologna?

SPEAKER_04 14:49

On gluten-free bread with mayonnaise and chips.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

I'm not eating baloney.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

What a weird this was a weird icebreaker because Brittany's like, you made a sandwich you never had. Brittany made a sandwich she could never eat.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

The question was, what is the ultimate sandwich?

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Okay, that to me is the ultimate. It's all about rye bread and spicy mustard.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah, I love spicy mustard. It's great. Okay. I'm the category was too big. There's anything could be a sandwich. So okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

Well, this next icebreaker might be the same. But there's more.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I agree. Roast beef and turkey are the superior lunch meats if you're gonna like roast beast. Roast beast? Roast beef is the you know, top echelon of cold cuts.

SPEAKER_04 15:37

Yeah, it is. What kind of turkey do you like? Roasted buffalo Cajun.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

I like the Cajun turkey. Okay. I like the mesquite. I like the uh smoked.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Honey? Honey roasted?

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Honey roasted, yeah, that's one.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Cracked pepper.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Okay, moving on. That's the other question.

SPEAKER_04 16:05

Okay, the last icebreaker question is what is one item that you hope will be obsolete in 20 years? That we don't use anymore? What's one item that we have now that you hope in 20 years is gone?

SPEAKER_05 16:23

Probably my cell phone. That would be cool. We went back to not communicating 24-7. That'd be really nice.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

I don't know. I gotta I was thinking about all kinds of stuff. I forgot we were on the podcast. Sorry. And we're back. Something that we don't want anymore. What do we want to get rid of? Like something just really like gone.

SPEAKER_06 16:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

I don't know. I don't like these icebreaker questions today.

SPEAKER_05 17:04

Ashley, what do you choose? Honestly, I think I would choose AI. You want it gone? Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of making us all not smart. Using a computer's brain instead of our brain. Yeah. Cody's still thinking.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

I'm still thinking.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

Maybe also those middle school language that they all use, the terminology. I could I can do that. Maybe 20 years, I just hope that people don't make up any new words. Right. How about that?

SPEAKER_02 17:35

We just keep the words we have because they're good. We don't need to make up any new ones.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

20 years, hopefully nobody knows what 6'7 means.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

What if we didn't have gasoline anymore? We had to pay for it. It was free.

SPEAKER_04 17:50

What if you could put anything in your car and it would run?

SPEAKER_02 17:53

What would you choose?

SPEAKER_03 17:56

Water?

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Okay, see? That was an easy question.

SPEAKER_04 18:01

I'm just saying, if a car was built and you could actually just anything would make it run.

SPEAKER_06 18:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:06

Other than your own feet? I'll put water in it.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Like the Flintstones.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Yeah. Yeah, but have a do. Get them driving to work.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

Um be like the Jetsons.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Yeah, I was gonna say that. It'd be even worse. It'd be worse than it is now if we had hover cars and people flying around.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

Way more accidents.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Yeah. People crash into my house. Ashley would think, never mind. Crazy things are happening, but alright. Hey, good icebreakers. I like those.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

No, you didn't.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

I like sandwiches. They're really good. I uh well, alright.

SPEAKER_05 18:56

Okay, Cody, your turn.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

I'm kind of sleepy this morning, so bear with me.

SPEAKER_05 19:01

It is very early in the morning to be told. Oh, playing your game. You were on video games too late. That's what he did. Were you really?

SPEAKER_04 19:11

He told me on Thursday nights he plays with his his buddies.

SPEAKER_05 19:14

What are you playing?

SPEAKER_02 19:15

They're random things. All right. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 19:17

You don't want to tell the public?

SPEAKER_02 19:19

I we can if you want to.

SPEAKER_05 19:20

No, you don't have to.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Thursday nights are game nights for me and my friends that live in all these different states. We have a guy in Wisconsin, we have Kentucky people in Virginia.

SPEAKER_05 19:31

I think that's awesome. Yeah, it sounds like fun.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

Yeah. But we st the game we played last night, we started one and it went way too long. And I was like, I gotta be a podcast this morning.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

That way you weren't answering us this morning.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

And Erica took the kids to school, so I had to get up. And I was like, I woke up. It's like 8 10. Oh my gosh. And here I am. So literally rolled out of bed and got in the car. Nice. Yeah. Here. All right. Now that

In The World Not Of It

SPEAKER_02 20:01

we've talked about nothing for 20 minutes, let's get into the Bible. I think people enjoy all of our conversations though. We did talk about some important uh rest church stuff. So we want to talk a little bit about the idea of you how do we word it? Living in the world but not being part of the world.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

Yeah. How would you define that?

SPEAKER_02 20:19

How would you define Christians, people that follow Jesus being in the world but not kind of of the world? I've heard that saying before. And what does that make you think of off the top of your head? Like being in the world but not of the world. So I think like when we this Christian language, kind of when we say the world, what do we mean by that? I guess. What do you think of when like you're reading through the Bible or you're talking about stuff in a Christian context and you're like, oh, the world? Like that's that means something different to a Christfaller, I think. I think in my head it does.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

Yeah. Yeah. I think when I was young and I first heard that, it was like everything about the world is bad. And you gotta figure out how to still exist.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

But like what is the world?

SPEAKER_04 21:10

The world, like everything that comes at you, the technology, the TV, the music, the the language, the you know, all that.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Yeah, it's the it's just like the culture and the stuff and all the things and this the worldly ways is what I've like, you know, heard it said. But like we're part of that. Like as Christians, like we're part of the culture that we live in, just because we're here and we live in it. Not by choice, but just because it's around. So to be in the world but not of the world, it to me it's just the idea of we have to live in some culture, we have to go through this life somewhere. And right now the the world that we live in, we have to be a part of it and we have to do daily things in the world. And how do we go through life? As a Christian and not be can overtaken by all that stuff, by temptations, by and and worldly things. When I when we think about the world, you think about the world versus God's way, is what I think. God has a certain way that He wants things done, a way that He set things up, and to be of the world is to go against what God wants, most for the most part. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_05 22:25

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

That when we talk about the world, it's going against it's rebelling against what God really wants for his creation, I guess. And it could be all these different things. The verse that I looked up for this conversation was from Romans 12. Paul's writing, and he says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Paul's writing to a big church in Rome. Rome's a huge place, it's the center of the world back then. And he's saying, Do not conform to this world, but be transformed into having a worldview like Christ. Oh, our view of the world should be that of a view through Jesus' life. And how do we see things? How do we interact with people? How do we see the world in a Christian way, I guess. But he's saying don't be conformed to what they're doing around you. And it's the same as back then as it is today. Christians living in a world where the most majority of the majority of the culture goes against what God wants. And they do things a different way. And some of it's not really all that bad, per se. Like it's just there's a better way to do it, maybe. What do you think?

SPEAKER_05 24:06

Yeah, I think that like when you are making decisions in your life or you're choosing certain ways to live or things like that, you know, for a long time. When you're young, especially, whether you're young in just your faith or young in general, you want everyone's approval.

SPEAKER_06 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:25

You want everyone to just, oh, great job. That's exactly how I would do that. Oh, wonderful decision.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Yeah. And in the church, we call that living for the world.

SPEAKER_05 24:36

Right.

unknown 24:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

You've heard that before, I guess. I'm using all these church phrases that I've heard like growing up and that, you know, are kind of popular. But yeah, we want to please people around us. We want to fit in. Usually that's the natural desire is to not be the weirdo or not be the person everybody likes.

SPEAKER_05 24:59

That mindset is really hard to break. I mean, it is something that's really difficult to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

I do think working with teenagers and doing things, I do think there is a shift also of this idea of it used to be like you want to be part of the in-crowd, you want to fit in, you want to do less. But there is some change, I think, in the culture where it is uniqueness is now be your own person, kind of stand out. And it has I think I've seen that shift a little bit. Have you you guys agree in culture or not?

SPEAKER_04 25:34

I have. Yeah. It yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Whether the shift has been correct, but not necessarily correct, but like I will say that the uh the shift is there, but it's not like in a in a good way.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

Right. It's more of like it's not focused on Christ.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Yeah, no, no, but it's not focused on Christ, and it's not focused on it's still so I don't know really what my point was.

SPEAKER_05 25:59

Well, it still could make it easier. So even if as a culture we're shifting towards being unique, right, it's still and those people aren't following Christ, it still can make it easier for those who are. For those who are to be still uh have the courage.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Well, also I think like I've seen it several examples of the idea of a young person or just a teenager, somebody that, you know, this shift to wanting to be unique and wanting to kind of not follow the crowd lead you to Christianity. Because to be a follower of Christ, you do have to go against the grain. You have to be, you know, not you have to be in the world, but not of the world. Right. And so there is an open door there to kind of I I can see the idea you want something real, you want something to set you apart. Let me introduce you to a guy I know named Jesus, because he was, you know, he can set you apart in ways that you could never do on your own.

SPEAKER_05 26:56

When you're when you decide to be set apart or you decide to be unique and you're not following Christ, then I think that you go searching for a lot of things that revolve around you. You know, it's all self self-serving. Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:14

Which, you know, can feel really good for a while. But then I I think that that might be the reason why they end up finding Christ is because they realize that they're not enough. They're not enough. The people that are going through the journey with them are not enough, and that there's still something really big missing in their life. Yeah.

Two Traps Isolation Or Blending In

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Moving the conversation forward a little bit, just from my notes that I have, what are the two traps that Christians often fall into while trying to balance this in the world but not of the world? What do you think? Any ideas? There's two things you can do.

SPEAKER_05 27:52

I think I know what one is.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Yes. Let me know.

SPEAKER_05 27:55

I think that one, because I have fallen into this trap all the time, is that once you start setting yourself apart and you decide that all that matters is that I'm serving Christ, that I'm a living sacrifice for him, my body, everything. When you start doing that, worldly things become less important. And then you kind of go into this trap where you realize nothing's that important. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Didn't have that on my list, but I can see where Do you understand what I'm saying? That's that's a yeah, I know what you're saying. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:38

Because it's like nothing, you separate yourself from everything, and that's not what we're supposed to do either.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

I can see where you that's kind of one of my points.

SPEAKER_05 28:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

I think.

SPEAKER_05 28:47

Well, make it work.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Sit it back into your point. Like, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:52

I think the trap that people get in is that they they're they're like right on the edge, and the world sucks them back in. Like I feel like, you know, especially being young. Oh, you know, yeah. You're trying to you're trying to get them to fit in with you, you're trying to get them to follow you, but then you know, you still have to be with them, you still have to go to baseball games with them, you still gotta, you know, and sometimes you just kind of get caught up in the moment and you start acting like them.

SPEAKER_05 29:18

Yeah. Are either of those on your list?

SPEAKER_02 29:21

There's lots of trap that you can follow.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

I didn't we got neither one of them.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

I think you're both are really close, but I don't know. Maybe you can fit all these into these two. I have this is what I have.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

And you guys are not incorrect, you guys are right, but good job. I'll add to it. So I don't know. Thank you for checking mark. Check marks, good job. Well done, class. I should turn this into a class. That'd be fun. You could co-hosts and students. So this is great.

SPEAKER_05 29:47

I thought that's what we already wanted. Sorry, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

I can never mind. I had this whole scenario just play out in my head. Two traps I have one is isolation or like putting yourself in a bubble, pulling away from culture entirely, and kind of just failing to engage the world at all, where you don't interact with your neighbors, you don't interact with other people outside of the faith, and you don't you're not able to live out the commandments of loving other people around you and showing them the light. So there's that that kind of like. It was kind of like what Brittany was saying, a little bit. A little bit. You were almost there. I was almost I was like, she's uh and then nope, and but it all fit into that same place where you kind of just like well, if the culture, if the world's bad, then we'll just not deal with it. Yeah, and then we'll just kind of bubble ourselves up, ignore all the cultural stuff, and just you know, do our own thing, and that's not good either. No, because then you can't do what Jesus has called us to do by being light and salt in the world and influencing the world for him. The other one is the opposite of that, where you're like, we gotta get into the world, and then all of a sudden you find yourself looking just like the world, and you lose your way, and you're kind of like I think that's what Ashley.

SPEAKER_05 31:07

We were right, we're right. Yeah, we just didn't use the better term. We didn't use good terminology.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

It's true. I think both of you were right. That's why I was like, this could kind of sound like what I was gonna say, but not exactly. But let me wrap it up in this good job, guys. You knew exactly what they were.

SPEAKER_05 31:23

This is what it is.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

We need to this is regular people talking.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

This is the yeah, we're the norm knowledge talking, the normal.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Yeah, those two things where you pull away all together, or you get so far into the culture that there's no distinct difference in you and the world. And so you don't want either one of those. You want a you gotta live in the world, don't let it overtake you. And so, how do we do that? That's really the question of like I think that is the thing of being a Christian. And yeah we've been talking about church, why we go to church, why it's important, why we go out. This is one of those things where it's important because we have to be in the world. Let's do it with people that are like us and we'll do it together, and we'll go out and I think that's that's what was one thing I was thinking, like how rush one eight.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

We we go together. You know, you want to impact the world, but you don't want to do it alone. Come come as a group. I think that's it's really more encouraging to to do that. Like I see Carter, he's got a group of friends he goes with, they do it together, and it's it's encouraging to see them witnessing to somebody together because it's a crowd, you know, you're not out there alone.

unknown 32:33

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

Let's see. The world's broken.

The World Is Broken Not Hopeless

SPEAKER_02 32:40

We already know that, obviously. Instead of viewing the world as a place of kind of movies, music, politics, and all these different things that do it, and we kind of think of all these things as like, oh, that's bad, that's bad, that's bad. Really, we could kind of see the world as a broken world where not everything is on its inherently bad. It's not like bad for you. It's just being used in the wrong way. God gave us all these different things, God set up these systems, we just kind of ruin them and break them, and we have injustice and greed and lack of peace because we don't do it right. And that's why the world's broken. The world wasn't, you know, the world's got good things, and not everything about the world is bad. And so, but the way people use these things in the world makes them, you know, not helpful. And so you see the idea of all these bad things coming out, and that's where Christians can step in and you know, bring peace and show people that there's more to the world than all these physical things or material things. The line between the church and the world isn't a wall, the same brokenness we see outside exists inside our churches sometimes. Sometimes the break brokenness kind of overlaps, and we have struggles, we have issues that we have to deal with, and sometimes churches do it in a good way, and sometimes they don't. And so you'll see news stories about churches sometimes that are not positive. If I'm have you guys okay, and so the world has seeped in, and it's either greed or it's lust or it's something, and all those things have been taken too far to the extreme and not used for what they're supposed to be used for, and it causes problems. And so the church in the world, it's not like a you can block yourself off from all these things and just stay away from it. No, it it's a it's a bigger problem than that. Only Jesus can take care of it completely. What was else are we gonna talk about? Let's see. We've already talked about the last few weeks of how we should be out in the communities. That's one way we'd be out there. Countercultural views to things like the world says what we talked about earlier, focus on yourself, build yourself up, worry about what's good for you personally. When really Christianity and the church and and living in the world, we have to show humility, we have to show humbleness, we have to put others before ourselves, and so that's why the New Testament's highly focused on, and Jesus is focused on loving others because he knows that out in the world they don't do that. That's not the normal. And so when we go out and we show forgiveness and we show humility and we show living for something other than ourselves, that's where you be the light and the salt and and influence the world around you. And so we have to be in the world. There's not hiding from it, there's no, you know, but we can do it in a smart way, we can do it in the right way. And and what else? I don't know. I've been talking for a while. Any thoughts?

SPEAKER_05 35:58

Um, I think that not serving yourself is really difficult. Um, I know that we say that while we're talking here like so casually, but it actually is really hard.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

No, it's very hard.

SPEAKER_05 36:10

To not do.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

I mean, it takes it's not just an instant thing where you decide you're gonna be a Christian, follow Jesus, and then all of a sudden you're like selfless. You're like, I love people more than myself. I'm gonna be like, no, it's uh it's a you work towards it, you have to keep working at it, and because the the temptations to be like the world are always there, and you'll be like, that looks really easy if I could just not care about people. That'd be that'd be better for my life if I was just not so forgiving or so showed humility or all these things.

SPEAKER_05 36:50

But you know, I feel like I've been practicing for a little while to be a living sacrifice or not serve myself. Um and I still like within the last week have been in situations where I'm hanging out with friends or interacting with people, and I think like a light bulb goes off that's like, what are you doing? You know, you're that person's not behaving the way that they should be, and you're right there with them, you're doing the same thing, whether it's conversation or conversations really hard. Temper my thoughts, you know, anything like that. I think it still catches me off guard a lot. But conversation's probably one of the most struggling thing that I deal with because I haven't figured out how to navigate that correctly. Like if somebody's talking to me about something that they probably shouldn't be talking about, like a form of gossip or talking to me of about something negative, you know, or things like that. I haven't exactly figured out how to stay like Christ and I think there's a navigate that conversation to a good place.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

There's a good way to do that, and there's a bad way to do that. Of like, you know, and so figuring out how to that's one have conversations, yeah, and actually talk about, you know, because well, Lisa, my one of my next points was the danger of the us versus them mentality, the church versus the world.

Us Versus Them And Daily Renewal

SPEAKER_02 38:40

We don't really want it to be the church versus the world, yeah. Right? And like a fighting, like beat up, like we must win. We want it it's so easy though to view the world as the enemy to be defeated rather than the mission field that needs to be loved. Sometimes we get caught up in our own things and we're like, well, we have our own convictions, we got our own personal thoughts about this thing, and we it can happen really quickly where you see the world as like we must defeat that, we must like get after them and do this thing, instead of they need to be shown how the world can be and what Christ did to make everything better. Um and so when you take that mindset of you know, they're not an enemy to be defeated. Paul says, What our enemy is not flesh and blood, it's dark forces and sin and brokenness and powers that we can't see. How often do we see people as the enemy? It happens before you can even think about it. Yes, like this last week it happened to me, and I was like, you know, I it's a constant battle of working on being better and how to deal with those things, and so it doesn't just happen, but you practice it as you go, and you don't let people become the enemy, and you realize that the world that they live in doesn't have Christ in it, and they haven't been able to see the goodness that can be if they would live for something greater than themselves, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, that makes sense a little bit, and so don't let it become us versus the world. I don't want you guys to do that because that's not what Christ did. Christ did not engage the world with hostility or defensiveness. Christ engaged the world around him with what? Sacrificial love and truth and grace. And he went places and he talked to people, we ate with people, and the goal is engagement without compromise, though. We go and we engage the world, but we don't compromise what we believe. We want them to see Jesus and the way we act and things, but we don't compromise our beliefs or what God stands for while we're in the world. And that's the that's the balancing thing. You want to be in the world, you want to be with those people because they need what we have, but sometimes it's a lot, and you feel the weight of the brokenness of the world, and then you can get sucked into it, or you can see it as they're the enemy, and I have to win my argument, or I have to win this thing, and and so it's a and I think being able to handle situations like that really comes down to renewing of your own mind.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

Like you've got to really think what what are you feeding yourself on a daily basis? What kind of music are you listening to? What kind of books are you reading? What kind of TV shows are you watching? Like all of that, you know, that that weighs on you more than you realize it does. If I spend a week without listening to worship music and I'm just listening to alternative, I I feel completely different. You know, so just be careful. Daily renew your mind. What you're watching, what you're hearing, what you're seeing.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

All the way back to my first verse that we read where Paul says, Don't conform to the ways of the world, but renew your mind. Right. You do that by just Christian worldview. Our worldview should go through Christ, who he was and what he did, and that should drive our view of the world. And so, yep, that's what that's my thoughts on being in the world and not of the world. And so it isn't about being different just for the sake of being different. It isn't about standing out just to stand out or being the weirdo in the group, or being self-righteous, even. This isn't about you being able to go be like, look how awesome I am. This is about going out, living like Christ, and people seeing it, and then you point them to him. You're not just standing out and being weird for no reason, it's for a purpose. You want to set up set yourself apart so people see it, and you can use that as a directional thing to point to Jesus. And so if you're a Christian and you're a follower of Christ, then you're an ambassador of his kingdom. You're representing who he is and what he wants. And so let's do a better job at that, I think. Uh, whatever we do, whatever we're talking about, conversations. Remember who we represent, and that can that can be a world of difference if you just remind yourself I'm representing Christ and his kingdom. Whatever I do.

SPEAKER_05 43:18

Yeah. All the time. All the time. Not just when you choose.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Not all the time. And it's it's just it is what it is. And so the more you can remind yourself of that, you'll mess up sometimes, and you'll be looked back on the thing, be like, oh, I was I'm supposed to be an ambassador. And you're like, I didn't do that that well that time. But you what you don't do is you're like, I'm a terrible person. I should, you know, beat yourself up about it. No, you you look at it and be like, I'm gonna do better next time. I'm gonna make sure that next time this comes up, I'm gonna say the right, I'm gonna, you know, do the right thing, remind myself whose I am and what I'm representing. And so I think that'll help. Yeah. You just gotta do it. It's gotta take practice. And so there you go. That's what I want you guys. To do this week when you ultimately mess up sometime or you look back on a conversation being like, I didn't really represent Jesus very well there. Don't beat yourself up, don't feel sad. Just use it as motivation to get better. Use it as a a turning point to be like, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna remind myself more often. I'm gonna do the things I need to do every day so that I'll be thinking about that. But yeah. There you go. That turned out pretty good.

SPEAKER_05 44:32

Yeah, yeah. That was great.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

That was great. Good job, guys.

SPEAKER_05 44:35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 44:36

Anything else?

SPEAKER_05 44:37

We are the students.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Great.

SPEAKER_05 44:42

No. We better get to work.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

I was thinking, what's that? I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but what is that like? What are we the Jedi?

SPEAKER_02 44:49

Padawan. My young Padawan. I don't know. We're Jedi. We're Jedi. Apprentices.

SPEAKER_05 44:55

Yeah. I don't know if we're Jedi's or not.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

You guys? No. Just kidding. Of course you're Jedi's. Of course you're Jedi. Who are you, Yoda? All Christians can be Jedi's. Nice.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

They're doesn't Yoda's like no idea. Isn't that amazing?

SPEAKER_05 45:15

Is Yoda in Star Wars?

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Was that a like a Yoda Chubaca hybrid? What was that?

SPEAKER_05 45:21

That was the little fuzzy bear.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

That's what I thought. Oh, that's a little green.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Those are the ewoks.

unknown 45:27

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 45:27

Yeah, I told you I'm not really into Star Wars.

SPEAKER_05 45:29

Those are they're in the I'm just picking characters out of the Star Wars. I just like the wands before they're all in the same.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Oh, right. We have to stop now. Oh, the glow wand.

SPEAKER_05 45:38

She just called a lightsaber a wand and I know that's not right. Nobody could have to be.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

So if you see Ashley the Sunday, I you can do with that. What did you want? You have the information of a glow. She called a lightsaber a wand as she liked them. Let's pray before anybody else says anything. Lord,

Prayer And Final Charge

SPEAKER_02 46:00

thank you so much for this podcast and this church and this community of people. Thankful for who you are. Blessed to be able to do things like this and have conversations and talk about you. Just be with us as we go out into the world this week. We are to be in the world, but we're not we're not of the world. We're we're part of a different kingdom. We're part of your kingdom. And it does things a little bit differently. And our job is to show people kind of what they're missing out on. So help us to do a better job in our conversations. Help us to represent you and who you are well as we go out into the brokenness of the world and protect us, keep us safe. Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_06 46:37

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

All right. Well, we'll see you guys next time on rush hour. Who knows what we'll talk about then? Better tune in. Bye.