Beyond Sunday

Giving Happily: Trading Comfort for Contentment

King of Kings Church

Comfort promises a soft landing; contentment promises a deeper life. We open up about the small comforts we run to—food, screens, extra pillows—and then press into a bigger question: what actually produces joy that lasts?

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Thanks for listening!

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive a little bit deeper into our sermon series and see what we are taking Beyond Sunday. My name is Dina Newsome, and I am happy to have some of my Millard coworkers with me today. Go ahead and introduce yourselves.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm Chad Kelly. I am the student ministry intern here at King of Kings.

SPEAKER_01:

And I am Seth Flick. I am the campus director here at Millard Campus, King of Kings.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, go Millard.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. So we are in week two of the Giving Challenge, and Pastor Zach Zender is walking us through things. And one of Zach's opening questions this week inspired my opening question today.

SPEAKER_01:

We're ready.

SPEAKER_03:

What's your favorite source of comfort?

SPEAKER_01:

Food. I don't even have to think about that when it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Is there a certain kind of food or just food in general?

SPEAKER_01:

Generally food. There's a lot of eating that happens at our house of like six men.

SPEAKER_03:

I bet. I bet.

SPEAKER_01:

But it's like I I'll make like homemade turkey noodle soup. And that's like a pretty good comfort food. Or we'll make like mac and cheese. And that's a really good. I think anything with just an abundant amount of calories, and then you just take a nap afterward.

SPEAKER_02:

That's comfortable. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll go an abundant amount of sugar. Uh any sweets is my comfort, comfort food. Uh like in my homehouse, it was always like you go for the sweet jelly over like just butter on your on your toast or whatever it'll be. It has to be sweets. So chocolate or anything of that sorts.

SPEAKER_03:

What's your like favorite sweet treat?

SPEAKER_00:

Literally anything that's chocolate, like the Trader Joe's peanut butter cups. If you guys have ever had those or anyone listening, uh go to Trader Joe's and get the peanut butter cups. They are awesome. Better than Reese's. Whoa.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm not a peanut butter cup. Damn, I'm so sorry. Like I eat them occasionally. I like peanut butter, but I'm not like some people are nuts out for peanut butter cups. It's just not my thing. I don't know. I'm not a huge chocolate fan. Like I like my chocolate in small doses.

SPEAKER_00:

I need it in large doses.

SPEAKER_03:

I like fruity sweets. That's why I like Jolly Ranchers.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, one of my one of my favorite snacks recently has just been like cutting up an apple and then dipping it in peanut butter. But my favorite part is after I eat, like I justify my calories with the peanut butter. The last like two slices are for Nutella. I dip those in Nutella and then I can have my sweet kick. Just do it, man. Just tell.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So we were without cookies at our house, which rarely ever happens. So I baked cookies, but nonetheless, there was a time period where there were no cookies. So we had like an open jar of chocolate frosting and an open jar of peanut butter. I can't tell you how many fork time marks are in both where there's like cross-contamination of peanut butter and frosting. Like multiple people in our household did this just to get the shipboard. They know what they're talking about.

SPEAKER_00:

Like in high school, after right before swim practice, my like snack before swim practice was get the big tub of cookie dough and just would do like five or six big spoonfuls, and that was my fuel for practice.

SPEAKER_03:

I used to get grounded because I would sneak mom's cookie dough out of the fridge when she would leave it in the fridge after she had made it. Um my favorite source of comfort is my bed. Not for sleeping, but I love to sit in my bed like with my laptop and work or write or read or you know, something like that, or maybe with a cup of coffee, just to, I don't know, just to snuggle, especially like on a day like today, it's kind of chilly and rainy today. Just to sit in the bed and stack all the pillows up behind you.

SPEAKER_01:

And I that's so, but see, this is different because like your comfort inspires you to do stuff. But like now there's this thing called bed rotting. Yes. Where like your your effort is to stay in bed and just be for as long as you can. Yeah. I couldn't do that. Like I would go crazy. And it sounds like you would too.

SPEAKER_03:

I I think I would go a little nuts. Yeah. I could do it maybe for a few hours. Like doing nothing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

How about you?

SPEAKER_00:

Are you um bedrotter? If I'm like, if I have my phone, I can bed rot for a while. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

That's or scrolling something. Like watching TV. Right, right. Yeah. I am I'm a binge watcher of like episodes of old series. Like I'll just pick a series and watch it from the beginning. Oh yeah. Yeah, that's that I could do that.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. So shifting gears to our sermon series this week. Week two, we're talking about giving happily. What are you guys taking beyond Sunday? What was the thing that spoke to you most?

SPEAKER_01:

I appreciated that he made the move to say your best indicators of your future actions are your past actions. What I loved about that is I think there are some people that are like, when I give, then I might have joy. But I think what the Lord is teaching in this is like, no, the joy comes from the act of doing what I do. And so, like, I am generous and I give. And when you line up with me, that is when the rest of these like extra good things on the side of like being happy about giving, that's when this is going to occur. Because I can tell you there's been a lot of times where I have given under compulsion or given under duress or given under a responsibility. And that's what started the movement. But then once it actually happened in that moment of generosity, then something changed in my heart. And I was able to be like, oh, actually that was the right thing to do. And my heart wasn't in the right place. So I think that's part of what I'm taking is that like as you move in line with the rhythms of Jesus' life and how he gave so much, it's not like you get more joy or happiness. That's why you do these things. It's as you are lining up closer to Jesus, you can't help but be filled with fruits of the spirit. And one of those gets to be joy.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I think for me it was the phrase that Zach said that when something good becomes the best thing, then that then becomes a bad thing. Like how often in our lives do we take what God gifted us for a good purpose? It's our it's our bed, it's our phones, it's as many things that have a good purpose. It's frosting and peanut butter. Exactly. Right. Right. Yeah, thank you. Um, but when that that good thing becomes the best thing in your life, then it then becomes the bad thing. And it did happens in my life all the time, yes, with with peanut butter cups and with laying in bed or I was telling Seth.

SPEAKER_01:

These are the worst things that have happened in your life. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_00:

Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, I was talking about Seth earlier today. Like uh Carolyn and I, my wife has have been wanting to run the last couple days. And so like every night, the last two nights, we've been like, all right, tomorrow morning we're gonna get up and we're gonna run. Right before you go to work, it's gonna be great. And we've slept in every day. And then we get up, it's like, oh, we gotta go to work. Let's go. Get ready. And so like good things that being sleep when it's prioritized over health or spiritual habits or whatever that may be for you, then it can become a bad thing. And how often are we just called, or how often do we make things about our comfort will benefit us in the moment versus looking for for the long-term effect of our actions versus just you?

SPEAKER_01:

I love that perspective that you're bringing to that because that really is the devil's task. That is our flesh's task. And that is our flesh, the devil can't create anything in and of itself. Like that's only God's job. He is the only one that can actually create things, but we can pervert the things that he created to be things that we want to worship and we want to follow and we want to prioritize number one. So the way that you talked about that, I think is really wise for people to take into effect of like, wait a second, there's something else that's happening here in my heart with this thing that should be good or should be neutral, I think is what Zach called money the week before, right? And that it's not money that's evil, it's the love of money that is what you're gonna do with it. So there's a lot of wisdom, and I think what you just shared.

SPEAKER_03:

I am obsessed with the hierarchy that he talked about. And I wish I would have written down the name of the thing. There you go. Yes. Like I, the whole transcendence part, then talking about how your ultimate is when you're helping someone else reach their ultimate. Like that, that's totally my jam. Like I have like mentored or, you know, coached or sponsored, like been a Girl Scout troop leader or, you know, worked with this group of girls in this club or different things, you know, volunteering in the community in ways. And when you see them step up and achieve the goals that they're working for, like that to me is such a high joy. And to see that put into then this structure, I like I've just been obsessed with that.

SPEAKER_01:

Don't know what it's called, but uh Maslow's hierarchy of needs is utilized for like those going into education. So I'm sure that Carolina's probably utilized a lot of the information because some of it's very, very helpful. Like a kiddo is not gonna learn algebra if they're hungry and they don't have food or if they go to a school where they're not safe in their classroom. So like in education or even in discipleship, like when we're working with students or even adults, if they don't feel like they're in a safe place, they're not gonna be able to go even further than that. But I do like the fact that it's more than just meeting these physical needs. Like to be be a full human actually means you're leaning into being one of God's created beings and doing what you're supposed to be doing. And so that doesn't mean just eating and sleeping and being secure and looking after comforts like what those could be. But there's something higher than that. So yeah, I I love that idea.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's not about yourself. It's like there's something beyond you that uh you can serve. That's the epitome of uh your personhood, if you will, from from that Maslov's perspective.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So one of the opening questions and kind of the subtitle of Zach's message this week was um comparing contentment over comfort. What are your thoughts on that? Like, what is that comparison or choosing contentment over comfort? What does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, we we do it every day, right? Every single one of us chooses contentment over, or excuse me, chooses comfort over contentment. Like in the in the in the uh day six, if you if you were following in in uh Zach's in the book, um, you took the quiz and like Carolyn and I, we took the quiz and we talked about it afterwards. She was like, What's the thing that stuck out to you the most? I was like, oh, like the the fear one. Like I'll I'll choose to to choose like to play into my fear and to listen to my fear and like not to talk to somebody on Sunday or on throughout the week and uh look at myself versus to to look to someone else's needs and like step over that fear for the benefit and the contentment of serving somebody else because the the fear is real and it keeps me from from living the calling that I that I have to live.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I mean it's it's not like Zach's just making this up, like he pointed out multiple times. I just take these teachings from the scriptures. And Paul he has this really great statement where he says, godliness with contentment is great gain. And he uses that, and he's talking to Timothy about this. He he uses that because others have allowed godliness to give them gain. And so like they're getting a leg up because they they want to look godly, they want to look spiritual. But he's like, No, godliness with contentment is great gain. And that word that's being utilized there uh is self-sufficiency when it's used most of the time. But in the context of this specific usage, it's God sufficiency. And so it's like, yes, you can have this appearance of godliness and it'll probably gain you some stuff, maybe respect, maybe standing, whatever it is. Uh but godliness with contentment means that you're okay with God running your life and that he's gonna be able to take care of it. Not your comfort, not what you want to do, not where you want to go up higher on your, you know, like hierarchy of needs or whatever it is. But you know what? If God is gonna go to this point, then that's okay. And you can be okay with that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. He's with you when he's hungry when you're hungry, and he's with you when you're transcendent, transcending.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And how cool is that that Jesus knows what that feels like. Like he fasted, he knows what hunger feels like. Uh he was exhausted. So he knows what you know, needing to nap, not bed rot, but like needing to take a nap. He knows what that feels like. So it's not like he is depriving something from you that he wasn't willing to be deprived of himself to find the value in having God as sufficient for like lining up his will with the Father's will. And then it's a good practice for us too. I mean, to be able to say, this is where Jesus wants me right now. It's not very comfortable. But you look at the the whole testimony of scripture, whether it's an old testament prophet or a new testament evangelist, I would venture to say zero of them were comfortable.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh-huh. Um I'm reading through Ezekiel right now, and I just finished Jeremiah. Jeremiah had it rough. Like people talk about Job having it bad. Jeremiah had to cook his food over excrement. Like in front of people.

SPEAKER_03:

And we don't do that Bible story in kids' ministry.

SPEAKER_01:

You don't. But at middle school we do. But I guess I'm bringing that up because, like, whether it's Jeremiah or Ezekiel, God is actually intentionally exposing them to uncomfortable circumstances because God's people had got too comfortable in the lives that they were living. And he needed them to see that you can live a life without those comforts. In fact, I'm telling this guy to live his life without all of these comforts. Like there's a portion of time, a really long period of time. It's like 390 days or something that Jeremiah has to lay on his side, bound in ropes, uh, as an illustration. Now, that doesn't sound comfortable to me at all. There's that's not bed rot, that's just regular rotting.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh so I mean, you look at all of these examples in the scripture, and I really can't find many where the Lord is like, you know, it'd be great if you took an extra pillow with you, you know, so that you feel physically more comfortable. Most of the time when he's using the word for comfort, he's using that in terms of like after something really bad has happened, and he's letting you know that in a transcendent sense, he's going to be there for you. And that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have that need met, therefore you can be comfortable. It's be comfortable resting in me. And I think that's kind of like a much deeper understanding of what it's like to be human. And it redefines what comfort is like and it redefines what contentment is. And it really puts it as a much higher level need than comfort.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Um, I just when he was talking about the whole piece of that, I just kept thinking about the times in my life where I was content but not comfortable. And kind of like almost at a little attaboy, you know, that I could think of multiple ones where I remember, and the first one that came to mind is in the midst of my divorce, where things were, I didn't know what was happening. I, my heart was breaking for what my kids were going through, you know, just this life change. Um, but I was content because I knew that both myself and my ex-husband had the best interest of our kids in mind. Um, we were not being hateful and, you know, awful to each other, um, that we were gonna find whatever solution it was. Um, but it wasn't comfortable at all. Um, but I just I I really still started going through my life and thinking of the times where that wasn't comfortable at all, but I was finding contentment. And I think that that comes from my sense of trust in God. I don't think if I had a different relationship with Jesus or if I didn't have a relationship with Jesus, that I would have found that. I don't know if I could have found that because I just knew that he was watching out for me no matter what the uncomfortable was in the moment.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, how many times do followers of Jesus or new believers become Christian because they hear a gospel that will give them something or a gospel that will take away their pains and their sorrows? Like, no, Jesus promises in this world you will have trouble, but but take heart, because he's overcome the world. And I think that's the key to being a true Christian, to being a healthy Christian, if you will, to like Paul says, to be content in all circumstances. He's knows he knows what it is to have much and he knows what it is to be in need. And what if that's the the true mark of a Christian to when you have much and when you have little, when life's going really well and when life's hard, when you're in a when you're in a trench of some sort, to to trust that God's got it and to trust that he's with you in that moment. Not that he's gonna give you all the answers, not that he's gonna uh fix your situation, not that he can't, because he he might, but not not being a follower of Jesus to for the benefit of what he could give you. And it's like giving is a great thing, and uh giving can also be a bad thing if it's for the benefit of yourself, but but solely giving because God calls us to give and trusting that the gifts that we give will be used how he needs them to be used.

SPEAKER_03:

So Zach kind of walked us through three world lies and three contradicting Jesus truths. So world lie number one is the more you have, the happier you will be. And the Jesus truth that contradicts that is the more you give, the happier you will be. How did those hit you? I really um when he was talking about the uh the more you have, the happier you'll be, he was talking about income-based happiness and how there's like this magic number you can input your zip code, and there's this magic number of where you are comfortable to use that word, you know, and that there is a level of increase of happiness if you're moving from poverty to like middle income. But he used the phrase the joy curve plateau plateaus. And I was like, oh, yep, yep. Like I can remember when we made very little thinking, oh gosh, if we ever get to this mark, everything's gonna be covered and it'll be so much easier. And then I remember being past that mark and thinking, wow, this is still really a struggle. I don't really feel comfortable or happy or like when we get to this mark, you know, but there is a level of where then there's no more joy coming from that. It's just um what you do with it that gives you the joy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

What I appreciated about when he hit this like myth versus the truth. Can you restate him again?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh-huh. So the lie is the more you have, the happier you'll be. And Jesus' truth is the more you give, the happier you will be.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I cannot like catalog a time in my life when I had so much of something that its increase made me happier. Like there I think you and I were talking about this like a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about ministry and how there are some people that look at ministry and they're like, oh, must be nice. We're at X amount of people in our ministry and there's not a lot. But if we had this amount of people, then we would be, you know, like successful. But from that perspective, what you don't realize is you have just as many stressors on the other side of like having the opportunity to steward more people means that there's more people's needs that you try to meet. And so, like, even a good thing like ministry doesn't always convert to like once you meet this magical threshold, then everyone is happy and like there aren't any issues to have to kind of like meet or deal with, or like all the conflicts go away. And so, yeah, I can't really think of a time when I had so much of something that every time I got more of it, it made me even happier. Like you have extra food. Well, that's fine, but you have to figure out something to do with it because it's gonna go bad real fast. Even Trader Joe's peanut butter cups.

SPEAKER_00:

They might last longer than I'm like, they last forever.

SPEAKER_01:

Come on, they might last a little bit longer than lettuce.

SPEAKER_02:

You could freeze them.

SPEAKER_00:

They'll keep a little bit more people. They're so good frozen. Well, like more money, more problems.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, yeah, it's it's not like the This is my favorite part of we watched the video for the giving challenge. Uh huh. And I had the blessing to be able to do the Spanish-speaking group on Wednesday, and the whole thing is Spanish, and it's Zach's voice kind of in Spanish until he gets to that point. Then he's like, uh uh as notorious B I C B I G blah. And then it was like, Mo money, mo problems. And so just stopped in the middle for like this English quote, which could have been translated. But anyways, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I just I love that.

SPEAKER_00:

Sorry, I was trying to translate in my head. I don't speak Spanish. Um yeah, more money, more problems. Like what what what is or to another just go to scripture? Uh, to what is much is given, much will be required. Um more doesn't equal a fix. Um more will show you the the true things beneath the issue, if you will. Um I I think Zach said in a in a past message that the care your character flaws will be shown when you're given more power, more responsibility. Um I think that's the same with with money. If you struggle to give when you have little, you're gonna struggle to give when you have much. Um and uh I may be jumping a little ahead, but like I'll give someday, right? You're if if you're saying that now, it'll be much harder to give someday. The challenge is what's God calling you to do right now? Not when you have enough. Um, because uh we're not called to do something when we have a prep enough enough preparation for it. Um, God often uses the weak, he often uses the poor, he uses those uh poor in spirit, he uses those who are poor in morality oftentimes. And that's uh defines all of us as well. So Jesus uses those who don't have what they think they need, and he can use each and every one of you guys too.

SPEAKER_03:

This is also where Zach brought up Acts 2035, which I just think is a killer verse for this whole, not just the book, but you know, especially this week, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And how many times that is quoted in um things that are outside of the church, you know. Um all right, world lie number two, look out for number one, but Jesus truth number two, look out for others first. How did those speak to you?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, it it really is biblical. What are the greatest commandments? Well, he summarizes them love God and love others. And so it doesn't say, well, first take care of yourself, then love God, then love others. No, like the greatest thing is to love God and everything else can fall into place after that. And once you have the opportunity for life to fall into place, then everything will be perfect. But yeah, that's not the case. So love God, love others, and the Lord will take care of you in some way, shape, or form. And I think that's what like you guys were talking about this earlier, and that is like your income, your life, all of these things that you're you're pursuing, uh those things all actually can be taken away. Like you had shared a really personal story about your marriage. Well, some people would say, once I have a marriage, then I can be happy with the Lord and I can be content with the Lord. But that marriage could not work out and it could be taken away. So what does that mean about your relationship with the Lord? Your relationship with the Lord then is dependent upon your your feelings with a marriage. And with the same thing with me, like my feelings with the Lord, if I were to say, uh financially, I need to secure what I need for my family, and then I'll be cool with Jesus. But the fact of the matter is, all of that can be taken away. Well then what's my saying with Jesus? And so uh I think the contentment aspect plays into this as well, and that is I think our calling is just to be content with Jesus, period, and everything else is gravy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_03:

Ditto. Yeah, amen. Right. Um, I really liked where Zach brought up here the story of the woman at the well, uh, which just to me is so many little barriers were crossed. This was a man talking to a woman who was in a place she shouldn't be, who uh, you know, had this bad reputation. But he stopped. And I think Zach said this is like the longest recorded conversation in scripture of him with uh with, and I just think, wow, you know what I mean? The point that Zach really brought up is that Jesus always has time for you. Like there's no, you don't have to feel like you don't have time because God always has time for you. Um, and he's willing to cross those barriers for your needs. And so then how can we be like him in doing that for others that we meet?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, even I think the I sorry, I didn't say anything earlier because I was just enamored by what Seth was saying. I forgot to think of something to come up with. Um but I I I God calls us to be happy. Uh He uses the word blessed all the times in the Beatitudes. Uh I I think comfort isn't a bad thing. Like you said in the beginning of the message, it looking out for well. It's a good thing that can be become can often be the best thing that turns into a bad thing. And we can treat comfort like it's this evil thing. Like he calls you to be comfortable, but isn't serving others comfortable? And and it's comfortable not in the sense that we define it as comfortable because our definition of comfortable is way off. But Jesus, if he wanted to be serving himself, I don't think that would have been comfortable for Jesus to serve himself because that's not who he is. And we're all broken, so we're all gonna try and serve ourselves. But what if true comfort with Christ isn't serving serving yourself all the time, to have more peanut butter cups, to be in bed all the time? What if true comfort that that Christ is calling us to is to be with with others, like like Zach talked about in this point.

SPEAKER_01:

I actually went back into the live or into the um YouTube video for that point. And what's interesting is that wasn't even like necessarily the main point of that section. It was just like this you could tell that Zach's been in the Word long enough where like something like that impacted him enough where he was prompted to say it by the spirit. But it didn't necessarily it didn't have to be in there. But I thought that that was so impactful that like I I I need to spend more time with that thought of like I don't know, there's a lot of times where I'm like, God doesn't need to care about me. And so therefore, if he doesn't need to, maybe he doesn't. And and that's not to say like I don't think he's caring enough. It's just I don't think I'm worthy of that care for most of my life, like most of my adult life. Whenever you struggle with inadequacy, you believe you're not worthy of anybody's care, let alone the God of the universe who's like the most important being in all of everything. And so, you know, like to think about Jesus went out of his way to spend as much time as possible with this woman as not what he needed, but what she needed. And I that hit me pretty hard. Like I had to go back again and listen to it, just that little part because it was impactful. So thank you for bringing it up.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Um, that just made me think of a few weeks ago. Zach was a guest here, and it was when you were preaching, and um, we were talking about turning things over to God. And I can't even remember now which week it was or what point. Um, and Zach was asking the question, why don't we let go of things more to God? And my response was sometimes I think they're too small for him. And that's not true at all. Um, because he he always has time for me, no matter what state I'm in. But uh it's just us knowing that he's always there and being able to turn that, have that trust that he is and that we can talk to him about anything, even the things we think may be too petty or insignificant. All right. World line number three, I'll give someday. And Jesus truth number three, I can give now. So this, the whole I'll give someday really made me think of you guys weren't here, but Zach did an Easter message a year, a year ago, Easter, I think it was, um, that was one day win. And it was talking about one day win W-H-E-N, that people talk about, oh, I'm gonna go to church one day win, or you know, one day when I'm married, I'll be happy. One day when I have kids, I'll do this. One day when I uh, you know, have a better job, I'll go back to school. One day, you know, all these dreams that we are goals that we set to um for ourselves that may never come to fruition. And then he talked about changing those into one day wins, W-I-N-S. So some of our listeners may remember that series. And as soon as he said, I'll give someday, I thought of that. Oh yeah, one day when my income is big enough, then I can give a portion to the church. And that's just so like gut punch because I've been in those shoes where I've I've not had much money and not felt like this is I don't have this to give away. But um then I think of the story of the widow's might or just any giving. And it's not always just money, it is time and treasures and your talents. Um, and so I just I really liked that idea of oh, this is this I'll give someday. Yeah, that's not gonna be ever. It has to be now. It can be now.

SPEAKER_01:

Isn't it interesting how we deal with like these super nebulous uh words that make us feel comfortable? Like uh someday is one of them, but my other favorite is somebody. So, like, who's gonna go? Out and talk to the poor. Somebody will. Like, yeah. Who's going to go spread the gospel? Somebody will. And then until you realize, like, no, that somebody is me. Like that someday is today. Uh, all those nebulous ideas like that give us comfort because we feel good enough. We've pacified ourselves to be like, yes, at some point I'm gonna do that thing that I know I should do. But that that like perfect scenario is never gonna show up where we would allow that someday to be today until somebody else, that is Jesus in the scriptures, comes to us and says, No, that somebody is you, that someday is now, let's go. And so, you know, like this is the kind of thing that helps move us into that right direction of ownership and agency because he's called us to that.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, that's it's great. And it's like at what point are you gonna take that action towards your ideal? Because it and maybe it's more comfortable to just have it be an ideal far off in the distance that one day I'll do this, someday, or somebody will do this for me. But but at what point does rubber meet the road and something's gotta be done? Or else you're gonna be end up 80 years old and being like, oh, one day, well, one day, one day, one day, one one more day might not come. So when are you gonna go running again with Caroline? One day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

One day when.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And like what would it look like for whatever your ideal is, whatever you you see God calling you to in the moment to take one step towards that? One step towards the the giving moment or the what whatever you believe God's calling you to, what's one thing you could take a step towards today? Not tomorrow, not next week, today.

SPEAKER_03:

This is where he pointed out what you brought out before that past behavior is more reliable than stated intentions. And that I think is the thing we fight so often of these ideas. Yep, we're gonna do that later. But our past behavior is so indicative of what we're gonna do tomorrow and probably the tomorrow after that, and maybe the next tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01:

But I think that's the really interesting thing about responding to God's call is that we're in a state of comfort and like homeostasis. And every cell in our body wants to get back to homeostasis. Like that's we're fighting against entropy, like in terms of like the laws of the universe. And so our cells are constantly trying to fight to get back to midline. And once we step out of that, just like in circumstances, okay, we do something different, and we realize that, you know, like maybe that's not as uncomfortable as I thought it was gonna be. But then I get comfortable in that uncomfortable area, and so it just goes all the way like that. Feeling goes back to midline again. And it's almost like you've got to have this challenge to be brought out of yourself over and over and over again, because your new uncomfortable will become your comfortable very quickly, and you can get stuck there just as easily in the one step ahead if you if there isn't another step that's gonna be after that. Well, how beautiful daily dialing dying the self.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. How beautiful like that our minds are moldable and that over time you can see a change. I like to like to go to the point of like pushing yourself to to failure, if you will, or always being uncomfortable. I remember a story of some an influencer, they always they they sought failure for a month or a hundred days or something like that. And like one day it would be like they'd go to McDonald's and ask for a cheeseburger refill. Like little little things like that that they're gonna say no to. But he found out that sometimes people actually said yes. I love that series.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh-huh. Now I know there's multiple, but there's one of the guys who actually wrote a book, I think it was called Rejection Proof. Yeah. And he one time, like in this whole series, he goes up to a pilot and he's like, Hey, could I fly your plane? And the dude was like, Have you ever flown a plane before? He's like, No. And the guy's like, All right, let's try it. There's another title. That's awesome. Did you see the video where he he's just carrying a soccer ball and he's got nets in his hand and he walks up to some random house and he goes, Can I kick soccer in your backyard? And this grown man is like, sure, and I'll do it with you. Like it is a great series of like just perpetually putting yourself out there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's first of all, the things that you fear aren't gonna usually be what you think it's gonna be. Uh-huh. But you also grow quite a bit and you learn a lot about people and you get to serve a lot of people when you know that that's what's what's gonna happen. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, well, the crux of this whole challenge is like doing hard things regularly. Giving is hard because where your treasure is, your heart will be also. And giving of your heart, if you're not a giving person in the moment, is hard. You're gonna do hard things. What's a hard thing you could do today? Take it back to being practical. The the muscle's not gonna stretch itself. Um, I'm not gonna get better at running if I don't start running. Something's gotta happen today and not not next week again, not not pushing off back, back and back, but today.

SPEAKER_01:

So I think that's like the the gauntlet throwdown for podcast listeners right now is like, what are you gonna do when this podcast is over that's gonna connect you further with Jesus and get you out of comfort?

SPEAKER_00:

Craig Finkey uh wrote a book, Joining Jesus. He wrote many books like that. And in one of those books, uh, it says, don't read another book about spiritual spirituality. Live out the spirituality that you're reading about. Because another book is not going to help you as much as you think, because you gotta go and do it. You gotta go join Jesus on his mission. And you gotta you gotta give. You can't keep talking about it or reading more books about it, getting more, more wisdom about it, or more knowledge, if you will, because wisdom is applied knowledge. You gotta apply the knowledge you got.

unknown:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so that kind of wraps things up with a story of Ryan Trahan, who's an influencer who did the penny challenge and kind of did a penny a day to get across the country to go meet Mr. Beast. How did that guy how did that hit you?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh last uh January, Caroline and I ran a half marathon and we ran our half marathon with Ryan Trahan.

unknown:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

We didn't see him at all, but we were ran at the same time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

My Ryan Trahan was at a um my son Christian went to DECA Internationals and Ryan Trahan was there presenting, and so he got to meet him briefly, like in a large group. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That's cool. No, actually I watched both of those series with my boys uh for several reasons, but like I think them seeing kindness of strangers, but also like being creative and uh just putting yourself out there, I think is a a regular challenge outside of comfort. And both of those challenges had him do that. And then they had other fun things too that we didn't get to cover in the sermon, like the great reset. So if somebody gave a certain amount, it like would reset his transportation back to nothing. Or or like maybe he had a nice car and the reset would put him back to like having to ride a bike or whatever it would be, or yeah, or somebody would donate a certain amount, like lump sum to St. Jude's or wherever, like Feeding America was the first one. And it would put his amount for the day back to like a penny at that point. So I mean, it was just really neat to see like he was not comfortable and he had to overcome that. And I don't know, I thought it was good for my boys to see something like that too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, one of the ones for the the 50 states in 50 days, 50 house and 50 days challenge was if a certain amount was donated, he had to eat a vegetable. He hates vegetables. That is one of the things he despises the most in the world.

SPEAKER_01:

Um wasn't there one where like if he got a certain amount donated, he'd have to get a tattoo of someone else's choosing. Uh-huh. Yeah. That's dangerous.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. It's probably a vegetable of some sort. Probably. Right. Um but how how cool is it that there's influencers that have such influence on our everybody in the world and they're coming to Christ. Like, praise God for his wife, who through him is able to influence so many people for the gospel. Uh, and it's great that it's like for students' perspective specifically, that students that are watching him can get to see a person with influence, with power, responsibility, whatever it may be, and that loves Jesus and is doing it in a God-honoring way and is doing it for the benefit of others beyond the benefit of themselves. There's so many influencers that are just there to get more money and um like just do it all for themselves, get the nicest car, but it's cool. It's a it's amazing that that Ryan is out here to benefit not himself, but others. So, Ryan, if you're listening, we would love to have you as students. Just uh want to throw it out there.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh yes, also, Ryan, if you're listening, we'll have a series, I believe, in the spring called Influencers. And so it'd be perfect if you just wanted to come and talk about your faith a little bit. That's fine. Yeah, maybe you'll re-rank Nebraska's. I'm sure it's a regular listener.

SPEAKER_00:

Chad at King of Kings is my email. Just C H A D E.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. As we wrap up today, do you guys have any final takeaways from this message?

SPEAKER_00:

It just this the blessing of giving. Every time I've given, whether it's money, time, um, the benefit for somebody else, I've walked away uh feeling content in my calling to Christ, to love others and to put others before myself.

SPEAKER_01:

I would say the same thing because the more you give away, the more you realize you are called to trust in Jesus for everything in your life. And I think churchy folks like myself uh focus a lot on, yeah, Jesus is so all sufficient for grace. But then when it comes to paying my bills, that's where I'm like, oh, I don't, I don't know. Uh but when you give, you're actually just saying, Yeah, Lord's gonna take care of me. He's given me a sound mind to try to figure this all out, but he also has blessed me in ways I can't even imagine that are gonna support my family. So yeah, kind of along the same lines. How about you, Dino?

SPEAKER_03:

I really like the idea that Zach talked about. Generosity changes our neurochemistry and the biological piece of that because I think of how God designed us. And now, like this is confirmation that He designed us for our like our brainwaves to change and dopamine to be released and good things to happen when we're generous. I mean, how can you argue that that's not what he wants for us?

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Yeah. Well, and if if generosity is focusing on others in a world where we can look at our black mirror and look at ourselves all of the time, no wonder anxiety is spiking, no wonder fear and all these negative reactions to focusing on yourself too much. Depression is literally worrying about yourself too much. And no wonder we're dealing with that right now. So the antidote for for these things is to focus on others and to to love those that are around you.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, thank you guys so much for being here. We are gonna talk about week three next week. And until

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