Influencers - Week 1

Dina, Tyler, and Pastor Greg kick off the Influencers series by redefining what influence really means. Looking at Luke 5, they explore how following Jesus shapes our everyday impact—not through platforms, but through simple obedience, integrity, and trust in Him.

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Transcript

elcome And St Patrick’s Banter

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we are diving a little bit deeper into our sermon series and see what we're taking Beyond Sunday. My name is Dina Newsom, and I am ecstatic to have some superb. That's my adjective for the for the day. Superb guest today. Go ahead and say hello.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Hey guys, my name is Tyler, campus director at Fremont. Top of the afternoon to you on this wonderful St.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Patty's Day.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I will say we're representing. We're all wearing green.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

People in green. I actually don't like St. Patrick's Day. Not for any reason. I just don't care about it. I never, I didn't even put this on thinking about it.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

So my maiden name is O'Brien. So see, there you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

See? There you go. What it would the snake thing is not true, right? That's a fable.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yeah, that's what I think.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Like I am not some Irish experts.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

No, but you'll throw your maiden name around like you were.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Just says I heartily participate.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Heartily. Have you ever had green beer?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yes. I don't enjoy beer, so I've only had a sip or two of the taste of beer.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Growing up, we did do corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. Not every year, but a few times. Yeah, we did too. My my favorite St. Patrick's Day was when um did uh do they still do like pasta feeds for sports teams? Like like carbo load stuff. So I think this was my sister's high school soccer team. My mom had everyone over and she on St. Patrick's Day and she made spaghetti and then put a bunch of green food dye in it. So it was green spaghetti.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Oh on St. Patrick's Day. That's nice. Yeah. I'll have a red beer in honor of St. Patrick's Day today. All you Nebraskans will know what a red beer is. I taught Chad what a red beer was. He was thoroughly disgusted.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

I couldn't drink that either.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

I the olive is the only thing that would get me to think about a red beer.

unknown 2:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I like tomato juice, so too.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Do you like tomato soup?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Oh, I love tomato soup.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

No.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Not a dollop, but a piece butter.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I like ketchup and salsa. Those are the only things involving tomatoes, I think, that I enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Oh, tomato is such a versatile food. Yeah, not a fan.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Not a fan.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I'm over 12. I don't eat ketchup anymore.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Not on anything. Gosh, it's a staple, Greg.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Oh, it's great for kids.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah. Oh, I'm a kid at heart then. Oh, there you go. Call it call it call me a kid.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Have you guys heard of those um loose meat sandwiches? Oh yeah. Yeah. So there's a place I was I was just in Iowa over the weekend. Uh uh, that's where my mom's family's from. And so in Marshalltown, Iowa, there's a place called Taylor's Made Right, which is steamed beef and then loose meat sandwiches. A made right. And a made right. Have you had those before? Yeah. And uh and it's made right. It's made correctly. Yeah. But the ketchup ketchup was like banned from their restaurants for like the first 50, 60, 70 years of their existence. And like it's not a true made right. And like you can put mustard on it. And this is what my uncle said is that mustard enhances the flavor of the meat, whereas ketchup covers the flavor of the meat. And they wouldn't have that as their brand. You would appreciate that as a brand.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

I I appreciate that. I uh also, Roseanne, if you remember that show, okay, had an entire almost like a season where they went into a loose meat sandwich making and they got something out of Iowa. I'm I'm I want to look it up if it's the same place.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

And if my mom is listening, which she's not really a podcast person, but who knows? But she would very much want me to say that loose meat is not the same as sloppy joe's. Amen. Like the they're very, very different things. Right. Because a sloppy joe is obviously very ketchup based. Yeah. This is just meat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I like a loose meat sandwich. I don't love sloppy joe's. Yeah. So I like I just go to Marshalltown, Iowa, get a makeup.

ids Want To Be Influencers

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Okay, you need to go to just good meats here in town and get their pre-mixed sloppy joe mix. Maybe I'll get some and I'll bring it to you, and you can do a one-bite remote. Oh, we can do a one-bite review. That's that's excellent sloppy joe mix. Just good meats. Yeah. All right. So I don't I don't know how to transition that to our question for the day. So, you know, made right. Yeah. Good meats. Talking about Sunday. So our question has a lot to do with our message this um week. So we started our influencers series, and Pastor Zach Zender kicked us off. And one of the things that he said right at the start was um results of a survey from 2019 where it talked about how many kids wanted to be astronauts versus how many wanted to be have like a YouTube, be a YouTube star, be you know, like an influencer. My question for you is what did you want to be when you grew up? When you were young, when you were, what did he say? It was like eight-year-olds, a survey of eight-year-olds, I think. When you were eight, what did I want to hear Greg's answer first?

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Well, I had a few. So I started with I wanted to be a professional baseball player. And if I wasn't gonna be a baseball player, then I was going to be a lawyer. I was gonna be a lawyer, I'd be an airline pilot.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

So that was you had like the several points on your plan at backups.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

I'd say it was pastor like G-H-I. Pastor was until college. Okay. And nothing was that, and then discovered being a pastor.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So for me, um uh I have loved the Chicago Cubs ever since I can remember. So I like I grew up watching WGN, that old Chicago station. And so, you know, it yeah, it's like you could you could watch TBS and what and watch the Atlanta Braves or WGN, and so just I was a Cubs fan. And but I was never very athletic, and I think I knew that very early on. So probably even at age eight, I I would have told myself, no, Tyler, professional baseball isn't quite in the cards for you. But I just love stats and that sort of thing. So I would have said, like, could I could I be the manager of the Chicago Cubs? Yeah, for sure. That would have been a tremendous job. Still would be a tremendous job. Still would be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

When I was eight-year-old, I'm eight years old. I'm pretty sure I wanted to be a member of the go-go's, the girl band, or possibly the bangles. I just was all about the girl band scene at that point.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

There's so many downsides, this not being a video podcast, right? Totally. It's like people want to see, see the go-go act in action.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

I know it's okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

I would the there were several girls on my block when we that we would play Barbies together. And it started out, we would create dance routines with our Barbies.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

And then eventually it, you know, evolved into us creating dance routines as the go-goes.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Fun fact a King of Kings member uh here, her grandmother was part of the original Rockettes.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

And I got the we they took me and I got to see them, and it's fun. That's cool. Yeah.

he Invitation Of Influence

SPEAKER_00 7:09

That's something I'd enjoy doing sometimes. Yeah, going to see the Rockettes. All right. So the results of this survey were that more kids at in 2019 wanted to be YouTube stars or influencers than astronauts. And that kind of kicked off us thinking about this whole idea of being a Christian influencer. And Zach's title of this message is The Invitation of Influence. What are you taking beyond Sunday from the first message in this series?

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Well, first, let me say I actually think the survey is a fair survey. It's not surprising to me. No. I mean, I don't remember the last time we as the United States have actually sent a space shuttle on, right? And yet through the 80s, 70s and 80s, like it was like every other year a space shuttle was going up, right? When I was growing up. So, anyways, that's totally fair. And YouTube's everything. I think for me, Beyond Sunday, it's just a reminder every one of us is an influencer. And we have to redefine the term from the way the world has it. The world has it of your whoever, you know, pick your top YouTuber, Instagram star, whatever you want to be. But um you're an influencer to someone.

SPEAKER_03 8:30

Yeah, I imagine we're gonna be talking a little bit about the Luke 5 passage later. It's just such such a tremendous, rich, deep passage. And the the part where Peter's already been fishing all night, and then Jesus says, Well, put out your nets for a catch. And like the strategy is the exact same. Like it nothing's different in the strategy other than it's now the time of it, it's a different time of day, and Jesus said it. And and Zach uh very appropriately um, you know, drew that out of like, at your word I will. And uh both as an encouragement and a conviction of okay, yeah, where where am I very quick to obey and I want to continue in that? And where have I been delaying? Um, that's what I've been taking me on Sunday.

hen The World Shapes You

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Uh mine is kind of along the same line as Greg. I like Zach gave us a definition of influence that influence is the power to have an important effect on someone or something. That like totally takes it down several notches from what I think we think of as you have to have a million followers or, you know, so many people streaming your channel, etc. An important effect on someone or something. Hopefully, I have an important effect on my children. So I am, by nature of being a mother, an influencer. And like just the idea of how that definition kind of changed my view on it. That's what really drew me in, and I'm taken beyond Sunday. So Zach gave us a quote: I will influence the world more than I will be influenced by it. And he made us all say it together. Go ahead. You can say it together now. No, I will influence the world more than I will be influenced by it. How can we discern when we're being influenced by the world and what can help strengthen our influence as Christians on the world?

SPEAKER_03 10:21

Yeah, you know, it's interesting. It was uh, Greg, was it three or four weeks ago you were in the Not Alone series where pre you're preaching on Raya Bohem, right? Which is Solomon's son. And the whole the whole point really was who are you surrounding yourself with? And I think we were on this podcast, Dina. We were talking about that like who you surround yourself with really matters because they're going to influence you one way or or another.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Um yeah, Greg had a naughty friend.

SPEAKER_03 10:48

Oh, that's right. That's what that was that week. Tom, Tom, Todd. Todd. Todd. Yep. That's right. Yep. Todd, if you're listening. I doubt he is.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

But what's weird is yeah, he was bad, but his last name was Goodman. And so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

A little bit iron.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

I mean, I haven't talked to Todd in 30 years, so you know, right. Probably, probably 40 years.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Well, Lord, we lift up Todd and your name. Um so on on this, on so I I the the the question is how do we discern what what which which side of it we're on? And and it is, it's tricky. And it's very, very tricky. And I think I said this a few weeks ago, is that I've I've I've met with very well-meaning Christians who stay in not great relational scenarios, almost deceiving themselves into saying, well, no, no, but I'm I'm doing this on mission and like I'm influencing them. And then you get like when the answer, like, are you really, bro? Like, I don't know how I feel about that. Um, and so one is just like um just measuring, measuring up against like God's God's standard and what the word word reveals. And so if if you're finding yourself constantly compromising rather than following Jesus, then that's probably an indication that you're you're being influenced by that, those relationships in that community more than you are influencing um them. I think in a healthy church scenario, um, I'm I'm just referencing every message from Greg for the last series, but you keep sucking up. Love it. But you talked about the interdependence of the church. And so I think in a healthy church community, we are both influencing being and we are both influencing and being influenced by others in our church community building one another up. I think that's God's ideal for what he's called us to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, no, that that's so good. And I think I think it's a really and that interdependency, I think also is a reminder of us that we're also always being influenced, right? And so, so for me, when I think about it, is like those around me, how are they influencing me uh towards things of of the way of the world, or are they influencing me towards my faith and where I'm going? And then how am I using my influence to drive people closer and further to faith um in in what in um in their daily life and their their daily living? And so it's an important piece to always remember. Like I, you know, I think when I think about it, it's it's it's it's really easy to get into the world's traps. It's easy to scroll. Um, you know, like I I found myself the other day scrolling, and um, every once in a while, like watching, like, you know, where a person's pulled over by a police officer and they have the confrontation of like they won't the person won't give them their ID. And it's like, is this really healthy? Because actually, like, you're supposed to obey your authorities, and so just give them the stupid ID. Um, but but again, like we can just find ourselves in a worldly way, just driving into things that aren't healthy and aren't who we are, um, as opposed to saying, Yeah, maybe you you do have the right to not hand over your ID, but they're your authority in that moment. So maybe obey their instructions, even if you have a right not to. Um, and so how are we doing that in a in a good and godly way?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

I think for myself, the way that I discern something that I'm struggling with is really just in prayer in quiet time with the Lord, where I really then, okay, how do I feel about this? Am I feeling any shame or doubts about this when I'm just turn everything else down and quietly listen to the Lord about this event or about this instance or something? I had a um close friend um previously who I always thought, gosh, they're such a positive person. They're doing things for others all the time, but they were doing things and then posting about it. And it became a cycle of where I had really admired them. And then I had really had doubts sometimes about their motives. Are their motives really about the helping people? Are there motives about the ego or the reactions they're getting when they're publicizing what they're doing for other people's? Um, and that was a struggle for me. Like, okay, is this something that I feel called to speak to this person about? You know what I mean? Like, let's like, where are your motives really? Are you influencing or are you being influenced by what the public thinks and just doing it for that reaction piece? Um, and I think it's a dangerous line. Like it's very, like you said, very easy to fall into.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Greg, I have a question for you because you have did you work in marketing before? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, through college.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

So and so, like, like the goal of marketing is that you influence people. How does how does that kind of come into bear? Like it's clearly not a sin to influence people, but you are you're you're you're trying to get them to do something different than they're currently doing.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah. I mean, I I think right, so Christianity is all about like a life that's different than what the rest of the world has been living. And so when I look at it, I think about like how do we help people be okay with being uncommon? Like, how how do you how do you how do you help people um not need other people's validation because you are uncommon and that that and you're good with the fact that that you're uncommon. Um and I I I think about too, like where that influence comes from, right? Uh as far as why you're living on common is where you get to share a story. Um, I was just talking to someone today, right? Like, marriage is hard, like it's really hard. And and it doesn't matter how long you've been married, one year is really hard. Our first year of marriage was super tough. Um, right. We're about to do 20 years of marriage, and it's like all the things that I thought by the time we get to 20, like it should be easy. It was like, okay, I didn't know what I didn't know. Um, but like it it just be easy to like cash it in, right? And kind of think about that. But but then sometimes you just go, well, no, like like this is this is where we're at, and so we're gonna keep going. And so um, I I just think the influence is always like like in a marketing world, you're influencing because you want someone to buy something, so that thing product it makes money. And Christian, right, we're influencing because we want someone to spend eternity with Jesus and to see that he gave the ultimate price for them. And so um so I I I in our tribe, LCMS tribe, right, um they don't like the term marketing generally. Um, I actually love it. I think I think we have the greatest greatest thing to market um in Jesus than anyone else. And and then then we live on common.

hy Jesus Chooses Ordinary People

SPEAKER_00 17:57

That's really good. Yeah. Okay, so this whole series is focusing on Peter, who is one of my favorite characters, not characters, people. Character makes it sound made up. I think he's US. Um who really was nobody special. Why do you think Jesus chose ordinary and seemingly unqualified people to lead his movement?

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Yeah, I was just talking with Pastor Seth earlier today, and we were just kind of debriefing some of this stuff from Luke 5. Um, and I I I know I've heard before that, oh yeah, the the the the disciples, as they're called, are already kind of failures. And then Seth was kind of no, this is what it was. And it's like, and Greg, you can fill in the gaps here. Um, but it's evident that like the reason they are out fishing and not at the synagogue is that they have already flunked out of and failed out of the training that you know, and they they've so they are the washouts, they are the disqualified. Um and so why does Jesus go to them? Um, it's it's almost like their story has been set up for they already recognize their need. And God loves to show his power through surprising, unexpected ways and to work through it's the be it would be the most predictable thing to work through the powerful and the socially connected and the wealthy, but it's the way of God to actually uh to to serve at the lowest level um to not just give in to you and talk about uncommon things. God's great, God majors in the uncommon. And um, and so Jesus goes to the surprising, who then he raises up. And then, I mean, we're gonna see this over the next number of weeks, who Peter is in Luke 5, who Peter is um in the in the during Holy Week, and then especially on week three, who Peter is in Acts. And you just see that story, you're like, Oh, I could see myself in that story.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah, it's so fascinating. I I think uh first I would say you hit it right on the head, Tyler. Like, thank you, Craig. Yeah, no, you did. The way of the world is to to use you know, the the amazing, the powerful, the rich, the all that to get where you want to go. But if you look throughout the whole scriptures, and and I would say this I would say it's not necessarily just the way of Jesus, it's the way of the Lord. The Lord has always used the ordinary or even the subordinary to do the extraordinary. Um, and so you look and you've got you know, Moses who stuttered, you've got David who was a small shepherd boy that wasn't even brought before to be like, could this be one of the the ones to follow? Right. And and you look throughout scripture and and it's it's always in in in that that God is using those those those that were would not have been chosen, would not have been picked. Um, from James, a brother who was an unbeliever. Um, they're they're just over and over and over again. And so for me, whenever someone says to me, you know, Pastor, I'm just an ordinary person, what can I do? I go, watch out. Right. Like, like it's it's it's those that go, like, I've got a huge platform and I've got this and that, that I go, Yeah, God might do something with you. But man, where he's gonna blow the doors open to the kingdom of heaven, or to the person standing in the background um that is just going, like, can he use little old me? Oh man, we'll just wait, wait to see what he's gonna do. And so being open and ready for that. Um, so if you're like saying I'm ordinary, like get ready, hold on, uh, because God's gonna do something extraordinary.

eep Influence Through Vulnerability

SPEAKER_00 21:45

I like the statement God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. You know what I mean? Like when your heart is in the right place, then he can definitely use you. Yeah, and I I also love if you look through scripture, Jesus is always hanging out with the outcasts, yeah, with the weirdos or the people. People who are struggling and not those that are higher up on the social social channels, you know. And so this question, why does he choose them? Because he can, like to show us over and over again just what he can do, like you said, taking the ordinary into the extraordinary. So, how does this challenge what we think makes a person influential?

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Yeah, I mean, I I think the challenge comes that we think, right, especially I would I would think watching my kids and and other areas. Um we think if if you have a big platform, then then you're really influential. And I I you know, I I like to think about there, there's a couple, like Instagram's an easy way to look. You know, there's there's a few people that I used to follow that now are like totally out of Instagram. Like they're just done with it. Either they made their money and went on, or they realized it was super unhealthy for their life. And and I don't even remember their names anymore, right? Like, like they didn't have much influence. Um, they were uh, you know, as scriptures say, like a you know, a flash in a pan. And so um so I think what it challenges us is like if you really want to have deep influence, um it it's gonna be with a small number of people that like you've built a deep relationship of love with. Um and and they're the ones like the ones who are influential to me are those that like invested a ton of time into me. And no one else would know their name. You know, I I can rattle off their names right now. And even though I haven't talked to them, like I still think about some of the words and things they said. And so, yeah, so I think the challenge is like we we have it backwards. We think a big platform means you'll do a lot of things. I think I think it's just the opposite. Dina, you often answer third. Well, I know I've been thinking, I've been asking the same question. I've been like, I've been like, I should shut up and just let Dina talk a second.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Sometimes I'll jump in just to switch it up. So I uh on the along those lines, there is uh just a a lady, like she started out just as a mom who started posting on social media, just some fun content, you know. But what she kind of talked about was her story of overcoming um drug abuse. Like she had a bad background, had spent time in jail, had spent many times, a lot of time in rehab. And that's kind of where her platform, quote unquote, came from. And like I discovered her, it's maybe been 10 years ago, you know, um, but her content was very amusing to me. Her sense of humor was very much like mine. And so I don't have a history of drug abuse in my background, but she appealed to me. So I would follow her. And what is very interesting to me is now, you know, she rose to success and she wrote a book and did a comedy tour and was part of a movie and all of these things. And now she has kind of taken a step back from social media and is popular for a different reason because she's been very vulnerable with what that did to her mental health and the struggles about that. And so her brokenness is now, it was all about the overcoming the brokenness before. And now it's about the I'm still broken, just in different ways. And I think of that with God. Like I think of in our humanness, even when we're overcoming, or even when we're being a positive influence on others, or bringing other people to Christ, or reflecting his love in our community, we're still broken. And how being vulnerable with other people is really a way that we can influence them, that you don't have to be perfect in order to come to church or to join a Kinect group or to talk about God or just to pray to him. You know what I mean? Like that's he's not expecting that. He's using the broken.

unknown 25:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

Oh, that's that's so good. And even when you think about a a social media influencer, they are they're going to put the polished version of themselves out there. Um, and like our people are gonna connect way more with our screw-ups and our messes and our insecurities than they're gonna be so impressed by how great things are.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

That's why I love Peter. That's why I adore Peter, because he kind of is the bumbling buffoon, you know, and keeps stumbling through, but God, Jesus still works through him.

SPEAKER_03 26:31

Amen. Amen. The the thing, the question going through my mind is um perhaps in the world the the desire is seeking, seeking the influence and seeking the platform, like the ambition. And there's there is such a thing as you know, godly ambition, that sort of thing. But I think maybe the question for people on the other side here is well, who is the Lord already put in your life that you you do have influence and those immediate relationships and and those coworkers, and you know, if you're a manager, a leader, those that you you are leading, um, and and putting the priority there where there is immediacy and where you are in a room together and you develop a relationship, ultimately the stuff on the platforms, it's gonna be very one way. And it's like you kind of said, it's never gonna be the full person. Um but like I think I think the Lord will will work, He's gonna work through anything. And he's gonna, there's gonna be times where he does build build platforms for the sake of the gospel going out. I mean, Peter preached to 3,000, 3,000 people who were saved on Pentecost. That's a platform. Um, but there are all these other instances where it's where it's just one person, another person, and and life on life. And we just never want to discount what God can do through those seemingly everyday, ordinary, not viral moments, but still sanctified and set apart.

od Doesn’t Need Us But Wants Us

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Transformative. Yeah. All right. So, what are your feelings about the concept that Zach presented of God not needing us, but wanting us? And how does this maybe change our idea of participating in God's work? This was one that hit me. I'll go first on this one, Jess. This was one that hit me kind of hard. Like, I I guess there's a lot of times in my life where I feel like God, God has too much on his plate to worry about little me. You know what I mean? Like, oh, I can just take the big stuff to him, the little things. Um, and so this idea of like God doesn't need me, like I that's how I feel. But he wants me. You know, he wants me to turn to him, he wants me to be involved, he wants me to follow his ways, he wants me to influence those around me. Um, and so that kind of hit home for me. Like I really liked that concept. Now, how does this change my idea of participating in God's work? I think just the sermon as a whole reminded me how we can be influential even when we feel maybe less than or that God isn't really needing me to do this.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Yeah, I yeah, that that's really good. I and I think I think this is one of those things for a preacher. Um a preacher always has a dilemma. Like we say something, but we've got a finite amount of time and it's in a one-way conversation. And so like this one hit me, and I was like, oh, this is actually a a whole message because right, like if I if I I I choose to buy a car, I can buy electric or I can buy gas. And if I buy a gas, I either one, I need something in order for the car to go well. I either need electricity, which right now I don't need electricity because I chose gas, and so I need gas. God has chosen a way of salvation where he needs human beings, where he does need us uh as followers of Christ to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Um, and now he's chosen that. And so so this is one of those like this, this is like in a in a perfect world, you could flesh this out in a ton of ways in in a a message as a quip of uh, you know, like let me dive in like just for a few minutes. Um, it leaves more to be yearning of like, what does this mean? Right. Um, and so and and yet also the reminder is like, yes, God doesn't need us for him to be perfect and have paradise. He does want us, but yet in creation, he immediately said, My desire is for you and to spend eternity with me. Um, and so so um, so and and yet in some way for God, perfection is still this need of this amazing creation that's better than the angels and all of other creation um to be with him. And so it it's uh it's one of it's the age-old Lutheranism of both and we sit on a fence, I think, in reality of this. Yes, God doesn't need us, yes, God does need us, yes, God wants us, uh, you know, and and so we sit on that fence and which is uncomfortable, uh, literally and figuratively, um, to do that.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

So yeah. So I was I was preparing our connect group guide for each of our campuses after the message on Sunday, and I was thinking about where if if we if we take that neededness too far, where that can lead us in unhealthy directions, and this might have been where day where Zach was driving at, is that one, it can lead us to spiritual pride, meaning that no one if if I leave, this thing is falling apart. And it's like in 99.999% of situations, everyone is replaceable. Yes, for sure. And and like that, and like that can lead to some really dangerous scenarios where we think like it's it's all on me. Like, no, it's actually all on Jesus. Um the other place it can lead to is just that our our the burdens that we feel are just like crippling if it's like, well, no, I think I I'm I'm needed, needed, needed, needed, needed, and and then we we burn ourselves in the ground. Um so so the question I put in the in the connect group guide. So for those of you listening, you have haven't had connect group yet, you get a you get a head start.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Sneak peek.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

It's are you are you more tempted to feel too needed by God or too unwanted by God?

SPEAKER_01 32:55

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

And because I I think there's there's danger on the other side, right? Because the that God wants us. You read Ephesians 1 that from the before the foundations of the world, God chose you in Christ. That is not a need statement, that is a want statement. Um, and so I I mean I think the goal after all of this is that that I I don't want to put words in Zach's mouth, but that that wantedness is really, really strong. Like God really wants Dina, certainly for salvation, but also to wear the 19 hats that she she wears right now that I think is going to be moving down to 17 soon.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Is that maybe maybe 16, maybe 16.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

But that like that Jesus really wants Peter, he really wants Greg, he really wants Tyler, he wants you fill in the blank name on the other side of this podcast. And it like, there's no greater adventure to be invited into than being called and wanted by God. Yeah, amen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Okay, so how can we as a community support each other in walking with God and influencing the world around us? What's some practical things that we can do?

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Yeah, I I always say press into the uncommon. Like, like it, it's it's just great to be uncommon in the world. So, you know, for for me, like when my kids think it's hokey or whatever, that I say, hey, at dinner, like we're like someone's gonna pray and we're not gonna do the common table prayer. Like, I think about what we're praying for. Um, you know, um I mean, find ways to influence of like how are you we just going deeper in in our faith, right? Like one thing I do is, and I've had a couple people, if I'm sitting and not leading in prayer, like and it's a Lord's prayer, I I don't say the Lord's prayer. I I say it, but I change trespasses to sins. I I change um, you know, uh uh I I change uh hallowed be your name to holy is your name, right? And so I say it out loud because it helps me think about what I'm actually saying. And so so I I just would say to the go home is what are you doing on common and how are you using that uncommonness to influence others to say it's actually okay to be uncommon? Like that it's cool to be uncool, I suppose.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Yeah, I would uh I don't know how practical this is. You can give me a scale of one to five after this, Dina. But like just I wouldn't discount what living a life of integrity can do for others. And perhaps the greatest influence is not the influence that we are attempting to exude upon others, but it's the things that we don't even realize how what we're doing just by just following Jesus and and and feeble and failing as we might, but like saying, no, we take this stuff seriously, as uncommon as it might be, right? But we we we really don't know how what we're doing could be influencing others in in the simple, like the the words that we speak and the attitudes that we carry and the smiles that we have and the the challenges that we um go through and and and how we handle suffering. Um I don't know. I just think I think the Lord would we would be surprised by how those things might be influencing others, even when we're not trying to do so.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Um, I kind of already said I like Peter because he's relatable, because he's kind of very common. And I find that I can relate to that. And I I think my encouragement to people would be to be vulnerable. Um, I think you don't realize how much you can influence others to show your mistakes and your failures. And I think of um when I was going through my divorce, and my divorce was a long process, like over several years. I had a friend at work who would come every couple of weeks. Okay, how are we doing today? You know, like what's the update? What can I pray for? What are we going through now? And I was very open and vulnerable with her. And to be honest, before that time, we were not that close of friends. Like this is something she stepped up. And I remember after maybe six months, she came to me and she said, Dina, I want to thank you. And I was like, What are you talking about? And she said, I'm investing in my own marriage in ways that I didn't think about before because you're openly talking about ways where you maybe could have done things differently in your marriage, or you're talking about the things that are coming up in your counseling sessions that are misses in communication or in how you're working together or conversations. And she's like, I'm taking that and thinking, okay, I can do some preventative maintenance here because I'm hearing someone else's story and I can invest more in my marriage and put more into it. And never was that an expectation when I was like, I felt like I was unloading my burdens onto her and she was helping me carry it. But in a way, I was influencing her to pour into her marriage. Well, never was that on my radar, you know. And I think we have more power than we realize when we are who God created us to be.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Do you do you think you would have changed what you were saying to her if you were, if it was top of mind that, oh, now I'm influencing her? I'm curious.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

You know, that's a good question. I would like to think no, because I let would like to think that those were the same things that I would be encouraging people to invest in. It's just I wasn't at a place in my life in the heartache that I was in to think about, oh, this is what I should share with other people. You know what I mean? Um, yeah, I'm still pretty open with my friends or people that I talk to about things that what I learned through the process of our divorce and what I learned through that experience. Um, and can that is that something that can help others? But I think of it more because of this one woman who said, Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

Yeah, I mean, I think about that the yeah, just the surprising way that God can work beyond, and it's really through us, but it's like beyond what we're intending, but we're just doing the right thing. And so, Greg, how many times has someone when you're preaching, they hear something that you're like, I didn't even really try to say that, or I don't even think you heard me right. Right. But like, but not in like a bad way, like they're manipulating. It's like, oh, the Lord spoke to them, but it was through you, but you didn't intend, you know, that sort of thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

Well, I think I think the the the point that's so impactful here is that like we just by being authentic and and who we are, whatever we're walking through, like we have levels of influence where and you don't know. And and I think I I think you were kind of talking about this, Tyler. Like when you're s I think it's dangerous when people say I want to be influential. Where I think you find true influence when you just be you. And that's where the impact really happens. When it's uh I want to have when someone says I want influence, I'm like, ooh. Like that's gonna that's got a gut check, right? Where it's when it's someone just saying, I'm just trying to live like Jesus, and and I'm walking through my mountaintop experiences and my valleys, and then you're gonna start hearing people go, you know, when you when you did this, this is what it mattered. And you're gonna realize like how influential you were. I mean, and so and and what a what a long influence that is, right? Like there's a marriage that's still together because you just pressed into a vulnerability of like here here's where I was at. And uh, and that that that's that's way more than someone saying, I want influence.

inal Takeaways And HOW

SPEAKER_00 41:00

All right. As we wrap up today, what are your final takeaways from this message?

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Yeah, I think I'll just circle back to that you know, needed wanted conversation. Like, I'm wanted by God. Thank you, Lord. Dina, you're wanted. Greg, you're wanted. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Yeah. Yeah. I I think Zach did a great job of starting this off and um can't wait for week two, and um, I might do a green brew at the end of this.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

I really liked um Zach kind of mentioned the how to be a Christian influencer, and it was to hear God, obey God. H for hear God, oh, obey God, and W walk with God. And I thought, okay, that's something simple that I can think of. All right, am I doing this? Check myself. Yeah. All right, guys, thanks so much for being here today. We are gonna continue in this influencer series next week. Until then, let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday.