Guardrails — Week 3

Dina, Julie, and Pastor Greg continue the Guardrails series by exploring how Christians can navigate politics without losing their peace or their witness. They share practical ways to stay grounded in Jesus, engage thoughtfully with the world around us, and love our neighbors in a culture that often pushes division.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to

National Eat Your Vegetables Opener

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive a little bit deeper into what we're taking Beyond Sunday. My name is Dina Newsom, and I am excited to have some amazing guests today. Go ahead and say hello.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

Hi, Julie Easley. Hey, Greg Griffin.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

It is so nice to have you today. I don't know if you guys know this, but tomorrow, when this podcast drops, is a very big holiday. Oh my. I don't know if you'll consider it a very big holiday. It is National Eat Your Vegetables Day. The faces were not stellar. What's your favorite vegetable? And how do you like it cooked, or is it a raw vegetable? Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

I love raw broccoli. I'll eat, I can eat all sorts of raw broccoli. Yeah. Yeah. That I love. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:59

I actually almost any vegetable that's roasted, I love. I love roasted cauliflower, roasted broccoli, roasted carrots. If you can roast it, I will eat it just about everything. So yeah, I'm not Brussels sprouts if they have a good topping.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

I can deal with bacon and maple syrup or some sort of sugar thing. It's yeah, so they're not even good anymore. They're not good for you at all. No. Go back and forth. How about you, Dina? How about you?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Um, you know, I'm a big fan of corn. I love corn in all forms. I love corn mixed with other things. I love corn on the gob, but I'm also a big broccoli fan. I'm not a huge raw broccoli fan. I like preferred steamed broccoli. That's kind of my jam. But I like raw cauliflower.

SPEAKER_04 1:50

I hate cauliflower. I like that too.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah. I don't know why. I don't like the breath it gives you afterwards. Cauliflower, I feel like, gives you really stinky breath.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Yeah, it's all that sulfur.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

All right.

Guardrails For Politics And Faith

SPEAKER_01 2:03

So we are in week three of our guardrails series, and Pastor Zach Zender spoke to us this week. Um, what are you taking beyond Sunday from this message?

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Um yeah, I I uh I think that this is a super timely message um because we're just living in a whole new culture now. Like we've had a cultural shift, especially around politics, um, stuff like that. And so I'm pretty apolitical actually. And so these types of messages I never love. I'm always giving great warnings because I usually get the phone calls. Um, so this one, Beyond Sunday, though, I thought was really well. I think, I think um, where you know, Zach kind of kind of gave his two guardrails. I I when I was thinking about it and reprocessing it, for me, the guardrails, even in the midst of politics, and no matter where you stand, that I take Beyond Sunday is love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind, and then love your neighbors yourself. And so keeping the greatest of the commandments, um, the commandments which is is is in those two is our guardrails, even in our political life. And so um, so that that's kind of what I've taken um is is God's first, and then my neighbor is is second.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

So I just think the story of Daniel is so instructive. I mean, here he is, he's thrust into a very political world and is basically marinating in that environment for his entire life, like a like a hostile place for him as a as a God follower, and how he was able to navigate that culture and that time with so much success, like spiritual success and even earthly success was really remarkable. And um, and he stayed so anchored in God. It was so clear throughout the book of Daniel that really he that was his, he truly was living in the kingdom of heaven, not in the kingdom of Babylon where he was. And so I just think that I was struck again by just listening to those stories and and really thinking about those Bible stories can teach you so much.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah. Um, what

Keeping Church Centered On Jesus

SPEAKER_01 4:31

stuck out to me was just how Jesus focused. You know, everything that Zach talked about was bringing it back to Jesus. Um, the example he gave of when Charlie Kirk was killed. There were people that were saying, if your church didn't talk about Charlie Kirk, then blah, blah, blah. Or if your church did talk about Charlie Kirk, then blah, blah, blah. But really, we just want our churches talking about Jesus every week. That's the name we want to focus on. And just he consistently pounded that home with each part of his message. And that's what I really found engaging for me. Yeah. All right. So, how can we as a church community support each other in remaining focused on our heavenly citizenship amidst the political division of the world?

SPEAKER_04 5:17

I think that our I think what we try to do here at King of Kings, in the messages that we give, I feel like we're consistently pointing to Jesus. That's super important. Um and in the ways that we pray um and how often we pray and and having that be our focus. And so just as we as a congregation, obviously after Sundays, a lot of us go off and live in our nine to five weekday world. But when we come together, it's like this is where our focus is going to be, just like you said. And then just encouraging people during the week to keep their eyes on Jesus. And a great way that we can do that is through our app, you know, staying on top of scripture, thinking about prayer, who we can be praying for in our community and and beyond. So um, I think we can, as a church, be faithful in those two areas.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Yeah, I I think it's always a reminder in my mind of helping us see that that nothing is going to end the world or keep the world going. It's just Jesus. The world will end at the last trumpet's call. Uh, the world uh is sustained upon the provision of God. Um, God has always uh triumphed in the midst of human folly and and failure and sin. And so, you know, I I still remember vividly in 1992 um listening to my dad talk to my mom uh at that time about the, or 91, I suppose, about the um election of Bill Clinton, and that if if he was elected, though the the nation as we know it would come to a halt. And uh, you know, 30 30 years later, um, the nation as we know it is still thriving um in different ways. And so so when we build, I think, I think our encouragement for one another is um that we we stand on the rock, which is Jesus. And so nothing will triumph that when we stand in that with faith.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

I agree. I really liked um Zach said political engagement is important because loving your neighbor is important. And I really thought that was really a community-focused idea of we want to be aware of what's happening and we want to take part in the government that God has set up for us. But loving our neighbor is our commandment. And so we want to follow that first. And how do we love and support each other, even if we may not share the same political views, or even if we don't know what someone's political views are. Yeah.

News Habits That Protect Your Soul

SPEAKER_01 7:59

What are some practical steps Christians can take to ensure they're informed and engaged in policy politics without becoming consumed by it?

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Yeah, I have two that I just really think is important. First, I would say um the news shouldn't be the first thing you look at in the morning. It shouldn't be the last thing you look at in bed. Um I also believe, just as Christians, we have to recognize that our government has its follies. Um it was in um 1995 by Newt Gingrich, actually, uh, when he was uh Speaker of the House, that he allowed the fairness doctrine to lapse. And the fairness doctrine was an FCC uh rule that said any news program had to present both sides of an issue. Um and so when that lapsed uh in 95 and then was not re-uh uh engaged in 2002 by President George W. Bush, um, we now see news stories that are completely one-sided and news is biased. And so the other opportunity is there are, uh you can Google them. If you are a news junkie, I am not, but if you are, um there are truly unbiased news reports that uh don't have three letters in front of them. And so um, so I I think I think to in order to stay engaged, and there is a good, it is it is wise to know about the world's surroundings and what's happening in the world. That's not that's not it's not uh wise to say I don't know anything going on, but it's also wise to say this isn't our first thing, our last thing, and then like let's see everything and read it uh with the best construction on everything as well.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

I talked

Control Influence Concern Framework

SPEAKER_04 9:50

about this a little bit in message planning when we were discussing this sermon in particular. And I'm just gonna, it's hard to do on a podcast, but I just want to kind of paint a picture for you. Think of three concentric circles, right? So you've got the little bullseye in the middle, and then a little bit of a bigger circle out from that, and then a bigger circle out from that. Okay. So that that center circle is called your circle of control. And those are things that you have complete control over. So it's the things that I do, the things that I say, my attitude, how I respond to people. All of those are completely within my control. That next circle out is my circle of influence. So those are the areas in which I have influence, maybe where I work or with my family or with my friends. I have some control there, but not total. And then that far outside circle is your circle of concern, things that you care about but can't do anything about. And I think when we try to stay in our circle of control and our circle of influence, spend the majority of our time in those two areas, we're going to feel a lot more peaceful. I think our tendency sometimes is to focus on that circle of concern, stuff we care about and can't do anything about. And what that leads to is a lot of worry and a lot of anxiety. So I, when I started to get a little bit too, I was finding the news to be upsetting. It was stressing me out. I realized, you know, Julie, you're just spending a little bit too much time in this circle of concern. I can't directly affect what's happening in Washington, D.C. The things that I can do is I can vote. If there are issues that I care about, I can spend my time volunteering or doing things that I personally can do. And that leads to a greater sense of satisfaction and just kind of general control in my life. And then surrendering the rest of it to God. I mean, that's his to take care of.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Yeah, sometimes that's the part I struggle with, is just the letting go because I think we get so focused on people and expectations. And one thing I liked that Zach talked about was that we can't expect earthly kingdoms to be like heavenly ones. And I think that that's sometimes where focus gets to be is the next leader or the right person is gonna swoop in and make everything perfect. And this is our broken earth. That is not gonna happen here, no matter who that person is, unless it's Jesus. He's not coming back till we're all going to heaven. So yeah.

Calm Courage And Better Listening

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Um talk about engaging with politics without panic or withdrawal. How can we foster a culture of calm and courage in our political discussions within the church or our community?

SPEAKER_04 12:45

Greg talks a lot about this um filling your bucket. So if you have an empty bucket, you're not gonna have anything left to give to others, or you're not even going to have the wherewithal to react to things that may be, you know, scary or anxiety-producing if you haven't spent time with the Lord and getting really rock solid in who he is, his nature, his character, his love for you. Um, and again, if you think about that circle of control, I'm the one, no one else can spend time with the Lord for me. That's only I can make those choices, right? And so saying, okay, as far as it goes with me, I'm gonna be spending time with God so that I'm a grounded, filled up person in Him. And then whatever life throws at you, you're gonna handle it in a much better way because God's spirit is gonna be with you as you kind of deal with those unexpected things or those worries or concerns.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah, I I think I think helping others be able to find peace and and also even engagement is um sharing our own story. Um, so just just right, we we have one of the greatest privileges on the face of the earth to vote. And so it's important that we share that that we're gonna vote. Um, it's also important that we respect uh everyone's vote and and allow them to vote. It's important that it, you know, a society is at at its greatest when we actually listen to each other. And so so I actually grow further when I listen to people that I may not find myself aligned or that I agree with, and I may never align or or agree with them. But when I've listened to them, um I grow as a person. I understand a different, a different side. And I may say, I don't see that side, and that's not where I can land. Um, but man, I I I definitely grow rather than in my bubble. So so I I think it's all by about your posture of of a being a person of peace. Um a disciple is a person of peace. A disciple is someone who comes alongside another person and and is genuinely interested in who God has created them to be. Um and and then and then when you listen to someone, they are apt to listen to you. And so um, you know, I I like to say I I will I try to be a leader who listens, learns, and loves. And I think when we put that posture on, then we can be um engaged and we can be have peace um in the midst of all that.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

That's really good. Um, I probably tend to side a little bit kind of like where Zach talked about when things get to be really um a lot that I tend to withdraw. Oh, I just kind of tune out the politics. And that's not always the healthiest thing either. Because I it's my duty as a citizen of Earth, you know, of America, to participate. And um I I don't hit the panic level too much. I don't spend too much time in that level of concern, but I do when it gets to be a lot withdraw. And so figuring out how to re-engage with just like you said, a peaceful um attitude is a is something that I personally sometimes have to work on and try to step into in my interactions. But I do find just like Greg was saying, that the the times when I engage with people who disagree with me, um, that's when I grow, whether I change my mind about the issue or not, but I grow as a person. Yeah.

Prayer That Makes Us Non Anxious

SPEAKER_01 16:32

How can the practice of prayer, as demonstrated by Daniel, be a tool for Christians navigating political environments? And you kind of touch base on this a little bit, Julie. But yeah, like it's so valuable.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

Yeah, I think today's world is crying out for people who are in non-anxious presence. And I can't be a non-anxious person on my own very well. Uh it'll the power to do that will run out if I'm just counting on Julie not to be anxious. But I think when we're filled up with God, his word, if we've been in communion with him and are filled with his holy spirit, that will help us be a non-reactive person in during reactive times. And so prayer is what strengthens us for that. It's putting us in touch with a power greater than ourselves, Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit, and um will transform us to be the kind of people who aren't jumpy and reactive and unkind and you know in a rush or anxious. And so I think prayer is vitally important for that.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah, I I think for me, uh I just find myself more and more um uh whether it's a political, whether it's um a person that I'm having trouble with, whether it's um, you know, some a situation that I'm having trouble with. Um I found myself more and more saying, okay, Greg, why don't you pray blessings and abundance of favor upon them? And when I do that, um I I find myself totally released in a way because uh for me, I can't go to God and say, please do something, then and then butt in the back of my head, go, please actually don't do that. Like, like, so it's like it's like when I I pray for abundance of favor upon someone, um and and and finding myself then genuinely wishing the best for them. And then that brings me back to my guardrail, um, which is to love my neighbors myself. And so um that that's how I I look at it for where prayer leads in this.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

What you just said there really makes me think also of our my four and praying for those people. For any of our listeners that may not be familiar with that, can you kind of like summarize?

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Yeah, my four is is you know, identifying four people who are far from God or just fans of God, um, and and then um including them into your regular rhythms and routines of spiritual prayer conversations, talking, um, inviting them uh into your routines of community, dinner, um, events, church, um, and then inspiring them to do the same. And so, yeah, it's it's it's us us really just simplifying uh a discipleship model that is walks alongside an evangelism model um for for whatever we're doing.

unknown 19:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Um I really liked uh Zach said in this message, when you follow the law of God and step into who God calls you to be, you end up becoming a very wise person. And he used that when he was talking about Daniel, how all the things that Daniel went through, he really just continued to follow God's law and and was brave enough to step into who God wanted him to be. And I think of, okay, in my own life, how do I do that? Well, I have to be in touch with who God wants me to be. And to do that, I have to be in touch with him. And that means prayer. That's my communication with him. Yes, he speaks to me through worship and through speech scripture and through my friends and my community, but really it's my prayer time with him and how he nudges me in the right direction there and how valuable that is then in how I can relate to other people in any environment, not just political, but any, yeah. How

Perspective From Jesus And Rome

SPEAKER_01 20:32

can we put the current political climate, which is very anxious, aggressive, um, into perspective with what was happening at the time of Jesus' death and resurrection?

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Yeah, I I mean I I think this is the I don't want to trivialize and I don't think I don't think I don't think people's passions um are are minimal at all. I I think I think their desires, their passions, and their their feelings are really real. I think it's it's really important though we also contextualize the reality of of where we're at. Um we still live, even though it's a very polarized government, even though there is um some sort of oppression um there, um, we still live with, regardless of who's in power, um, we still live in the greatest country on the face of the earth with the greatest freedoms ever been given. In the day of Jesus, um, there was threat of death. There was um, you know, if if you weren't a Roman citizen, then uh you were going to be cheated and you were gonna pay taxes and you were gonna pay extra in taxes, and you had no complaint if you were Jewish. Um, you know, and and so so when we and and when we look at Jesus. Um, and the world he lived in, Jesus never called for the overthrow of the Roman government. Um, he just continued to remind everyone that his kingdom's not of this world. And so we are reminded that our kingdom's not of this world. Um, but while we're here, we have been given the opportunity in this space and this time to be good citizens of the kingdom, which make us then good citizens of this great nation that we live on, or whatever nation you're you're on. And so um, if we stay within our guardrails, um, as Jesus did, he loved God above all things, and then he loved his neighbor as a self, willing to give his life for them, um, then we'll we'll be able to navigate whatever culture, whatever climate wherever we're at.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

Yeah, I think about just the story of Jesus' crucifixion and really how his whole story was in a lot of ways just engulfed by the politics of the time, right? And what a solitary, lonely figure he really was at the time of his death. Everybody, everybody had fallen away from him. His closest friends, his disciples, the people who had been cheering him on a few days before when he came into Jerusalem, had all abandoned him. And yet he stood firm, even and right, he's someone who is experiencing great anxiety in the garden. And yet at the same time, he was he was unmoved in his mission because his eyes were always on his father. And so I think that that's something that we can learn from in uh right to obviously to him, we're in a much lesser degree of suffering and struggle in our own personal lives than he was. But at the same time, just realizing things may be swirling around me. I may feel like some unsteadiness, but if I keep my focus on the Lord, I will not be moved. I will not be moved. So I think that's what I think about. It's good.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

It's so outside of my realm of understanding what was happening at that time that you literally could be killed for what you believed. Or you, I just feel like we don't live under the threat of that today. Um, if I stand up and say, I don't like mustard, I'm not worried about someone's gonna have it out for me, you know. But if I stand up and say, I believe in ex-politician, there are people nowadays who will on social media or behind people's backs, you know, threaten that person's life. And I don't, I it's not anywhere close to what was happening in biblical times, but it's just unfathomable to me that humans treat other humans that way or look at it, you know, that our differences create such a gap. Um, and I saw um a meme once that I really liked that I think of all the time when I'm talking about politics and it talks about left wing and right wing. They're both part of the same bird. Why are we wishing destruction or horribleness or failure on the other side of our half, you know, whatever half we may be on, or we're in the middle or, you know, whatever extreme. Why are we wishing that? Because we're all one people. And um isn't our job to bring people together, you know, and hopefully to bring them together in Christ. Um, and how can we focus more on that rather than the anger and agonization of trying to get the other side or catch them in something or you know, that's so much tends to be the trend on social media. It's really a struggle.

Final Takeaways And Living Beyond Sunday

SPEAKER_01 25:41

All right. Final takeaways from this message, week three of guardrails.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Yeah, I'm I'm really thankful for, like I said, I I don't love these messages generally. Um, this was one of the best messages I've heard um on this topic. And I I thought it it was really apt and um um was one that uh just focused us on what matters, which is who we are and our identity uh as children of God, which means that we're part of the sing citizenship uh of the kingdom. And and when we stay focused on that, um loving God and loving our neighbors, then then we can walk, um we can walk with peace and with engagement uh in whatever is around us.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Yeah, it's just so important to remember that our citizenship is in heaven. And so what are the things that we're investing in currently? Um how am I investing in my relationship with the Lord? How am I investing in my relationship with other people? How am I uh influencing uh uh people in my sphere by by the things that I'm I'm actually doing, not just what I'm saying or typing out on my laptop. Um what's what's the change that I would like to see in order to further God's kingdom and then take actionable steps towards that?

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Zach mentioned the old adage, if it bleeds, it leads, in reference to news stories that quote unquote bleed or you know are gasp worthy, um, are ones that lead in the news. And I really liked how he wrapped that around at the end of the message to talk about if it bleeds, it leads, and Jesus bled for us. And that's what we need to focus on.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

That was so good.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

I was like, wow, I know. I had goosebumps. I know, so good. All right, we have a couple more messages in our guardrail series. I'm trying to even remember AI. We're talking about AI one week. What's I'm trying to think what the other one is. That's next week. Not a very good promo for the future here. Hobbies, yes. Next week, and then it's yeah, yeah. So tune in, and until then, let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday.