Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 22, 2019


Ep 102 ｜ Resurrection Hope


Episode Stats

Length

33 minutes

Words per Minute

192.19205

Word Count

6,477

Sentence Count

431


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, relatable listeners. Happy Monday. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend.
00:00:07.580 Maybe you were with your family. I was in Georgia with my husband's family where we have 11. I think
00:00:15.580 I have to count this correctly in my head because we have a new addition. We have 11 nieces and
00:00:20.660 nephews. My husband has two sisters that are older than him, six and eight years older than him.
00:00:25.560 And I have two brothers that are older than me. And so we are the last ones to be adding to the
00:00:32.800 grandchild situation. So they're already done on his side, 11 grandkids. And on my parents' side,
00:00:42.260 there's two. And so we're adding the first girl on my parents' side. There's lots of girls on my
00:00:48.840 husband's side. And so once we are done having children, it will be madness at holidays. It's
00:00:55.140 already kind of madness in the best way possible. I mean that in the most wonderful way possible,
00:00:59.780 but it's already kind of madness with all of the children running around. Once we add our like
00:01:04.540 three or four, however many we have, it's going to be, it's going to be chaos. But these are the fun
00:01:10.300 times. I didn't really have a ton of cousins my age when I was growing up and both my brothers were so
00:01:16.260 much older than me. And so I really, I always wished that I had that. And so I hope that our kids,
00:01:22.560 that they have siblings that are close in age and that they have cousins that are kind of close in
00:01:26.760 age, they're going to be younger than most of their cousins, but that they have people to play
00:01:31.040 with and hang out with and that they actually look forward to the holidays because I think that's
00:01:35.000 really fun. And so we kind of got a little taste of that, even though of course our child isn't here
00:01:39.640 yet. We got another taste of that this weekend, got to meet my nephew for the first time. So that's
00:01:45.660 exciting. Had my first baby shower. So all of that is great. And of course, as you guys know,
00:01:51.720 I am really excited that it is now warm outside. I've said it before. I will say it again. I would
00:01:57.440 rather be drenched in sweat as soon as I step outside at 8am and be able to fry an egg on the
00:02:05.360 sidewalk than have to wear a sweater. I hate the cold. I would rather it be sweltering hot,
00:02:11.800 not even be able to get in the pool because it feels like bath water than what it is in the winter.
00:02:17.180 I do not like the cold weather. I know I'm probably going to be going back on this in a couple of
00:02:21.840 weeks when it's absolutely unbearable. Like when you have a heat rash, as soon as you step out the
00:02:26.960 door, but I'm really excited. And it's also crazy. I know I'm kind of ranting at the beginning of this.
00:02:33.420 We're going to talk about more substantive stuff. I'll just go ahead and tell you, we're going to
00:02:36.200 talk about a little bit about the resurrection and then I might answer some of your theological
00:02:41.760 questions. Although the ones that you guys sent me, I'm like, shoot, I need to, I really need to
00:02:48.040 study those. I can't just answer those off the bat. So you guys have really good complex questions.
00:02:53.100 Then I'm going to tell you a thing I don't get, which is really just, if you've never heard it
00:02:56.820 before, it's just kind of like a pet peeve. So we're going to talk about substantive stuff,
00:03:00.440 but right now I'm just kind of ranting about what's on my mind. What was I even talking about?
00:03:05.200 I was talking about the weather. Oh yeah, that it's the end of April, which is crazy because I always
00:03:09.840 told myself, okay, April is the time that I'm going to start getting things together for my
00:03:15.000 child. We're going to start making her nursery. We're going to get everything that we need to get.
00:03:19.700 So we are fully prepared by May 1st. Well, I just want to take a second to laugh at myself for thinking
00:03:26.320 that I was going to be so proactive. See, this is what the life of a procrastinator is. You say that
00:03:33.280 you are going to do all of this stuff because you go to bed every Sunday night and you think, okay,
00:03:38.700 this is the week. This is the week that I'm really going to get it together and that I'm not going to
00:03:44.040 wait until the last minute to do something. And then you find yourself like I do every week,
00:03:48.220 writing a chapter of your book at 2am rather than doing it in the afternoon when you were supposed to
00:03:53.380 do it. And you find yourself at the end of April, not having really done anything for your child.
00:03:57.920 That's about to be here. Now we're not in like a totally disastrous situation. We've got some stuff.
00:04:03.700 We're working on it. We just still have to paint her nursery before we can actually put anything
00:04:09.080 together. And so that's what we're going to do for these last couple of months. As you guys know,
00:04:12.980 I'm working on a book that's going to come out in 2020. We don't know the exact date yet,
00:04:19.460 and I don't want to spoil what exactly it's about, but it is very much a mix of theology and culture and
00:04:26.600 how we can combat some of the common lies that we're seeing from this glorified narcissism that is
00:04:31.620 constantly being fed to us by influencers on social media, as well as pastors from the pulpits.
00:04:39.580 And so you can be expected of that, but that's also what I'm working on. So that's kind of
00:04:43.920 detracting from me getting ready for our first child to be here. So I do, I have a lot going on
00:04:49.020 right now, but I love it. I'm not complaining. It's a really good and fun time of life. My husband
00:04:54.660 and I are enjoying, um, spending these last couple of months together when we actually can get a little
00:05:01.460 bit of sleep from what I've heard from many, many moms that I know is that these are probably like
00:05:07.000 the last normal nights of sleep that I may ever have in my life. If you guys who are moms or anything
00:05:12.840 like my mom, I still don't think she gets a normal night's sleep. All of her children are grown,
00:05:17.660 but I still think that she probably wakes up in the middle of the night thinking,
00:05:21.040 are my kids okay? Are they making the right choices? And she worries about, you know,
00:05:26.020 something about my career. She worries about something about my brother, whatever it is.
00:05:30.420 You're constantly thinking about your kids for the rest of your life. And that's kind of crazy to
00:05:34.260 think about. That's actually like the second you get pregnant, second you pee on a stick and you see,
00:05:39.380 oh my gosh, that says pregnant. Your mind and your life is totally consumed with something that you
00:05:46.020 didn't even realize existed five seconds before. And it never changes. That's crazy.
00:05:53.340 Haven't even fully experienced that. Needless to say, I'm really excited about my child to be here.
00:05:58.220 I'm so excited to meet her. Once you're kind of in these last weeks, I have about like, I don't know,
00:06:04.220 seven to nine or no, I think it's, uh, like eight to 10 weeks left about. Yeah. I'm a little over 30
00:06:12.260 weeks. And so yeah, about eight to 10 weeks, just depending. And I'm really excited to meet her.
00:06:17.820 Once you get in this time, you're just like, okay, can I stop being pregnant? That would be great.
00:06:22.500 I saw my grandmother the other day and I can say this because she doesn't listen to this podcast.
00:06:26.840 I don't think she knows what a podcast is. She's sweet. I love her so much. She lived with us until
00:06:31.640 I was 13. And so we are extremely close. She helps teach me how to read, to write, to be everything I
00:06:37.280 am. She is an incredible, incredible woman. So I need to give that caveat before I say that, uh,
00:06:44.920 she, I, I went to go see her the other day and she was like, Hey, pudgy. Hey, you're going to have a
00:06:53.420 big baby. I was like, thank you so much. You know what? If you weren't my 82 year old grandmother,
00:06:59.280 I might be offended, but she didn't mean it that way. I always talk about the things that annoy me that
00:07:05.520 people say when they are, when they're talking about a pregnant person that they would never say
00:07:11.020 to a non-pregnant person. But I have realized you really got to give people the benefit of the doubt
00:07:15.100 a lot of the time in that they are well-intentioned. My grandmother was well-intentioned. She was like,
00:07:20.540 I think you're going to have a big baby. I was like, well, like I'm not, I don't think so. I mean,
00:07:25.600 I might have a big baby, but I don't think my stomach is any indication. And the doctor measured my
00:07:31.220 stomach right on track. Also, we got, uh, we had another sonogram the other day and she is in our
00:07:38.400 daughter's in the 50th percentile. So she is exactly average, which is not surprising in the
00:07:45.460 slightest because my husband is six feet. I am almost five, six, I'm five, five and three fourths.
00:07:53.620 We are average heights. We are average weight. I, well, not any, I'm not average weight right now,
00:08:00.360 but pre-pregnancy and pre-chick-fil-a average weights, average everything. So it doesn't
00:08:05.140 surprise me at all that our child is totally average size. I kind of hope she stays that way
00:08:11.700 for when I give birth, not trying to give birth to a 10 pound baby the way that Jessica Simpson did,
00:08:18.060 which is crazy. I mean, if I do, you know what? Philippians 413, I'll be fine. I'll be fine.
00:08:23.380 Just kidding. Not really decontextualizing that verse, but also I am serious.
00:08:30.980 So prayers, prayers for that prayers for the rest of my pregnancy and a good birth. And for all of you
00:08:39.640 out there who are pregnant and that's a lot of you actually, because you know what I've noticed?
00:08:46.340 I've noticed that there are just a lot of conservatives that are having babies right now,
00:08:50.760 which I think is great. I think rural domination via procreation is the way to go.
00:08:56.360 It is literally making love, not war. So if that's how we want to do it, if that's how we want to take
00:09:04.000 over while the AOCs of the world are saying that it's irresponsible to have children, I think that
00:09:09.780 it's great. I think that we should do it. And I think that it will be really good for the future
00:09:14.940 of the country if we are the only ones having children. So keep it up, you guys. If not,
00:09:22.320 don't worry. There are lots of wonderful things that you can do to, um, spread the values of
00:09:29.940 conservatism. And that is being a hard worker, caring about your country and not being afraid
00:09:37.280 to stick up for the things that you know are true. Okay. That's not what we're talking about
00:09:41.660 today at all. So I am sorry that I got on that rant. I know a lot of you actually only guys,
00:09:46.940 I ever get this message. I only get these message from guys saying, stop talking about the personal
00:09:52.640 stuff in the beginning. Please just get to the podcast. But from girls, it's always like,
00:09:57.200 will you please update us on your pregnancy and talk about your personal life? So I got it. I got
00:10:02.080 to give it to everyone. I got to make everyone happy as much as, as much as I can, because I typically
00:10:07.780 just go ahead and start, but you guys didn't get an ad today. So what you got instead was random
00:10:12.780 stories and random rantings about my life. So now we're going to talk about something much more
00:10:17.480 significant and much more important and much more eternal and much more long lasting. I know I
00:10:22.560 repeated myself with synonyms a thousand times, but we are going to talk about in light of Easter,
00:10:28.180 the resurrection just for a little bit and what it means. And then, uh, like I said, I'm going to
00:10:33.300 get to, uh, hopefully some of, some of your questions. If we don't have time, I'm just going to tell
00:10:38.640 you the thing I just don't get, which a lot of you guys like that segment as well. So, uh, we talk a
00:10:44.600 lot about Jesus's death. We talk a lot about his atoning sacrifice, and it's a wonderful thing to talk
00:10:51.260 about. Um, in fact, I don't think it's talked about enough in certain circles in this me first
00:10:56.620 me centered Christianity that we hear about. Uh, really we just hear about that. Jesus came to be
00:11:02.960 the friend of sinners. Jesus came to make you feel good about yourself. Jesus came to make you feel
00:11:08.520 confident and to tell you that all of the dreams and all of the desires that you have are perfect
00:11:13.420 and affirm you in all that you are. Of course, we who are on this podcast know that that is not what
00:11:20.440 Jesus came to do. That's not who Jesus is. Jesus is the great. I am. He is the creator and the
00:11:25.440 sustainer of the universe. He is the son of God. God made flesh, the perfect sacrifice who bridged the
00:11:31.140 gap between a simple people and a perfect and holy God. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. The
00:11:36.480 government will be placed upon his shoulders. He is coming back to establish the new heaven and the
00:11:42.100 new earth. And one day, uh, we will worship him forever. We will reign alongside him as the Bible
00:11:49.160 says. So that is who Jesus is. He is someone to worship. And yes, because of, uh, the, the beauty
00:11:56.760 of the personal nature of God, he has allowed us through his grace to enter in the proverbial
00:12:02.740 holy of holies into his presence with boldness and access with confidence so that we can have
00:12:07.140 a personal relationship with our God, with our creator. That's an amazing thing about God becoming
00:12:12.340 flesh, becoming Jesus Christ and walking on this earth. The Bible says that we have a high priest
00:12:16.960 who sympathizes with our weaknesses, that he was tempted in some of the same ways that we were
00:12:21.940 in all the same ways that we were, but was without sin. And so that is who Jesus is. He is God. He is
00:12:29.020 not our gal pal. He is not our homeboy. He is not our boyfriend. He is God. He is someone to be
00:12:34.800 worshiped. And yes, through his incredible grace and by the nature of which we do not deserve, we also
00:12:41.140 get to have a personal relationship with him where we can talk freely and, uh, ceaselessly to him.
00:12:48.440 Of course, always out of deference, uh, for his kingship and who he is as God and who we are as
00:12:55.520 an undeserving people. So that's who Jesus is. And it's not that, um, it's, it's, it's not that
00:13:05.960 caricature that you, that you hear so often from the self-help crowd that he's just kind of an accessory.
00:13:14.420 He's just kind of a long for the ride. That of course is blasphemy. If that's the God that you
00:13:19.520 worship, then that's not Christianity. I think it's safe to say that you're not a Christian because
00:13:24.100 Christians worship the God of the Bible, the Jesus of the Bible. And if you're worshiping another God,
00:13:29.320 then that means that you follow another faith. That means that you follow another religion.
00:13:33.500 And that would mean that you're really missing out because the God of the Bible offers an incredible
00:13:37.900 redemption and incredible sanctification in this life, incredible salvation and the next life.
00:13:43.440 And so that's why it's so important to make sure that we are worshiping the Jesus, uh, who is,
00:13:48.980 who he says he is. And the way that we know who he is, is through his word, which he has revealed to us,
00:13:55.120 um, in the Bible. And so we don't talk enough about his crucifixion and about who he really is,
00:14:02.280 about what he really did for us on the cross, the brutality of the crucifixion. But I would say
00:14:07.800 that we probably talk about his death, me included more than we talk about his resurrection. Um,
00:14:13.920 it's almost an easier picture to paint. And I think it's, we think it's easier for finite minds
00:14:19.440 to understand that someone might be sacrificed, that someone would even sacrifice himself on our
00:14:24.000 behalf that, okay, he physically died. He suffered a physical, brutal, violent death,
00:14:31.220 but then the resurrection comes in. And that's where you have this whole spiritual metaphysical
00:14:36.700 component that I think sometimes we're afraid to talk about because we can't explain it. But,
00:14:41.440 uh, here is what first Corinthians 15 says, uh, Paul to the church in Corinth, uh, about the
00:14:49.020 resurrection for, I delivered to you as a first importance, what I also received that Christ died
00:14:55.860 for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
00:15:01.220 day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. Then he
00:15:06.820 appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen
00:15:12.800 asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, last of all, as to one untimely born,
00:15:18.860 he appeared also to me. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your
00:15:24.080 faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about
00:15:30.280 God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise. If it is true that the dead are not raised. And if
00:15:36.180 Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who
00:15:43.660 have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ, we have hope in this life only we are of
00:15:49.540 all people most to be pitied. Goes on to say, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your
00:15:55.620 victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But
00:16:01.420 thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, our beloved
00:16:07.760 brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your
00:16:13.260 labor is not in vain. Now, I did not read the whole chapter to you, which reveals that Christ's
00:16:18.680 resurrection is also a reflection of the resurrection that we will have, that it means
00:16:24.400 resurrection for us, that we will too be resurrected in an immortal body to live with Christ forever.
00:16:33.040 That is our hope. That is what we are striving toward, Paul says. That is what we are clinging to.
00:16:39.800 Uh, we will not perish as John 3 16 says, but we will have everlasting life. And that is because of
00:16:46.160 the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is so important that God through Paul says that
00:16:52.440 without it, without the resurrection, that we are a people to be pitied. So basically that means this
00:16:58.040 is really embarrassing. If we are worshiping nothing more, no one more than a prophet who said he was God
00:17:04.440 and then died. Well, then what are we even doing here? There's a lot of people maybe who said that
00:17:10.360 they were God and then died, didn't fulfill all the prophecies, didn't do what Jesus did and didn't rise
00:17:16.200 from the dead. But the reason why Friday is good news, the reason why Jesus's crucifixion is good news
00:17:24.100 is because of Sunday, because of his resurrection. Without Sunday, Friday isn't good news. Without the
00:17:30.920 resurrection, the crucifixion is not good news. The resurrection is what affirms our hope. Without
00:17:38.240 resurrection day, uh, Jesus is, he's just a man. He's just another person. But the resurrection is
00:17:45.520 what affirms what we already know and what he already claimed, that he is the Christ, that he is
00:17:51.000 the Messiah. Sunday, uh, is our assurance of eternal life. It's the promise of alleviation from our pain,
00:17:58.280 our freedom from sorrow, and our hope of glory. It's our ultimate reconciliation to God. That's
00:18:05.180 where we put our faith. Uh, this is what, the resurrection is what makes everything that you are
00:18:11.440 going through small. Uh, as the Bible says, it makes everything that we are struggling with, that we are
00:18:17.420 suffering right now, light and momentary in comparison to the glory that we will experience
00:18:21.680 when we leave this earth. That is redemption. That is victory. Uh, Jesus defeated sin and death
00:18:27.620 on our behalf, that we may no longer be slaves to our sin and sufferers of death, endures of eternal
00:18:33.280 separation from him. Uh, Romans 10, nine through 13, actually it's not 10, nine through 13. I didn't do
00:18:41.220 all four verses, but it says this, uh, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
00:18:47.340 believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And then of course,
00:18:53.180 my favorite passage, Ephesians two, four through seven, but God being rich in mercy because of the
00:18:59.080 great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together
00:19:04.980 with Christ by grace, you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the
00:19:10.300 heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of
00:19:15.560 his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Jesus's resurrection is the defeat of death. It is
00:19:21.740 the defeat of sin. And it means resurrection and hope and eternal life for us without resurrection.
00:19:27.540 Then none of this matters. We're not talking about anything. Our, our, our faith really isn't founded on
00:19:33.060 anything. As Paul says, we are a people most to be pitied. So I just want you to remember that as you
00:19:39.960 are going into this week and you are thinking of everything that you have ahead of you, which
00:19:45.440 I don't doubt is a lot. I don't know what all of you are going through. Some of you might be going
00:19:50.040 through, um, what I would call even in my own life, more trivial things. Maybe you're going through
00:19:55.240 something at work. Maybe you're going through something with your boyfriend. I'm not saying
00:19:58.580 that these aren't important problems, but in, in light relative to the other problems that people have,
00:20:04.900 like pregnancy loss or infertility or losing a family member or being diagnosed with a chronic
00:20:12.920 illness or with a fatal illness. Um, these are, these are more trivial problems, but no matter
00:20:20.400 what your problems are on the spectrum of trivial to really hard, the resurrection is what gives us
00:20:26.480 hope that Jesus came to defeat all of these things and to give us the hope of glory that one day we
00:20:32.280 won't have any sorrow. We won't have any suffering. We won't have any pain, but we will worship him
00:20:36.560 enjoying gladness forever. I was talking to someone the other day about forever and what that looks
00:20:42.580 like, because I think if we're honest, just finite human beings who really can't grasp eternity
00:20:47.100 forever kind of scares us. And I think that especially if we have good lives, especially
00:20:52.540 we're living in America, a free country, we live in a prosperous country. And if you're going through
00:20:57.800 a pretty easy, happy time, it's hard for us to look forward to heaven. Uh, it's hard for us to
00:21:03.980 imagine how something could be that much better. Sure. You think about all the inconveniences and some of
00:21:10.320 the hardship that you go through in your life. And you think, yeah, well, heaven's going to be
00:21:13.600 without that. But then you start thinking about forever. You think about eternal life. You think
00:21:17.920 about something that's everlasting, never ending. And I think a lot of us, because we have so many
00:21:23.320 wonderful blessings and privileges, it's really hard for us to look forward to that. It's like,
00:21:28.040 aren't we going to get bored? Like I can't even do one thing for more than five minutes. Like I have
00:21:33.880 to be watching TV and on my phone at the same time. Like I have to be, uh, if I'm watching Netflix,
00:21:39.480 I need my laptop at the same time. How am I just going to be able to worship God forever in total
00:21:44.960 and complete satisfaction and contentment? Is that something that I really look forward to?
00:21:50.040 But we have to remember that God in heaven is outside of time and space. And so as we experience
00:21:57.860 time linearly, he is not experiencing time the way that we are, he created all of it. And so he exists
00:22:04.760 outside of that. He is spended in the eternal. Now he's just as present a thousand years ago as he is
00:22:09.860 today. And I don't think that when we are in heaven, we are going to have this stopwatch thinking,
00:22:15.680 well, it's been 10,000 years. Let's just keep going for 10,000 more. And then, you know,
00:22:22.500 keep going for eternity after that. I don't think that's going to be our mindset.
00:22:26.520 I think that it's something beyond comprehension that we are in a constant state of joy. We are in
00:22:32.500 a constant state of excitement. We are in a constant state of overwhelming gratitude to be
00:22:38.800 there that every moment feels new, that every moment feels like the last, that we don't have
00:22:45.380 a sense of this has been five years, or this has been 10 years, or this has been a long time,
00:22:50.740 or this hasn't been that long of a time. I don't think that we'll have a sense of that. And I don't
00:22:54.740 think that we can even comprehend it. In fact, the Bible says that we can't, that our finite minds
00:22:59.800 can't understand it. But what we can cling to and what we can hope to is that we will, because of
00:23:07.500 the grace of God, get to experience that one day. I mean, think about what a wonderful father he has
00:23:12.720 to be to redeem an undeserving and an unholy and a depraved and a wicked people, to redeem them to the
00:23:20.260 point of giving them eternal life. And not because of anything they did, actually, despite
00:23:25.480 everything they did, but because he loves them. He sacrificed his only son that we would be able
00:23:31.180 to experience that one day and that we would be able to tell other people about him. And then
00:23:34.760 while we're on this earth, that we would be separated as holy, that we would be set apart,
00:23:39.060 and that we would enact his justice and his goodness and his just laws here on earth. And one day
00:23:45.820 to spend forever with him. That's a really amazing, loving father. I don't know a better story than
00:23:53.480 that. I don't know a better God than that. I don't know a better religion than that.
00:23:57.900 Every other religion tells us what we have to do to get to God. What do you have to do to climb up the
00:24:02.060 mountain? Christianity says God came down the mountain to you because you couldn't do anything.
00:24:06.880 You were just laying there dead in your sins. And because he loved you while you were yet dead in
00:24:12.080 your sins, he died for you. You didn't do anything to earn that. The Bible says it's a gift.
00:24:18.620 Jesus endured his brutal death. He endured death on a cross, a more brutal death than any of us could
00:24:24.640 ever imagine. And then he rose again three days later, fulfilling his own prophecy, fulfilling the
00:24:30.160 prophecies of the scriptures. He was seen by multiple eyewitnesses, hundreds of eyewitnesses,
00:24:36.380 and then he ascended to the father. That's an amazingly good story for us. That's amazingly
00:24:43.960 good news for us that he was willing to do that on our behalf. He didn't have to.
00:24:49.080 He could have destroyed us. I think that's another point to remember in being grateful for the
00:24:54.120 resurrection is that if that was all Jesus ever did for us, if that was all God ever gave us,
00:25:00.280 if we were like Job, we had everything taken away from us and say, in this life, we never got it
00:25:05.120 restored. We lost absolutely everything. God would still be better, a more gracious, a more generous,
00:25:12.680 a more loving God than we could ever comprehend simply because he has decided through Jesus to
00:25:19.840 spare believers from wrath. If that was all Jesus ever did, if that was all God ever gave us,
00:25:26.700 he would still be abundantly better than we ever could deserve. That's an important thing for us to
00:25:31.640 remember too. That's an important thing for me to remember. I am just as susceptible, if not more
00:25:37.760 susceptible, maybe I'm more susceptible than most people, I don't know, to getting weighed down in the
00:25:44.120 petty, comparing myself to other people, thinking about the temporal things, thinking about the things
00:25:49.960 that I'm sure in two weeks I won't even be worried about, but seem like a big deal to me right now,
00:25:54.600 and weighing myself down with those burdens and getting caught up in the weeds. I am guilty of
00:26:03.080 that. And the resurrection, the reality of the resurrection, the miracle of the resurrection,
00:26:08.780 that God defeated death on our behalf and that this life is just a blip on the span of eternity,
00:26:16.580 that puts things into perspective. And so that's something that I have been thinking about this
00:26:24.040 Easter season. And it's not just about a renewed perspective. It's not just about that. Of course,
00:26:29.960 it's just about Jesus and worshiping Jesus and humbling yourself before Jesus. But it does gain
00:26:35.380 you a different perspective. It does. It changes how you look at things. I talk about this stuff a lot.
00:26:40.920 I talk about having an eternal perspective a lot. The fact of the matter is, I don't. A lot of days,
00:26:46.260 I don't. I have to drag myself back into the reality of God's grace and the reality of God's
00:26:55.560 sovereignty. There was a situation last week where I was just stressed out, where I felt like, oh my
00:27:01.680 gosh, I don't have control over this. This is happening at the worst time. I don't know what
00:27:05.720 to do. I'm so stressed out. I don't want to deal with this. This is unfair. I felt like I had been
00:27:11.120 felt or dealt in unfair hands, like it shouldn't happen this way. And I had to remember for a second
00:27:18.800 who I was, who I was in Christ, God's absolute sovereignty. And then in a much smaller sense,
00:27:26.500 not in an eternal sense, but even just in the sense of this life, I have to remember that I can look back
00:27:34.880 and realize that God has always taken care of me. That's not to say I've always gotten what I thought I
00:27:40.560 wanted. That's not to say everything has worked out like I wanted and that he has just blessed me in
00:27:46.920 the way that I wanted to be blessed. But he has always taken care of me. Things have always come
00:27:54.160 together for the good. And that's what he promises, that things will ultimately come together for the
00:27:58.720 good of those who love him. And God has always delivered. He has always been there. I can't look
00:28:03.540 at any moment in my life and think of a time when God hasn't been faithful in his provision,
00:28:08.220 when he hasn't been faithful to give of himself to me. And so that's a really important reminder.
00:28:14.760 So as I suspected, we are out of time for answering all of your really good questions.
00:28:21.520 But that's OK, because it'll give me more time to actually think about your questions and I'll
00:28:25.100 answer them. I'm not going to leave you guys hanging. Don't worry about that. But I do want to say,
00:28:29.660 because I have like one and a half minutes left, I do want to tell you the thing that I don't get.
00:28:36.860 But this is this is a pet peeve. I was talking about this to my dad the other day.
00:28:42.340 And I want to I want to talk about it because I think it's something that we young people are
00:28:47.700 especially guilty of. But actually, I can think of people, a person right now who is much older
00:28:53.440 or a couple of people who are much older than me who I know have this issue. And I think we've
00:29:00.240 all struggled with it. It's a struggle, I think, with pride, really, and insecurity at the same time.
00:29:05.540 And I always think that pride and insecurity. Personally, I always think that they go hand in
00:29:08.920 hand. But I especially want to direct this to my fellow millennials who probably have
00:29:13.220 a big problem with this. It's apologizing. I one of my piece is when people know that they did
00:29:22.480 something wrong, they know that they I don't know, went back on their word. They did something
00:29:29.620 that they weren't supposed to. They dropped the ball, whatever it is. And they didn't apologize.
00:29:35.120 Like I'm talking from even like a waitress to your friend, whatever it is. It really bothers me when
00:29:43.080 people won't just own up and say, hey, I'm going to take responsibility for this or I'm going to take
00:29:48.400 ownership for this. I messed up. I'm sorry. I'm going to make it right. That's something that I had to
00:29:54.080 learn in my first job. And that's really hard to do. It's really hard because it's humiliating. I
00:29:59.780 mean, you remember when you were five and your parents made you say sorry to your brother and
00:30:04.500 you didn't want to because it's embarrassing. You didn't really think that you were wrong. And so
00:30:08.080 you're like, I'm sorry. Well, I just want to remind people like we're supposed to grow out of that.
00:30:12.980 We're supposed to grow out of that eventually. We are supposed to be able to be confident enough in
00:30:18.580 ourselves, confident enough in Christ. If you're a Christian to say, I'm sorry, I messed up. I wish
00:30:26.740 I would have done that differently or I'm going to make this better or whatever it is. But I've
00:30:31.160 noticed a lot of people and what made me start thinking about it actually was President Trump
00:30:36.900 and Ilhan Omar and AOC, how those three people never apologize. Actually, I would say a lot of
00:30:43.240 politicians never do. But those are the people that I noticed never apologize. It doesn't matter
00:30:48.300 if they got something wrong. It doesn't matter if they got a fact wrong. It doesn't matter if they
00:30:52.040 were blatantly immoral in what they did. They are not going to apologize. And I noticed that a lot.
00:30:58.740 It's because they want to avoid embarrassment and they're afraid. And maybe this is true in the
00:31:03.780 political world. They're afraid if they say that they did something wrong, that people are going to
00:31:07.460 capitalize that and double down on it. I also think that people think that if they don't apologize and
00:31:13.220 the other person won't notice that they did something wrong. And that's not true. The other
00:31:18.060 person is waiting. The other person is like, when are you going to own up for this? And then it just
00:31:22.340 sucks because it's like this whole back and forth of passive aggressiveness. But I remember in my first
00:31:27.800 job having to having to learn this, having to learn when I failed a client, when I failed a boss,
00:31:34.080 not wanting to apologize at all because I could think of a million different reasons why it's not
00:31:38.500 really my fault. But having to say at the end of the day, yeah, I'm sorry. That goes a long way.
00:31:44.700 I think I am like always up and ready to forgive people. And of course, as a Christian,
00:31:49.640 you are called to forgive people whether or not they apologize. But like I am totally up and ready
00:31:55.060 to like forgive people. But I am really annoyed when people won't apologize. And so that is my
00:32:02.940 encouragement. That's my encouragement to you is to learn the art of apologizing. I know it's very
00:32:08.580 trendy right now for people to not apologize. We hear that a lot in the self-help world and I won't
00:32:15.040 say exactly where, but I think that it is a lost art to be able to humbly apologize, to be able to
00:32:22.980 take ownership for your actions. Now that's not saying you're constantly self-deprecating and that
00:32:27.280 you constantly are apologizing for things that aren't your fault. That's not what I'm talking about.
00:32:31.380 I'm talking about the things that are your fault, the things that you did wrong,
00:32:35.600 you dropped the ball, you lied, you whatever. You just apologize. And then hopefully then it's
00:32:42.700 up to that person to extend you grace. If they don't, that's on them. But at least you've taken
00:32:47.000 responsibility. So I just wanted to say that. That was something I was thinking about. I was
00:32:50.520 actually going to write something about it because of President Trump and Elhan Omar and all that stuff.
00:32:54.820 It's just not a good look. It's not a sign of character. Be confident enough in who you are.
00:32:58.460 Be confident enough in who you are to own up to your mistakes. And I, of course, always preaching
00:33:07.720 to the choir and anything that I say, I want to be able to do that too because I'm certainly not
00:33:12.800 perfect at it. But something I was thinking about, okay, that was the thing that I don't get and hope
00:33:18.940 that you enjoyed the podcast. And I will see you here on Wednesday. I think that we are going to talk
00:33:23.860 about Democrats giving to charity and how they really don't do it. I actually have an op-ed
00:33:31.700 on foxnews.com about that very subject. So you should go check that out. I'm sure I shared it
00:33:36.660 on, uh, I'm sure I'll share it on social media. Uh, but I'll see you guys then. Bye.
00:33:41.040 Bye.