Transcript of Pastor DISMANTLES Viral Feminist LIE That’s Destroying Marriages | Live Free with Josh Howerton

For the last 20 years in our culture, men have generally been lied about and women have generally been lied to.

Marriage isn't about you, and it's not even about your spouse. Ultimately, the Bible tells us that marriage is supposed to be a pointer to our relationship with Jesus Christ.

God's commands are not burdensome, and if God says don't, he means don't hurt yourself.

Well, hey, Live Free Nation, before we jump into the episode, this podcast is recorded right here at Lake Point Church in Dallas, Texas. But the Live Free Nation is spread all over the country and all around the world. So if you've been watching and thinking, man, I wish I could be part of something like this, we want to invite you to take a simple next step, and that is join us for church online. Every weekend we stream our services live on YouTube, Facebook, and our church online platform. And it's more than just watching a service. There are live hosts in the chat, prayer teams ready to stand with you, and people all around the world worshiping together in real time. And so whether you're exploring the faith, coming back to church, or just looking for a place to start, Church Online is a great way to jump in and experience what God is doing here at Lake Pointe. We would love to see you in the chat this weekend. And now enjoy the podcast.

Uh, go. Let's get— All right. Hey, well, let me just— I'm doing it. Hey, welcome to Live Free. With ladies and gentlemen, Miles Murphy.

Come

on,

man. Miles, say the thing that Carlos says.

Yeah, this is my best Carlos impersonation. And so one, Live Your Nation, good to see you guys. Hey, amazing podcast. I'm Miles Murphy here with Pastor Josh Howerton and Pastor Paul Cunningham.

Oh my goodness.

Man, we got an amazing episode coming up.

Wait, say the thing, the thing we always say at the beginning of the episode.

The thing we always say, let's kick this thing.

Let's kick this thing. Let us kick this thing. So here's what's going on. Carlos, where is Carlos?

So my theory, I don't know where he's at. My theory is that he went to Universal, um, and not to ride rides, but to secretly check out Harry Potter World after our midweek episode that dropped where he said that he would never watch it. I think he's secretly checking it out.

Which house would Carlos be in? What would he be? I'm feeling Hufflepuff.

That's exactly what I was gonna say. We had a moment. We had a moment, bro.

I know, we made eye contact and was like, I don't— yeah.

Oh, sorry. So now I'm not sure where Carlos is, but listen, man, we're so excited you're here,

man. Honored to be here.

This is awesome. This is great. This is so fun. Honestly, it's just more fun to have 3 dudes to hang out and talk to. So Miles, you've had 2 different roles here at Lake Point, right?

Man, got to serve on our student team past few years and helping with our church in a lot of awesome ways. It's fun.

Yeah. And Miles is awesome, fun, funny, and godly, and the son of the guy that runs my entire office, Ken Murphy. Let's go. And so he's royalty.

And let me put it in a question. Hey Miles, can I ask you a question?

I'll allow it.

Look at that.

Hey, that's my thing

already.

If you're a Seinfeld fan, he stole my move. He stole my move. He's okay.

I love all the references we got going already today. So hey, Miles, who do you think is the best, or at least your favorite student pastor of all time? And there's only one correct answer to this question.

Man, I think there's a guy named Paul Cunningham.

Oh, there we go. Now, I was a student pastor.

Back in 2012.

Well, I mean, he was personally in. So yeah, Miles was in my student ministry, Josh. Amazing. When I believe you're in 8th grade. 8th grade. Yeah. For about 6 months before I got moved to a different campus. But he was my student minister. It's crazy you're sitting beside me now.

Well, this is going to be fun. It was awesome. So basically there will be times in this podcast where I go, hey Miles, now is when we transition to talking about Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast clip, which by the way, we're going to do here in a second. And then Miles will do the thing that Carlos does and transition us, but we just want to have 3. So can I run down what we're going to talk about? Because this episode is very, very full.

Yes, it is.

So we're going to keep this moving. We got a lot of Bible to get to, a lot of stuff to get to. First of all, We had so many people that asked the thing. You kind of gotta talk about the thing. Hey, should we do Halloween? What do we do about Halloween? So we're gonna do Halloween. We're gonna talk Rich Young Ruler. By the way, have you heard the theory on the secret identity of Rich Young Ruler? Have you heard this?

I feel like I've talked about it before, but I can't remember.

Bro, I'm gonna blow your mind.

Blow my mind.

Okay, so we're gonna do Rich Young Ruler. Okay. Then we're going to quote without naming the person.

'Cause we're kind.

We're going to quote without naming the person, one of probably the 3 most influential pastors in the United States in the last 30 years. Yeah. 100%. Who says that we're going to talk about the role of the 10 Commandments in the life of a new covenant Christian. Because the theory was, has no binding authority whatsoever on a new covenant Christian. Thou shalt not obey the 10 Commandments was the quote. So we're going to do a little theological new covenant, old covenant discontinuity. Yeah. 10 Commandments. And then we're going to talk— I did not have this on my bingo card. We're going to talk, by the way, converted OnlyFans model because of the Live Free podcast. We'll come to that in a second. And then Shot Chaser, we'll talk about Alex Cooper and Call Her Daddy encouraging— is it true that if you want to get divorced, women should always do that because they can always find someone? We'll do it all. Wow. It's going to be full.

Yeah. Full day.

Is there anything else we're going to talk about?

That's the big stuff. We have some things to celebrate from this past week or something,

man. Hey, yeah, this past week, man, really special time here at Lake Point, man. We got to host hundreds of church planters and their spouses.

The

best. Man, I was in the room. We were all in the room. Pretty incredible. I was in the back and just getting to watch them worship. I mean, tell us.

It's nuts. So we, yeah. Hey Miles, good job right there. I appreciate that. Hey, that was really good.

Killed it.

It's really good. We did the Strategic Launch Network. That's like Pointe Church Planting Network. We started it however many years ago. We've now planted over 100. It's 102 now. Unreal. Churches in the least church cities in the United States. So dude, it's awesome. Once a year, all those churches come in and those pastors, I think now, well, no, it's definitely true. There are more people worshiping weekly in churches started by Lake Point in those hardest-to-reach cities every week than are worshiping at Lake Point.

Wow.

I think they said this week that those church plants have passed 30,000 baptisms. I think that has recently happened. Don't quote me on that. I should have double-checked that, but pretty sure. And so that was this week and it was awesome. It was the best week. Dude, it was amazing.

It was incredible. It was awesome. Yeah, it was amazing.

Oh, by the way, If listeners are— we get this all the time. Hey, how can I find a good church? What are they supposed to do, Miles? Do you know?

Man, they can text the word MAP. If I get a thumbs up in the back, I'm going to do the right thing. Right? Thumbs up. Text word MAP to 20411. Man, you can find a church, get plugged in locally where you're planted already, man. Go hang. Tell 'em Live Free sent you. Hey man, it's going to be a good time.

Hey, really good job there, Miles. That was really good.

Thank you, Pastor.

You're just killing it, bro. And honestly, what this connects to, we'll get into the Bible in a minute, dive deeper into the sermon. Not there yet, but this connects really, S-L-N, to our Into the Breach Initiative that we just launched. Because part of what we're doing is we're trying to get all-in commitment from our people. That's right. See the kingdom advance is to plant more of those types of churches around the nation, around North America, the world.

Into the Breach will fund a minimum, a minimum of the next, help fund the minimum of the next 20 churches that we plant. So yeah, man, all in, Into the Breach together we win. Oh, last thing. And then you're going to transition us to talking about Halloween. We'll start talking about the Bible. I will say this, a ton of people, They saw the sermon this last week and listened to the podcast and they were like, hey, how do I get the discipleship guide? Because we got the 21 Days of Prayer, all the devotionals written by me and Jan and our elders and all that stuff. If you want that, Miles, how do they get that?

Yeah, they go to lakepoint.church/ITBonline. I'm getting head nods everywhere, man. Let's go, man. Go lakepoint.church/ITBonline, man. Get that resource guide for you as we start 21 Days of Prayer, all those things.

I mean, hey, Miles, really good job.

I appreciate it.

Dude, it's really good. You could stay at Universal for another week. I'm just saying. That's crazy. He's just killing it, man.

All right. That's amazing. Let's start talking stuff.

Let's do it.

What are we going to talk about, Miles?

Yeah. So, hey, Halloween is literally in a few days. And so across— it's not a controversial conversation at all in Christian circles. It is. Here's the deal. Every year Christians are asking their pastor, hey, Can Christians celebrate Halloween? Should I? My neighbor does it. They put this in their front yard. They do this. My kids want to do this. The classroom's having a Halloween party at school. All the things. Pastor Josh, what do you think as a pastor?

All right. So first of all, I just want to hit this real quick because everybody and their mom talks about this online for all of October. But let me just do this real quick. So here's a quick taxonomy that's really helpful. I've heard it said like this, that man, with anything in the world, Christians need to ask the question. There's a taxonomy. It's 3 R words. Do I receive it? reject it, or can we redeem it? Receive, reject, redeem. There are some things that Christians can just obviously receive. The Bible literally says all things are to be received with thanksgiving. There's a ton of things that it's just, man, hey, this is a good and godly gift. I'm going to go home. I'm going to use my iPhone. I'm going to drive my truck. I'm going to watch my TV. We can just receive it. Yep. It's morally neutral. There are some things that Christians, it's not receive-worthy and it is not redeem-possible. You just reject it. There is no way to redeem pornography.

Nope.

There's just stuff like that. It's like, ain't nothing to do with it. We just reject it. Okay. And then there's some things that Christians look at and they go, hey man, actually, if I just took that and we redeemed it, you could do something special with it. For instance, we don't have time to get into this. A lot of the holidays that Christians celebrate, honestly, you know what they used to be on the calendar? They used to be pagan holidays that Christians kind of— like a bunch of people got saved in a country, And Christians went, hey man, everybody's already off work. Grandma makes the dip this day every year and everybody comes to dad's farm in wherever it— let's just redeem it and turn it into a Christian holiday and worship Jesus on this holiday. That's redeem. Okay? So receive, reject, redeem. So here's a question. It does get a little controversial. The question is, hey, is Halloween— and I will actually say this, there's only 2 possibilities on that. Is it a reject or a redeem? I don't think Christians can just look at everything that's associated with Halloween and go, I just receive it all.

Yes.

So here's why I say it's— let me just begin like this. There are some things that we just have to reject. We open our Bibles, we got to reject it. This is, I'm going to read from Deuteronomy. So I think it's Deuteronomy, I think it's 19. When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nation there. Listen, let no one be found among you who sacrificed their son or daughter in the fire. Don't do that on Halloween or any other day. This is where it gets important. Who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft or casts spells or is a medium or spiritist or consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. And because of these same things, the Lord will drive out the nations before you, et cetera, et cetera. By the way, just a little side note, an unrepentant sorcerer in the Old Testament was a death penalty.

Yeah.

So this is a big deal. This is a big deal to the Lord. Okay? So I will just say this, dude, and we're going to do— Sabrina's going to help us with this. We're going to do an episode with this sometime soon. Dude, I will just say there's some things that Christians are dabbling with right now that we should not be dabbling with. So if you're going like, hey dude, Ouija boards, tarot cards. Hey man, I'll just shoot you straight. If you're going to a a gender reveal party or a baby shower and they're doing the fortune telling and the tarot card reading thing, which you may be going, hey, so Josh, is that stuff real? Yes, it's really demonic. We shouldn't have anything to do with any of that stuff ever. Okay? That's what we reject. Now let's do this real quick and then we're going to talk Rich Young Rulers. It's going to be great. Now what a lot of people do is like, well, hey dude, that's not what I'm doing. It's like my kid's dressing up, like a— Like Batman. Like a Paw Patrol character. And he wants his Snickers. So I think that's the question.

So seriously, I will say, I think 1 Corinthians 8 is a really good taxonomy. You've got 1 Corinthians 8, you've got a bunch of people who were converted out of pagan idol worship where they were sacrificing animals to demonic false gods. So dude, here's what you get is you get a bunch of people who they feel all the demonic things from having done that. They're seeing other people in the church go to the market and buy meat. This is what was going on. They're buying meat in the market that was originally from an animal sacrificed in demonic false god worship. Their consciences are real worked up about it. And they're like, hey Paul, they literally ask him this, hey Paul, should we be eating this? Or is Miles wrong because he's eating the goat demon meat?

Yeah.

Should he not be doing that? And so here's what Paul does. He goes, hey, here's the deal. Those false gods are, they're not gods at all. We're monotheists. And then here's what he says. I'm going to summarize. He says, the meat's fine. He's like, hey, the meat's fine. It's fine. Be convinced in your own conscience. In other words, you should never violate your own conscience. He literally says, hey man, one person's conscience convicts them that they shouldn't do it. Another person's conscience says, hey, it's fine. That God wasn't even real. And he says, just make sure you're convinced in your own conscience. Don't bind other people's conscience by your own. I'm going to let that sit for a second. And then he says, and don't look down on anybody. Now I will just say a couple quick things and Paul, you can chime in if you got anything. Yeah. This is one where I wish Carlos, we love you, Miles. I wish Carlos was here for a second because from what I understand, Especially in Hispanic culture around this time, you have Day of the Dead. How do you pronounce that again?

Día de los Muertos.

Okay. You said that. I can't say that real good. And then you have All Hallows' Eve, which from what I understand is significantly more overtly demonic, even more overtly demonic than maybe an American Halloween. So I will say there may be a cultural thing that's— I'm just speaking to dressing up like a PAW Patrol character and getting a Snickers here. So those are some principles that we can apply. I'll give you one last one. Romans 14:5-6, it says, one person considers one day more sacred than another. Another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. So here's, let me just condense all this. Yeah. Okay. I don't think there is anything wrong with a kid dressing up like a Paw Patrol character and asking neighbor Jim for a Snickers bar. Okay? I don't. I think you need to be convinced in your own conscience. So that's number 2. Number 3, if Romans 14 says that one day is not more holy than another, honestly, dude, I don't think one day is less holy than another. So honestly, I'm like, hey man, if you'd be comfortable with Your kid dressing up, I can't name any of the Paw Patrol characters off my head.

Can you name a Paw Patrol character?

Rubble. Rubble. I can't.

Yeah. Thank you.

Love Rubble. You go home and just watch Paw Patrol.

This is from when my kids were younger.

That's good. That's good. That's good. I can't remember their names.

His Netflix recap is like Paw Patrol.

It's all Paw Patrol. Welcome back,

Carlos. It's like Carlos never left. Sorry.

So if you'd be okay with your kid dressing up like Rubble and going to a friend's birthday party and getting candy, on June 11th.

Great point.

Why am I not okay with that? The exact same thing on October 31st. This is how I feel about it. Each one should be convinced in their own conscience. But let me just say this, and some Christians, I do think that they don't do very good at this. I do not think Christians should have anything to do with stuff that looks like a celebration of death, a celebration of darkness, a celebration of the demonic. I think we should have literally nothing to do with those things. So let me just tell you what we do in the Howardton house and you chime in, and then we're going to move on and talk about Matthew 19. It's going to be great. If you ask any of the Howardton kids, they're going to tell you the same thing. What they'll say is, we don't do Halloween. We do go get candy. That's what my kids will tell you. We don't do Halloween. We do go get candy. It's like my kids didn't even dress up last year. We were the bad neighbors and we drove around when everybody was done in a neighborhood next to us, Honestly, dude, I usually don't have 'em walk up to the houses who have all the ghosts and witches.

I usually don't. And then they just run up there and ask for a Snickers bar. Hudson last year was missing a shoe and I think people thought he was dressed up as like a, I don't know. It was just, they were like, where's your shoe, bud?

I remember you telling us that.

Yeah. It was a little, Jana was thoroughly embarrassed. And then the last thing I'll say is here's what we can redeem. Dude, there's tons of Lake Point families who— October 31st is one of the only days of the year when your mission field comes to your house. There's a bunch of Lake Point families who, what they do is they'll have a grill out front. Yep. And while the kids are getting the candy, they'll talk to the parents and they'll just develop the relationships, or they'll put a little one more or a little invite card in the little candy bag and they're sharing Christ. that day, or they're hanging out with their life group that day and do something like that. So that's how we do it, but you need to figure out how to do it, convince your own conscience. You got anything to add?

Number one, first, I think he was dressed as a socialist. He didn't have a shoe, so he wants to take other people's and forcibly redistribute it to themselves.

I see what you did.

Sorry. See what I did there? I see what you did there. Sorry if that was a little mean. Yeah, actually a couple things. Number one, in the first 20-some minutes of the special bonus episode that Carlos and I did on Harry Potter and movies that have magic in it, we hit some of these principles. So if people want to go maybe do a deeper dive in this, go watch that. Maybe just one or two things. from those. We talked about how when you get to issues that where you have to redeem something from culture, usually this is where the issue of the conscience comes in of that, hey, one person might be able to redeem one thing. Yes. And another person might not be able to redeem another thing. So I actually got a message this past week of saying, hey, 'cause I joked about like, oh, like it's okay to watch John Wick murder 77 people, but not okay to watch Harry Potter kind of a thing. But that's because it's an issue of conscience. And we actually, I got a message from someone saying, I cannot watch movies like John Wick 'cause it triggers something in me.

And it's like, you know what? Then if it triggers you, don't watch it. Don't violate your conscience. But on that, I put up a spectrum where when it comes to issues of consciences, usually Christians fall into one side of a spectrum, but it's a spectrum, more restrictive or more permissive. And neither of those is good or bad, by the way, but on each of those do have watchouts. If you're more restrictive, you already hit some of this. The more restrictive side, their temptation is going to be to impose their conscience on other people saying, oh, if you don't do what I do, you are less holy than I am. You're even sinful. And so not only do they impose their conscience, they judge people on the other side. The more permissive people can judge too. They can say, oh, you uptight Pharisee, whatever. But here's the watch that I'll give. And this kind of leads into something you said is I would say for those who are more permissive, for those who feel like they can celebrate and lean into aspects of Halloween, if your conscience never bothers you, that should be a major warning sign.

That's fantastic. Honestly, that's a really good

point. That should be amazing. Like the way we put it, I think on that episode, again, go watch for more details, is the idea like, hey, if nothing ever bothers your conscience, you're either as holy and mature as Jesus or your conscience is numb.

That's really good.

And so that's just more of a— and again, I'm not trying to throw shade or judgment. I'm more giving that as a watch out for both sides. Look out for— that's the only thing I'd add. But great job. Love it.

That's good. I love it. Well, hey, we're in an amazing series here at Lake Point this weekend. So Pastor Josh, I have a very important question.

I will allow it.

What didn't make it into the sermon?

Hey, Miles, you did a really good job with that.

I appreciate it.

Good job. Dude, that was fantastic what you did right there. Okay, let me do this. So we are, we're 2 weeks into Into the Breach, and I'll be honest, dude, I'm having a blast. This is 2 weeks in. This has been awesome. That's awesome. So this week we did Rich Young Ruler, one of the more interesting passages in the Gospels. Let me give you some fast facts. I got a few fast facts right here. Okay? So a few things on Rich Young Ruler. So by the way, if you're unfamiliar with the story of the Rich Young Ruler, I'm going to give more actual Bible reading and details in a second. But what you got right here is a guy that is described in your Bible as a rich young ruler, comes to Jesus and essentially says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus kind of judos him. And he said, interestingly, he says, why do you call me good? Nobody's good but God alone. Which by the way, bro, hint, hint. I was going to say, dude, there's a little hidden— dude, anything you don't understand, there's always meaning under that rock.

Yeah. Because at the end of this he says, if you actually want eternal life, it doesn't just say, go and sell your possessions. What does he say? Come and follow me.

No, no, no, no, don't tell him that. Don't tell him that.

I'm stepping on your stuff.

I'm stepping on it. But what's really interesting about that is you will— I've seen it before— you'll see like Reddit atheists be like, see, Jesus said he wasn't God. And it's like, bro, it literally means the exact opposite.

Because if Jesus is not God— I'm gonna step on it a little bit, I'm sorry— if he's not God and he says, come and follow me, then he's an idolater. Because he should say, if you want eternal life, go and follow God. He says, come and follow me.

Oh, bro, that's interesting. So I'll just go ahead and give away my thing. What Jesus essentially is doing to the guy is he's going, hey man, he's going, hey, good thing you're recognizing I'm good. Good. You got that. Oh, by the way, nobody's good but God alone. Hey brother, can you put 2 and 2 together real quick? That's seriously what he's doing. Yeah. He's seriously doing that. He's like, hey man, don't recognize me as a good man unless you're going to call me the God-man. That's really what he's doing. This is what he's doing right here. So he does that. And then Jesus does the thing, and we're going to explain this in a second. It's very interesting. People miss this. Jesus starts rattling off some of the 10 Commandments. What's really interesting is he does not rattle off all of them. And listen, bro, Jesus don't do anything on accident. So we'll get to this in a second. He skips what's called the first table. Wait, Paul, can you just tell 'em how theologians have historically divided the 10 Commandments into first table, second table?

Yeah. So there's vertical commandments and horizontal commandments. Horizontal commandments. The vertical commandments are commandments that have to do with God. You should have one God alone. Don't worship idols, things like that. And then there's horizontal commandments that are more about how we relate to other people. And so Jesus focuses specifically on the horizontal commandments, commandments 5 through 10. He doesn't mention even those because he doesn't mention covet— coveting, which— Yeah, I was going to say why, because I feel like you may go there, but he focuses on commandments 5 through 9. So those would be the horizontal, and those are the second table. First table are vertical commandments. Second table are horizontal commandments.

So if you don't know this, when you ever hear a theology nerd talk about first table, second table of the law, that's what they're talking about. Commandments 1 through 4, right relationship with God. Commandments 5 through 10, right relationship with other people. Jesus interestingly skips the 4 about a right relationship with God and cuts off Number 10, you shall not covet. Wonder why he did that. We'll come back to that in a second. So that's really interesting. So Jesus does all this stuff that happens. Then Jesus later explains the whole— basically, I'm going to give it away. He tells the guy, hey man, why don't you do this? Why don't you sell everything you have and come and follow me?

Mm-hmm.

Now, some people have thought, Man, that means anybody that becomes a Christian, they need to sell everything they have. This has happened in church history. Sell everything you have, come follow Jesus. That's not what's happening. That is not commanded elsewhere. What Jesus is doing is pointing out that this guy has an idol in his life. And he's forcing this man into a moment of decision. Which God is going to be the God of your life? Is it going to be mammon or is it going to be me, the Messiah? This is what he's doing. He's forcing a point of decision in this guy's life. The Bible just says that the guy walks away sad because he was very wealthy. So he is like, I can't do it. He's like, I can't do it. By the way, I will just say this. There's a desperation in this guy that I really love. So rich young ruler, a lot of people miss this because it's only in— only the Gospel of Mark, and I'll come back to this, records this detail. So this guy's got everything. He's literally got everything, but there was clearly something missing in his life because whenever he found out Jesus was close by, the Gospel of Mark only, I'm coming back to this, tells us he ran to Jesus.

And the Gospel of Mark only says that he fell at his feet. He knelt down before him. And then the Gospel of Mark only says that Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Yeah. I love that detail.

And so this guy, bro, this guy, he's looking at all this stuff and he's going, man, nothing. I got everything. I got everything. And none of it gave me life. And Jesus is essentially going, brother, only I can do that for you. So would you leave all this stuff that you thought was going to give you life and come follow me because I'm the resurrection and the life? And if you'll just come with me, brother, He's like, I will fully and finally satisfy you. The guy can't do it. Hmm. So by the way, everyone needs to ask the question, what is the thing you're not sure you'd be able to give up to follow Jesus? And then you have a war of the gods in your life. That's what Jesus is doing. The guy walks away sad. And then Jesus does this thing. I want to dispel a little myth real quick. Jesus does this thing, hey, it'd be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. But then he says, but with God, all things are possible. I will just kind of say this.

Every now and then you'll hear a well-meaning but incorrect Bible teacher do this little thing that there's— have you heard this before, Paul?

I think I know where you're going. Keep going.

Man, there was a There was a gate called the Camel's Gate. And it was like the— they called it the eye of the needle. It was a small gate. And so they— it was really hard to get a camel through there, but you could do it. And there's literally nothing. There's no evidence of that whatsoever.

I think Jesus is wanting to scare people a little bit, actually.

That's what he's doing. Now let me do one little thing because this did— there's a few things I want to do here. There's one thing that really blew me away about this, bro. Have you ever heard the theory that the rich young ruler is John Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark? Have you ever heard this?

That's okay. That was—

Bro, this blew my mind. Shout out Jonathan Pakluda. He actually first turned me on to this. So I'm not sure. I actually, I'm not sure if this is a thing. I'm going to make the case. And when I'm done, I want you guys to tell me if you— so this is apparently a more common theory than people think. Okay. I'm going to rattle these off. Okay. So the theory is the rich young ruler is an anonymous autobiographical account of John Mark's first encounter with Jesus. Hmm. This is the theory, bro. It'll blow your mind a little bit. Okay. So here's the data. When I first heard it, I was like, ah. And then by the end I was like, ah, that's kind of interesting. Okay. So Mark, again, it gives details no other gospel gives. So it's the only one that says he ran to him. It's the only one that says he knelt before him. It's the only one that says he looked at him and he loved him. Okay. Number 2, Bible scholars have pointed out it actually doesn't illustrate Jesus' point that with God, all things are possible unless the guy eventually comes to Christ.

That's a theory. Number 3, the guy's called a rich young ruler. Hmm. We know from Acts 12:12 that John Mark's mother, Mary, owned a large house in Jerusalem, big enough to host a big prayer meeting. So apparently there was some wealth there. And because they're the ones hosting the prayer meeting, the theory is they may have been rulers in the Jewish synagogue there. Interesting. Okay, let's go a little farther. Mark, again, only one to give some of those details. So here's where it really kicks in. So there's a guy named Richard Wurmbrand. If you're looking for baby names, Richard Wurmbrand is available. Amazing. He's the guy that started The Voice of the Martyrs. ministry. I'm just going to read to you what he said. This is interesting. The Greek word eutheos that's translated as straight away or immediately is the most characteristic word in Mark's Gospel. In English, a lot of times it gets translated suddenly. Yeah. If you read Mark, it's suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, or immediately, immediately, immediately. Okay. It's found more often in Mark than in all the other Gospels combined. This is Richard Wurmbrand. The reason is as follows. Tradition identifies Mark as the rich man to whom Jesus said that in order to be perfect, he should sell everything he had and give to the poor.

It seemed to him at that time to be too big a price, and he left the place with sadness. Later, he repented and fulfilled the commandment of the Lord, but there remained remorse in his heart for the time lost in disobedience. Therefore, That's why throughout the Gospel of Mark, the author who eventually came to Christ repeatedly, continually emphasizes, you must obey immediately, straight away. Okay? Now here's the last one. And this is a little Inception-y. Here's the last one. Only in the Gospel of Mark, there's this weird little detail. And when you read it, you really are, you're like, bro, why the heck is that there? That was weird. Okay? In Mark 14:51 and 52.

The garden?

Yes. Yes. Okay, dude. So when Jesus gets arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, there's this real random verse that mentions a young naked man running away. Doesn't tell you who he is, doesn't tell you why he was there, tells you nothing about the guy. What a lot of people think is that's Mark referring to himself again, because what biographers would a lot of times do in the first century is they'd put little inception things about themselves in the story and not name themselves. So you put all this together and the theory is that the rich young ruler is John Mark pre-conversion, that he eventually came to Christ.

Wow.

What do you think? I just want to know, Judge G. Palti, what do you think?

Oh, I think it's for sure possible. And I hope it was.

Yeah, bro.

I hope it was. I mean, partly because that's just an amazing story. But the other part is I've thought for a while, one of the saddest things about this passage is it says he goes away sorrowful and sad.

That's right.

But to me, one of the saddest parts is because he didn't get to hear what happened next. And that is basically the disciples are like, well, we left everything. And he is like, you have. And if you have, you will not fail to gain that much more in the kingdom of heaven and now. So in other words, to me, what made it so sad is the rich young man that didn't realize actually he lost out on way more than he got to keep.

Bro.

And by the way, I just wanna stop and say, as Pastor Josh was saying earlier about, hey, there's usually one or at least one thing in our life that's keeping us from Christ and what he wants for us. Know that whatever that it is, you'll gain far more on the other side of giving that up. Dude. Far more. My point is, I really hope it was him because it would bless me to know that he then later got to find out I got back more than I ever gave up. So I hope it is true. He is the best dude. I think I'm getting chills thinking about it. I hope it's true.

If we get into glory and John Mark's like, hey bro, I was the naked guy. It's like,

I'm

him. I'm him. It's like the reverse I'm him.

How's that sound?

It's kind of like the, I'm here.

Interesting flex, but okay.

And then he is like, I was the rich owner. It'll be the best ever.

Oh, so cool.

So dude, actually I was going to talk about this in 2 minutes. So you actually, you beat me to the punch because it's amazing. Oh, sorry. No, it's awesome actually. What really struck me about this account is Jesus calls this guy really in the same way he called all of the other 12 disciples. So dude, there's a little bit of me that's like, hey man, this guy, Could this guy have ended up one of Jesus' disciples? And I was taking a prayer walk. This whole thing didn't make it into the sermon. Now I'm just going to read this real quick because I wrote this on a little prayer walk about this guy. It's like he didn't realize what he lost. Okay? Here's what he lost. This is what I wrote. He could have been there. This is going to take me a second. Yeah. Because I got in a flow. He could have been there when Jesus talked to a hurricane like a little toddler and watched with his own eyes as a raging tempest became a sea of glass. Maybe he would've become one of the 3, Peter, James, John. Because in this decisive moment, he might've been the one who had to give up the most, which means he would've been the one that loved the most.

And he could have seen Jesus' face transfigured as lightning and heard with his own 2 ears as Jesus talked shop with Moses and Elijah at the top of a mountain. He would've felt with his own two hands as 5 loaves and 2 fishes were multiplied out to feed 5,000 because he put the bread and the fish in there. He could've done it. His eyes would've started sweating and his knees would've started shaking as he watched Jesus stand in front of a sealed tomb and cry out, Lazarus, come out. And then it would've dawned on him later that Jesus had to specify Lazarus, because if he'd simply said, come out, then every dead body under earth would've obeyed his voice. And then he would've felt Jesus wash his feet at the Last Supper and weep tears of joy later as he realized there was no slain lamb, Passover lamb to eat on the table because the lamb who was going to be slain was seated at the table. And maybe instead of his inner 3, Jesus might've had inner 4. I'm taking some liberties. Just go with me. Hmm. And this guy could've watched his Lord sweat drops of blood at Gethsemane.

He could've been there. with pieces of Jesus' flesh and rib cage might have spackled him because he stood too close during the scourging of Christ. He could have seen pierced hands and pierced feet. He would have been thinking about the book of Isaiah. He was pierced for our transgressions and he was crushed for our sins. The chastisement that brought us peace was upon him. Maybe he would have— I love this— maybe he would have beat Peter and John in a footrace and been the first guy to see the empty tomb. Maybe he would have been there. He would have been there in Acts 2 when a tongue of fire came to rest on his head at Pentecost, and he would have been preaching the sermons that shifted the course of all of human history toward glory. Maybe in the book of Acts, his shadow may have healed the lame. People might have touched his handkerchief and walked again. I wonder, I just wonder, I wonder if there would have been another book of the New Testament unfolding the mysteries of Christ from the pen of this man if he had made a different decision back in Matthew chapter 19.

And then, Instead of dying an ignominious death on a Roman couch somewhere a few years after this with his name completely fading from the annals of history, he would have had the great honor of dying a martyr's death because he could not help but speak of what he had seen and heard.

Hmm.

And then today, 2.6 billion people on earth would know and honor this great man's name as one of the founding apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ. And then right now in heaven, in his glorified state, he would be seated on one of the 12 thrones around the Lamb who was slain. But he is now alive forevermore. Hmm. And for all of eternity, this man would've judged the nations in glory, honor, and immortality. But instead, he traded all of that so he could wear Gucci instead of Wranglers for 20 more years. waste his life being unfulfilled, having never lived for anything that actually mattered, die and be forgotten and go to hell. And here's the point. Ask Jesus what he wants you to do. And then whenever he speaks, just do whatever he tells you. It's always going to be worth it. It's just, I was just taking that walk, man. It just kind of like, dude, imagine you just stop and think everything this guy missed out on just so his bank account could be a little more full for 20 years. And then he dies a death in a life that didn't matter.

Unreal. I

need a moment. It reminds me, as you were talking, I didn't make sure I got the quote right, so I looked it up. One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes of all time, and then astounding. It's in a book called The Weight of Glory, but it's in an actual essay, an address that he gave called The Weight of Glory. And he talks about, in light of the awards that are before us, he says these words, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, But too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Yeah, bro.

Wow.

My mind went to that. Yeah, it's just like that. Oh yeah. And that's why I really do hope that that was Mark.

I know, man.

I really do. He's so awesome. I do. He's so awesome. Come on. Oh man.

Man, there was— and then I'll just, uh, man, there's something that I want to show. So like, I, this is— I talk about all the time. I try to get it into a sermon once a year, but it perfectly encapsulates the passage. So here's the deal, man. You look at this guy, you look at other people in the Bible, and essentially I just got to say it. There's not one way to waste your life. There's 3 ways to waste your life. Okay? So you can waste your life by doing nothing. Hey man, I'm just gonna smoke weed and watch porn and take the route of least resistance my entire life. And you'll waste your life. You can do nothing. Another way to waste your life is do everything. It's literally everything. Any opportunity, any open door, you just do everything and then you're going to be good at nothing. There's a reason that the Apostle Paul said, one thing I do. I've figured out, man. Dude, here's a little— Miles, here's a little tidbit for you. Yeah. In your 20s and your 30s, you usually advance through your yeses. And at least so far in your 40s, you advance by getting really good at no.

That's good. So I've noticed that you got to get really good at what's the thing that God put me on this planet to accomplish? And I got to get good at crowding. So you can waste your life by doing everything, but the biggest, you can waste your life by doing the wrong thing. Now, dude, I'm going to show you this because I talk about it all the time. I just need to show you. There is no way that I'll be able to show this clip without my eyes sweating. There's no way. I would've been 20 years old when I first saw this clip. And the reason that I am doing what I'm doing now is because of this sermon. Hmm. It might be the most impactful 2 minutes of preaching I have ever seen in my life and changed my entire life. But this perfectly encapsulates what this guy missed out on. Okay? Now here, let me set the stage for this. Okay? So this is the year 2000. Okay. So this is called Passion One Day. You got a bajillion college students go out in the middle of a field right outside of Memphis.

And it's really funny because if you've ever been to Passion, it's like everybody's— I'm never going to get invited to speak at Passion for 100 reasons. One of them is I'm just not cool enough. So it's like everybody looks awesome. Everybody looks cool.

You know what? Real quick, you're looking really cool in that hoodie and that hat. I just wanted to say it real fast in case no one had noticed. So you look cool to me. Keep going though.

But you also conspicuously omitted the fact that I had to ask the people in the room which hat to wear because I can't match colors.

I think you look cool. That's what I just want to affirm you right now. You look cool. You look cool. Keep going.

So, but so if you're at Passion, it's like, I don't know, like Chris Tomlin and Corey Asbury and all these cool looking people. Everybody looks cool. Well, dude, if you watch this video, everybody's awesome. They look real cool. And then out walks John Piper in his late 50s. in his pleated Dockers. And I mean, when you watch this clip, his shirt literally doesn't fit because if you listen to later interviews, he got his shirt from Cash Savers and he walked out and he— this, that you're getting ready to see it. He preached the sermon that changed the course of my entire generation. Now what he does right here is he encapsulates this. Okay? So here you go. Check this out.

One of the really sad things about this moment right now is that there are hundreds of you in this crowd who do not want your life to make a difference. All you want is to be liked. Maybe finish school, get a good job, find a husband or a wife, nice house, a nice car. That's not what I want. car, long weekends, good vacations, grow old healthy, have a fun retirement, die easy, no hell. And that's all you want. You don't give a rip whether your life counts on this earth for eternity.

Look at their faces.

That's a tragedy in the making. About 3 weeks ago, we got news at our church that Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards killed in Cameroon. And I asked my people, is this a tragedy? This is so good, man. 2 women in their 80s, a whole life devoted to one idea: Jesus Christ magnified among the poor And the sick in the hardest places. It is not a tragedy. I'll read you what a tragedy is. This is a tragedy.

The reader's digest.

Title of the article, Start Now, Retire Early. Bob and Penny took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast 5 years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells. That's a tragedy, and there are people in this country that are spending billions of dollars to get you to buy it. Can I get 40 minutes? To plead with you, don't buy it. Hmm. With all my heart, I plead with you, don't buy that dream. Hmm. The American dream. Nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement collecting shells. As the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account with what you did. Here it is, Lord, my shell collection.

Listen to his last sentence. Listen.

And look at my boat. Look at my boat, God. Don't waste your life. Don't waste it.

Don't waste your life. Don't waste it. And dude, it's like that hit me like a ton of bricks as a college student. My success in life is not being rich and being young and being powerful. You know what success in life is? It's 2 80-year-old women dying on the mission field, taking Christ to people who don't know him. Only one life will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last. Boom. Amen. This guy wasted it.

Wow.

Come on, man.

Wow. Paul, anything else on this passage before we get into 10 Commandments stuff?

I mean, yes, but right now I'm spent, honestly, even after that sermon clip.

Did you see that in college like I did?

I did. I did. I think we're only about 5 or 6 months apart. And so we were in college at the same time. And I remember vividly when that came out and it captured, and I pray it happens again. I pray it happens again. I mean, we're seeing a movement amongst college students and And young adults got to see it last night in person at one place, and it was amazing. But I'm praying that that message reverberates again. Yeah, dude. I love that poem that you just quoted, but also I just love this guy named Count Zinzendorf, also a great name if it's available, if you want to take it, Count Zinzendorf. And so you basically lean into the same idea even in his day. And I mean, in his day, by the way, it was like 400 or 500 years ago. And so even back then, there's this wrestling of wanting to be known and remembered. And he said, be content to preach the gospel. Die and be forgotten. Because guess what? Once you die, you actually enter into your eternal reward.

That's exactly right, man.

And it was worth it. And so it's just a reminder to people of our time on this earth is so short.

So short, man.

So short. Do I have maybe 2 minutes? Can I get 2 minutes? Go for it. So I do this sometimes. I wasn't planning on it now, but it's just hitting me. I want time to kind of, in the Old Testament, Moses says, basically, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. So in other words, to realize how short life is. So one time I did this little research experiment where I basically looked up and I said, okay, if you shrunk the history of the universe into the life of a 78-year-old person, 78 years average life expectancy. So if you shrunk all of history down into 78 years, how long would our lives be in the grand scheme of that 78-year-old person? You tracking so far? Okay. So, okay, you've got old earth history, young earth history. We don't have time to get into that. Maybe we can do a Q&A,

Wait, did you say— you're saying how long would 78 years be in the span of human history?

If you took all the universe, like the history of the universe, and you shrunk it down into 78 years, how long would our life be in the midst of that? Kind of got it. Kind of to help get perspective on how short life is in the grand scheme of things. If you believe more in a young Earth, like maybe 5,000, 6,000 years old, your life would be a little over a year long.

Really? Wow.

So even if you're a young earth person, you're born today, you're going to die sometime at the end of next October, early November.

Yeah. Wow.

If you're an old earth person, it's like a few seconds. Wow. And so I wasn't— forget, we're not going into that whole debate. The point is, is that either way, in the grand scheme of things, our life is a blip on the map and the radar of human history. Now, here's what I would tell people is some people say, oh, that means we're insignificant. I'm like, no, what that means is you have a really short time to make sure that you live a life of significance. And the way you do it is to live your life for what matters most and what will last for eternity. And that is the glory and story of Jesus Christ. That's how you make your life matter. And that's how you don't waste your life. So I just want to give that. It just came to me and I just thought, it's like, man, let's all live with urgency for what matters most. Yeah. That's all I got.

Let me say a couple other quick things and then let's get into—

10 Commandments, or you want to go to—

Oh no, we're going to do 10 Commandments. We can't gear shift from this to Call Her Daddy podcast.

It just doesn't work.

You have to do the theology nerd thing. We can't. It's too much. It's too much. I do just want to point out, so there's 2 really important things we would be bad Bible teachers if we didn't point out. Really what Jesus is doing with this guy is this guy thinks he can get life by doing stuff. So really the entire point of this, I just want to think about this. The guy walks up to Jesus and he's like, what must I do to inherit eternal life? If he had asked any religious founder in human history besides Jesus, he would've gotten a radically different answer.

Buddha's last words were strive unceasingly.

Jesus' last words, it is finished.

It's finished. Yeah.

All right. So any other religious leader, he asks, hey, you got to obey the 5 pillars. Hey, you got to do all these things to be reincarnated a million times and then achieve oneness with nirvana. Any other religious leader would've given him a list of do this, don't do this. And I love this so much. Jesus is like, hey man, you want life? You need a relationship with me. That is the crux of it. So really, if you just want to, the difference between Christianity and every other religion that's ever existed is every other religion in human history is spelled do, D-O. Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E, done. Done. It's not about what you can do to work your way up to him. It's about what he's already done in the personal work of Jesus Christ to come down, live the life you could not live, die the death that you deserved at the cross, and accomplish everything necessary for your salvation. The only thing that you contribute to your salvation is the sin that made it necessary, has been said. So we would be bad Bible teachers not to point out that's Jesus' point here.

And people miss it in this passage. Yes, they do. They actually think, no, he told him to go and sell everything. But remember, what Jesus was doing was identifying the idol that was keeping him from him. Because he doesn't just say, go and sell everything and give it to the poor. He says, and come follow me. That's the point. Because earlier you mentioned this in passing, you used the word mammon, which is what Jesus says in Matthew 3. He says, you cannot serve God and mammon, often translated as money. So the idea is saying you've got a competing idol in your life that's keeping you from me. So sometimes people actually use this passage to say, no, Jesus thinks he can earn his salvation. I'm like, no, that misses the whole point.

That's not what we're talking about here.

It's like, get rid of the thing that's keeping you from following me and then come follow me. So right there with you, man.

So

good. What do you guys think? I got time for this Scottie Scheffler thing or we should move to the 10 Commandments? What do you think? Somebody call it. Go for it. Go for it.

Let's do it.

All right, let's do this.

He's like my generation's Tiger Woods. Oh man, look at that.

I mean, I've just called this old. Yes, he did.

No, I did not.

How old are you, Miles?

28.

He just called this old.

That is adorable. I'm decent. I'm decent, dude.

Good job, Miles.

I'm decent. So I just, I do want to do this. So last thing, I'll do it quick and then let's go, because this is what's going on in this passage. So this guy comes to Jesus and he's like, hey man, let me find this spot on my notes because this is really important. The guy runs up to Jesus and he's like, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I just want to point this out. The whole point is, I got everything, none of it gave me life. I do want to point this out. He's asking the right guy. Yes. Because Jesus, throughout the Gospels, I am the resurrection and the life. life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. John 10:10 says, the enemy comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came that they may have life, have it abundantly. He says that he is the bread of life. So he's asking the right guy. Honestly, I think whoever this guy is, John Mark or somebody else, he had heard. He had heard.

Yeah.

Man, if that guy can give me life. Now we're going to condense all this. It's all going to lead into Scotty. What Jesus is really doing is he's hearkening back to Genesis chapter 2. And the whole deal is when God creates mankind in Genesis chapter 2, he takes dust of the earth and makes mankind out of the dust of the earth. And then just think about this. I love it so much. It says that he bends over, literally God in some way fashioned man out of the dust of the earth, bent over, and then you just get this image that he—

Hmm.

And it says that he breathed the breath of Life. Life into him. And the whole point, bro, the whole point of Genesis chapter 2, you can look for life everywhere you want. Sex, success, stuff, status, money. You can look for it everywhere. The only thing that's going to actually give you life is a face-to-face relationship with your maker. The first thing that the first man saw when the breath of life was in him is he opened up his eyes, took his first breath, and he's face-to-face with his maker. Jesus is doing that to this guy. He's like, Genesis chapter, that's me. Come follow me. Get face to face with me again. Now, what I love about this is I did Tom Brady last week, but this week Scheffler's the one. By the way, Scotty Scheffler's a disciple.

100%.

Yeah. By the way, I'll just shout this out. I want Scotty Scheffler on Live Free sometime.

Oh my gosh.

We need the Live Free Scotty Scheffler.

Devout follower.

Yeah, dude. He's a for real disciple.

He's got connections connected.

Yeah, man. Help us get Scottie, man. Come on. We want Scottie. Okay. Now, dude, here's what I love. What you're about to see is you're about to see the rich young ruler story on your screen in an interview after dude wins a golf match. Okay? This is what you're about to see. So I'm going to give you some quotes because I want you to know this. This is who Scottie is. Direct quotes. I'm a faithful guy. I believe in a creator. I believe that's Jesus. He says that his faith is what defines him the most. I love this so much. He says that he plays golf to glorify God and that his identity is secure in Christ rather than his results. That's amazing. I'm going to give you another Scottie Scheffler quote. The reason why I play golf is I'm trying to glorify God and all that he's done in my life. So for me, my identity isn't on a golf score, in a golf score, bro. I could keep going. It's amazing. Okay. Now what you're about to see is inverse rich young ruler. Okay? So this is Scottie. This is right after— now remember, Scottie has won 4 majors at this point.

Okay? This is right after he won the Byron Nelson. My brother has been the world number 1 golfer for 170 weeks. Wow. Scottie's crushing. He wins a golf competition and then he preaches a sermon better than I'm ever going to preach right here. in the interview. Check this out.

It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. And like to win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf, to have an opportunity to win that tournament. And you win it, you celebrate, get to hug, hug my family. My sister's there. It's such an amazing moment. And then it's like, okay, now what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.

All right, pause. So first of all, I just want to point out what you're about to see is the book of Ecclesiastes in an interview. Essentially what he's saying is, man, I chased after everything under the sun. And here's what I found out. It's meaningless, meaningless. Everything is meaningless. It's like chasing after the wind. As soon as I catch it, it's gone. Okay, now watch what he does.

Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah. I mean, it, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because it's literally worked my entire life to become good at this sport and to have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is, is a pretty cool feeling, you know, to get to—

Pause. I do just want to say this because some people miss this. It's not that this stuff is bad. Like, there's nothing wrong, by the way, with being rich, young, or a ruler. And I love that. I actually love that he says this. He's like, to get to live out your dreams is very special. I just want to point this out. Every good and perfect gift comes from God above. All things should be received with thanksgiving. So I will just say this. Sometimes you'll get this kind of vibe in Christian teaching where it's like any guy who has strong ambition, I want to win, I want to build, I want to earn. You'll kind of get this vibe from some pastors. They're trying to tamp that down. I just want to say for every dude listening to this podcast, I want the exact opposite. I want a generation of Christian men who wake up every day and absolutely want to crush it and then leverage everything they got for the glory of God. Okay, so this is Scottie. Now check this out. Watch what he does right here.

Special. But at the end of the day, it's like, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I don't— I'm not here to inspire somebody else to be the best player in the world because what's the point? You know, this is not a fulfilling life.

This is not a feeling. You know what he's saying? He's saying, my good teacher. Where can I get eternal life? And Scotty Scheffler found the answer. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. There you go, dude. You can just see it. You see it everywhere.

Real quick. What I love that you use Scotty as an example is if you wanted to go back, and you mean the person that's listening to this or watching this, go back and replay that in a minute, then substitute your career instead of golf.

That's great.

Because what I'm saying is, I don't want people to think as we're talking about this, oh, how you make the most of your life, is quit your job and join ministry. Don't get me wrong. If God's calling you to do that, do that. But we need a lot more. For every one of us, we need like 10 or 100 of guys like Scottie, but not just in golf, in every area, who realizes, man, God may have made you incredible at being a lawyer or an accountant or whatever it is.

Go crush.

Man, realize, go crush. And in fact, I love Ecclesiastes because Ecclesiastes also says, everyone to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toils. In other words, Go do that. Just know it's not everything. You do that in order to point to the ultimate thing, God in his glory. So I love that you use Scotty as an example of that.

Yeah, dude, he's great at it. All right, now Miles, what I need you to do is you're going to transition to our theology nerd segment.

Let's do it.

So say something, Miles, over there about how Paul, we need him to talk about theology nerd stuff.

Yeah, Paul. So as we're taking this a layer deeper, obviously we want to be discipled well, So man, talk to us, take a layer deeper, teach us, coach us, all the things.

Hey, Miles, that was a great job. You did a great job. You did a great job. That was a really great job. Let me set it up. Let me set it up. Okay. So what Jesus does here is he uses the 10 Commandments on this guy. Okay? So he obviously quotes them. So there is debate among Christians, and someone is right and someone is wrong, about the role of the 10 Commandments in the life of a New Covenant Christian? Paul, I'll just tee it up like this. I'm not going to use a name. We don't need to. But one of the most famous Bible teachers in America said this, the 10 Commandments have no authority over you. None. To be clear, thou shalt not obey the 10 Commandments. Paul Cunningham, agree, disagree, additional comments? Theology nerd us out on what theologians historically have called the proper uses of the law.

With all due respect, and I'm sure there's other things this man said that was great. I'm so glad that he came around and corrected 2,000 years of Christian tradition around this. And went in the exact opposite direction of literally what Christians have said across different branches of Christianity for the last 2,000 years. So let me just put it this way, as the historic tradition, and there's been some variations, the historic tradition has been that Christians remain bound by the moral teaching of the 10 Commandments, but they are not under the Mosaic Covenant. So those are— but we got to distinguish those things. So no, we are not under the Mosaic Covenant. And if that's what he meant, I would say, hey, what you said was really well said and kind of cute and funny, but you could have said it a lot clearer. You chose to be cute rather than clear. And so that's what he meant. Great. But that is, I don't think that's exactly what he meant. And unfortunately people don't take it that way. So we're not bound to the Mosaic Covenant and the covenant law, but we are bound to the moral teachings of the 10 Commandments.

How do we know this? I'm actually going to start the opposite of where I was at. I want to start with history and then I want to go to the Bible in some places that the Bible gives us some clues. So literally from the earliest days, a guy named Irenaeus in the late 100s, talking of the Ten Commandments and talking of Jesus, he says this: Preparing man for this life, the Lord himself did speak in his own person to all alike the words of the Decalogue, which is a word for the Ten Commandments.

Deca is a prefix that means 10. Yeah.

10 words. Yeah. In this case, 10 words. And therefore, in like manner, do they remain permanently with us, receiving by means of his advent in the flesh, Here's the 2 keywords: extension and increase, but not abrogation. That's fancy talk. Remember, he's writing in early Greek and everything like that. When he says not abrogation, he's saying we're not doing away with the 10 Commandments. He actually says they're extended. Well, why would they be extended? Think about it. In the Sermon on the Mount, what did Jesus say? You've heard it said, don't murder. I say to you that if you hate someone in your heart, you have actually murdered them. You've heard it said, don't commit adultery. By the way, where do you find those 2 commandments? 10 Commandments. Yeah, they're in the 10 Commandments. He says, but I say to you, if you lust after someone, you've already committed in your heart. Irenaeus in the first couple hundred years of the church, very close to Jesus, is saying, hey, Jesus didn't come to do away with the Ten Commandments. He actually came to extend them and make them matters of the heart as well. Same, by the way, testimony in the medieval church.

Thomas Aquinas said that the moral law— and I do want to cut in here and say there is some debate over the Sabbath, but over—

Correct. Because the Sabbath is, if I remember right, it's the only command that's not restated in the New Testament.

Exactly. Exactly. And

so even then, But I will say, first of all, the book of Hebrews. So actually the Sabbath principle is in the New Testament. You get that in the book of Hebrews, but it applies it spiritually to— now we're not working to earn salvation.

Exactly.

And you get the clear understanding from the New Testament that the people of God, they switched their Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. So the principle's there.

And most Christians throughout history would do that. They would say, hey, we can honor the principle of a day set apart to the Lord and a day of rest. Because by the way, a day of rest is baked into the principles of creation before the law was ever given.

Yeah, that's really important.

But we don't have to follow the Sabbath in the way that they did under the Mosaic Covenant. So this is a good example. Hey, we're going to take this, but leave that. So yeah, so like in Thomas Aquinas' time, they said, hey, the moral law, we're still bound by it. He would say it points to natural law, meaning that even in nations that don't have the Ten Commandments, there is this sense of you shouldn't steal, that you shouldn't murder. So they call it the natural law. The Reformation. And so you think, oh, surely like the Reformation and the Puritans, they were against any form of legalism. Surely they rejected the Ten Commandments. No. Like if you go to Martin Luther, guess what 3 things that he used to teach people in terms of catechism, like really systematic teaching? Lord's Prayer and the 10 Commandments was the other big one. Oh, interesting. Lord's Prayer and the 10 Commandments was another big one. All throughout the catechisms of the different pure, I mean, different Reformation branches, you get this. So historically, this is going against the thrust of Christian history, but then even in scripture, in the New Testament, you see some hints that the moral commands of the 10 Commandments are still binding.

Let me read you some excerpts. See if you can notice some things. 1 Timothy 2:8. 1:8-11. So this is the Apostle Paul. He says, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

This is really important, which by the way, here in a second, we're going to talk about what there are historically— We're going to get to that. Theologians have said there's 3 appropriate uses of the law. So we're going to theology nerd out. What does it mean to use the law lawfully?

And so just real quick, right here in 1 Timothy 1, Paul is basically saying, hey, this is what it means in a sense, just to be a good Christian person. And notice what he does. If one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for those the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godly and sinners. I'm going to go on. For those who strike their mothers and fathers. What does that sound like? The

5th commandment.

For murderers. What does that sound like? For sexually immoral.

7th commandment.

Yeah. And then in addition, he says many practice homosexuality.

Enslavers. Also 7th commandment.

Yeah. Also 7th commandment. That is included in that. Enslavers. In other words, people who steal people.

Yep. There you go. Which would be the 8th Commandment.

8th Commandment. Liars and perjurers, which would be the—

Wait, wait, hang on. 9th Commandment.

Yeah, 9th Commandment. He doesn't go on and do coveting.

Go ahead. Wait, hey, can I do the 10 Commandments hand motions?

Oh, please do. I love it when you do that. Are you finished? Oh, real quick. Can I just make the point and then now you get to see the commandment? Yeah, you make the point. No, no, you're good. And then let's go to the uses of the law. The point is literally what Paul just did. He says, we know the law is good if one uses it lawfully. And then what does he then do? He then goes through the back half of the 10 Commandments.

Bro, I have never— what passage is that?

That's 1 Timothy 1:8-11.

I've never noticed that all those, the list mirrors the 10 Commandments.

And so people, 'cause some people like the guy who you quoted would wanna say, hey, if you take other statements of Paul, it seems like he says, no, the law no longer applies to you. He uses that same Paul, the 10 Commandments to teach them and says they're still morally binding on people.

That's really interesting. I've never noticed that.

And there's another passage. Oh yeah. Romans 13:8-9. Can I do this real fast? Yeah, do it. Do it. Sorry, I get excited. Owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. So So he's commanding them. He's telling them, you need to love each other. This is binding on you as Christians. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery. Where's that?

7th commandment.

All right. You shall not murder. And they're not in the same order. He's going to flip here. You shall not steal.

That's the 8th commandment.

You shall not covet, which he does include here. And any other commandment are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So he says, love each other. And then he defines love as the 10 commandments.

Bro, that's fascinating. That's fascinating. So you can do this. What some theologians will do, This is what all Bible teachers do because the Bible does it. But it's like essentially, if you take the Old Testament, isn't it? There's 613 commandments. There's like people count them different. It's like 613. What a lot of people do is like, hey man, the gospel or the law in a tweet is Jesus. Love God, love people.

Exactly.

The law in a tweet.

Exactly.

And then if you want to go law in a paragraph, it's the 10 Commandments. So basically, how do you do love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself? Oh, by the way, that's the first table and the second table. Okay. And then basically the 10 Commandments applied are all 615 commandments or whatever it is. So it's really just the same thing in different lengths.

Exactly. You do the motions and I'll do quickly the use of the law and I can do that really fast. Do the motions.

We'll just turn this into the podcast. We're going to Cocomelon the podcast for a couple seconds. So, and here's why I'm doing this. this for real. Here's why I'm doing this. We did this with our kids growing up.

It's great.

By the way, parenting, it really helps instilling 10 Commandments in your kids from a very young age. And Hudson can do all 10. It's like, if— so I'll be a little nerd for a second here. I got this from Joby Martin. He's awesome at this, where I first saw these 10 Commandments hand motions. Okay. So first commandment, hold up one finger. Do it. Hold up one finger. God's number one. You shall have no other gods before me. Hold up 2 fingers. Do it like this. Second Commandment, cut out the idols in your life.

That's good.

Yeah, make no graven images. Okay, hold up 3. What letter is that? It's the W. Watch your words. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Watch your words. Watch your words. Number 4. Hold up 4. How many Sundays are there in the month? 4. Yeah. Honor the Sabbath by keeping it holy. Okay, this is my favorite one to do with Hudson and the kids. Hold up 5 fingers. Do this. Yes, sir. Honor your father and mother. I like that. You like that? Honor your father and mother. Okay. 6. Hold up. 6. Watch this. Wait, where's the camera? There's a camera right here. 6. Do this. Boom. You shall not kill. Boom. You shall not kill. Now this one, you kind of don't want them to understand it until they're a little older.

Don't open it up for questions.

There you go. With Hudson, we were like, hey, buddy, what's We'll explain this later, but just, I want you to remember, hold up 7 fingers and then do this. 2 of the fingers walk away and hide. You shall not commit adultery. That's it. Walk away and hide. You shall not commit adultery. We'll talk about Alex Cooper in a second. Okay, now here we go. Now hold up 8 fingers. Hold up 8 fingers. I don't know if this is true, but it's helpful for the, uh, the 10 Commandments hand motions. You know, in some countries what they'll do is they'll cut off your pinky if you steal. You shall not steal.

Good.

Boom. Cut off your pinky. But then watch this. Pop this one up. Oh, I lied. I do have a pinky. You shall not lie. That's it. And then number 10, you grab something, you shall not covet.

Boom! Boom! Come on, that's good.

10 Commandments hand motions.

That's super good.

Your kids are gonna remember it.

That's super good. All right, you want me to give real quick the uses of the law? Yeah, I can do it pretty fast. I can do it.

We'll be adults again. No, and then we'll talk about—

Call her daddy.

I feel weird saying that.

I know, I know.

I can't even say it.

You said it earlier. I was like, I'm going to wash my hands or something.

I'm going to take a shower.

Okay. Go ahead. All right. So not just with the 10 Commandments, although I think what we can do is we can use some of the 10 Commandments as an example for this. So there's typically 3 uses of the laws, people say, is they're used as a curb, as a mirror, and as a teacher. So a curb is they're used to restrain evil. They're used to restrain evil. They say like, hey, the majority of people or many people, if you tell them, hey, this is wrong or don't do it, But many people at least will not do that. And it lets us know if they do do it, then there's consequences for that. Romans hits that. You hit this all the time in Romans 12, is the government is there as a restrainer of evil and those who bear the sword.

Yeah. By the way, the law as curb, what Paul's saying is, hey man, it's like on the side of the road. That's what keeps you from running your car into a ditch. That's why our nation based its legal system on God's law. Because the purpose of the government is what? To restrain evil.

It curbs evil. It restrains it. Exactly.

So law as curb. And by the way, you don't even gotta be saved for the law to work as a curb.

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. The law is also a mirror, or any command is a mirror. It shows 2 things. Number one, it shows myself that I can't always perfectly keep that law or that commandment. So it shows me how sinful I am. Now, here's the thing is you gotta be careful because you don't want to just stick with this of looking at your own sin in the mirror. The idea of seeing how sinful you are is meant to do this. to drive you to the only one who can save you from that sin, Jesus Christ. So the purpose of the law serving as a mirror is not to just make you really— not to make you realize you're really bad. It's actually to point you to the one who is really good and who can save you from your badness. That's why, for example, in Galatians, it talks about how the law is a guardian or a tutor. It leads us to Christ. It shows us our sin and say, hey, if I've got sin, I need a Savior. All right. So curb, mirror, but then it is also a teacher. Go ahead.

The example on this, like I like to use it when I'm preaching is like, man, let's say you're like, This happens to Hudson all the time. He goes and plays outside and literally he's covered head to toe in dirt and grass and mud. But he doesn't know until he looks in the mirror.

Exactly.

It's the exact same thing. Dude, sinners, all of it, you're wretched, black-hearted sinners, all of us. But I don't know that until I open God's word and I see all these commands that I've been breaking my whole life. And then I start, I'm like, oh wait, that was wrong. That was wrong. That was wrong. I'm wrong. I'm sinful. So in the same way, I don't know, Hudson doesn't know he's dirty and in need of a shower till he looks in the mirror. You don't know that you're sinful in need of a Savior till you look in that mirror.

Using one of the 10 Commandments. Just want to highlight that again. Sorry. Feeling a little uppity after I heard that quote. He says, Paul says, I would've not have known what it is to covet, it if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Romans 7. Yeah, exactly. All right. And so, but a third use of the law, and then I want to put it on the street in a way that I like to explain to people that I think is pretty easy to understand, although it's more than 3 statements. But the third use of the law is actually to teach us as a teacher. It's to teach us that, hey, after we've come to Christ, it does teach us how we should live. And I would even say it teaches us how to live the life that Jesus Christ died and rose to save us into and for. That the life he has on the other side of the life you're giving up is better, but that means that you have to learn some new ways to Not to earn your salvation, but because Jesus has already purchased your salvation. So here's the way I like to put it on the street.

Every command, including the 10 Commandments, it shows me what I should do. So I, or what I should not do. I shouldn't murder. I shouldn't steal. I should honor my father and mother. But it also shows me, this is the mirror part, what I can't do, at least perfectly.

Oh, that's great.

So it shows me what I should do, but it also shows me what I can't do. But it shows me a third thing. It shows me what Christ did do. And what he had to do.

That's great.

Whereas every place I have failed and every place where I've honored my father and mother, Jesus never failed in doing that.

Yeah, that's right.

Every place where I lied, where I had hatred in my heart, that is the same as murder in God's eyes. Jesus never did that. He was perfect in every way I'm not. And not only was he perfect in every way I'm not, he went to the cross and died for the places where I'm not perfect, for the places where I failed the 10 Commandments. So it shows me what I should do, What I can't do. It shows me what Christ did do and why he had to do what he had to do. But then it finally shows me another thing. It shows me what, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God, I can increasingly do as a Christian. Never perfectly. Never perfectly. I'm never going to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength on this side of heaven. But that's okay because Jesus Christ did for me and he died for me. And by his grace and power, I can increasingly do it until I die and see him face to face in heaven. So those are the uses of the law.

Let's summarize all this and then we're going to tell call her daddy. So lawful uses of the law: curb, mirror. I say guide. You said what?

Teacher, but guide works well.

Curb, mirror, guide. Unlawful use of the law: ladder. This is really important because that's what the rich young ruler was trying to do. Well, if I do these laws, then I'll work my way up to God. So Curb, mirror, guide, unlawful use, ladder. That's a good little summary. All right.

Brilliant.

Hey, Live Free Nation, let's have fun with this and swing some elections. In all seriousness, midterm elections are obviously coming up in November. In the state of Texas, there's an estimated 16 million Christians, and the midterm elections coming up in November will be decided by a predicted, actually about 300,000 votes. So what this means is if Christians do their job as salt and light in the world, good things really easily happen. So what we've done at Live Free Nation is we actually built a website to help mobilize Christians to do our job as salt and light in society. So you can simply text the word VOTE to the number 20411, text the word VOTE to 20411, and we have built a website all at our own expense Um, to help Christians remember to vote leading up into the midterms, because the number one reason that Christians don't vote, especially in midterm elections, is they just forgot. So with one text, VOTE, to 20411, you will get one text which is a link to the website where you can put in your address. Uh, we do not keep any of the information, and it will tell you where the polling location is for voting in your area, uh, when to come, and what in your area you need to bring.

Again, we keep absolutely none of the data and we will send you that text and then only one other reminder text right before midterms. So let's have some fun with this. Text VOTE to 20411 and we'll see what Live Free Nation can do. Miles, do your little transition thing.

There we go. Hey, so we're about to talk about a clip from a podcast called Call Her Daddy. Great job, Miles. Yeah, just Alex Cooper leads this podcast and honestly, so if those who don't know, Probably one of the most popular podcasts among women, probably like, you know, 35 and down.

Is it like a Gen Z thing? Tell us, Gen Z guys.

It's like, I mean, I'm not the target audience. I don't listen to it.

You're like the reverse Yoda. Teach us your ways.

I like the Bible. And so I don't listen to this. And so, man, recent podcast clip came out honestly like this morning. I saw this morning, you saw all these things.

It kind of blew up like, I think it was like last night, but yeah, yeah.

Mega viral. And with Sophia Bush. So actress, Was in like One Tree Hill, I think was— yeah.

I've never seen that person. Yeah. Who is she? Anything else? I

don't know.

Uh, Sophia Bush.

Sophia Bush. And so I believe has, uh, well, I don't want to spoil anything.

Yeah, yeah, don't spoil anything. Uh, yeah, don't say that yet. Anyways, don't say that part.

So, Crazy Podcast.

Hey, Miles. Don't listen to that. Hey, dude. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Great job, man.

I appreciate that.

Great job. Great job. It's fun having you on, man.

I'm honored, man. Happy to be here.

So, so here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna do this quick. quick, and then I'm going to take Janet on a date and our marriage is going to be structured in the exact opposite way that you're about to see. So, well, first of all, I'll just set it up like this. Have you ever seen that little meme where it's like there's a dude standing there facing the sunset and there's a road that splits like this and it says, which way, Western man? I'm about to give you a, which way, Western woman? Okay. So first let's start on a positive note. By the way, this is really cool. So yesterday there was a previous OnlyFans model who tweeted out, and this kind of went viral. I'm just actually, go ahead and toss that first one up there. So she tweets this out and starts going viral. I deleted my OnlyFans and gave my life to Jesus Christ today. Praise God. Come on, man. That's amazing. I mean, that's already amazing.

He can save anybody.

So the name is, I'm sure it's like a pseudonym or something like that. It's like Ani the Zombie or whatever it is. And it kind of really picked up traction, went pretty viral. So I saw it and I'm always going to— we're cheering people coming to Team Jesus. Wow. So I just responded and I just said on X, I was like, welcome home. Okay. And just cheering her on. So then dude, she, it was like 3 hours later, bro. She responds. Look at what she says. Hey Josh, your videos, interviews, and sermons played a huge part of my journey. Thank you for everything you do. Ani the Zombie, converted OnlyFans model, led to Christ in part by the Live Free Podcast. Come on, man. That's crazy. Bro, that's amazing.

Unreal.

Seriously.

Hey, if she's listening right now, I mean, hey, cheering you on. You're just burning off.

Come on, let's go. Welcome to the family.

Welcome home. Welcome to Team Jesus. All right, so which way, Western woman? We can either do that or you can do what we're about to see. And I'm going to let you try to figure out which one is going to work out long-term better. Now, the reason I want to do this, there's 2 reasons. Number one, I did not know this. In a turn of events that will surprise literally no one, I've never heard of Alex Cooper in my life, and I've literally never even heard of Collar Daddy, except there's been a few times when like we'll text like podcast rankings around the Live Free team and I'll see like Collar Daddy. I don't know what that is. So I've never seen even a clip of Collar Daddy before, but apparently it's pretty shady. Isn't that right, Sabrina? Pretty shady. Pretty shady. Uh, so let me just say a few things. Let me set this up. Yeah. The reason I want to talk about it— went mega viral, and honestly, dude, Dude, what you're about to see, I did not know this. You may have known this, Gen Z guy, is this is the number one podcast for women in America.

It's

insane. Wow. So we'll talk a lot about Jezebel women versus Jesus women. A Jezebel woman is the most influential podcast voice for women in America, and people need to know what's happening to you. Okay? So I'll set this up a little bit. But honestly, dude, after digging in, Alex Cooper might be worse for women than Andrew Tate is for men. I'll just kind of get that out there. There's a few reasons I say that, but I'm just going to leave it dangling. I will point this out a little bit. Let me just give a heads up. Anytime you talk about gender, the Bible and gender, there is nothing that has— there's some passages, it's almost like they got a wick coming out of them and all you got to do is just read it and there's going to be a grenade that blows up in your face.

Yeah.

We're going to read a couple of those. Anytime you talk about the Bible and gender, if you're a pastor, you better be ready to catch it in the teeth for 4 or 5 days. You're about to see why that is. So let me just set this up. There's a dynamic a lot of people don't realize has happened in our culture that's making this conversation really difficult. And I'm going to generalize, maybe overgeneralizations. Part of the reason for that is because for the last 20 years in our culture, men have generally been lied about And women have generally been lied to. And that is creating some very, very difficult situations. So men have generally been lied about. I'm not saying only, I'm saying generally. So over the last 20, 30 years in our culture, with the rise of the super dominance of feminism— if, by the way, if you don't realize this, someday we got to do a whole podcast on this. I may do it. We may do a series sometime soon called Act Like Women, but I got to work up the the readiness. If you are not just a woman, anybody in America, feminism is the air that you have breathed.

Yes. From the minute you got to planet Earth, you have almost never not breathed feminism in your life. And it's resulted in men being lied about generally and women being lied to generally for the last 30 years. So here's what it looks like. For the last 30 years, it's been men are horrible. They're toxic, masculinity is bad. The future is female. Barack Obama said this literally last week. I was like, bro, we're done with that. We're done with that. Nobody's doing that anymore. He did the, I think if everything in the world were run by women for 20 or 30 years, it'd all be better. So it's like, so honestly, man, that's women being lied to. Hey man, men and women are equally sinful.

Yes.

Women are not better than men. Men are not better than women. Men and women equally sinful. Now, on the other hand is generally speaking, not exclusively speaking, in our culture, women have primarily been lied to. And kind of the vibe in pop culture has been to women, hey, your only flaw is that you don't have enough self-esteem. That's really the only thing wrong with you. If you do anything wrong, it's always a man's fault. If you watch every movie, every TV show, the dad is the idiot that's usually sort of debauched. Yeah. And the woman is the moral genius who saves the day. Here's a little— I actually have my daughters do this. Here's a fun little exercise. Here's another exercise. Watch movies that have fight scenes. By the way, almost every movie now has intersex fight scenes, men versus women. In literally every single one you ever watch, the woman wins. Huh. My daughters will point it out every time we watch a movie now. You will never see a movie that has an intergender fight scene where the woman doesn't win. So again, what you're seeing is for 30 years, men lied to, women generally lied about.

Now that creates very serious problems. If you had a situation where you lied to both sides, you're both wonderful, hey, that'd be a little easier to fix. If you had a situation where both sides had been lied about, that would also be a little easier to fix. But when you spend 30 years lying to one and lying about the other, you're going to get a level of division that is leading to what's becoming an increasing train wreck in our culture between the genders. Now you're about to see the fruit of 30 years of men being lied about and women being lied to. And you're going to watch a woman lie to some women, apparently on the number one podcast for women in America. Okay. So that said, here you go. This is what went viral.

We can get really, really in our heads about, oh my God, I feel like I'm Maybe I shouldn't leave this marriage because,

bro,

can I even get better? And the answer is always yes.

The answer is always yes.

So, so what you got here is you got 2 women talking about the concept of divorce. Yeah. And man, if you ever wonder, if you ever wonder if you could do better, what you definitely need to do is divorce who you're with and look for someone else because you can always do better. And the subtle implication is because you're a wonderful, amazing, you're a woman and they're men. That's kind of the vibe. Okay? Now let me just say this real quick. Here's why this is so damaging. And dude, I will say something. I may ask him to edit out when we're done. We'll see how it goes. Here's why this is so damaging. One of the interesting things about this podcast is we are actually pastors who actually have to pastor people. Yeah. And we actually have to see the implications of the Bible teaching we do. in real people's lives and real people's families. And other people can just sit on pod— this honestly, I'm getting a little worked up. Please. Other people can just sit on podcasts and say stuff. And then they don't got to counsel the man, the children, or the wife who has their life absolutely cratered because you just got to sit on a podcast and say what you thought would go viral.

We're actually pastors. We actually have to pray with people in lobbies. The reason that's so damaging, there's a few things. Number one is, bro, you're pastoring people, you're raising kids. You're going to figure this out real quick. Inputs create outputs. And if you want to create the outcome, you got to create— if you want to change the outcome, you got to change your inputs. So I just want to point this out. If you're a young woman and you're like, ah, they seem so cool and cute and funny and yeah, girl, slay. It's like that kind of vibe. They make me feel good about my whatever it is. Hey, listen, I want to love you enough to tell you the actual truth. And I'm telling you right now, inputs create outcomes in your life. And if that's your input, you're going to have some real crappy outcomes. Yes. So let me just point this out. Here's who you're looking at. One of those women, Sophia Bush right there, she's been married 3 times. Okay? So let me just pause. Here's who you're taking marriage and divorce advice from. She's been married 3 times. One of those marriages lasted 5 months.

Great job. One of them lasted— her second marriage lasted 13 months. We made it the long faithful season of 13 months. And her third quote unquote marriage is to a chick. Hmm. All right. So just stop and think like, hey man, if inputs create outcomes and those are my inputs, are they probably going to be an input that leads to an outcome in my life of a long faithful marriage that results in me growing old with my husband and sitting old and wrinkly, holding hands in our rocking chair and watching our great-grandkids who love Jesus, love each other, and love us play in our backyard? Hey man, actually probably not. So number one, I just want to say, if you're watching people like this, change your inputs to change your outcomes. I'll just listen, bro. If you're a young woman, the women you need to— this is, dude, Jana and I talk about this all the time. If you think I'm toxic, you should hear Jana. Okay? Jana and I talk about this all the time. The women that young women need to be listening to, they're not on podcasts. They're not on TikTok. They're not putting out 4 Instagram reels per day.

You know what they're busy doing? raising their kids. They're busy creating a home that's full of the aroma of Christ. Yes. Do you know what they're busy doing? Serving at their local church. So I just want to say this, man. If you're a young woman and it's like, ah, where are my inputs? Change your inputs. Here's who you need to find. You need to walk into your church service and look for the woman who's got a little gray hair. She probably had hadn't spent $80,000 nipping and tucking and blowing them up so they look like inner tubes. And it's like, she's probably got a little gray hair. That's probably what she's got. She walks in holding the hand of her husband and she's happy. And they sit there during the whole service and they're a little handsy. Yep. And then they walk out. And every time you talk to them, you know what they do? You know what the woman who you need to listen to does? Every time you talk to them, she's like, hey, look at this picture of my grandkids. Yes. And she's serving him. That's who you need to be listening to, not Jezebel, call her daddy.

Okay? That's number one. Number 2, and this is the part, honestly, I may have you edit out, you guys are going to tell me later, is when she says— I just want to point this out, man. This is literally the least PC thing I can possibly say, but she's lying to you and she's lying to you because number one, I'm trying to make sure I say it in a reasonable way. She's lying to you because she's going against the design of creation. So let me just say what I mean here, because I guarantee you don't know where I'm going, Paul, and this has got a bit of a wick in it.

Okay.

So what the Bible says is that man is the glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. Okay? What that literally means is that when God creates in Genesis 1, 2, He creates mankind and he's like, bro, that's great. When he creates woman, you remember what he says? He goes, this is— he doesn't say this is good. He says, that is very good. Very good.

Yeah.

So essentially the theology of man and woman, here's what it is. And it's going to sound like a dig on men, but just stick with me. You're going to see what I'm saying here. When he says that woman is the glory of man and that she was very good, essentially when God created woman, he went over mankind with a high gloss finish. It's the pinnacle of all of creation. What the Bible's insinuating is the beauty of a woman. That's what the Bible's insinuating. That's the pinnacle of human creation in one sense. Now, this is the part that's not PC. So what you got right here is you got 2 women, I don't know, 20s and their 30s, and they're telling you, no matter who you are, just divorce them. You're going to be able to find somebody better. That's a lie. And here's the un-PC part, because men and women generally are attracted to different things and they have different priorities, that kind of thing. Women in general, they're attracted to men who are leaders, who have a mission with their life, who can provide for them, protect them, that kind of thing. That's what women are attracted to.

Men, honestly, just general, this is just data, are generally more visual than women. That's not the only thing. A godly man sees way past that, but that's just generally how men are wired. The reason what she's saying is a lie, and dude, I'll just say it in a straightforward way, is that generally speaking, what the data shows, and it aligns with the nature of how God has created things, Women generally have their best prospects to attract a great mate in their 20s. That's just a fact. So what you got right here is you got 2 women who are sitting there telling women all over the place, just dump him and you're going to be able to find a better one. And what we know, because we're actually pastors, is man, the longer you wait to get married and the more— and by the way, dude, there's hope for everybody. We literally work all the time. We want everyone. Anybody that God's put that in their heart, I think it's a good desire. We want to see that happen. But in general, your best chance to attract and keep a good husband, as generally speaking data's going to show, is when you're a little younger.

So they're giving actually damaging advice to women that it doesn't play out like that in the real world. Listening to stuff like that is how you end up a single, lonely spinster cat lady with nobody to visit on the holidays and nobody to visit you in the nursing home. Can

I give another lie? Please. Although I'm going to ask because I don't want to step on something maybe we get into. They're also lying just in terms of the data that shows that happiness— Oh no, I'm coming back. I'm going there. Oh bro, I'm coming back to that. Because literally we have statistics on this that they're wrong, but I'm going to wait. Yeah.

Also, I'll also point this out is here's what the— just stop. And we're going to finish the clip. There's only 10 seconds left. But dude, the reason we're talking a lot is because what you have is 20 massively viral cultural lies that have been nuclear bombs on women's lives and families' lives, all stacked into 23 seconds. So there's a reason we're— and they're all loaded just right here. The other thing I'll point out is just stop and think about the unspeakable narcissism of, oh, slay girl, you do you. Yas, queen. This whole vibe of anything that you want, just divorce him and just go get somebody else. Hey, man, What about your kid? Do your kids matter? Yeah. What about your wedding vows?

Yes.

Do those matter? These are the type of people who don't care. By the way, do you know the data shows this? I may have them edit them into this, edit this into the episode. Did you know data literally shows, and brother, there's hope. God can redeem anything that's broken.

Yes.

The data literally shows that you take kids when they're young, Mm-hmm. One of them has a dad that dies and one of them has parents that divorce. The kids that do emotionally better are the ones whose dad died. It's literally more emotionally traumatic and catastrophic for a child for their parents to do what these Jezebel women are counseling millions of women to do. It's more damaging for your dad to die than for your mom to go, ah, I thought I could get somebody better, so I left. So if I have anger, it's righteous anger because it's— bro, do you know what that does to a generation of children?

It's doing it.

It's doing it right now. It's doing it right now. So when she says all this, this is what's going on. So let me just say one last thing and we'll finish this clip. I'm talking for a long time because like I said, you got 40 cultural lies compacted into 30 seconds that are like, it's a nuclear bomb on families and we see it because we're pastors. So again, this is one of those verses that has a wit coming out of it. of it. And I'm going to give a gentle nudge to just the Christian community in general. And I don't want it to come off the wrong way. Okay? So who should we be looking to? Who should women be looking to as wise counsel? Okay? I'm going to read Titus 2:3-5. Yeah. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way that they live, not slanderers. So in other words, they're not walking around doing the gossip thing and, oh, what's the tea? They're like, no, not that. Addicted to much wine. The highlight of their week shouldn't be Wine Down Wednesday and getting drunk with their friends. That's— or addicted to much wine.

But here's who you want. But to teach what is good.

Yeah.

We teach what's good. Now watch, here's the part that's a little un-PC. Then they can urge the younger women to do what? What should older godly women be using their lives to do? Hey man, let's do this. To teach the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home. I say this all the time. It's a whole podcast, but the Bible does not teach that a woman's place is the home. It does teach that a wife and a mother's priority is the home. Hmm. To be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands. We do not apologize for anything the Bible says. so that no one will malign the word of God. All right, so that's who you're looking for. I'll gently say this, dude. Jana and I talk about this, and honestly, I'm just going to give a little shout out. Jana's probably going to start doing these little Lake Point or Live Free Ladies Lives online again. Okay. Heads up. She's probably going to start doing that, at least live little broadcasts once a month. Honestly, just to talk, just to give, bro, Jana's stored up 21 years.

Titus 2 is is my wife. That's like, she's a walking that. Yes. Okay. Except the older part. I'll just get that out of here. That's a joke. That's a joke.

I was actually going to try to give you a little thing there to save you, but you got it yourself,

man. By the way, actually, I just want to say this. Janet and I have, we already had this thing. We're not going to be the type of people who spend our entire lives trying to act young. It's like, dude, there's, this is a whole nother podcast. The Bible literally says what people should do as they age is just embrace becoming a dignified older person. And that's actually a good thing.

Yeah.

Hey, let's just— yeah, man, that's good. So it's actually a good and wonderful godly thing. I'll just gently point this out, and this is not shade at famous female Bible teachers. I am not pitting people against each other. I don't want it to come off that way. What that passage said is that women that teach other women, women and are the voices that most influence them. And man, God's going, here's what I really want them focusing on. Okay? All this stuff, urge the younger women to love their husbands and kids, self-controlled and pure, busy at home, subject to their husbands, et cetera. I'll just gently point this out. And man, we want everyone teaching the Bible in different capacities, in different ways, men, women, everyone. We just like the Bible being taught. All that stuff's awesome. That's awesome. I will point out 20, 25 years ago in the American Christian world, there were women, like Jana named them. She's like, man, Nancy Lee DeMoss used to do this. Martha Peace. Nancy Wilson does this now. And that kind of thing where there are women who, their primary, very well-known female Bible teachers, and the primary thing they wanted to teach was this.

Man, let me encourage women to love their husbands and respect their husbands and invest in and love their kids and how to be a beautiful and godly homemaker. And I'll just gently point this out. Sometimes it can feel like the famous sort of female Bible teaching is about everything except that.

Yes.

It's just an interesting observation. It's like we need more women who are like, that's what I want to do. I want to inspire women to be there.

And I want to be careful with this.

I know, dude.

I don't want to name names, but there's a reason you don't hear about them, their finish in their last days, because they usually don't have a platform that lasts as long as those other women do. That's as gently as I can say it. It's those who just stick to the Bible and teach the very things you've been doing. There's a reason they have a long, fruitful ministry. Others may be a flash in the pan, but they don't last. And there's a reason. There's a reason for that. That's as gently as I'll say it.

Yeah. And do, by the way, just got to do all the caveats so we don't get internet mobbed. Please. We're not saying those are the only things a woman are allowed to teach. No, no, no. But the Bible is saying, hey man, this is what we really wanna see. Now let's finish this thing so we can do this. Okay, keep going here.

That it's too late or you're too old, or who are you to want more? That's patriarchy.

That's patriarchy, as you guys know.

That is crazy. We don't need it.

Okay, now I just wanna focus on 2 things. So anybody going, you know, basically anybody encouraging you to stay in your marriage and honor your marriage vows, that's probably patriarchy. And those people encouraging you to stay married, they're crazy. Paul and Miles, did you know women don't need that? Okay. Well, number one, what does the Bible say? Number two, what's the data say? Okay. Number one, I'll just point this out. That's patriarchy. Okay. I'm constantly pointing this out. Feminism is the ideological expression of the curse of the fall. I'm going to constantly say this. In Genesis 3:16, after sin enters the world, God gives specific curses to men and women. One of the curses that he gave to women is he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing. Everybody knows that's a curse. In pain you shall bring forth children. And then he said, your desire shall be, and different Bibles translate, different translations translate it differently. Some of them say, this is ESV, your desire shall be contrary to your husband. Some of them say, your desire shall be for your husband. Some of them say, your desire shall be against your husband.

And then it says, but he shall rule over you. So let me ask you this question. It's very So where does this impulse come from that anybody that's encouraging you to stay married, like, man, all this stuff, it's all the men's fault. And anybody, this bringing sort of instruction our way, that's the patriarchy. That's the evil patriarchy. It's the ideological expression of the curse of the fall. Your desire shall be against or contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. That's where the feminism blame it on the man comes from. It's literally the expression of this. Now, again, caveats. Yes, there are wicked and evil men in this world. You have heard us on this pod, like, brother, ain't nothing we tee off on more than bad men.

We've called out Andrew Tate, Fuentes, and others. We've done it.

A whole 6-week sermon series. Act Like Men, all this stuff. But that's the thing. The other thing I want to point out is she's going, hey man, that's crazy. We don't need it. I'll just point this out. What you get a lot of times, it's called the— pastors see this all the time. Podcasters don't got to deal with this. Pastors see this all the time. It's called the 80/20 principle that whenever you have something, here's what people tend to do is they forget the 80% of what they have that actually they like. And they only focus on the 20% that they don't like. So this is what you do in marriage. This is a little marriage hack. What people tend to do is that in their spouse, they have 80% of what they like. But over the years, you sort of take that stuff for granted.

Mm-hmm.

So then you focus more and more on the 20% you wish was different. Ah, he didn't always take a shower fast enough and he smells a little weird after the— I don't know. He chews a little. Why does he suck his fingers when he eats the chicken wing? It makes a popping sound and I don't like it. That kind of thing. You focus on the 20%. I've tried to come up with something idiosyncratic that you don't like. And then you become convinced, oh, I'm going to trade it. I need to trade it in. I can get somebody better. And here's what they do is they leave the person where 80% was good and only 20% was And then because they were focusing on the 20% that was bad, they walk out the door and they're looking for somebody who has that 20% that they really like and they marry that. And then they end up in a marriage where they only like 20% and they dislike 80%. Listen, man, the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence. The grass is greener where you water it.

That's right.

This is why this doesn't work, man. And then I'll just point this out. I know I'm kind of teeing off on this, but we see this all the time. time. She says, that's crazy. We don't need it. Okay. I want to show you some data. First of all, that message is sinking in. So her message is sinking in. So I guess these people were telling me earlier that Alice Cooper's pretty progressive. So she's pretty— is that right? Both of them are. Both of them. Sophia Bush has been on the campaign trail with the DNC. Oh, Sophia Bush has been on the campaign trail with the DNC. So they're both pretty progressive. Okay. So this is the message that, especially in progressive circles, that women are getting bombarded with, listen, you are being lied to and it will wreck your life.

So real quick, I had no idea we were talking about this today. I was with some college students last night and I just asked them, I was with a table. I'm like, hey, what are the things that we need to be thinking about in your generation? This is one of the top 4 things they mentioned.

That was the prevailing attitude.

How did they react? Oh, the idea that men are awful and this whole kind of mentality. The dudes were talking about how they feel it, they hear it.

But then

the females, and these were some ladies, some awesome college women who love Jesus, who are leading some small groups at their campus. And they were like, oh yeah, that's a very prevalent attitude. So everything's just— I'm just saying, I had no idea we were talking about this today. Literally heard it last night on the ground in Gen Z.

So I just want you to know this, man. Let me talk to women real quick. We all know this. If you're going to be a Christian man, you have to have the ability to confidently differentiate yourself from and rebuke godless men.

That's right.

So I remember being in high school and it was when pornography became a big thing and guys literally in class would be sitting around talking about what they were watching and they would ask you, you. And you have to have the confidence as a man to be like, I'm not a porn guy, man. That's not my thing. And you just like, I'm not that guy. Or when guys in college, you're playing sports, it's like hookup, shack up, breakup culture. How many chicks can I sleep with? That's their language kind of thing. You have to have the ability as a man of God to be like, that's not me, man.

That's right.

I just want to warn you, if you're a woman, you are going to be surrounded by Jezebel women constantly. You have to have it in the beauty of your soul to plant your feet and confidently say, say, I'm Jesus, I'm Team Jesus, not Team Jezebel. That's right. Like, hey dude, you need to be the type of woman that's like, man, uh, the men in my life have been wonderful and I'm thankful for godly men. It's like, you got to have the ability to differentiate yourself from godless ideologies you're breathing. So she says, that's crazy, we don't need it. The message is sinking in. Check this date, is nuts, bro. This is nuts. This was on CNN. So this is not like Newsmax. This is not like, you know, right-wing propaganda. propaganda. This is CNN. So they polled, and I hate, you know, I hate that there's candidates up there. I'm trying to just show ideologies. But basically they polled conservative men and women and then progressive men and women, and they asked them to rank life priorities. So this is Gen Z. Miles, these are all your buddies. Okay. And they're, they're doing all this stuff.

So they rank them. Now, bro, check this out. For conservative men, this is insane. Their number one priority in life for conservative men, check it out. I got, I got it highlighted up there, left, having children.

Would've never guessed it.

The number one thing, they're like, you know what I want out of life? Children, children. Now, bro, check this out. This is the Alex Cooper-ification of a generation of women. So then you ask progressive women, far right column, what are your life priorities? Guess what came in? Listen, dead last, having children. That's insane. Insane. Conservative dudes, number one priority, I want to raise children that love me and love Jesus. Progressive women, the last priority in their life, having children. Okay. Now that will wreck your life.

Yes.

Because there is a reason the Bible says it is not good for man to be alone and is implied is also a woman. And it says, be fruitful and multiply. All God's commands are good are good. Guess who? So if you got a generation of women who are going, you know what? The last thing I want in life is to stay in a faithful marriage and have kids. Guess what the data shows results in the most happiness in a woman's life? Check this out. I'm going to give you 2 graphs. So this is from— I'm going to give you one from 2022 and then one from this year. So you got right here. So this is the data, big general social survey. So see down at the bottom, again, this is not right-wing propaganda. It's from the general social survey. Okay. So you got unmarried, it's women. This is only women. Unmarried women with and without children, and then married women with and without children. And it's the percent of them that self-report saying, I'm very happy. Guess who? It's the exact opposite of the cultural narrative. The kind of the vibe, the Alice Cooper vibe is, you know how you're going to be really happy?

Just sleep around and ditch every dude that you—

Keep upgrading all you can, man.

That's it. Keep upgrading. Definitely avoid kids so you can travel and get a high body count. That's what's going to make you really happy. The data shows married women with children report being very happy more than any other population segment in America. I'll give you another one. Go to the next one. Exact same thing. This is 2025. It's like this is within the last 12 months. Exact same data. Women between ages 25 and 55 who report being very happy, the highest percent of women who report being very happy, married women with children. So listen, God's commands are not burdensome. And if God says don't, he means don't hurt yourself. He is leading you in paths of righteousness for his name's sake and your joy.

Amen. And data shows us not only just that, but also those who are once married, higher rates of happiness than those who are divorced, including especially those who are divorced multiple times. So this idea of like, hey, because there's the explicit law you mentioned, but there's the implicit lies of you deserve it. And this will make you happy. That's at the heart of so much of this. You deserve it. This will make you happy. But the data shows it, that it does the exact opposite of that. Also, they've done studies of those who had unhappy marriages. I saw at least one study where it showed where those who were unhappy marriages, if they stayed married for 5 more years, guess what happened? The increase of happiness in their marriage went up. Correct. So instead of like, oh, I'm unhappy, to your point, I don't like this 20%, I'm going to toss it and go somewhere else. If they actually stayed in it, they became happier. Whereas if you chased it somewhere else, your levels of happiness went down. So I just wanted to highlight there's so much more data out there. Can I say a few things?

Of course. Let me just say, because as you were talking, let me just think this. And I was listening to them.

I'm going to close it out with some insane stats in a second. Because now what you're starting to see is honestly, dude, and it's not good. If you're a young man, don't do this. Now what you're starting to see is a generation of younger men who are really nervous to get Married because they feel like that's the pool that I'm playing in.

I don't want that to happen to me.

Yeah. And I'm going to give you some insane data here in a second.

So just go with me on this and be honest. Could my wife Amy find an objectively better husband somewhere in the world than me?

I refuse to dog my man, Paul.

Well, I will go ahead and say it. 100% yes. 100% yes. I know that sounds off. Just stick with me for a second.

I'm with you.

100%. Yes, she could. Somewhere out there, there is a godlier man than me. Somewhere out there's— let's just put this in sports terms. Amongst what, 32 NFL teams? 31 of them could say objectively there's a better quarterback somewhere else than our team.

Everybody except the Bengals.

And so I'm just saying somewhere out there, dude, I'm okay. I'm not going to take the bait. I'm not going to take the bait. Somewhere out there, there is a better man than me that would be a better husband to my wife. Is there objectively a better wife out there than Amy? Heck no. Okay. I'm going for that. It's like I had to actually just kind of had to almost, I'd almost just let a word fly right there. No, there's not. And I wanted to say that that should be the attitude of every married person, man or woman. I

like it, Paul.

Man or woman. What I just said is, man, yeah, I do believe that out there somewhere objectively there is a better husband that could be Amy's husband, but I do not believe that there is a better wife out there. That should be the attitude. And by the way, My wife is amazing as she is. She has her things. She has her little quirks, like you mentioned, that drive us. Everybody has those. She has some things that God is sanctifying in her way less than he's sanctifying in me, by the way. But I'm just saying, I wanted to highlight that. And that's not just for women, that's for dudes too.

Yes, that's right.

What I just said is for dudes too. That's the attitude you got to have towards your spouse, that no matter what hangups or sins that she has in her life, you will never find a better one. This leads me to the other thing I was going to say, and that's this. is that with this mentality, really what it's based on is the idea of marriage is about me.

Yeah, that's right. That's right.

It's about me. And so if I can find someone that is better for me, I should simply leave the person I'm with and go find that person. But marriage isn't about you.

That's right.

And it's not even about your spouse. Ultimately, the Bible tells us that marriage is supposed to be a pointer to our relationship with Jesus Christ. And let me tell you right now, That if Jesus ditched us at the first sign of us not being a perfect spouse to him, we would be gone one second after we put our faith in him.

Yeah, that's right. Amen.

But that's not—

Amen.

And it's— our marriage is supposed to be a picture of Christ's love for the church, our love for him. And that is an unending, unbreakable love, even though we don't deserve it. So I'm just saying, like, I get that there's some tough marriages out there. I get that there's some tough relationships. It's not about you.

There you go.

It's about your marriage pointing to something greater than you, and that's Jesus Christ. That's all I wanted to say.

Let me finish this out with some data and then Miles, you're going to pray us out. So what you're getting right now is that I didn't have time to show this data, is you're getting some young men who are seeing stuff like that. And then honestly, man, this is a whole different podcast. The way that ever since the initiation of no-fault divorce in the '70s and the way that divorce laws are set up in the United States, bro, I'm just going to tell you right now, it's a problem.

Yeah.

And it's a problem, honestly, primarily for men. Let me just point this out. So what you got is you got a bunch of young guys who are seeing that and then they're going, now wait a second. So 50% of marriages end in divorce. By the way, that is not true for committed Christians that attend church. You're 3 times less likely to get divorced. But so they're going, man, 50% of marriages end in divorce. They're going, man, 80% of custody outcomes in divorce proceedings all go to the women. 97% of alimony and spousal support is paid by the men to the women. Ever since no-fault divorce, they're going, now wait a second, especially people who aren't Christians. They're going, now wait a second. So because of no-fault divorce, she can just divorce you whenever she wants. And she's listening to podcasts all day where they're like, just divorce him. You can definitely do better. better. And it doesn't even matter if I don't want the divorce, she can just do it. And now 71% of divorces are initiated by women. And oh, by the way, she can just walk out the door and not even have a reason.

And there's going to be a 50/50 asset division, even though you didn't want the divorce. So now you're starting to get younger guys that are like, well, it makes me a smidge nervous. Makes me a smidge nervous. Now, so let me just land the plane right here. Don't buy into the lies, but then also don't buy the black pill is what— don't do that. And I'll just point this out and I'll just say it in a straightforward way because that's the Alex Cooper vibe. So I'll just— what they're trying to sell you is that young, hot people having creative sex is going to result in the happiest marriage. Can I just point something out? If young, hot people having creative sex resulted in happiness and the happiest marriages, then all the happiest marriages would be in Hollywood. My friends, let me just ask you, are the happiest marriages in Hollywood?

No.

No, I don't think so.

They're in the church. They're serving the youth group.

That's it.

They're doing those things with their kids.

That's it.

They're not Hollywood.

That's it. That's it. Just look at the outcomes. And let me just say, here's what success in life looks like as a married couple. You want to be the old wrinkly married couple sitting in rocking chairs when your ages start with a 6, 7, 8, or a 9, holding hands, watching your great-grandkids play around in the backyard and knowing that you're 3 generations deep serving the Lord together with gladness. And you know that your great-grandkids are going to grow up loving Jesus too. That is success in life. Go for it. Miles, close this out, man.

Man, I love it.

Great job.

Come on. I'd love to. Let me pray for us, man. Lord Jesus, we love you. And God, in a world that is throwing better and better at us with flashing lights, God, I pray for everyone listening to this podcast, Lord, that they would know that you are better. God, I pray that for everyone watching this and listening to this, God, that they would not waste their life. That's right. God, that you would encounter them in a fresh way. And then God, we would be bold men, bold women for the kingdom of God in a culture that's gone crazy. And so God, we love you. We serve you. We commit ourselves to you today. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Live free.

Live free, brother. Live free, brother. Yeah. Well, hey, thanks so much for listening. Lake Pointe Church is a movement for all people to know Christ, live free, and change the world for God's glory. If you're already a member of a local church, we want you giving there. But if you'd like to make a donation to help this message go further, faster, it genuinely helps us boost giving. it out to more people. If you'd like to make a donation, you can text the word give to the number 20411 and then just choose Church Online from that dropdown menu. To find out more about Lake Pointe, you can visit lakepointe.church. Thank you.