Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday
Nuts & Bolts: The Foundation & The Design
Discipleship isn’t complicated, but it transforms every part of life. In Nuts and Bolts, King of Kings’ sermon series, we explore how following Jesus—from building our lives on His teachings to embracing authentic community—leads to lasting joy, purpose, and unshakable faith.
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Thanks for listening!
Hello, hello, welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast from King of Kings that discusses what we take from Beyond Sunday, our sermon messages. So my name is Dena Newsom and I'm so happy to be with you here today, and our guests today are Well, I'm Roger Timer, one of the pastors at King of Kings.
Julie Eesley:Yep, and I'm Julie Easley, the executive director here at King of Kings.
Dina Newsom:I'm so glad to have you guys here today, and we are too. Good, this week is National Bubblegum Week.
Roger Theimer:Did you know this.
Dina Newsom:I know it's a highly overrated holiday.
Roger Theimer:Let me check the bottom of my shoe and I'll tell you.
Dina Newsom:So my question was what is your favorite type of gum Like? What really does it for you? A brand or a type of flavor Memory?
Roger Theimer:food Memory food Third grade. Baseball Double bubble. Double bubble With the comic strip right before the game.
Julie Eesley:yeah, I love gum. I mean now my adult gum is like Spearmint Extra, but I loved like Big League Chew. I liked Bazooka, I liked Hubba Bubba. There was not a gum that I didn't like.
Roger Theimer:Did you ever smoke the cigar? Yes, the banana one yeah. I'm going to go get one today. I haven't thought of it in a hundred years, so good.
Dina Newsom:My favorite gum was what was inside of a blow pop. Oh, it only lasted. The flavor only lasted 10 seconds.
Julie Eesley:Totally.
Roger Theimer:But for that 10 seconds it was glorious.
Julie Eesley:It was so good With the crunch of the lollipop in it. Yeah, so good.
Dina Newsom:All right. So we have started a new message series here at King of Kings, and so for two weeks now we've been hearing from Pastor Zach Zender about nuts and bolts this is how to build the modern day disciple and so week one was talking about the foundation. What did you guys take away, beyond Sunday, from that message?
Julie Eesley:Yeah, so I think the first thing that stood out to me was discipleship isn't easy, but it's not complicated, which I think is really true. Discipleship really just boils down to are we becoming like Jesus from the inside out by actively choosing to follow him and learning from him how to live in the kingdom of God? And so I'll unpack that a little bit more later, but it's simply like modeling yourself after Jesus and opening up space in your life for Jesus to transform you.
Roger Theimer:I like what you said about the practical and simple. I think what was captivating what Pastor Zach did is he went to the very back end of the Sermon on the Mount and he picked up the metaphor of foundation. He said, well, we'll just use that as a foundation, and it's the building that lasts is the one that not just hears it but does it. So it's kind of very practical write-up and you can take that as a foundation. Okay, what do I need to hear? What do I need to do? Yep, Love it.
Dina Newsom:Yeah, I really like that how he talked about. He'll be talking about the whole Sermon on the Mount, but starting with the end. This is where we're going. This is what you need to build on.
Dina Newsom:I really appreciated that. So now this whole thing is talking about discipleship, and I think that sounds very intimidating to a lot of people. I don't know how to disciple people. That's a big job, but I really liked Zach's definition of disciple. That he gave is one who is in the process of being and doing like their leader. What do you guys think about that? Why is that hard for us today? Why is that intimidating to some people?
Roger Theimer:Well, okay. So these words are so packed for me because I'm a pastor and when I hear that word I think when is it used and in what context?
Roger Theimer:And because the whole idea of disciple come follow me. The message that was filtered through the whole Sermon on the Mount is okay, the kingdom of God's at hand Now. The kingdom of the God is going to ultimately be revealed by Jesus. When he fulfills it, when he gives his life for us and through his life and death and resurrection in our place, that's when we experience the transformation that's bigger than what we can do. So, in that sense, following him has something along the way for those disciples, but it's a whole different game by the time they got to see the fulfillment that he did to make it possible for them to truly follow him.
Dina Newsom:Yes, for them to truly follow him.
Julie Eesley:Yeah, when I think about discipleship, there's an author I love. He's written a lot of books and his name is Dallas Willard and he said when you think about discipleship, you can think about like what would Jesus do if he were dropped into your life? So how would Jesus start his day? How would Jesus make choices? How would Jesus interact with people? How would Jesus prioritize his relationship with his Father? And if I think about If I wanted to model what Christ did and open up space for him to be at work in my life, what would my life start to look like if I were following him closely?
Julie Eesley:And you know when Pastor Zach talked about like being squeezed, options start to be eliminated for me when I'm thinking about how would I want to prioritize following Christ in my life. What would look different about my morning? Would it be waking up and hopping on my phone and looking at the news, or would it just be lying in bed quietly for a moment and offering my day to my Heavenly Father? If I really want to follow Jesus closely and please hear me when I say this really want to follow Jesus closely, and please hear me when I say this, I'm not doing it to earn points or to get to heaven. I want to create space in my life for God to speak to me and to work in my life. So if I wanted to do that, what are the practical choices I'm going to be making moment by moment during my day? And so that's when I think about discipleship. I think a lot about that.
Dina Newsom:That is really amazing. There's a lot of talk about being busy. We're too busy in our lives, but what are the choices that we make to be that way and what are the choices that we let happen? How can we create that room? That's really good, julie, thanks. Yeah, so Zach moved on in his first message to talk about there are two paths, there are two types and two places that he highlighted from the sermon. Did you guys have some thoughts on that? What were your takeaways? Kind of of there are two paths that people can choose. There are two types of people, that voices that shape our choices, and there are two places that we can build.
Dina Newsom:Any of those stand out to you.
Roger Theimer:I was intrigued by as I considered that again and then I was reminded, kind of where they were placed in the entire Sermon on the Mount, kind of towards the end and right, by this very practical the whole context of the Sermon on the Mount is given to contrast, those people who were not followers. They were actually self-righteous Jews, and Jesus is beginning to define what the kingdom of God is looking like, what the kingdom of God's looking like, and it had to be heard by them as something that was really remarkable, because they've always counted themselves in according to their self-righteousness. Yeah, and that's stunning. Well, was it stunning for us too? You know what? That is something that we should pay attention to and say well, I need to be aware of just what path I'm on and you know what? It's okay being on the narrow path, it's okay checking that fruit. That's something that should be part of this life, and I'm going to a little bit on and on. It becomes a position of humility and that I saw is to be a common thread.
Julie Eesley:Yeah, and I think one of the things that when Zach talked about like two people, like the two different people that you may affiliate yourself with, the two different types, and he said do you have someone in your life that you can be really honest with about your struggles?
Julie Eesley:So right, discipleship. Like Zach said, it's not complicated but it's not easy, and I think it's easy for us to just move through life in an unexamined way. And when you have a prayer partner that you're sharing stuff of your life with, it forces you to slow down and become more intentional about thinking about your every day, Like where are my hangups, when are my struggles, when are my sin patterns that really seem to have a grip on me? We can't begin to shape our lives and create more space in our lives for Jesus to work in it if we're not slowing down and looking like where are my challenges? Where do I need to be opening myself up more to God's power? And so I think that that kind of accountability works great if you have someone you can be totally honest with.
Dina Newsom:Yeah, and I liked the last little part of what he said. There was do you have someone in your life that truly knows you and still fully loves you? So there's not the judgment that we have too much of. Oh, I can't tell people those deep, dark sides of me, or I can't show that weakness that they're still going to love us. The other thing I really loved about this was when Zach pointed out that what's the first thing that Jesus does? He gets a group of guys around him so that they can do this together, that they can disciple together and do life together. And that just reminds me so much of our connect groups here at King of Kings that we encourage people to be in. You have to have your people, and sometimes that's your work people or your family or your connect group at church that is really pouring into that. Yeah.
Julie Eesley:Yeah, and I just would say hey, if you're in a connect group, step into deeper levels of authenticity. Be that first person who shares right? Somebody has got to always break the ice in those circumstances and start to have the deeper conversation. And so you know, try to find a person that you feel like could be trustworthy and just start to open up your life more. Sometimes it's a process, but it's worthwhile to pursue.
Roger Theimer:Yeah, and what moves us beyond just becoming a religion, you know, and for some it's worthwhile to pursue, yeah, and what moves us beyond it just becoming a religion, you know, and, and for some it's just intimidating because how can I do that? And it seems too religious. Now, this really isn't a religion thing. What makes it a relationship is a simple question of asking so what? What is God doing in your world? And that's the person or persons that we need to have a normal conversation like that. Now, it's a spiritual conversation, but it's normal.
Roger Theimer:And if we don't have them, we're not going to have the freedom and the space I love that word to dig down and ask okay, well, lord, really, what are you doing here? Help me pay attention to it.
Julie Eesley:Yeah, and your faith is connected to your real life. Yeah, who knew? Yeah, right. And so you're just talking to a person about your real life and where Jesus intersects with that, right yeah, which is, by the way, everywhere. But you slowly discover that more and more, yeah.
Dina Newsom:So in week two of this series, zach kind of moved on to talk about the design, and his focus of this was a lot of the Beatitudes. What did you guys take away, roger, I'm sure the Beatitudes is something you've studied time and time again. What was your takeaway?
Roger Theimer:Well, I love how he redeemed the word happy and he put it back into the Bible where it needs to be, and we're not making a God of happy, because it's not our God, but it is held in contrast. But it is held in contrast. It catches your attention that the other half of that equation are things that the world would not call happy.
Roger Theimer:You know poor in spirit, meek, yeah, persecuted, what I didn't sign up for that. And that is such a sense of what the kingdom of God looks like. It does not look like this world. That's not this world's standards, that's not how we pursue happiness. But we also get happiness not by pursuing happiness, but by pursuing the poor in spirit. Let's pursue poor in spirit and watch happiness come out of it.
Julie Eesley:Yeah, I love that too. I mean just Zach saying Jesus is greatly interested in your happiness. It's the thing that he tackles at the top of the Sermon on the Mount. And what I love is that Jesus knows best about how to have a life that's full of flourishing. Oftentimes we think about Jesus in a certain way. I know personally for me I was challenged in this I read this Jesus is the smartest person who ever lived, right, you think? Oh, he's wise and he's full of peace and all of these things. He knows best what will make you happy. And in order to have a life of purpose and joy and flourishing, jesus says here's the way to get that. Let me just lay it out for you. I'm not going to make it hard to figure out. It may look countercultural, but these are the things that actually will bring you true happiness, and we're wise to listen to him.
Dina Newsom:I think there's a lot of times that I come across people, or even feel that way myself, that hey, give me some clear directions here. God, like I'm struggling with whatever it is, give me some clear directions. He kind of does in the Bible if we remember and turn to it.
Julie Eesley:Yes, yeah, absolutely.
Dina Newsom:Yeah, I really liked how Zach talked about being a peacemaker and not a peacekeeper, about being a peacemaker, and not a peacekeeper but a peacemaker, and I really that stuck out to me because I feel like a lot of times we're trying to keep the peace or not ruffle feathers or stuff, and this is an active way of keeping the peace, like to think of things, that that's our responsibility, our action, to try to keep the peace.
Julie Eesley:Yeah, Thoughts about that, Raj.
Roger Theimer:Well, there's an underlying, current in all of Jesus' teaching and it comes hand in glove with the kingdom of God. And that's loving well, it's being loved well and then sharing loving well with others. And you love well when you don't just placate, you help them get through some of the conflict that's standing in the way. Let's be peacemakers.
Dina Newsom:Right, it's really an active kind of thing.
Julie Eesley:Peacekeeping usually is like let's just do as little as possible and hope this all goes away. Peacemaking is much more active and will probably, because right any kind of conflict that you have. It's not just one person who's all wrong and the other person's all right. There are always things that we will need to own in a relationship that's going south, and so really humbling yourself and admitting and saying I'm sorry, asking for forgiveness, that's all really active peacemaking. Peacekeeping sometimes avoids that tough stuff.
Roger Theimer:The whole refrain behind those Beatitudes is a sense of humility, beginning to end. That lets you go through those and it's interesting that you can go through. Because of humility, you can go through boldly.
Julie Eesley:Right, it's a little bit paradoxical. I know yes, because you really don't have that much to lose. If you have your entire reputation to protect. Wow, that's going to be tough, but if you're laying that down, things become easier.
Dina Newsom:Okay, what about salt and light that? Was kind of one of the last things that Zach really hit on was dimensions.
Roger Theimer:I never knew the salt and covenant thing Because he said salt was one of the signs of the covenant and they would seal covenant with salt. Salt was one of the signs of the covenant and they would seal covenant with salt. But covenant is so vital to understanding how God sees us in relationship with him because he's making these agreements that draws into the life-fulfilling relationship with him Well, and because of that we take that same covenant relationship out to the world. Both salt and light are designed to penetrate. That's one of their primary purposes and you can say that covenant relationship ceiling is designed to penetrate to the world as well.
Julie Eesley:Mm-hmm. I really loved when he said salt never gets the glory when you're eating.
Julie Eesley:It's not like the salt is amazing, right, nobody ever says that, but if salt is lacking from well. Salt glorifies a dish, right, it brings out the amazingness of meat or whatever it is that your vegetables right, it just enhances that thing, brings glory to that dish. And when the salt is missing, you really notice it. And I think, as believers, if we're not right, we're just trying to reflect glory to Jesus, and when we're not doing that, the world is worse off for it.
Dina Newsom:Yes, it is so. Zach talked in both of these weeks about how the Sermon on the Mount is not about how to get to heaven. It's about how to bring heaven down here. So any final points on that before we wrap up.
Roger Theimer:Yes, you will not find in the Sermon on the Mount the plan for salvation. However, it's part of Jesus unfolding the plan of salvation. However, it's part of Jesus unfolding the plan of salvation. It's just that it starts with a very practical sense of how God's working in our lives, in the heart of doing until they saw the fulfillment of that kingdom come through Jesus' final victory in His death and resurrection. So, yeah, anyway, that was a helpful perspective for me to see once again that God's unfolding His story and the Sermon on the Mount was such a key part of that story, showing what this kingdom of God and this life of repentance looks like.
Julie Eesley:Yeah, and I just think I loved how he talked about you know, kind of that money that was left unclaimed. And if we're just saying, jesus, I'm viewing you as my ticket to heaven, but I'm just going to muddle through life on my own until I get there. We are leaving so much on the table. We're leaving so much wisdom, peace, joy, love, purpose, encouragement, just the personal relationship with Christ that brings so much consolation in the right here and now. And so God has so much for us in our journey here on earth, and are we really mining it for all it's worth?
Roger Theimer:Well said, julie, yeah.
Dina Newsom:Yes, thank you so much for being here today with us. We'll look forward to discussing more in future weeks of this. Nuts and Volts, and so, for right now, let's keep living our lives beyond Sunday.
Roger Theimer:But where's the bubble gum?
Julie Eesley:Thank you.
