Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha, NE. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
Game On - Choose Your Weapon
In this Beyond Sunday episode, Dina, Chad, and Pastor Greg dig into the story of David and Goliath, challenging the common underdog narrative. They explore how David was actually equipped and prepared for the battle, what it means to use our unique spiritual gifts and weapons, and how God works through those who make themselves available rather than those who appear most able.
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Thanks for listening!
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive a little bit deeper into our sermon series and see what we're taking beyond Sunday. My name is Dena Newsom and I am wonderfully pleased to have some great guests today, so go ahead and introduce yourselves, guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm Greg and I'm Chad, come on.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad that you could be here. So this week's sermon series is week two of our Game On series and as I was kind of trying to come up with a starter question, I noticed that this week is National Soft Ice Cream Day.
Speaker 2:Nice and.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you guys know that.
Speaker 2:Soft ice cream. Yeah, soft ice cream. That's a specification of ice cream, I think it's actually next Sunday, so it's coming up Sunday. Yeah, soft serve at all campuses.
Speaker 1:If you want to authorize the budget for that, that's a whole. Nother, I don't have the power to say that the money is easy.
Speaker 2:It's all the cleanup and the stickiness and making sure you don't have McDonald's ice cream things.
Speaker 1:It's always broken.
Speaker 3:McDonald's is always broken. We can get an ice cream machine and then students can just take it over afterwards.
Speaker 2:There you go, best soft serve. What do you guys think?
Speaker 1:My question is what's your favorite ice cream Toppings? But?
Speaker 2:also, where do you like to get your soft serve?
Speaker 1:from. That's a good question too. So what's your favorite soft serve? So what's your favorite soft serve, favorite toppings I love vanilla, so I actually just like plain.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I just had.
Speaker 2:I don't know if Lori will listen to this or not. I hope not. The other day I was like getting Costco gas and I was like I really want an ice cream, so I went in and got a soft serve and ate it on the way home. I was like man Costco, soft serve is really good $1.99.
Speaker 3:Amazing, did the hot dog combo. You can't go wrong.
Speaker 2:Like put the hot dog in the ice cream.
Speaker 3:Well, no, it sounds gross, it's like eating the hot dog.
Speaker 1:The ice cream on the hot dog.
Speaker 3:Probably not that either, johnny, and.
Speaker 2:I did do the hot dog wrapped up in a piece of pizza. Oh my gosh, the content was ridiculously bad.
Speaker 3:But was it?
Speaker 2:good? I don't. I think that for me at my age the sodium was so bad I wasn't even if it was good? I don't think I could do it again and live. But did it taste good? It wasn't it wasn't bad.
Speaker 1:Okay, what was the one bite rating on that one?
Speaker 2:I think I gave it maybe a seven seven point Sodium was really hard.
Speaker 3:That's a high rating for such high sodium, though yeah but it was good.
Speaker 2:Yes, I guess it was good, that's funny.
Speaker 3:Um, I love ice cream. It's one of my favorite desserts. We actually had ice cream as our dessert at our wedding. Carolyn and I did, rather than cake, um and my, my, his ice cream um was a ras black raspberry chunk, so it's black raspberry ice cream with chocolate chunks in the middle, so that chocolate chunks will be middle, that's really unique. Chocolate chunks will be my topping of choice. It was also one of our first dates that we went on to the same ice cream place.
Speaker 1:What ice cream place it was Handles. Oh, which is not national.
Speaker 3:It's Midwest mostly. There's a couple in Indiana where I'm from, but there was one in Austin, right down the street from Concordia, and we made it a frequent place.
Speaker 1:Cool, cool.
Speaker 2:TCBY is my favorite, which technically is frozen yogurt, but that's my favorite Country's best yogurt. Yeah, yeah, hillary Clinton. Big fan of TCBY, she is.
Speaker 1:It's not as accessible. So Runza is like my backup, Runza's twist ice cream. There's something to be said. It's not bad.
Speaker 2:Is that TCBY on like 142nd and Maple still open or 145th? I honestly don't know. I know there's one like in Ralston, oh seriously. I don't live in that part of town, so now I got to go up there Make a trip.
Speaker 1:Make a trip for it. My favorite topping is gummy bears. I don't know why gummy bears in the outside if you leave them sit, but gummy bears and vanilla soft serve.
Speaker 2:It's a delightful combination.
Speaker 1:Almost as delightful as the Legend of Zelda. Is this a game?
Speaker 3:you guys have played. I have never played Legends of Zelda. I'll be honest, I never have.
Speaker 2:I think I maybe played it once or twice, like on an Atari or like maybe an early PlayStation once or twice. But I was a sports game guy, so this kind of fantasy, role play game stuff to me has zero interest in gaming, but Jesus, I'm good.
Speaker 1:Story of David Solid.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I've played that story a little bit. I've heard of that story a few times.
Speaker 1:Zelda not so much, yeah um, I didn't ever enjoy the legend of zelda. I enjoyed that there was a female in the name that's what you know when I was growing up, everything was very male driven in video games wait, so zelda's a female ago zelda is the name of the princess, oh yeah and then link is your, link is the elf, yeah, link is the elf Elf Adamant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, so that was always the.
Speaker 1:There was a princess, and I knew who Zelda was. So more girl power.
Speaker 3:That was. That was why I was attracted to it. And then Zelda.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, princess Peach was much lesser known back in that day. Zelda was like the first one that became big. Cool, yeah, it was great. Anyways, this week was week two and Pastor Zach Zender talked about from our Game On series. This theme was really about choosing your weapon. So what are?
Speaker 3:you guys taking beyond Sunday from this week week. Um, I mean, I think I just loved Zach's um picture of of that. His weapon and his family's generational weapon has been a microphone and that was that was a really cool idea to hear of. Just that. That's what he's been gifted in, that's what that's what he does and that's what he does an amazing job at. Um David he will talk about a little bit, but he wasn't the underdog, he was a trained specialist in this weapon and God used that training from his time as a shepherd to defeat Goliath when it needed to be happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's really good. But I think, as I think, about kind of choosing the weapons you know God has gifted us in so many different ways.
Speaker 2:And so what? What are we? What are we using that God's gifted us in order to, um, you know, not only uplift, encourage, support, um, david, right, uh, save the Israelites, um, but then also defeat the, defeat the enemy. And so I just think it's so important for us to know how has God wired you and then lean into that gift and that weapon. I think sometimes we see other people's weapons and wish that we had theirs, or we don't use ours and we just kind of leave it locked in a closet. And yet, like God has said, no, you have what you need to not only defeat Satan, but also to reach people that aren't being reached.
Speaker 1:What really stuck with me was the original image that he gave about, like the first screen in Zelda, where it says it's dangerous to go alone and you know that's giving you one of your weapons. But it's also like I like the idea that we don't go through any of our journeys alone because God is with us. Like other people are with us and surrounding us too, but God is with us too. So that's what really stuck out to me. All right, so this message really kind of focused on the story of David and Goliath, which is fairly well known. But I'm wondering if one of you wants to give like the 30 second sum up of really the story of how David even showed up there. I think that's the piece of the story that maybe some people don't always know and like who Goliath really was to either one of you want to tackle that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, go for it, jen, I got it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it was this army, excuse me, a war between the Israelites and the Philistines, and this army had been plagued by this massive giant, goliath, standing in the middle of the valley for too long, saying have one of your men come and fight me. If I win, we'll take over your people and you'll worship our gods, and vice versa if Israelites win. But of course, that seemed like an unfair fight, because Goliath was this nine foot man, and Zach emphasizes, on Sunday, the reach of a nine foot man. If you know, boxing, the size matters, the length of the arm matters in the fight, and so none of the Israelites wanted to fight.
Speaker 1:So surprise, surprise, exactly.
Speaker 3:So, just coincidentally, god's provision working through Jesse, david's father had asked for David to bring some food for his brothers. Once again, Zach pointed out that David was overlooked and was seen as just a charcuterie delivery boy. The Uber Eats delivery boy.
Speaker 3:That was funny and he was there and David's like what's going on, guys? Why are we scared? We've got on our side. It wasn't even a thought in his mind that there was any sort of fear or any hindrance of why we're not going and fighting Goliath right now. And so King Saul tried to put armor on him and and it's it's funny that the classic Sunday school picture that you think of the armor not fitting him and it was really really small guy and big armor, but probably more realistically, he just wasn't used to the armor, right, and that's that wasn't something that God gifted him to use in the battle. But he went over to the stream. He was an expert in his craft from from killing lions and tigers and bears.
Speaker 3:Oh my Um but, this, this, this training that he's had for years and years and years to use a sling effectively, to put it exactly where the rock needed to go to take life down the first throw and, as we know how the story ends, david took down Goliath and God won once again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's amazing. Thank you for that. So how is David, who is typically seen as the little guy who overcomes all of these things, how is he not an underdog in this battle?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of ways. First, Chad, so eloquently and rightfully right, Like he was skilled in this craft. I mean, he think there's a lot of ways. First, Chad, so eloquently and rightfully right, Like he was skilled in this craft, I mean he had been doing this, he had been protecting, and look at this imagery right, so he's a shepherd, he's protecting the sheep, he is the foreshadowing of Jesus, and so I love that imagery that is there, that he's grown his whole life protecting his sheep from all that would devour him, seek to kill, steal and destroy.
Speaker 2:I also think and I think it was Seth that was talking about this and so that in kind of maybe it's Jewish folklore in the Talmud, whatever it is, but five stones and it wasn't five, because I might miss it was Goliath had five brothers, and so what it would be or four brothers, what it would be would be, if he does, when he does take him out, the brother should come after him, and so he's ready to finish the job from from step one. Now God said, no, you just need one, and then they're all going to scatter and they're going to get killed. So, yeah, so I think he was skilled and he knew what he was really good at. And, man, if we could just remember what is your niche and what are you good at and then just deeply dive into that for the kingdom.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we try and live in this world where, like you said before just the comparison game right we see somebody with a microphone and that's their gifting, the weapon that God has given them to use, and we want that tool. But if Mario had a microphone he couldn't have saved the Princess Peach. God gives you what you need to defeat the enemies that are in front of you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I come from a history of kids ministry and we always portray David as this small, weak, scared boy. David as this small, weak, scared boy, and I think there's a level of that. That's okay when you're telling kids, because you're teaching them that God gives them the strength and the courage. But I really liked how Zach portrayed David as this confident, almost arrogant. He knew he just needed those five stones. He didn't hesitate at all, like, went straight in and was like we're just going to go take care of this and I'm thanks for the armor, but I don't, I can't use that either, you know and went in knowing that this was already won you know, because of his confidence in God, so I really like that.
Speaker 3:And I wouldn't even call it arrogance, but I just say confidence in who God's gifted him to be right, Like he knew what he was there to do and it wasn't even a thought in his mind that anything else was gonna happen. Like what if we lived our life with that confidence with God?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's trust right, like when you trust that you're in the right place in the right time for the right season, then you just kind of walk in going. I'm supposed to be here. I know what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah.
Speaker 1:So Pastor Zach mentioned Ephesians 6, verses 10 to 12, kind of, when we were talking about this battle, and so that reads Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So how can we, using this verse and kind of the story of David and just who God is, how can we better understand and prepare for our spiritual battles do?
Speaker 3:you guys think Well, it's interesting because you have another question on spiritual gift versus spiritual weapon. Can you ask that quickly?
Speaker 1:Chad's just jumping ahead. Zach talked a lot about spiritual gifts, but then he also talked about spiritual weapons, and my question really was what's the difference? Is there a difference between them?
Speaker 3:I would say there's a huge difference, right, how Jesus uses his spiritual weapon against the devil, against the devil's temptations to steal, kill and destroy. He uses God's word against the devil and that's what that armor of God it uses as a sword is the word of God to defend the threats, the attempts of the devil to attack us, and that's our spiritual weapon that we can use as an offensive measure. But then our spiritual gifts I would see that as a completely different gifting and a completely different topic, where your spiritual gifts are things that God's gifted you to reach the lost, almost the ways that God's gifted you to relate to people, to be Jesus with skin on, how God has given you traits that Jesus has, that the perfect son of God has, to relate people and as almost as a vessel towards God, versus the spiritual weapon of defending the evil forces of the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would agree wholeheartedly. They're very, very different. I think your spiritual armor is, and your spiritual weapons, you know, are the breastplate of righteousness, the Bible, the word of God, right, all those things that everyone has full use of, all those things that everyone has full use of, and so some we may find more skilled use in, but we still have full use of all of them, and they're necessary to really do an offensive. And so that's the battle part where our spiritual giftedness is. As faithful people, I don't have every use of all the spiritual gifts.
Speaker 2:I don't have the ability to use them all. I'm not gifted with all of them, and they're not necessarily for offensive as much as they're for edification. And so how am I using those to build up the body of Christ and be a part of the body of Christ, whether it's as a pinky, an eye or a toe?
Speaker 2:or whatever it may be, and then using those gifts that God has given me. So for me, in my spiritual giftedness, it's giving and generosity, encouragement, barnabas style, those types of things. So one, I would say, is more for offensive battle against the evil powers of darkness, and the other one is for edification and being a part of the body of Christ.
Speaker 1:So what really brought that question up for me was, when Zach was talking about the microphone, that this was something that was a gift that he inherited, but it was also something that he could use as a weapon. So that was what like okay, how different are these in there? Weapon. So that was what like okay, how different are these in there? You know, sometimes our gifts, I think, could be weapons spiritual, used as spiritual weapons, depending on what they are. So I don't, that was what brought that question up for me. Okay, so going back to the, the armor from Ephesians, like what else are things that you think that we can do when we're trying to prepare ourselves for spiritual battles? Like, what do you think becomes part of our routine, or what are the important parts that we need to get ready for? Or one of the things Zach talked about was practice, you know.
Speaker 2:I don't know if that fits in or what do you think? Yeah, I don't know that I would say practice, I really I think, when we're talking about armor and the battle, and I would use preparedness in this respect, I think one of the issues we have in Western Christendom, and especially American Christendom, is the gift of the weapon of the word of God, and we have such a biblically illiterate society, biblically, you know, we're just not used to using our Bible, being in our Bible reading the word of God, and I think it's because we make it into this, just this difficult thing of like okay, I would be in the word, I have to read all of a chapter, and it's like no, just read a scripture passage, just read a verse and just be in the word and then ask your question of how can this apply to me?
Speaker 2:And then allow that word to just filter back within you whenever you need it. But but you know, I look at how did Jesus fight Satan face to face. It was with the word of God. Every single time he went back to a scripture passage and says but God says this, and so I really want to encourage people grab the weapon of the word and be in that word.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, you'll be shocked that when you're in the word, how God puts you in positions to use that word.
Speaker 3:When I was growing up I didn't read my Bible.
Speaker 3:I didn't know how to, I didn't know what to do Kind of like what you were saying, greg, just how much when all the questions that go through your mind, when you think of, like logistically, how to do something, but the moment that I kind of just like threw down all my questions and kind of attempts to just minimize that and just be like, oh, I'll mess with it later, I'll deal with it later. But just to actually read the Bible, um, to to see God's word, to see God in action and in reality, and that's kind of, in essence, what, what God's word is, the, the stories and testimonies of his people following him, and how can you do that and use those ideas and ideologies to help you in your life. And the times when I've been in scripture the most and actually read the word, it's times where that afternoon I'm talking to somebody who needed to hear exactly what I read that morning, and those are the coolest moments when you get to just see God's word alive through you, reaching somebody else, and it's just so, so cool.
Speaker 1:I kind of was the same way I wasn't normally in scripture for a long time and then in a Bible study that I was in, we were looking up verses to compare to something and one of the men in the study said well, when I look up a verse, I always feel like I don't really understand it fully because you can really take it out of context and reshape it to mean something that maybe was not what God intended.
Speaker 1:And he said I always like to read the two verses before and the two verses after, and that was like mind-blowing to me so simple, but so big.
Speaker 2:I know, it seemed so simple.
Speaker 1:But so then I would catch myself doing that and things took on a whole different meaning, or I felt like I understood so much more of God's intent for that message and it didn't take that much more time to read two more verses before and two more verses after, but that was a life changer for me in the way I understood the word.
Speaker 1:Okay. So, Greg, you talk a lot about spiritual gifts and I know that's something you believe wholeheartedly in. Like how have you seen them play out in your own life or in lives of people around you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think for me, you know, my top spiritual gifts are generosity, leadership, and then teaching or preaching, and so so for me, like you know, I I love living a life of generosity. I, I love the dream that, and probably Lori and I are pretty close within a decade at least of someday, very soon, the largest, the largest donation we'll make every month, or the largest I don't want to say bill, but check. We don't write checks but if we did right, Chad will have to learn what a check is too. Maybe he can cash one, but the largest check we'll write will be to our church, and I can't wait for that day. Like to me, that will be such a amazing piece. And you know, and so I see that playing out. I've had that play out.
Speaker 2:I had a guy who's a good friend of ours. His wife died suddenly. She had a massive stroke, she was healthy, 61, and just one of those things and just one of those things. And he came in about three weeks later and he handed me three envelopes, one for me, one for another, two other of our pastors, and he just said, he said there's only one rule with this envelope and I was like what? And he said it's for you and your wife only, Okay. And he said my marriage was so strong and we didn't always choose time for each other, and if we had, it would have even been stronger.
Speaker 2:And I want to give you that gift. And I opened it up and it was a note and in the note it basically said I'm paying for a vacation anywhere in the nation for you.
Speaker 2:And so it was a check that had enough to pay for a vacation for all of us, and so Lori and I went to Boston and to Vermont for a week just ourselves, without our two kids. It was our first and last vacation we've done just, and that generosity, like I'll never forget it and I love to be able to try to return that stuff. So, yeah, that's how that that that one's played out for me, that's cool For me.
Speaker 3:I, before I knew what my spiritual gifts were. I can look back in my life and see how I was gifted in those ways, like looking back now. Um, when I was in high school, I was always the person that people would come to and like share their hearts. I was always the person that that when somebody needed advice or somebody just had a hard thing going on, I would find myself being the person they came and talked to, looking back and to be able to see my strengths and my gifts. Now that I'm a connector, that I'm a listener, that I'm a teacher, and it just makes so much sense and I think once you find your gift, it just makes so much sense. All the dots connect and you can just see yourself thrive through who God's gifted and designed you to be and to do all the things that he wants for you and what he's aligned your life for, when you know what your giftings are and what you're good at.
Speaker 1:I think it's funny for me.
Speaker 1:I didn't really recognize some of my gifts and I'm very like strategic and logistics, detail-oriented, that kind of thing, and I used to joke with my friends that I'd go to volunteer for a group, the school PTO, or with Girl Scouts or something, and I always ended up being in a leadership position or heading a committee position and I was like, okay, this wasn't exactly what I walked in here for, but it was those gifts that just oh well, I had ideas or I was more outspoken than the other people were.
Speaker 1:So then they just naturally were like, oh well, dina, you can do this, we'll follow you, you have a plan, so we'll just go with this. And I didn't recognize those as gifts at the time. It took me a while and it took me time to take a spiritual gift survey, which we have here at King of Kings. It's available in the app or on the website. If you haven't taken it yet, it takes like seven to ten minutes, so go do it. It's great. But I hadn't ever looked at them as gifts like that and that was just something that was unrecognizable for me.
Speaker 2:And I think, when you know your gifts, what I also love is and Pat Langeone talks about this in Working Genius, it's part of the Working Genius, but I think also you can apply it to our spiritual gifts is it removes guilt and judgment. And so, like, craftsmanship is literally my last Of our gift inventory and there's a ton out there but of ours like working with my hands is 34. And so I think in the past I used to have this like I'd take students on on mission trips and I'd be like, oh, I want to build a house and I hated every second of the building the house. I'd find ways to take a break or sit down with a kid or find a Fanta or play with one of the little kids, and and so then I had guilt of like why are they sweating and they're doing all this work? And I think sometimes there'd be judgment, like of course there's a pastor lazy and playing with a kid.
Speaker 2:But then it's a reminder of like that spiritual gift, like that's not my giftedness, like I'm not, I'm never going to be the missionary that says let's go build a house and that's okay because God didn't call me to that, and so I'm okay with that. I'm comfortable in that skin because that's my giftedness, and so I'm okay with that. I'm comfortable in that skin because that's my giftedness, and so it releases guilt and judgment when you know it, because then you understand your purpose.
Speaker 1:And when you use your gifts in the right way, I think it fills you up so much more. And you feel so empty when you're not using those gifts. Yeah, all right. So, as we kind of wrap up today, what are your final takeaways from this? Choose your Weapon. Legend of Zelda, week.
Speaker 2:My final takeaway and I like that there's so many sidewalks. My final takeaway is just a recall. I had a guy that I was, fortunate enough, he's the president of the Global Leadership Summit now. David Ashcraft is his name. He was a pastor of they call it the largest church that nobody's ever heard of. They have 28 campuses, about 30,000 people in Pennsylvania. No one's ever heard of them.
Speaker 2:It's called LCBC, and he was speaking to us and he said how are you lending your advantage to others? And the truth is, god has given us all advantages in something, and we're called as servants who love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We're called as servants to lend our advantage or give our advantage away. And so how are you using your advantage to help other people and to give them a hand up, not a handout? And so this message also reminded me of that. Like, how are we using the advantage that we have been given to do something greater for people standing behind us? David used his advantage of knowing and being a shepherd and using the stones to rescue and redeem the Israelites.
Speaker 3:I think for me, it's to know where I'm gifted and to do more of that. I've been in professional ministry for all of seven weeks now and it's exciting and it's also a little terrifying, because there's days where I'm exhausted and I don't know why, and there's days that I'm not exhausted and it feels really good. But off this message that there's things that I'm good at that fill me up and there's things that I'm not good at that I need to let other people do Um, and just to give myself grace. And when I'm exhausted, when I'm, when I'm doing something that just doesn't fill me up, how can I seek to? Well, I like what you said, greg to allow somebody else to be raised up in that moment rather than me do it poorly, like it's. In every way, it's a better option. So that's what I'm learning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what I really took away from this one was a statement that Zach made. Where that was, god will work more through the available than the able, and it was kind of tied in with last week. He talked about just showing up. Zach talked about just showing up, and this is a little bit of the same thing that we just need to be open to God using us and putting us in the right place, giving us the right weapons, tools, you know, for whatever situation, and allowing Him to. Let us serve Him and let us grow the kingdom and let us do whatever it is that he knows is in our path.
Speaker 1:So, that's what really spoke to me. All right guys. Well, thank you so much for being here today. We are going to continue this next week with week three and what. I can't even remember. What video game are we doing this next?
Speaker 3:week Super Smash Bros, super Smash.
Speaker 1:Are you a Super Smash Brothers?
Speaker 3:person? No, not really. I played Fortnite a lot, so when it comes to week four I'll get excited. But even. Super Smash Bros. I didn't play much.
Speaker 1:No, I played.
Speaker 2:Madden.
Speaker 1:I love Super Smash Brothers. It's week five right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. Week five Madden.
Speaker 1:This was the game that I had no mercy with my children.
Speaker 2:I didn't let them win, to be nice.
Speaker 1:This was my chance to prove myself, so we'll take a look at that and continue David's story, and until then, let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday.
