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 and coffee break theology from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha & Fremont, Nebraska. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
Sinners Anonymous — Week 3
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Dina, Pastor Greg, and Kate continue the Sinners Anonymous series with Jonah 3 and the hope of second chances. They explore confession, forgiveness, and spiritual growth, reminding us that God can work through us before we have everything figured out—and that progress matters more than perfection.
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Coffee Talk And Real Life
SPEAKER_03Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive a little bit deeper into our message series and see what we're taking Beyond Sunday. My name is Dina Newsome, and I am ecstatic to be here with some amazing guests today. Go ahead, say hello.
SPEAKER_00I like that how we dive deeper, like Jonah dove so deep. Fish, giant fish is belly.
SPEAKER_03So so deep.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_03You're supposed to say your name actually, Gigi.
SPEAKER_00I am Greg.
SPEAKER_03And I'm Kate Solberg. So I don't I don't know if you guys know this. It has nothing to do with diving deeper in fish, but today is National Coffee Day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you did. Okay, you would know.
SPEAKER_00Uh Sunday, Monday, today's Tuesday, Tuesday, and I think maybe through tomorrow. Wow. It's free coffee. Got to order through the app.
SPEAKER_03Huh. Wow. Good to know. Okay, so what's the thing?
SPEAKER_00Scooters' best thing they did was they did a dollar the entire month of September, about three years ago. And I was like, all right, well, a dollar for coffee. Which, if you get only black coffee, which I get, it should not be. I pay two $2.19 every time I get coffee from Scooters. It shouldn't be that much. It should be a dollar. If I opened a coffee shop, I'd be like, black coffee's a dollar. That's it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Like it literally costs them maybe three cents to make it. I mean something like ridiculous. Anyways.
SPEAKER_03So what's your go-to coffee order? Do you always get black? Do you ever get in the morning?
SPEAKER_00I get black. Um, and then if I get an afternoon coffee, then I get a uh white mocha with oat milk and an extra shot.
SPEAKER_02Iced.
SPEAKER_00But that's my extra.
SPEAKER_02Espresso in the afternoon? Wow. Yeah. Are you up all night?
SPEAKER_00No, I go to sleep like a baby. Ask my wife.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Greg goes to sleep really early too. I do know this. Super. I'm all for that. What about you, Kate? Um, go-to coffee order.
SPEAKER_02I will definitely not be drinking black coffee. That would just nope, my stomach can't handle it. Um, there I am a big fan of pecans. Pecans.
SPEAKER_00Pecans.
SPEAKER_02Depending on where you're from in the country.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Some people say.
SPEAKER_00Do you like pecan pie?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But they have like Starbucks has like um like a pecan um latte right now. So yeah. If you put pecan in anything, I wouldn't like it probably.
SPEAKER_03I can't say I've ever seen you with a coffee. I don't think I've ever seen you with a coffee.
SPEAKER_02No, I usually do hot tea a lot in the winter, but not coffee.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I'm a latte person. I enjoy a good latte like vanilla, hazelnut. Um, but most of the time I get decaf because my stomach doesn't take the caffeine. Yeah. Yeah. As you get older, these terrible things happen. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That uh I do like the cold foam that's flavored. Have you ever ever had that? Like it's like the I don't know, that's really good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I got the protein cold foam yesterday. Yeah. Protein cold foam.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Were you lifting or you needed some? Like, why'd you need protein?
SPEAKER_02No one gets enough protein, apparently. No one. So I was like, okay, put some protein cold foam in my pecan coffee. It was delicious.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You can taste the protein?
SPEAKER_02No, but I just knew in my head, I'm like, yes, check out the protein. They should do bacon instead.
SPEAKER_00If you throw bacon in there, then it'd be protein and it'd be delicious.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. Do you think that would taste good with pecan?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, bacon and a pecan pie?
SPEAKER_02Oh. Pecan pumpkin pancakes with a side of bacon. Oh.
SPEAKER_00I don't like pumpkin.
SPEAKER_02What?
SPEAKER_00No, it's so gross. I hate this whole month.
SPEAKER_03So you're not. I was gonna say like pumpkin spice latte is not your.
SPEAKER_00No, matter of fact, I was a little angry at scooters today because their sticker they put on my cup was like pumpkin lover, and I was like, no.
SPEAKER_03Wrong sticker. Give me a different cup. Sorry. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Here's a good one.
SPEAKER_03For my dollar coffee.
SPEAKER_00Do you so I used to, I've now stopped, but like, you know, because when you order any app, you can like up a tip. So it'd be like 219. And then I, you know, because I live in Omaha, I think my taxes were another 19 cents or something like that. But in Fremont, they're actually on 10 cents, which was really good. But I was like, uh, I asked the guy, I said, Would you rather have me tip every time on the app? Or would you rather have me occasionally just give you a 10 or a $20 bill? And he goes, the $10 or $20 bill. And I was like, really? And he said, Yeah. He goes, first, we don't see the tips. And he said, I mean, we see them, but they're split through the entire store.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And he's like, Your 19 cents isn't doing much. I'd rather you give me the 10. I was like, great. What do you do? Perfect. Do you tip on the app or do you just do an occasional?
SPEAKER_02Well, my daughter used to work a scooter, so I knew she would prefer the cash any day of the week. So yeah. And then my son worked at Chipotle. He's like, Yeah, don't even tip, Mom. None of us see it. I was like, okay. So I've heard that.
SPEAKER_03I specifically keep cash in my car to tip when I drive through. I don't order in the app. I don't always plan ahead. I don't know what I'm in the mood for. I order in the app so smiles. Yeah, deal and deals.
SPEAKER_00Though scooters started expiring smiles, which is drives me crazy.
SPEAKER_03I don't like expiring smiles.
SPEAKER_00We're not suing them, but I'm just like we're promoting them and critiquing them. I do love scooters, but like trying to think here. Yeah, I have 1,400 scooter smiles right now.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_00Maybe they cash those in. I I do hoard I hoard points and smiles.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Well, it used to be because they didn't expire. Now he's gonna have to make a different game plan. I have to take your wife for coffee. She hasn't drink coffee. Oh Frapuccino. Do your daughters do either of your daughters drink coffee? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'll take them for some stuff.
SPEAKER_03You can you can take Kate for a pecan.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if scooters has pecan stuff. Then I'm not going.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Sorry, that was abrupt.
SPEAKER_01It's abrasive.
SPEAKER_03Sorry, Scooters. We're getting your name out a lot, but
Jonah And The Steps Forward
SPEAKER_03all right. I don't know how to transition from that back to the fish, but we're in week three of Sinners Anonymous. They serve coffee at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. So, you know, hey. They do.
SPEAKER_00Most tyrofoam cups, black.
SPEAKER_03Yep, yep. All right. We are in week three of Sinners Anonymous, and Pastor Zach Zender has been taking us through this in the story of Jonah. And so what are you guys taking beyond Sunday from this week's message, which we're in chapter three of Jonah, and we're kind of looking at steps four and five of the steps list.
SPEAKER_02Well, mostly just a big heavy feeling of stress that I need to schedule a two-hour session where I write down everything I've done wrong in my life, which I'm pretty sure two hours is not enough time. But I am convinced there is benefit to that. But I'm just like, I'm having a battle with myself. Like, when do I do it? Am I gonna do it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm a cigar smoker, and a two-hour cigar sounds terrible to me. I was like, oh, like that didn't even sound good.
SPEAKER_03What sounds good in cigar length? Like half an hour.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. Like I, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But two hours of uh not like that part I didn't like.
SPEAKER_02I don't want 30 seconds. Sounds disgusting all the way around.
SPEAKER_01It's a nice part. I'm gonna turn it around. Sorry. Kate's like speaking to herself. Did I say that out loud? I'm turning it around right now.
SPEAKER_00My gosh. Wow. It's only Tuesday, Kate. Yeah. Well, I mean, I that it it's interesting. I I don't know. I don't know where I yeah. I mean, just responding to that, I'm not sure how I felt about that. I mean, I understand, I think, in a counseling, sometimes it's good to remember that you you carry flaws into every situation as well. And to remember that nothing's a one-sided street of like I'm always a victim, and or you know, and I have zero idea what his counseling session was about. But I also am like, man, I feel like especially in our culture in our day, I feel like most people are pretty hard on themselves normally, anyway. So, you know, I I I don't know. I think there's times like like for me, if there's conflict, I find times to say, oh, let's like Greg, what did you bring into this that this this was this is where you own some responsibility on this, right? But like to sit down on a weekly basis and be like, what is so bad about myself? I feel like I I I sometimes wake up and like, ugh, you look like that. I mean, you know, so I think there's enough already there. So yeah. Um yeah. So what am I gonna take away? Maybe like be kinder to myself. I don't know. No, I think I think my takeaway is just to remember, like, um I I I think I I I just remember that that there's a reason why Jesus said um said to us in in the the Lord's Prayer, right? Forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. And and it's easy to want forgiveness and hard to give forgiveness, and yet we both need to we need to do both. And so um in the midst of this, like we we have we have culpable responsibility with pain. That's kind of what I took away.
SPEAKER_03I really like the reminder that our God is a god of second chances. Just I think sometimes we can get all caught up in this is a make or break moment, or God has presented me this opportunity, and if we blow it, oh, that's it. We've really blown it, but that he is a god of second and third and fourth and fifth and eternal chances. Yeah. Um, I really liked Zach mentioned the unexamined life is not worth living from Socrates. And I do think that is in those second chances. I do think it's healthy to look at, okay, where did I miss the boat? What did I do wrong? What could I do better? Maybe it wasn't something wrong, but what could I do better? Um, so I thought that was just a healthy reminder. All right. So Zach Opens talking about those second chances.
Second Chances In Parenting
SPEAKER_03Um, can you share a story from your life when you experienced this?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I I I can think of multiple times, right? Like my, I mean, as a parent, Lori and I were just talking about this the other day. About like uh, you know, I I had times where I I lost my my temper. I was I was not a good dad to my oldest daughter, and just, you know, would would yell or blow up, or you know, and I have a few times where like in my mind I can beat myself up about those. And I about a year ago I asked her about that. I was like, hey, do you remember? And she goes, I don't know what you're talking about. And I was like, Oh, praise God for that. Um, because I still am feeling some shame in that. Um, but but she, you know, kids have this wonderful way of of always doing second chances um with us, you know, and then I can think of as a kid with my parents, I mean, especially as a dad with two teens. Um, you know, like if if we didn't give our teens second chances, like they would never they would never stay in our house at between the ages of 14 and 18. I mean, they they'd be out every day almost. So they're just there's always something that they've done that's offensive or out of bounds or something like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I mean I they're I don't know if I've done anything right the first time, actually. So just and especially I agree with parenting, and I have an empty nest this year for the first time, and so I've had a lot of time to reflect like, whoa, like not my parenting is over, but definitely a season of my parenting is over. And then you're like, how did that go so fast? And I'm sure I could have done better, you know. Um, in my career before working at King and Kings, I was a teacher, and that's a great thing about kids is like I could I could tell my students all the time, like, not that I taught wrong things all the time, but it was very easy to be like, hey, let's look back at this problem. You know what? This is not the way I want you to do it. You know, kids are so quick to forgive generally, and they're like, okay, then they just move on, you know? So that is an admirable trait that I would love to possess.
SPEAKER_03So parenting was what I thought of first too. I have two kids that are a year apart, and then there's nine years till my son. And the world changed in those nine years. A lot of things, what was quote unquote culturally right or wrong or acceptable about parenting or socially, you know, was different. Even the supplies you bought for your children was different. And I I think a lot about how I parented my girls when they were teenagers, because those are some of the more tough or bigger decision, you know, making things, and then how I parented my son when he was a teenager. And my older children will tell you that he had it really easy. But I think I just learned better which hills to die on, you know, like which which were the bigger issues that I really needed to dig in about and which things I didn't need to make everything an argument or a fuss because I had regrets with my girls or things that maybe they remembered and maybe they didn't.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Kate, real quick. So as an empty nester, like who do you blame when all the pecan pies gone? Is it just on you?
SPEAKER_02Every time. Because I do buy and eat whatever I want now.
SPEAKER_00Look, that's one perk. Our oldest comes home and she's like, There's no food in your fridge. And I'm like, We eat what we want. Right. It's gone.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, maybe I had a big lunch. I don't need to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
Facing Overwhelming Calls
SPEAKER_03All right. So Jonah's call to Nineveh was a little bit of a daunting task. Have you ever faced a challenge that seemed overwhelming like that? And how did you respond?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Um, I remember um I came to faith at the age of 13 and in eighth grade. And when I was a new Christian, my parents definitely thought I had joined a cult. I I'd gone off the deep end. They thought they're like, whoa, like, whoa, you're going to youth group Wednesday church groups. I was like, that's a lot of church. And as I grew in my faith, there was one summer I came back from camp and I really felt the Lord prompting me to share my faith with my mom one-on-one. And I really felt like the Lord wanted me to do it in an intentional way to take her to lunch. I felt promptings from the Lord to buy her her own Bible. And I was so scared because again, my parents kind of thought I was wack-adoo, you know, um, for getting this involved in church. And so I did all the things. I took her to lunch. Um, we sat in my car and I shared my faith and I gave her the Bible. And then I asked her, I'm like, would you like to pray to accept Jesus as your Lord? Here I am, like 17. And I'm sure my mom was like, What is happening? Like, but she was such a good sport and she was like, and I I don't, I mean, she said yes, and she prayed in my car, and I'll never forget that. Now, I don't know what was in her head or heart, but she prayed with me and I'll always remember that. And it was so hard. And I kind of realized the rest isn't up to me. I did what the Lord, I felt like the Lord wanted me to do, and I was uncomfortable, but I felt like I was obedient, but it was a good feeling, but it was very hard. It was very difficult. And I still have like in my old Bible, the date where the Lord gave me a verse and said, This, this is what I want you to do. And I can look back and be like, oh my gosh, I remember that. So yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that that is. I I think sharing our faith is always like a daunting, a daunting task. I I think I I'm reading a book right now by Greg Ogden Ogden, which is about discipleship, and it's it's really good. Um, not the Greg Ogden who played for the Trailblazers, Kate, but the other author, Christian author. Thank you. Um, yeah. Um but um in there he talks about the steps of discipleship, and and there's kind of like there's like a pre-step, and then there's step one. And I think actually most, especially in our circles, Lutherans, I think most of us actually stay and get stuck in step one, uh, which there's actually five steps to discipleship, and is what he's positioning. And and a step where we get stuck is like just learning about the the way and the mission and the ministry of Jesus. And so so we wanna know more, we wanna, we wanna consume who was Jesus and what he was doing, all these things. But that's actually a very early step in discipleship. And then um step step two really runs into like what is the cost of discipleship? So what have you what did you get, what have you given up? Um, or what have what built what what have you taken on? And um when I think about that, um I think the the daunting things are where where we take the cost of actually like giving of ourselves. Like we do the things that are hard, we do the things that we don't know how to do. So I think about some of the daunting things. I think about the first time I was encouraged and took a step of faith to become a tither, um, which I was a student still. I was, you know, first time I ever I still I'll never forget it. I was in my office, I was a a vicar, so I was I was making like pennies on a dollar. Um I was the free intern, basically free intern, enough food, enough maybe to pay for my food. Um, but I'll never forget. So I look at my check and it's the first time ever that the check had four numbers to the left of the decimal point. And I was like, wow. And then the right as I like opened it, wow, it's almost like he was out listening. The the executive director peeks his head in and he goes, Hey, we noticed you guys you didn't put your tithe in, and we didn't ask about that. Do you want us to just take it out at the get-go every time before you get your check? And I was like, uh, take my what? And he goes, Your tithe. And I, you know, I don't want to say I didn't know what that was. So I was like, okay, I did definitely didn't know how much that was. So I was like, sure, do that. And then the next time I got a check, I was back down to like like it in the three digits to the left. But but it was daunting. It was like, oh man, am I really gonna do this every day or every paycheck? And you know, and and and our family always has even done, we've done um our gross, right? And so it's it's like take first day of the week right away. And so um, and then I think about the daunting times where like even just in in physical discipleship, like for me, is everyone I've I've preached about like weight's always been a journey for me, and it's up and down and here and there, and all those things. And yet, you know, I've I've started like thinking about the dauntingness of like, gosh, do I need to be always in abundance? Or or are there like does every meal for me have to be my best final meal? I'm not on death row. Um, I I can be okay. Um, and so um, you know, and even the daunting tasks then of of when I think about just um sharing my faith or stepping out, um, like I'm thinking about someone right now that I'm just praying for that I've watched kind of slide a step back in their discipleship journey. And it's like, great, you should talk to them, like, you know, and risk risk that friendship. Um, so yeah.
SPEAKER_03I think um for me, I really thought of this in my my marriage or ultimately my divorce. So my husband and I were married for 20 some years and then we were separated. And then through separation, we were in counseling and then we were reconciling and he was getting ready to move back in. And there was a point where I hit a wall where I was like, oh, this feels like a lot. Because now all of our dirty laundry is out on the table. We're working towards this, but we're by no means fixed, and we still have all of our problems, and he could walk away again, or I can walk away. And there's still this pain for my family, for my children, for me, you know. And is this whoa, is this really what I want? Is this really part of the plan? Is this really and it it was a a a lot overwhelming for me?
SPEAKER_00And don't you guys still go like, didn't you just go to Disney? Yeah, he didn't come on this trip. He didn't go on this trip for the city. We have yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I I will say last night we sat together at my daughter's house and played card games.
SPEAKER_00See, and I think that's where like the reconciliation of like, yeah, we're we can't be married, but golly, we can still do parts of life together. Like, I mean, that's just spiritual maturity of like being able to step into something. Um, and I think what what God would want, right? Like, like I mean, that's just that's just a big piece. So Well, that was a big thing.
SPEAKER_03When we first actually got divorced, which was four years after the initial separation, then everything was separated. You know what I mean? Like it was uncomfortable for both of us, it was uncomfortable for the kids. We had separate Christmases, separate Thanksgiving, and I hated that whole year. I felt like I was missing a chunk of my children's lives. And so we sat down together. He hated that year too. And we all live in the same town. And he was like, I don't want to do this. Can we figure this out? Can we put our differences aside enough? And I mean, we had both known each other longer. We had been a part of each other's lives longer than we had not known each other. And so, I mean, we had a lot of shared history, shared memories. And we decided, yes, we're going to try it and we're going to see how it goes. And we've taken several trips together. We are together almost weekly, probably at someone's house or my house or his house or my daughter's or, you know, stuff like that to do games to anything. So um yeah, it it is a choice. And it doesn't, it's not without pain. You know what I mean? But it is a choice of what's the bigger, the the bigger story. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well,
How To Take A Moral Inventory
SPEAKER_01all right.
SPEAKER_03So the idea of taking a moral inventory is emphasized. What are some practical steps that our listeners can take to honestly assess our own lives? This, like you said, two hours in a in a room maybe seems a wee bit intimidating.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I I always like I I think about like when I think about how I want to live my life, I've I've always had from very early on just said I want to live my life with no regrets. But I've also been a Christian. Um and and I would say like Jesus became real where like life changed for me um in in probably college, but even in high school, I had spots where I would choose my moral. I I was with some friends that weren't on a great moral compass, and I would have things where they would say, We're gonna do this, and I'd be like, I'll go, but I'm not gonna participate. Um so because it just wasn't part of my fabric. Um but now I try to live a lot with like if the if if this was displayed for the public, if my kids saw me doing this, um, would would that be okay? Um I know with my phone, one of the things I always try to work hard and pride myself is like if if when someone says, Hey, can I see your phone? I want to be able to hand them my phone and be like, Oh, I hope they don't open this app or look in this spot. And so like I, you know, so I always kind of think of it that way. Um I I I have some prayer intercessors that I just do life with really, really deeply and kind of know where anytime I'm struggling with something. Um and so I I think I think those inventories are always really healthy there. And and I think my last thing I I like to do is just think about um the question of when when I do, and I think every human being has our temptations. So when you have the temptation, the question I always ask myself, and I think I actually learned it from Kevin McClure. I think he he asked this question once was was just just uh okay, so you do that, and then what? So then like what's the next step, right? And so then, you know, it's like okay, you know, whatever it may be, and then what? And and generally it's that next thing where you're like, well, wait, I don't want to do that. And so, um, because I don't want that to become part of my natural fabric.
SPEAKER_02So that's good. Um, just being in the regular routine of sitting in church every Sunday when we do, you know, when we confess our sins, we we pray. Um I was just telling Dina that I don't have to run around as much during church now. And so I can actually be in service like sometimes two or three times on a Sunday. And then um we have a service at Parson's house in the afternoon Sunday too, and we read the words from the you know liturgy um through together. And so on a Sunday, I have multiple chances to to confess my sins and think about, you know, what I need to repent of. But the other time I feel like I take a moral inventory is when I start to be judgy of other people. And um I looked up the verse, it's Matthew 7, 3, when you're looking at a speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, when you have a plank in your own. Um, because that seems to help me. Like, nope, that's not where I need to be. I don't need to be looking at the speck, you know. Let me start. That's when I I think I would benefit from writing down, you know, what am I struggling with? You know, where where has God revealed you're falling short of the mark? Let me focus on that before I start picking specs out of other people's eyes.
SPEAKER_01That's good. That's fine.
SPEAKER_03This uh taking moral inventory was hard for me for a long time. And I think the therapy that I went through in my divorce really helped me because it looked at a lot of different aspects of my personal life. Um, and what I realized is that if I never took my own inventory or never really looked at what I was doing wrong or what I wasn't living my best life or, you know, my potential, then I never grew. And that's where I think I felt stagnant. And that those were some of the areas in my marriage where I struggled. Like that's what came to the surface first. And then I started looking in other areas of my life. But it was things that I you don't grow if you don't learn differently. You know what I mean? And so those are areas that you can, you're missing opportunities to be a better human, be a better friend, a better wife or husband. Um, if you can learn more by understanding um more about your I don't I don't know if uh regrets, you know, is the right word, but places where you didn't come through all the way, you know.
SPEAKER_00Coming soon, uh cigar Sunday at King of Kings. Two hours just smoking a cigar in church.
SPEAKER_03We'll provide paper.
SPEAKER_00Bringing down all your all your stuff.
SPEAKER_03You've got the cigars, Greg.
SPEAKER_00I'll bring the cigars. Kate will bring the pecan coffee.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I'll come then.
SPEAKER_03I I like that Zach kind of like shortened this down to look inside, tell the truth. Like those were the two things that he really um and I was like, okay, that's something I can remember. Am I looking inside? Am I being honest with myself about it? Yeah.
Progress Not Perfection With God
SPEAKER_03All right. So Zach says that God can use you before he's finished with you in this message. How can this view encourage those who feel unworthy of being used by God?
SPEAKER_00I just, I mean, look at the whole scriptures, right? I mean, you got Moses as a stutterer that didn't really get it. You got David in the midst of his sin and murder and Bathsheba. You've got the Israelites up and down, up and down, up and down, you've got Isaiah, um, you know, who am I? Uh, a man of unclean lips and his vision before the Lord. And then you walk into the, you know, the disciples, and you've got, I mean, they are diametrically opposed from a tax collector to a zealot, um, to fishermen and flunk outs, and and then you got Paul. I mean, so you know, I always say anyone who says, like, oh, it's not me, or like, I'm ordinary, I go, you're exactly who God wants as extraordinary. It's the ones that go, Yeah, I actually could be this. I'm like, you're probably not gonna get used to where you want. Like, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you can only hang on to that for so long. Like, as soon as you start reading the scripture, you're like, oh, not a valid excuse.
SPEAKER_03You say, I've heard you say more than once that God calls the ordinary to be extraordinary. Yeah, yeah. He can do that for us. Yeah. Um, I I like Zach used the point here of progress, not perfection. You know what I mean? I think we did a a sermon series. Um, well, uh the the Easter message a couple years ago was Zach talking about one day when. And it was one day when W-I-N was the end message. How do we make each day a win? But it was we always use the excuse of one day when W-H-E-N, when I my kids are gone, when I have enough money, when I'm not as busy at work, um, that we can put off those opportunities that God is putting in front of us. And we don't have to be finished. We don't have to be the perfect product. He can use us along the journey. And I think that's a good reminder for everyone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you're waiting for perfection, that will come after your last breath, like your first breath in eternity is when you'll be fully perfect. So um I don't, I don't know. I I think you got more work to do.
SPEAKER_03All
Scripture Habits That Actually Stick
SPEAKER_03right. The sermon talks about the power of God's word. How have you experienced the transformative power of scripture in your own life? This is something I hear you talk about a lot, Kate. Like you are always referring to the scripture and talking about it.
SPEAKER_00She's got the Greek, the Hebrew, and then a super small print. You talk about like age and not being able to drink coffee, like holy smokes, that's small print. Man, I've got good eyesight, but that's well done.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Congrats. Yeah, I started uh just a ladies' Bible study early on um in my adulthood, and it just parceled out scripture um day by day because uh on my own, I would put it off. I'd find other things to do. I was really good about talking about it, but I didn't do it. And so I fell in love with that way to study scripture. And so I've been doing that Bible study for about 20 years. And so um this year we're studying Romans and I love it. And um, I actually found a great quote, if you guys don't mind me reading it. I heard it recently. It's from Saint Jerome. He uh he translated the Bible into Latin. So he lived like three 300 AD-ish. But he said the scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning, and deep enough for a theologian to swim in without ever touching the bottom. I thought that was so good. Yeah. Because the more, you know, it's not a normal book that you can just study, like, oh, I read that chapter check. Like, no, we're meant to read the scriptures until the day we die. Like this is a living word of God that's that's for that we learn from constantly. We're in a different stage of life. God reveals things to us, we understand things better. Like, we're never we're never to stop studying the scripture.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I love that. Uh that that's really good. Um and that's why I think different scriptures speak differently to you and and in different times and then also with different experiences as an adopted person, like anything where I see adoption um from God to us, like it just means something way different for me. Um, that's really, really good. Um I think for me, I do I do work to keep the word in in front of me. Um, I do I right now I'm in a season where I do that in a couple different ways. On my phone, on my front page app is our King of Kings app. Every day it's right on the front page, so that in the morning, I won't show you where or when, but in the morning I hit it and go through our daily three, um, which one is the word? Um, and then on my I don't know what it is when you swipe from your phone and it's got like your widgets. One of my widgets is a a scripture passage, so that it's just always right there with me. Um, I think in our circle of Lutherans, one of the like I've been doing ministry in this denomination for 22 years, and God has just put out my heart Romans 12, 10 from the very beginning of let us outdo one another with brotherly love and affection. And so um I, you know, I so that that scripture just always is in my mind of like how am I treating um others, and am I outdoing them in kindness and graciousness and brotherly affection? Um and and so so you I think I there's always some scriptures that are just burned into your brain uh that you go, this is this kind of I think it's called a life verse, and I think everyone um would be behooved to have a life verse. Um, some scripture to say this is how I'm I'm really modeling my life after.
SPEAKER_03So I'm really impressed how you use behooved to think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I don't like ever being told should. I think like when someone I feel like you're shooting on me, and I I did not curse, I but but it's the same, it feels the same to me. So, like whenever I ever hear a pastor go you should, I'm like done. I like say I'm okay, I'm done. You don't, I'm not telling, I don't want to hear anymore. Yeah, um, so I wanted to use behoove or benefit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I like that.
SPEAKER_00By the way, do you ever I found the there's a Catholic Church in Detroit has a Saint Ronald's Catholic Church? And I thought, how can Ronald just is not a saint name to me?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I'm like, I can only go Ronald McDonald's.
SPEAKER_00That's the only thing like did can't they ch give him another holy name? And by the way, Ronald's are great. I know a couple one of my best friends is a Ron, but and he is a saint in the eyes of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02I guess it's legit then.
SPEAKER_00It is. I mean he's going full circle as well as we all can.
SPEAKER_03I struggle to get into the word regularly. Like it's if I set up a reading plan or something, I can keep with it for a month and then I fall off the wagon. So what I have found though, especially as I've gotten older, and like you said, scripture means different things uh in different contexts of your life. And um, I listen to Christian radio and my kid, my kids complain consistently about it. Mom, you should use a playlist from your phone. But I like the variety, and they will talk about scripture on the radio, and then I'll be like, huh, what's surrounding that? Like my curious mind, or we'll read a scripture in a staff devotion or something, or stuff we're talking about on Sunday morning, and I'll be like, what else is around that? And then I'll go take a deep dive. Dive, uh uh, Jonah. But uh then and I'm reading the scripture all around it. How did you know I've read this before, but now it strikes me different. You know what I mean? That's the the way I end up in scripture more. So um for me.
Gratitude And Final Takeaways
SPEAKER_03Okay, so Zach closes with a focus on gratitude. How can cultivating gratitude influence our relationship with God and with those around us?
SPEAKER_00Well, I we work with this. I've been working with this in myself with my counselor as well, of like um when anxiety creeps up or uncertainty creeps up, to look around and and start naming things that you're grateful for. And it it does take away, like it really does work. Um, and so when you start doing that, um, it it just changes your whole mindset. The the whole like, you know, gratitude dictates your attitude is so true.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I do uh I've mentioned this, I think, on here before in thanks uh in Thanksvember. In November, I do Thanksvember on Facebook. And it's something that I it holds me accountable for that one month of the year where I'm really searching for what are the things I'm thankful for each day. And it does just change your view when you're looking for those things instead of looking for what's bothering me, what's making me angry, what's scary, what's worrying.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I miss the days. That's how I would usually end the day with my kids when they were little. We pray before they went to bed and we'd just start listing all the things we're thankful for and grateful for. And it does. It just changes almost like the chemistry of your body, I feel like, when you have gratitude and you're focused on all the good things. And we're unaware unless we take time to think about it. We're unaware of every gift God gives us continually, and just his mercies being new every morning. And the world would have us look at what's wrong, you know, what's what's unfair, what's unjust. But I don't know. I don't feel good when I do that. I I feel I I'm I'm kind of like a peace junkie. Like I love the peace of the Lord. When you have the peace of the Lord, man, that's good. It's a good feeling. And that's what gratitude gives me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it does. Yeah. All right. So final takeaways from this week's message. What do you got? What are you taking with you?
SPEAKER_02I have one one other thing to add. Oh, go ahead. Um, I thought this was um good as Zach encouraged us to, you know, to look inside, tell the truth, be reflective. And it was interesting. Again, I didn't come up with this. I heard, I heard this, but someone was talking about how Paul introduced himself through the scriptures and how it changed from him as a new believer down to right before he died. But when he was a new believer, he said, Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Christ later on? For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle later on, less than the least of all the Lord's people. And then shortly before he died, he said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And that's how it is, as you walk with the Lord, you're you're not becoming more perfect. You're you're realizing the perfectness of the Jesus and how we're despicable compared to him. And so I loved that. And and I do think it's important to be reflective, but just to keep our eyes on who Christ is, then you're ultimately know where you stand in the picture.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's good. I I think I think the takeaway for me is it's really easy to me to find reasons why I can be annoyed or upset uh with someone else, and then to remember that probably someone's annoyed and upset with me. And so um I want grace from them. I can give grace to to others.
SPEAKER_03So that's good. Zach left us with kind of a challenging question, and that's my takeaway. Where have I not been the person God has called me to be? So that's what I'm working on this week. I'm thinking about that. That's my list I'm working on. Maybe not two hours. Or with a cigar. Yeah. Maybe on a post-it next to my desk with a go.
SPEAKER_02That's doable.
SPEAKER_03Thank you guys for being here today. We are gonna see week four of Sinners Anonymous this next week. Um, and we encourage you to join in. Come to a campus, catch up online. We'd love to see you. And until then, let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday.
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