No Sanity Required
No Sanity Required is a weekly podcast hosted by Brody Holloway and Snowbird Outfitters. Each week, we engage culture and personal stories with a Gospel-driven perspective. Our mission is to equip the Church to pierce the darkness with the light of Christ by sharing the vision, ideas, and passions God has used to carry us through 26 years of student ministry. Find more content at swoutfitters.com.
No Sanity Required
How Do We Fight the Good Fight | Looking at Pauls Example
In this episode, Brody encourages listeners to stay focused, positive, and walk in the light, drawing inspiration from the life of the Apostle Paul. He reminds us that it's God’s power that saves, and we can trust Him to lead others to repentance.
Brody talks about staying faithful to God’s call, following Scripture, and not giving up, no matter the challenges. Using Paul as an example, he shows how we can live with purpose and run your race well. Whether you're a pastor, teacher, or doing something else, you can be faithful to Jesus in everything you do.
This episode is a reminder to keep pressing forward, trust God’s plan, and finish strong in the race of life.
- 2 Timothy 4:6-8
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
- Luke 9:62
- Facing Difficult Trials | Looking at Paul’s Example
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Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
Hey, in this week's episode I'm hoping to just encourage you. We all need to be encouraged, especially when it comes to our walk with the Lord. I don't know what you're going through this week. It could be family drama, it could be work drama, school drama, it could be conflict, it could be parenting struggles and difficulties.
Speaker 1:We try to tackle a lot of different things on this podcast, but sometimes kind of everything comes under one umbrella or one roof for the believer, and that is, we need to be encouraged to fight the good fight, to run the race, to stay focused, to keep our hand to the plow. The most important thing we can do is keep our eyes on Jesus and stay positive and live in the light and walk in the light. It's a dark and dying world. It's a broken world, and sometimes that brokenness is personal. We feel it, we're part of it, and sometimes we feel it from the outside. We're living in the light, we're doing our best but, man, sometimes the pressure of the world around us is overwhelming. So I'm hoping that this week and this episode you will be encouraged. I just want to share some words of encouragement from God's word and from some practical examples in the scripture. So with that, welcome to no Sanity Required.
Speaker 2:Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. A podcast about the Bible, culture and stories from around the globe.
Speaker 1:All of us are familiar with a guy named the Apostle Paul. If you're a new Christian, he's probably one of the first names you've heard outside of Jesus, his story in the Gospels and maybe some of the early disciples. Jesus, his story in the gospels and maybe some of the early disciples, the apostle Paul is someone who came out of a world of not only was he not walking with Jesus, not only was he not a Christian, but as a profession he opposed the gospel, he opposed the words and the work of Jesus. Paul had done terrible things. He'd killed people, had people had people killed, separated families, imprisoned people, and, and the crime that he was imprisoning these people for, or persecuting these people for, was the crime of uh following Jesus and trusting and believing in the way of Christ. And so Paul, in the midst of this career, as as most of us are familiar with, in the way of Christ. And so Paul, in the midst of this career, as as most of us are familiar with, in the midst of this career, literally in the act of persecuting Christians, god comes to him and just radically saves him. And I don't want to go down a diff different rabbit trail here, but in the later this year we're going to be doing an episode where we talk about the tension between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man and salvation. A lot of people believe that if you hold a high view of the sovereignty of God, something that's maybe Calvinistic or Reformed, that it does away with your view of it, diminishes your view of missions and evangelism. And I would just say the apostle Paul is someone who was not looking for Jesus. He was not seeking a relationship with God through Christ. He thought he had a relationship with God through his uh, worship of the ancient religion of Judaism and he was not looking for a relationship with Jesus. And he was not looking for a relationship with Jesus. Jesus came to him, struck him down, blinded him, overwhelmed him and drew him into a relationship, and Paul then held a very high view of the sovereignty of God. Because of that and because of all that God revealed to him, paul also then became probably the most influential Christian in church history. He did that by planting churches, going on mission, being a missionary.
Speaker 1:I was in a conversation with a pastor friend this past week, a very faithful brother. He's a local guy, he's Southern Appalachian. We come from the same type of background, same culture. We're both from the same area of Western North Carolina and very few people in this area hold a high view of the sovereignty of God. Most churches, most most of what is taught in churches is that we need to convince people to become Christians. So there's a lot of tension there, because I do want to plead with people to give their lives to Jesus, but ultimately I trust in the sovereign hand of God to draw people to himself, to convict their conscience, to overwhelm them with the reality of their own sin and their need for a Savior, and then to bring that person to a place of repentance, submission and surrender. And that's what the story of the Apostle Paul is. So I was sharing with this pastor friend.
Speaker 1:We were just talking about the difficulty of doing ministry sometimes in a culture where people put the bulk of responsibility on human work and endeavor. If you can preach the sermon good enough, if you can give the invitation aggressively or emotionally enough, if you can convince somebody that they're wrong and you're right, then all these things that you can do to try to get someone to become a Christian. Listen, brother or sister, the only way a person's going to become a Christian is if the Holy Spirit of God convicts them, arrests their conscience and by his overwhelming grace and conviction, he draws them into a relationship with himself. For me, that motivates me to proclaim Christ, to be engaged in missions to tell people about Jesus, to proclaim Christ, to be engaged in missions to tell people about Jesus. I've had people say to me I've had this happen often, not a time or two, but often I've had people question the integrity of Snowbird as a ministry because they say well, you guys, you hold a reformed position. If you don't know what that is, you can go look it up, don't worry about it. We don't buy into labels. I'm not going to label Snowbird. I'm not going to, I'm not going to pick a label and attach it to Snowbird.
Speaker 1:We we hold a high view of three things. Okay, and and this could probably be its own episode and maybe it will be we hold a high view of the sovereignty of God, which, just when we're talking about the sovereignty of God, we're talking about that God orders things. He has the authority and the wisdom to order things according to his will and he does whatever he pleases. We hold a high view of the sovereignty of God. We do not believe that God is anemic or impotent or incapable of doing what he intends to do. There are things that I would like to do, that I want to do that I just don't have the ability to do. I don't have the power, the authority, the wisdom, the gift, the gifting or whatever. So we hold a high view of the sovereignty of God. There's not an I can't mindset, when it comes to who God is, that there's something he can't do. That's that there's something that's not in the scope of his sovereign power.
Speaker 1:So we hold, number one we hold a high view of the sovereignty of God. Number two we hold a high view of the authority of scripture. This is why we teach the word of God expositionally, expositorily. We are very careful in how we handle the scripture. We preach and teach the word of God the way the prophets of old did, where we can say here's what God says In the old King James typically it was quote unquote the prophet would say thus saith the Lord. So we're going to say here's what God says thus saith the Lord.
Speaker 1:Okay, we hold a high view of the authority of scripture. We believe that God's word is breathed out, that it is in its original texts and its original writings and its original form that was breathed out by God and is profitable. It's useful to convict us of sin, to give us wisdom, to point areas of our lives where we need to grow. It's profitable for rebuke, reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness, or for me to live my life the way that God would have me to live my life. So we hold there's two things we hold a high view of the sovereignty of God, we hold a high view of the authority of Scripture. And the third thing, we hold a high view of the responsibility of man. That means I have a deep and great responsibility to respond to a sovereign God because he saved me, because he called me, because through his word now get into the second one, because I hold a high view of the authority of scripture. I have a responsibility to be obedient to God's word, to know God's word, to study God's word, to be actively pursuing relationship's word, to know God's word, to study God's word, to be actively pursuing relationship with Christ through his word. So if I hold a high view of all three of these things, what that's going to do is it's going to drive me to be missional, to be on mission, to be evangelistic, to share Christ with others.
Speaker 1:Someone that questions uh, I remember years ago someone that questions uh, I remember years ago someone questioning well, if you believe so highly in the sovereignty of God, then you're not going to want to do missions or be evangelistic. Listen, as you know and as you've heard in recent episode, my daughter served in a remote, oftentimes unstable part of the world where people need Jesus and she is there and we are supporting her being there, her and her husband and their daughter. We support it, we encourage it, we believe in it, because those people that God has called them to need Jesus, they need discipleship, they need an opportunity to be brought out of the dark and into the light to receive the gospel. And we believe that God has called us to take the gospel of the dark and into the light to receive the gospel. And we believe that God has called us to take the gospel to the nations. We also believe he's called us to take the gospel to our neighbor. So we hold a high view of missions because of our high view of those other things. We hold a high view of sharing Jesus with your neighbor because of those things. We hold a high view of the sovereignty of God, the authority of scripture and the responsibility of man. So before we launch into the main idea today, let me just set this up. Paul believed in a high view of the sovereignty of God, a high view of the authority of scripture, a high view in the responsibility of man, and it comes through in all of his preaching, teaching and writing. So this is who Paul is. He came out of a world where he wasn't seeking Christ and he was brought into the light, into relationship with the Lord At the end of Paul's life the Lord At the end of Paul's life. He has lived an incredibly eventful life when it comes to his pursuit of, when it comes to his faithfulness to the calling God had placed on his life.
Speaker 1:Paul traveled multiple missionary journeys spanning the majority of the Roman Empire. He planted churches on three continents. He trained pastors and elders. At one point he's writing to Titus and he said the reason I left you on the island of Crete is so that you could appoint elders in every town. I think that one verse is a snippet, a quick shot of Paul's mindset and methodology and philosophy of church plant life. He's planting churches in every town. He's training up elders who are training up elders, elder being an overseer or a pastor. He's equipping the saints. He's doing the work of equipping the saints. He said in another place. He gives instruction on how to order and set up church, leadership and government. He gives clear instruction and then lives it out by example how to mobilize missionaries and send them out. Paul did so much work to spread the gospel and establish the church in the first century that to this day is impacting us.
Speaker 1:In the course of his life he was imprisoned multiple times. He was arrested often. He was beaten. He was beaten in a public square as a punishment from Jewish leadership. He was beaten in public as a punishment from Roman authorities. Ultimately, it was the Romans who would execute him, tradition says, by beheading. He was persecuted by friends who turned their back on him. He experienced incredible adventures, going through mountains and over deserts and across oceans. He was shipwrecked on an island one time where he was bit by a poisonous snake and God used that situation to preserve his life. And then, through those local, native, indigenous population, god used that incident or scenario to reach those people with the gospel in a way that they said oh the God who has saved this man's life from this viper must be real. He must be very powerful. He used his platform in front of government officials. He went before local kings.
Speaker 1:Imagine in your ministry as, just as an American or whatever, if you're Canadian or if you're from an African country and Asian country, but for for those of us that are here, where I'm, where I live and where I'm a citizen, if you're an American, if you get to go share the gospel before your County commissioners, your local police chief or sheriff, you get to share the gospel between the association, the ecumenical interdenominational association of churches. You get to proclaim Christ to the ecumenical interfaith ministries of the Muslim and Jehovah's Witness and Mormon and Hindu and Sikh religions in your city or at your university. You get to be the voice, the Christian representative. Um, I had an opportunity one time years ago, little, and I've told this story before, but we, we were tasked with I. I gave a lecture before. Uh, an open forum on a on a secular university campus is a. This is a university with 30,000 enrolled students, so a major state university that, if I said it, everybody knows who it is and could say what their mascot is.
Speaker 1:And I was given on that particular week they had different folks coming in each week. I gave the position of the like the Judeo-Christian belief, about biblical, about the biblical stance on sexuality and marriage. Then Little came on stage with me and we fielded questions. It was a very intense, hostile environment to some degree, but it was also a warm environment to some degree because this was pre-COVID pre-things have gotten so crazy and combative in the last few years. But there were people that were antagonistic, that disagreed with us. There were people that heckled a little bit and yelled, but for the most part most people were attentive as we gave the biblical perspective. I've often thought about that, standing on that stage in that auditorium with 400 or 500 students, many of them nonbelievers, lesbian couples sitting right down front that I kept making eye contact with.
Speaker 1:I think about Paul going in front of the Areopagus on Mars Hill and defending the faith. It'd be like arguing for the Christian faith in front of the Supreme Court. It'd be like going in the halftime of the Super Bowl, being in the halftime show of the Super Bowl and getting to preach the gospel for 10, 15, 20 minutes. It would be like the biggest stage of the day. Paul also got to go before the equivalent of mayors, governors, the Senate, the Congress, kings, prime ministers, presidents. He got to speak to whole battalions or brigades of the Roman military and every single time he had that opportunity he proclaimed Christ and his resurrection and his lordship.
Speaker 1:He preached the gospel. That's why he could say in Romans one I am unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So it doesn't matter if you're African, asian, north American, south American, doesn't matter what your background is, what your parents' lives were like, what their faith was or wasn't. The gospel is for you, and Paul understood that and he proclaimed it. I've always appreciated the ministry of Billy Graham because wherever he went, he preached the same gospel and he preached it hot and non-negotiable. This is who Jesus is, this is what Jesus has done, this is what Jesus says, and people would be saved. And when Paul would travel and preach, people would come to faith often. But he would also often be persecuted. And so he came to the end of his life and after laboring for decades and having an impactful but difficult ministry, he came to the end of his life and wrote some words to Timothy in the final months of his life, knowing that his death was imminent.
Speaker 1:He was imprisoned often, but at one time he was stoned in the street and left for dead. I've often imagined how brutal that punishment must be to be stoned, to have people stand around you and throw large rocks into your body, into your head, into your shoulders, your back. You know. I would imagine you'd ball up in the fetal position, try to cover the back of your head, but then that exposes your ribs. You take enough shots in the ribsal position, try to cover the back of your head, but then that exposes your ribs. You take enough shots in the ribs and then you try to cover that because you're hurting so bad and then a rock hits your neck, your jaw, your head, and the goal with stoning was to kill somebody. So they stoned him to the point that they thought he was dead. They then left him for dead and God preserved his life. And what he did after that was he got up and he kept preaching.
Speaker 1:Paul labored for decades and his ministry was difficult. But what I want, what I want to do, what I want to think about in this episode, is how he finished strong, but also how he had consistently labored and run the race. So his strong finish came at the end of a strong race. What's that look like, to be able to say that at the end of your life, to be able to say what Paul says in 2 Timothy, chapter 4. Let me read that to you here 2 Timothy, chapter 4, second letter. Paul wrote to Timothy, who was a pastor. He had discipled and trained and equipped. He says in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verses 6, 7, and 8 For I'm already being poured out as a drink Offering. The time of my Departure has come. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid Up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. He said these three things after saying hey, I'm getting, I'm being poured out, my, my, my departure is coming soon. I'm going to die and leave this world, but I I can say these three things I fought a good fight, finished the race. I fought the good fight, finished the race. I kept the faith. Might we be able to say those things at the end of our lives. I fought the good fight. That's. That's 100% my goal. It's 1000% my goal. I want it to be said of me that I was faithful to Jesus.
Speaker 1:It was a prominent missions mobilizer several hundred years ago. You might have heard of him. His name was Count Ludwig van Zinzendorf. That's a mouthful and he's quoted with one of my favorite quotes ever. And if you've been around this ministry at all, you've heard me say this, quote this guy. He said preach the gospel, die and and be forgotten. This was a man that was. He was rich, he personally funded an enormous missions work, but I just appreciate where his heart and his vision was.
Speaker 1:And you know we're in this world that's just surrounded by materialism, technology, the distractions of entertainment, abundance. That leads, honestly leads to more wantonness, more saturated in self and a hedonistic and humanistic approach to life. People celebrate individualism, but everyone tries to look the same. If you pay attention to quote-, quote, unquote influencers, everybody's trying to find their little niche, but still stay in the lane. You know people are. You know, in one sense, you everybody tries to be the same and fight for the same things, which is that's just all about approval, approval of others, and sometimes that approval leads to, you know monetary benefit or you don't have people to follow your liking. Make some money at it. But honestly, most people just want to be approved. In social circles, social movements, agendas like this driving desire to be approved by society, we want the world to approve of us. We want to figure out how can I live in the world and have the world celebrate who I am, when the reality is we.
Speaker 1:The world celebrates the things that God hates and speaks clearly against in his word and then the what the world does is it takes those things and renames those things as heroism. Or you're a hero because you reject against what God says in his word. I mean you rebel against what God says in his word. You reject that authority of God in his word. I mean you rebel against what God says in his word. You reject that authority of God's word. But I love there's a quote in Paul's life.
Speaker 1:He had written to the church at Galatia, which actually was like a super religious culture, the opposite of a place like Corinth, where they were super secular and hedonistic. He wrote to these folks in Galatia and the believers in that city were facing a lot of social pressure to conform to these religious norms and ethics that, honestly, paul said they were contrary to the gospel. But he said this am I now seeking the approval of man or of God, or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. There's a fine line when it comes to winning the approval of people, having a genuine concern and care for people. I don't want to become an enemy to people simply because they don't embrace the gospel. So you know, you feel that in Paul's words, he doesn't want to be an enemy to people and when somebody doesn't embrace the gospel, he doesn't want to reject them, as you know, as his enemy. And the thing that we like to, I try to teach here, is we love the world for what we offer the world, not for what the world offers us. And Paul, you know he would describe that we are like messengers and that we're carrying the greatest message in history, but we're carrying it in these jars of clay. In other words, we're fragile as messengers, but the message is not fragile, it's powerful.
Speaker 1:I was sitting around a fire at B-Strong and a guy did something that I remember my granddad doing when I was a kid. I remember sitting in front of the fireplace. It something that I remember my granddad doing when I was a kid. I remember sitting in front of the fireplace. It wasn't a wood stove, it wasn't a wood heater, it was an open fireplace and I remember my granddad putting a styrofoam or paper cup of some sort into the fire. He set it on a log that was burning but the cup was half full of water and so the fire burned the cup down to the water line, so it burned away the top part of the cup and it was down to the water line and then that cup set I don't know how long I've done it through the years and a guy was doing it at a fire at B-Strong a couple weeks ago and it'll sit there and it won't burn. That water in that cup keeps that cup from burning. It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:We're like that the flames will burn away the part of us that is not holding water. You know, as it were. Um, we're like that the life in the world will melt away. The things that are not sustained by jesus. It's like he's the life-giving water in us. Love of Christ, the gospel of Jesus in us, will withstand the pressure and the heat of the world around us. You can believe that, and Paul's living proof of that.
Speaker 1:So I want to consider some lessons from Paul's life, and this passage is the main launching point. But I want to look at some other places, some lessons that we could, I think, simply and effectively focus on and even imitate. Paul said it. He said imitate me as I imitate Jesus. So here's the first lesson from Paul's life, and this is new content compared to last season or season. Before. I did an episode. It was like a list of things we learned from Paul's life. I don't remember how many things it was, but that was a popular episode. So this would be like a sequel to that. Maybe. 1 Corinthians 15, 58,.
Speaker 1:Paul shows us how to be faithful, and in that verse he wrote and I think I memorized this years ago maybe in a New King James, but I say it different than the ESV or the KJV, I say it I think it was a new King James. Anyway, it was this Therefore, my brothers, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Now here's how he says it in the ESV. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. So very similar Be steadfast, be immovable, be abounding, and that's be faithful. Steadfast and immovable, just be faithful. Paul showsfast in him. It would just be faithful. Paul shows us what that looks like. Next, be obedient. Paul was a very. He was very obedient to the scripture and to the call of God on his life. So he's coming to the end of his life. When he's saying I fought the fight, I finished my race, it's because he was faithful and it's because he was obedient.
Speaker 1:2 Chronicles 16, 9, for the eyes of the Lord, run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. In the context of that verse there's a king that was seeking approval and strength from secular and humanistic allies. And in seeking this help and approval, that king had compromised the most sacred things he had been entrusted with. He had used temple treasury funds to buy secular, worldly support. I'm telling you, man, it's a short distance from that to the parallel in the modern church culture and progressive Christianity. This king had abandoned the confession of his faith to try to win the approval of people around him. So that's the context for that verse for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him Paul was. Paul was blameless before the Lord. He's faithful. He was obedient. One perfect, faithful and obedient. Um, paul was blameless before the Lord. He was faithful. He was obedient. Wasn't perfect, faithful and obedient.
Speaker 1:The next charge from Paul would be to not let go of the plow. Don't take your hands off the plow. Don't keep your hand to the plow. Your eyes are on Jesus. Luke 9, 62,. Jesus said no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. So when he says I finished my race, I kept my eyes on Jesus, I charted a course, I put my hand to the plow, I didn't look back. He's echoing those words from Jesus Don't let go of the plow.
Speaker 1:The next thing I think that I learned from Paul and that I'm challenged with and would want to challenge you with, is be real, be real, find yourself in Christ, be authentic, be your authentic self. I can tell you, I will say this Okay, there's a lot of things I do wrong. None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes, but I will tell you this wrong. There's a. None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes, but I will tell you this it is so freeing to just be yourself, to be who you are.
Speaker 1:For me, there's times where I feel a little out of place in a certain atmosphere, and it's because I'm authentic to myself. I'm not going to try to fit in there. You know there's a, there's a, there's a balance of. You know, when Paul says be all things to all people, I've been all thanks to all people so that by any means I might win some there's a sensitivity, a cultural sensitivity in a situation. But not to try to win the approval of people by not being true to myself. Find yourself in Christ, lose yourself in Christ.
Speaker 1:That's what that Galatians one10 verse was about that we read earlier. Hold fast to the gospel. There's no other gospel. In fact, any other gospel will bring judgment and condemnation. Paul said that in Galatians 1. He said if you preach any other gospel, you'll be accursed. And that was a Greek word anathema, that means to be condemned. So be faithful, be obedient, don't let go of the plow, be authentic, be real and then last finish strong. And that's where we get into Paul's final words that we just read in every season and every life. So he said I fought the good fight and I would. I would just let me read an excerpt from a previous. This is from a previous podcast episode that we did.
Speaker 1:Paul's spirit was unconquerable. I'm not going to unpack all of this. This is just some bullet points from that previous episode. What was it? To fight the good fight? Unconquerable spirit, clear and strategic vision for ministry, faith that was deeply rooted in what God had done and revealed through the risen Lord to him.
Speaker 1:Paul believed in the power of prayer. Paul preached with authority. That was not his own authority, it came from God. Paul showed us how to engage hostility. He didn't look for trouble, didn't start fights, never ran away from it, though. Always to address hostility with composure and strength, but with humility. Humility, I think that's that's. That's that's what it looks like to fight the good fight, cause you read those words fight the good fight. It's like oh, we're not called to a militant crusade, so how do we fight If we're not, you know, taking up arms against somebody, or stepping into the octagon with somebody or getting in a street fight. How do we fight the good fight? With a spirit that's unconquerable, or inconquerable even when it's scary? A ministry that's clear and strategic, the power of prayer. We fight through our prayer life. We fight by proclaiming, with authority that's not our own, the truth of Scripture and we engage hostility courageously but with humility. Those are all very important aspects of fighting a good fight, and so a few verses that I think reflect that fighting of the good fight.
Speaker 1:If I could, just I want to address something that came from a comment on social media. This was a comment on the Snowbird Instagram a few weeks ago and it was a clip. You might have seen that. It was a clip from NSR that the team posted and I didn't know they had posted. I don't have Instagram, so I have to look at other people's. I try to look at it because there's a few things I like to follow along and see what they're doing. I like to follow Tuck's football, I like to follow the stuff that Swo's posted, and that's really about it.
Speaker 1:But I don't remember exactly what I was saying. I was talking. It was an excerpt where I was talking about hey, we're in a battle, it's a battle for the mind. We're in a war. It's not just a spiritual war, it's a mental war. We've got to arm ourselves, et cetera. Well, the Scripture says arm yourselves with the same mind that was in Christ. Peter says that Arm yourselves with the mind of Christ, 1 Timothy 6, 12. This is right in the middle. Okay, hold up.
Speaker 1:So a guy comments and says you're wrong about this. The scripture describes the armor of God, which is for defense. So we're just to be able to have a defensive mindset and know that the world's not going to harm us or hurt us is what he was implying, I guess. And he called me buddy, which, to be honest, just made me mad. It's, it's, uh. I realized why I I'm not suited for social media. I can't be on social media because people they talk ugly to each other, but they say things they wouldn't say to somebody's face. So I can tell you I feel very confident that if I was face-to-face with this guy, that he wouldn't speak to me in the tone he spoke to me from behind his phone, you know, or whatever. Not because I'm intimidating and scary, it's just people they talk in a different tone. They're ugly when they're on their phones, and so he was saying something implying that, hey, the armor of God is all defensive, so there's no place for the kind of talk that I was sharing, which was, you know, hey, we're in a battle.
Speaker 1:Well, 1 Timothy 6.12 says fight the good fight of the faith, fight the good fight of the faith. I think it's hard to argue with that. You know, ephesians 6, I mean it uses the word fight. Go, do a Greek, go get your Strong's Concordance and do a Greek word study on what the word fight means. It means fight.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 6, where we go through the whole armor of God in verse 12 of that passage. So the whole armor of God is Ephesians 6, 10 through 20. It's the 11 verses. But in verse 12, he says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. So he paints this picture that we're in a combative wrestling match. And then, in verse 17, he says take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. You'll remember that in Hebrews he says the word of God is a double-edged sword, which anyone that knows anything about the history of Roman weaponry, the double-edged sword, was the choice combat weapon of most Roman soldiers.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians, 10, 4, and 5 say the weapons that we fight with are not of this world. They have divine power to demolish strongholds, including arguments and pretensions, which means that's the point I was making in that post was that clip that was posted is we're in a battle for the mind. It's a philosophical battle, it's an existential battle. It's a battle against. It's an existential battle, it's a, a battle against pagan ideologies and ideas. And so, uh, anyway, um, something to to really consider, I think, um, is that it is a, it is a battle, and that if it's a battle, you need a weapon.
Speaker 1:So anyone that says, well, it's the armor of God is defensive armor, so it's a battle, you need a weapon. So anyone that says, well, the armor of God is defensive armor, so it's not about weaponry, Well, it's a battle, you don't go to battle without a weapon. So there's that. So whoever that guy is, he's a dummy. Let me just say that, let me be real clear, and then I know that will offend some people that I said that and so I'm sorry I probably shouldn't say that, but you're a dummy If you think you're going to battle and that you don't need a weapon. That's dumb.
Speaker 1:Romans eight, 13, romans, eight, 13 says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if, by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Put to death. How you put something to death you put on armor and curl up in a fetal position and take your shots. No, you put it to death, dummy, okay.
Speaker 1:So when Paul says that he fought the fight, we know he means he fought the good fight, the Christian fight. It's a spiritual battle, it's a philosophical battle. You're at war, so arm yourselves. I really do think. Let me find this verse. It's in first Peter. I think this is maybe one of the most like fire you up. Verses 1, peter 4, verse 1. Since, therefore, christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves in the same mind or with the same way of thinking. Arm yourselves. It's this aggressive, offensive idea of arm your mind, have the mind of Christ. It's an offensive thing. And so Paul fought the good fight. Paul then said I finished the race.
Speaker 1:Now, his race was a race of preaching missionary work, but it was a race of endurance. I got two of my kids are doing track and field. Um and oh, dear law, I'll, I'll watch those kids run that like the two mile race. It's. It's a. What is that? Eight laps, and I just think, bless their hearts. What are they thinking? Are their mamas making them do this? Do they really truly enjoy this? It looks awful.
Speaker 1:And I know people like there's people that like to run, know some, I know what some of our listeners like to run. You know, like when I say run like not sprint but jog, you know like at like long distance, like you're jogging, at a you're you're long distance running. People like to go out and run five miles and so you go out, get into a good jog, and you just, you just go. Maybe it's a good clip six minute mile pace or whatever and you go out and you just go. Maybe it's a good clip six-minute mile pace or whatever and you go out and you jog for five miles. You don't sprint for five miles, you jog, you don't sprint, you sprint. I think in track and field the sprint is the 100 and the 200. Some people might would say the 400. The 400, that's a full lap. I don't know if that's a sprint, it's a pretty, it's close to it, but but there's. You know there's a difference between sprinting and long distance running. You just settle into a good pace and you've got.
Speaker 1:Paul's race was a race of endurance. He ran and he ran it and finished it and he's saying that and he can say that, um. And then he said I kept the faith and the idea of keeping means to, to keep guarded Like he guarded it. Guard ourselves, we guard our minds. We guard our time. We guard our treasures, our finances. We guard our marriages and relationships. We guard listen, let me explain something If you are married, the primary focus of your life outside of advancing the gospel, um, in your own life, like like the work of the gospel in your own life. So your first, your first primary responsibility is your spiritual growth, okay, but outside of that, it's your marriage, then your children and your home. It's not making your mama happy. You left you know.
Speaker 1:The scripture says that we leave our mother and father and hold fast to our wife. And so I got to guard my marriage, guard my family guard, my home guard my thoughts. Marriage guard my family guard, my home guard my thoughts. And when, when Paul said I kept the faith, he also said in Galatians 6, 17, I bear in my body the marks of the gospel, I carry in my body the marks of the gospel. I mean he's carrying scars around. And then he get to verse eight. So he says I've, I've, you know I've. I fought the fight, fought the good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith, I've guarded it. That's a very. Again, it goes back to what we're saying about the sword of the spirit. He guarded his faith, he protected himself. We've got to protect ourselves from the snares of the devil. And then, in the end, what we get is he says I received the victor's crown. It's a royal crown. He received the crown of life. That's a gift given to the victor.
Speaker 1:There's two different types of crowns mentioned in scripture. There's the crown that a King would wear, and we see Christ. We see Jesus wearing a crown like that. But then there's the what's called the victor's crown, and the victor's crown is a crown that was awarded. You know like we've seen this in the olympic games. It's like a wreath, you know, a crown of leaves or whatever. Um and so the the word that he uses in second timothy 4 8. At the end of his life he says there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness. It's the victor's crown, it's and and and. For the believer it's imperishable because what he's done is he's laid up treasures in heaven. And so Paul finished the race man. So the encouragement this week. So I said I want this to be an encouragement, this episode. There's times where we just need to be encouraged. So I want you to be encouraged that you can put your hand to the plow and don't look back. You can fix your eyes on Jesus. You can open the word of God and read it every day and listen to the truth and the life that comes from the words of scripture. You can walk in the light, not in the darkness. You can reject the lies of the enemy, which might mean putting your phone down or disabling.
Speaker 1:I've been experimenting with this because I think I've thought about a couple of us have thought about getting dumb phones, but sadly we're at a point. You know where you kind of need your phone for email or some work stuff. I need to have access to Google Drive, yada, yada, yada. So you're trying to figure out how do I dumb this thing down where it's not consuming me. And so I took the web browser. I just I had someone get rid of the internet on my phone. So, whatever it is, I've still got my iPhone. It's an older iPhone but I've got. Right now I'm experimenting. I've only I'm only a week into this I'm experiment with.
Speaker 1:I can do email on it. Uh, I can use my you know, my directions, my maps, my GPS. Uh, let's see what else can I do Internet wise. There's a handful, a small handful, of apps that I've got on there, one that I use for hunting. I've got an Onyx app that I use for hunting. Some of you might be familiar with that. Uh, what else have I got? Uh, the weather app. I kept it Uh that's about it?
Speaker 1:I think the app that the teachers use to communicate from the school, and so that's about it. So trying to eliminate some distractions, you know what I mean. So easy to get distracted. So anyway, you got to put your phone down. Man, and and and and just get out of the lull of that man. I watch people, you watch just next time you're around a bunch of people. Look how many of them are staring at their screen. Most of them are on social media. So anyway, I don't want I know I ran about this all the time.
Speaker 1:I'm not just trying to rant about phone stuff, but I'm saying if you're going to, if you're going to plow forward, you're going to need to remove some distractions. Put your hand to the plow, don't look back. Fix your eyes on Jesus, pursue holiness, tell others about Jesus. But if I could sync all of this up, if you want to live positively, hold a high view of the sovereignty of God, a high view of the authority of Scripture, and put a whole lot of responsibility on yourself to be faithful, to be obedient, to run the race to finish the task that God's put in front of you, because we've all got a task, you can do it, and you do it by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. If you're a police officer, a firefighter, a truck driver, if you're a school teacher, administrator, if you're a CEO of a corporation, if you're an accountant, if you're a medical professional, if you're in the military, if you are a stay-at-home mom, if you are on disability because of an injury or an illness, whatever your life looks like, you can be faithful to Jesus. You can be obedient to his word. You can do that. You can do it here. We are at the end of Paul's watch, we're at the end of his life, and he's saying these things that we can all resonate with, you know, and so I think, not seeking the.
Speaker 1:I love a verse in Paul's letter to the Corinthians when it comes to being faithful, being obedient, don't let go of the plow, be real, finish strong. It's that verse that Spencer referenced in last week's episode, where Paul says hey, I, basically my life is of no value to me. If only I can finish the race and the task of testifying to the gospel of Jesus Christ and God's grace. It's in Acts 20. Let me just challenge you with that, encourage you with that. It goes along with that. 1 Corinthians 15, 58 that we read earlier, that therefore, my brothers, be immovable and steadfast, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Somebody needs to hear this this week Just keep your hand to the plow, be faithful, be obedient, be faithful, be obedient, be authentic and know that one day you're going to have an opportunity to finish strong. Right now, today's not the day that 99% of us. Today's not the day we're being called home. Today's not the day, but today's the day we're in the middle of the race, we're in the middle of the fight, we're in the middle of the wrestling match. And so, fight the good fight, fight it and know that you're running the race right now. Paul said to the Philippians another time, when he's in prison run with race, run with patience the race that is set before you.
Speaker 1:Look into Jesus, the author and the prophet. I'm sorry, I'm quoting Hebrews. I get. There's two verses, passages. I get confused. One that says, um, look into Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, but the other one says, um, that we fix our eyes on Jesus, and and uh, hold on, let me just read the Philippians one. I'm I'm crossing up, uh passages. Okay, hold on, let me just read the Philippians one. I'm crossing up passages. Okay, I got that Hebrews passage confused with the Philippians passage, philippians 3,.
Speaker 1:Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own Brothers. I do not consider that I've made it my own, but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind. That goes back to Jesus saying no man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Forget what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead. Some of us need to hear this word this week Let go of the past, let go of it, let go of it and just know it's under the blood of Jesus. Forget what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Pursue Christ, finish your race. Right now you're not finishing the race, you're running the race.
Speaker 1:When I think of a race, um, I think of you know. You might think of an ultra marathon, you might think of a sprint we talked about, you know, uh, running a sprint, or running a two mile race, or running a five mile, a five K, or running a marathon or an ultra marathon there's all levels of races, but for me when I think about running a race, I think about NASCAR. As a kid, when I was growing up, my granddad would take me to races all the time. I mean a lot. Um, I was uh gosh.
Speaker 1:I have a lot of fond memories. It was a place called the new Asheville speedway. It's no longer there, but we would go to the races. This was when I was in elementary school, so from about my second grade to sixth grade, I would go to the races with my, my granddad, all the time. My papa and I loved it, and you know the two things that that people love about races are uh wrecks. And then, just, you know the crazy passing like when somebody gets to the front of the pack, watching a car move through the front of the pack and, um, you know Hank. Hank's been on here before. He's one of my partners at snowboard, one of the executive partners, and he had an awesome NASCAR career and I love hearing him tell stories.
Speaker 1:But my favorite NASCAR finish of all time was at Bristol, up and up and on the Tennessee Virginia line. At the Bristol race I was with a buddy of mine, me and little had gone there with a with a buddy of mine and uh, dale Earnhardt was still alive and racing and he had the car to beat and he got wrecked and he went to pit road and they duct taped his car back together and he came back out onto the track into the race. He's a hundred laps down and he made up a lap. So he goes from being a hundred laps down to be at 99 laps down in a direct car. He comes out and and, uh, and gets, gets a lap back is awesome, it's a long race, y'all. We're in the middle of it right now. You might be in a spot where you've pulled on a pit road, banged up, and you're duct taping and putting things back together. But look, get back out there, get in a race, fix your eyes on Jesus. One day you're going to finish your race and Paul to get there.
Speaker 1:There's this story that Hank told me one time Paul didn't work alone. He understood the need for a team. He worked to carry out his mission and you'll always see that he builds a team around him. In fact, the passage that we're reading right here uh, when, when it gets, you go a little further down in second Timothy four and he says hey, I've got this team of people Crescens and Titus and Titus had to leave. He's gone to Dalmatia. You know, one guy's gone to this other town, one guy's gone. I'm kind of here just with a couple of dudes and I need you to come join us. I'm sending someone to take your place. It's this real cool interaction where you realize Paul always was with the team. He never worked alone, he wasn't a lone ranger.
Speaker 1:And I remember talking to Hank one time about this and I said how many people are on a NASCAR team? And he said, gosh, like on a cup team, like the, the top level team, there's 50 guys, 50 to 70 guys. And then he said on like a, the second tier team, what used to be called bush I forget what it's called now infinity maybe. Anyway, the second tier, like you got the cup cars in the next level used to be called the Bush series. Um, hank said he was running a race and he was in second place in the Bush race at Las Vegas, had the fastest car. He's literally. He said I had the fastest car and I'm going to, I'm going to pass the leader and the winner of this race, the the winner takes $125,000 home that day.
Speaker 1:This race, the the winner takes $125,000 home that day and he pulls in for his last pit stop and there's one guy whose job is to tear off the windshield. What they do is they've got these tear away windshields so the windshield is in layers, it's kind of like a big decal. So as you're getting road grime and grit and oil and stuff on the wind and it starts to get real cloudy to look through, they rip a layer of it off and now you can see clear, you've got a new layer, that's clear. And this guy goes to rip and tear off the windshield. And that was his only job to tear the windshield sticker off so that the driver would have a clean windshield coming out of a pit stop. He didn't get it torn off, it bunched up and, as a result, hank got stuck on pit road and didn't win, you know, fell way back, didn't win. $125,000 mistake.
Speaker 1:It takes a team and everybody needs to do their part. And Paul, you know he ran his race with, with a team and, and, and within that team he practiced mentorship, he was invested in relationships, he loved the church, and so if we're going to run our race. Let's run our race, loving the church and doing the best we can to do our part. And yeah, and he kept the faith. Paul kept the faith and I love that, and that is, he guarded what was entrusted to him. He guarded relationships, he guarded what God had given him in terms of ministry. He guarded his own personal holiness and I love that. So, all right, that's what I got for y'all this week.
Speaker 1:I do want to read a couple of comments from social media. I mean not social media, we call it like Spotify, apple, podcast, stuff, like that. But just before I do that, just saying I hope this is an encouragement to you this week. I hope you'll be encouraged and that you will run your race well this week. You will guard what's been entrusted. If you're discouraged, beat down, beat up. It's a rough patch for you. Just be faithful. Just be faithful, just be obedient. Keep your hand to the plow. Okay, all right, before we go, I did want to read. I got a dude. I want to give a dude a shout out here. Give me a second, okay.
Speaker 1:So I read a negative or shared a negative comment. I wanted to give a couple more negative ones that were pretty funny. One dude said, uh, and this was from instagram, the quote that swore posted. This wasn't an nsr quote, it was a swore instagram post, but it was, uh, it was an excerpt from an sr episode. He said, uh, this is, this is like the christian version of larping, which I thought was pretty funny. He's basically basically saying, uh and I think I might've mentioned this already in a previous episode, I don't remember LARPing is live action, role play and where people dress up in medieval outfits and pretend to be in medieval battles, it's kind of like civil war reenacted. You know you're pretending to be in a battle. So, anyway, I thought that was pretty funny. But not true, but funny. Um. So I wanted to read, uh, some positive, some positive uh ratings and reviews. Rather, uh, it's called wonderful podcast.
Speaker 1:This came in about a month ago. Started listening to episodes after I went to winter SWO for my fourth year back at MLK weekend. Had a month ago. Started listening to episodes after I went to winter SWO for my fourth year back at MLK weekend. Had a great time. Heart of SWO is so God glorifying such an awesome group of people Podcast. Great to listen to. I especially loved hearing the interview of SWO staff. I've definitely enjoyed hearing people's different insights on topics. I'm excited to see what more is released.
Speaker 1:Appreciate the time taken to upload new episodes. That's from William. William's from Ohio and he said would love some SWO swag. So, william, we're going to hook you up. We're going to hook you up, william, you need to email and the team will take care of you. So William from Ohio gets a shout-out out and he's getting some SWO swag Pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Love Snowbird, go to turn. This is from a dairy. It's called SWO for life. Love Snowbird, go to Turner's chapel, which the church has been bringing students for over 20 years. There's a reason for that. Always godly, biblical teaching, godly, insane adventures NSR is an awesome extension of that ministry. Appreciate teaching godly and sane adventures NSR is an awesome extension of that ministry. Appreciate that. Derry Jay Stewart, jay Stewart Jay says I've been sharpened.
Speaker 1:I've been keeping up with SWO from the time I was a sophomore in high school. Now I'm 24, married and have a daughter. Swo's teaching podcast, no Sanity Required and the sermons from Red Oak have made a significant impact on my life. Its refreshing emphasis on expositional preaching, the character displayed by the teachers and leaders and the consistent encouragement for the missional living have served me as a necessary antidote to cultural noise. I'm a member of a local church and I'm pretty involved, but these podcasts have helped to fill gaps in my discipleship lately, getting insight on the disciplines, attitudes and values that Brody and other men practices really sharpened me to be a better Christian, husband, dad and employee. I tell everyone looking for a place to go to go to SWO, looking for a summer camp to go to go to SWO, thankful to God for you all. I appreciate that, jay Stewart, it means a lot and thank all of y'all for sharing.
Speaker 1:If you haven't done a rating or review, we're at like on Apple. Let's see, we've got 331 ratings. That's not a lot, but I appreciate those of you that have, and we're like a 4.9, so that's good. You don't want to be a 5.0. If you're not making somebody mad, what are you doing? And I think on Spotify it's similar. I think we're like we got 400, 300 and something. So, anyway, give us a review please. That'd be awesome and it helps. I think it helps distribute our stuff. We, we, uh, we've grown so much by volume in terms of how many downloads we're getting each week, how many subscribers. It's pretty awesome, but we don't have a ton of reviews. So if you're like me, you're not a big reviewer just I'm asking you to go in there and do the five star rating and just say a three word sentence we love n, nsr or something like that. That would be really cool Because when we've turned down we've chosen not to be monetized or to do advertisements and stuff like that, so it's a little harder to get it distributed and pushed around, but volume and sharing and liking and stuff like that really helps with that.
Speaker 1:Anyway, thank youall for listening. It's been an hour of me rambling. I hope it's been beneficial and fruitful and I hope you're encouraged to go live. Like Paul, you're in the race. There might be somebody listening and you're finishing your race. Finish it well, but all of us will one day finish our race. That may not be today or tonight or anytime soon for you, but finish our race. That may not be today or tonight or anytime soon for you, but finish your race by running it well right now. Don't look back. Look ahead, keep your eyes on Jesus, keep your hand to the plow. See you next week.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at SWOutfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources, and we'll see you next week on no Sanity Required.
