Ever wondered how your day-to-day life could reflect a powerful message, much like the letters of the Apostle Paul? Join us as we peel back the layers on what it means to be a 'Living Epistle' in this thought-provoking episode. We delve into the heart of living authentically, the pursuit of purpose over mere happiness, and how we can embody a testament to God's life-altering love. It's not just about professing faith; it's about letting your life resonate with the conviction and holiness that sets you apart. We tackle the tough questions, like how to connect deeply in a digitally-dominated society, and I share my own journey of detoxing from social media to find genuine fellowship.
Then, hold onto your Taco Bell cravings, because we're closing with a light-hearted confessional about our favorite guilty pleasures from the fast-food giant and the fizzy world of Mountain Dew. We rate the best and the 'could-be-better' variants, share laughs over limited-time menu items, and agree that sometimes, the simple joys like hunting down a Baja Blast can bring a sparkle to our day. It's an episode bubbling with candid conversations, personal revelations, and a dash of whimsy, all designed to nourish your soul and tickle your taste buds. So, come on over and join the feast of thought and fun we've cooked up just for you.
Ever wondered how your day-to-day life could reflect a powerful message, much like the letters of the Apostle Paul? Join us as we peel back the layers on what it means to be a 'Living Epistle' in this thought-provoking episode. We delve into the heart of living authentically, the pursuit of purpose over mere happiness, and how we can embody a testament to God's life-altering love. It's not just about professing faith; it's about letting your life resonate with the conviction and holiness that sets you apart. We tackle the tough questions, like how to connect deeply in a digitally-dominated society, and I share my own journey of detoxing from social media to find genuine fellowship.
Then, hold onto your Taco Bell cravings, because we're closing with a light-hearted confessional about our favorite guilty pleasures from the fast-food giant and the fizzy world of Mountain Dew. We rate the best and the 'could-be-better' variants, share laughs over limited-time menu items, and agree that sometimes, the simple joys like hunting down a Baja Blast can bring a sparkle to our day. It's an episode bubbling with candid conversations, personal revelations, and a dash of whimsy, all designed to nourish your soul and tickle your taste buds. So, come on over and join the feast of thought and fun we've cooked up just for you.
Alright. So welcome to another episode and, if you haven't noticed by now, it is impossible for me to start an episode without saying the word alright.
Speaker 2:It's true. I just noticed that I do it Alright.
Speaker 1:I can't, I just have accepted it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you were a doll and you like pressed your hand Like a woody. Yeah you're like pulled the string in the back and you're like alright, pretty much yeah. Which is the shortened version of like McConaughey is alright, alright, alright, yeah, yeah, yeah, snake in my boots. Exactly, I sound it as non-western and southern as possible.
Speaker 1:So in this episode we kind of covered a lot of ground in the last one, but where I wanted to kind of go and even the stories that you previously shared are that but this idea of what it looks like to be a living epistle, to be, I guess, truly authentic in your walk that other people notice, because that's tough and there's plenty of people that are good at playing church and checking a box and they need their own conviction and that's its own thing. What do you do or how do you? What ways do you have you challenged yourself or set yourself up to surround yourself with or witness and be a living epistle. So an epistle is a big word for letter, if they're referencing Paul's letters in the New Testament.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so I'm just clarifying that word. If it's foreign to any listener, I try to define where it's not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a thing that's really helpful, yeah, well, first of all and I want to kind of start, and I think your life, the proverbial you, your entire life, is just as God breathed and God inspired, as scripture itself.
Speaker 1:So when you say that how many people are obsessed with finding their purpose or finding their destiny, or what have you?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It almost seems like it's counteractive to what you just said.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, well, man, there's so many different cans of worms here, but yeah. So first of all, yeah, especially my generation, like the the.
Speaker 1:Define your generation.
Speaker 2:Young. Well, so I did make the millennial cutoff, but I would say younger millennials, but also like, definitely like. The Gen Z is all about like you know, do you do it makes you happy and find you know your purpose. But the purpose has been almost like conflated with or made synonymous with, like being happy. Right. And can you like? The question would be can you still do, you still have purpose, meaning life, vitality, even in those pockets of moments that you aren't especially happy? Can you sustain or like enjoying pleasure yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, no, no yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely not, no, exactly. But joy is not correct. That's the difference. Yeah, and it's like you can maintain a posture of joy even though you might not be, I guess, exuding happiness or feel like, because happiness and pleasure, I think, go hand in hand. Whether or not, like you're enjoying or taking pleasure in what's happening around you, you can still maintain a posture of joy because of one who you are and who he is. Right.
Speaker 2:And so, anyway, going back to the original question, I do think that that, just as God breathed life into Adam, into man, into humankind which is what the word Adam means in Hebrew that is just as much of an inspiration as the text that we have and we hold as sacred and as a signpost to point us to the word capital W, which is Jesus Christ. And so I love the metaphors that Paul uses in terms of like living a pistol or a living sacrifice. He's using these different, you know, contextual images to say hey, this is what, this is what life in the spirit, this is what life in God looks like.
Speaker 2:This, is the abundant life, yeah, that is promised to us, that is given to us freely, and so I think what that looks like is just discipling at the feet of Jesus, and the byproduct of that is that your life, when people look at the story of your life whether they read it on paper or whether they experience pockets of it in the day to day when in their interactions with you but when they look at the story of your life that testifies to the goodness of God, to the love of God and to a partaking of the death and resurrection, Like that has to be evidence in your story for you to say that I'm a living epistle. You know to say that you're a living sacrifice, to use those images that Paul employs.
Speaker 1:So as a living epistle yes, it sounds fancier than it really is in life it's are the things and the decisions that you're making pointing to Christ and, as Paul also says, that we're to be an alien in this world and to be separate right. Like a lot of people are really scared of the word holy and we're called to be holy. And we have like this weird Roman Catholic idea of what holiness looks like and we need to act like the Pope or something.
Speaker 2:I don't know what people think.
Speaker 1:Right. However, be holy just means to be set apart or separate from the ways of the world, and that's a challenge because we depend, we all. We have to make money, we have to live in community with non believers, we have family members that are maybe really difficult to be around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, they're like the weird uncle at Christmas. No, I, I think I'm glad you brought up alien, because it reminded me of like different parts of the Old Testament when there's commands given and it talks about like hey, this is how you treat the foreigner, the stranger, the alien in your land. And then Paul comes around having the whole revelation of the law, yeah, and the whole prophets memorize, because you'd have to if you were a Pharisee. He says, no, you be the alien.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's flipped.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's like there's there, there, like it's a gospel of solidarity I think that's that's part of Paul's overall message to these churches is like solidarity, Like there is no Jew and Gentile, there is no separation, there's no division, Like it's it's an inclusive message of hey, we're all of one family, and so if you feel like your brother, sister or somebody who's lost or estranged, identify with that person, because that's what Christ does, Like he identifies with the those who suffer. Right.
Speaker 2:Um, he identifies with the thieves on the cross. Like I mean his. His ultimate sacrifice is a is one of solidarity with the entirety of the human condition. Right. All the whole spectrum All kinds of suffering, but also all kinds of joy. He was a man of sorrows, but he was also, like he's, the God of all comfort simultaneously.
Speaker 1:Right. So, and a lot of those are the fruit of the spirit, yeah, so a lot of times when I'm doing deliverance, sometimes it's weird you have to do the opposite of whatever it is. So if, like, if you are confronting a spirit of anger, you have to show like a supernatural love through your words.
Speaker 2:Right A gentleness.
Speaker 1:You can't, you can't not that you should scream at demons, because it's stupid but right.
Speaker 1:But you cannot out yell or out exhaust the spirit of anger Right and so and the reason I bring that up is because in my own testimony, in my own life, a lot of times I have to remember like there's greater influences, trauma, background, generational curses, unhealed places in each and every person's life, is they're navigating this and when they start acting out in a way, if I can take that, that one little second and remember like God loves this person and even though they're doing a harmful thing, even to me, potentially, that I can separate those two things and it makes it easier for me to to be compassionate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And like I think you brought up the similarities between that and just like the fruits of the spirit Like again, being a living epistle is again a byproduct of your connection to the vine, just like the fruit of the spirit is, is the byproducts the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, so on and so forth are byproducts of your connection with Christ and to his body? Right, I think I think those are one in the same. Like you cannot I mean we talked about this in the last episode where it's like you can't say that you know God and that you love God and you hate your brother, and so, through loving and being a part of community and being a part of the body, but also being connected to the vine, the byproduct is that your life is a pleasing love letter, not only to the Lord but to those around you.
Speaker 2:And it looks like ultimately, you know bringing back the living sacrifice imagery. It looks like you laying your life down for others in the same way that that Christ, and whatever that looks like, it's a case by case basis. You know it's a day to day thing. You know what does it look like to lay down my life for my kids, my wife. What does it look like to lay myself down for the sake of myself? Right, right, you know what I?
Speaker 2:mean Like to, to, to not identify with. You know these thoughts that are in my head your own desires, yeah, or my own desires, or like these emotions that I'm feeling, like there's there's an observer observing or aware of the fact that I'm feeling and thinking these things. That's the real you. Right. You know what I mean, and so, like I, sometimes you have to die to the self that you think you are, which is really just the imposter. Have you read? Have you read Brennan Manning at all? No.
Speaker 2:Fan Tastic author, hey man, and he's a great preacher too, but he wrote a book. Um, it was the first book my mentor recommended to me is called Obish Child, and in the first chapter it talks about how Jesus accepts, like the dirtiest, ugliest parts of you. And I wrote a note in the book because I felt like the spirit said you know, sometimes the most Christlike thing you can do is accept or embrace the parts of you that you didn't dislike the most.
Speaker 1:The parts that aren't surrendered to Right.
Speaker 2:If you can embrace those in love, just like Jesus does, then they will be healed, then they will be transfigured and transformed, Then they will move from a posture of death to a posture of life. Right, yeah, and be like cause. It's also um. Henry Nowan wrote a book called the Wounded Healer. Hmm.
Speaker 2:And in that book it talks about how you know, in the same way that by his stripes we were made whole and healed, we being the body of Christ, through our afflictions, through our wounds, whether they're self inflicted or others inflicted upon us, through those stories we can be agents of healing for other people, agents of freedom, right. And by our wounds people can be healed, restored, or at least that'll be a part of their journey. You know what I mean. At least like giving them that push, or even just that solidarity, like we talked about a minute ago, like, you know, sitting with them, be like, hey, I've been through that too, You're not alone.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Sorry, that was a lot.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, I'm processing it too, and so it's funny how drastically different anyone's answers are going to be to the same questions when it's an open, unscripted discussion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're inviting all sorts of chaos.
Speaker 1:So I it's great, I think it's great. The first thing is the super hyper literal part of my brain that's a very prominent part of my personality Thinks of an epistle, and I think about the historical context of an epistle and how epistles were not silently read by an individual, but they were corporately read out loud. And so because of that, applying that the concept of being a living epistle, it means that you're speaking to other people, you're not isolated, sure and that, and that your words are edifying.
Speaker 2:I think that's one of the reasons we do isolate. Actually, it's exhausting. Well, not only is it exhausting, I think we're afraid. Sure, I think there's a part of us. It's like man, if my real, if my life were to be read, we wouldn't want that story out in the open air. There's like, I think again because we talked about this earlier, like we talked about, you know, the disgusting marriage relationship between isolation and shame. Right.
Speaker 2:Like, shame thrives in isolation, and I think one of the reasons that we might be apprehensive to put our lives, our lives, on display to be read as an epistle.
Speaker 1:As opposed to how you put it on social media.
Speaker 2:Right. Yeah, the cookie cutter curated like highlight reels Right. That's actually one of the reasons I've got off social media is because I found myself constantly comparing myself to people's highlight reels, because I was convinced that they, that was their life, that was their real life, right.
Speaker 1:And that's what it's built around.
Speaker 2:Right, Exactly. And then the pseudo connection of like oh, if I liked your posts or I commented on our, like, you know, I put a little heart next to it.
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, we're sustaining our connection and our intimate relationship with one another. Actually, you delete social media and I'm not getting on like a soapbox or anything like that. Social media is a wonderful tool. I don't demonize it, but I will say you find out who your real friends are when you get off social media, because it takes so much more intentionality to sit down and, like, call somebody on the phone.
Speaker 1:Is it Jordan Peterson who says I dare you to go like a stealth or, you know, on dark for a year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like off the grid, and I've done that before. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's you know. I started LinkedIn again, which is I ended up finding each other. I used to have a massive, massive LinkedIn account Right and I deleted it just clean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, start over.
Speaker 1:And I started over and what I'm finding is that I'm significantly more intentional with the types of people. I mean not personally know all of them, but the types of people that I'm trying to connect with have dramatically changed than my previous account.
Speaker 2:Right, your so-called like target audience for, for, or the connections that you're making now.
Speaker 1:Previously, it was significantly military veterans Sure.
Speaker 2:Which makes sense With your background. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But now it's a lot of pastors, current and alumni of Christian universities, people in scholarship and academia for seminary types. They let me in. Yesterday I got into the women's and pastors group pastors and ministry group on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:Wow, they let me in. You sure it wasn't women pastors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, women pastors and ministers group, and they let me in. Is there something you haven't told me? My beard's big yeah, right no. It's just the testosterone I take now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, not at all, Not at all yeah. Okay, that's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting connection they let me in that group, which I just kind of wasn't really sure where that would go. Yeah, and the reason that I did that specifically is because, you know, the one job that I do have is teaching online and I'm teaching a doctor of ministry program in leadership Right. So I wanted an opportunity to pull the other half of ministry I wanted. There are times that I would be interested, while developing a course or teaching on a subject, something that's completely foreign to me. I'm a pretty masculine man, I'm pretty outdoorsy in a lot of the stereotypical things, sure, and I want to hear that voice, and so, by joining that group, it gives me an opportunity to hear how women are serving and leading in ministry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. Yeah, that's why.
Speaker 1:I entered that group and it's just a cool resource Resource.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, to learn from, because, like that, opens yourself up to variety of experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. Yeah, so that's actually yeah, I mean, that's a very, very neat opportunity and connection.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, the other thing that I think about often when I'm thinking about being a living epistle is at my church, one of the things they talk about is leveling up, and one of the things about leveling up it's just, you know, it's a generic term or whatever, but it's moving from personal prayer exclusively to doing intercession. It would be very intercession minded, Like God. You know what I need. God just bless me in the ways, heal me in the ways that I need. But let's talk about my brother in Christ, let's talk about my sister in Christ and letting your mindset go to the others around you.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you brought that up because I and I've written about this. Majority of our Christian experience, especially in the West, in the Western Hemisphere, has been so individualized. It's like, oh, my Bible, time with Jesus, my quiet time, and it's like I'm not devaluing those things. Those are beautiful. They're, of course do the spiritual disciplines, it's part of the formation and Christ likeness and things like that. But I think it's significant that, like when you look at church history, I mean like they didn't propose interpretations of the text unless there were at least 10 men in the room and they talked about it. When they were doing like a Bible study and they were going to interpret what a text said, there were at least 10 men. I've particularly rabbis, I'm pretty sure if they were interpreting the law and the prophets, and again, it's just the emphasis on the communal aspect of interpretation but also just spiritual development. And I think that is becoming so countercultural to this, like it's just me and Jesus.
Speaker 1:I got the Bible app. I'm good.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, I get my one scripture a day, type thing and it's you know, and I'll get not if you're listening to this not devaluing that, I'm saying you can level up from that. Sure, yeah, I mean like there's always more man. There's always more because he's infinite, so you know there's always more.
Speaker 1:So when we first met and we met in this coffee shop, we were it's funny, it's called Third Wave and I actually thought that it was a religious name, not a coffee name. I didn't realize that there are waves of coffee history.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't either. Yeah, I thought it was just like a very like hipster title of a coffee shop. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:I asked the question because me being super literal and knowing that, like Christians, can't meet anywhere except where they sell coffee, it's, I was thinking third wave, like the great awakening type things, and then, we're in the third wave of a more curious mad Pentecostal type.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Yeah, I didn't go there at all. Yeah, that's exactly what.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh, that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then or I thought maybe, oh crap, like this is some weird Hindu thing that I don't understand.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, however, it means that it actually has to do with. Like the second wave, for example, would be. The first wave is like the origin of coffee and like making it over a campfire. The way I understand it at least. The way I understand is the second wave is like the home coffee pot and the third wave is like the kind of that hipster extreme of like tasting the notes and the exact pressure of this and that, and it's like the mass, the further mastery of right. Do you want to drip?
Speaker 2:Roman yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all the other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so, anyways third wave.
Speaker 1:So we met at third wave Great place, lots of great people there, and you ended up knowing a whole bunch of people that you didn't even know went there. We were talking about Bible translations and this is the exact opposite of where you're just talking about, where something like ESV, for instance, has I think it's like 100 scholars, right, and I think when I believe Wayne Gruden was one of the main, the main scholars, and that's a pretty well known systematic theology book that if you've ever been in seminary you would probably know this book sitting on my bookshelf right here.
Speaker 1:You made the interest.
Speaker 2:We are comparing that to something like the passion and the difference between an individual right like NT writes translation of the New Testament, David Hart's or you have Brian Simmons passion translation or the message you do Peterson?
Speaker 1:Yeah, my message is over yourself. Yeah. Yeah, I was reading the message a bunch this week, which is a lot different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very different. Yeah, yeah, no, we talked about and one of the things that I brought up, or like one of the positives and I don't devalue, you know, like the New King James version or the ESV, but one of the things that happens naturally, organically when you have a, you know, a giant panel of like a hundred translators. You have a hundred different theological perspectives and biases coming to the table in order to decide on, like okay, how are we going to translate it? There's compromises being made, right, and so there's a. There's a almost like a distillation process when it comes to like the words on the page and what you get when you read a passion translation or NT writes, you know, translation of the New Testament or so on and so forth. You know, if you're well read on their theology, you know what perspective you're getting into when it comes to like how they're flavor you're getting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what, how they're translating the text and I and it's, I would say in terms of how I read scripture and like how I would want to approach it, is like I have I'm reading a bunch of singular translations or individually translated things and then I'm kind of bringing them to to gather on my own, instead of that that process happening for me. Sure.
Speaker 1:And then being handed to me as like an ESV or an NIV or an NLT and something like that Were you on far as something like a commentary Cause that's kind of one step further than a produced translation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what in particular about commentaries Like?
Speaker 1:do I use them? Or Are you pro commentary? Because I mean, you know the way that the majority of listeners are going to be familiar with. A commentary, maybe even unknowingly is a study Bible? Sure, study Bibles are basically just commentaries that are interweaved with whatever translation it is, and I've I've I've made podcast episodes on translation, so I don't have to go too far into that. Sure. However, you know, like the Bible I primarily does not have. It doesn't have any introduction, it has nothing and it has. It's just a straight Christian standard Bible. It's my preferred translation. Sure. However, I've been reading I was reading the message a lot this week too, and I was teaching a small group and it was cool to show them, like, how drastically different they were, but how, how effective and funny enough that we were teaching on I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength, and how the NIV says I can do all this through Christ, who gives me strength.
Speaker 1:And you have to ask the question what is the this?
Speaker 2:What's this yeah?
Speaker 1:So it doesn't be something that you put on your shoe or you chant at a at a T-ball game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And and the NIV in particular, on that exact passage of Philippians 413 is is the correct translation? Sure, the majority of it doesn't make it individualized, right? But you challenged me and so I've never read the passion. Yeah. I've. I've seen a lot of people use it as kindling. Yeah, it's a very villainized translation, but it did challenge me in the aspect as far as no-transcript singular translator versus a board Sure yeah, and again with the passion, most especially the translation of the New Testament books.
Speaker 2:he's translating predominantly from the Aramaic.
Speaker 1:Right, that's very different, which is?
Speaker 2:yes, which is the language, not that it was written in, but it was the language that they were speaking at the time, so it's more so not what was written down after the fact, after Jesus, you know, taught these parables. But what would it have sounded like in Aramaic? And then translating from there, as opposed to the Greek? Yeah, now, he is really good about footnoting, like, hey, in Greek it's this, there's a Hebrew word for this that's similar to this Aramaic word. So he has some really insightful footnotes where he tries to like combine the three languages in terms of and this is why I translated it this way.
Speaker 1:Are you familiar with Mike Winger by chance? Mike Winger? No, I don't think so. He's a pretty, pretty large. He's Calvary Baptist and he went from being a youth pastor to just being a completely online ministry and people sent him and he like off the cuff. He tends to have very, very good answers for all kinds of things and very balanced. The man despises the passion and so he has like a whole episode about that and chilling. You know why he doesn't like it or whatever? Sure, and it because it does some of the things like the message will do, where it takes like one verse and it becomes like three paragraphs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, yeah there's a lot of embellishment.
Speaker 1:It's in a dynamic equivalence rather than a century literal translation, which is fine.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think there's still value in it and the fact that it's out of Aramaic, which is an interesting way to interpret. I don't know that a lot of readers will understand that, but the majority of translations that you're familiar with NASB, the NKJV, the KJV, the ESV all those, the majority of that is not Aramaic at all.
Speaker 2:No, it's Greek.
Speaker 1:Only Daniel, and there's a couple of the prophets that have Aramaic that are translated Sure yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I see. Oh yeah, your question about commentaries. I think I mean, whether it's a book on a particular biblical topic or theological topic, or whether it's a commentary, all these are helpful tools. So I'm I would say I'm a big advocate, for, you know, read as much as you can, regardless of like the type of book that it is. But I mean like and then take that and then, you know, bring it back to scripture, because obviously that's the litmus test for what's ever said in a commentary, what's ever said in any book. But all those are tools in terms of helping us understand the text.
Speaker 2:Right so that for the purpose of and James points this out like, don't just be heroes of the word, but doers of the word. Right, so like. But you have to understand what's being said as opposed to in order that you can do it. And I think one of the services that we, particularly in America, are doing with the church is is we encourage people to read the Bible and we, you know, we go on mission strips and we give Bibles away, but we're not, unless you were, like in seminary we're not really teaching the local body how to approach or interpret or read scripture. No, we're not.
Speaker 2:You know, like we're not teaching, the metaphor, the similes, the anthropomorphisms the cultural context the historical, the socioeconomic, you know, and there are a lot of preachers that do. When they are preaching a passage they'll bring some that stuff in, but sometimes that's far and few between you know. But I think that's really important to to not just encourage people in your, your local congregation not to just read the Bible. That is beneficial. Right.
Speaker 2:Hands down. Reading the text is still beneficial to your soul and to your spirit, regardless of whether or not you understand it at the time. Right, because sometimes that light bulb will kick on when you're at you know 10 am in traffic, right, but I will say that I would like one of my personal I guess missions in terms of what I want to do with the rest of my life, is it whenever, given the opportunity, I want to help others read the text, or or so they feel more comfortable with it? Because I mean, people will approach Leviticus to be like I don't, you know what I mean, I don't even want to touch that book. I don't, like, I want to eliminate the fear of any of the text. Right, you know, or at least help in that process.
Speaker 1:And that's a good example, because Leviticus is a incredibly hard book to read if you don't know how to see how it all points to Jesus, which takes a lot of time.
Speaker 2:Right, which I don't know. If you're familiar with origin, he's one of the early church fathers, yeah. He talks about like you're not done with a text or a text is a text is not done with you. It's a better way to say it until you see how it points to Jesus or is evidence of Christ, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:I did want to go back to one thing you had brought up. One aspect of being a living epistle is intercession, and it makes me reflect in my own life, but also want to encourage other people to move from this, like moralistic Christianity.
Speaker 1:This is yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah To to intercessory Christianity and because a lot of it is like okay, I need to make sure that, like my seat, my slate is clean.
Speaker 2:Right, you know I need to make sure that I'm doing what's right. I am saying yes to the good things and no to the bad things. And it's about am I living a moral life? And now, again, I went through the baby out of the bathwater. Yes, having good morals is a good thing, right, but I would say moralism is not the same or equivalent to Christ likeness, because Christ calls us into being more concerned about my brothers sinned againstness than my own. Am I sinning or am I not sinning my own moral standing before God? Right, because at that point I'm more concerned about what hurts you and therefore I know better how to love you, and I'm interceding for the things that have hurt you and that are continuing to impact you negatively or keep you from, I guess, feeling like you're making progress in terms of your journey with the Lord, and if you were able to do that effectively enough with an individual, it would be reciprocated.
Speaker 2:Yeah. To say you're in relationship with somebody automatically implies reciprocity. Anything else is charity. But for you to say that I'm in relationship with so-and-so, there is a reciprocal nature, there is a relationship.
Speaker 1:You went KJV on me, or did I Charity?
Speaker 2:Anyway, I do want to say for the record, the person that first, I guess, turned me on to that idea and it caused me to explore it deeper, was Dr Chris Green. Was the first person to bring up that distinction for me between moralism and intercession and how life in God is more about intercession than moralism in that distinction. And so like probing that further was really beneficial for me in an understanding again tying it into what does it look like to to live as a living epistle?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as the God breathed word, the logos.
Speaker 1:That's right, awesome. Well, thank you guys for listening and we will catch you soon. I'm excited to see where this is going. We're actually getting to know each other more over the podcast than we have in totality anyways, and and you just shared about how you you share my affinity for Mountain Dew, and so I brought out some Baja Blast that I keep in reserve because, quite honestly, it has to be the best flavor.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:It's, it's cold.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and like it's so. It used to be super rare to find like the 12 packs. You know, the cans and stuff. It seems to be like a well comes out in the summer.
Speaker 1:It's seasonal, it's a seasonal thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and so I try to stock up.
Speaker 1:And the people on Amazon sell it for like $40 for like a 12 pack, and you're like yeah, I'm thinking about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like how bad do I want it.
Speaker 1:Yeah definitely so the the important follow-up question is, aside from, let's say, regular original and Baja, what flavor?
Speaker 2:okay, so like. So what other we're rating Mountain Dew variants.
Speaker 1:I just what look I? We both agree that Baja is the best variant. Yeah which I appreciate. It means that I respect you more. Yeah, you didn't say that I would have less. However, what is the second?
Speaker 2:best and I'm okay on any answer with that. The closest Okay, the close second is You're thinking I am no, because I mean this is a deep spiritual issue. No, okay, yeah, I think the closest second is the voltage. That's amazing, you say that, yeah, the voltage Mountain Dew.
Speaker 1:It's actually my favorite. That would have been my answer. Yeah, it was completely unknown.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I. The one I hate the most is the, the Halloween like the Voodoo. Yeah mystery like it almost looks like. Yeah, cloudy white, like a mystery airhead. Yeah but it's it's too sweet. Yeah way too sweet. Like it in it, I don't know like it.
Speaker 1:Do you know what do actually is you know what?
Speaker 2:flavor it is. I'm glad you're asking this question because I got a follow question for you, but I I don't know, I don't know, but it's heavenly a honeydew, so that's the sweetener that the fruit flavor that based around yeah right regular Mountain Dew is honeydew honeydew.
Speaker 1:So Baja is lime, added to it, the honeydew, yeah, voltage is raspberry. Yeah even though there are no blue raspberries, is its own paradigm yeah. The Voodoo, like when they try to make it taste like cotton candy or candy corn or whatever it is like it's awful. Yeah, the gingerbread one was really really bad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know exactly which one you're talking about. Yeah, it was or the fruitcake one. Yeah, all the Christmas ones. The one that was the best Christmas edition was the. Literally they just mix code red and normal, the green and red.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for.
Speaker 2:Christmas and I was like that's delicious, but okay, so what flavors dr Pepper?
Speaker 1:It's. It's a cola base, but it's 23 flavors it is it's got cherry, it's got vanilla, it's got sasperilla, it's got I, it's brown though. So it's a cola. It is a cola, it's a cola variant, it's a fruity cola, is what it is.
Speaker 2:I. So I don't know if you're familiar with a whole lot of stand-up comedy, but there's a comedian out of the UK I think it's Scotland. His name is James Acaster. He is a bit about like if you're over at a restaurant you want to test, I guess, the capabilities of the chef, just send your food back and tell the waiter it's a little a to dr Pepperie and see what they change about your meal.
Speaker 1:They spit in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, now that we have that over with and it would probably just be like its own and this would be its own thing where it's just like a short, like Extras yeah, and we are liable to say that we are not sponsored by Mountain Dew or dr Pepper. So yeah, or Taco Bell or Taco Bell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I can't, actually can't eat anything at Taco Bell. I go to Taco Bell and I get Baja or a freeze Baja and then that's it. I don't, I can't physically handle any of their food. It will destroy me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it is so good, especially when they have their nacho fries. No never, had delicious.