Rhett: 0:00

Imagine a world where every conversation feels like a genuine connection with authentic people. A place where you truly feel like you belong and where everyone's got a chair at the table. Friends, welcome to Armchair Authentic. Let's speak it, man. Oh man, I'm laughing because oh, it's such a joy to have a great friend in your life that you can just talk and have a good time because we have so many pre-conversations, Justin, you and I, before we hit record. Yeah. And and and some of them honestly deserve to be recorded, you know, and and then some of them don't. We hit delete. We did delete.

Justin: 0:45

We do start some and we hit delete.

Rhett: 0:46

We're like, this is not when I go there. But don't forget, like, uh Daniel served though. Nebuchadnezzar. Throw me in the lines, did he was a nice guy?

Justin: 0:58

Yeah. He was still a nice guy. He got trapped and he had to do something to keep a law. Yeah. Oh, we we're doing that little bit. Is there a magnet?

Rhett: 1:06

Is there a magnet pulling us back into the stuff we talked about before? I'm just telling Bible stories. I know, I know, I know.

Justin: 1:14

Yeah. I'm not going into the other stuff.

Rhett: 1:16

I'm just saying, like evil.

Justin: 1:18

Evil happens.

Rhett: 1:21

All right. So you and I are on this journey. God can deliver us, but even if he doesn't, I will not bow. Come on. I will not take this. Yeah. Fill in the blank. That's right. I will not do this. That's right. Oh man. There you go. See that see that was a good Bible story to open our podcast with. Yes. Read the book of Daniel, everybody. It's pretty uh pretty amazing.

Justin: 1:46

It is. I actually I know you were reading it. I just finished it too.

Rhett: 1:49

Did you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Powerful. The revelation side of things it kind of blows my mind. Well he was the prophetic side of the book.

Justin: 1:58

Well, see, and that you can read that for the day we're in now. But also just I loved how Daniel just how he would he could he it's like there were different administrations of kingship. And he was like, he was the con the constant. Yeah. He was there from the early young Daniel. Yeah. To by the time at the end, the king says, if you can interpret this, I'll give you all the possessions. I'll I'll put you in command. And Daniel's like, I don't really care about that, but I'll tell you what your dream was. He just had zero picking up on our episode last week. He had zero agenda. Yeah. And it still worked out for him, which is really, really cool. Because God's hand was on him.

Rhett: 2:41

Yeah. Okay, switching gears for a minute. Uh a few episodes back, I had mentioned the the thought of embracing AI. Right? And just embracing it. I mean, it's not going anywhere, folks. Yeah. Um there's a lot to learn with it. Kind of reminds me when the internet came out. You know, everybody was like losing their minds on thinking that this is the end of the world, as well as um people loving it. And Al Gore saying he invented it. Yeah. So I I there's very few people that I've ever met, at least in Western culture, that don't Google everything.

unknown: 3:17

Yeah.

Justin: 3:17

By the way, you were the first you're one of the first. What do you mean that I saw the first? I remember being at my girlfriend's house at the time, mid-90s, and you were over there too. Prodigy? Was it chat rooms? Yeah, chat rooms, chat rooms. And I walk by you and I'm thinking, why is Rhett has been on this computer for hours? Yeah. What are you doing over there? It looked like you're working on a paper. You've been typing. Yeah. And you showed me how you've been communicating with people.

Rhett: 3:48

Yeah.

Justin: 3:49

And I said, What is happening? There's like that's a real person to you're typing. It's a real person, bro. And then you're you're like in this, you're in this chat room, like telling everybody about Jesus.

Rhett: 4:00

I was. And I was going into like there were chat rooms that were like Satanist chat room. Oh, let's go on there. And then there was the Christian chat room, and then there were the Satanist chat people would jump over into the Christian. Oh, it's Facebook today. It's all the like, you know, uh what do you call those people who just like write trolls? Troll. Yeah, it was trolling. It was the beginning of trolling when we didn't know what trolling was. Yeah. And I would literally think, oh, I'm gonna lead this person to Christ.

Justin: 4:24

And of course, now I mean, you know, maybe this is gonna be a great moment. But you were the first that that I saw actually on the internet where you're communicating with another person. I didn't know that it did that until I saw you on their own. That's funny that you're bringing back that memory.

Rhett: 4:40

I mean, that's I remember I can go back to that in the mid 90s, man. That was a you know, 30 minutes, yeah, and then you're there and you're in it. Like, oh, I'm in the world. You got met. Yeah, so we're in that right now with AI. I mean, it's not going anywhere, folks. Um so I think there's a lot, not a lot, I mean there's a tons. There's a lot to be learned, uh, a lot of ethics, a lot of a lot of stuff that's coming out with it. This this episode is not an AI episode, but the reason I even mentioned this is because I've embraced it to to use it as a learning tool. I will tell this thing, hey man, here's what I'm trying to accomplish. Um, like with Max in racing, for instance. I'm about to tell a story that happened last night. And so I'm trying to learn because I I I wasn't raised around this, I don't know these things. And I'm like, I want to learn so that way when we get out to the track in 2026, we know what we're doing. And so I've given it parameters. I've even asked it, hey, what do I need to ask? How do I need to set this thing up? How do what what question? All the stuff. And so it's a work in progress. And so it's in a project folder on ChatGPT. And in the evenings, I'll work on stuff. I'm trying to learn things. I'm looking at the cart and like, hey, I'll take a picture of this part, and then I'll say, hey, what is this? Oh, and it's like, hey, that part is. I'm it blows my mind that I can take a picture and upload it, and I can point to it out of all the stuff and like what I'm pointing to, what is that? Oh, what your pointer finger is pointing to in this photo. Yeah, it's great. You know, is this it's a cassette bearing or whatever. I'm like, oh, okay. And I'm like, what does that do? Oh, well, it does all the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. And I'm like, oh my gosh. So I'm nerding out. I'm like going to school over here. Right. And so I'm learning things about carting and chassis and engines and how it's made and all the stuff. So I've bought into it so much that now I'm believing everything it's telling me. Yeah. When it comes to this. All right. But I've got a few buddies who are in racing and and and I'll reach out to them and I'll like, okay, hey, I don't want to overload them, right? But every once in a while, I'll be like, hey, what do you think about this? And they might and what they tell me will be different than what chat's telling me. Yeah, they're like, brother, you're you're building a spaceship. Right, right. But I won't tell them. I've been studying this on chat. So I'm like, hey, what are your thoughts on this? Because this is kind of what I'm learning, taking a deep dive in this. Is this accurate? Whatever. And then sometimes like, oh yeah, that's 100% accurate. But then the other, you know, yesterday it was like, oh no, I wouldn't do that for this because I'm always want more grip or whatever it was. And so then I'll come back and I'll tell chat, look, all right, everything you're telling me, I've just relayed this through a professional and they're saying this. And then be like, oh, well, yes, that is true and that does, but I was looking at it through this lens and this perspective. That person's right. Okay. Yeah. And so now I'm finding myself going, okay, I can't trust this as much as I would have liked to trust it because it does get it wrong. So, all right, prime example. That's just one little small thing. I spent 30 minutes last night going back and forth, trying to figure out, and I'm not going to get into the detail of what we were what I was trying to accomplish, but it was basically saying this specific measurement on your cart from the wheel hub to the brake hub, you need to be able to put a like a business card in between it, and you'll know that it's exactly right. Like that's the precision alignment. Because I want to make sure, hey, I want to set this thing up for success. Yeah. And so then I'm looking at it and everything it's telling me to do, and I'm like, this is impossible. Because there's like two or three things in between it. And so for 30 minutes, I take pictures. Yes, that's it, that's that. Yes, you need to slide that over. And I'm like, it's impossible. Like, you can't do this. Like it, you know, and it's like, no, no, no, you you can do this and all that. And then, okay. So after 30 minutes of this thing, um, I said it started saying, Oh, you don't need to chase that paper gap at all on your OTK. So for 30 minutes, I'm chasing, I'm chasing a paper gap measurement. What do you mean you're chasing? I'm looking, I'm like trying my best to find out like how do I get this measurement? I need this specific measurement.

Justin: 8:48

Got it.

Rhett: 8:48

Okay. And this measurement, I'm not trying to bore anybody, but go with me on this, hang with me. All right. So, like, because I want the cart to be set up right, and so the measurement has to be accurate in order for it to perform at the level it needs to perform. Okay. And so it's telling me to do all this. And so I'm like, all right, great, but I can't because it's impossible to move that over to here due to physics, due to the law, due to just the stuff that's in between it. And it's telling me no, it's arguing. We're arguing. I'm are I'm literally arguing and it can walk through us. Chat GPT. Yeah, exactly. All right. And so after arguing with it for 30 minutes, it says, hey, uh, so you're 100% correct to question that if your wheel hub is slit against the outside of the bearing cassette, that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You don't need to chase that paper gap at all. I'm like, whoa, whoa, wait, hold on. Now you're telling me I don't need to chase this measurement. I'm like, out of, and this is what I tell it, out of all that time, and you finally tell me I don't need that measurement, and I can't measure that on my cart after you've been telling me for 30 minutes I could. I said, that's so frustrating. All right. I'm talking to it like a human now. Yeah, you are. It says, that frustration is 100% fair, Red, and you're right to call it out. You've been patient. And I should have caught that detail about your OTK's three cassette axle layout much earlier. On carts like yours, and it goes on to say, you know, and it says the cassette anyway, it goes on to basically apologize and to say you're right. I was wrong. Yeah. And I'm going so patronizing. I was like You were fair. It said it says you didn't fair for you to be asked. Okay, but so you did everything, you did everything right by asking questions and visually tracing the layout. You just ran into a tuning tip that's become outdated for modern. I'm like, I didn't run into it, dude. You you did. Yeah. And then it starts, you know. Anyway, I uh all that to say, embracing AI can be very frustrating, but do don't believe everything it tells you, is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, no, don't write it. Like you gotta do your own, just because it says you can go from A to B this way doesn't mean you can get to A to B that way. Yeah. Like you Absolutely, you've got to understand that 90% of the time it's gonna tell you the right stuff, but you've got to understand that it's only pulling data from algorithms and stuff that's online. And yeah. Anyway, I I'm just saying I had a 30-minute argument with something that's not real but felt real, and then eventually said, Oh, wait, you're right. So that makes me feel really good as a human. So for people who are freaking out thinking, hey, you know, they're gonna take over your life and your job and your world, and you're not gonna have any stability. No, I I'm telling you, humanity wins out every time. We're still winning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're gonna win, right? Yeah, I don't care if uh the age of Ultron and Marvel and whatever happens, and it could going back to stuff we talked about before the conversation started. Anyways, that's my rant. AI argument, and it finally said, Rhett, you're right. I'm sorry for you know wasting 30 minutes of your life.

Justin: 11:49

Yep.

Rhett: 11:50

And uh basically, yeah.

Justin: 11:52

Or sometimes it'll say, Yep, you're right. Here is the correction, and it's the exact same thing it said before. I know. You're like, no, but you are you're playing me.

Rhett: 12:00

Yeah. Stop. So but I I I do I use it a lot with grammar and and um, you know, emails. It's a great administrative assistant with grammar.

Justin: 12:11

Yeah, but grammarly, yeah, dude. That thing just lost its I mean, I feel encouraged every time you text me. I'm like, wow, that's a great literature teacher. Man, hey Red, I'll be I don't use I'll be there in a few minutes. Uh Justin, if you would take your time because I care about you really making sure that you're efficient. Come on, I don't know. More importantly, I want you to be you because being you is very important to our friendship and to me. That's true. And if you're fulfilled, I'm fulfilled. I'll see you when you get here. Like man Rhett. That's so carrying. That's the best like chat GPT, chat GTP, whatever your name is. Gary P.

Rhett: 12:52

Turner.

Justin: 12:53

Well, you tell Justin something that really encourages him today.

Rhett: 12:57

You know my best friend as good as I do now. What does he need today?

Justin: 13:01

Oh, Gary. Yeah, oh Gary P. Turner. Talk to Justin. No, I don't do that. If he responds, just tell him what he likes.

Rhett: 13:08

There are some texts though that I'm like, okay, I need to make sure this comes across right.

Justin: 13:13

Sure. And they they turn out really as I went to, yeah. But I don't get it, is what you're saying. You don't get the raw.

Rhett: 13:23

No, you get the raw. But no, all of that is raw. I feel like it. Yeah, it's just, you know, anyways. Yeah, it's GPT. Embrace it. It's not going anywhere. Stop freaking out. Be wise, yeah. Right? As a serpent, harmless as a dove, you know. Don't just drink the Kool-Aid. Oh, yeah. Is what I'm trying to say. It gets it wrong. Because it for it was like, no, you can do this. I'm like, no, you can't. It's impossible. No, you can do that. I'm like, no, you can't. It's impossible. It's in it's physically impossible with this setup. No, you can. And you can do this. And I'm like, oh my God. And then finally, after pictures and everything, it was like, you're right. Thank you for your patience. Uh I was pulling this information from an outdated thing from whatever, and I was wrong. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, you were. Give me my time back.

Justin: 14:11

Exactly. I wonder how long AI's really been around. It's been around for us. Yeah. How long has it really been around to people that we have told how awesome they they are at their craft or whatever? Yeah. And all along they were elite people who had access to this stuff because they had money. Yeah. Or these when people sell their soul to the devil, was it basically like they had instant access to AI like 20, 30, 40 years ago that we knew nothing of? So they could just I'm like, how do they churn out these songs? How do they have number one hit? Who thought of that clever line? And how did they do it 30 songs in a row? Well, they just asked chat GPT of whatever it was 40 years ago to create that. Yeah.

Rhett: 14:59

And they had a song instantly. And this is how conspiracies. And this is how you can tell I'm not one. And this is how conspiracy theories start. Right here. Yeah, they don't have lists. Yeah. They don't theory. Theory. Dude, speaking of lists, you and I used to have one and we didn't know it. And we were, I will never forget, you and I, as kids, playing at Twin Gates East, there at that apartment complex, there was a uh laundromat in, you know, our little laundromat section with washer and dryer and coin operated. It was kind of cool if you think about it. They don't do this anymore because the apartments didn't provide that, but they did. You had to pay for it anyway. And so I think it I just don't remember, man. I let me let me rephrase it. I here's what I remember. There was a girl or something that we thought was cute or something. I don't know. Yeah, probably. And she said, Oh, that's so cute. Y'all have Lith. Oh, I don't remember that. You don't remember that?

Justin: 15:52

Uh-uh.

Rhett: 15:53

And I was like, Oh, and it it like talk about like looking into a mirror and I believe it though. I recorded having a blind having a blind spot I didn't know I had. I thought that was just my brother making fun of me because that's what brothers do. Yeah, and and I was like, we don't have a Lith, you know, or whatever. No, we don't. No, we don't. And but we didn't have a lith. We didn't have the we didn't really have the ability to record ourselves, or we didn't, and I think maybe that's when we started becoming very self-aware, at least I did, because I was like, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if she thinks that's cute or not cute. And uh so yeah, it gave me a company. It gave me a complex at that point, and then I started nobody taught me, and but I I I tried to be very intentional with my consonants, S. And I'll never forget as I was growing through that, going to a church every ever so often, not very much, but when we were there, I was like, Okay, God, why did you name your son Jesus? Jesus. I'm like, that's really that's hard to say. Like in worship, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's just something about that name, you know? Yeah. Anyway, and I was like, well, what a great place to learn how to get rid of your lisp. Jesus. That's true.

Justin: 17:22

Because it's a you know, well, see, my name was Justin, and I I was Justin.

Rhett: 17:27

Yeah, Justin. But I didn't I would have never thought, but I was like, okay, there's something wrong with this. This is okay, you know. And I was like, well, I guess, yeah, it brought a lot of insecurity and I had to work through it, and that's all I'm trying to say.

Justin: 17:38

But the laundromat was a great place with acoustics. We we would go write our songs.

Rhett: 17:44

I don't remember that as much as I do playing soccer in there and kicking the ball as hard as we can against the metal. I feel like we did that in the dryers.

Justin: 17:50

In the there were three laundromats. The one by my house or my apartment was the middle one, and I felt like we would do our basketball. We did more basketball in that one. Yeah.

Rhett: 18:00

When it was cold outside, it was warm in there.

Justin: 18:02

Yeah, we'd get like a little basketball in the garbage can was our mind is going back to that right now.

Rhett: 18:09

I could take you to that.

Justin: 18:11

The UAB Blazers because you went to their games, and I was like, Well, I'll be the Chicago Bulls. I didn't know the difference in college and NBA. And we would play. No, the first team that I was gonna be was the Globetrotters. I didn't realize they weren't real.

Rhett: 18:26

I don't think, yeah.

Justin: 18:27

I was just like, they do all them tricks and they beat everybody. Yeah. And then um, we had so much fun. I was made fun of for that.

Rhett: 18:34

I will remember the I can go back and remember the smell of the not that it was bad, but like the dryer vents. I loved it. I love that smell. You know, you go outside and we would find a cold day. On a cold day, we would stand out. Yeah, outside of the Oh, I can go back right now. So we're talking that dryer sheet smell. And these are those industrial size vents, not like the small one on the side of your house. They keep you warm in the cold. Oh, yeah. Yeah, like snow couldn't.

Justin: 19:01

Maybe maybe that's why I have allergy problems. Yeah, maybe so, but but man, I I can I can think back to that smell. I loved it. It was it's a comforting smell when I think back. But we would go into the laundromats because there was acoustics, and we would you've got the sweet sound. You've got the sweetest sound. I mean, we'd write that you're singing the one of the first songs that we ever made. Yeah. Yeah, because you got the sound that makes my eyes go up and down. What does that mean?

Rhett: 19:32

I don't know. It just made sense. I thought you said world go up and down. I thought that's that would have been better. I thought that I thought it was world, not eyes. That would have been better.

Justin: 19:39

It was eyes. Really? World would have been a better thing.

Rhett: 19:42

That's just so messed up. World would have been better.

Justin: 19:44

Yeah. No, I was in and I'm in it in a good way. Thinking back, it's like, what does that mean? Well, what does that mean? So I just want to say, let's get down.

Rhett: 19:54

And we didn't even we didn't mean that in a in a negative way. It was like, let's just have a good time. Yeah. Let's get down.

Justin: 20:02

Then you would do it again.

Rhett: 20:04

Let's get down.

Justin: 20:05

Then we do it a third time.

Rhett: 20:06

Let's get down.

Justin: 20:07

And then as you held the note out, I said, baby, you know you got the sound. Remember that? Oh, I remember.

Rhett: 20:17

We thought we were all with that. We need to, we need to just like go on this, you know, our little home studio and record that portion a lot. I know. But I can recall. That's cool. We didn't know.

Justin: 20:29

I recall those lyrics. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's like the chorus was, it sounded like a um like a like a normal 30-minute show. This is pre-Jesus right here. Yeah, this was what were we, nine, ten, eleven? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Cause the lyrics were like doing this kind of stuff. The core the chorus, if I remember, was like, baby, I love you. It's any time of the day that I would save you, and it's called a rescue. And I thought that was so clever. It was clever, man. Well, you know, for a 10, 11, 10, 11 year old.

Rhett: 21:04

Yeah, let me clarify that for you. If you can't understand what I just said, it's a good thing.

Justin: 21:09

I didn't have Jack old Chad GPT trying to help me Gary. Yeah. Yeah, I had to actually do all this myself. Yeah. And we sat there and we'd write these songs. Oh man. You're committed to your craft. Yeah, committed. Just like you with the race car. We commit ourselves to our craft. And it does produce results. It produces results. Yeah. We were just having fun then.

Rhett: 21:36

And uh yeah. Okay, friends, thanks for listening. Um count down to 100.

Justin: 21:42

Yeah.

Rhett: 21:42

Man, growing up listening to Casey Caseum. Oh, he was great. Oh man. That was like the dream job. Oh man, if we could have done that. Top 40, you know. Casey Casey. Top 40. Here's a story I want to share. A little, a little nasally throaty. A little nasally throaty then.

Justin: 22:05

A story here from a dad who lost his arm.

Rhett: 22:10

You know, this song comes out to you. I always like the shout-outs, like uh you call a radio station and put in a uh request. Yeah. Oh yeah. Hey, this request comes out from Red Bart Nover in Moody, Alabama. He requests this song is a shout-out to the girl of his life. Gina Trees. Oh yeah, totally. You know, whoever that might have been.

Justin: 22:29

The song's already beginning to play. Yeah. The disc jockey life scene.

Rhett: 22:32

Oh man. If you're the 10th caller, you win tickets to the new and upcoming show or concert. And then you call, I'll never forget one time I like, I think it was I-95. I was like, Am I the 10th caller? You're the 10th caller. I'm like, Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Robbie Rags. Yeah. And I don't remember what I won, but he was like, hey, and you know, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And then he's like, hey guy, you know, and that was like recorded, you know, the first 10-15 seconds. Yeah. And then I'm talking to him and I don't realize what's happening because I don't have enough uh understanding to know if this is a uh sorry, I'm getting a call from Pastor Clay. Hello. Um Pastor Clay, I love you. I'll call you back. But no, I didn't have enough understanding to to kind of grasp uh what was happening in the studio. I was thinking I was live on the air in that moment. Right. But they were actually recording it to play it later. Right. And then after they recorded it, they basically were like, okay, hey, man, didn't you come down to the studio? Blah, blah, blah. I was like, awesome. Took down my name, whatever. And then he was like, hey man, be sure to listen to the radio in the next minute or two, whatever. Like, oh, okay, cool. And I'd turn it up, and then all of a sudden it's like, hey, I-95, you're the 10th caller. And like, oh my God. And then you hear yourself back. It's like, oh my gosh. And then I think I called G, like, did you hear me out on the radio? Oh my gosh.

Justin: 23:48

I mean, to hit record to be able to listen to that. Everybody in Birmingham heard me.

Rhett: 23:53

Yeah, though.

Justin: 23:53

Well, I remember we would go to big times. You know, in those days, like JC's Haunted House and I-95, Robbie Raggs would be there. Yeah. But I always remember, and this is no shade to Robbie or any disc jockey, but I just remember in my head, you've heard their voice so long. So you've kind of made them out to be kind of very heroic and, you know, looking a little bit different than you. And that's once again, I gotta be careful saying that because you know, we're we're all beautiful in our own way. But I would remember meeting people face to face and it's like, okay, that's the face for radio. That makes sense. It was it the voice never because they had amazing voices. Yeah. And it was the kind of voice you would you made them look like they had to be tens on a scale, and whatever that means. And you would meet them, and it's they're not all right, they're just average.

Rhett: 24:50

Yeah, they were just average. And some people are like, and is that why y'all don't do video on your podcast? Yes. And there's your answer, yes. Yes, that's as real and as honest as it gets. Well, that's authentic. Of course. Of course. There's a mystery to it. It's like the wind.

Justin: 25:09

That was Billy Graham, right? Yeah. Or of course it was the Bible. You repeated that. Yeah, but yes.

Rhett: 25:16

They laughed it out first. Okay.

Justin: 25:20

Billy Graham. Yeah. Billy Graham, can you tell me the parable of the world? I can't see.

Rhett: 25:26

I can't see God. Is that right? Let me fix that out. Do it again. And action. Three, two, one, action. Billy, I like I don't believe okay, first of all, don't sound bite this because you know listen to the episode, right? But I I'm pretending to be somebody else. Okay. So pretend three, two, one, action. Billy, I don't understand, man. Like, how why would I believe in a God I can't see?

Justin: 25:49

Well, Rhett, that's a very good question. My question for you would be can you see the wind? No. You can see the wind. You can feel the wind. You can feel the effects of the wind. You see, there's a mystery to it. It's so true.

Rhett: 26:08

Billy, I believe in God now. Lead me to Jesus. I will do that. But no, no, but think about that. There's a mystery to it. There's a mystery to it. Yeah. How we just loved our little thing. You can't see the wind. You can feel the wind. You can see the effects of the wind, but you can't see the wind. Yeah. You can't see the DJs.

Justin: 26:29

Yeah.

Rhett: 26:29

You feel the effects of their voices.

Justin: 26:31

But then you see them and it's like thanks for bringing that back. Then you think you finally see him, and it's like, I wish they were like wind and I couldn't see them.

Rhett: 26:40

So that's why we're audio. Y'all, this journey has been so much fun to capture this kind of uh, you know, I'm gonna make up a word nonsensical talk. I like it.

Justin: 26:53

It's good.

Rhett: 26:54

Nonsense. You just add the ickle to it. It sounds just magical. Nonsensical. Like whimsical. Whimsical. Yeah, see, it's a nonsense, but whimsical. See, it's nonsensical. Whim is like, oh, it's just a whim, man.

Justin: 27:09

You're just so lame. This is the heart. Oh, you must be an artist.

Rhett: 27:15

Yeah, see, that's the creative in me. That's nonsense. It's nonsensical.

Justin: 27:20

Oh, I must have a listen.

Rhett: 27:25

Welcome to our nonsensical conversation. Uh if you followed us from You're an idiot. I'm an idiotical. Oh my goodness, he's a genius.

Justin: 27:44

You moron. I must hang with you. Oh man.

Rhett: 27:57

Oh, this is so rich. Adding to your point, you're amazing. I need it. I need it. I need it. Oh man. Yeah, so this is the joy of being creative. Are you one of those crazy?

Justin: 28:13

Um, you're not Baptist. You're one of those crazy, that's right. I'm Pentecostal. Charismatic. It almost is just right there, charismatical. Oh, but we're carrying this.

Rhett: 28:22

We're we're we're milking this for being in the milk. Until it's just dumb. Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. You know, yeah. So where do we go from here? Hey friends, if you're enjoying today's conversation, could you do us a huge favor? Would you share the link of this episode with a friend, with a coworker, with a buddy? I email it, airdrop it, text it, comment on Facebook, however, you would like to share it. Man, it would mean so much to us to help us get the word out to have more friends join us in on this journey. Thank you. All right. Now back to the conversation. If you've been on this journey for a while, this is just two friends who wanted to have real conversations about real life with real people. And it's been the heart of our chamber armchair authentic. And so um we do get serious. We do talk about serious things. If you're the first time friend hanging out with us, I'm gonna try to take us there and transition into something that perfect. So we've been talking a lot. I'm gonna try. It is that 25, 20 cynics, 26 minute mark. 20 cynical.

Justin: 29:42

Okay.

Rhett: 29:43

All right. So um yeah. All right. So we've been this journey to 100. Yeah. And a 100 episode will be our our our dot dot dot ellipses. And so we're trying to hit on on things, just you may have to save me, man. Because I can't even look at you. I'm too busy thinking after everyone. Yeah, I know, but you want to be good. Just add ickle to it. Okay. So try to think through things of okay, like if our kids went back to listen to this or our friends, you know, family, but um time capsuling things. What are what are things that are important? Um and I started thinking about spirit, soul, body.

Justin: 30:23

Yeah.

Rhett: 30:23

You know, if I was sitting there thinking about um really prioritizing things that are important, it comes through an understanding of first how we're designed. Like we're a triune being. And I I definitely want to go back and forth on this. So we have a spirit. Um, that is what is I'm gonna use the wrong words, but innately, you know, like designed by God within us, right? It's the breath of life, if you will, yeah, that God puts in all of us. It it's the the spirit man, the spirit woman on the inside of you. It's it's um it's the essence of life, really, more than anything. It it's it's the God deposit in you. Yeah. Um, it's the eternal that will live beyond this body when this body fades, right? So there's that side, there's a spirit man that uh that we need to build up. And and then there's the soul. My understanding of the soul is like it's your mind, it's your emotions, yeah, it's your will, it's your thoughts. It's it's you know, and you add your two cents in there too. Yeah, I will. And then there's the body. So our spirit lives in a body, and we have a soul. So the body's the physical thing. I mean, that that's pretty simple. It's things we can see, feel, touch, experience, tangible, right? And so living my life in a way where I prioritize that the right way. And by the way, I think it's interesting too, if you think about it, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, like they're triune. And then yet we're triune too, in a in a sense, how we're designed. And uh, and so, yeah, and people think, well, well, you know, heavenly body, we'll have a heavenly body glorified just like Christ. So we'll still have a spirit, soul, and body, it'd just be fully redeemed. Yeah, you know, when we're face to face with Christ, which is gonna be incredible too. So um, anyway, so when I think through the lens, if if if my son or my grandkids were to ever ask me, How'd you live your life? And I would always say, like, I try to prioritize my spirit man, which is connecting with God relationally. Yeah. That's through his word, that's through prayer, that's through worship, that's through community. It's everything we've talked about up to this point. But it's interesting how everything filters through that. So if your spirit man is whole through the power of what Christ can do in your life, feeling that, everything that that infiltrates your your your mind, it infiltrates your body. But what's interesting is when your spirit man is saved, your mind still has all these bad habits, right? Yeah, your body still has its cravings. And so I always thought in my mind, when you get saved, like whoop, all of it's perfect and it's all aligned now. That's right. No more, yeah, no more fear. And I was like, why am I still struggling? Why am I still struggling with like looking at porn as a teenager or even a young adult when I love Jesus? Yeah. And my spirit man's saved, and I believe it with all my heart. And I'm like, what is going on? How how do I break free from this? Yeah. Why am I still angry? Why am I still angry? Why are why am I still angry? These insecurities. Yeah, like why am I dealing with a bunch of the stuff that I was hoping would just be radically changed? And what I began to realize and have been taught and have since learned is that when our spirit is saved, like that is that that's not changing. That's what Christ can only do by the power of his blood and the finished work of the cross. Justification. Yeah, spirit man is saved, and that is grace gift. It's not by anything you could ever work for or do anything. Right. So when you begin to prioritize this and you're like, okay, when my spirit man begins to understand who I'm who I am in Christ, and we we discover that through his word, right? And what his word says, well, then our mind or our soul, our mind and emotions, right, have a decision to make. Right. Are we going to buy into that? Or are we going to buy into the way we've always lived our life? And so I had somebody ask me the other day, how do you like, do you just wake up every day and you're just this way by nature? And I'm like, no, it's a choice. Yeah.

unknown: 34:32

Yeah.

Justin: 34:33

It's a choice. You wake up to earthly attachments.

Rhett: 34:35

Yes. We have earthly attachments every day. And so when I think about it, and I'll try to do this really quick and then we can start having some dialogue around it. But it's this my spirit man is saved by grace, it's a gift. Christ redeems that, right? So when I die, it's like the criminal on the cross. Yeah. Think about him. Yeah. Today you're going to be with me in paradise. Why? Because he believed that Christ that truly this is the Son of God. Spirit man was saved. Yep. You know, he didn't have time for his mind and his body to align with what the spirit was happening in him. Yep. He died that day and he was in the presence of God in paradise. That's right. Okay. So, but I'm not hanging on a cross, right? So my spirit man is saved, and now it's going to take some time for my soul, my mind and emotions to a line up to what's happening spiritually in my body. But the alignment in priority has to be spirit man first, because when that is being fed by God Himself through his word in your spirit, then your soul, your mind and your emotions have a choice to make. And when you begin to make the choices that align to God's word, it's called taking every thought captive and making it obedient to his word, which is alive. And when my mind begins to make those decisions, well, guess what happens? Now my mind and my thoughts and my decisions over time are starting to align to what's happening in my spirit. Well, then my actions from my thoughts that my body responds to, all of a sudden, now it's like, now I'm being transformed and being transformed. And so now it's not behavior modification that I'm focused on where I used to be, trying to fix my body, then my mind, and then my spirit. No, it's my spirit, man, is filled by the presence of God, life-changing through his word. My mind is now hearing more and feeling more of God, and like, I need to make that choice. I'm tired of going that road. Yeah. I need to go this way. So now that's aligning. And because I'm making those choices, now my body starts to respond to that. And they're all fighting against each other. And whatever you feed the most is going to be the one that wins out. That's right. And so I, up until the point before salvation, always fed my body what feels right, what feels good. Yeah. Regardless of what my mind was thinking. And oftentimes my mind would think, oh, that looks good because I've experienced this feeling or this emotion or this dopamine hit. And so it was my body and my mind leading the way. Absolutely. But when my spirit man was saved and redeemed and reconciled to God that only Christ can do through that free gift, now I thought different. Why? Because I'm seeing the truth. And the truth is setting me free. That's right. But I still had a I still had decisions to make. And I didn't get it right all the time. And I left, I lived in frustration because I couldn't, I was getting them all out of order. And so if I was sitting here telling my grandkids, I say, hey, it's so important that you feed your spirit with the Spirit of God, because that's how it was designed. You go back to the garden, the presence of the Lord. Well, sin entered, and then it broke that. God put a plan in place, that rescue you talked about. But we're still in this broken humanity with a broken mind and a broken body, but our spirit's saved. So what's beautiful about salvation and what's beautiful about transformation, if you'll allow the Spirit of God to fill your spirit, your mind will always have a choice to make. But it becomes easier when you begin to see the fruit or the promise that's tied to those decisions. When you make those decisions, small ones over time, compounding interest. Next thing you know, you're not fighting behavior modification. You're not trying to sit there and think, well, I need to do this or I need to do that. It's a byproduct of what's happening inwardly through the Spirit of God. Yeah. Your mind lines up to it and your body lines up to it, but it will always be a fight. And I think that's what I just want to make very clear to hopefully my grandkids or anybody listening is like there's always going to be a fight. There's never an arrival. It's always a journey and a process. And that's why Christ said if you want to follow me, you want to go this route, you want to continue to live in freedom, not just experience a moment of freedom and you're done, like an arrival. You have to deny yourself, take up your cross daily. What is he saying? Die to your mind, die to your thoughts, die to your emotions, die to your body, die to your wants.

Justin: 38:52

Yeah.

Rhett: 38:52

And allow the Spirit of God to do a work within you which produces the fruit we talked about. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, self-control, right? Well, that'll be evident to all because when you get the order right, it all lines up. And that's what I'm trying to say. So if I'm thinking big rock living, this is good. So good. Big rock living, um, from you know, I'm gonna be selfish here speaking prophetically to my grandkids, you know, and even spiritual, you know, um, sons and daughters. My I'm telling you there's freedom you can find every day living your life. When you start your day, you don't have to spend hours, but feed your spirit over time. Yeah, make the decisions with your mind that line up according to what God's doing in your spirit through his word. Yeah. And your body will follow. And it is a fight. Feed your spirit man first. Everything will come into alignment, but you do have to make those choices, and it is daily.

Justin: 39:52

And I used to hear in just churches growing up, and you'd hear, I mean, there are two beautiful terms, but I didn't know what they really meant. And I remember for a long time kind of going along with it, but not fully understanding it. But it was those two words of justification, sanctification. And I would hear that and think, great, but I really never knew what that meant. And it's the process that you described. It's, you know, I heard someone one time say, probably Scott Ray, who we can really consider our pastor. Yeah. He was really formidable with us, formative years, uh and really our first, you know, five to seven years as believers. And before we really became men and work, you know, headed towards marriage and you know, just growing up in ministry, to this day, we talk to him. He speaks words over us, he's just an encouragement to us. Yeah. But I think, you know, in youth group one night, you know, he explained it in the sense of justification, just if I'd never done it. And that's really what that means. We can do nothing to earn our salvation. And that's so wonderful because it's been brought to us as we have uh made Jesus Lord of our life and received his forgiveness. And so the effort we can't work our way to try to be accepted by him. He's already, he's already accepted us, and we're so grateful for that. But the moment that we are standing on the chief cornerstone of Jesus, we hear this word sanctification.

Rhett: 41:34

Yeah.

Justin: 41:35

And that is what you're talking about. This is the ongoing process that we will be in from the moment we have Christ as our king of our life until the day we die.

Rhett: 41:46

Right.

Justin: 41:46

We're in a sanctification process, which it can be interpreted as I'm just, man, does that mean I'm just living a life of doing good, then doing bad? And I would say it's not really supposed to be framed that way. Right. It's framed in the sense of we're in a process and we're invited to this invitation of the Christian life. And the reason that it's important for us to speak to our sons, our grandchildren, our friends, our uh spiritual sons, if you will, spiritual brothers and sisters, the reason that we want to say this is to just be another encouragement to let you know that the process that you're in, it's almost as if the world we live in consists of until we met Christ, we have accumulated all these idols. Yeah. That they things that make us feel good, things that we naturally just gravitate towards. We need to have needs met. Some of those are good things, but the idolistic living is what you were describing. And so I'm just trying to bring a bridge between what you might read in scripture and how it can even be relevant to us in living our life. These earthly attachments that we formed are really these idols that we have to make these choices of Jesus is Lord of our life, but new idols are getting exposed as we go deeper into our house called the body, right? And into the depths of our spirit and our emotion and our bodies. And we're taking this journey. And that's why for so long, because we didn't really know, and there wasn't a lot of there wasn't a lot of people talking about, hey, I still struggle.

Rhett: 43:38

They weren't talking about the journey as much as hey, you've arrived at your destination. Now you're saved, and it's gonna be perfect. And it felt like you're saved, yeah, which we were.

Justin: 43:49

Yeah, absolutely. But we didn't acknowledge now there's a process, this sanctification process means, by the way, Justin, you're still gonna be tempted in this area, but you are invited into the journey of crashing down that idol. And it's going to happen by this. And this is spiritual formation. When you ever you hear that word, it's a chance to be to have your spirit, the most important part of it all, to have your spirit formed, which then will be dictating what your mind is actually um deciding to put more of its focus on, which then also affects what your body isn't is doing. And that's why you can spend so much time feeling like I've overcome something. And the and what I would like to say is you have, but as you begin to be formed more and more, there's another shadow type that looks maybe even like what you overcame. Yeah. And there's more to overcome. There's more levels, there's more depths, there's more what we would call the buzzword word in these days. There's triggers, there's wounds, there's trauma, all the stuff from the past. Really just point blank saying we live in a world that has fallen, yeah, that is still just loaded with idols. It's when we made the, you know, we we weren't joking, but we try to make it a joking matter. So maybe we don't come across crazy, you know, to some of the listeners, which we don't think we are crazy, but it's the stuff that we embrace. Uh, you know, we we had the the fun episode talking about Halloween that by now is already passed. Yeah. You know, we just we just had it happen this weekend. And there's so much of these things that we do right now, we consider it just this is life. This is fun. Let's celebrate. Yeah. Well, the all these things are forms of idols that are in our lives. And it's not even just to demonize that, which you can. Yeah. We can do the same thing with Christmas and take Christ out of it. We can do the same thing with just every part of our life with friends. And when you, if you're a guy, you see a girl and you objectify her. Yeah, that is a sign of there's something inside of you. There's this idol that is still getting some kind of, it's thriving in you somehow, and it has to be cast down because God's wanting to take you through a sanctification process where it's no longer, she's no longer, girls, if you're listening, he's no longer an object of your affection, as in the guy or the girl, right? But they become to be a brother in Christ, a sister in Christ, someone created by God who has intrinsic value. And it's this process of trying to get ahead, like we talked in the last episode, and understanding in the sanctification process that drive is good, but there's an unhealthy sense of it if you're getting your meaning by your accomplishments. And so there's the process of sanctification that you might be in where you realize, man, it's not about me. It's about what is your story you're doing in this God.

Rhett: 47:09

Yeah.

Justin: 47:10

And usually if you look into that and you pray and you get focused, you're gonna have some things revealed to you that you might not be doing according to his will. Which, what we would encourage you to do is you can't shame yourself. Yeah. That's a natural tendency that I would do, I would screw up, I would do something, and I would think, I cannot believe I would do that. Man, I know better. Yeah, I've been set free. What's wrong with me?

Rhett: 47:38

Yeah.

Justin: 47:38

I would waste my time on the regret instead of just getting to the point of Holy Spirit, this has been exposed. Yeah. Will you, will you help me deal with this? I need your strength to deal with this. And then it becomes a process and a progression where you're actually overcoming something by the power of the blood of Christ, by the equipping and empowering work of the Holy Spirit in your life. And it results in something that may look like before I wanted to get ahead. And now I look at it and I realize I want to help this person achieve what God's doing in their life. And there's almost this satisfaction of I'm just playing my part in the body of Christ that I've been invited to. And you begin to walk, hopefully, in this sanctification process where even though mistakes are littered throughout, you're getting exposed, you're learning, you're you are looking to modify it, but not just to modify your behavior. It really becomes your delight to smash that idol that just got revealed. Yeah. Where it's no longer about you, but you begin to embrace that, man, I used to want to be this, and now in this communion with the Lord, I'm happy to be the pinky.

unknown: 49:04

Yeah.

Justin: 49:04

I'm just glad to be a part of this process because I'm more locked in as this pinky, as the sanctification process I'm walking in has revealed. Wow, I was living an idolistic lifestyle, not even realizing it, but by your kindness, yeah, by your grace that has been the foundation of this all, you're leading me into a way and I'm being transformed. I was already transformed, my spirit was, but man, now my mind is being transformed. Now my body is being transformed.

Rhett: 49:44

Yeah.

Justin: 49:44

And I went from wanting to be making the greatest impact, secretly wanting to make impact because I wanted to make a name for myself. Into I just want to make an impact because you created me to play a role in this huge body of Christ. Yeah. And I'm just glad to get to have a part in this, Lord.

unknown: 50:05

Yeah.

Justin: 50:06

And that becomes your act of worship, and you find your utter satisfaction and meaning in life just knowing that he's receiving worship by the actions that we take.

Rhett: 50:20

Hey, friends, Red here. Just want to take a moment to speak to those who may be joining us for the first time. We want to say welcome, friends. However, you found us, we are so glad that you did. And we believe it wasn't by accident. We're so glad that you joined us in on this conversation today. In fact, if you haven't already done so, could we encourage you to follow us on social media? You can find us on Facebook or Instagram at ArmchairAuthentic or over on X at ArmchairOff Pod. That's ArmchairOff A-U-T-H P-O-D. All right. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Now let's get back to our conversation. So the sanctification process, um, I'm gonna say the process for it looks the same in that spirit, soul, body. But our leanings, is it propensity, the like the predispositions we have to do? We have a propensity to want to do things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To want to do things. All of that looks different. And a lot of that is, you know, you know, whether it's, you know, struggling with porn, which is a big thing for me when I was younger. And and it has always been something of a weakness in my life of things I would have to fight, you know. There were things that we were exposed to as young boys that we should have never been exposed to. But we were. But we were. And so, you know, so for me, um there are gonna be things, whether it maybe your thing is, hey, I want to make a great name for myself. And right, and it's really easy to try to always want to do things with an agenda of of being the best or the greatest, and hey, look at me and you know, want to post everything on social media because I'm I just want to be seen, I want to be known, right? Um, maybe that that's pride. I don't know what it is. It could be prescription pills, it could be alcohol, it could be you know lust, it could be um overspending, gambling. I mean, you know, well, I don't know what your list is, right? But we all we all have our our our things, our vices, I should say. And so when you're saved, the spirit man is saved, takes time for your body, your mind, and your body, your soul, your thoughts to line up to what's happening. But I'm I find encouragement in, and I don't hear a lot of people talking about this, but and I don't remember the verse, I'll have to Google it. I'm sorry. But Paul says, hey, I was I was given a thorn in my flesh too. Yeah, like there is something that I even asked God three times. God, take this away from me. Like, we you I don't want to like let me just bring it to me, right? Yeah I don't want to have to battle with lust the rest of my life. Right. I don't want to have to deal with that. Take this from me. Like everything else is simple. I don't have to worry about alcohol, I don't have to worry about uh addiction or you know, when it comes to all these other things, but like I don't want to have to lean to the things that I've that uh that's hard for me. Just take it from me, right? Um when I say hard, I'm just saying that those those would have been the areas of just weakness that the enemy would have come into to try to bring destruction to my own life because of what I was exposed to at a young age and and growing up. And so Paul, I find I find encouragement that Paul is always like, God, take this from me. And God's like, hey, I'm not gonna do that. I could. I mean, I'm I'm I'm getting some dialogue to this. He basically says, Paul, no, my grace is sufficient. Yeah. For when you're weak, I'm strong. Yeah. And it's like, what? God, you you're bigger than this. You created the universe. You mean you you spoke in trees just you know, for I mean, you could take this from me. And God's like, yeah, I know I could, but like, you really wouldn't need me at that point. If you think about it, you think about it.

Justin: 54:03

You're like the boy on Polar Express where the train conductor, he was just such a cocky, arrogant little guy. And the train conductor gave him the ticket that said humility. And then even even the Santa character is like, some humility would be good for you. Yeah, it's it's like, yeah, Paul. Yeah, it's Paul Paul, yeah. So keep you humble. You don't realize how yeah good this is for you.

Rhett: 54:25

Yeah, it's like you could take it away. You you need you need the little wedge that that keeps you human to where you lean on me and trust in me. Because if think about it from this perspective, if if if we didn't struggle on this side of humanity, would we really need God? Right. It's I mean, you know what I'm saying? I mean, that's a whole other distinguishing suffering is a wonderful draw to the Lord. And there's a lot of verses about that, right? And so where I find encouragement, speaking, you know, in the time capsule for friends and kids and grandkids and spiritual sons and daughters, these kind of things, is like, you know, God can, but he often doesn't, yeah, because his grace is sufficient in your time of weakness. And that's when Paul then finished up with, well, then I'll just boast all the more of my weakness, then. In other words, I'll just say, you know, I can't do these things without God. Yeah. And um that's hard because the devil is trying to talk you into not talking about your weakness. Because if you talk about it, well, then you people are gonna shame you or look down on you. Um, but there's actually when you expose this kind of stuff and you bring it out into the light, it's no longer hidden and it's illuminated.

Justin: 55:29

Yeah.

Rhett: 55:30

And now it's like it takes the power away.

Justin: 55:32

Yeah.

Rhett: 55:33

So for me to sit here as somebody who could be honest enough to say, yeah, I I struggled with lust on and off. Yeah. Even as a Christ follower, Christian, so many years, you know, I can say that not with shame and not with guilt, but the reality to go, you know, my body went through a lot of trauma. My mind went through a lot of trauma. My spirit, man, was saved, but I was learning how to battle those minds, those thoughts, and in the response uh of that type of lust for what it would do for the dopamine hits in your body and all this type of stuff, right? Yeah. And so that that transformation that God talks about in his word, that sanctification is a journey and it's a process. And as much as I would have loved for that to have been taken away, I'm it it keeps me grounded to leaning on God and trusting God, but it allows his grace to do the work in me so that it's not me doing it, it's him doing it in me and through me.

Justin: 56:27

Yeah, I'm I'm with you.

Rhett: 56:28

And so when you if you're asking the secret to life and living, it's it's Christ-centered, it's his spirit filling you, doing this transformation work. And then it's your mind, your will, your emotions beginning to need to make decisions, and then your body aligning to that. And because I I just, I guess, you know, I'm not trying to loop or beat a dead horse, but just trying to make this point very clear that Christianity is not behavior modification, it's heart transformation. And that heart transformation begins when your spirit man is changed, and when that is fed the most through his word, I cannot say that enough, through getting his word one-on-one through friends, through church, accountability, uh, friendships, you know, um, getting that in you, well, then it creates accountability and your mind's going to be able to see the truth. Oh, well, if I go this way, there's blessing. And if I go this way, well, I might have a short-lived little bit of fun. Yeah. But the pain that that creates, yeah, okay. Porn is no longer pleasure, porn is pain. Yeah. I'm seeing that now.

Justin: 57:34

Yeah.

Rhett: 57:35

So when I'm tempted, hungry, angry, lonely, tired, whatever that might be for me, where that is triggered, oh, okay, that's pain. Okay, no, no, no. I'm walking this road and I'm aligning my mind to what God's doing in me spiritually, but I'm only knowing what to do because of his word.

Justin: 57:52

Yes.

Rhett: 57:54

Now my body's thanking me, going, wow, thank you. Yeah. Because now I'm starting to recognize over time 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120, a year, three, five, 10 years down the road. Wow, now I'm living in this freedom. Yeah. It wasn't me. It's God's grace in me to lean on Him to help me in those moments of weakness.

Justin: 58:15

Yeah.

Rhett: 58:15

We'll never be tempted beyond right what we can bear. God's word says.

Justin: 58:19

Yeah.

Rhett: 58:20

So when I am tempted, there's always a way out. Will I lean into that? Yeah. Because now I can clearly see it. Yeah. I have that choice. And so you're not always going to get it right, but you'll get it right more. And over time, that sanctification becomes even more in your life. And I guess all that to say, just spirit, soul, body, in that order. Christ. Right. He redeems you. You're saved. And it's a journey. And so I've just, I always, man, yeah. If I can add this, I there are the little small percentages where I've heard people say, you know, I gave my heart to Christ and I no longer, let's say they were an alcoholic, no longer ever desired another, you know, ounce of alcohol. I'm like, dude, that's amazing. Or I never, you know, smoked another cigarette. Yeah. That's not everybody's story. Yeah. But it is But it is some people's story. And and those things can happen. Yeah. But 99% of the time, you're going to have a lot of work to do and allowing that sanctification to happen. But it's you doing the work. Yeah. God's already let me let me just say this. God's already done everything he's going to do. Yeah. Now it's up to you. Well, I just thought God would do it for me. No, no, no, no. He did everything. He sent his son. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Right?

unknown: 59:42

Yeah.

Rhett: 59:43

So that that's what he's done to rescue us. Christ said, Well, you know, follow me. I want you to experience it. You'll have life and life abundantly. But here's what you here's how you gotta live it out. You gotta die. You gotta, you got, you've got to make some decisions for yourself. For for In this world, you're gonna have some trouble. This is what Jesus said. You're gonna have trouble, you're gonna have pain, but hey, be encouraged. I got you. I've overcome, I've overcome all this. Yeah, you can too. Yeah. So I'm leaving you here for a short time so you can make a difference to help bring other people along.

Justin: 1:00:16

Yeah.

Rhett: 1:00:16

Until I, until I return. So I don't know. If I'm thinking through big lenses, big rocks, I think that's just been a huge part of transformation of my own life to an understanding to help me align my life to really what's most important when I can clearly see spirit, soul, body, and how that affects everything.

Justin: 1:00:34

Yeah, it's I think of the tether. I think of, you know, we said justification, sanctification a while ago. The the grace that is there. Sometimes the sanctification process feels like you're not overcoming something. Yeah. But you have to lean back on the fact, like I just picture Tetherball. There is that post. I hate that game. There, I know it's the almost game. Napoleon Dynamite made it famous for a season. Yeah. But there's the post that's stuck in the ground that's not going anywhere. That really is. That's the grace. Sometimes, yeah, like his grace is sufficient for us. And that's all you can lean on, the fact that we're still tethered to him. We can try to overcome all this stuff. And hopefully we get success in that. And the Holy Spirit gives us the empower, empowerment we need. But we also know some things are just going to be that's a thorn you got to carry. But we're still tethered to him. He's never left us, he hasn't let us branch off as far as we could go. And uh another great point you made as we begin to wrap up is not everybody is the same. And I think, you know, I'm I'm thinking about the person who we're outgoing, so we think more of the mega stuff.

Rhett: 1:01:47

Let's go. Yeah.

Justin: 1:01:48

Just whatever's big and mega sized. But you have the people who their growth point is they would rather remain in the shadows and stay quiet.

Rhett: 1:01:59

Yeah.

Justin: 1:01:59

And God's growth point for them might actually be I need you to step out more. And they're just on different spectrums, but the emotions are all the same that we go through. We're still very much our our the way our body um carries out an action might look different, but we can relate to the emotions that still go with it. And I just thought I'd read, I love going into the Psalms because we can, I don't put myself in their story and make it about me. I used to read the word of God a lot, and I would I would read a scripture and say that's about me. And and you know what, God's word's alive, and I don't want to take away that, but I do want to give this lasting big rock to our crew who's listening, that don't make everything about you.

Rhett: 1:02:50

Yeah.

Justin: 1:02:51

Read the scripture and be grateful for what God was doing in them. And you can learn more if you don't make it about you, but you let it be about who it was written for, and then take some of the lessons that apply to that. And the principles and how you can adapt it to your sanctification process. And so when I'll read there in the Psalms, for instance, the Psalms are beautiful, and there's a grouping of Psalms uh called the Psalm, the Songs of Ascent. And this is Israel when they're going back, when they would go make their journey every year to Jerusalem, the temple, all this stuff. Yeah. And there it's a remembrance. Yeah, they're recalling what the Lord had done for them in the years of being in Egypt, being in slavery, slavery, bondage, all these things. Yeah. And so I just wanted to read this scripture because it's been on my heart for a while. And it's really getting to see the the, you're getting to see a back and forth of walking in those moments in your journey where everything seems great.

Rhett: 1:03:54

Yeah.

Justin: 1:03:55

And we love those, but also recognizing there's moments in your journey where it's really tough and you feel hopeless. You might even begin to doubt everything you've believed. And it's in those moments, God's with us either side of the spectrum. He's with us. Whether we're leaning on the tether or we're getting to grow in the sanctification process.

Rhett: 1:04:17

Yeah.

Justin: 1:04:17

Or whether we just lean on, I'm just justified. Thank the Lord, I'm his grace has got me.

Rhett: 1:04:22

Yeah.

Justin: 1:04:23

And when I read this, I can, it's almost like we can see what they're going through in these moments. But it says this, and this is Psalms 126, uh, one through six. And it says, When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them, the Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord, like the streams of the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. And when I read that verse, it just reminds me that even in some of the deepest sorrow, suffering, that the joy of the Lord isn't just always the laughter and the living our best life. Right. But the joy of the Lord goes so deep that he can reside among our tears and our grief. And like Paul must have felt when the Lord would not remove that thorn from his side, and he had to just simply rely on the grace of Jesus, that the joy of the Lord can richly exist when you're literally, you've done all you can to stand, and you just finally just stand. The joy of the Lord is that strength to keep you up, to keep you in those moments, to keep you faithful to the call, to keep you faithful to the invitation that Jesus has invited us all by the power of his Holy Spirit, and by the loving arms of our Heavenly Father that we get to take part in. And life is but a vapor. And life is where the joys and the sorrows exist. That vapor will end, and we will live in eternal wonder, bliss, joy. But this is an important moment, and we only get one shot at it. And we're in life right now. And what will we do with what we've been given?

Rhett: 1:06:56

Like how you said, what will we do with what we've been given? Notice in that verse, those, I believe it said, those who are weeping go out with seed to sow. Those who go with seed to sow.

Justin: 1:07:08

Yeah.

Rhett: 1:07:10

They come back with joy. Yeah. So despite their weeping, despite their pain, despite their problems, despite whatever anxiety or stresses of life, they went out to be in the presence of God to go together, to be there, but with seed to sow. Yeah. Even in their pain. I think there's so much power to that.

unknown: 1:07:32

Yeah.

Rhett: 1:07:33

Because the promise is even if you're going through hell, you still have seed to sow. Yeah. There's still something you can give. There's still something you can add to somebody else. There's still that person you can sit down and listen and have that conversation with just to listen and to be there for them. Because when you go out with seed to sow, despite what you're dealing with, you will reap joy. I love that. I've never that's not a verse that you read every day.

Justin: 1:08:01

Yeah.

Rhett: 1:08:02

But that little portion of that goes to what you said, giving. We all have something to give despite what we're going through.

Justin: 1:08:10

Yeah.

Rhett: 1:08:11

And when we begin to do that and live that way, man, there's so much joy on the other side. Amen. Embrace being the pinky. But whatever it is. The pinky isical. I don't know. You might be the irical. Yeah. This might be nonsensical, but it's definitely illicit. Yeah. Anyways, for sure. Good time showing. Definitely not idiotical. No. No. Not monocle either. Never, but definitely funnical. Can't wait for the next conversation, everybody. God bless. See you next Monday. Hey friends, thank you so much for joining us on today's conversation. We're really looking forward to next week's. But until then, we hope you have a great week. Stay safe. We wish God's blessing on all of you. We look forward to seeing you right here next Monday on Armchair Authentic.