Bible, Bros & Brew
Bible, Bros, & Brew is all about helping you navigate your relationship with God in practical, real-life ways. Hosts David and Phil dig into scripture—'chopping up the word'—and bring it to life with insights you can actually use every day. And while they’re at it, they share their favorite 'brews'—don’t worry, it’s not booze! Just a solid lineup of classic coffees and teas to keep the conversations flowing.
Bible, Bros & Brew
The Missing Piece of Humility: Why Repentance Unlocks Spiritual Growth
As we’ve journeyed through our series on pride and humility, a powerful, often-overlooked theme has emerged: repentance. What does the Bible really mean when it calls us to repent? And why is repentance inseparable from true humility?
Simply put, repentance is the decision to turn around — to walk away from thoughts, habits, and actions that pull us away from God. It’s humility in motion. When you see yourself clearly before God, repentance is the step that transforms clarity into spiritual growth.
In this episode of Bible Bros & Brew, David & Phil dig deep into the scriptures to uncover:
What repentance truly means in the Bible
Why humility, submission, and repentance work together
Why pride blinds us to our real condition
The connection between motives and unanswered prayer (James 4)
How God restores those who humble themselves (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Why repentance isn’t just “feeling sorry,” but turning toward a new direction
Whether you’ve struggled with recurring sin, discouragement, or feeling stuck spiritually, this conversation brings fresh clarity and encouragement.
So brew up your favorite coffee or tea, grab your Bible and notebook, and join us as we explore God’s Word together!
📖 Download the Study Guide Here
Timestamp:
0:00 Pride, Humility, And The Big Idea
2:05 Hosts, Banter, And What’s In The Cup
10:53 Recap: Stories Of Pride And Humility
18:20 Submission As The Path To Humility
21:36 Defining Humility Without Self-Defeat
24:17 The Missing Piece: Repentance In Action
30:44 Failing Forward And The Heart Behind Change
34:08 Word, Prayer, And Strength To Resist
34:56 James 4: Motives, Asking, And Pride
44:05 Wilderness Lessons And God’s Formation
52:19 Laying Down Grand Illusions
57:59 2 Chronicles 7:14 And Proverbs 28:13
🙏 Thanks for watching Bible, Bros & Brew! We’re glad you’re here. This is where faith meets real talk — with Scripture, conversation, and a good cup of coffee. Each week, we dig into what it means to follow Jesus in real life — no fluff, no filters.
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gotbrew@biblebros.net
Over the last several weeks, we've been talking about two critical pieces of our lives: pride and humility. We realized that pride had a great deal to do with arrogance and this concept that I can be the god of my own life. Versus the antidote, which is humility, which says God is the God of my life, and I'm going to lean into and depend on him. I'm going to get low and allow him to exalt me in due time. Well, tonight we're going to talk about one more piece of the humility puzzle. And once you hear it, not only will it make perfectly good sense, you'll see that we have a complete circle around humility and how we ought to approach it. Up next, on Bible Bros and Brew. I am David, and with me tonight, my co-host. That sounds like he should be in address.
SPEAKER_05:Vanna White, right, yeah. You know, Kelly Ripper.
SPEAKER_03:By the way, is unhealthily thin.
SPEAKER_05:I haven't seen her lately, man. Oh no.
SPEAKER_03:Anyway, here we go. In three, two, one. Hey everybody, and welcome to this episode of Bible Bros and Brew. I am David with me tonight. My co-hostess with the most is no, he's not a hostess ding dong. He's just Philip Rich. And follow with him. I've got the illustrious Ryan John Haldeman. And up in the corner, well, we don't really care about what's happening up in the corner. Well, out of the kindness of our heart, that's John. Wow. He is the producer on the one dude, who has a very special feeling about Christmas right now. And we just pray for him. We just pray the Lord will use him during this holiday season in a way that he's never been used before. A season which apparently started last week. So we'll leave that alone until the appropriate time. We're so glad that you have joined us. Uh, we're drinking coffee, we're talking about Jesus, and uh we're enjoying weather and all of that good stuff. Ryan's out in Reno, Nevada. He's got a little snow-capped mountains out there. Today was uh unseasonably hot here in Atlanta, so we don't know what's going on. We just know to keep talking the word to y'all. So tonight we're going to be wrapping up our series on pride and humility, as you heard. And you know, last week we talked about um we talked about this concept of submission, and we talked about how submission is the path to humility because there comes a point where you have to just lay yourself down and you have to say, you know what, God, it's you. And you know, I made a I made a note, and I hope I I hope I can see it here. Um, I made a note tonight that said, if humility is seeing yourself clearly before God, um, well, nope, I can't tell you that note yet, because then I'll give away the rest of the episode. But it's a good note, and and you ought to be excited to hear it. But you know, there's noted right, but we're there's a real sense that submission allows us to just lay it all down before God. Humility allows a clarity in our lives to see things as they are, and what we're going to talk about tonight is going to allow our humility to take action, or it's going to help put feet to uh humility and action. So we hope that you'll stick around as we talk about that. But before we do, we're going to start with a little segment called What's in the Cup. So we're going to start with uh John today, because I feel like he's got something holiday seasonal for us. Uh we'll see what he's got in his pocket. But John, what's in the cup tonight?
SPEAKER_06:Well, in my pocket, I have y'all are not gonna believe this, okay? Check it out. So we know about Stoke cold brew, right? But do we know about Stoke Peppermint Mocha cold brew?
SPEAKER_03:Oh my god, dude.
SPEAKER_06:Are you serious, John? Yes, now that looks awesome about Christmas, okay, and it's beautiful. We got the Christmas mug, and if y'all didn't frown upon Christmas so much, I would have even said that. I got the Christmas tree cakes. Oh wow, but I'm not gonna say that because somebody feels a little weird about Christmas before Thanksgiving. So my goodness, but that's what's in my cup, and it is magic in a cup, it is a Christmas miracle in a cup.
SPEAKER_03:Oh so now let's go to the guy that feels some kind of way about it. Let's go to Ryan.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, I've got um, you know, the old adage if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
SPEAKER_03:Oh god, he's doing pizza again.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, thanks getting flavor. Hey, nothing wrong with eats.
SPEAKER_04:They're a good man.
SPEAKER_03:Ryan, I want to thank you for your honesty. I remember a time where you tried to pass off a cup of water as coffee here. So well done. I'm glad you I'm glad you're free now. Yes, um, but next week I need you to come with something other than Pete, so I'm gonna have to fight you. Um, Philip, what's in the cup, brother?
SPEAKER_05:I just got my camera back in focus, so I'm gonna try not to do anything wrong here. But this peregrine's Ethiopia, ay La Bombay, beautiful.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I am hungry.
SPEAKER_05:That's that's the English translation for what this means. Ayala Bombay translation, I am hungry, but um, it's uh notes of peach cobbler, which it's fantabulous, man. And uh jasmine soda and pump pomelo, pomelo.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know how to even say that word, but uh you can you laugh me at jasmine soda, bro. I you know this do you actually taste that in the soda? I mean, in the coffee.
SPEAKER_05:My palate's not as sophisticated as theirs, I'll tell you that. So uh can't say that I do, but I do taste it's just good. That's all I've that's what I'm sold on over everything, is it's just good. So that's where I'll keep it.
SPEAKER_03:Do you know who did a really fascinating thing with taste and flavors? Um, I don't know if you guys know who Gary V is, Gary Vaynerchuk. Yeah, uh very Gainerchuk, he's also he comes from his family owns uh a liquor store, and wine was his thing, and so he had a website called wine librarytv.com, I think it was. And so I saw him go on this TV show and he did something really interesting. He had all of these instruments out on this table, and he's like, Okay, taste this. He says, Now the taste of these are leather, cherries, and blah blah blah. And they're like, Okay, he's like, so here's a piece of leather. I want you to put your tongue on that. So they put their tongue on the leather, and they're like, Oh my god, I taste that in the wine. He's like, Now here's the kind of cherry that's in there, and he went through and gave them a very practical connection between the flavors in the coffee and the wine and the practical things that it was talking about. And I was like, dude, I would love to have that experience because I tell you, sometimes I think people roast coffee beans, and then they just take drink soda, and that's what they put on the bag, you know. So I just think it's a fascinating, it's a fascinating concept anyway. Yeah, tonight I am drinking something new that I've never tried before. Um, and it is from Green Mountain Coffee. Um, you know, I've been on this flavor thing for a while, but now I've gone for like a week and a half now, it seems like, where I have been on nothing but straight different types of straight coffees. I haven't had an ink ink, well, an inkling for flavor coffee. Tonight I'm doing the Nantucket blend from uh Green Mountain Coffee. You may not be able to see that, we'll put it in the description. But let me tell you, I've got their breakfast blend, I've drank their decaf and I've drank their half calf. I really love Green Mountain's half calf. But you know what? This Nantucket and and I used to live off of the breakfast blend. Yeah, this Nantucket is quite nice.
unknown:Good.
SPEAKER_03:It's quite nice. It's smooth, it's a medium roast. Uh, it's smooth, and um, it's just very good on your palate. So if you're looking for something that's nice on your palate, goes down smooth, put a little creamer in there, a little sugar if you like, and it almost comes out to be a perfect cup of coffee. That's your Nantucket blend. All right, so that's what's in the cup. Now let's dig into what's in.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, just thought I'd just ignore the crowd for a second there. So beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's a good transition.
SPEAKER_03:All right, so as we've been talking about, and as I mentioned earlier, we've been talking about the topic of pride and humility. And kind of if you go back and look at it, we when we talked about pride, we made sure we took some practical looks at pride from the Bible. So we started off by looking at Nebuchadnezzar and his story, then we moved on to the uh prodigal's son. We then went over and looked at the Pharisees and the tax collectors and that story there. And uh, we we did that actually kind of twice. The first story, we looked at the the Pharisees and Jesus, and Jesus saying, Do what they tell you to do out of respect for for their authority, but don't live like they live. And that was a significant communication from Jesus because they were full of pride, and the scripture goes on to tell you that, you know, exactly why. And then we looked at the Pharisees and the tax collector, the two that were in church praying, and you know, we you saw two completely different pictures there. You saw a picture of pride in the Pharisee who said, I'm glad I'm not like these others, versus a picture of humility who is in the tax collector who beat his chest and said, I am not worthy to even lift my eyes to you. And so we began to look at this concept of pride and to see it for what it is. And one of the things I think and hope you take away from that, and that you took away from that, and even as you're thinking back through it, for those who have been with us throughout this time, you look at pride and you realize that pride is a thief. Pride is meant to separate you from God, pride is meant to make you the God of your own life, and by doing so, it completely puts you in opposition to God because the word says that he uh resists the proud. And so we begin to look at then what is the antidote to pride, and we see that and the antidote to pride is humility, and we recognize that humility, amongst other things, meant to get low and to lean into and be dependent wholly, fully, and totally on God for everything. And then we looked at some stories, and one of the stories that I love that we looked at was we looked at the story of the people who were invited to the party, who went to the party, and the instruction that Jesus gave for them to sit in the least seats, so that the proprietor of the party may say, No, no, you come up here and place you in the headmost, chiefmost seats. Because he said it's better for you to be invited up to those good seats than to put yourself there and be embarrassed by being asked to move. And so the whole concept that you see there about humility is that if you humble yourself, God will exalt you, bring you up to the good seats in due time. And so we began to look at how humility helps us to right-size our view of ourselves and what's going on around us. It allows us to look at ourselves and not to think too highly of ourselves than we ought to, or more highly of ourselves than we ought to, but yet to not think that we're less. We even looked at, I believe it was uh uh second, oh not second, it was Colossians, I believe, and somebody helped me there. Um it was Colossians where we see that Jesus talks about how, or no, it was, or maybe it was Philippians actually, but how Jesus thought it not robbery to be equal with God, right?
SPEAKER_05:Right. Philippians 2, I think.
SPEAKER_03:Philippians 2. Thank you, Phil. Um, but Jesus thought it not robbery to be equal with God. So Jesus was equal with God and did not think there was something wrong with that. But the Bible tells us that yet he took on the form of man and put on the garment of a servant. In other words, he girded himself, he dressed himself in humility and became like a man and served in the way that, quite frankly, we're supposed to look at and model our lives after how Jesus served and did what he did. And so humility has taught us that by getting low, we actually go higher, and we never have to worry about putting ourselves higher. We don't have to be that one because God will exalt us, God will push us up, he'll move us up, he'll promote us. You know, the Psalms talks about how promotion comes neither from the north, the south, the east, or the west, but God is the judge. He puts down one and he sets up another. And so when we're operating in humility, we give God the opportunity to set us up, to move us forward, to push us forward. And then last week we realized that part of humility is this concept of submission. And we hopefully debunked a little bit that submission is not a cuss word, but it's actually a critical portion of choosing the right path. It's a critical portion that once we get to this place of submission and we lay down our lives, by laying down our lives to Christ, not only are we laying it down, but we are humbling ourselves before the Lord, and we're saying, Lord, we get under your mission. Your mission is most important to us, and we willfully lay our lives down into that position. Before I go any further, Phillip, any thoughts about these last several weeks that we've talked about? Anything you want to add to that mix that we just went through there?
SPEAKER_05:Um, I mean, it's kind of funny because I feel like you covered it very well. Um, but uh in terms of humility, I think the thing that stood out to me, uh, that definition that you shared just a little bit ago about uh it means to get low. And I think that there's a balance that has to be struck where in in terms of how we understand what that means, because sometimes when people hear get low, they're thinking that that means they immediately turn to self-deprecation, putting yourself down, beating yourself up all the time, and and just being kind of like, I'm I'm not worth anything, and I'm just a worm, and all that, you know. Um God is not uh that's that's not I don't believe, according to the scripture, that that's his heart behind when he's talking about encouraging us toward humility. Because in in the Bible it says in Romans 12, uh, I think verse 3, it says, you know, uh Paul said to everyone, every man that's among you, I say this, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. So we know that's not great on that side, but I also believe there's the other side of it, don't think of yourself lower than you ought to think. Lower. Because if you think about it, if God has told you who you are, you know, in Christ, if He's if He's given His Word on the subject, and He said in Romans 8, you're more than a conqueror through Christ. He said in you know 1 John 4, greater is he who's in you than he who's in the world. All these different things. 1 John 5, where it says, if you've been born of God, you've already overcome the world. You know, we have all those declarations from God saying, Hey, here's what reality is for you now that you're a born-again believer in Christ. To me, true humility is agreeing with what God has said. Um, not still sitting here going, no, but God, I'm not worth anything, and that now you can feel like that sometimes, and Lord knows I've felt like that sometimes, but if we want to be humble, biblically humble, we have to accept what God has actually said about us and go, you know what, my feelings may be going this direction, but God says this about me over here, and I have to go with how God sees me and agree with that. And that's not always easy, but it it's um it's the way to stay on on track spiritually.
SPEAKER_03:So that's good, Philip. I also, you know, I love how you mentioned that because that's important, you know. Humility does not humility doesn't equal doormat.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And there's a lot of people who think humility means doormat, and that couldn't be further from the truth. Uh, again, that go that goes back to one of the other things that we've talked about was the difference between humility and false humility.
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_03:There's this false humility out there parading itself around, and we'll see a little bit more of that uh as we look at some scriptures tonight. But there's a false humility parading itself around, and uh, I think we looked at Ephesians chapter two on that, and we you know, we saw some sober thinking as it relates to uh that false humility being pious and letting our exercise and you know all of that good stuff down in verse 18 and again in verse 20. Um, letting all of those things be a part of dictating just because you can physically manifest it, you know, you can physically beat yourself up, and all that doesn't equate to humility. So tonight, after we talked about humility, we've added in this concept of submission. I think there's one more piece of the puzzle, and Philip, I don't know, I don't know how this popped up into my thinking. I was reading, and you know, I just I something it occurred to me that the next piece of the puzzle has to be repentance.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_03:Repentance has to be the next piece of the puzzle. And I I wrote this note down, the note that I started to tell you guys earlier, and then I said I can't give that away yet. Um it says that this is what the note the note I wrote says if humility is seeing yourself clearly before God, as Philip just mentioned, repentance is what you do with that clarity. It's the spiritual movement that puts humility into action.
SPEAKER_04:So I love that.
SPEAKER_03:It it's great that you you you're humble, and in that humility, you begin to see things more clearly, and it's in that clarity that you begin to if you're if you're like uh anybody else, a normal Christian, there have been so many times where you know it's just like last week, just thinking through stuff, and I said on this episode, just like Job said, you know, I am nothing. Uh, you know, I'm I'm nothing, Lord. And and I repent. And I've spent a lifetime, it seems, it sometimes feels that way anyway, of repenting of various things. Um bad behavior, wrong thinking, opening my mouth too much, eyes that were focused on things that they shouldn't have, you know, gossiping here and there where I probably shouldn't have been, you know, giving my focus and attention to things that I had no business giving my focus and attention to. And so I spent a lifetime of repenting about things, but that often starts with I'm submitted to God, I humble myself to begin to see clearly, and in seeing that clearly, I'm like, you know what, God, you're absolutely right. I was so wrong, I I was going the wrong way, or I handled that poorly, or I shouldn't have been watching that, or I shouldn't have been involved with that woman, or whatever it may have been, and and seeing clearly, you begin to take the action necessary. That's repentance, and then that repentance begins to help you to move forward with a clear heart, a clear mind, and a clear path forward to help you to go on to the next stage with God. What's your thought, Philip?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, repentance to me, like it's one of those kind of um I don't know, like the unsung hero, you know. Um, and it's one of those things where you have to check yourself constantly because it's easy to say, I repent, but when you talk about what the word actually means, repentance, it actually means you do a 180, you know, whatever you were doing, you stop doing that and do something else, right? Um, that's true repentance. Like, um, and I and I can say, you know, just in in our walk with God, there's been so many different times where I've I've failed in this regard, like certain things, repetitive sins, I've I've you know, I had my have my share of those at times. But um when I when I check my heart and I really think about, okay, I say forgive me, God, I say I'm sorry for what I did, but have I repented, you know, if I haven't yet laid that thing down, put it away from me, and have refused to walk in it anymore, then I can't say that I've genuinely repented. I've I can say that I know I've done wrong, I can say that I acknowledge that what I did was a sin, but I can't say that I repented of it because repenting again means you change your heart, your mind, your direction, and go a different way. Easier said than done on most things, you know. Um, but um if if we don't have that clarity about what repentance is, we'll think we're doing it when we're actually not. And so we have to you know be honest with ourselves, and that's not easy. Be honest with yourself and go, you know what, man, I'm still I'm still playing games, you know. I haven't I haven't been very sincere yet about getting this out of my life, you know. Um, and you can only do it with the Holy Spirit's help anyway. But I do think that that first step where you say, you know what, I'm drawing the line in my line in the sand right here. I I think that his grace comes on you to help you overcome those things once you've made that decision and say, I'm I'm drawing the line in the sand, man. We gotta I'm I'm gonna do my best to actually change this time. So um, but yeah, those are my thoughts about that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I I love that, Philip. That it's it's repentance isn't just saying I'm sorry, or I repent of that. Repentance actually takes action, yeah, and it takes the action of not returning to that thing, not behaving that way again, going in a different way. And look, um, I'm I'm no I've done it before, I've been in a place where I've come to the decision I need to cut that off and need to stop doing that, and repented of it and truly intended to walk away and walk right back into it again. Yeah, I've gotta get it all. Right, I think we've all done that, yeah. Um, but it it really is the it's about the wouldn't wouldn't you say, Philip, that it's about the heart condition, and it's like you know, I don't go to God at least I try not to go to God repenting as if I'm playing with God, as if he as if he doesn't know where my heart is.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But to g to genuinely go before him and say, I'm not going that way again. But if you do go that way again and you didn't plan to, what's your what's your next step? Repent of it again and keep pressing into the things of God. You know, sometimes we have to work through things multiple times in order for it to get for us to move ourselves into position to where God always wanted us to be. But you don't, if it didn't, just because you repented once and you found yourself fall back into that sin again, it doesn't mean, well, I guess I gotta go a different way. There is no other path than repentance.
SPEAKER_05:Come on, that's good, David. And you know what else, man? Just because you messed up and uh, you know, you may have actually been genuinely walking on the right road with a certain thing, but then, dude, one day where you haven't you know built yourself up spiritually, like spiritually like you need to, one day where you've neglected to pray, neglected to get into the word, or whatever else it is, you're going to be a little more susceptible on days like that to the temptations of the flesh, to getting back in the old stuff, because I'm telling you, um the flesh is our default setting as human beings. Okay, you know, we if we don't purposefully, intentionally deposit God's word in our heart, because remember Psalm 119, where he said, I think it's verse maybe eight or nine, something, it says, uh, your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. You know, uh, to me, I've I've used that scripture many times. Like, you know what? Check my word level. If I'm sitting here struggling with the sin again or whatever the case is, you know, have I deposited his word in my heart in enough quantity so that when that temptation comes and that I feel That pull, do I have something that resists it at all? Or is it just me and my own thoughts, my own mind, my own flesh going, well, that don't look too bad, you know? But if I but if I've got his word in my heart in enough quantity and enough abundance, and it's it's like top of mind, then all of a sudden I will have something there to help me resist and go the other way. So I think David, like in terms of repentance, in terms of you know staying on that course once you've repented, you have to acknowledge the importance of staying in the word, connected to God through his word, connected in fellowship, uh, and in prayer. Those things are the things that strengthen your spiritual life, strengthen your spirit enough to be able to continue that thing that you've started.
SPEAKER_03:That's good, Philip. Let's let's take a look at a uh scripture, let's look at James chapter four, uh verses uh what is it, four through six, I think it is.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, yeah, that's a good passage.
SPEAKER_03:Philip, you want to tackle this one?
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely, absolutely. Um if you don't mind, I'm gonna go ahead and back up to the very first verse. Yeah, feel free. It's all good. It is so good, man. This is one of those ones where James, James, you could tell, was probably a just kind of a gangster kind of a dude because he was very plain spoken and very like kind of hit you right in the square in the eyes with uh stuff he would say. But he said here in verse one, what what's causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? That's interesting. Like if you're at war with others, it's probably because you're at war with yourself in some kind of a way, you know.
SPEAKER_03:That's but that'll preach by itself, brother.
SPEAKER_05:That'll preach by itself, man. It really will. Um, and then he said in verse two, you want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. That doesn't sound great. You're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet this is serious, yet, you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. Okay, so I'm every time I read this, I stop right there, and it's like when you you see that for the first time, it's like, oh, okay, well, if it's it's simple, just ask God for it, and then he goes in verse three. And even when you ask, you don't get it. It's like it ain't just as simple as asking. There's also a point where you ask and don't get it, you know, and it says, Because your motives are all wrong, you want only what will give you pleasure. So he's like, It's all selfish. I think the King James says you you ask amiss because you want to consume it on your own bust, right? Right, right.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, can we just talk about this for a second? Because you know, I hear a lot of people talk about, you know, in Christendom, uh, who say things like, you know, God didn't answer my prayer, you know, why didn't God answer my prayers? And you know, stuff like that. And it's like, well, it's it's clearly written here why it's a huge clue. It's not a mystery, and I and I think that people I think you know, once again, people treat God like He's gospel roulette, you know, or something like that, or some like a casino, the gospel casino. And you know, we go to God, we pray, and He's supposed to shove us out an answer. I go to God, I pray, He shoves out an answer, and that's just the way it is. But I can tell you there have been times where I have prayed for things that I haven't gotten an answer for. And if I look back on some of those things that we prayed for, you know, I can remember praying over houses, not just one, but uh multiples, yeah, and we never got those houses, and it's like Lord, why didn't we get those houses? And you know, I you know, he didn't, it just it was almost like God was like, Oh, I don't have time for this, you know. But it's it's because it was our own desire. Uh, we didn't say, Lord, where is it your will for us to be? Come on, come on, and how would you have us to live in that place? Yeah, but we made decisions about where we were supposed to be, and we had made decisions about where we are and how we were supposed to live, and then we prayed, and then we expected God to get on board with our plan. So instant instantly you see the humility is out the window, right? Yes, because I am now the God, I'm now the God of my own life. So you see the pride at work, so there's no humility there, yeah. And then I'm sitting around just waiting and praying, you know, Lord, I just can't wait for you to show up in this, and nothing ever moved, nothing ever worked, and you know, after a while you get discouraged, and it's like, well, maybe God doesn't answer all my prayers. Sometimes we need to investigate the why God may not have answered a prayer of ours, looking at it soberly and not thinking about it sometimes the way that we do, that cause that you know, other people you go to other people who are more mature and talk about the things you've been praying for, and you might get a really mature answer that says, Son, that's all about you.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Where's where's the father in that?
SPEAKER_05:Come on, that's good, David. That's good, you know. And I think sadly, some of the things being taught in, like you said, in Christendom, uh, some of the things being taught kind of going through it now, you're about to step on it. I'm trying not to go bananas, but some of the stuff being taught, it puts God on the level of like a genie. Yeah, like he's your he's yeah, he's like a vending machine, you know. Like, well, God, I want this, I want that, I want that, and I want it now. And then it's like, okay, if I just speak his word enough or whatever, then God's gonna do it for me. You are leaving out some critical details, dude. You're leaving out a whole lot of stuff, man, because God is interested in how those things affect your life, and how the motives you have for asking those things are affecting your life.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, and and and that I love that word, Philip. Motives. We talked about this during this series earlier when we were talking about pride. There's so much of this that has to do with your motives, your heart's desire. What is it that you're really going after? When we see that Nebuchadnezzar built all that he built so that he could walk around God's building and say he did it, it was the might and power of his hand, and so Nebuchadnezzar had to be bought low so that God could do what he needed to be done. Well, so Nebuchadnezzar could find himself in a place where he could really see things clearly. Come on, man, and you know, dude, that's good, Philip. That's good. I love that.
SPEAKER_05:Praise God. Let me tell you something, man. Deuteronomy 8 to me is one of the best case studies of this because God told He said, Look, I'm getting ready to bring into this land. It's gonna be a land where you're not gonna lack anything. You know, you're gonna have you know Yeah, I mean, it was like the land of milk and honey, you're gonna have every need met. You won't it's I think he said it'll be bread without scarceness, you know, just total abundance. He said, But you know what I did before I put you in that land? I brought you through the wilderness, and I was doing that to to humble you and to prove you to know what was in your heart. Now, the interesting thing is, if you really think about what that means, it's not that God didn't know. You know, He He always knows what's in our hearts. The Bible says He's the one who searches the hearts of men. You know, he He knows everything about it. Says, um, I think it's in Proverbs, it says, Um, even hell and the grave are not hidden from God, how much more the hearts of men, you know, right. So uh, and it's like you know, he did these things, he brought them through the wilderness so that they could know their own heart, right? Revealing, revealing it, and and if you think about it, that's exactly what happened because he told them, he gave them specific instructions. He said, Okay, when this manna comes down, all you need to gather is one day's supply. That's it. They struggled with that, they struggled, man. They didn't do it, they did not do it. What'd they do, man? They stored it up and tried to, you know, keep a little off to the side, and it said when it's it turned into some nasty mess, man. It said it bred worms and stank. I like how it said stank in the Bible. So the King James, but this man, when this really dawned on me, because I I remember reading this a while back, and it just kind of really just came on me like, dude, you know, God, he's interested in the whole span of your lifetime. He he's interested in the person he's trying to develop you into being. He's not nearly as interested, and I mean, not I'm not trying to speak for him, but I'm just saying, in my mind, he's not nearly as interested in just giving you stuff because you asked for it. You know, he's he's far more uh wise than we are, he understands us more than we understand ourselves, and he knows the things that if he let into our lives, they might end up destroying us, the very things we say we want. God knows, yeah, you think you want that, that would be the very thing that would bring you down and separate you from me, you know.
SPEAKER_03:And then you'd be pulling over, Lord God, why did you allow this to happen to me? See how we try to blame God going in, we try to blame God going out, yeah. And we just we just need to submit to him.
SPEAKER_05:Submit. That's the key, bro. And you know what? You'll keep going around the same pattern in the desert, going around that same mountain as the Israelites did, until you submit, until you finally go, okay, God, your way is the right way. That's it. You know, I I thought I had it figured out, I thought I was gonna get somewhere uh further than what your grace would allow me to, and that's not gonna happen, man. And whatever you even try to do, like if you try to go further than what God's grace and wisdom is allowing at that time, all it's gonna do is backfire on you eventually, you know. And I'm speaking from experience, dude. I've done that and jumped out ahead of God so many times, and of course, 99.9% of the stuff I did that with it blew up in my face eventually, you know. And then you get to a place, it's like, oh, let me just calm down, you know, be still and know that he is God, and really tap into his wisdom for where I am right now, right? You know, that's a huge thing, man.
SPEAKER_03:Just a country way way to say it. Get somewhere, sit down, and do what he tells you to do.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, that's it. That's it, man.
SPEAKER_03:God almighty. And um I am I am learning, it has taken me these 50 plus years now that I've been alive on this earth. Thank you, Jesus. I don't know why it's taken me so long to figure that out. Uh but I'm at the point now where I'm just like, you know what? I don't want to have anything to do with pride anymore. I'm gonna live in humility, I'm gonna stay submitted, and I'm gonna repent when I need to repent and deal with stuff. But right now, I no longer have my own agenda.
SPEAKER_05:Come on, man.
SPEAKER_03:I no longer have my own plans and all that stuff. My plans are his, and he's gonna let me know where he wants me to be when, and I'm gonna work that out.
SPEAKER_05:That's right, and you know, uh, there's a song which um I I'm I'm not I'm not like a huge um well, let me just say it. I'll just say there's a song out by Toby Mack called Promised Land, and I really like that song, and there's a line in the song where he says, I've long laid down my grand illusions, and I you know it's talking about, you know, I'm coming to the place in my life where I realize it really is all about God, you know, He's my promised land, you know, and and I if you're especially if you're a dude, if we can talk to the dudes for a minute, like the men, we want this to be for everyone, but there's something about the dudes where we get ambitious and eager uh in our youth a lot of times, and we're ready to take on the world and set the world on fire and do all this kind of great stuff. And we think that, you know, we look at what's happening with dudes on social media, how well this guy, you know, he made a million by the time he was 25 and he's got a Lambo and whatever else silly stuff is out there. And um we think that we gotta push, push, push to achieve some level of whatever that success, quote unquote, supposed to look like. And then you realize a lot of this stuff that you're chasing, that you're seeking to hope to give yourself more status or importance in people's eyes, uh, it really doesn't even come from God. You know, you learn that later in life. You learn that uh these dreams you've had, uh delusions, grand, you know, visions of grandeur, you know what I mean? You've you learned that later in life it actually was more that was more you, that was you trying to prove something to yourself instead of letting God be make you into who you're supposed to be, you know.
SPEAKER_03:That's not easy. Well, either yourself or others, yeah, yeah, that's right. We can yourself or others, we can also take on some stuff just to prove you know, to prove to our family we're not the lazy, shiftless person you said we were to prove to my mom that you know I'm the one, and you know, we get into all of these just things that drive us that are not God. That's right, that's right. And it's not and we and we're and we're not poo-pooing on anybody's success, you know. We don't we don't have to. God will take care of that, whether their success, you know, all of that. You know, that's why we don't, you know, you you don't have to be this person that has to go around judging everybody, you know. Why not? Because you're busy minding your own business, doing the things God has given you, you've made mistakes just like they've made mistakes, and everybody's just trying to do their best to get along. You know what's true? Even the world is doing its best to try to get along, they're doing it ass backwards. Um, and they're struggling, and they're coming from a whole different perspective than we are. But the one thing we can do is show grace and show mercy because we too. Uh, I just love how so many scriptures talk about it. We too were once in darkness, yeah, yeah, you know, and we understood what that was like, and and if it had not been for the glorious light of Christ in our lives, we'd be in the same position or worse that they're in.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_03:We'd have a way out, Philip. I want to look at I want to look at another scripture real quick. We might not we might not hit everything we planned to, but that's okay. Um I want to look at 2 Chronicles 7.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:If we could real quick. And if we look at 2 Chronicles uh 7 verses, well, it says 14, but this is a very popular scripture. But I want you to see this concept of both repentance and humility in this. You know, here in verse 14, it says, If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and praise, see the humility there, yes, and seek my face, and look at it, turn from their wicked ways. There is a repentance, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their life, their land. But look at the predecessors to it. If my people were to call by my name, first humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn, repent from their wicked ways. When those things happen, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin. Not only just forgive their sin, but God will also heal their land. And that's a great we didn't get into this story. We talked a little bit about some of it, but that's a great example of that is Job.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um well, an example of healing the land. Because after all that Job went through, after all the stuff that his friends said, then God comes down and sets the record straight. In the end of it, a go, in the end of it all, when God determines to heal your land, we see that at the end of the story of Job that he has he had twice as much than what he had lost initially. So when God restores you, we saw it with the prodigal son, we saw it with Nebuchadnezzar. God always multiplies you when he restores you back to your healthy place when you humble yourself, you submit yourself to God, and you repent. And repentance in all of those cases, in the prodigal son, in Nebuchadnezzar's case, repentance was a necessary piece of the puzzle in order for there to be life change.
SPEAKER_04:That's right, that's right.
SPEAKER_03:And then and then one other really quickly, Philip Proverbs 28, verse 13. It says, He who conceals his sins will not prosper. But whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy. When we see that renounce there, that's where I see the repentance, right? The confession and to renounce again, it's a variation of turning on or turning from and unto something else. So just some scripture to think of.
SPEAKER_05:No, well, just the Proverbs scripture. Uh I love how the King James says if he for confesses and forsakes those sins. Um because that word forsake, it's like you're making a clean break from that thing. Um, that just really speaks to me, man. You know, he said, of course, you know, confess it, but also make a clean break from it. And that's when the mercy will just, I mean, in abundance, it's coming to help you. Uh, and and to me, that kind of ties in, and I'm not gonna go too far. Uh, I know we don't have much time left, but this kind of ties in with Hebrews 4 when it talked about how Jesus is our high priest, and it says, you know, we don't have a high priest that can't be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses and our infirmities, but he was, you know, tempted in every way like in every way like we were, yet he did not sin, so then we can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy. You know, uh it's that thing again about when you come to him, come in repentance, you will obtain that mercy to help you, you know, whenever you need it.
SPEAKER_03:That's good, Philip. I'm gonna bring Ryan and um John back in as we kind of wrap up this particular series. I want to encourage you guys, though, if you want to see the picture of humility and repentance and submission all playing out. I want to encourage you to read Psalm 51. You see, you say David really just lay it all on the line, and uh you see all of the things that we've been talking about at play in those verses. So I want to encourage you to read that. We'll also put that in the study guide to you as a read for you during the week, uh, to help you to and strengthen to strengthen and grow by reading those verses. John Ryan, as you kind of are wrapping this series up with us, any standout things or any thoughts that you guys want to bring to the table as we wrap up.
SPEAKER_06:Well, I'll guess I'll go first. Um I I think that's something that kind of continues to echo in the back of my head is that just like you guys said, like you can't do it by yourself. Like you can't just wake up one day and be like, you know what, I'm gonna do better and I'm actually gonna I'm actually gonna do it today. You know, like I'm actually gonna not sin and not be prideful and be super humble, da da da da. Um I don't I don't it doesn't happen on your own strength. It is definitely one of those things where you wake up and choose to choose to want to be humble, of course. Um but it it it's kind of the mindset of like you you have to rely on God. You have to rely on God. I feel like that's kind of the the biggest message y'all have been talking about for the past few weeks, but I feel like that's ever more prevalent in my own life, where um you can't hype yourself up one day and then the next day just kind of try to figure it out all out on your own, you know.
SPEAKER_03:That's good, John. I like that. Yeah, I I almost I dare say um and you know Philip, back me up or correct me if you get up and you're saying, you know, man, I'm gonna be more humble today, I'm gonna be more blah blah blah. You're already set up for failure.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_03:It literally is God, I'm completely submitted to you today. Guide and lead. Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_06:I want to extend that to the even to the repentance conversation just because um I I mean I'm sure y'all have had the same conversation with yourself where you wake up one day and you can you just you know, I don't want to sin, I'm not gonna sin, I'm not gonna do these things, and you end up doing it anyway because you're human and you're relying on your own strength to uh to not sin. And I think that your growth with God doesn't necessarily come with trying to wash yourself clean first before you move forward. That just kind of happens when you are already in uh walking with the Lord. That doesn't you you can't clean yourself up first, you have to you just walk with the Lord and you just kind of end up becoming more clean of your sins. You just have to choose to turn away, like you said.
SPEAKER_03:That's good. Ryan, how about you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think um one of the you know, if you're having a bad day or things aren't going right, or you don't feel good, I think one of the best antidotes is to, you know, the flesh is like, uh, you know, you want to think about yourself and how you're gonna, you know, for me anyway, you know, you know, thinking about oh well, what can I do for myself to make myself feel better? Um but I think one of the best antidotes um is the kingdom, and what I mean by that is humility when you start thinking of other people and putting others before yourself, just a simple, hey, just a text message, you know, I'm having a bad day, but you know what? Let me just text somebody, just say, Hey, I'm thankful for you. That's one of the best antidotes to having a bad day. Um and so, and all that, you know, that is what humility is. Um, thinking not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. I know you've heard it a hundred times, if not a thousand. Um, so you know, that's just a good reminder uh to myself.
SPEAKER_02:That's a good reminder. Yeah, that's really good. Philip, any final thoughts?
SPEAKER_05:I mean, I think Ryan and John nailed it um in terms of just you know helping to wrap this up, man. Um, you can't do it in your own strength. You cannot do it in your own strength. Uh, you have to remain connected to the vine. That's what John 15 is all about. You know, Jesus told us, you know, if you abide in me, then you'll bear much fruit. And I do believe he's talking about you know the fruit of repentance, but also the fruit of, like what Ryan was saying, showing love, walking in uh selflessness instead of selfishness, those things are natural byproducts of maintaining a good, solid fellowship with God. And so this is the reason why fellowship with God is uh the area that gets attacked a lot by you know by the enemy, is because he knows that if he can separate you from the fellowship, um then you're more inclined to go the way of the flesh than you would, you know, the way of the spirit. Um, and and if you think about it, man, you know, there's a big difference, and I'm not going to stretch this out too long, but there's a big difference between relationship and fellowship. Um you can be in relationship with someone, but not have any fellowship with them, right? Like I, you know, if if you're related to somebody by blood, that's okay, but there's people out there who've never met their blood father or their blood mother. So they have no fellowship with them, even though they're related to them. And I think it's the same way with our uh relationship with God. We are related to him through the sacrifice of Jesus. We became, you know, the adopted uh children of God, and now we're in his family. Uh that's the relationship side. But do you have any fellowship? You know, have you come to know him? Have you come to walk with him uh on a daily basis? That's a different animal than the relationship side. So I would say, you know, cultivate the fellowship side through getting into his word, through prayer, praying in the spirit, praying for other people, walking in the love of God as best as you can. Um, that'll help, you know, with those things like the things that that John and Ryan mentioned as well. You know, um it all kind of comes together when you when you maintain that connection with God.
SPEAKER_03:That's good, Philip. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We just thank you for this opportunity to share with those who are hearing, Lord. Lord, we just pray that the concepts and the things that we've talked about, Lord God, really take hold in the hearts of your people. We pray, Lord God, that they'll hear, Lord God, and be changed. We thank you, Lord, that they'll take this concept of pride and humility and submission and repentance to heart, Lord God, and really lay them down, Lord God, in their lives and to take and place you first above any and everything, and allow you to guide and lead and orchestrate their lives so that their lives will become everything that you intended for it to be, and only good can come from that, Lord. We love you and thank you, and we just pray blessings over everyone hearing and listening in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_04:Amen.
SPEAKER_03:You guys, we're so we're so glad that you are here with us. Um, we we just we we love what we do, we love getting to have these conversations and digging into the word, and we love getting to share it with you, and our hope is for transformation in your life. We want you to be changed, go from glory to glory to glory, as the word says, and be forever changed. Uh, we pray that you will and hope that you will connect with us on social media. You can find us on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, you can find us on Facebook, you can find us on Rumble. Uh, we'd love for you to connect with us in any way. Make sure that you like and subscribe to us on any of those channels. I also want to tell you something really quickly. Uh, my good friends from uh Night Horse Studios, they're on with us tonight. I want you to night horse. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to go over to their channel. They've just created a new short. I want you to watch their short, I want you to like that short and subscribe to their channel. They're up and coming animators, and I think that. That you'll love what they do. So make sure you go and check out Night Horse Studios for me, all right? Until next time, I'm David, he's Phil. That's Ryan, and that's John, and we are out.
