Live Free with Josh Howerton - Unresolved Anger Is Taking Over Your Life | Live Free with Josh Howerton

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

In this Father’s Day episode, Pastors Mike Breaux, Carlos Erazo and Mark McCartney discuss parenting, identity, and why the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount still hit home. From dad jokes to deep spiritual insight, they unpack how to be present with your kids, how to deal with unresolved anger, and how Jesus calls us to something deeper than behavior change—He calls us to heart change. They also talk candidly about the battle with lust, how to live free without slipping into legalism, and how grace fuels true obedience. Whether you grew up with a godly example or are trying to break the cycle and be one, this episode is packed with wisdom, honesty, and encouragement for the journey.   👍 Like, Comment, & Subscribe for more life-changing podcasts! 🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss an update!📝 SHOW NOTES Subscribe now to receive the show notes directly in your inbox with each new episode. These notes are filled with key insights and scripture to help you reflect and grow deeper in your faith – https://lakepointe.church/shownotes 👇 DON’T MISS OUT! Freedom is found when we connect and do life together—join a Life Group today and build real, lasting relationships: https://lakepointe.church/groups/ ⛪ ABOUT LAKEPOINTE CHURCH:We believe that Lakepointe is a movement for all people to Know God, Find Freedom, Discover their Calling, and Make a Difference. With 6 DFW locations and programs for all ages, there's something for everyone.  🤝 Support this ministry and help us reach more people with the Gospel: https://lakepointe.church/give  STAY CONNECTED:🌐 Website: https://lakepointe.church/👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lpconnect/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lpconnect 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lakepointechurch   🎧 LISTEN ON THE GO! ▶️ Live Free on Spotify / https://open.spotify.com/show/353ryGdZNlebaiqkCcy3Yc▶️ Live Free on Apple Podcasts / https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-free-with-josh-howerton/id1669321198

Welcome to Live Free with Pastor Josh Howardton. We're so glad you're here. Lake Point Church is a movement for all people to know Jesus, live free, and make a difference with their lives. And this weekly podcast is all about helping you do just that. Each episode is a deep dive into the Word of God, tackling life, culture, and faith with truth and clarity so you can be equipped to live free in Christ.

Thanks for tuning in. And be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode and follow us on all our social platforms to stay connected to everything happening with Live Free. Now, let's dive into today's episode. Well, hey, welcome back to another episode of the Live Free podcast. My name is Carlos Zarazzo. And today I am here and I'm excited because I'm here with Pastor Mike Bro in the house and Pastor Mark McCartney.

And Mark McCartney. So good to be here. Good to be up. Guys, thanks for being here. Yeah, absolutely. As always. So good. What a great weekend.

Amazing. It's amazing. Happy Father's Day to both of you guys. Same to you guys. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Pretty awesome.

Yeah. Well, you're the youngest father here, man. I am. How old now? My son will be three in September. Oh, my goodness. So I'm here to learn from you guys today. Because we're going to go parenting today.

But before we dive in, man, thank you for everybody that's subscribed on YouTube. We like, share, comment, all the things. We're excited because we keep on seeing people say, man, we're using the show notes. So after every episode, we have a team that's going to be basically compiling all the highlights, all the wisdom from Pastor Mike, all the wisdom from Pastor Mark. And we're just going to put him in a PDF. What if there's no wisdom? Wow, I highly doubt it. It's a blank document.

It's pretty cool, though, because they take those show notes. And I know guys, like groups of guys that will take them afterwards because it has like quotes from the show. Even small group questions in there for you. Bible versus. So it's really all his wisdom. But, you know, when we get it all that. But then they can use it for their groups for discussions and stuff. That's really great, man.

I love that. So you can find those at lakepoint. That church slash show notes. And also let us know in the comment section as well. We love to hear from people again as they're like, how you should talk about this? Or like, why is Mark McCartney so wise? Like all the different comments that people share.

We enjoy those a lot. And man, today we're going to go, we're going to talk about Father's Day, Dad Jokes, Sermen of the Mount, video games, parenting, and more. Oh, man. Did you just preach with your daughter? I did, man.

That was amazing. Okay, I've got something for you for that. Yeah? Yeah. We got a little plaque now for you. There you go. Best dad ever. Right there.

Yes. That's not true. That's so cool, though. I love that you. Thank you very much, man. You guys get to do that. That's just special. I'm definitely not the best dad ever.

But, man, what a treat to get to see what God is done in Jody's life. Now God's using her. She's a phenomenal person. And a great preacher. It's really fun to get to teach with her. I bet you Jody would disagree with you. And she would say, I think you are the best dad ever. You should make sure our beer is concerned.

Yeah, there you go. There we go. There we go. You know what? I'll let you have that for a while. Clearly nobody's passionate to me. That's fine. That's okay.

Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, you are three-year-old. You are definitely the best dad ever. You're in. You're in it. We're all striving. Hey, Mike, I want to selfishly ask you a bunch of parenting questions about being. Because we all, I think we all, I think we all,

I think we all agree here. You're probably the one more deserving of that. But before we go there, man, in honor of Father's Day, I would love to do something different. Yeah. I would like to play this game called Try Not to Laugh. And we're losing. We're clearly not great at this already. And so here's what we're going to do.

Here's what I want to do. Everybody's going to share a dad joke. And the whole point is not to laugh. So I want to try to make you both laugh. and if you laugh, you get points deducted. We'll ask Trinity to keep score and then we'll put it in post. So I can start. And so like everybody, you know, right now, like literally the whole point is like not to laugh.

This is a serious. Yeah. Right. Well, you're telling the joke? I can start. Okay. Yeah, I'm not worried. So I'm not worried.

I'm sure. I'm going to treat this like golf. I'm going to get a birdie this time. So I'll be negative two. I'm going to be. Because I'm going to laugh at all of them. I'm not great at this, especially with Mark here. All right.

He's really funny. He's serious. So I'll start very serious, try not to laugh challenge. If you laugh, you give points deducted. And we'll see who gets the most points deducted. That's probably how it's gonna work out. So here's my first dad joke. I got some Bible dad jokes today.

The first one is, what kind of man was Boas before he got married? You can guess. Ruthless. He was. Ruthless. That's right. Mark, you got one. Do we just keep not laughing?

Yeah. It's going to be hard. You're getting points. I just want to ask you. Okay. I just left it Mark. I want to have a joke. So you make a Kleenex dance.

You add a little boogie to it. That was mine, man. I knew I had you. That was mine. You add boogie to it? Yeah, put a little boogie in it. Just a little boogie? Just a little boogie.

Okay. You have a diggy? You took my dad to it? joke, man. Knock, knock. Who's there? Halapino. Halapeno.

Halapeno business. That's all I got. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That's all I got. The Carlos left. Okay, well, I got some more. Why did Samson try

to avoid arguing with Delilah? I've always wondered that. He did not want to split hairs. You got someone in the studio laughing right now. I don't know if they can hear it online, but someone else is laughing. Okay. Did you have another one? Yeah, I mean, I can see your notes.

And we have the same one in our notes. Oh, we do? Yeah. Why did you see my notes? Yeah, because they're right there. I didn't see your notes? So, you did before the show. That's right, I did.

So we're going to ask you, Mike. That's minus one point. Who is the fastest runner ever in the world? It's Adam. He was the first in the human race. Did you know that? I did not know that. That's the first time.

knock knock who's there interrupting cow interrupting cow he's the winner at this I see what you did there here's the last one what do you call a fish wearing a bow tie

so fish to cate it I like it well done dad thank you all right we'll have Trinity counted the points and then we'll see you win man

but then we'll see it that's awesome that's great well hey man you and Jody this week That was awesome. Thanks, man. It was so fun to get to do that with it. A buddy of mine told me,

said, you know what, bro, your kids, all three of your kids got a piece of your passion, except for Derek is a much better musician, Drew is a much better athlete, and Jody's a much better preacher. All three are right. So fun to watch your kids thrive and love God

and do things with their life, man. Just really blessed to be a dad. Mike, what would you, let's just, you know, because we're starting on a good note here, man. Let me ask you this. I have a soon-to-be three-year-old. And obviously, Mark, you have two grown daughters. Two grown daughters.

But then you're way ahead. And obviously it's in wisdom, in wisdom. And we're here to learn. And so, man, what would you say, you know, if somebody were to ask you and, you know, to give us some pointers, how do we, how do we get there? That's, you know, today people define success with, you know, accomplishing things. But to us, we would say, man, you and your family, that's success. It's, I mean, they got a great wife, and they got a great grandma and mom, and that's the truth.

And just a privilege to get to do life with her. And the two of us are just trying to, all of our life, just trying to love Jesus in front of them. And that's as simple as I can make it. It takes a lot of time. You've got to make time to do it. I had to adjust my schedule to make sure that I was, that was my priority. my kids were young especially and I mean and then once you know once our daughter got married and three months later she said I'm pregnant and we were having a great so I had a grandkid

in my early 40s so I was like so I've been doing the granddad thing for a long time and that and that kid just got engaged amazing yeah it's pretty cool she fasedombed just three weeks ago and she just she held up her hand she goes papa check it out and I went oh your nails look beautiful. You just get them done. She's a big dime in her hand. So she's getting, she's getting married this fall,

which is great. I can't believe it. And then we got one that just got off the potty training chair. So everybody in between. It's just so fun. So I still love spending time with all of them. We've been blessed to be able to be involved in our grandkids' life. But just making time and making that a thing that you want to do with your life.

So, you know, God put these kids in my life for a reason. I want to love Jesus in front of them. And I want to, if I can just be the, I've probably told this story before, but it was one of those defining moments of my life. Debbie and I were down and I walk one night and that we're living out in the country and it's really, really dark this particular night. We don't have any streetlights or anything out where we were. Walking down this long, long driveway, our house was way back off, way back off the road,

probably half mile off the road. So we're walking on this driveway. And it's just one of those nice where stars are out bright. and I noticed an airplane landing in a distance with its landing lights on. The moon was really super cool looking, all these brilliant lights. And then the one that caught my eye was a firefly, a lighting bug, right in front of my nose. And I thought, I might not be the brightest light in my kids' galaxy, but I can be the closest one. They were right there.

I can be right here, man. And so that's what we've tried to do, just get up in front of our kids, just get close and let them just try to be the light of the world. in their life. Yeah. And so I don't know that's oversimplification of all of it. There's a lot of stuff

that goes into being a dad, being a parent, but I just like to look at it as me, I just want to love Jesus in front of them best I can and ask God for help every day. And if you don't hit your knees as a dad, as a mom,

every day, and so God, I can't do this on my own and you're in for a long uphill struggle. And then I think two realizing, and what was cool about Jody preaching with me this weekend is that when she was in high school, some of you know the story

were, she just got off track and kids are like that. I mean, kids, as parents, we got to realize our kids are individual, fallible, imperfect human beings with a gift of free will. Yeah. And they can make choices. It doesn't depend upon how good or bad we parented at them. They can make their own choices. And Jody started to make some bad choices, but then surrendered her life to Christ, long story short, and now you see her preaching everywhere. So it's just cool to watch as a dad to know that it's, even though it's my daughter, it's God's kid.

He loves her much more than we do. So I think surrendering your kids every day to God, they're your kids. You gave them to me, I'll do my best. I know I'm not perfect, but I need your wisdom. But it's your kid. You can be with them 24-7. Give them discernment.

And when they get in those situations, I pray the Holy Spirit would speak to their spirit and go, come on, walk this way, walk this way. Well, I remember, Mike, you and I were, we've had the opportunity to talk on just life, ministry. And I asked you, I was asking you some questions like a year and a half ago or two, I can't remember. But I was asking you about just ministry opportunity. And we're talking about rhythms and commitments and what to say yes and no to. And I remember you told me at the time,

because I think my son Elias was just born. And you said to me, hey, in this season, you'll find that, you know, there might be an opportunity to go here or to do that or to, you know, travel there. and he said, man, this is a season for you to be home with your kid. You have a newborn, you have a baby, and it stuck with me because obviously, you know, things come and go, but being at home and being present with my son has just been a joy. And that's something that you just didn't tell me. That's obviously something that you have lived out. And so I want to honor that.

And I just want to say thank you for that example for, you know, people like me that we're here to learn. and we're trying to figure it out as well. Well, I haven't done it perfectly, that's for sure. But just getting intentional about your schedule and your time and what's most important in your life, you know, that Jesus's number one in my life and Debbie Bro is number two of my life. My kids are number three in my life. And those kids knew, too, that Debbie Bro was number two in my life.

So I wanted them to see that, you know, their mom and I loved each other and that they could get a, you know, kind of model that in front of them too. Yeah, it's like the plan. is simple. The structure that God gave us is simple, but it's harder to do. Yeah. I was reading just this week on social media, an NBA player that's famous spoke out about the fact that the last six seasons, he has lived in a different state than his family. I read that, man. Yeah. And he's just like, I want to be a dad again. Yeah. And so, like, his motivation in free agency is to get closer to them. And it's like, oh, man, he's just, he can't help but chase this thing that's keeping him out of

what really gives him joy. That's weird. I was thinking the same thing. I read that thinking, because he closed with, I still love the hoop. Yeah. Which one's going to pull you, man, you know?

Go be a dad. Go be a dad. Yeah. Hoop with your kids in the driveway. Yeah. And when you were talking about that, too, it just reminded me, like,

some of the greatest gifts my dad gave me was just being authentically himself. Like, he apologized. Like, when he was wrong, he apologized. And stuff like that where you're like, Oh, man, that's just, that's a man. It's a real man.

He's going to mess up every once in a while, but he's going to own it. And it taught me the same thing. Like, Mark, you're going to mess up. You're going to have those times. What are you going to do? Get up, own it. And do the right thing. And that's what I thought is like just living your authentic faith in front of your family,

in front of your kids is a big deal. Mark, you've spoken about your dad and how strong of a leader he was and how present he was with you guys. And I know you're an amazing dad as well. And any other pointers, just, you know, because your family, You guys are all basically like just a heart for the gospel, a heart to tell others about Jesus. That's very evident that's, you know, obviously in part in many ways because of your leadership. Any other things that come to mind that you're like, oh, man, this is something I've found helpful or something that I've learned throughout the years. Yeah, I mean, like Mike and you, like my bride Robin is unbelievable.

I mean, she's madly in love with Jesus. And so when we get to do life together, like to have that together as he, And one of the things we used to do. And I loved it so much growing up as we would do before school every year, we would do a family retreat. And we would go away, like we went like an hour away. We'd go to a hotel with a pool. And we'd spend a couple of nights, three days, two nights. And we would set like goals for the year.

So we would ask our girls like, hey, what are your dreams? What are you hoping for this year? And, you know, you kind of spur that on a little bit. And like, so they'd set out and write out some goals for things they wanted to do. and then as they got older, Robin would create these prayer journals for them and to pray through those goals and that we would all be on the same page. And then every Sunday night throughout the year, they would have like something to do through the week to meet their goals. And so it kept it in front of us. And they would bring that back to us every Sunday.

And we looked at it as a family and talked about it. And it was quick. I'm not, it was, you know, just a few, a minute maybe. But we always attached their goals to financial incentive. And so they liked that. And so, but what it did is it kept in front of them, like, who do you want to be? Yeah. Like, what do you want your life?

Would you to accomplish those kind of things? It kept that in front of them. And we are able to really partner with them. I mean, we are leading them, but they were able to voice. Here's what I think I want to be what God's doing in my life. And then just throw gasoline on that fire. That's so good, man. And then to watch them soar, you just go, wow.

God, you really have done something cool here. Yeah, and it's amazing. And part of them soaring, and this is a long waste for you. for our girls is they had to leave. Like they had to go to college. And that was hard, man, but it was like right when they left. Some of you are about to experience that parents. You're about to have your kid go for the first time to college.

And right when they leave, it's sad, it's hard. But then you start to see them like blossom in ways that they couldn't. And some of the times when you thought they were ignoring you, they'll repeat your phrases back to you. And you're like, oh, they weren't listening. And it's so sweet to see them really just sort of. on there. Amazing.

I think I've told the story before, like, point about when Jody graduated from high school, she wanted to go to Haiti instead of college. Yeah. And she went on a short term. A long, I mean, went on a year, worked in an orphanage in a medical mission in a really remote part of Haiti, which was food who controlled and just dark and impressive. But, man, to watch her blossom and grow. One of the hardest things I ever did is put my girl on a plane.

Yeah. And I remember the airport was under construction. So I'm standing there at this chain league fence as a dad watching that plane takeoff. Oh, man. She's going 3,000 miles away from home into this dark, oppressive place. But to watch God just take her life. And then that's who I got to preach with this weekend was that girl who got transformed. So pretty cool.

I know we have a lot of young couples in our church. And, you know, obviously fatherlessness is a thing more and more. And what would you say to the person that says, man, that's awesome that some of you guys had, you know, great father figures. maybe some of the people listening are like, man, I'm not sure that that's true for myself. What would you say to somebody that's trying to figure it out, but they didn't have like a father figure or a role model to basically like show me how to do it? So I'm just kind of improvising it right now. What would you say? Yeah, a couple of things.

One is just a little encouragement. I talk about my dad all the time. He was the first Christian in his family. Like his parents were far from God. And no, none of his siblings, no one. And now many of his siblings have come to know the Lord, all of his children, grandchildren. And so there's hope if you didn't have that heritage.

And something my dad used to tell me is when you find a godly man, you wear out his doorstep. So I would say you find someone that's ahead of you or even people your age, but that they seem to have something there, wear it out. Like get mentoring, like get involved. Allow yourself to be shaped by those godly men. Yeah. Yeah, that's good, man. I try to do that too.

Growing up, my dad, I've talked about him before. It's a great guy. Loved God. Grew to love God, let's put it that way. But my dad's struggle with a lot of mental health stuff. And so our home was pretty insecure growing up. And so I just had to kind of learn some parenting stuff on my own. And like you said, Mark, I try to wear out a pathway to guys that I knew were further ahead of me and ask them questions and watch how they parented their kids.

because although my dad was a great guy, a great provider, and a good guy, he just couldn't do the things that he probably would have liked to have done when I was growing up. But, yeah, so yeah, I think you just, God will bring other people in your life. He just will. You've got to look for them and find them. Go find him. Yeah, go find them. Well, Lake Point Church is a great place to find.

I agree, man. Godly men who loved and lead their family as well. Yeah, I agree. There's a lot of good dudes around here that are doing it right. And so if you're one of those people that I don't know how to do this because my dad wasn't around or whatever, man, there's a lot of guys you could pattern your life after and go ask questions. It'll tell you like we're telling you. We're not perfect. That's right.

We're just leaning into God every day. We're doing that first step in the beatitudes. We're just saying, God, I'm busted. I'm broken. I need your help. I need a power greater than me. Someone wiser than me. You're a father that's just incredible.

So I need to follow you. And he'll help you. All right, man. So on that note, speaking of the first step in the, you're not. attitudes, man, week number two of the rebel way. Yeah, we climbed the ladder last week and now we're, Jody and I got to take it into, and we talked about how the sermon on the amount is invitation and inventory. So Jesus inviting us onto a narrow path, a path that goes, leads to, as he said, it leads to life. This narrow path leads to life. The broad road leads to destruction.

If you go that way, you're just going to want to flow with everybody else. You're going to end up with everybody else. But if you get on the narrow path, you're going to lead to life. You're going to lead to life. going to go to the source. It's going to be a much, much, much better life. And so he invites us all on that path. And then in this section, when he gets into rest of chapter five, he kind of starts getting the inventory stuff. He goes, so let's just, let's take this a little deeper.

Very deep. Yeah. I know you all are interested in happiness. I know you want to bless life. I know you want to walk a new direction. But in order to do that, we're going to have to peel back some layers. We're going to have to go beneath the. service because up to this point, all you've been taught is performance. Just do some behavior

modification, do some religious rules. As that fact, the Pharisees, teachers of law had 600 additional rules over the Ten Commandments and all that. You know, just follow this stuff. That's all you've got to do. And that's just pure behavior modification, no way to live your life. So Jesus goes, let's peel that back. Let's go a little bit low. In fact, you've heard it said, you've heard it preached in synagogues for a long time. Don't murder. But I tell you, let's peel it back. You've got anger in your heart. So that's where he goes in this section of the sermon on Mount.

And he stays there for the rest of the sermon. You know, let up Jesus. Come on. Let's go back up to the surface. Just give me some stuff to do. He goes, no, no, no, I'm more interested in who you're becoming. Rather than what you just do. So, yeah.

Well, let's talk about some of those because I think I love that Jesus goes, like, deep. And basically, like, he's a straight shooter on things that honestly, like, we all, we all wrestle with. And so let's talk about anger. Unresolved anger is dangerous. Obviously, Jesus talks about that. And he seems to be grabbing the Old Testament law and like elevating the standard of what a life in the kingdom of God looks like.

Why is anger? Why do you think he does that? Why is it, you know, because before he said, well, you know, don't kill. Good. Like actually, no, we need to go a little deeper. what is Jesus trying to do? I think he's trying to get to the source of why you would even kill and how we kill in other ways. And it's just what resides in your heart.

I mean, the overarching theme all the way through chapter 5, 6 and 7 are out of the overflow of the heart. These things happen. So if you get anger stored up in your heart, man, you've got a murderous spirit in you. Let's address that. Let's just let's just stay on the surface and just address the. act of murder. Let's get to the source, you know, of what's in there that would cause you to even think that way to murder someone's reputation, to, you know, whatever it is. But what's in your heart? Mark, we've talked about this before, how we pray that Psalm 139, Search Me old God.

And that's where Jesus wants to take it. So let's go deeper here. What's rolling around on the inside of you that's making you that way? Yeah. It destroys you. It seems like some people think, you know, oh, well, Jesus is against anger. If somebody's asking right now, as we're reading and meditating on this, hey, does that mean that being angry is always wrong or is it always a sin? Or is there such a, is there a differentiation between a righteous anger and an unrighteous anger? How do I handle that? Yeah, there's definitely, you know, a difference there.

And a lot of it goes back to that, examine me, search me, oh God. Like, what is your motive? What's going on here? There are things that we can have a righteous anger about. atrocities, injustices that can bring up a right- Yeah, if you're not angry about there's something wrong with your heart. Exactly, yeah. And so we should, that should go up.

Now, there are other things that are really- Jesus got angry too. He got angry. He got angry. He got angry. Not a little angry. Yeah, a little. But pretty angry.

Yeah. Kicked open some tables, kicked over some tables and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. If you did that, if I saw you kicking tables, I'd be like, Mark, what happened, man? Mark, we need to be praying for him. Mark, we need to be patient. Jesus was just he did this thing.

Yeah, there are things that require action. And sometimes it is through there. But then there's the unrighteous. And that is when it's usually about like kind of a self-motivation, what's in it for me, what's happening here. And that's where that examined me. And when you were talking earlier, it's like we all get it. Like, have you ever gotten mad about something? And then it was like, that's not what you were really mad about, though?

like there was something else under the surface, but you barked at your kids, or you did something like this, and it's like, well, something at work that happened four hours ago that you're still stressed about but you took it out on someone else. That's why a lot of psychologists call

anger the second emotion. We didn't know how to handle the first one or we didn't want to deal with the first one. So we just jump to the easy one. Oh, wow. It's just anger. Yep, and then it bubbled up. Yeah.

So what's the first emotion, like in that example that you mentioned, the second emotion would be anger. Yeah, we don't know. You have to assert. What was the first emotion? Did you feel disappointed? Did you feel rejected? Did you feel betrayed? Did you feel, you know, slighted? Did you feel? You didn't deal with it. So now it's just, ah, I got this one. I got anger. I know how to do that one. And I know it well because I did it this week. You know, and it was something that Robin, like, kind of like, why are you so upset about this? And it was like, you know what? I'm not upset about that. Here's what I'm upset about. You know? And it kind of came out. And it was like, man, we allow those things to bubble when we don't. deal with them when we don't allow ourselves to be examined search me oh god figure it out why am i

upset it is important to ask yourself why why is this making me feel the way it is and to examine that and see what's underneath that because a lot of times it's that p word pride that is rising up and it's like i'm really upset because i didn't get the recognition i'm really upset because that wasn't the decision i would have made i i'm really upset because i i i i i and we get into that and we realize oh, I have work to do. Like, I'm getting mad at them for what they're doing. I'm the one that's got work to do. Yeah.

I was thinking about a series I did years ago called Enfuego. It's all about anger. I like to bring it back around sometime. I remember that was, yeah, we almost had that series at Lake Point. And I was like, oh, man, we missed it. Yeah. But I'm sure maybe a... One of these summers were going to pull it in, in Fuego.

In Fuego, I like it. It's all about anger. But I remember I talked about different ways you manage anger, you know, different people. And it's really helpful to say, which way do I handle it? Am I the trash compactor? Right, just stuff it down, stuff it down, stuff it down, stuff it down. And then one day it just leaks all over everybody because trash, you know, smash down, it leaks and it stinks. You don't think it does, but everybody knows it stinks.

Yeah. Something not quite right. And then there's a, then there's the volcano. You know, I just go, I just going to blow it all, I'll spew it out on everybody, you know. I'm going to kick dogs and squeal my tires and, you know, flip people off in trash, who I am. man. And then there's the prosecuting attorney that's just keeping, keeping tabs, putting a case together. At the file. Interrogate. There's lots of different ways. It's helpful to, you know, what do I have a tendency to do?

How do I react? I don't want to stuff it. I don't want to spew it. I don't want to litigate it. I just want to handle it in a right kind of way. And I think that's what Jesus would get down here. So let's get to the heart of it. Why is anger rolling around inside of you? so much so you would call someone an idiot, which is what that rock a word means in the scripture when he says that. What's rolling around you that do? What's rolling around you that makes you hold on to revenge against that person that you can't let that stuff go?

What's going on inside of there? So I think it's always helpful for us to do an anger inventory. That's where he's trying to invite us in an inventory for the anger that's in our heart. And I think you've got to be got to get real specific about what's on the inside when you do inventory. I mean, inventory is a big deal. My buddy, John Orteburg's got a new book called Steps. It's a really good book. You got to check it out. But he says, bland confession, like unspecific confession, is like taking a shower with your clothes on because you avoid the embarrassment getting naked, but you can't get clean.

Oh, wow. That's just the way it goes. So it's just that getting specific about it, opening up soon. You know, this is why I'm angry. This is what's right. rolling around in here. This is what I really feel. And again, God can help you unpack all that. And so can other people. It seems like Jesus addresses this specific case where obviously you're angry with your brother. And then Matthew chapter 5 says, if you are offering your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there. It seems like Jesus is saying, hey, there's a priority here of you having to address the issue of anger. Go do something about it. What does that look like?

for somebody that relates to that. I do have some relationships around me where I have maybe like some anger that has not been addressed or resolved. What do I do? Well, hey guys, one of the reasons we are intentional in creating this kind of podcast episodes is because we believe that discipleship

happens in relationships. Having said that, what we want to do through the live free podcast is model what it looks like to be in a discipleship group where we come together and open up the Word of God and honestly just grow together as followers of Jesus to live free in Christ. And so for this reason, we love that you're tuning in, but honestly, we don't just want you to be a passive listener. We want you to be an active participant. And so if you have not yet joined the group, whether in person or online, I want to challenge

you to test drive one. And so to do that, just text the word group to 2-0-0-1. 411 or go to Lake Point. That church slash groups because listen, you're not one podcast away, one habit away, one decision away, one book away, one sermon away. Listen, you are one relationship away to experience freedom in Christ in community.

And now, let's get back to the podcast. You're just saying it's that important. You know how far those people had to go to go home? They just got all the way to Jerusalem. He's going, now you've got to go back. Take care of that. You've got to go three-day journey, and then you come back and offer, you know, so it's like, it was that important that you go make it right because you can't, you can't, I think it,

I think it links that inseparable, you know, when Jesus talked about the greatest commandment is love the Lord of God with all your heart and the second is like it, you know, love your neighbor as yourself. It links those two together. You can't come and say, oh, I love God, but I hate him. He goes, go, go make it right with him, come back, and then you can honestly say, yeah, I'm really, I really do love God because I made it right with him. Because you can't separate.

It's the Great Commandment. It's not like that one. And then there's one that's sort of a, it's a distance second. No, it's the same, it's in the same, same breath, you know. It's funny that you mentioned the three-day walk because some people have pointed out that, you know, for people that are listening to this message from Jesus during Jerusalem, a lot of people were from Galilee. So that would be like literally like, you just walk three days. Now you have to go back another three-day journey.

And this is for some people that think that, man, I guess I got to hear what Jesus is saying. I got to muster up the energy for me to figure out a way to go forgive somebody or find reconciliation with somebody. But what Jesus is getting at is a heart. And what he's saying is, man, Jesus is here to transform your heart so that you become a person that can't extend forgiveness and mercy. And so when he implies like, hey, like go back and walk for three days. Some people have pointed out that there's a little bit of a connection there. because in Matthew 5, again, there's a three-day walk would imply a personal inconvenient, costly journey

towards reconciliation. When Jesus goes to the cross, he takes the ultimate three-day journey when he dies and three days later he rose from the dead. And so what we learn from that is, man, ultimately, reconciliation is possible because the one who took that three-day journey is Jesus. He died and then three days later he resurrected. Because of what he did today, reconciliation is available.

in the kingdom of God, even with difficult relationships or if there's anger that's unresolved, it is because of what Jesus did that you and I can find reconciliation, which is encouraging. Yeah, that's pretty cool, man. That's amazing. I also love how practical, you know,

we get in the word with how to deal with some of those issues, especially in James when it says to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. And there's an order for a reason. You know, it's like quick to listen, Listen means you're not forming your comeback. Right. Means you're actually listening.

Slow to speak. What I later learned after a few years of trying to practice this, what slow to speak meant was you're praying to God and asking him for wisdom. Because he says he gives wisdom generously to all without finding fault. You don't have to earn it. So you're praying for wisdom. That allows you to be slow to anger when you get in that order. And that's hard to do because we want to win. Yeah.

You know, when we're in that argument, it's hard to reconcile because we want to win. And it's like, that's not winning, though. But winning it is reconciliation, restoration. So it'd be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. Mark, this is literally the opposite of like today's world. Like if you go on social media, people are quick to speak, extremely slow to listen. Yeah. And extremely quick to anger.

and everybody's angry. And so, like, even, we literally flip all of those three things. It's quick to anger. Now let me speak. Yeah. Okay. Right. Yeah, right.

Yeah, you know, the deal is when you, when you have anger in your heart, that's why Jesus goes to heart. When you have anger in your heart, it's hard to listen. You can't be quick to listen if you get anger in your heart like that. In fact, he says in the sermon on the Mount, I think we touched on it this weekend where he says, like, the Pharisees teach, you know, man, you got to, you. make sure you clean the cup real good. He goes, it's not the outside of the cup that matters. It's the inside. I'm notorious for leaving these things full of coffee in my truck.

And then they come out two weeks later, go, oh, man, it's pretty gross in there. He says, just clean the inside of the cup. You know, and I think that's why he's always... Love that, by the way. Great illustration. Point us to the heart saying, man, you get to the heart of this thing because the anger in your heart is much more destructive. You know, I don't think that's why he talks about the broad path,

leads to destruction. I don't think Jesus was talking so much about the narrow path leads to heaven and the broad path leads to hell. I think he's going,

it's a destructive way to live your life. If you're just angry like everybody else on social media you're talking about, it's going to lead you to a destructive kind of life.

Miserable. Why wouldn't you get on the narrow path where you're quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry, you're doing things differently than the rest of the culture is doing this.

So I think, and I do think he goes, when I was sitting here thinking when I was studying for this series, this is so sneaking relevant. 2,000 years ago.

It was like he just walked into our church and walked in our life and said, let me tell you some stuff. It's so counter-culturally relevant. And I think that's why it's becoming so attractive to a lot of people these days going, that's what I've been looking for. Man, I've been on this broad road. And anywhere it's at.

I'm tired of all this anger. I'm tired of all this. Me being God. I'm tired of all. Man, this is refreshing kind of stuff. And again, he goes the heart over and over and over throughout the entire sermon. Matthew chapter 23, Jesus has some pretty strong words for the religious people like you mentioned, Mike.

And he calls the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, hypocrites. And he says, man, like you said, man, you clean the inside, but on the outside, or sorry, you clean the outside, but on the inside, it's all messed up. You guys are blind. And then he keeps going. And so he's here. Jesus is critiquing legalism, a religious legalism. that contradicts the heart of the father. When it comes to following Jesus,

how do you follow Jesus without necessarily swinging into legalism, but also without not swinging into lawlessness? How do you walk, honestly, like the narrow path. It's not like the Pharisees, but also not like somebody who does not know God. No. I don't have a super in-depth, profound answer, but it's simple.

And every day, I wake up. up and I pray, Jesus, you're my first love. Help me remember it all day long. There you go. And just try to remember that. Like when the world comes at these other things that are going to try and become my first love and take my attention, it's like, oh, you're my first love. I know that. Help me remember it, Lord. And I just have to keep remembering it and keep telling, sorry, Lord, I forgot. Yeah, yeah. I remember. I go back to that, you know, first step of the rung of the ladder we talked about in week one. I've just recognized him in. I'm just busted without him. I'm spiritually poor. I'm impoverished. I need him. I'm sorry for the way I used to walk. I'm walking toward

you, God, again today. I'm just going to surrender my life again today. Keep me aware of your presence today in my life. Put some mind my path that needs to touch from you when you do. Help me notice. It's kind of my morning prayer to say, I want to do life with you today, just this day. And that's, I think that keeps, keeps me on track from the, because I've spent, I spent some years in legalism. It just sucks. It's a bad way to live your life. And that's why Jesus was always pointing, unless you're righteous and succeeds that of the Pharisees, you're not going to see the kingdom of God. You've got to go deeper than that.

It's not just about keeping a bunch of rules. Well, I didn't murder anybody. Well, I didn't do this. I didn't do that. He goes, what about your heart? Because that's what's going to give you freedom is your heart getting well. So that's why he always peels back layers and goes over and over, you know, to this. He does it with anger.

He does it with adultery. He does it with money. as with all, you know, all kinds of stuff through here. Here's what I have found helpful. I think you, when it comes to, you know, walking the narrow path, you want to hold on to obedience, but then you also want to hold on to grace. Yeah. Right?

And so obedience says, man, I want to, you know, if God says, I need to, you know, obey and do the things, well, I want to learn how to do that. But then grace comes from the gospel, knowing that, man, we are saved not because of my own merit or my own capacity or wisdom, but ultimately because of the love of God. And so grace is when you receive something you don't disqualify. serve. And so when you remember that you have been saved by grace, it's very difficult to be proud. It's very difficult to think that you're all that because actually this is not because of you. This is because of God. And so I would say obedience without grace turns into legalism.

That's people that like the Pharisees, they're obeying, but they forget the element of grace. So they think that they're living out their lives because of their own capacity. So grace without obedience, that's lawlessness. So that's people say, oh, well, it's all good. You know, God's loving. I can do whatever I want. Actually, that's not it. So what Jesus is saying here, that's the narrow path is grace will lead to your obedience.

Man, you receive grace. You receive the love of God. And you let that change everything, affect every aspect of your life. And as a response, you naturally will say, man, well, if God loved me so much, man, let me, let me walk my, let me, let me, let me walk my, let me. live my life in a way that is pleasing to him. And so you hold on to that grace, and you let that grace change your heart so that you can live a life of obedience.

I think that grace is what changes you. And when you recognize you need it every day of your life, you know, it starts out when we first come to Christ, it's kind of like, amazing grace. And then a few years later, it's like, intriguing grace. And it's interesting grace. It's kind of like, grace. You got to stay in the amazing.

Amazing. Yeah. Wow. Like how in the world a wretch like me? It's good, Mike. A busted guy like me? Yeah. You know, if you don't stay in that, again, I go back to the first three steps on that, you know, Beatitudes thing.

If you don't stay right there all your life. It's not a one-time deal I came to Jesus. It's like every day. Lord, again, the day. Thank you for your grace. Thank you. I get to do this. And when you live in that grace, you want to obey.

You want to walk a new direction. I mean, there are some things. there's some bridges you're going to have to burn or some places you're going to have to not go any longer. But you're on this narrow path now. It's like, this is walking toward freedom. This feels so good. I mean, you ask anybody that's been on the broad path

and I know a lot of, no, me, me include it, but a lot of people are on that road that good friends of mine that just did a 180 and got on the narrow path and walking a new direction these days. It's like, oh, man, why didn't somebody tell me about this a long time ago? I thought that was a good way because I was getting control my own life, but I screwed it up royally.

And now that I'm walking toward Jesus and obeying him and doing things, man, this is a freedom about it. It's not easy. Freedom. But there's such a freedom about it. There's such a purpose about it. It's just a different kind of life. I wish everybody knew it.

Everybody would jump on it. Jesus talks about anger and forgiveness and reconciliation, and then he talks about lust and sexuality. And when he does, he actually seems like he speaks in a very extreme direct way. He says things like, man, if you need to, cut your hand off. And so why do you guys think that when Jesus talks about adultery in this case and it talks about lust, he's talking about cutting eyes and hands? And why is he so extreme about this particular sin?

Seems like it must be a big deal, huh? It seems like maybe you can take control of you. I mean, just as we talked about anger being like that second emotion, it's the idea that it grows and grows and grows and eventually it explodes on you. And so there's a puritan named John Owen who wrote a book in 1656 and he had a line in the book said, be killing sin or sin. will be killing you. That's a bar, as the kids say. I mean, that right there. His book is called The Mortification of Sin.

Wow. Because it's a daily fight. And so lust, anger, like all of these are in this category. And it's a daily fight, and hello, you can't do it alone. And you have to be killing. You have to take it seriously because if you're not killing it, if you're not figuring out the ways and the steps where you can, get rid of it, not control it, it will control you, but get rid of it from your life,

then it will eventually take over. I can't go all the way back to the 1600s like you did, but I remember watching the Andy Griffith show with Barney Five going, nip it, nip it in the bud. You got to nip it right now, Andy. That's hilarious. You know, and I think as what Jesus is talking about, you got to nip this for, it gets control of your heart. You know, there might be some things you need to cut out of your life.

You're not literally going to gouge out your eye and cut off your hand. but you can gouge out what you're watching on your screen. You can gouge out your playlist, all those things that come along. So I think what you watch, the way you interact in the gym, your DMs on social media, what you fantasize about, all that kind of stuff, you know. Jesus is going, that stuff's in your heart. So just need to cut that out. So it doesn't reside in your heart.

Because it's not so much about the technical act of committing adultery. It's what's rolling around your heart. The way you devalue people, the way you, life becomes all about you, and you can't, you can't truly love somebody, you know. I think I said it in a message how lust objectifies, but love respects. And lust is all about consumption, and love is all about, like, communion. And lust is about taking, and love is about giving. You know, it's just, there's a lust diminishes people and love cherishes people. I mean, there's such a, and if you have all that stuff in your heart, Jesus is saying,

you'll never get to the love part. It'll just be all about you and what it can do for you. And that's a, again, it's a broad way that leads to destruction. Yeah. And many people are on it. Man, I know, obviously, this topic is a very, it can be a very heavy, heavy one for a lot of people. We actually have addressed some of these issues.

Yeah, I was going to say that. That episode you guys did with Josh. Josh Broome? Yep. So good. So helpful with that. So if you're listening, you miss that one and you're interested in more, and you've got to go back to that one.

That was a really, I thought it was very helpful. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think, and, you know, we'm sure we'll do more of these in the future. But, you know, for people that are maybe asking, man, I'm honestly just discouraged because it seems like I've been trying and I've been, you know, I've had like the accountability. And this is a battle with lust or any particular addiction for years. The interesting thing is when Jesus talks about being radical, he is telling us, hey, like, take it seriously, be killing sin or it's going to kill you.

He starts by saying, hey, cut your right out or take your right eye out. And then he says, gouge your eye, but then he says, and then if you need to take the hand too, do that too, it seems like there's a progression of like, hey, if this is causing you to sing, take it out, cut it out. If that hand is causing you to sin, cut it out, it's like it keeps progressing. somebody might be saying, well, what if I already did cut out this in my life and that in my life? But they're still saying the whole point is that you can't do it in your own capacity. That ultimately you can't just cut out your eye. Jesus needs to cut out your heart. And Ezekiel has a prophecy that says, man, I'll actually have it right here. Ezekiel 36 says, God says this, I will give you a new heart. And so for the person that's wrestling with this and said, man, I've tried this. I've tried

to cut that out in my life, cut social media, whatever it is. Man, the ultimate whole hope and the good news of Jesus is it is God the one that's giving you a new heart, you just got to surrender. You just got to say, like you said, back to the first message, Mike, I'm busted, I'm broken, I need help, I can't do it on my own. And then Ezekiel 36 says, I'm not just going to give you

a new heart, I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my loss. There is a supernatural work that God does in your heart when you realize that you are broken and that you desperately need salvation and redemption in your life because you've made a mess of your life. And Jesus says, man, I love to cut your heart and give you a new one.

Yeah. I think one of the ways that, you know, you do those proactive things. Again, it goes back to the community aspect of it as well. You know, to do inventory, you have to be vulnerable with somebody about that. And you go, man, this is what's resided in my heart. I need some help. I need some accountability in my life. I need you to ask me some questions.

I need to walk with somebody through this as I'm asking God for help every day. But I think that's sometimes they'll like, I cut that out of my life, I cut that out of my life, cut that. But I never got in a group. I never talked to anybody about it. You know, I never opened up. And I feel so embarrassed.

I feel so shame. Man, most of us are like the rest of us. That's just the truth. And when I remember reading a Bernay Brown book one time. She's a shame researcher. And she said, shame cannot stand the light of vulnerability. when you get vulnerable, shame has to leave.

It just does. And so I would encourage, you know, to do the heart, to get your heart right, to get some other people in your life where you can talk to them about stuff like this. That's good. Super helpful. That's good, man. Yeah, I love that. And I'm glad that we brought this up to, like, took at another level,

because I do think a lot of people get stuck in, well, I did turn the computer off. I did do this. but then that image came in another place or whatever, and it's like, we are bombarded. Like there's no amount of legislation we can do to stop sin. And the Bible even says you're supposed to take every thought captive and make it obedient. That means those thoughts are coming.

So you're going to take them captive. And that's why, to Mike's point into yours, like when you try and do it on your own and you get all the stuff, and even when you start to have success for like three or four months with that, if you don't bring it into the light, the thought is going to come. It's going to come back. And you're going to get attacked and you need help. And the times we've talked about this before, the times you're most susceptible for any of these

sins when you're tired, when you're hungry, when you're stressed, when you're alone, like these things come, they come at you. And so you've got to be able to have a plan in place for all those situations. And that plan is going to involve other believers. It's phoning a friend. It's having those, hey, I need you to pray about that thing again. Hey, I might need you to come over right now and help me with this. It's being vulnerable, getting it into the light.

It's like when Pastor Josh had the sermon about a month or two ago about strongholds, you've got to drag them into the light. That's good. Darkness has to flee. That's right. There you go. That's great, man. Well, I love for us to, as we land this plane, because we are flying.

I'd love for us to react to this one video. We've been talking about fathers, anger, lust, you know, obviously finding identity in the right things. There's a video that I want to share with you guys. It kind of went viral recently. And I just want you to react, Pastor Mike. And so, and maybe we can discuss it. I've never seen it.

Trinity, can you play this video over here? There you go. You know why men love playing video games, though? because I love going where I'm celebrated, not where I'm tolerated. And when I do good on the game, I get an unlocked screen. I get achievements. I get leveled up. I'm the man in the game.

So I'm going to go here. At my job, I go to my job. I'm not good enough. Every time my wife has me to do something, it's not good enough. I check on my friends. It's not good enough. So I'm going to go to the one place that every single... I'm celebrated here.

And I know men aren't perfect. I know I should find my value at the cross, but sometimes my flesh went some validation. And be careful, men, be careful that your pursuit of validation from anything other than the cross of Jesus, you'll never have enough of it. And it will destroy everything you've built in your life. That's good, man. he said be careful that your validation doesn't come from anything other than the cross of Jesus.

Thoughts, response, you know, anything that comes to mind. What do you think this clip went viral? I think it's nice to be encouraged, nice to be, you know, validate. It's nice to receive plaques like the best dad ever, wherever that went. You know, there's, it's good to get those things, but if that's what you live for, that stuff's just icing on the cake. It's not the cake. I mean, the main deal is, man, I'm already accepted.

I'm already secure and significant. In God's eyes, what he says about me is what matters. And that's going to be enough for me. That's enough validation. Jesus Christ, going to the cross and saying, man, you're worth it. That's enough. And if you strive for more than that, if it's your job or if you're, you know, whatever, that's your status you're trying to reach or whatever, it's just like, it's just

empty stuff. So just let you accept it, secure, significant. If you need to use that in a cross stick, then remember it? You could do... Say it one more time. No. Accept it, secure, significant. If it helps you to use it as a crossstick, go ahead, it'll help you remember. That's who you are in Christ. That's great. I'm trying to help people remember.

Yeah, that's right. Exactly. Literally my job. But that's helped me to go. That's funny. I'm already that way. It's enough for me. It's enough for me. I don't need to be validated any other way. Mike, you have been in ministry for a while, and you have been in positions of authority and people are listening to you. You have had a big platform.

You have had, and you still have lots of influence. You have seen other leaders as well. How do you stay grounded? Obviously, like he said in the video, like we know this and that, but how do you actually stay grounded to receive validation and find your identity, not in, oh, the podcast was awesome, or the sermon was so good,

or you're such a talented, gifted speaker. Like, no, no, actually, I have something that is unchangeable, and Jesus is the one that gives me an identity, and the love of the Father is not contingent on whether you perform this or that, or you accomplished this or receive the applause of those group of people. How do you, how do you do it? How have you done it? What have you learned?

Amazing grace. How sweet the sound is saved a wretch like me. I mean, I think it's living grateful, living dependent, knowing that God allows you to do this with your life. You know, you don't, again, you're validated by who he says you are. You don't need the applause of people. And Jesus was like that. Paul was like that. We don't do this to impress people.

We're just, God knows the motives of our heart. And I think it's staying grounded that way. I've met a lot of, I've met a lot of insecure. just in my field of insecure pastors who have to have those shows. Those exist? Yeah. Huh? Those exist, insecure pastors and something?

Yeah. And I used to exist that way too. So, you know, to live your life for the applause of people, it's just an empty way to live your life. But, man, say, you know, I've already got the applause of heaven. I'm already accepted. I'm already secure. I'm already significant to him.

Yeah. And I'm just going to stay right there. And again, that's that daily surrender thing. you got to do, surrendering everything, your ego, your pride, all that stuff. And I hate to keep going back to square one of our message last week, but that's where you got to live, man. I was going to tell you, yeah. You got to live with that busted, broken, humbled, hungry things.

If you do that, then everything else kind of falls in line. If you don't, if you get it, then you will kind of, you know, you'll all get out of whack. Mark, you love video games. So, you know, obviously you probably relate to what he said in the video. So are you validated by those things, Mark? Well, actually, when... Call of Duty, is that what you do? Yeah, I've never played Call of Duty.

It sounds fun. But video games isn't my thing. Okay. But, like, don't let that stop you from taking that inventory. Like, what is the thing you escape to? That's it. You know, is it video games? Okay.

Is it eight screens watching college football? Is that? Oh, why did he call me out before? He went straight there. Well, I'm trying to prepare you for the upcoming season. Accountability, this is what we do. Go back to six screens. That's all you need.

This is what happens in a group. In a group, there's not just affirmation. There is exhortation. Yes. We're moderately. My football thing, I need to escape. He said eight screens, too. You know, there's a lot of games on it.

There's a lot of games. And they're all in split screens. Oh, man. Oh, wow. 64 games. We're here to confess to each other. But you're right, man. There are a lot of things we can escape to to give validation.

Yeah, sports is an escape. Your kid's sports is an escape. Dads, a lot of you could be not fully, but partially living your life there through that. I mean, TV can be an escape. Relationships can be in it. There are so many things that you can escape to to avoid what's really going on.

And get in the light. Don't avoid it. Don't avoid the eight screens, Carlos. I don't have eight screens. I think I have one and it's really old. And I don't think it has any cable. So I don't have any access to all the sports. That's great, man.

Not TV, but actually, to confess, I do have a bunch of screens. So here's one. Here's another one. Hey, we're in the same book. You get a lot of screens, man. Man, that's awesome. That's encouraging me. This comes to mind.

You know, the father saying a voice from heaven saying to Jesus after he got baptized in obedience, he says, my son in whom I am well pleased. Man, may those words be what you and I and our people joining right now, listen to on a regular basis to remind ourselves that that is where we find identity, applause, validation, strength, encouragement, hope, and that's enough. Yeah, I know that he would not mind me sharing this, but, you know, I got to teach with my daughter, Jody, and her husband, Mike,

is a lead pastor and just a great guy. I love him like one of my sons and been in his life for a long time. But over a year ago, he got vulnerable and confessed to addiction to alcohol. And so he sat down for a year, went through extensive recovery stuff, counseling for childhood things, and all kinds of different stuff. It goes to AA every day. It's got sponsors, got a restoration team. It's been cool to watch the church help.

him through all this. And he was just kind of reinstated last week. And they interviewed him on stage. And I had been there for a year. He'd been slowly, it was attending, but just recently. They gave updates all the time. It was a, it was a model of restoration and redemption. It was so cool to watch this church in an action. But that's what he said from stage. He goes, the one scripture that kept me on track every day was, this is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased. That scripture you just read was what resonated in his heart and kept him on the road to recovery. And now he's just living a story that's going to help so many people. It's really, really cool. So I know he wouldn't mind me sharing that. He's been vulnerable about it everywhere.

And they release that video on social media as well. So that's where you got a limb. man. That's who God sees me to be. It's not being the best dad ever. I got the best dad ever. And he's well pleased in me. And there it is. Wow. And I'm going to walk with him. And even when I fall, as a good dad, he picks me back up. So we're going to walk three steps today. And pretty soon you're going to be running. But I'm here when you fall. So. Amazing. Yeah. Amazing. Pastor Mike, would you pray for? Thanks, guys. Yeah. God, thank you for being the best dad ever. You are Abba, our daddy, our

father, there's no one like you. And God, the three of us, and I know many of many dads that might be listening today, we acknowledge that there's no one like you. You are the perfect father, and we're just imperfect people that you have blessed with influence in our lives. And God, we just want to humble ourselves and do a good job. We want to hit our knees every day, whether we're a dad or a mom or a granddad or a granddad or grandma, it's always aunt, uncle, whatever. We just need your help to help raise kids. And God, I pray that we would always be people, too, that do what Jesus encourages us to do, to go to the heart and see what's going on inside there, whether there's anger or lust or materialism or image stuff,

whatever is rolling around in there, God. I pray that we would be open and vulnerable enough with each other to make sure that we get that stuff out before. It just does lead us down a really dark and dangerous road. So, Jesus, thanks for pointing all that out. Thank you for the way you invite us on this narrow path and the way you invite us to take inventory of our lives. So God, today we say, search us, oh God, know our anxious thoughts and point out anything in us that you find offensive and lead us in the way. I have everlasting. I pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Thanks for tuning in to live free with Pastor Josh Howardton. We pray today's episode helped you take a step forward in life, culture, and faith as you live free in Christ. If it encouraged you, be sure to read. review and share the podcast and don't forget to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode join us for lake point church online every weekend and find more resources at lakepoint dot church slash live free we'll see you next time