The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Spiritual Obesity (EP 21)

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

In this podcast, Bryce talks about the disease of Spiritual Obesity and how to walk out faith.

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce, and I'm really excited for this episode today. Wherever you are, you know, if you're listening to this on a drive, if it's the morning time, if it's the afternoon, if you're watching this at lunch, or maybe it's nighttime, you're cooling off, it's the end of your day. You're trying to, like, just chill out, and you're like, man, I just want a little bit of Jesus to end my day. This podcast is going to be really awesome. I've been really passionate about this topic ever since I got saved. And a lot of this was, inspired by a study I did on the book of James years ago, and now I'm re-watching it again. So it's super awesome.

Got my little furry friend with me here, Moses. He's in my lap, just chilling. I love him. You guys loved him. I got so many messages and comments. You guys loving him. So he's here. Two things before we start, because this episode means so much to me.

I think there's a lot of breakthrough for people in this episode. But two things. Number one, guys, I got a new Bible. We were ministering to a homeless guy, and I felt so moved. gave him literally my Bible that I've had since my junior year of high school. It's been writ and worn and beat. So I got that new leather feel. You know, nothing's more. I mark up my Bible when I read and nothing's marked in this. And it really encourages me to read my word. But another thing that's been encouraging me has been this Bible in a year plan we've been doing. It keeps me grounded in

discipline. And this Bible in a year plan actually allows me to flow and renew my mind daily, just just to start it off. You know, it's like that discipline that starts me and keeps me hungry for the word and it's forcing me to read the old testament sometimes not going to lie old testament a little boring to me just saying so because of that if you guys struggle to get in the word or you guys are like man it's something's going to keep me discipline go to this youtube video click the link in the description it's a free pdf so all you have to do is click it and download it okay so when you download it you can read the whole bible in a year you can start any time i have videos that teach it on instagram and tic talk but guys this bible plan as true

really help me for someone that has struggled to get in the word for so long. Just disciplining myself with this Bible plan, a few chapters a day, has allowed me to grow more hunger for the word and I find myself reading more than I ever have in my entire life in my daily walk with Jesus, and I'm watching it manifest through my life. So it's super powerful. So just click the link in the description of this YouTube video. Go get it. It's literally free.

So just go get it. It's awesome. And second thing, a lot of you guys want to support what we're doing. The number one way you can is to go to Jesus in the street.com and get one of our I love Jesus shirts. It just allows you to rep a gospel-centered message, start conversations with people, but it supports what we're doing. We're a nonprofit organization with two dudes running it.

Jesus sent them out by twos. Josh and I are in twos, and we're supported off of tiths, offerings, and your support. And so if you guys have been deeply impacted by our ministry, just go to Jesusendestreet.com, support what we're doing. But we're about to get in this. Guys, we're going to be in James 1 today. So if you're with me, flip over to James 1. This is really powerful. Here's a back story on James.

The book of James is written after the dispersion of the tribes in Acts 8. Because in verse 1 it says, James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion. So this happened in Acts 8 after Acts 8, right? So this is who James is writing to. And he's actually encouraging them. So he encourages them because as they're splitting, he's like, hey, you guys are going to go through various trials.

Because he says, considerate joy, my brothers. when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect. Now, we're not going to be talking about the testing of your faith, but that's just the context of it. The 12 tribes are dispersing, and James is trying to encourage them in the steadfastness of the pursuit of faith.

Now, there's one thing I want to talk about here in this thing, because when you go down in these verses, it says, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial For when he has stood the test He will receive the crown of life Which God has promised to those who love him It's interesting how he says

Those that love him will endure till the end So the thing that really drives me As a human being and as a follower of Jesus To pursue holiness and pursue righteousness And pursue the cross Isn't for my selfish gain But it's because I want him to know I love him I love Jesus

and when times get hard, I don't push through because I'm trying to mooch off of him. I push through because I love him and I know that he loved me. I got so hit last night. I was at a worship service last night and I got rocked because I'm going to be completely honest, guys. I was like, God, I really don't feel loved right now. I was like, I know my feelings are not good masters. They're servants and so I know that my feelings can deceive me. But I was like, man, I don't feel loved right now.

And I know that was a lie from the pit of hell. but I was like I don't feel loved. I feel like I just give and I give and I give and I don't get anything in return. And Jesus literally says, Bryce, what do you think I did then? He's like, I went to the cross, had my back ripped off, had my wrist pierced through, my flesh ripped and I was beaten and I was stripped naked knowing that there were going to be people that were just going to mooch off of me and I wasn't going to get loved back in return.

What do you think I did? Because there's no record in the Bible where Barabbas, when he gets set free, turns around and gets on his knee, and it's like, oh, Jesus, I owe you my life. You've set me free. No, he went to the cross willingly knowing that Barabbas wasn't going to turn around. He went. And so I got hit with that.

And so I love Jesus and I love people knowing. I love people, not Jesus, I love people knowing that I might not get something in return back from them. And I endure through trials knowing that because I endure, it's because I love him. That's why I endure through that. That really, really hit me, and I was really struck by that. And I've also been struck by this. Sorry, this is like a total sidetrack from what we're talking about. This is really on my heart.

Is that actually, no, I'm going to save this for the next episode. I'm just going to save this for the next podcast episode. You'll see it on Friday. I've got to save it because next episode is going to be juicy. Let's keep going, and James. Sorry to leave you on hanging. Verse 19, chapter 1, verse 19. Know this, my beloved brothers.

Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. I love how he says that because we're more focused on what we say than what his word says. And if you look at a lot of preachers, a lot of preachers like to focus on their three points to get across in the message, what they're going to say, I got to say this one liner. When in reality, the power is in the scriptures. And so we want to be wise. Let's be quick to hear. Not only that, let's be quick to hear what our brothers are saying. If a brother is hurt, before we point fingers, let's go, okay, why are you hurt?

Let me just hear what's going on. Let's be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Put away all filthiness and rampant weakness and receive with meekness, the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Here we go. This is what the podcast episode is. So today's episode title is titled Spiritual Obesity.

Okay. So we're going to be talking about what faith looks like with works. Now we know our salvation is not by works. Ephesians 2. Excuse me. Ephesians 2 says, for it's by grace through faith, we've been saved. And so we know that Abraham was actually justified by his faith. Hebrews 12 says, we look to Jesus as the author and perfector of our faith because our faith is what

justifies us. So our works isn't what gets us into heaven. But our character and our action should reflect what we have faith in. Right. So if we serve and we love, it's because we do it because we have faith in someone who is love and who is serves. It says that Jesus didn't come to be served, but to serve. Right. So the reason that we love and do things is because our eyes are set on him who gave us the standard on how to love and serve. So our actions should reflect what we put our faith in and what we're fascinated by. Verse 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hear of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently

at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forget what he was like. A lot of people do Satan's job for him in the sense that we go to church, or we read our Bible and we said, oh, I've read my Bible for the day, or I went to church for the day, and we walk out of our room after reading our Bible, or we walk out of the church building, and we don't do anything about what we've consumed. It's as if we're doing Satan's job for himself. That's what he wants us to do.

That's the little sneakiness. That's the little sneakiness of Satan is he slips in, and he says, yeah, you go to church, just sit in the pews and just listen, let it go in one year and out of the other, and walk out, not do anything about it. We're becoming spiritually fat, being hearers and not doers. And we don't do because we have to do. We do because we want to because we're moved by love. We do things out of love. We serve out of love. No one's forcing us to do anything. No one's forcing you to read the word and act on it. We do it because we love him. Jesus says, you obey my commandments. If you love me, you obey my

commandments. I don't obey his commandments because I'm forced to. I have the option to love him. And if I love him, I want to obey his word. And so it says, don't be hearers of the word only because you're deceiving yourself. So we have to stop just going to church to hear. It's like we're sitting in the pews going, all right, pastor, give me what I want to hear. Give me more. I just need more. Or you pray for me. I need this thing from you and I just, oh, and we just sit there and we just get so fat spiritually. You know, there's an article on the fattest people in the world, and some of them are over a thousand pounds, okay? And they literally sit there in these people, the fattest people in the world literally have to be fed to force fed. People have to come to them in their bed because they can't move and they're

shoving food down their throat and they're just sitting there. They can't even move. They can't even get up. They've forgotten how to function. And that's the same thing that's happening to us. That's the sickness in the church is that we're like, pastor, give me more. Bryce, teach me, give me more. Tell me what I want to hear. And then we just get so fat, we've forgotten how to walk it out. The same way, the fattest people in the world have forgotten how to do basic mobility functions because they are physically obese is the same way that we are just in this consumer mentality, consume, consume, consume, and the reason that church is boring for a lot of you guys is because you go there to consume and not to give something to God.

When I worship, I'm not coming, and this is the deception here, is we go to a church and we hear the singer sing something and we don't go back because we think they don't sound good. Well, the worship was about you and not him. That's why church is boring to you. It's because you're like, oh, the singer doesn't sound good. I don't want to come back anymore. Well, good thing, it's not about you.

We came there to give God something. I came to give him some praise. When the pastor says, give him praise, you're not there going, oh, I want them to sing these certain songs. I come back to hear. these songs and I only come back when this guy's leading in worship and I want to do this. That's a consumer mentality. I want to give something to Jesus.

I want to be motivated by love that moved and go, man, Jesus, I want to give you my praise. I want to give you my love. I want to give you my all. That's what I'm moved by. And so we want to be moved by this love and this worship. Worship is when I'm offering up an aroma to the Lord. I'm giving God an incense of my love. It's like, Jesus, here you are.

That's what we're moved by. But the spiritual obesity says church is about me. Church is about what I want to hear. Church is about what I want to do. No, no, no. We go to church to host his presence to give him the praise that he was robbed of on the cross. That's what church is for. That's what worship is for.

So don't be just a hearer, be a doer. And then he says, if anyone's a hearer, it's just like someone that looks in the mirror and walks away and forgets what they are, what they look like. That's crazy. We go into the mirror and go, you know, we go into the mirror and we look and we say, oh, maybe I missed a spot shaving or if you're a woman, maybe, oh, I forgot, I missed a spot on my eyelash or put makeup here. That's what we go to look in the mirror for to not forget what we look like. And so James leading up to this talking about the trials is saying these trials produce steadfastness so that when you look in the mirror, you see more of him and not more of yourself.

You know, when they purify silver or gold, they actually heat it up. And when the impurities rise, they scoop out that layer and they keep heating it and heating it. And they know it's pure when the person that is purifying the silver or gold, they look over and they see the reflection in it. So what if the more that you offer Jesus praise and the more that you endure hard times that God may be able to look down and see his reflection in you rather than seeing more of yourself? because a lot of people are more full of themselves than they are full of Jesus. And that's why when Christians get squeezed, anger comes out and frustration comes out instead of the fruits of the spirit. So God actually wants to be able to see himself in us. And so it's foolish for us to just go to the mirror and look and walk away and forget what we've looked like.

But the one, verse 25, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts. he will be blessed in his doing. There is favor from the Lord when we obey his commandments. And you know why it's called the perfect law? It's because it's not over our head. The perfect law is in us. And when it's in us and we love him, we naturally just manifest servanthood.

Servanthood isn't this to-do list or this chore list because I'm going to tell you, that's like the religious cage that this is going to try to get put around in your mind. It's like, oh, I have to do, do, do to get him to love me. No, you actually don't have to do anything to get him to love you. You just have to believe in him and love him. By loving him, you'll naturally serve him. If anyone thinks, and this is what I love.

Because then this is where you go into the route where people are like, oh, workspace, salvation, this isn't that. That's not what we're teaching here. We actually teach the opposite. It's by grace through faith we're saved. Okay, but faith can be acted out through our actions. Like, we can notice that someone believes the way they act. So it goes into this. Verse 26.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not brittle his tongue, but deceives his heart. this person's religion is worthless. Excuse me. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this. To visit widows and orphans in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. It's interesting how Jesus says religion, the servanthood, the actions that should flow out of you when you love me is this. This is pure. To serve the widows and orphans and their affliction.

To help and aid the fatherless and the motherless. To serve those who have lost a significant other. Jesus says in Matthew 25, what you do to the least of these, you do unto me. And I read a comment one time on Instagram. I don't normally read comments or DMs because I'm not going to lie. They're not good. But I read this one. And this girl said, it was on somebody else's post actually.

And this girl said, I can't pass by a homeless person anymore because I think, man, what if that was Jesus in disguise? But the reality is it's not Jesus in disguise. It's that they're made in the image of him. And so we can't pass up a homeless person or the person in line at the grocery store because we're compelled by love because there's something about them that draws us to them and we don't know why, but it's because that there is undiscovered potential in them because the image of Christ is in them and they just don't know it.

And so many people put them down based off of what they look and their circumstance and this is and that little Moses and I were going on a walk yesterday. And we met our boy Tim. We met our boy Tim. He was a homeless man in a wheelchair. He didn't have a leg. And people kept passing up on him. And we go on our morning walk every day to the 7-Eleven and I get water and I get a Celsius.

And we come out. But this time I got to get Tim. a water and a donut, a good old 7-Eleven donut. And we came out, and I'm telling you guys this, just to encourage you. Like, this has nothing to do with me. But after talking to him, he's just like, yeah, no one ever talks to me. People pass me up. And so instead of talking about how religious you are, why don't we just love him and let our actions reflect?

You actually don't have to tell people you're Christian all the time. Maybe you should just love people like Jesus love. people and people will know your Christian based off your actions. That's the religion that's pure. The religion that's pure is you serving people out of love and not out of gain. That's, that's religion that's pure. Religion that is pure is you loving your friend that doesn't know Jesus because it's not because you want to get something out of it, but it's because you know the freedom

there is in it. And so you want to show them that and because you believe in the power of the gospel. And Mark 4 actually shows us what people are in it. for. Think about this. Mark for this lead up. Jesus has been doing miracles and everything's going great and this is like his big speech here. People are coming to get healed and save. They want to hear what this guy's about. And he goes, yeah, saw one out to sew. He sold some seed here, here, here, and you just do your thing. And those who have ears to hear, let him hear. And that was it. And he actually didn't pray for anyone, any healing. He just did that. And what happened was, is that a lot of people left.

They were like, oh, this guy's a bunch of bogus. He doesn't heal. He doesn't do this. and they left, but the disciples came around. And some people stuck around and they said, Jesus, what do you mean by that? The parables were a sifting mechanism to see what people wanted Jesus just for the benefits and who wanted Jesus for himself, who actually wanted to know Jesus,

who actually wanted to love him versus just his benefits. And so as we're going through life, the spiritual obesity, we don't want to be just consumers. I want to consume the word. I want the renewal of the mind. mind, but I want the word of God, as Hebrews 412 says, to cut my heart and filet it so that every day I wake up, I'm more holy, I'm more righteous, and I'm naturally walking out the word. That's what a real consumer of the word looks like, is that I'm not just consuming this to hear what I want to hear. I'm not just consuming this because this is a to do list or a chore list. I actually want to seek you, Jesus, because I want to be changed and moved by your presence and moved by you. God, I want to be. God, I want to be. to meet with you like Moses met with you on the mountain so that when I come out of my closet,

my face shines differently because people know I've met with you. I don't want to just consume your word. I don't want to just go to church because, oh, it's the Sunday thing and Sundays are for church. God, you're not just for Sunday. You're from my everyday life. That's what Jesus is about. Spiritual obesity is going to kill you. And that's the demonic gospel. Is that just going to church and reading your Bible and praying is enough to get you into heaven. His blood is what gets you in heaven. Not what you can do for him, but we want to pray and read our Bible and seek his face and go to church and learn and offer him praise

because we're moved by his love on the cross. His love is what set us free. Not what you can do for him, but his love should move us to act and serve. So I just want to pray and actually set a lot of you guys free from the religious cage that you have to do stuff to get God to love you. Because a lot of you guys have been hurt by people. where your relationships have been conditional and transactional,

so it's actually causes to overflow you and have this barrier with you between God because you're like, man, do I have to do stuff to get him to love me? But no, it's actually, he's already done that. He just loves you for you. He loves your calling. He loves what you do for him. But he actually loves you more than those things, and he just wants your heart. So God, I just pray right now, for anyone watching and listen to this,

for a soft and heart and an open mind to you, Jesus, that your love would surpass all understanding, God. God, that your love would surpass all understanding and give these people peace, a sound mind. God, you have not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but a spirit of power, love, and self-control. So Jesus, I just pray right now, any religious cage or any works-based salvation that people bound to, any spirit of religion, we break that off in Jesus' name. That's not who they are. God, I just pray from now on that when people go to church and people worship, God, that they're not just going there to mooch off the pastor, but they're going in, they're leaving. in their stuff at the altar and they leave change. God, I just pray that that people when they go

to church, they don't just consume that they offer God in a Roma, that they offer you an aroma, that they offer you an aroma, Jesus, that they give you some love. Jesus, I just pray that when people listen to this, that they'll be moved. And when people read their Bible and their prayer clause, and they pray God that you'll just do something. So God, will you just move in power in people's lives? Jesus, we love you. And we thank you. It's in your name. We pray. Amen. Guys, I love you so much. You guys, next episode is going to be our first. episode with a guest. It's my roommate, one of my best friends, Tanner. We're going to talk about the love of the father. It's going to be so good. It's going to be an awesome conversation.

It's going to flow. Moses, say goodbye. Oh, he just bit me. That's not good. Guys, I love you guys. If you like what you're watching or listen to, follow us on YouTube, Bryce Crawford podcast. We're on Spotify and Apple. We post the clips on Instagram, Bryce Crawford podcast. Guys, if you've been moved, please message us on Instagram. Tell us what the podcast is doing in your guys. Guys, we love you. We'll see you on the next episode. Stay blessed and highly favored. Love you guys. See you next time.