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Is God Guiding You—or Are You Following Your Own Desires? Find Out.
40 Plays2 months ago
In this episode, Dan Sanchez is joined by pastors Ridley Barron, Kyle Hess, and Jon Ballard to discuss God's guidance, particularly how to discern His will in life decisions. They share personal stories about moments when God's leading was gradual and unpredictable, including significant life changes and ministry calls. The conversation also delves into practical steps believers can take to discern between God's guidance, personal desires, and societal pressures, emphasizing the importance of community, scripture, and accountability in the process.
Timestamps:
00:02 - Introduction to the episode: Topic of God's guidance
01:30 - Ridley shares a personal story of gradual and unpredictable guidance
03:29 - Jon reflects on his call to ministry
05:32 - Kyle recounts moving to Tennessee as a response to God's call
07:19 - Discussion on differentiating between God's will and personal desires
15:14 - The role of scripture in discerning God’s guidance
18:48 - Challenges in interpreting scripture and avoiding misapplications
22:30 - Practical advice for making decisions when the Bible isn't specific
26:36 - Importance of local church and community for accountability
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guests
00:00:01
grovehillchurch
Welcome back to the Grove Hill Church podcast.
The Relevance of God's Guidance
00:00:03
grovehillchurch
I'm Dan Sanchez and I'm here with Ridley, Kyle, and John to talk about this last week's sermon on the topic of God's guidance, which it's kind of a popular topic because I think everybody wants to know, generally everybody wants to know what God wants them to do, right?
Sermon Insights on Seeking God's Guidance
00:00:19
grovehillchurch
And anytime I've been in involved in making content for the Christian, I don't know, Christian audience, this is a very popular topic. How do I know what God wants me to do with my life?
00:00:30
grovehillchurch
And depending on what stage of life you're in, you're asking different questions about what to do, who to marry, what job to take, whether to leave a job, what to do with my kids, so many different things, so many different questions that we have for God.
00:00:41
grovehillchurch
And we're often seeking His guidance on things that we pray about and we ask Him.
00:00:43
Jon
Thank you.
00:00:45
grovehillchurch
So that was the topic, a big part of the topic on the sermon. And I wanted to dive in some questions and get some experiences and thoughts from the three of you that can kind of shed some light on how to walk with God through difficult seasons or as you're seeking out how to make choices with Him. How do you not just come alongside Him, but as an Essentially be led by him in making your decisions, especially in tough
Ridley's Personal Experiences with God's Guidance
00:01:14
grovehillchurch
times. So my first question for y'all is Ridley you mentioned that God's guidance can be gradual yet unpredictable Can you share a personal experience where you felt God's guidance in your life to illustrate for everybody?
00:01:29
Ridley
Yeah, I could go back and probably point to just about every time I've been called to a New Church situation. took Sometimes months of prayer.
00:01:41
Ridley
And God kind of showing some things to me and the gradual part of it, sometimes I could see it was because God was trying to show me some things about myself and where I was in my own personal development and maturity and those kinds of things. What I was really prepared for and not what I was prepared for as far as taking on assignments and stuff. And then eventually he would get to the point where, okay, here' here's where you're going to wind up. that was an example of gradual and not, I mean,
00:02:07
Ridley
Quite honestly, yeah I have to always have to come back to this story of what's going on here at Chapel Hill. This is not this was not on my radar at all. I had talked with churches in North Alabama and in Georgia, even some other places in Tennessee, but just going 30 minutes down the road from Spring Hill really wasn't even on my radar. And God
Unexpected Outcomes of Following God's Guidance
00:02:26
Ridley
opened the door. and That was not a gradual example, but it definitely was an unpredictable example of how God led me somewhere.
00:02:36
grovehillchurch
Sometimes it's funny, I find that God, like you're like, God, never, ever will I ever go there or do that.
00:02:41
Ridley
know Yep.
00:02:43
grovehillchurch
Like how many times have you been like, God's like, uh-huh, okay.
00:02:46
Ridley
Uh-huh. It's funny because Sunday after church, we met a new visitor at our church, and she came up and briefly told me a little bit about what brought her to Middle Tennessee. And she said those exact words. She said, I told God, I don't want to do so-and-so.
00:02:58
Ridley
And I looked at her. I said, and now we've learned, don't tell God what you're not going to say exactly.
00:03:02
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:03:03
Ridley
She said, that's exactly why I'm here, is because God has called me to do this. So I think we all see instances in our life of that. And I believe it in part has something to do with us giving God time to wear our will down so that we're ready to hear His will and set aside all the, you know, our own desires where they want to interfere with what He's trying to do.
John's Calling to Ministry
00:03:24
grovehillchurch
John, can you think of a time when God was leading you personally and where you felt like he was leading you in a direction?
00:03:31
Jon
Yeah, it's probably the call to ministry. I was in kind of searching back almost 20 years ago in the high school in between that sophomore, junior year.
00:03:43
Jon
I did not, I had seen ministry from a very, very close and very intimate perspective, being a preacher's kid, being a preacher's grandkid. I wanted nothing to do with anything that had to do with ministry. So I thought, business degree, it's funny, we were just talking about this a couple hours ago, but It was neat how God began to work things in, not by even my seeking out of anybody's perspective on my life's goals, what I should do in college, but God continued to place nuggets along the way. and Just practically as he grew my faith, he also grew the call to ministry. And placing those through instances of summer camp, even in my own
00:04:35
Jon
sports background, God began to shape, even in that facet, this building up of self and what he wanted for my life and realizing that it wasn't about, you know, me and mine, it was about him and his glory. So yeah, I would say that part of my life was very a very pivotal moment where God began to gradually, even in me not seeing it right in the moment, but probably about a year window in there, God really began to do some cool stuff growing me and putting where I'm at now, Nashville, Tennessee area for almost 16 years now. So didn't see that coming.
Kyle's Move to Nashville
00:05:16
grovehillchurch
God leads and guides sometimes gently, sometimes a little bit more forcefully.
00:05:21
Ridley
Yeah, sometimes.
00:05:21
Jon
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:23
grovehillchurch
Kyle, what about you?
00:05:24
Kyle
Yeah, I'll stay on the topic of moving to the Nashville area. and My wife and I are new to the state of Tennessee by about three years and differing from other stories. We never had a desire to move out of state. We never had a desire to uproot our family or quit my job or anything like that. In fact, the home that we were living in in our other state was a loved home of ours. We loved being there. We loved our neighborhood.
00:05:50
Kyle
We loved our community. and I came home one day and had this feeling like, this isn't this isn't home. This isn't where I'm supposed to be. I hesitated to bring that up to my wife because I knew it would just crush her because this is what we loved. and We had talked about how we were going to retire out of that home.
00:06:06
Kyle
and I had to break down one day and I told her, I said, hey, I got to share something with you. And when I revealed that information, she burst into tears saying that for the past two weeks, she had had that exact same feeling. And so it wasn't our personal desire. We weren't like, hey, let's go move out of state for financial reasons or political reasons or anything.
00:06:25
Kyle
Um, all of a sudden God started laying on our heart that we weren't where we were supposed to be. And so we just prayed through that and through different circumstances and seeking his will. Uh, this is where we landed and now we know why now we knew it was a call to ministry and jokingly as we were driving across the country. I told my wife, I said, Hey, God's either moving us for financial reasons. Like we're going to get rich, uh, or we're going to go into ministry. And, uh, we took, we took option number two.
00:06:54
Kyle
Hahahaha!
00:06:54
Ridley
you Can't do both at the same time. sir
00:07:00
grovehillchurch
Yeah, if you ever if you ever hit both of those options, something's wrong.
00:07:03
Ridley
Yeah. You've moved over into the prosperity gospel.
Distinguishing God's Guidance from Personal Desires
00:07:09
grovehillchurch
Yeah. How do you differentiate between God's guidance and your personal desires or even societal pressures, especially when you're trying to make a hard choice? I find that it can be difficult, especially if you have a strong desire to go to a certain place or a certain direction or to buy a certain thing or whatever it might be. How do you how do you navigate that, whether it's you or whether it's God? So I assume it's not. but I don't know about you, but sometimes you're like, Oh, it must be God because it's the thing I don't want.
00:07:39
grovehillchurch
You're like, well, is that always true? or right Because I was just joking about that. Like, God, never say no to God because he might we might have you do that just because you don't want it. That's not necessarily always the case. How do you navigate that as a believer? We'll start with you this time, John.
00:07:55
Jon
whoo a I think God's got a great sense of comedy, you know, comical things I think go on in heaven too.
00:08:05
Jon
Especially, ah I've voiced this to very dear friends of mine that I still remember. And even before I came into ministry here at Grove Hill, I didn't want to be here. I was still almost over a decade long of just kind of pressing against that, God's will.
00:08:26
Ridley
Yeah.
00:08:26
Jon
I didn't, I didn't want to be here. And I think knowing that I always had to go and mirror what I wanted in my life upon what scripture talked about, that was first and foremost in my you know operating procedure. So I felt like I had to do that. And I also mirrored it you know with, hey, I know God's given me a sense of direction and also a bit of common sense.
00:08:52
Jon
to to walk through some things. And so I differentiated that with God's will, God's priority being paramount. But I also believe that he's given me passions, desires, things like that to also look at. Many times those get thrown to the wayside because they're not always pure and motive. They're very self-seeking, self-desiring. So I'm realizing, and not like I was at the age of 23, 24, 25,
00:09:21
Jon
But some of those things have been filtered out, so to speak. As I continue to go deeper in my walk with Christ, I look at it from that lens as almost a thing of filtering, that God has given me those passions and desires, but man, if they're not being filtered through the right methods, then I'm not doing the right thing. But yeah, I think ultimately God's gotta be the filter for for all these decisions.
00:09:48
grovehillchurch
I see, but I think I hear you saying is that you're kind of like always refining and reevaluating where you're going and what you're doing, allowing God to make micro corrections along the way.
00:09:53
Jon
Oh yeah.
00:09:57
Jon
Yes.
00:09:58
grovehillchurch
Is my hearing that right?
Importance of Regular Contact with God
00:09:59
Jon
Yeah.
00:09:59
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:09:59
Jon
Yeah, definitely.
00:10:01
grovehillchurch
That's, that's really helpful. That's actually a great insight. What about you, Kyle?
00:10:04
Kyle
that aligned perfectly what I was going to say. And so I kind of have this, I'm i'm not going to match your words there, John.
00:10:07
grovehillchurch
Oh, your thunder.
00:10:10
Kyle
I have a different story, but i on a weekly basis, I reassess God, am I doing what you want me to do? And so with with moving out of state, that wasn't a desire of mine.
00:10:22
Kyle
was leading to the Holy Spirit. But as soon as I knew that I was supposed to do that, then it's a desire of mine because my desire is to follow the Holy Spirit. And so came out here in a law enforcement atmosphere. I transferred from my other state to this state. And when I did so, I knew there was something different. I've always had a passion and a heart and a desire to serve the youth.
00:10:46
Kyle
And so God then matched up my, one of my desires with his will. And so it was kind of just like a process of, okay, where do you want me to do next? What do you want me to do next? then eventually he's got me right where he wanted me. And so through a series of circumstances and events and then matching up with God's word, that's how I ended up here.
00:11:08
grovehillchurch
And Ridley, what do you think?
00:11:09
Ridley
I think anytime I meet somebody who tries to make it sound simple to know God's will, warning lights go off for me. I think God has an intentionality about making his will not easy to find because he wants us to have regular contact and conversation with him.
00:11:29
Ridley
So because he keeps it gradual and unpredictable, it invites us into deeper conversations with God than we would have if it was just as simple as going, okay, God, show me what you want me to do. I think ah ah an inappropriate understanding of Psalm 27 where it says to light yourself in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart causes some of that problem.
00:11:49
Ridley
Because I think what the psalmist is revealing for us there is that the more we become more like God, the more he puts into us the desires he wants us to have. He gives us the desires of our heart in the sense that now it's easier for us to align with him
00:12:02
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:12:05
Ridley
And so the more mature you are, the easier the process, but I don't think it ever just gets easy to know God's will because if it was too easy, then probably be, I would say probably half of the relationship we have with God would be just taken away because we wouldn't be on our knees seeking his will. A lot of times we wouldn't be having, like John was talking about these regular micro-corrections. Hey, I need to come back and just find out where I am with you. and I think that's what God invites.
00:12:41
Ridley
it.
00:12:43
grovehillchurch
I find there's one thing that I noticed people do that keep them from jumping off the cliff with their own personal desires sometimes is for bigger decisions, but I guess it can go to many medium sized decisions too. But um um I've noticed that people who, if they have a question about god god's path where God wants them to go and they have different options to take,
00:13:05
grovehillchurch
The people that usually bring those options and actually ask with an open heart to other godly people,
The Role of Community in Godly Decision-Making
00:13:11
Jon
Mm-hmm.
00:13:12
grovehillchurch
whether leaders or pastors or even just godly, their most godly friends, the people who do that usually make good choices.
00:13:20
Ridley
Yes. Yes.
00:13:22
grovehillchurch
It's almost like even even just the act of doing it and being open to it, usually they they almost always have the right answers. It's the ones who don't do that.
00:13:31
Ridley
ye
00:13:31
grovehillchurch
are usually they They know they're doing not doing that because they know they're already already running away with something selfish.
00:13:31
Ridley
Yep.
00:13:33
Jon
Yeah.
00:13:36
grovehillchurch
right and They have even justified God into having them push into that selfishness.
00:13:36
Ridley
And here's.
00:13:40
Ridley
Yeah, here's something I want to say to to the listeners to help assure them and give them a little bit of comfort because I think John brings up a good point.
00:13:40
grovehillchurch
right
00:13:48
Ridley
God loves us and wants us to succeed in his in his name for his glory. So it's almost impossible to not find God's will if you're sincerely seeking him. Jeremiah says, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. God's reassurance is I'm going to keep you in the right place. It's really hard for you to even blow this if you'll just stay in tune with me and stay in step with who I am and in this relationship.
00:14:17
Ridley
The problem comes when we think we can check in with God once a month and somehow that's going to be enough, you know? So my encouragement, if you're if you're right now, just going, hey, I don't know if I can find God's will or not. You can, and you you're going to have a real hard time messing it up if you're sincerely seeking Him, because He's going to put guardrails up to keep bumping you back in place where you need to be.
00:14:37
grovehillchurch
It's a good segue into the last question. And usually when I write these questions, I kind of know generally where the answers are going to be to be able to guide the the podcast. This one's kind of open because I actually don't know where it's going to go, but I thought it'd be a fun to throw it out on the table and take a look at it together.
00:14:53
Ridley
Which is Dan's way of saying I'm about to throw a wrench in the work.
00:14:57
grovehillchurch
You know it. I got to ask the hard questions. this one's a personal one for me because I've wrestled with this over the last few years, actually, probably since 2020.
Ensuring Accurate Biblical Interpretation
00:15:05
grovehillchurch
I think 2020 blew open a lot of questions for a lot of people.
00:15:07
Ridley
Yeah, absolutely.
00:15:10
grovehillchurch
But in the sermon, Ridley, you mentioned that 95% of necessary knowledge is found in Scripture. so how can and So my question is, how can individuals ensure they are accurately interpreting and applying biblical teaching?
00:15:25
grovehillchurch
And the reason why I ask that is because I know many people, friends, family, people that I'm close enough to, to know well that they they are legitimately reading the Bible daily, often, even memorizing it and reading it together with their spouse or something.
00:15:35
Ridley
Mm-hmm, yes.
00:15:41
grovehillchurch
and are like off the deep end in some weird way and all in different ways all in very different various ways and I'm like is it like how do we protect ourselves from that because it seems like just the Bible reading alone isn't helping like I'm reading the Bible and I'm going to church and there's lots of other things that I'm doing I feel like I'm on the right path but they feel like they're wet they're on the right path too and
00:15:41
Ridley
Right. Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right.
00:16:05
Ridley
There are people who read the Bible more than I do and honestly probably know it better than I do who are nowhere near God's will. I go back to what we were just talking about to start off with and that is that God loves us very much and he wants us to discover his will. He's not playing hide and seek with it. It's out there and he's assured us we can find it. When I say 95% obviously that's not a perfect number. It's a it's an a hyperbole to make a statement to say What we need to know to live this life and to find the will that God has for us, most of it has already been revealed to us. The rest of life that's not covered under that book is covered generally by the commands and principles of that book. So there really is no need for new revelations from God. He's not he's not daily. These people who call themselves prophets so and so and I've got a new revelation from God run as fast and as far as you can because that's not necessary.
Filters for Understanding God's Will
00:17:02
Ridley
So when when God has given us these principles and given us these commands, He's also been kind enough to give us some filters, if you will, to help us know, okay, are you really hearing from me? One of those filters is very obviously God never contradicts Himself. So if you're reading in the New Testament and there's a contradiction in the Old Testament, then it's not a contradiction, it's a misinterpretation. A second thing is good, godly people around you.
00:17:28
Ridley
you You got to have those people who are in your life who have permission to say to you, go back and read it again. That's not what God said. That's not what read it in its context. You're pulling a verse out of context and using it for your own purposes, those kinds of things. But overarching, and ah and um um sometimes I feel like we just kind of throw this out there and as an overall answer, but it's really true. You don't read the scripture without the help of the Holy Spirit, okay?
00:17:56
Ridley
If you sit down and you have no relationship with God and you start reading the Bible, you're in very dangerous territory because there's many passages in there that can be taken and twisted and turn any particular direction you want them to. But when you're reading under the direction of the Holy Spirit, in light of the rest of Scripture, you help eliminate a whole lot of the error that can come into a person's understanding and interpretation of the words.
00:18:20
grovehillchurch
So what do you do when you feel like you have a good relationship with the Holy Spirit and you're praying often?
00:18:26
Ridley
Again, I think that's probably a place where you need those other people in your life who look at you and say, hey, youre your life right now just really isn't, you it's not as in tune with God as you think it is right now. This is an area of concern. Here recently, in the last few days, John and Kyle and I have had conversations with people who fall in that category, people who Man, they're at church on every Sunday, they're reading the book, they're doing ah but their lifestyle doesn't line up with what the book teaches them. So right away, you know, man, they've taken an exit ramp. and They're off in some neighborhood. They're not on interstate anymore. they're They're picking their own path. And so what you need to do is lovingly, kindly, compassionately pull them back in and say, let's look at scripture together again and see what this really is teaching us about it.
Community and Accountability in Scripture Interpretation
00:19:12
Ridley
This prevents lots of things. It prevents misapplication of principles that weren't meant for you and I. It prevents the twisting of scripture to sound more favorable to things that weren't meant to be that way. Trying to hear God's voice in a story when it's not God's voice that was speaking, it was just God showing how some man's voice could lead you astray. I mean, there's all kinds of examples I could throw out there.
00:19:35
Ridley
and And the cool thing is today, although you have to be very, very careful about it, we have access to information more than any other generation in history through the internet. If you can find a good, reliable source of teaching, is hard to do nowadays, but but talk to your pastor, talk to your friends and say, who's somebody you trust? read Read their thoughts on it too. See if they align with what you're thinking or whatever. If they don't, then there's a good chance you need to sit down with those friends again and go,
00:20:03
Ridley
tell me Tell me where I'm going wrong and where I'm missing this. But i I guess the key thing I'm saying is there should never be a point where Ridley Barron, whether as a pastor or just as a believer, stands up in front of everybody and says, I've read this passage and I have a new word from God that's different than what everybody else has thought for 2,000 years. That's what we're seeing happen with the the the homosexual movement. It's what's happening with the transgender movement. It's what's happening with the abortion movement.
00:20:30
Ridley
All of them have people within their parties who are quote-unquote believers, Christians, whatever, and they are interpreting passages of scripture to mean what they want them to mean. And they're doing that without the accountability of other true Christians in their life.
00:20:45
grovehillchurch
Kyle, John, anything it anything and either of you had to have to add to that?
00:20:49
Kyle
Yeah, so some of those conversations and questions are easy. a student came up to me and asked me if they should be crossing sexual boundaries with their their boyfriend or girlfriend, I've got absolute answers right there.
00:21:02
Ridley
Mmhmm.
00:21:02
Kyle
Scripture says to have no a hint of sexual immorality.
00:21:05
Kyle
And so those are like the the right there in your face. Now this week I had a student come to me and they said, hey, I'm going to college, but I'm also in this place of work. and the place of work I'm exceeding very quickly and my college degree doesn't apply to my place of work. So should I stay in college and finish my degree or should I branch off and go to Valvoline and work full time and go up into a management position? And so it doesn't say Valvoline or MTSU in the Bible. And so here we are with a predicament saying, okay, God's not going to... He hasn't laid this out in scripture of what you should do.
00:21:39
Kyle
And so I asked him, are you daily reading scripture? He said, yes. I said, are you in communication with God through prayer on a daily basis? Yes. I said, do you feel like you are seeking God right now? Yes, I am. I said, you're currently seeking counsel right now by calling me and asking my opinion on this.
00:21:56
Kyle
I said at this point, and he had to made it make a decision by Monday, I said at this point, you have to make a decision. And my opinion is you can't make a wrong decision at this point because you are actively seeking God's will.
00:22:03
Ridley
Uh-uh.
00:22:09
Kyle
So if you choose to stay in college, that's going to benefit you. And there's people that you can minister to in that college. I said, if you continue and go full time with your job, I said, you're going to have a place of ministry in your job.
00:22:21
Kyle
I said, take the stress off your shoulders, pray on it till morning and make a decision tomorrow that you you feel is best for your life currently. And so it doesn't say those words in the Bible.
00:22:31
Kyle
It doesn't say make this decision. It doesn't say, here's the best option for you. But if we're currently seeking what God has for us, we're okay to take that weight off our shoulders and say, I can make this decision confidently and understand that God's going to use me in this spot that I'm in.
00:22:34
Ridley
Right.
Aligning Decisions with God's Will
00:22:49
Jon
Yeah, I think evaluating the the one who's carrying the heavy load and Ridley, you know you mentioned the 95% number. I think in all reality, God just desires for us to see that, hey, I've not left you alone. I've given you guidance. I've given you all these different things to be able to interact with you know, the Holy Spirit to be able to go forth and do the things that I desire for you to do so you can have relationship with me.
00:23:17
Ridley
Mm hmm.
00:23:17
Jon
And I'm carrying the load, not you.
00:23:19
Ridley
Right.
00:23:20
Jon
So whether you throw it, you know, the 95%, we have to know the context of that relationship and who the sustainer of that is and who's the one carrying the heavyweight and it's God.
00:23:32
Ridley
Yeah.
00:23:32
Jon
So I think if we continue to look at those things in that context of we're not shouldering to load ourselves, but God is, and we've got to continue to look to the sources that he's given.
00:23:36
Ridley
Mm hmm.
00:23:46
Jon
Um, so yeah, yeah, definitely agree with you guys.
00:23:50
Ridley
I think the beautiful thing about this incredible gift we've been given in grace is that there is only one decision that's ever made that you can't come back from. And that's the decision to ignore God.
Actively Seeking God for Guidance
00:24:02
Ridley
That one, I mean, you can't do anything. I can't work with you if you don't choose to consult him. But using Kyle's example, if this guy chooses one way in three months from now, he finds, oh, I made a mistake. He can come back. God's gonna guide him back to where he needs him to be.
00:24:17
Ridley
praying through situations where you're dating somebody. If you choose the wrong girl to date for six months, it's not the end of the world. God's grace will receive you back. He'll restore you. Even if you go all the way to the titanic-sized bad decision of marrying somebody wrongly, God can redeem that marriage.
00:24:33
Ridley
He can fix that marriage. He can insert himself in the midst of that marriage and make your bad choice a right one.
00:24:39
Kyle
Mm.
00:24:40
Ridley
The only decision you can't come back from is the one that says, I refuse to listen to God.
Conclusion and Emphasis on Community
00:24:45
grovehillchurch
I don't think it's actually a hyperbole to say 95% of necessary knowledge is found in Scripture. I think it's more of an illustration and I actually think... i I think it's a great illustration to say that like a lot of our decision-making framework and even even Western society is so impacted by the Bible that our society, even even though it believes something totally different, is still so impacted by like the framework of the Bible that we have law, we have order, or at least to some degree, because that's starting to fall apart now.
00:25:09
Ridley
yeah
00:25:13
Ridley
Yeah It is this probably
00:25:15
grovehillchurch
But yeah, it's it's crumbling now because the foundation has been removed. But the Bible is so authoritative and exhaustive and in what it says that it really can be applied to so many different things. I'm amazed what the amount of conversation to hear. It's like, well, actually, what you eat is a the can be a theological conversation. You know, if you're applying it down to like what you're eating for breakfast, you're like, well, the Bible says a lot about a lot. So it is a really helpful thing.
00:25:43
grovehillchurch
And I think your ability Ridley to say, like, one of the great things you can do to make sure you're accurately interpreting it right is to pull yourself into community, specifically a local church is the easiest and best way you can protect yourself from going off the deep end.
00:25:53
Ridley
Yes.
00:25:57
grovehillchurch
And that most of the people in my mind that I'm thinking about going off in weird directions, almost all are doing so in isolation.
00:25:58
Ridley
And that is.
00:26:04
Ridley
Yeah. And that's the number one argument against this statement. Oh, I can do church anywhere. I don't have to be in a local church. I can go to the lake. I can go to the boat. No, you can't. You can do Jesus anywhere.
00:26:15
Ridley
But Jesus has said, I want you to do Jesus in the local church because you need that accountability and that encouragement in your journey.
00:26:18
Kyle
Hmm.
00:26:22
Ridley
So.
00:26:22
grovehillchurch
And even a good home church, but I'd say a home church is dangerous only because you can move in and out of whoever the heck your friends are and kind of do church, but then not really.
00:26:24
Ridley
Yeah.
00:26:29
Ridley
Right. Yep.
00:26:32
grovehillchurch
so
00:26:32
Ridley
your
00:26:34
grovehillchurch
Gentlemen, thank you so much for wrestling through some of these things with me. I know it's impactful for me to have these conversations and to share how God's been vibrant and active in your in your lives.
00:26:42
Ridley
It's a pleasure, Dan.
00:26:45
grovehillchurch
And I'm sure it'll be helpful for those who are here as well. So thank you again. And I look forward to talking to you guys again next week.
00:26:52
Ridley
We'll see you next week.
00:26:53
Kyle
Thank you, sir.
00:26:53
Jon
Thanks, Dad.