Encounter and Live
A Bridger Church Podcast
Encounter and Live
The Resurrection
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything about everything else. Because He is alive we can live an abundant life.
In this episode we celebrate what the Lord is doing in our church and take a deeper look at Luke 24 together. We pray this episode encourages you as you live life in Him.
Welcome to Encounter and Live, a Bridget Church podcast. Bridget Church is a light for the world to encounter Jesus and live life in him. We pray that this podcast becomes an additional resource for you as you live life in Christ. Thanks for taking the time to listen today. Let's lock in.
SPEAKER_00Here we are. Welcome back. Happy Easter. We had a really, really good time, and we just got to give the people what they want. But people were just banging down the door going, why didn't a new episode of Encounter and Live come out on Monday? And just to tell you, everybody who's listening, uh, we had a bit of a busy week last week. We had a bit of a busy move-in. We had really, really good things happening to where there was a good a good time to do it. And so also, uh, to everybody listening, I I love you. And I'm also just gonna say, you don't determine when these things come out. All right. So listen. I love you. All right. Now, what we get to do, uh, for those of you who are listening to my to my right, we have Jonathan Lee. Jonathan, say what's up. What's up? Yep. We've got Keelan James.
SPEAKER_03Howdy, howdy.
SPEAKER_00Uh, not a first-time potter podcaster, but uh he's back. And then for the first time on the podcast, maybe for the first time ever doing a podcast, we have Megan Ballard. Say hello, Megan.
SPEAKER_01Hello, everyone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh so thanks for listening. Welcome back. We're glad to be here. I we what we wanted to do was actually introduce Megan to take time to like tell us, tell you guys who she is. Uh, if you're coming to Bridger, you'll see her around. Um, but just a little bit of her story, just to be able to celebrate, man, just obedience, obedience to the mission, celebrate what God's doing in her family's life. So, Megan, why don't you take time to just intro yourself and tell the people what brought you here? Like, why are you here? Why do you do what you do?
SPEAKER_01That is a good question. Um, so I lived in Jacksonville, Florida, my entire life. And I had the opportunity to work for the Church of 1122 with Pastor Todd, and he asked um my family a question when he started to have the idea of Bridger Church, and he said, You guys want to come? And we both said, No, we don't want to come. And so after many, many months of prayer and just the call to pick up our family and go on mission, we decided to say yes. And so, um, yeah, we're here and we're doing it, and it's awesome. I think we've been here for three weeks now and have just seen so much movement um with this church, and we're just really excited to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00It's good. We're pumped that you're here. You have a husband named Matt, I do, who is one of my favorite humans. He's one of my Matt carriers. He's one of the dudes that if my house is on fire, I know that he would be there first. He would. And uh sincerely one of the best humans. You have two children?
SPEAKER_01I do. Yeah. Uh Luke is six, um, and Amelia is three. And one of actually one of our biggest prayers was that our son would enjoy school because he was not enjoying school. And so the first day of school here, he was just all in. He ran outside and was like, Mom, this school is awesome. I love school, and he's still loving school. So prayers being answered already.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because here in Montana, they get like three recesses. Yeah. Kids get to run around and go outside a bunch, which is super beneficial. But I'm really glad you're here. Megan is on our staff team. She's helping administratively assist all the things. But a thing that you'll find out about Megan is she knows how to take hold, own, she knows how to equip, she knows how to train, and she will do all of those things. So she's a valuable piece to our staff team. Now, alongside Jonathan, who you met a couple episodes ago, and we're uh we're thankful that all of this is coming together. She also helps uh with Keelan. Keelan, what does she do for you? Does she run your life and run all your companies and do all this?
SPEAKER_03She is certainly getting there. She is certainly getting there. I think she is what I would classify as a force multiplier. From the time I've got to be around her, it's quick to see.
SPEAKER_00Keyword force.
SPEAKER_03Yes. She she takes things and gets them done. Yeah. And the leverage that she brings into a situation, I see as very, very valuable.
SPEAKER_01You guys, this is a fun podcast. We could should continue to do this because you guys are just building me up around here.
SPEAKER_00Well, we we outdo one another with honor, like Paul says in Romans, and for real, like it's a blessing to have you here and really, man, praise God for what he's doing in your life. Like, yeah, we're friends, and it's been awesome to be able to do life with your family. You guys are our people. But to see what the Lord's done in you guys, and in you, through you, to you, as a family, we're not just celebrating you, we're celebrating the glory of God because this mission that we've been called to is worth it, even if it takes us into new places. So thanks for your obedience. Matt, you're listening. Thank you so much for your obedience. I love you, bro. But now what we want to do is just take a moment to point out like it's like this last little run we've had as a as a church family has just been a lot of fun. Uh, I think, I think maybe the first podcast we did, Keelan, you were like, uh, are you guys having fun? Like, as we just talked about planting a church and all of the and I was like, Yeah, we have. Well, certainly in the last, we'll call it month, it's just been a lot of fun. And a lot of things, it's like, man, we got to figure this out. So well, we I figured we could start is just like, hey, let's celebrate some wins together. Let's like take time to say, Lord, thank you for this. And if you're listening, I hope you do too. I hope you can like identify things in your life that you're just like, Lord, thank you so much. And just declare it victory in Jesus. So what what can we do? What can we celebrate?
SPEAKER_04The people in this valley. Um, they're awesome. And the salvations, we had three salvations and three baptisms on Sunday, on Easter, Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00It's the best.
SPEAKER_04Praise God. Just doesn't get any better than that.
SPEAKER_00You're right. The people in the valley, no doubt. What else?
SPEAKER_01Uh, I really um think Monday night was a win. If you don't know, we do encounter groups on Monday nights at the church. And um, it was our first one that we've ever done. And we had, I think, 12 people show up. But the really cool part about it is a lot of them are new believers and people that are taking first steps and wanting to call this their church home. And so that to me was a really huge win, and I was really excited to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_03Thinking about the lead up that this month has been. All of the people that have been pouring into this effort, all of the things that had to fall in place in the last month to open the doors of that new building. Um Saturday. I mean, just Saturday, the work day that we had and the chaos that it was, the the ups and downs that it was, the beauty that all of that turned out as was a huge win.
SPEAKER_00No doubt.
SPEAKER_03We kind of talked about the the formation of family that that day, and you really just got to watch that picture form in that workday. We had people over here, you know, squabbling and fighting and arguing. We had people over here laughing and giggling, and it was just the perfect picture of what a family is. And I got really caught up in that on Saturday.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, me too. Me too. The story of like how we would tell um our story, because stories matter, stories, slogans, all of it play to culture. But when I hear what you're talking about with like family, it's true. It's true. If there's squabbles among family, family stays family, you know? Exactly. Uh, if there's not truly a family, and and man, listening to our brothers and sisters on the Deepen podcast, actually it was Pastor Britt that like pointed out, man, the more, the more I do this, the more I just look at the word of God, it is all about family. Like we're children in the family of God. Well, family learns how to like squabble together and love each other through it. Family learns how to grow together, set things up, set the house. But man, I love our story. It's super unconventional. Like when I look over the last how we ended up in the building in the first place, because we were looking at schools, we were looking at places downtown that we could rent. And then we saw that Gallatin Valley was they were building a new building. And praise God for what he's doing in that church. I talked to Josh. I talked to Josh Kaltenbach. Kaltenbach, Kaltonbach, I don't know how to say his last name. Uh I was like, how'd it go, man? On Easter Sunday, their first Sunday in their new building. He goes, We were not ready. That's what he said. Meaning they had to bring out, set out all the chairs, and they had extra chairs that they had to put like in their lobby or something. Uh they just they broke their system. They broke it. And I love it. And praise God. Praise God. So, but I I knew that they were building a building. I saw them junkers at lunch, and I just went up to the table and I was like, hey, what are you guys doing with your old one, your old building? We're gonna sell it, but we'd love to see it stay at church. And I said, I would love that as well. And from there, this I don't know how else to explain it, other than a beautiful gospel partnership started. Right. They let us start a you know, you worshiping there on Sunday nights, and then we did Good Friday together, yeah, which was just powerful. Packed room full of people from two congregations coming together to sit under the weight of the cross to talk about the atonement, the words from Christ on the cross. It was just a good night. I had a guy who came up to me afterwards who goes to GVC and was like, hey, I'm, you know, I think he was an art professor at MSU and he's involved here in the valley. And he just said, Have you ever heard of the the equation one plus one equals three? And at first I was like, that's not how that works. But then I, you know, he explained to me that it's like the two of us, our church families, did something together to where the third person being Jesus showed up and did what only he can do among us. And I was like, dude, that's awesome. And I agree, like it was a powerful night. And then Easter Sunday morning, man, we showed up and same thing, same thing kind of happened to us. We had to throw in extra chairs and like prepare for what we didn't feel like, you know, what we felt like we were prepared for. God just added a little more, you know. So it's been, it's been awesome. And then like you said, Megan, to see people respond, to take that next step to say, I want to go to an encounter group. And if you're listening, you're like, what's an encounter group? An encounter group is uh anybody who would say, you know what, I'm interested in this whole thing. That pat that pastor said um on Sunday, you know, that the church is not a place you attend. It's a family you belong to. I've been listening to the podcast, and I want to be a part of the family. Encounter group is like a first step. If you don't know what life group to come to, come to mind. It happens on Monday nights at 6:30 at the church campus. By the way, now if you type in Bridger Church in your maps, it'll take you straight to our building. And you can come. We provide child care, light refreshments, and for about an hour and 15 minutes, man, we just dive into the word, hear each other's stories about how we're applying this truth to our lives. And so come, come. You can uh you can sign up for those on our website. But praise God for what he is doing. I would say this too, Keelan. Your house, you had it like an impromptu dinner at your house on Sunday night.
SPEAKER_03Yes, we did.
SPEAKER_00Explain that to me how that happened.
SPEAKER_03And we had our family Easter dinner all planned out with my brother and my mom and dad, and you know, all the family, which was awesome, which is great to get everybody together. And we just noticed uh there's some the younger kids around that didn't have a place to to go for dinner on Sunday. So it happened really quick. I I think I talked to a couple people at church on Sunday, and my wife, who was on the other side of the building doing things, do was doing the same thing. We weren't talking to each other at this moment. We were both just you know throwing this out there, and she was inviting some people, and all of a sudden there's I don't know, 25-30 people that showed up for an impromptu Easter dinner, and it was amazing. Um just got to have a chill night, got to sit around on the patio. The some of those kids broke out guitars and started singing and and doing stuff. It was just a it was a really nice evening with everyone.
SPEAKER_00Bro, these MSU students fire me up.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Because they're amazing guys in crossing that.
SPEAKER_00All in. They're all in. And listen, if you're listening, you know, a few episodes ago, we had we had Caroline talking about baptism on the on the get in the truck episode with Ryan. Uh, just listening to her story, how the fire's just been lit. The thing about like gospel fire, as we continue in the book of Acts, nothing can stop it. Like nothing can stop it. The only thing that can stop it is internal. It's like infighting, it's it's some of that stuff. But when people start like just worshiping Jesus and He is the object of our faith, and it's not the building, you know, it's not the church, it's not the thing that we're trying to accomplish, but it's for the glory of God. Nothing can stop it. And so to all you MSU students that are listening, praise God for what he's doing in you and through you and to you. Don't don't put it out, man. Don't put it out.
SPEAKER_01I think we had the whole football team there on Easter, didn't we?
SPEAKER_00A bunch of There were a few, yeah. I didn't get to talk to them all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But it seemed like there were a few.
SPEAKER_01There were there were like ten of them that took up the entire back row, which which in that, um, I know you guys have been reading Pastor Todd's prayers, but Pastor Todd prayed for 200 at Easter, and we um put God in a box, which you know you can't do, but we ended up having 276 people at Easter, which was another win I wanted to add and make sure everyone knew about that because it was a really big blessing.
SPEAKER_00And just FYI, that was our first morning service.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And Easter has so much momentum behind it, as it should, because Jesus came out of the grave, and so let's celebrate the heck out of that. But every time we gather, man, it's an Easter gathering when you think about it. Because it's always about the resurrection. Everything we do hinges on it. And so, FYI, for all you listeners, every Sunday at 10 a.m. from now, we're meeting at church, you know. We've done it, we've started it, and so um, which brings us to kind of what we talked about on Easter Sunday. Man, what stands out from Luke chapter 24? That's where we were. Um, and maybe in a minute I'll tell you about how like really it was the Lord that led me to Luke chapter 24. If you're familiar with church, you've probably been to an Easter service where they preached Luke 24. But, I mean, what can we talk about from the scriptures that just stands out to you? Think, think for the next few minutes. This is discipleship behind a microphone. We're having our own group about how we can apply this to our lives.
SPEAKER_03Kind of starting off with the the women heading to the tomb on Sunday. You know, they they waited through the Sabbath day on Saturday. They're heading out to the tomb on Sunday to go clean up. You brought up the the point of these women going to clean up what the what the guys had already done, which is exactly how my house works as well. I you know, when you were up there talking about that, I was just like, yeah, that that that that hits. That that's right. But I also want to note the guys. Let's let's bring the guys back into this a little bit, right? Yeah, the the women are killing it, they're doing a great job. But those guys did some heavy lifting too, right? Getting Jesus off the cross.
SPEAKER_00Literally heavy lifting.
SPEAKER_03Yep, getting him over there. I think so that let's just give them a little shout-out there, too. But they they get to the tomb to to find that Jesus is is not there. And they expected him to be there. And that expectation I think is an easy thing for for us to fall back into. Like they they very quickly forgot the words of Jesus and what he was gonna do. They they expected him to be there. And I I think that's an easy fallback for everyone through scripture. I think we see it very often, that they're they're missing what Jesus just got done telling you was gonna happen because they didn't understand the finality of what he was planning to do. And I think this is where they begin to see and they get to realize what is truly happening here in the next few sentences.
SPEAKER_04No doubt. Also, the the two of them that were going to Emmaus, traveling seven miles from Jerusalem, uh what keeps grabbing me is the simplicity of what Jesus does. And he shows up in the middle of their despair and confusion and he opens their minds to understand the scripture.
SPEAKER_00And it's it's one of those things that you gotta remind yourself of. Like the Jesus resurrected in bodily form, he died on the cross. And to say that Jesus, if he didn't die, because there's so many theories out there, I think they call it the swoon theory where he just like kind of swooned, passed out, you know. There's so many theories about like goodness, that he was stolen, like they stole the body kind of a thing. All the all of these things. Right. But they're like he died. They pulled him off of the cross dead, in a tomb, resurrected. If the brother just passed out because it was too much for his body, then I'm pretty sure that on Sunday he wouldn't have taken a seven mile hike to go see these guys. You know what I'm saying? But he was resurrected, like a resurrected body went and met these guys. You know, uh a like powerful, full strength resurrected body went and met these guys. Um so man, it just stands to say, and then Keelan, what you were talking about, it's so true. Like one of the things that stands out to me, maybe for the first time, was the phrase, and they remembered, as the the two guys in dazzling apparel tell these guys, or that tell these women, hey, didn't he tell you that he was gonna do this? And they were they were like, Oh yeah, he did. And that I think in our lives, so many times, man, like if you especially if you grew up in church, you come to the point, there will be a point to where it feels like whatever circumstances happen in your life that you just all all of life has been cut off. It feels like something's gonna happen to where you forget the gospel and you have to be reminded. It's like Jesus has to remind you, like, no, I am who I said, who I say I am. I did this. You can have resurrected life. Be reminded. This is one of the powerful things about communion, is you partake in the broken body in the shed blood of Jesus to remind you what it is that he did. So these are good, these are good points. Megan, you got anything?
SPEAKER_01No, I was just gonna say the same thing as you, like, and they remembered that stuck out to me because when you were teaching on Sunday, you brought that up, and I was like, you're right, I I do just look over that. And they remembered his words. And I think that's something good to remember because we forget all the time what Jesus says to us and what we read in the Bible and in our daily lives, he says to pray, you know, and and just there's so many things that we just forget, but need to remember.
SPEAKER_00So it's true. For like you've been a Christian for a long time, something happened. And it's like you lose all sense of faith, it feels like all these doubts arise. One of the best one of the best points of counsel to remind people of that are believers is he's alive. Like the tomb is empty. The tomb is empty. Pastor Joby has these, you know, the the the phrase that he's written two books on now. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible. So if the tomb is empty and you're walking through just hell in your marriage, the tomb is empty, anything's possible. Even if you have been divorced, this is a this is a stretch for a lot of people that may be listening. Even if you have been divorced, there's stories of people that like they've been divorced and their ex-spouse at their, you know, they're at the same church service. These people are going to the altar, they see each other at the altar, and then like the Lord does a thing and they get remarried. The tomb is empty. If God can breathe life into his dead son, he can breathe life into whatever your circumstance is. I believe this because Jesus is alive. I don't think I could say that if Jesus was not alive, but I fully believe that he is. One of the things that's important, and we're going to kind of get go through some of this, is that stood out to me was about these brothers at the end that were doubtful. These guys that had gathered, that had followed Jesus around for three years, that had forgotten, you know, like, oh yeah, he did tell us these things. But they had like, I don't know. Like, I can't fully put myself in this seat, knowing I'm on the other side of the resurrection. I didn't experience what these guys did. These guys watched him die. They watched him get beaten. They watched him nailed to a cross, crown of thorns on the head. They they knew that he had been pulled off the cross dead and wrapped up and put in a tomb. And they for sure thought, like, it's over. Like, what are we gonna do? And so I don't know if somebody showing up to me and going, hey, remember what he said. Like, just remember, he said he was gonna die, but also that he would, you know, rise from the dead. I I can't, it's not like I can look at these disciples and go, come on, guys. You know, because none of none of my best friends have died, and then somebody comes to me and goes, Hey, they're alive. That hadn't happened to me, you know. But the fact that Jesus does show up in the middle of their doubt, like Thomas, we didn't go over his account, like Luke doesn't like capture his account like the other gospel writers do, but Thomas was like, unless I see him and I can touch the nail piercings and where they jabbed him in the side. Why did he say that? Because he saw it happen, and they he saw him die. Totally fair question. Thomas gets a like the brunt of like a terrible nickname.
SPEAKER_05Doubting Thomas.
SPEAKER_00But it's like it's a fair question. If I if I can do that, then I'll believe. And what does Jesus do? He doesn't show up and go, guys, what is wrong with you? Get it together. He just says, here's my hands, here's my feet, don't touch me. Give me something to eat. You know, I'm here. And your doubt doesn't disqualify you, man. It it is an invitation to just for Jesus to reveal himself to you in a more powerful way. So one of the phrases that I kind of parked on was why do you seek the living among the dead? Where do you look for life in dead things? Where do you currently do this? Is this a because this question is so introspective. It should be. Because what what this comes from, these ladies show up ready to anoint the dead body of Jesus, and these brothers say, Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why are you looking for a person who's alive among a cemetery? And this is a great question for anybody that believes why do we look for life in things that are never give us life? You know what's what what grabbed you from those questions and where are you currently doing this? Let's talk about it.
SPEAKER_03I think it's pretty easy to get stuck at the cross. I think with the doubt that these guys felt they experienced the cross, they experienced Jesus dying there. It's hard to for them to move past that. And I think that brings, I think we still experience that today. I think there's times that we get stuck there and we don't focus towards the resurrection. And when we're talking about looking for life in dead places, I think today that's something that we do with the formation of idols, where we're replacing the power of the resurrection with something of our own. Where we're getting into the formation of things that we're looking to to put life into, where we're seeking life in money, in achievement, in your reputation, in ministry success. I mean, I I think it's easy to build that idol and replace that or try to seek that life in a place that is not going to be life-giving.
SPEAKER_00Better yet, we're trying to we're trying to replace it's it's not the power of the resurrection, it's the one who resurrected. You're trying to put something in front of him, you know. Um I told, I straight up confessed in our encounter group on Monday night, and it's hard, it's hard for me to explain it, but I'll I'll give it a try. Sometimes I will look for life in the church that I'm trying to plant, Pastor. Um, the church is for sure full of life. It is an organism, like it is a living thing, it is the body of Christ. But the only way that it has any life at all is because redeemed people that have clung to the living Jesus. The church will never actually give me life. It is Jesus that will give me life. And I hope that that makes sense. Like, I I'm not trying to say like the church is dead, so you shouldn't be a part of the church. The church is very much alive because Jesus is alive. But be careful. This is from like John the Baptist. This is what I'm trying to say, is when your your attention is and you want more of the bride than you do the groom. You know? Like I I just want more of Jesus' wife to give me life rather than Jesus himself. That's what I'm trying to that's what I'm trying to say. Only Jesus will give me life.
SPEAKER_01I do find it interesting that, you know, let's just go go on social media because it's just so easy when you want to be distracted or you want to like separate from, you know, what's in front of you, or like, you know, put your mind on something else that you can just pick up your phone and just scroll. And I think that is something that's just that you're seeking fulfillment and looking at social media to distract yourself from whatever you're distracting yourself from. But for what? Because when you're done, you're like, that was a waste of time. You know, other you could have been in your Bible, which is so much more enjoying, uh, it so much more joyful for me, at least. Um, but why is it so much easier to get on social media than to pull out your Bible instead?
SPEAKER_00Speaking of scriptures, like you just brought up scriptures. This, this, these scriptures are also living, like according to itself, like in in Hebrews. This is a uh, it is a lot, God's word is living and active. Um it has, I think it has life because the Spirit of God is at work in us. God speaks through his word, and the Spirit of God illuminates it to us to transform our lives, to apply it to our lives. One of the things that I one of the reasons I think this is important is because every time Jesus shows up, this is Luke's account. This is Luke's gospel account. Luke also wrote Acts. There's so many times when people explain the gospel. Whenever whoever's talking in the book of Acts, when Jesus shows up on the road of Emmaus, Luke is very like keen on pointing out all of scripture reveals Jesus. So Jesus shows up on the road to Emmaus. These guys are like, haven't you heard about what's happened in Jerusalem? Jesus died, and now they're saying he's alive. And by the way, these brothers' eyes were kept from recognizing him. That's a whole nother conversation. But what I'm getting at is Jesus goes, Well, he said this would happen. And then he, from Moses, it says, to the prophets, he interpreted to them all the scriptures, from all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. All of scripture points to Jesus. All of it. Like it is a the a living document to point to who he is. From Moses to the prophets, and it like hinges in that New Testament, like life, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. And then everything after that points back to the fact that Jesus did what he did. Which is why we are Bible people. That's why we're just gonna be like so laser focused on what the scripture says. Like, this is the authority. I am not the authority, the church is not the authority. This is the written word of God is the authority. So, my question to you, because Megan, you just brought up like you could be in your Bible, because that is some of the things that point to what brings life. If the scriptures reveal Jesus, do you guys ever have a hard time reading the Bible? Do you ever have a hard time? And let's just talk practically for those who are listening. Like, how do you read your Bible? How do we, what is your current practice of it? All that, where are you currently at? Like, I just want to know. Because if we are disciples and we're following somebody and we want to know what it is that he said, then this reveals what he said, right? So I don't know a thriving Christian who does so like thrives without the word of God.
SPEAKER_01So I kind of want to share my Bible reading testimony. That's what I'm gonna call it. Um, how I started. So I probably started reading my Bible 10 years ago. I grew up Lutheran and Catholic, and we just were never taught to read the Bible or how to. So I got my Bible, um, and I had no idea what to do, and I was never taught what to do. So I literally would pick up my Bible like it was a fortune teller, and I would open up to a page and be like, all right, I guess this is the page God wants me to read, because he, you know, opened it up for me and I would just start reading and I would pick out little words and try to make things up, and found out that was not the way you are supposed to read your Bible. And so after going to the church of 1122 um and sitting under a couple sermons of Pastor Britt and Pastor Joby and them teaching you how to read your Bible, I just started with the Gospels. And those were my favorite um to read. And I just think it's so important to start in the Gospels, um, to learn like literally why you are a Christian and why you are saved and what Jesus has done for you. And it's just so life-giving. Um, so I recommend if you don't know how to read your Bible, to start in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then Acts is another great way to start, or another great book to start in. But from there, um, I usually stick on what the church is reading, or I'll get in a Bible study, or you know, I'll pick a book of the Bible and study it that way.
SPEAKER_00You know, Ashley said something important the other night at Encounter Group. She said, read it together. Have other people that you're reading it with that can you can point and feed, you know, each other. You can talk about how God's applying it to your life. So shout out Ashley. That was a pin drop moment where it was like, oh yeah, that you gotta do this thing together. What about you, gentlemen?
SPEAKER_04I would say yes. Um, I do have trouble sometimes reading the Bible. Um, and it's important to be honest about that. Um But what has shifted for me?
SPEAKER_00Question trouble with understanding or trouble with consistency?
SPEAKER_04I would say consistency.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um like for me personally, I've I really enjoy like hitting play on my Bible app and letting the audio, like hearing it and reading it at the same time. There's just something about that as well. I love listening to podcasts and um daily devotions, like just walking through verse by verse, breaking down scripture. The scripture that's been sticking with me lately is faith comes by hearing. You know, and I just like I relate to that.
SPEAKER_00Like and hearing by the word by the word of God.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's it, man. What about you, bro? You've got like one of the coolest spots that you just sit with the Lord in the morning on your back deck.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Um, for me, I I don't know, about two years ago, I had to simplify my Bible reading. Um I think I was too sporadic in where I was trying to focus, where you know, when you're you're in a Bible study group, like you know, I'll just say currently, like there's some guys that wanted to that they never walked all the way through the the Old Testament. So we're just doing that right now. So being a part of that group and doing that with them, like you said, kind of reading things and doing things together. It's awesome. And then I was following along with what you know a pastor was preaching on and paying attention to what they were doing and making sure I was reading in that. And then I had my own section that I was often doing as well, like something that I was interested in. And about two years ago, I had to break that down because I was, I was, again, I was too spread out. I was too thin. I wasn't enough focus in where I was. I was just, I wasn't paying enough attention to each spot. So I last year or two years ago, kind of dropped off my own personal desire space. And so now I do our Bible study area. I study on that, I work hard on that. And then I go wherever you're going. So right now it's we've been working our way through Acts. So that's where I'm gonna stay. And I take time during our week to not only read the scripture that we're working on, but then go further into some other commentary work and things like that. And it just allows me to dial down on what we are focused on, and it's just helped me realign my thought and my brain into something that I can pay more attention to and be a little bit more serious about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think this is one of those areas of discipleship that can be very quickly overlooked, passed by, but it's an epidemic in the lives of many Christians. Bib i I I'll just call it biblical illiteracy. Because this book is both a map and a mirror. It will, it will guide you as you follow Jesus. It will also help you see yourself in the things that you need to um adjust, repent of, get rid of, because some of these, some of these things are just very clear. Some of the teachings of scripture are very clear. Um I even said, you know, when it came to on Sunday, and uh I even said, well, you know, answer to the question, where are you seeking the living among the dead? One of the things I pointed out was it may be in a relationship. You think this relationship's gonna be, you know, giving you life. And then I took it a step further and I just said, it may be in sex for you, because you think that that is gonna give you life. And then, you know, you make the jokes like, hey, it's it'll, it'll actually create another life that you're gonna have to take care of. That is a fact, but it'll never give you life. And then I went a step further and I said, by the way, sex is for married people. You know? Now, where did that come from? Did Pastor Todd just make that up because he's a religious dude? No, it comes from the word of God. Like you will, you'd be like, oh, and you know, when I say stuff like that, it's because I'm I'm trying to apply scripture. Like I'm trying to, there are people that listen, and I do praise God that they're there, that they're living in relationships with, and they're in relationships with people they're not married with and they're having premarital sex or whatever, and they hear that and they go, oh, and it all comes from the fact, all right, Jesus is alive, and if he is alive and if he is my Lord, then I want to do what he says. And I'm just trying to pinpoint exactly what that thing is. It derives from scripture. So in order to follow Jesus, in order to be obedient to what it is he is saying, we got to open the scriptures. And I want to take it like a level deeper and put it on the bottom shelf at the same time for everybody that's listening. Because you may listen to this and go, I'm not a biblical scholar. I don't, I don't sit around and just want to read through commentaries. I don't have three hours a day to study the scriptures. I'm not a journaler. How? Like, how? What is something that I can do? I just need you to know you're not alone in that. We're here. Like, let us help you. Number one, on our app, on the Bridger Church app, there's a Bible. So on the bottom, like if you're looking at the home screen on the bottom, just click Bible. And then when you open that, there's a plan. Like there's an outlined plan. If you're like, I don't know where to even begin, then just pick up on the on the plan. Um, also, U version, the Bible app, the Bible app that you can download for free. There are innumerable amounts of plans, like Bible reading plans that you can do with devotion. Like they'll have like commentary and devotion with it to help you understand what you're reading. I found that helpful. But also look for somebody in your church family that you can read something with, that you can like talk about it with. Because here's the here's the deal. And um I just I want to just be as clear as I can. Uh, this thing is going to nourish your body in a way that I cannot I cannot explain, your spiritual life. The analogy that I used the other night at Encounter Group was I said, hey guys, in a in just a short amount of days, I'm gonna take my wife on a date, and I'm gonna sit down at a steakhouse and I'm gonna order a really, really good steak, and I'm just gonna enjoy it to the glory of God. I'm gonna order a filet that's cooked medium with some really good sides and some really, really amazing company that is my wife that I've become one with. There's that experience. Filet, company. And then there's times when you're going through the drive-thru somewhere, and you like Chick-fil-A's got this kale salad that I always think about. It's it's in in the most like beautiful way that I can say this, it's disgusting. Okay. But here's what I need you to know kale is really good for you. You may not like it, but it's really good for you. What I'm trying to say is sometimes when you sit down at the word and you're going through Romans chapter 8, and it's like a fillet dinner with your wife, and you're just like, and you're sitting with Jesus and you're just absorbing everything that he has to say about life in the spirit, and it's just fillet. And sometimes you're in judges and you're reading about the bloodbath, you know, of there was no king in Israel, and the people did what was right in their own eyes. Sometimes you're going to be in Leviticus and you're like, how does this apply to my life? You know. One of the other things that Ashley said the other night is sometimes it feels like a three year runway or return before something that I read in scripture applies to where I'm at now. What I'm also Also, what I'm just trying to say is both kale and fillet are nourishing to your body, and you need them both. You need them both. The kale isn't always good because it just doesn't taste good in the moment. But if you're running a marathon, it's the kale that gives you strength, just like the filet does. Does that make sense? For sure. And you need them all. You need them, you need it all. Like you need, you need every bit, every word, every page of the word of God whispers the name of Jesus. And if you want to get to know Jesus, then pick up the scriptures. Pick up the scriptures, know what it says, read, read, read, and read again. And don't get over it. And once you finished it, do it again. You know? Do it again. So I hope that makes sense, man. And I hope it's encouraging. I don't want you to be discouraged thinking like, man, I feel like I'm going to a college class. Eventually you may want to do that to understand and study the word of God. I went to seminary because I wanted to do this, but I'm I'm just saying the best part of my life is those mornings when I'm by myself with the Lord, word of God open, and He's just speaking and I'm communing with Him. So read. Read your Bible. Doubt. Doubt is the next thing that I want to talk about. Do you guys have doubt? Do you guys struggle with doubt?
SPEAKER_01For sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Talk about it.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if I'm the right person to ask about doubt because I have large faith in Jesus that He will do magnificent things for my family. But I mean I understand what doubt is. I'm just trying to think of a specific example of what I'm doubting right now. So yeah, I I don't know. I I and again, that can be even be impatience of what I'm doubting as well.
SPEAKER_03I find it interesting that this is our conversation today because I just had this conversation yesterday with a 20, I think, six-year-old that was really struggling with the definition of being called a baby Christian and all the doubts that they were experiencing and how weak of a person that made them feel. And I tried to flip that around for them to see doubt as an opportunity. I think doubt is a natural thing. I think whenever you're doing you're learning something like this, questions are gonna come up in your brain. And I think that's a great opportunity to learn. I think it's this it's a moment that you can take that doubt and dive deeper on, drill in further to to learn about what it is that you are struggling with. And that's what growth is. I think that's what we all do. I don't care if you're an 18-year-old, a 25-year-old, a 35-year-old, a 50-year-old, that doesn't matter. That growth pattern doesn't really change. We're going to continue to grow through this. Like you just said, once you're done reading this Bible, pick it up and read it again. You're gonna learn more every time. There's a reason why one of my little Bible tricks is I don't write in my Bible. And I don't write in my Bible because it distracts me. It brings me back to my original thought that I had the last time I read it. And I don't want to do that. I want my new thought. I want the new experience, I want the new thing I'm supposed to see today to come out to me. And there's joy in that. There's there's confidence in it as well. When you are doubtful, when you are struggling in that, it's okay. It's okay as long as you can direct it to a point of growth. If you can get off of the the self-worry part of that and turn that into a positive by learning more and growing more, you're on a rocket ship, man.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I mean, I think I think doubt is more like a a wrestling, you know, like questions. And I don't think Jesus is like threatened by our questions. I feel like he walks towards us, like he he draws near to us when we have those questions. I'm guilty guilty of doubting all the time, knowing that failure is going to happen, but knowing that's where the growth is, like you said, Keelan. And I think that's where truth, true faith is developed.
SPEAKER_03You and I have had that conversation numerous times about even just self-doubt. You know, the the self-doubt of am I the right person to be here doing this? And again, that's just an opportunity to dig down into your own learning and your own growth and push yourself even further.
SPEAKER_00I'll give you an example. Because people have doubts, and it's not um it's not disqualifying by any means. The disciples that like think about the disciples. Um, think about Peter, who I mean, and the the point in Acts that we're at, like if you're coming this weekend, we're in Acts chapter eight. As we get deeper into Acts chapter eight, you'll just see amazing things happen. God's used this brother in a huge way. But there was a time when Peter was like, All right, Lord, if you are who you say you are, then let me step out of this boat and walk on the water with you. And then he did it. Like he actually did it. And then he looked at his circumstances, he looked at the wind, the waves, and thought, uh-oh. And he began to sink. Well, Jesus immediately, the Bible says immediately, Jesus reached out his hand, got him out of the water, put they get in the boat, and Jesus says, Why do you doubt? And doubt is like thinking two things at one time. Doubt is a you both think you can do this, and you're overwhelmed by all the reality of just what's around you. And he's trying to just refocus. It's like, don't think two things, think about the one thing that matters. This is why Jesus shows up to these guys and he's like, touch my hands. Touch my hands. I know that you have doubts, but let me reveal myself to you all over again, just like I did before I died. And now here I am. Like here I am. I think that if you have doubt, your doubt doesn't disqualify you. It actually just proves that you're a disciple. And what you can do is just continue to follow Jesus. Just pick them up and follow Jesus. Because one day all your doubts are gonna go away. They will. They're all gonna go away. My 12-year-old, shout out Amelia, came home from school a couple weeks ago. They started a religion class. She's handled this really well, by the way. She came home and she starts asking the question how do we know what we believe is the right thing? Now we've been discipling her for a while, you know. She made a decision to follow Jesus, got baptized at the beach. She's awesome, man. But she heard this new thing, taught by a new person at school, you know, and started being introduced to all these other world religions. And it gave us an opportunity not to like, by the way, she thought like Pastor Dad, me, was gonna be upset with her for doubting and having these questions. And I had to be like, babe, I'm not upset with you at all. I love the fact that you're bringing these questions, you're thinking about it. There's a real wrestle going on. And what I did was I just went back to Luke chapter 24, and a guy named Thomas, you know, and these guys doubt it, but what it did was allow Jesus to reveal himself in a new way. And if you're doubting whether or not all of this can work, if all of this is real, you're doubting how the resurrection and Jesus can impact your life in a real way. You doubt how he can change your family because your family is, I don't know, going through hell. You doubt how he can change your marriage because your marriage feels like you're going through hell. You doubt how Jesus could even love you because of all the bad things that you have done. I would just say this: consider Jesus. Consider the one, the why he died. Not just for you, but instead of you. Consider the fact that he rose from the dead to give you life. And if the tomb is in fact empty, then anything is possible in your life. Anything is possible. He will overcome your doubt, but it's going to be him that does it. I don't think it's something you're gonna dig your way out of yourself by self-reasoning, self-thist, self-doubt. Um, I think you should have people that you talk to, but ultimately just continue to follow Jesus. Just continue to be like, all right, if this is what scripture says, I'm gonna do it. And watch how he works in your life. That conversation, by the way, with my 12-year-old daughter, is what really um solidified for me, like just in my heart, where we would be as a church on Easter. Was I just want to get to the end of Luke chapter 24. And when I got to that point, I looked her dead in the face because she was sitting on the front row. And I said, Your doubt doesn't disqualify you. It actually is just a better opportunity for Jesus to reveal himself to you because I knew what she was walking through. Full confession. I went to uh, and this is how we'll end our time. Thanks for listening thus far. But I went to a cohort with a bunch of pastors a couple weeks ago in Charlotte. It was awesome. One of the guys said, You need to preach every sermon like your child just walked into the back of the room, and they're giving church a try for the last time. Preach every sermon like your kid walked into the back of the room and they're just like, I'm gonna give this one more shot. And that fired me up. It also made me weep because I was like, all right, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna preach like it's my kid, you know, to every single person. So that's why I was like, we're gonna be in Luke chapter 24. And if she's the only one in the room listening to me, I'm gonna just pound it. You know, I'm gonna beat it. It's gonna be awesome. So, and it was, man. Three people got saved, three people were baptized. It was an awesome Easter Sunday, and I look forward to seeing what all that God is going to do. Do you guys have any last-minute encouragements, man, just for our for our people, anybody that's listening?
SPEAKER_03A women's event coming up here. Yeah, we do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we have um a women's encounter um that's going to be May 8th and 9th. It's gonna be awesome. Um, we are hosting the women's encounter here um in Bozeman, Montana, and it is going to be broadcast from our sending church, the Church of 1122. And it's just gonna be really great. There's um many speakers, there's gonna be lots of food, um, lots of other women around. They're gonna be learning about Jesus and worshiping, and it's gonna be a great time. So um, the way you can sign up for that is the Bridger Church app or the website, and it's underneath the women's encounter, and we hope to see you there. It's gonna be a ton of fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, really good, man. I think um like the main teaching and stuff will be broadcast, but we'll have worship done here locally. Any extracurricular obviously is gonna be here locally. Uh, so sign up. It's gonna be a really, really good time. And men that are listening to this, we're gonna help serve. And when I say that, we're gonna take out trash, we're gonna help cook the meal, we're gonna help do the stuff so that they can enjoy and have the best experience possible. So if you get called or tapped on the shoulder to do that, just say yes, man. Just go ahead and predetermine that you will say yes so that you can serve. And it's cool to be able to say, we'll see you Sunday. And if you're not a part of any life group, man, just check it out. Check it out. If you want to come to an encounter group, just come on Monday night. Let us know you're coming so we're prepared. That'd be awesome. But if not, no problem. Um, I'm gonna pray for us and then we'll roll. Thank you guys for hanging out. I appreciate all of you. Father, I love you. I love you because you first loved us. I thank you for the resurrection. And I have full confidence of your love for me because you demonstrated that love while I was still in sin. Christ Jesus died for me. And I'm able to experience it because you are alive. I have abundant life because you are living. And Lord, I thank you for the truth that we just discussed. I pray that um there are just a few things that people are listening to that they can grab a hold of and say, Man, I can take a step. And they listened and they were encouraged. And the way that they were encouraged is because the spirit uh were is at work and the spirit is at work because you are alive. So, Jesus, we love you and we pray all this in your name. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for joining us for this episode of Encounter and Live. If you have any questions, need care, or would like to reach out to us, please visit Bridgetchurch.com. We can't wait to meet you at our next gathering. Till then, Jesus peace, big love, and go live life in Him.