SPEAKER_00 0:00

Men. Welcome to the most important podcast that you'll hear in a long time. It's the Men's Leadership Community Podcast, and it starts now.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Well, guys, on to our 12 best best practices. This is the first time we're actually presenting all of them. And as Andy said the 10th, we're going to actually be walking somebody through, and you're going to get to see what that looks like in real life, in real time, as we kind of our brother CJ shares his hero's journey. You can see our our MLC 12 best practices map and where we actually. This is our roadmap. I think that was Barn Jovi, but go ahead. I'm a music historian. I'm pretty sure it was Fergie. It starts with our MLC story. We go to our central paradigm shift, uh, and then discovering our personal vision vision, uh, mission, and valleys. And then we are here at the Heroes Journey.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Going in the Heroes Journey, entering the story. Entering the story. Yeah, it's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

And it's a big one. Just a little recap. We talked about our MLC story, how it was created out of a need, out of a desire to have Christ-centered discipleship, entrepreneurial leadership, and authentic brotherhood inspired by the ultimate hero, Jesus. Um, and then we talked about our hero's paradigm shift, which really transforms the way we look, the way we view things, right? Where it's not just compartmentalized, where we set Jesus um in in different parts of our life at certain at times of our life, but where Jesus is at the center of our lives. Um, and out of that uh flow every aspect of a lot. It affects every aspect of our life. He saturates our life down to the molecular level and transforms the way we do everything in life. Big, big, big change.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

And then really, we should got to share with with you guys a little bit about our vision, mission, and values, what it looks like, why it's important to know our vision, our mission, and our values in a world where people really are losing their identity and why it's so important. And remember, we we share that statistic about uh 15% of people really being uh being aware, right? Self-aware. Not self-aware. Uh, and so you know, we kind of took that out of Proverbs 29, 18 that says, Where there is no prophetic vision from God, people cast off restraint and perish. But blessed is the man who he's wisdom instruction through God's word.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

You know, it was interesting last night with the happy hour, how much of the conversation turned to identity and especially where do men find their identity and how much of it is in what we do versus who we are. And when we put Christ at the center, when when Christ is where he belongs, at the center of everything, and things are not compartmentalized, Obi, and he is at the center of our vision, mission, and values, our identity is grounded in him, and it's in who we are now in Christ versus what we do. So I thought that was just interesting that so much of the conversation last night was instead of what do I do next, who am I supposed to be? And let's begin with who we're supposed to be in Christ, and then the doing will flow out of that.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah. Yeah. I think you uh yeah, that's what exactly what you had said that I thought was really well said. You had a little catchy phrase doing before being before doing being before doing.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

Being comes before doing, yeah. But that's not our world. Our world is your your your being comes from your doing, and and man oh man, I'll tell you what, for the number of times that I've tried to do things and failed, I sure don't want my identity wrapped up in how well I do stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Oh no. You know, and well, Andy, and I got to share with some of the guys a little bit about my hero's journey and what and you know how what I what I who I was was really defined by what I did. And it wasn't, you know, and Steve was I'm really happy that he was actually part of that that journey, as painful as it was, you know, he got to witness that, you know, the Lord really stripping me of uh my identity being in the work that I did, and then from that helping me find my identity in Christ.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

And how powerful to have a brother and in that part of your journey where you're struggling with your identity, uh, to have another brother say, Hey, our identity is not in what we do, it's in who we are in Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Yeah, it is it really is miraculous. And so I I really Steve was a big part of it since it was his birthday. I was really talking about, you know, he really was the only person out of all these people that I had surrounded me that even were in my wedding. Um, once that once that kind of fell away, Steve was the only one that really stu struck stuck with me through this through the whole season. And so, yeah, what a beautiful testament to what the brotherhood in Christ looks like.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Absolutely so, yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Um, we talk about this. So this week we're gonna be focusing on discovering the hero's journey. Uh, and we get that out of 1 Peter 3:15. It says, But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

Yeah, so to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, I mean, you got to know the story. And then you got to know your story and how to share it within the story. So that's really what the next two weeks are about today and a July 10th, when CJ comes back around, is first of all, we have to understand why story is so important, Obi. And then we have to understand how can we share our story to others in a meaningful way.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah. And again, people underestimate the the power of story, right? And and so, regardless of what your story is, and people, man, I hear that all the time. Well, you know, my my story's boring, or nobody wants to hear what, you know, about my, you know, my encounter with Christ. It was really boring.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

It it's not or I've been a Christian since I was born and I got baptized as a baby. I don't have a story. Well, that just isn't true. Uh, but we I think we underestimate the power of story in our world today, Obi, because we live in such a transactional society based on return on investment that we're just trying to get things done and and and move forward instead of actually understanding that we're living in story, that we are storied people, and that story is at the center of everything that we are and what we do.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Absolutely. So, here's some quick question key questions for you guys. Um, what do we mean by story? Yeah, uh, why is the concept of story so important to underestimate our hero's journey? What is under understanding? What did I say? What did I say? Underestimating, understanding our hero's journey. Understanding our hero's journey. What is your relationship to story? And that's a story, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

And that's a really interesting question. What is your relationship to story? And you're probably sitting there going, what oh boy, what are we getting into? Is this another one of the MLC's touchy-feely things? And it kind of is, because people don't think about their relationship to story, but we're gonna bring out one guy who was super focused on why story was important and why our relationship to story mattered so much. And I think it'll be interesting when we get to him, OB.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah, so that's my that's our question to you this morning that we want you to ponder on. Do you know your story?

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Did it do we get free? Uh there we go.

SPEAKER_04 7:37

Did you freeze? Did you freeze?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

I didn't freeze, I think it's still going. So, what do we mean by story? There we go. What do we mean by story? So you know, pretty basic. Like, what is a story, right? So, yeah, a story is a narrative account of people, places, and events as they take place and change over time. Um, it has it is defined as it having a beginning, a middle, and an end in sight.

SPEAKER_04 8:07

Hey, it's getting deep here, guys. A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end in sight. There you go. Something special on Friday morning. JB, you might throw that in a Friday morning mic drop. This is what a story is. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Uh, it consists of the interaction of unique characters, intriguing plot lines, changing circumstances, diverse and interesting settings, and of course, key events.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

And these things kind of take place every day in our lives, by the way, don't they? They do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

So, why is the concept of story important?

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Now, this one actually is pretty key, especially for a group of men getting together that has not only to do with our Christian discipleship and following Jesus, but being leaders in our home at work in the world, to stop and think for just a minute why story is so important to us as men and as leaders.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Well, I'm glad you asked, Andy. Yeah. God created us with five senses to experience his creation in a variety of ways. He created us with a sense of time and how it passes so that we might remember the past, recognize the present, and look to the future. So as humans, we live through experience, gather details, select certain ones we find important, we put them in a particular order, making choices in regard to what we have discovered and what we want to communicate to one another that reveal the truths we hold about life, about who we are, where we come from, who we are becoming, what believe, what we believe the meaning and purpose of life to be, and where we believe we are ultimately had headed.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

You know, and it's as simple as this you come home at the end of the day and your wife says, How was your day? You don't even think about it, you don't even recognize that you're thinking about it, but you're actually doing this. You're gathering the details from the day, selecting the certain ones that you found important from the day to share, you put them in an order, you make choices in regard to what you discovered, and then you communicate that to your spouse or to your children or to brothers in the MLC, like we did last night, Obi. And all of a sudden you're learning from one another. If you have a deeper insight into story, why are you sharing these things with me? Well, because these are the ones that you thought were important, these are the ones you decided to put into an order, and these are the ones that you decided to reveal. So, even in the smallest of ways, we go through the day and we share stories all the time.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah. And so that begs the the you know the question: why is the concept of story important? And why is it important to us as believers in Christ, right? By its very nature, then our human lives are storied.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

It is I I don't know if everybody thinks about that. Our lives are storied lives. God wrote them that way, he authored them that way, he created them that way, that our lives would be storied within his great big story.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah. Um, story is foundational, it's formational and relational in regard to our understanding of what it means to be human and how we share and communicate that experience with one another.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

So, here again, community is really important in the way that God designed us because not only is it important to understanding what it means for me to be human, but to be human means I need to share and communicate that with others, and I need to hear from them.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

So that means that the stories that we hold and tell, in a sense, shape the world in which we live.

SPEAKER_04 11:43

Very likely, don't they? They very think of our at the movie series, and we go through those seven weeks of talking about movies, those movies are stories, and how those stories, those movies shape our thoughts the way that we see the world, remember the past, recognize the present, or think about our future ahead of us. So stories are very powerful in shaping the world in which we live.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah, they're filters that we use as a sword as we sort through the experience of life that give us a particular point of view to the way in which we see ourselves and the way we see others and the way we see the world.

SPEAKER_04 12:20

So, what story are we living in? What story are we sharing? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Yeah, that means that we that we actually live, think through, and read tell stories all the time, every day.

SPEAKER_04 12:31

Absolutely. So that's a huge aspect of of the hero's journey. It's a huge aspect of our best practices, is not only learning about story, but then learning about how to communicate this and share it with one another.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Hey, so here so here's one that I I didn't know until uh really a year or two after the Lord found me back in 1997. Um, did you know that the Bible is a story? Um, it's an enduring idea. It's not simply just uh only uh a set of propositional truths for intellectual asset.

SPEAKER_04 13:04

So what I don't like, so what we're saying here, the Bible is not just a set of propositional propositional truths so that we understand right and wrong. Um, you know, the acronym Bible, basic instructions before leaving earth. I think that that that is so limiting to what God's word really is. God's word is a story that restories us over and over again. It's not just propositional truths so that we become smarter or that we have more knowledge or that we get things more right. It's the way that God stories our lives through his very word.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah, I've heard you know, I've heard somebody tell me it's it's a moral guide. And I think you're it is, but that's again so much more than just a little part of it, right? Right. Um, it's it really it's God's overarching story of his ongoing engagement with us, his creation, that has a unique beginning, a middle, and an end in sight. Therefore, the disciple is not simply or only a purveyor or propos of propositional truths, but more so a lover of a story. I love that.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Yeah, yeah. And so we want men to grow into the the idea of being lovers of God's story, lovers of their own story, and then lovers of hearing one another's story. And that's you know, a different way of talking about the importance of not only Christ-centered discipleship, but also leadership in our home at work and in the world, is to talk to men about being lovers of story, because all of a sudden, then the way that we share things is going to change.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah. You know, and for me, this was key in falling in love with God's word.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Because the moment it's it it it clicked for me that the Bible from beginning to end pointed towards Christ, was about was about Christ. Uh it really, it really changed the way I view it. Yeah, because there's no longer me in there, no longer me being David, no longer me slaying Goliath, no longer me being Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego or Daniel and the lion's den. You know, this is all about Jesus. It's pointing towards him and allowed me to fall in love and to look for Jesus throughout the whole Bible and to see Jesus throughout the whole Bible. It really did cause me to fall in love with reading God's word and knowing more about the his story, being a lover of that story.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

Well, and that to to to realize in this next thing that you're gonna share is that we that we are drawn into that story then. Instead of constantly having to to draw God's story into my life, right? The the reality is God is constantly drawing us into his story.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah. So the goal becomes then to move beyond a cognitive propositional approach to the biblical narrative and the practice of discipleship in our daily lives. So it becomes something to foster a passion and enthusiasm for the scriptures as God's story that surrounds us, it envelops the whole creation, including our very lives and its telling.

SPEAKER_04 16:01

Yeah. You know, Steve and I had some texts back and forth this week just about uh the totality of God's story enveloping the whole of creation and not just humanity, but all of it create, you know, earth, the sky, space, the universe. And, you know, really understanding that when we're drawn up into that story, we're drawn up into a plot line that is on the move. And that's what Paul's really talking about here in Philippians 3, just to understand story as a plot line that's constantly moving, and that God is the author of it and he's drawing us up into this movement more and more.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, not that I have already obtained all of this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the price for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

And you get a little bit of that sense of understanding that Paul has of a beginning, a middle, and an end in sight, and how Jesus is moving him forward in that conversation and in that story.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yep. So, overarching goals for this morning to become more familiar with God's story.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

Yeah, familiar, familial, right? To to understand our family story in God's word with one another in our brotherhood.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

To see ourselves as unique characters in God's story, which is really cool that God has created us each uniquely with our own personalities, with his own hands, right? It says in Psalm that he created us in the secret place before uh, you know, uh, you know, our days were numbered in our mother's womb. So each of us is a unique character in God's story, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Fearfully and wonderfully made, right? The Bible says uh to see that our own personal stories are wholly enveloped in and by God's story. Okay. To live our lives from the center of God's story.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

Right. Now you're starting to see a connection back to one of our other best practices, Jesus at the center. Well, when we're going to talk about our hero's journey and our story, well, we've got to live our lives and tell our story from the center of God's story.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yep. Uh, to become better story listeners and storytellers.

SPEAKER_04 18:22

Yeah. So both to be able to listen to other people's stories, but also to enjoy sharing our own. So there was this guy, you may know his name, J.R.R. Tolkien. He has a great, you know, set of books uh that he wrote, The Hobbit, you know, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King. And a lot of people don't know that J.R.R. Tolkien Obi had an intimate relationship with Story, that he found Story to be so powerful uh for humanity and our understanding of who we are inside of God's big story, that he had an enduring question that he asked throughout his life of other people. What is your relationship to story? And for all of us that get our nerd on, you know, with The Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers and the Return of the King, I still bet you may not have known that he wrote in four specific characters throughout all of those books, Toby, to share what the different kinds of relationship that you might have with Story that he saw humanity has throughout history. So we're going to talk through real quick. Hopefully, this is engaging for you guys, four different characters that he wrote in specifically to discuss their relationship with story and why that was so important and how we can see that at work in our own humanity. And to ask the question then, what is your relationship to story at the end of the day, Obi?

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah. Well, start with Boromir, the captain of Gondor, the despiser of story.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

And you might be like, why is he the despiser of story? Uh, and the reality is that he wrote Boromir as a character that could care less about the history of the ring, that could care less about everything that had happened to take place until now, but he needed the ring to have the next victory in battle. So he actually despised the story for the sake of just wanting to have victory. So he wanted to use the story. He wanted to use the ring. He didn't want to actually understand the story or be enveloped in it or be a part of it. He simply wanted the victory of the next battle. So his whole thing was, I gotta win the next fight. And this is a way that we can win.

unknown 20:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:37

You thought, Obi, you think any guys have that kind of maybe relationship with story? Like, I don't I don't care what happened yesterday. I only want to know how we're gonna win today. We were talking about it last night.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Matter of fact, we were um okay, we have Theoden, King of Rohan, the forgetter of Story.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

Yeah, so if you remember in it, Theodon is under worm tongue spell uh from you know Saruman, you know, one of the the wizards. And Theoden, who knew the great story, has now forgotten it and it's aged him and it's made him filled with vial and poison. And he no longer knows not only the story has he forgotten, but he no longer knows who he's supposed to be or what he's supposed to do. And Worm Tongue is actually ruling the king of Rohan through him, right? Instead of Theoden ruling it. And there's this beautiful awakening moment where Gandalf actually whacks him on the head with his staff, right? And then Theodon is awakened and he begins to come back to life and remembering not only the story, but who he is and now what he's supposed to do. And I I think of that sometimes with our own recognition in our journey with Christ is there are moments that I've been in where I can recognize I've fallen asleep or forgotten the story, and the Holy Spirit. Has to whack me in the heart and on the head, wake me up to remembering who I am in Christ and what I'm supposed to be up to.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Yeah. Um, Denethor, steward of Gondor, the hoarder of story.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

And this is actually a lot of people don't know. For J.R.R. Tolkien, this is the most tragic character in the story. Not even, not even Gollum. But Denethor is the most tragic person in the story because Denethor knows the story. Denethor believes in the story so much. And yet he has fallen in love with uh his control over the story as the steward of Gondor and not being the king that he won't let the story out. He doesn't want other people to know the story. He wants to prevent them from knowing that Aragorn is the return of the king. Because Denethor has the power and the control to run Gondor the way that he wants. So he knows the story, he believes in the story, but he won't let the story out because he wants to keep control and power. Now that is crazy. The hoarder he hoards the story for his own good. And now all of a sudden you think about that with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do we hoard the story for our own good? Do we hoard the story for our own well-being and not share it freely with others?

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Well, my favorite character, Sam Wise. Um, he's the hobbit, the lover of the story.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

Yeah, and a lot of people, you know, uh Tolkien says over and over again, everybody thought Frodo was the hero of the story, or Aragorn was the hero of the story. Actually, Samwise is the lowly humble hero, hero of the story. How does Samwise keep Frodo going in the hardest moments when Frodo no longer has any strength under the power of the ring? He's worn out and can't get can't keep moving. Well, if you read the books, Samwise is constantly telling Frodo the story of the past. He's constantly singing to him the songs of their history, and he's constantly asking Frodo, Frodo, do you think someday they'll tell the story of you and me on this journey? Do you think someday they'll sing the songs about us like we sing of the great warriors in the past? And Samwise loves the story, recognize that he's involved in the story, and he keeps Frodo moving forward by constantly retelling the story. And that's what a lover of story does.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Very well.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

Is that cool? I mean, some stuff like guys, anybody, you know, anybody get their geek on with J.R. Tolkien? And uh, is that something new maybe that you've learned that you didn't know or that you found interesting? Yeah, Dave.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

I could have used this about 36 years ago when I was writing my senior thesis on the Hobbit as a classical hero and the characters in it. So here you go. Yeah, this was this is really interesting to to see it because some of the stuff was stuff that I wrote about, and some of it I completely missed, and uh that's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

That's neat. And to see a guy like Tolkien who believed in story so much that he actually wrote characters in the story to help us under better understand our relationship with story, I think that's neat.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Yeah, it is. And I didn't know that that part, you know, four different four different characters, more like Samwise than Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:26

And that really gets into the heart of then understanding the hero's journey and wanting to retell the story over and over again to one another, and then why is one of the best best practices sharing your own story? Because then we get to hear each other's stories, we get to encourage each other with the story of the true hero Jesus while we're sharing our stories inside the story with one another.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Yeah, yeah. So do we understand the direction of fit?

SPEAKER_04 25:52

How do we fit in the story?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah, yeah. So who is the author and creator of the story? God. That's God. The answer is God. Who's a whose story is it?

SPEAKER_04 26:05

The author, the creators, which is, you know, some of these things sound so simple and yet they're extremely challenging in our society today. I I'm the author of my own story, I write my own story.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah, yeah, and more and more we're seeing that, you know, you're enough, you're the author, you're king, you own your story, you own it. Uh, but it's God. Who is written into or invited into the story? That's us, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:33

That's us. And and you know, some people don't like that. They're like, I they they want to have that. Well, I'm the author of my own story, I'm a self-made man, this and that, and they don't want to be uh thought of or they don't want to think of themselves as being written into somebody else's story or written into God's story. But think about this God, the creator of all things, has specifically written you into his story, and we forget about what a great blessing that is.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah. And how does how does this directly challenge our current North American cultural narrative? And we just talked about that, right? It it it's it's so us-focused. You yeah, I think you muted yourself, Andy.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Well, the dog was trying to get involved in the conversation a little bit there. Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Well, tell him it's not about him, it's not him.

SPEAKER_04 27:20

Yeah, and and just like and just like us, the dog was not listening to his master.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

That's Bebo thinking he is as the author of the story, and it's not you're not bebo bebo thinking he's a longhorn when he's a beagle.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

So like us though, I want to be a longhorn. No, you're just a beagle. Sit down and be quiet for a minute, buddy. Right. No, but our North American cultural narrative is I'm the author, I'm in charge. So this is very different, but but we miss out on then the blessing of recognizing, like I said a second ago, the God of all creation has taken his time specifically to love and write you into his story, and we don't value that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

So Andy, what we might interject. We saw a uh a deal in uh Bucky's of all places. It said, God is still writing your story. Quit trying to steal the pen. Trusty author. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

That's exactly what we're talking about, Michael. Right on the money. Thank you for that interjection. That's awesome. Yeah, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Uh, so Andy, what are some ways the biblical understanding of direction of fit might impact our discipleship as followers of Jesus? Good question.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

What do you guys think? What do you think this direction of fit where God's the author, God's the creator, God is still writing our story, like Michael said? Stop trying to take the pen, follow him, be engaged in it, you know, understanding the right direction of fit where you know we're not the center of the story, Jesus is, but God has lovingly drawn us into his story through Christ. You know, maybe that'll change the way that we look at scripture. Maybe that'll change the way that we look at, you know, Jesus at the center of our story, Obi.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Yeah, that's always my prayer, right? That that you're not just reading it because it's the thing to do, because that's what Christians do, but that you are reading it because it is your desire to know and to fall in love with the heart of God through his scripture, through his overarching story that's in the Bible.

SPEAKER_04 29:26

And where do we get, yeah, where do we get this from? So we share this time and time again, especially in our at the movie series. You see this little uh, you know, circular outline of the hero's journey uh that we have utilized over the years, which goes through the process of you're in the ordinary world, you get a call to adventure. There is in most of these a refusal to the call, not so in the case of Jesus, but meeting the mentor, crossing the threshold, going through tests, uh, allies and enemies. You find a new approach, you go through the ordeal, there's a reward, then you're on your road back to where you began. There's a resurrection story, a brand new life, and then you return back home with the magic elixir or the brand new knowledge that it is now your responsibility and privilege to share with others. Uh, we've narrowed that down. We'll show you in just a minute to seven steps instead of 12. But uh, this is something that is is taken from uh a broader understanding of heroes' journeys throughout history and how they all have a similar, not the same, but a similar pattern of recognition. And we have actually shown that in scripture, Obi, with Philippians 2, uh 5 through 11, really 1 through 13 as we're or 1 through 16, we're gonna look at today, because we're gonna show how this works in the overarching story of the real hero, Jesus, the true hero, but then how it immediately envelops us up into it. So, Obi, take us through these couple of slides just to remind everybody of Philippians 2, 1 through 16. Paul lived his life thinking his he had the pen, Michael. Paul lived his life thinking he had the pen, that he was in control and that he was writing his own story, that he was in charge of how well he did in order to be righteous, uh, in order to share a story of victory. He meets Jesus on the road to Damascus and it changes everything. He runs into the resurrected Christ, it changes his whole world, it changes his whole understanding of the story. And this is Paul's understanding of that radical redemption, that radical transformation of his relationship with story, and he writes it down for the church and Philippi in these 16 verses right here. It's pretty amazing, Obi.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Yeah. Um, therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and one of mind, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vague conceit, rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of others. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

Then what Paul is saying here is if you have any encouragement from this story from being united with Christ, if you have any encouragement from the story where Christ is the center, man, then this is our story that we share with one another. This is the story that we share, then.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Yeah, you notice that it's it's it's it's going outwards, right? It's not keeping it to yourself, uh, the interest of others, talking about others in your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being here's where the hero here we go. Here's where the hero's journey begins. Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

And you see the hero's journey right here. Here is the great hero that comes from another world. Uh, he he finds himself now on earth, coming from heaven to earth. So he's engaging a brand new world, he engages trials and tests, he actually engages a moment where uh there's death and resurrection, right? For us and on our behalf. So you can start to see the entire hero's journey enveloped in Christ's journey on our behalf, that he dies on the cross, but that's not the end of the story.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Not at all. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

SPEAKER_04 34:06

So he has a resurrection, he has a return home to the Father, in order that now that story, that great elixir, that magical healing balm that he has given us through the cross and resurrection might be retold over and over and over again to others who desperately need it. So he didn't hoard the story, right? Uh, he has now poured that story out on us in order that it might be shared.

unknown 34:31

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault, you know, warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

SPEAKER_04 35:08

And how beautiful is that that now we see in verses 12 through 16. So Jesus is the true hero. The story is all about him, but in 12 through 16, we see how God is drawing us up into his story. And now Jesus' story is our story, and that's pretty cool. So now all of a sudden we are in the story, it is part of our story, and it says, Then you will shine among them like the stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life for your story. So that's what we're talking about when we're talking about the hero's journey, the true hero Jesus, but then all of our stories being drawn up into his story. And now when I tell my story, my story has a similar pattern, Obi, of radical redemption. It's going to have a story of, you know, a long night of the soul or the dark valley of death. It's going to have a story of death and resurrection. It's going to have a story to return to home, but now sharing that story with others for their benefit.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Yeah. And what and what is it that that makes our story different now all of a sudden, right? We're finding now the center of our story. There's there's a common denominator in our story. The gospel narrative is the center of God's story for our lives.

SPEAKER_04 36:23

When people say, I don't, man, I don't know what my story is, what they're really saying is, I don't understand the gospel or I don't know the gospel yet. Will you tell it to me? So for anybody that claims that they don't have a story, we should be able to immediately share with them, you have an amazing story. Philippians 2 says you have an incredible story that you've been drawn up into. Oh, well, what's that?

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

And then we start with the true story of the true hero Jesus and how we've been welcomed up into that story with our own stories.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Yeah. It holds key story answers to our identity, Andy. How we perceive time and history and understanding our place in God's kingdom community with others.

SPEAKER_04 37:06

Yeah. Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Yeah. So three concepts to remember in our storytelling. Jesus is key to truly understanding our story.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

You cannot, and this is this is a Friday morning mic drop on the MLC that I'm going to boldly say that the world does not want to hear. You cannot truly understand your own story if Jesus is not at the center of it. Amen. You are flailing through life and stumbling your way through, trying to figure it on your own. Like Michael said, a great Bucky's wisdom. You're trying to take the pen on your own and write your own story. And it's not going to go well. So Jesus is the key to actually understanding your own story in your own life.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:50

Because he is the life and light of men. Oh my gosh, I could go on. Okay, we got to keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Well, don't go on and on. Hey, this was our next key concept. Jesus is the center of our story.

SPEAKER_04 38:02

Our story flows outward from Christ, not the other way around. We talked about direction of fit. We're not trying to draw a little bit of Jesus into my story this week. Jesus is the center of the story, and he's sending me out from that story all the time. Versus, Jesus is at the center of everything in my week.

unknown 38:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

But following Jesus Christ is your storied way of life, Andy. It's our story way of life. Jesus is the center of our story.

SPEAKER_04 38:39

Now, this is interesting. This is a little challenging. We're going to go a little deep here for just a second. Martin Luther understood this, you know, the reformer, Martin Luther the reformer in the 1500s, understood this deeply that Jesus is at the center of the story, which he came to a realization he didn't think so. Martin Luther was trained as a monk to believe Martin Luther was the center of the story, that it was all about him, that he had to earn his righteousness before God. And then there was this great transformation in Martin Luther's understanding of the story. Oh no, it's all about Jesus. And now the center of my story is Jesus himself. It changed him radically. So he he understood this though, that there's three levels to story. And I want you guys to grasp this real quick. Martin Luther wrote what he called the flood prayer, which is a baptismal prayer when somebody is getting baptized. He would say, pray this prayer over the person getting baptized. But what's amazing when we pull this out real quick, I want you to see in a very short, very short written story, there's three levels to it, Obi. So he understood this as both an example and a framework for a practical approach to understanding this story way of life in Christ and how we can see it and begin to write our own stories. So go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Yeah. So there's three levels. Um, the distinct and the interseparable levels of storytelling. One, it takes play it, it places us within the proper relationship inside God's story.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

So the first move, the first level is do you recognize that your story is inside God's story?

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Yep. Uh two, it provides us with our true identity and gives deeper meaning and purpose to our own personal story.

SPEAKER_04 40:22

Is there anyone out there in the 21st century that is seeking deeper meaning and purpose in their life? Holy smokes, I think you can't walk down your street and not find ten.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

That's right. Uh and three, it connects us to a community for our journey through this life.

SPEAKER_04 40:40

Oh, so you mean my story isn't just about me? Okay. So look at the way that he writes this and what we have underlined, Obi, on these three different levels.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Yeah, so Almighty and Eternal God, according to your strict judgment, you condemned the unbelieving world through the flood. Yet, according to your great mercy, you preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls and all. You drowned hard-hearted Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, yet led your people Israel through the water on dry ground, foreshadowing this washing of your holy baptism. Through the baptism in the Jordan of your beloved Son, our Jesus Christ, you sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and lavish washing away of sin.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

Before you go any further, uh, our place in the overarching biblical narrative, Almighty and Eternal God, Creator of all things, and then look through the rest of this first part of the prayer. Your, you, you, you, your, you. It is all about God, and it is all his story, and he is the one writing it, as Michael shared. And we've been drawn up into it throughout the scriptural histories up until today. So that's level one. It's God's story, the over our our place inside this overarching biblical narrative.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Yeah. So level two is our own unique personal story within the story. We pray that you would behold this child according to your boundless mercy and bless him with true faith by the Holy Spirit, that through this saving flood, all sin in him, which has been inherited from Adam and which he himself has committed since, would be drowned and die.

SPEAKER_04 42:19

Now we pray that you would behold this child. You, me, individually, uniquely, dear Almighty God, over all things, behold this child. You, that's pretty incredible. Now, all of a sudden, we see that our own unique personal story within God's story matters not only to us, but it matters to Him.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Yeah. And here we go. Our place within the story of our community. Grant that he be kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving your name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that with all believers in your promise, he would be declared worthy of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 43:11

And then all of us suddenly recognize the story isn't just about us, but we're supposed to be sharing these stories with one another because he's placed us within a community. That's pretty cool. So three levels of story our place in the overarching narrative, our own unique personal story that God has written for each and every one of us, and then sharing that with the greater community at large.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

So, yeah. Problem number two, not knowing how to share our story.

SPEAKER_04 43:39

And so many people say either I don't have a story or I don't know how to share my story. So we want to get into that and why it's so important to share our stories with one another. And we've shared this quote from C.S. Lewis time and time again, but I think it's always important, especially on a Friday morning with all these brothers. Why in the world does anybody want to hear my story?

SPEAKER_01 43:59

Well, our Good friend C.S. Lewis said, friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, What? You two? I thought I was the only one.

SPEAKER_04 44:10

Yeah. So when we share these things, you know, talking about CJ coming back on July 10th and sharing his story with us, there were aspects of CJ's story that I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah. You know, you two are there are aspects where CJ's telling this story and he, you know, didn't think anybody else would resonate with it.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

And yeah, so we got we have displaying a hero's journey simplified outline, which looks like a like a little boat with a big with a big rudder. I think that's the rudder.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

Uh this is the way of simplifying the 12 steps of the overarching hero's journey, uh, down to just you know, seven or so, but really the two mountains. So there's also another way of describing the hero's journey of the two mountains. There's the first mountain, uh, which is the ascent into living the dream. And you know, you you're starting out with life at status quo. Oh, in the beginning, right? Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In the beginning, everything was great. Oh wow, I had this rise, I was living the dream. But then all of a sudden, in the hero's journey, the world is pulled out from under your feet, and you have a free fall down into the dark night of the soul. And then you have this long expanded journey, and probably not only one. If you like, I've been through at least four significant dark nights of the soul in my life, and probably even missing one or two there, Obi. So this is not just one time through, you know, this cycles, but you go through the dark night of the soul where you have to, you know, go through these, you know, trials, and then you come to a moment of decision whether to die or to live, and scripturally, where God puts us to death and raises us to new life. You rise up to the second mountain, uh, the mount of transformation, where now you're becoming a new person, and then you begin the journey and the return home. As you're on the journey home, you process the journey, and then finally you get all the way back to the beginning with fresh new eyes. And your job now is to share what you've learned on the journey or how you've been transformed with others and how you see things differently now, so that they might learn from it. So it's interesting in the hero's journey right here, Obi. Most people believe that the most tragic moment of the hero's journey comes at the moment of decision because the hero comes to this doorway, this threshold, this precipice, and he's faced with either leaping, jumping, or moving through that doorway. And people think the tragic moment is when the hero goes, nope, I'm not gonna go through that. I'm just gonna stay where I am. That's actually not the most tragic moment. The hero can actually make his way through that, be transformed on the return home, process the journey, arrive all the way back, and then live life like there's nothing happened, nothing changed, not share it with anyone. Not share that transform. That's actually the most tragic aspect of the hero's journey is to have gone through the entire thing, have been transformed, get all the way back to the beginning, and then live life as if nothing happened and not share that transformation with anyone. That's actually the most tragic aspect of the hero's journey. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. So that's what we're talking about is it's actually a journey of transformation and one that we're going to end up sharing with others at the end.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

Yeah. So we had we have this thing called the three C's of our story. Um, and of course, you know, that this can't work without us being open and honest and vulnerable, right? Right. Uh, one, comfortable with our past, confident in our present, and compassionate in our future.

SPEAKER_04 47:50

The story of ongoing transformation, it comes from Galatians 2.20. And we're gonna we're gonna show you a biblical outline from one verse. And what do we mean by becoming comfortable with our past, Obi? What it means is through radical redemption, through grace and forgiveness, I can now tell the story of my brokenness. I can now tell the story of the journey of the dark night of the soul, right? Because grace has now covered it in Jesus Christ. And I can tell people where I've been, where my brokenness is. And in the the the freeing thing about becoming comfortable with our past is now all of a sudden, Jesus owns my story. I can tell my story, and I don't have to live under the oppression of my story owning me. Oh my goodness, I can't let anybody find out this about me. And that is the worst prison to live in. Oh my goodness, how do I continue to keep this covered up? I can't let anybody know this about me. And when you own your own story in Christ and you've become comfortable with sharing your past because there's been radical redemption, there's now been grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, there is now great freedom to have confident to live in the present. So Galatians 2.20, very simple, three aspects to one verse. The first one is becoming comfortable with our past.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, given the grace to lay down the burdens of our past and carry on forward our experience and wisdom for the benefit of others.

SPEAKER_04 49:23

So there's an old this is really bizarre. You're gonna there's an old Buddhist uh monk story about two monks that are traveling along the road. There's an older monk who's the mentor, and there's a younger monk that he's mentoring, and they're walking along the road. And for a Buddhist monk, you know, one of the key aspects is they are not supposed to touch a woman. Well, they come to this river crossing, and the two monks come to the river crossing, and they come upon a young woman and she's in tears. And the woman is crying and she says, I don't know how I'm going to cross this river. It's flowing fast. I don't have the strength to do it, but I have to get across the other side to get back to my family. And to the younger monk's surprise, the older monk tells the lady, the young woman, to climb upon his back and he carries her across the river, sets her down, she thanks him, goes on her way, and the two monks are journeying down the road another mile, a second mile, a third mile, and finally the younger monk, because you're not really supposed to do this with your mentor, uh, you should, but the younger monk asks the older monk, why in the world did you do that? How what are we gonna what are we gonna tell people? Do you feel guilty about carrying that woman across the river? And the wisdom of this Buddhist tale is the older monk tells the younger monk, he goes, Well, I laid that down the moment that I set her down on the other side of the river. I'm not carrying that with me anymore. Why are you? You know, and this is, I think, a simple way of becoming comfortable with our past when we recognize the grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. We've been given the grace to lay the burdens of our past down and say, that's back there. That's not me anymore. I'm not carrying that around. Why are you? You know, and now we carry forward our experience and our wisdom for the benefit of other people. And that's then the journey into the confidence that we have in the present.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

Amen. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God. So here we have Christ-like confidence to feed the new man and starve the old, which leads to the new man winning daily.

SPEAKER_04 51:41

And this comes to now another story, which comes from Native American tradition about the two wolves that live inside every man. You guys may have heard this. There's a there's a young Native American warrior, and he comes to his grandfather, who's the chief of the village, you know, and he says, Grandfather, grandfather, I've I've heard the story of the two wolves. There's a dark wolf, a black wolf, and a white wolf. And I've heard that both of them live inside of me, and I'm I'm I'm afraid. And the grandfather says, Well, well, why are you afraid? And he goes, Well, I don't know which one's gonna win. Am I am I am I gonna grow up? And is the dark wolf, the bad wolf, the the black wolf inside of me gonna win? Am I gonna be a bad man? Or is the white wolf, the good wolf, you know, gonna rise up and am I gonna be a good man? And the grandfather looks at the the young Native American warrior and has said, well, it depends on which one you feed and which one you starve. You know, and now that we've gone through this radical redemption in Christ, and now that we own our past in Jesus and we've laid those burdens down, we now live our life in the body by faith in the Son of God, constantly feeding now the new man in Christ and starving the old man. And this is why we gather together on Friday mornings and encourage one another, because we want to encourage one another to feed the new man in Christ and starve the old man, the old sinful, broken man.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Yeah. So now we lean into being uh into a compassionate future with others, and it says, Who loved me and gave himself up for me? That's the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. So now we're set free from our own self-centeredness so that we may grow in Christ-like compassion to sacrifice for others.

SPEAKER_04 53:31

Yeah, now we've been given the power through the Holy Spirit to live Christ-like lives of compassion. And this is where you get the, you know, the story of the Good Samaritan. That now we can move forward in a life that's compassionate to others, not asking who's my neighbor, but now looking for every opportunity we have in front of us to be a good neighbor to others. So our story is now grown outside of ourselves. And I hope everybody's seeing we're telling stories within stories about how to live story and tell story.

SPEAKER_01 54:02

Yeah, so our new perspective on our story now is that it allows us to see our past through the lens of forgiveness. It allows us to eagerly look to our future with the bright eyes of hope and love. Um, it allows us to live in the present and engage our current circumstances with peace, courage, and strength.

SPEAKER_04 54:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

Yeah. And hopefully it gives us a new perspective on life with others. Because now we've been set free from worrying about our own story. We've been set free from a myopic view of our own story and set free to share it with others.

SPEAKER_04 54:38

Oh, I don't have a story. My story is too small. No, that's not true. Not true.

SPEAKER_01 54:43

We have been set free to care about and listen to these stories of others, and we have been set free to serve others. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:53

Awesome. Man, that was that was a lot to get through, guys. Thank you for staying with us because that was a ton to get through. And and Obi, if you'll get ready to pray us out. But the cool thing is, and we'll we'll hear from CJ on July 10th when we come back, and really excited to hear about his journey so far. Um, this again is not something that you're supposed to do on your own. This is supposed something you're supposed to do in conversation with other brothers. And we want you to connect with me or Obi to walk through some of these intentional steps, finding your personal vision, mission, values, and life first, working on your life story, talking through it with each other, and then having the opportunity to share it with the group at large. So this is not a journey you're supposed to do on your own, but one that we want you to reach out to me and Obi to get started on. So, guys, please don't forget that opportunity is there for you all the time.

SPEAKER_01 55:42

That's right. Lord, thank you so much for loving us despite us. Um, thank you so much because of you. Our story has been radically changed. We have a story to tell. And I pray that as we go through this series, that our brothers that are listening, if they haven't done so, that man, you will stir their hearts in a way that they that will allow them and free them to be, to share their their their story, to share their journey, to share how the gospel has transformed them and how where they were once dead, they are alive in Christ, and that is worthy to be shared. So I pray that you allow us to not just be people who hear and who read your word, but who are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's in your name we pray.

SPEAKER_00 56:30

Amen. Thanks for joining and listening. We hope that you were truly blessed. Now you can join the live call every Friday morning at 7 a.m. Central Standard Time, and please bring a friend. And to learn more about the MLC, visit our website at the MLC.life. That's the MLC. Have a great day.