Christians and Memento Mori

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Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast

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making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone. It is Thursday July the eleventh,

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twenty twenty four. It is currently
two forty nine pm Central Time, and

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I am coming to you live from
the Theology Central studio located right here in

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Abilene, Texas. Now, I
know, I even, I know,

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I probably always kind of emphasize the
date and all of that. I usually

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do that I kind of over emphasized
it today I really want you to think

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about today is Thursday, July the
eleventh, before you know it. I

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mean, that tells you we're about
to end another year. Twenty twenty four

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is going to be over before you
can I mean, it's gonna like we're

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gonna blink and we're gonna be looking
at the end of twenty twenty four looking

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at the beginning of twenty It is
now two fifty pm Central Time, meaning

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that our day is gonna be before
you know it. You're gonna blink,

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and today is going to be over, and then the next thing, you

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know, tomorrow will be here,
and then it will be over. So

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I really want you to think about
time. I really want you to think

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about time and how that relates to
your life. But let's do this.

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I don't know if you've ever experienced
this. I know I'm not the first

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person to experience it because I've heard
it done and way too many sermons and

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way too many churches, and a
lot of time it's done, I think

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sometimes in youth groups. But someone
will come up, a pastor, preacher,

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Sunday school teacher, and we'll say, all right, everyone, let's

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get out a piece of paper,
and what we're going to do is we're

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gonna figure out time. Right,
Okay, you have how many hours in

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a day? Twenty four? And
then you start figuring out twenty four hours

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a day. How many hours in
a week. Okay, Now you have

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your total hours of a week.
Now, subtract this many hours for sleep,

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all right. Subtract this many hours
for say, you know, showering,

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personal hygiene, that kind of thing. All right. Subtract this many

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hours for say, food and eating. Okay. Now subtract this many hours

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for work. Okay. Now subtract
this many hours for this all right.

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Now, how many hours do you
have left? And out of those hours,

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let's subtract a couple of more for
entertainment. Okay, Now, how

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many hours of that week do you
have left? And how much of that

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time is committed is dedicated to the
things of God? How much of that

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time left is dedicated to the Kingdom
of God, to ministry, to scripture,

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to prayer, to that type of
thing. How much time is left?

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And almost everyone, no matter what
shirt, you do this, and

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almost everyone's looking at that piece of
paper kind of going, wow, that's

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a lot of hours for this,
or a lot of hours for that,

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and a lot of that doesn't even
capture time. That kind of just we

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just kind of waste. We don't
even really have a measurement for it.

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It's just here and it's gone.
But almost everyone is usually convicted. And

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usually the preacher will say something like
this, only that which is done for

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Christ will last. Everything else will
burn up. Everything else is vanity,

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everything else is meaningless, everything else
is useless. Only that what is done

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for Christ will last. Now,
typically after a sermon like that, people

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are like, you know what,
I'm I'm gonna commit myself. I'm gonna

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dedicate myself more to living for Christ. I'm gonna I'm gonna try to get

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rid of all this frivolous stuff out
of my life. And I think people

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get very committed, maybe very Maybe
they're gonna make a schedule, they're gonna

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I think usually this is my own. Now there's always the exception to the

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rule, but I think typically it
always just ends up leading to failure,

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disappointment, shame, humiliation, frustration, aggravation, discouragement, depression, and

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just feeling like an absolute and total
failure. Now, usually somewhere in that

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sermon someone will quote this scripture say
then that you walk circumspectully, not as

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fools, but as wise redeeming the
time because the days are evil. Redeem

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the time because the days are evil. And then typically the preacher will say

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something like this, Hey, if
the days were evil when Paul was writing

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to the Church of Emphasis, imagine
how evil the days are today. So

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you need to be even redeeming the
time. Even more so, you need

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to be better at redeeming the time. Are you redeeming the time? And

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again that will go back and look
at your chart. How many hours in

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a week? How many hours do
you spend with this? How many hours?

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And now I don't know how it
impacts the average person in the pew,

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I don't know. For me,
it's led to kind of a lifetime

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of frustration and struggle and shame and
humiliation and disappointment. And I've tried to

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navigate it. Like like when I
was younger, and I would hear this,

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I'm okay, that's you know what. All I'm going to do.

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That's all I'm going to do is
I'm going to go home. I'm going

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to read my Bible. I'm going
to listen to hims and sermons and I'm

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going to study and I'm going to
read and I'm going to study and I'm

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going to pray. And that's all
I'm going to do. And then I

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would read books like Ian Bounds his
complete work on prayer, and he talked

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about all these great men of the
past, right, these great men of

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the past, and how they would
wake up at three in the morning and

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pray for four or five hours before
they even started their day, or they

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would pray this and they would pray
that. And I'm like, you know

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what, that's what I'm going to
do. I'm going to pray more.

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And then then I would read other
books by other individuals. Em Bounds.

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I just remember the most, mainly
because it's sitting right next to my couch

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where I watch television. The complete
works of em Bounds is just sitting right

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there. But I know that book
very well because I bought that book as

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a teenager. I still have the
exact same book, and I remember reading

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it, going, how can I
pray this many hours? What does it

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even look like? What does that
even sound like? I don't even know

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how I do this right? And
just thinking how do I live my life

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and do this? And then I
would read other books about about these people

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who spent this much time reading the
Bible, or this much time memorizing scripture,

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or this much time. And I
remember an evangelist coming to our church

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and he had the entire New Testament
memorized, and I was like, wow,

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okay, how many hours would that
take? And so and so.

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Then I'm like, okay, so
I'm supposed to pray this many hours,

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but I'm supposed to be reading the
Bible and memorizing the Bible and studying the

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Bible this many hours. Okay,
Wait, I need to also be trying

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to to minister to people. Okay, Wait, I'm also supposed to be

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fasting. Wait, I'm also supposed
to be going to church and wait,

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I'm okay for crying out loud?
What do I do? And then I

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thought? And then, as a
young person, there were times I really

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greatly contemplated, I wonder, wonder
if I should become a Catholic and become

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a Catholic priest, even though I
wasn't Catholic, and even though I may

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have struggle with their theology, I
thought, at least they have a system.

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Right, you become a Catholic priest, the church is gonna take care

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of you. And then you marry
yourself to the church, and your whole

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life is ministry, the Liturgy of
the Hours, confession, Mass. You

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know, that's all. That's your
life. You don't have any other destructions,

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you don't have to worry about anything
else. You don't have to do

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that, right, I mean you
you I could do that, right.

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I never really thought about a monk
or a monastery. Later on I had

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those thoughts, but at that point, I think, maybe that's the answer.

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Then I could really dedicate myself to
the things of God. I really

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could. So I would go all
these weird like one minute, I'm like,

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you know what, I'm not gonna
listen to anything. I'm not gonna

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watch anything. Everything is gonna The
only thing I'm gonna listen to and watch

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are things that are related to my
faith to Christianity. And so then I

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would make radical changes only to slip
back into going back to the other way,

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and I would just be I would
be tormented, right, I would

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be tormented, and what I how
do I do this? How do I

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do this? Then when I got
married and then had kids, well then

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it became very complicated because like I
just can't make radical changes now, right,

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I just can't say, Okay,
that's it. We're not gonna watch

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anything, We're not gonna do anything. Everything's just gonna be because you can't

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just mess with your kids that way. It's like like they're not a part

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of a social experiment. So then
it's like okay, so then maybe I

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just don't do this or I don't
do that. I'm like, well what

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do I do? Then the next
thing, you know, Okay, I'm

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in the United States Military. I
was in the military before I got married,

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but I was I'm in the military, right, So I have full

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time job in the military, sometimes
fifty sixty hours a week, depending if

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we're doing exercises or deployments or whatever. I mean, who knows how many

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hours I could be working in a
week. Sometimes good, sometimes a lot.

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And next thing, then I'm going
to school. I'm going to multiple

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schools. Right, I'm going to
a Bible institute. I'm taking classes at

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Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska.
I'm going here. I'm registering for this

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school and this school. At some
point I was like full time student and

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like two or three schools. We'll
all have full time job in the military.

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Right, so I'm balancing all of
this, And then the next thing,

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you know, I'm still going to
school full time. I'm in the

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military full time, and I'm a
full time pastor teaching Sunday school Sunday morning,

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Sunday night, and Wednesday an hour
of teaching. All of those times,

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I'm doing all of the teaching.
Oh. Then, by the way,

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then I came up with the idea, oh, let me start broadcasting.

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I'll start broadcasting. And the next
thing, you know, that kind

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of turned into almost like a full
time job. So I had a military,

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full time job, full time student, and multiple schools. That was

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full time pastor. Oh in a
full time broadcaster. Oh and I also

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have a family somewhere in all of
that. But see, my mind is

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see I'm redeeming the time. I'm
doing this all for God. I'm doing

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this for my theological education. I'm
living my life for God. Now,

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the only thing I actually really did
is hurt my family, hurt my I

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just made a mess of every I
mean, I just totally destroyed it.

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I mean, I look, there's
no excuse. It was just an absolute

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disaster. It was all on me. I mean, I just ran myself

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to the point of like total just
exhaustion. But I would tell you,

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redeem the time. So you got
all those hours in the week. Look

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what you do compared to what I
do. You want to question my salvation,

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buddy, you can't even get near
the things I do for God.

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Your dedication to God is trash compared
to mine. I read more, I

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study more, I listened to the
Bible more. I'm going to three schools

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and I'm getting multiple degrees and theology
and Bible education. You can't touch me,

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right, I mean almost like an
in arrogant way. And that's a

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little bit of that lordship salvation.
I'm passing all the test, right,

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I'm doing so good. Now that
didn't always work out so well. So

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there's got to be a balance,
Right, how do you live your life?

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Do you redeem the time? So
I've struggled with this concept my whole

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life, and I've preached multiple sermons
where I had everyone grab a piece of

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paper, this is how many hours? How many hours is dedicated to the

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things of God? What is wrong
with all of you? Right? I

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have done that to people. Not
only have I done it to myself.

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I've done it to people, and
not only have I had it done to

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me. And I don't know the
answer because on one hand, I know,

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well, we're supposed to meditate on
God's word day and night. We're

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supposed to pray without ceasing. We're
supposed to love God above everything else.

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I'm supposed to be, you know, studying to show myself approved. I'm

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supposed to love God's word more than
money and food. Man does not live

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by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeded out of the mouth of

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God. Out of the mouth of
God. I mean, on and on

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and on and on and on and
on and on and on and on.

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As a newborn babe desire the sincere
milk of the word the Bible is food,

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So I should be partaking of the
Bible more than I'm partaking of physical

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food. How do I meant it? Oh? Wait, we should be

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meeting even more so as we see
the day approaching, we should not be

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forsaking the assembly. We should be
meeting even more. Wait, the early

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Church meant every single day. Okay, how do I do all of this?

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So? I've been struggling with this
concept for a good portion of my

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Christian he lithe. Maybe you've never
had this problem. Maybe you've just kind

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of been like, go to church. When I go to church, read

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my Bible. When I read my
Bible, take it or leave it,

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just kind of do whatever I want
to do. Maybe you have figured it

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out. I've never figured it out. I have never figured it out.

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I have always been I struggle,
and to this day now I don't struggle

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as much today. Only this may
not be a good reason, only because

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at this point it's like, I
don't know if there's any easy answers,

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right, I can try to go
from extreme to extreme to extreme, but

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that really never does much for me. So how do you live your life?

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Do you redeem the time? Now? Why have I spent thirteen minutes

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to try to take you on a
journey through all of my struggles with it.

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Because I woke up this morning and
I looked at my email, and

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I looked at my email. I
was gonna look at the actual time of

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the email, but we'll just go
to the article. If the email had

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a subject line and that there was
a link in the email, and the

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email said, why don't more Christians
talk about Memento Maury? Memento Maury?

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And I'm like, Memento Moury,
Why don't more Christians talk about Momento Morey?

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Now I'm just gonna be honest with
you. Okay, you can laugh

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at me, you can mock me. When I saw Memento Maury, I

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was not thinking Latin, right,
even though I had to take Latin into

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Catholic universe, I wasn't thinking Latin. I wouldn't even think of a Latin

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phrase Memento Moriy was. It wasn't
even crossing my mind that this is a

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Latin phrase. I would this is
what? See? Why don't more Christians

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talk about Momento Moury? So the
first thing I started thinking is that A

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that's not a philological term. Did
I did I was I sleep in systematic

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theology classes? I mean, I've
got I've got multiple degrees in theology.

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I'm not did I forget this term? And then I started getting irritate with

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myself. I'm like, why don't
Christians talk about Memento Moury? Is this

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some philological concept? Oh, I'm
gonna be embarrassed. I'm gonna read this

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and I'm gonna feel I'm gonna feel
dumb, all right. So I'm like,

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okay, So I got ready to
look at it because that's what I

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was thinking. Then for a brief
second, I'm like, well, wait,

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ante, I wonder Memento Moriy some
ministry and this article is going to

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be like why aren't Christians talking about
this? Because this ministry is majorly problematic?

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Or maybe it's a book? All
right. Then I just started speculating,

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just going going crazy with it,
like trying to figure this out,

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like, okay, what is Momento
moy I get my brain never went to

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Latin, so I and and then
there's a there's a picture right under that.

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When I go to the link,
why don't more Christians talk about Momento

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Moury? And this This was updated
July the eleventh, twenty twenty four.

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I don't know when it was originally
published. And then there is a female

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wearing a black dress and she's kneeling
down and she's putting flowers at someone's headstone,

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and I'm like, why don't more
Christians talk about momental moy? So

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then I thought, hmm, I
wonder if this is some kind of crazy

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cares Again, my brain never went
to Latin, all right, you can

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make fun of me. My brain
never went to Latin. And so then

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I was like, I wonder if
this is like some charismatic thing. They

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do that great some you know,
crazy charismatics do that grave soaking when you

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go to the grave of some person
who is very spiritual and you can kind

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of soak up their holy spirit power
or whatever craziness they're they're anointing or I

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probably not use the correct terminology,
so don't sue me, all right,

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but you can. And I'm and
I'm like, well, is this is

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momento may some kind of grave soaking
thing? Why is this woman at this

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tombstone, at this headstone? And
it has something to do with Christian's not

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talking about my mental moy? What
is this? I know you're mocking me.

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You can be laughing. You can
like that guy doesn't even know Latin.

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He's an idiot. Okay, I
may be an idiot, but I'm

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just telling you I did not ever
associate this with Latin. Then I started

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reading the article, and the article
begins this way. One morning I woke

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up with a powerful thought in my
mind, Memento, Maury, what is

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happening here? What am I missing? I know you're laughing, you're mocking

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That's okay, you can laugh at
my expense. That's all good, Okay,

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because maybe when as soon as I
said momento Moury, you were like,

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I know what that is. Okay, well congratulations, okay, you

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can email me and tell me right
right. But so then I read the

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next part, so there was like, that's the opening sentence. I woke

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up one morning with a powerful thought
in mind, momento Moury. Right now,

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at least one thing I will say
about the writer that's got me hooked,

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because I want to know what momento
Moury is. Okay, next the

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next uh, like like paragraph I
called one of my closest friends one of

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us is going to die? Is
my mental moury? Like is this some

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kind of like witchcraft? What is
I know, I know it's a ladin

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phrase ladies and gentlemen. I know. I'm sorry, but and I'm like,

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what is it? Is? A
woman in the black dress? Is

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she a witch? Okay? Did
this happen in Salem? Okay? What's

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going what is you? What do
you mean one of us is going to

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die? Oh? Oh, I
need dramatic music. Dun dun, dun

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dun. Then the article continues,
seriously, have you thought about this?

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One of the four of us close
friends, well, die and we'll have

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to deal with that. I said, okay, all right, I still

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don't know what my mental moury is, but you've got my attention. Next,

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Normally i'd be annoyed at that opening, but today I understand I've been

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thinking about that too, She replied. Whoa. So you called your friends

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say hey, one of us is
going to die, and the other one's

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like, hey, wow, I've
been thinking about the same thing. Okay,

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what is going on? What is
happening here? Then very next sentence

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momento, maury I repeated, as
we hung up to begin our days.

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So wait a minute, So you
just talk about dying, then you say

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momentum Maury, Momento Maury, and
then you repeat that, and then you

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hang up and then to go about
your day. So then immediately I start

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thinking, oh, momento Moury has
something to do with dying. All right,

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all right, okay maybe me and
I know. Look it was early

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in the morning. I know I
should have figured it out by now.

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Next paragraph, one of our husbands
was celebrating a big birthday. Another of

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my closest friends had died with little
noticed. As I brushed my teeth,

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I contemplated the fleeting nature of life
on this side of glory and the kitchen.

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I grabbed hold of my husband.
I hugged him tighter and longer than

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usual. Let's have coffee on the
porch this morning. What's gotten into you

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today, he asked as he grabbed
his mug. Memento Moury. Whatever that

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means. I like it, he
said, as he hugged me again.

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Now at this point, I'm catching
on that momento Moury has got something to

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do with death. I still wasn't
like the phrase was not coming to my

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mind right because I guess because immediately
I had started thinking I was missing something

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theologically or this was some new charismatic
movement or maybe she's a witch like who

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knows, I just started. That's
where my mind just started going whichever direction

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it wants to go. I know
my brain is a dangerous place, but

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hey, hey, you're welcome to
tour it for a few minutes. Okay,

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right, here we go. What
does memento moury mean in English?

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Okay, now you've you used the
hook, You've rilled me in. Here

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we go. What does momento mory
mean in English? Most of us don't

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wake up every day with the Latin
phrase in our minds, unless the night

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before we rewatched the nineteen eighty nine
Robin Williams fan film Dead Poets Society,

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and rose thinking, karpe, dim, Now I do remember the Dead Poets

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Society. Don't you remember the movie
The Dead Poets Society? Oh? Man,

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what a movie? I mean?
Don't you remember it? Not in

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any way saying it's a Christian movie
or anything like that. But that was

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a powerful That was a powerful movie
when it came out in nineteen eighty nine,

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And I think all of us then
wanted to become you know, I'm

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gonna get me a notebook and start
writing poetry and I'm gonna buy some books

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on poetry. Every I think I
didn't you? I mean no, okay,

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maybe you didn't. All right,
if you watch let me know if

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you have that. But again,
I'm not claiming it's a Christian movie,

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right, it's in this article.
Don't blame me, all right, but

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you're right. When you watch that
movie Carpe dim everyone started knowing that phrase,

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all right, and that meant if
you don't know krpe, do you

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seize the day? Seize the day? And it did have a prof that

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that movie did have a profound impact
on me again because it was like,

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seize the day. Now, Christianity
is like, yes, seize the day,

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all for God, for his glory, for his honor, for his

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purpose. Seize the day because the
only thing that will last is what is

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done for Christ. Right, Okay, how do I do that? Now?

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That poets society wasn't going at it
from a necessarily saily a Christian perspective,

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obviously it wasn't. It was more
like, hey, this is your

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life, seize it. Drink everything
life has, don't waste a drop.

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Okay, well then how do I
do that? Like, what's the how

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do I balance this all out?
Now, for the most part, the

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average person considers Latin a dead language, the exclusive purview of lawyers, doctors,

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theologians, and the residents of Vatican
City. Now, as someone who's

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got degrees in theology, yeah,
and who has taken Latin, obviously,

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I think it's a dead language because
obviously I don't traffic in it. It's

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okay, because my mento moriy did
not mean anything to me other than what

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are the charismatics doing today? Wait? What are witches doing today? Wait?

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Right, Like, okay, I
know you're laughing at me. That's

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okay, Yeah, here we go. However, we could improve our outlook

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on life by incorporating more Latin phrases
into our common vocabulary. Now, I

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don't know if we can really improve
our outlook by incorporating Latin phrases. I

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think I'm not a fan of really
that. Hey, if I learned some

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Latin phrases, I fix the out
my outlook on life. I think Latin

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maybe concepts that are expressed in Latin, if we keep those in. It's

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not that I know the Latin phrase, or I know the Latin words right,

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or I state the Latin words correctly. It's what is the concept there

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are certain concepts that may improve our
outlook on life. I'm going to argue

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this may not improve our outlook on
life. I'm going to argue this may

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actually lead you down to a pit
of total despair, despondency, discouragement,

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and wanting to give up. I
could be wrong. Let's see next paragraph.

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My husband Rob might might have been
more concerned than enthusiastic if he actually

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understood what momento moury means or meant. I'm kind of paraphrasing a little bit,

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not reading it exactly. Sometimes when
I read articles, I try to

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be precise, and then sometimes I
just kind of start, you know,

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I kind of saw the words and
I kind of restated, so let me

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read them exactly right. My husband
Rob might have been more concerned than enthusiastic

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if he understood that Memento moury is
Latin for remember you must die. Remember

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you must die. Remember you must
die. And at that moment I felt

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stupid as someone who pursued a degree
in Catholic theology. Memento mori, that's

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kind of like an Ash Wednesday thing. Remember you must die, you will

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return to the dust, you will
return to the ash Yeah, you will

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die. Be reminded of your death, be reminded that you are mortal.

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Remember that you are going to die. Okay, Like that's kind of a

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major concept of that. So momento
moury means remember you must die. Remember

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00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:18.119
you must die. You may want
to write that down, Remember you must

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die. You may want to put
it on the refrigerator. Remember you must

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die. And our times it will
seem to many a particularly morbid way to

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greet someone, but in times past
it was a phrase used to encourage people

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to make the most of life and
live with humility. In other words,

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there was a time at least The
claim in the article is that you could

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greet someone with momento moury, remember
you must die, and the reason you

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would greet some way is a way
to encourage you to make the most of

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your life, like carpe dm seize
the day, and that you would live

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with humility. Now, should we
start greeting each other that way? Memento

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Mary, memento Morey. What do
you think if you go to church on

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Sunday just start telling everyone Memento Maury, memento moury. And when I say

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remember you will die, I don't
know if anyone will appreciate that. I

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don't know. Do you think that
would improve your outlook on life? Do

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you do you think it will make
it better? I think in many ways,

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the only way we can really function
in life and be productive and accomplish

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anything is forgetting that we're going to
die. I don't know. If we

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live with a constant reminder that we're
going to die, we would be that

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because look, if you just think
about it, if you knew you were

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going to die in three weeks,
I think you would just start throwing out

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most of your responsibilities, right like, you can't function if you're constantly thinking

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I'm going to die in twenty four
hours. You almost have to forget that,

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I think. And so maybe I'm
wrong. You may disagree. That's

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okay. This is a lot of
This is just me offering a lot of

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thoughts, right. This is not
me trying to offer anything something dogmatic.

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If I get to something dogmatic,
you'll know that I'm being dogmatic here.

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I'm just trying to struggle through this
concept from the force of my affection to

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my invitation to linger over coffee.
Rob the author of this articles obviously female.

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Her husband is obviously by the name. His name is Rob. He

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00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:41.480
enjoyed the side effects of my reflection
on the phrase. While unable to translate

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00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:45.920
the words, he was happy with
how the message translated to my actions.

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Life is fleeting and we should make
the most of every opportunity. Now,

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00:28:56.039 --> 00:29:02.920
this isn't a life philosophy that originated
with Romans. Similar sentiments are written in

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both the Old and New Testament and
Psalm chapter ninety verse seventeen. I'm going

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to read it as the way it's
translated in this article Psalm chapter ninety verse

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00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:18.359
seventeen. You may want to write
this down. Psalm chapter ninety verse seventeen

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teach us to realize the brevity of
life so that we may grow in wisdom.

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If you want to grow in wisdom, what you need to do is

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to realize the brevity of life.
One of the things that will increase wisdom

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00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:44.519
is realizing just how brief life is. Now that will that increase wisdom or

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00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:48.319
will that increase foolishness? I don't
know. If I know my time is

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00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:52.319
short, will I be more wise
or will I be more reckless? I

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00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:56.160
don't know. I don't know.
I don't know. I struggle with that.

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00:29:56.839 --> 00:29:59.880
Maybe in theory. It should make
me wise, but I don't know.

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In Luke twelve, Jesus reminds the
crowd that life is short and then

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00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:08.599
you die with a parable about a
rich fool who stored up earthly wealth but

402
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.799
forgot to have rich relationship with God. He warns the disciples to abandon worry

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and to live for the kingdom of
God, prepared for his return at all

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00:30:18.279 --> 00:30:22.680
times. Paul wrote in Ephusians five, which we've already read, be careful

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00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:26.839
how you live. Don't live like
fools, but like those who are wise.

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00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:34.480
Make the most of every opportunity in
these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly,

407
00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:38.079
but understand what the Lord wants you
to do. Now, of course,

408
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:42.319
the King James or new King James, I think both redeem the time

409
00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.519
for the day's evil, redeeming the
time for the days are evil? Are

410
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:55.160
you redeeming the time? And would
it assist you to be better at redeeming

411
00:30:55.240 --> 00:31:00.039
the time? If you remember memento
moriy if you remember that phrase, If

412
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:06.359
you remember remember, If you remember
the phrase, remember you must die.

413
00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:08.519
If you keep in mind, if
you get to keep that at the forefront

414
00:31:08.519 --> 00:31:14.160
of your brain, remember you must
die. Look I think one of the

415
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.680
number one ways to prove that we
don't really think that we're going to die.

416
00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:22.480
Look, I know we know it, but I don't think we I

417
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.519
don't think it's ever anywhere near the
forefront of our minds. And this is

418
00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:30.240
the reason why as soon as someone
you care about, as soon as someone

419
00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:37.599
you love, family member, dies, almost inevitably, there's shock, there's

420
00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:42.960
denial. You can't accept it.
It seems unbelievable, it seems like for

421
00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:47.599
it. But at the same time, isn't that bizarre? People thousands,

422
00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:52.119
hundreds of thousands people die every single
day. It should be like the most

423
00:31:52.119 --> 00:31:55.480
common. It should almost be like, oh, someone died, Okay,

424
00:31:55.519 --> 00:32:00.200
Well that's I'm gonna miss them,
right, Because on one hand, you

425
00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:04.160
have to expect it. Remember you
must die. Just name the people in

426
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:08.880
your life. They are going to
die. They are going to die.

427
00:32:09.880 --> 00:32:14.279
If not today, tomorrow, if
not tomorrow, the next day, if

428
00:32:14.279 --> 00:32:17.480
not the time, it's inevitable.
Like you can't see, but if you

429
00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:22.039
could, if there was a clock
put up above their head, it would

430
00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:24.200
be counting down, and you wouldn't
know exactly how many hours they have left,

431
00:32:24.279 --> 00:32:28.400
days, months, months, or
years. And you may be shocked

432
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:30.160
by what you see. But I
can tell you whether you see that clock

433
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:35.440
or don't, it's ticking down.
And remember they must die, and remember

434
00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:39.839
you must die. But we are
always completely blindsided by it because we always

435
00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:45.039
have this idea that it's not going
to happen until here, and even then

436
00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:55.279
we're still somewhat taken back by it. This isn't a philosophy that originated with

437
00:32:55.359 --> 00:33:00.359
the Romans. Similar sentiments are used
in both the Old New Tests. Okay,

438
00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:01.960
we looked at Psalm ninety, and
we looked at Luke twelve, and

439
00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:10.640
we looked at Ephesians five. Now
listen here. The Biblical writers often wrote

440
00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:16.160
about death. They warn those defying. They warn those defying, denying,

441
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:21.640
or ignoring God to consider it before
it is too late that the incomes to

442
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:24.799
everyone. At the same time,
they encourage those who believed in God and

443
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:30.359
trusted him for salvation to endure right
now. This is important. This is

444
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:35.680
to the Christian. According to them, the Biblical writers encouraged those who are

445
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:42.720
believers to encourage us who believe to
trust in God for salvation and to endure

446
00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:46.319
all manner of discomfort, difficulty,
persecution, and even death, believing that

447
00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:51.880
this life is brief, but eternity
stretches before us because of Christ. The

448
00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:55.240
idea then is, hey, we
as Christians should be we should be so

449
00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:00.279
aware that remember, you will die, that we are like you know what,

450
00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:04.519
all that matters are the things of
God. But see that's the thing.

451
00:34:05.480 --> 00:34:19.679
What would that actually look like?
Now I'm going to skip one thing

452
00:34:19.719 --> 00:34:23.079
that they say here, all right? And then there there was an article

453
00:34:23.159 --> 00:34:29.960
in the Atlantic magazine and this article
makes a reference to that article. And

454
00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:35.480
they tracked or they claimed that the
origin of memento mori is to be tracked

455
00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:44.320
down by the early Christian apologist Totullian. Totulian wrote, and I quote or

456
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:50.960
Totollian tells a story of an ancient
Roman general who assigned a servant to stand

457
00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:57.760
behind him whenever the crowd celebrated his
exploits and reminded him. And then they

458
00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:00.880
give the entire Latin phrase, I
won't try to show you how bad I

459
00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:07.159
learned Latin, but so let me
read it against you have a general whenever

460
00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:09.920
the crowd would come out and to
celebrate his exploits, and hey, look

461
00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:14.159
how great you are? This person
he basically had stand behind him. The

462
00:35:14.280 --> 00:35:16.840
servant would stand behind him. He
would say this, translating it into English.

463
00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:27.920
Remember that you are just a man. Remember that you will die.

464
00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:30.360
Hey, all the people are coming
out. You're amazing, You're great,

465
00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:36.280
You're this great general. You have
all these accomplishments. Oh what, You're

466
00:35:36.360 --> 00:35:37.679
the best. And the servant is
kind of standing behind him, going,

467
00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:44.400
hey, remember, remember you're just
a man, and remember you're going to

468
00:35:44.559 --> 00:35:49.760
die every day. Do we need
to be reminded. Remember you're just a

469
00:35:49.800 --> 00:36:00.679
person, You're just a human being, and you're going to die. It

470
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:05.119
seems this would inspire a sober and
humble attitude in the face of victory,

471
00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:09.159
and a reminder not to waste the
time of those who fell on the battlefold

472
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:14.079
behind will not enjoy. Hey,
hey, you may be the victorious general,

473
00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:16.119
but don't forget all those people who
die, So don't waste the time

474
00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:22.639
you've been given because they no longer
have it. Memento Maury, Remember you

475
00:36:23.079 --> 00:36:35.880
will die. Now this article,
there's a lot here, there's a lot

476
00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:39.280
here. I'm gonna skip down.
I'm going to skip down a little bit.

477
00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:44.599
And they have a section here.
Now what I will do if I

478
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:47.679
remember correctly, and I will probably
forget, I will send a link out

479
00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:53.639
to this article utilizing the Church one
app notification system and the notices. So,

480
00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:58.639
if you have the Church one app, CHURCHNE, download the Church o

481
00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:04.039
n E app Church one app,
then search and do a search for Theology

482
00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:07.079
Central make us your chosen broadcaster.
You'll get a notification at some point at

483
00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:09.840
the conclusion of this that we'll have
this article so you can read the whole

484
00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:14.159
thing. Because I think you really
should contemplate every single word in this article.

485
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:17.199
I really really do. I think
everyone should consider this. But they

486
00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:22.960
asked this question, why don't modern
Christians talk about memento mora, and so

487
00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:27.280
what they do is they talk about
how that, you know, it seems

488
00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:31.000
throughout Christian history momento moray. This
Latin phrase was very important to Christians.

489
00:37:32.440 --> 00:37:38.440
It says modern Christians are likely reluctant
to spend too much time talking about death

490
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:45.960
because the stereotypical hang on. All
right, here we go. I don't

491
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.960
know why my page completely updated.
All right, here we go. Modern

492
00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:54.000
Christians are likely reluctant to spend too
much time talking about death because of the

493
00:37:54.039 --> 00:37:59.920
stereotypical hell fire and brimstone. Preacher
of ages prior and the twentieth century.

494
00:38:00.119 --> 00:38:02.920
Falling World War One, the Korean
War, and Vietnam War, the culture

495
00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:08.199
and church teachings moved away from heavy
handed discussions of death and favor of emphasizing

496
00:38:08.440 --> 00:38:14.960
the love and abundant life in Christ, Jesus, love, peace, and

497
00:38:15.079 --> 00:38:22.039
unity, or the hallmarks of the
Jesus movement in the nineteen seventies. All

498
00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:25.320
right, so is it because we
moved away from more of a hell fire

499
00:38:25.400 --> 00:38:30.480
brimstone to a more love, peace
and unity and looking at all the good

500
00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:37.119
things Jesus will do for you in
this life. I mean Joelstein, I

501
00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:38.760
mean, I'm not saying he's the
one to be blamed for it, but

502
00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:44.519
I mean he kind of encapsuled,
capsule, encapsulated the philosophy of your best

503
00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:47.760
life now, And I think Christianity
always sells it. Hey, you come

504
00:38:47.800 --> 00:38:52.039
to Jesus, boom boom, boom
boom. You're not gonna struggle with sin

505
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:53.280
anymore. You're gonna be set free. You're gonna be this, You're gonna

506
00:38:53.280 --> 00:38:55.199
be that. You can now do
the will of God. Basically, you're

507
00:38:55.199 --> 00:39:04.960
gonna be perfect. Oh, you
focus on all the power and things God

508
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:07.239
is going to do for you now
not focus on the fact that now I'm

509
00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:10.760
a Christian, but I'm still going
to die. I'm still going to suffer.

510
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:15.920
But when I die, then I
will live because I'm in Christ.

511
00:39:15.920 --> 00:39:20.559
It's kind of a different emphasis.
Right, This approach had merit, but

512
00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:23.440
in recent times there has been a
swing back towards a greater appreciation for the

513
00:39:23.480 --> 00:39:30.280
brevity of life. Perhaps not surprising, Stoicism has been revived and gained popularity

514
00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:36.280
measurably so since nine to eleven,
and with increasing rapidity since the pandemic.

515
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:42.519
A Christian should prayerfully consider if this
is a time, considering active global conflicts,

516
00:39:42.639 --> 00:39:45.320
the rise of racial prejudice and hate, and the division visible even in

517
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:52.639
the Church, to revive thoughtful and
sensitive conversations about the realities of death,

518
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:55.800
the importance of seeing the value in
every day and the essential hope and inherence

519
00:39:57.039 --> 00:40:04.760
and following Jesus, who is the
resurrection in the life. Now they give

520
00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:07.880
us and I'm skipping some more,
right, I'm going to skip some more

521
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:13.519
here. Right, we could get
into the rise of We can get into

522
00:40:13.559 --> 00:40:15.880
a philosophical discussion, but I don't
want to go there right now, all

523
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:20.880
right, So they asked this question, what can you learn from Momento Moury.

524
00:40:21.719 --> 00:40:25.320
Right, I'm only going to focus
on one of them. They write

525
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:32.880
this, do what matters for eternity
now? Too often we're attempted to spend

526
00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:39.039
precious minutes, hours, days,
and even decades on diversions, distractions,

527
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:45.000
and demands that will not matter on
the day we face death. Momento Moury

528
00:40:45.039 --> 00:40:50.159
reminds us to choose carefully how we
spend our time creating art, writing,

529
00:40:50.199 --> 00:40:54.760
and music. We were designed to
create, loving deeply those who entrusted to

530
00:40:54.800 --> 00:41:00.719
our care, serving others with and
testifying to the truth of Christ, enjoying

531
00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:04.920
God and his gifts with gusto.
Now they they kind of approach it in

532
00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:09.079
a different way. Hey, hey, do what matters for eternity now?

533
00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:14.159
But some of those things are they
gonna matter in eternity? I mean,

534
00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:23.280
what do they say, create art, right, make music, enjoy all

535
00:41:23.320 --> 00:41:28.360
of God's gifts? Now? Is
that gonna matter in eternity? Is it

536
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:30.639
gonna be an eternity? Oh?
Wait, all those who created a lot

537
00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:37.400
of art come up here, all
of those who enjoyed music or made music

538
00:41:37.480 --> 00:41:42.119
way, all those who wrote.
I don't know if it's gonna work that

539
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:45.920
way. I have See that that's
see, that's where we struggle with,

540
00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:51.320
right, right? Is that that
that's always this struggle I think. I

541
00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:55.800
think there's always been a diversion or
division in Christianity. Mean, some will

542
00:41:55.800 --> 00:41:58.360
say no, no, no,
no, no, no. Your life

543
00:41:58.400 --> 00:42:00.480
needs to be focused on the things
of God, God, the Bible,

544
00:42:00.679 --> 00:42:07.360
fasting, prayer, church, memorizing
scripture, meditating on scripture. These are

545
00:42:07.360 --> 00:42:09.280
the things that brings God glory.
And this is all about the Kingdom of

546
00:42:09.320 --> 00:42:14.119
God. Do your work. You're
being equipped to do the work of ministry.

547
00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:17.119
Do the work of ministry. Start
worrying about enjoying all the gifts supposedly

548
00:42:17.159 --> 00:42:21.039
God gave you. Christians can't even
agree if it's a gift or it's a

549
00:42:21.079 --> 00:42:24.000
curse. Right, So someone would
say it's distractions. Stop with all of

550
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:27.320
that stuff, get busy with this, and others are like, no,

551
00:42:27.320 --> 00:42:29.519
no, no, see see,
God give us these wonderful gifts. So

552
00:42:29.719 --> 00:42:31.360
I'm going to spend my time enjoying
this and this and this. Okay,

553
00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:39.039
well how does that work? Are
you really putting God first? See?

554
00:42:39.320 --> 00:42:44.000
I think there's always that argument.
Momento Moury, what do you do?

555
00:42:44.519 --> 00:42:46.199
What do you put your focus on? Where do you spend your time,

556
00:42:46.360 --> 00:42:51.039
Where do you spend your dedication,
Where do you spend your focus? Everyone

557
00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:53.039
probably listen to me. You've got
hobbies, you got things you love to

558
00:42:53.079 --> 00:43:00.280
do. But in the light of
Memento Moury, you are going to die.

559
00:43:02.920 --> 00:43:06.960
Did those things matter in eternity?
How do you determine what's going to

560
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:15.440
matter in eternity? What's just going
to burn up? I think it's hard

561
00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:22.960
for us to see eternity. We
see now. So how should Memento Maury

562
00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:29.400
impact your life? How should it
impact your life? Now? I'm not

563
00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:30.800
going to go through everything in this
article. I will send it out,

564
00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:37.639
but I want you to consider this
phrase. I want you to consider this

565
00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:40.840
phrase carefully, all right. I
want you to really really get it.

566
00:43:42.239 --> 00:43:47.119
Remember you must die. Remember you
must die. I want you to write

567
00:43:47.119 --> 00:43:51.840
that phrase down. Remember you must
die. And I look, I don't

568
00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:53.960
have an I know something. I
will get emails because people get mad at

569
00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:57.880
me. I don't always have answers
here. Remember I have always tried to

570
00:43:57.920 --> 00:44:01.239
describe this podcast. I'm just a
sinner with a microphone trying to figure all

571
00:44:01.239 --> 00:44:06.639
of this out, like you are, all right, I feel in some

572
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:08.920
cases I may have a lot of
education, and it can offer some great

573
00:44:08.960 --> 00:44:13.840
insight. And I think I'm pretty
good at Exejesus and hermoneutics and church history.

574
00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:16.280
But I'm still just trying to figure
it all out, right, So

575
00:44:16.320 --> 00:44:19.199
I'm not trying to come at this
like I've got to figure it out.

576
00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:22.360
Remember you must Die? We all
need to write that down to day and

577
00:44:22.360 --> 00:44:25.280
go how should that impact my life? How is that going to impact my

578
00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:31.519
life? When this broadcast ends.
You know what I'm going to be.

579
00:44:31.639 --> 00:44:37.199
I'm going to be very upfront with
you when this broadcast ends, even though

580
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:39.159
I've been talking about my mento morey, Remember you Must Die. You know

581
00:44:39.199 --> 00:44:43.559
what I'm going to do. First
thing I'm going to do is I'm going

582
00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:47.119
to upload this episode to all the
podcasting apps. Then I will upload it

583
00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:51.639
to the Sermon Audio platform. Once
I get all of those notifications that it's

584
00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:53.280
been uploaded, I may hit play
for a couple of seconds, make sure

585
00:44:53.320 --> 00:44:55.719
it sounds good, all right good. Then you know what I'm going to

586
00:44:55.800 --> 00:44:58.960
do. I'm going to reach over
behind me. I'm going to turn on

587
00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:01.320
the AC unit to get the studio
cool again, and then I'm going to

588
00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:06.320
go downstairs and you know where I'm
going to find myself. About fifteen minutes

589
00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:09.039
later, I'm going to be in
the swimming pool because it needs to be

590
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:13.199
vacuumed and cleaned, So I'm going
to be doing that. Does that have

591
00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:20.760
any weight on eternity? Should we
even have a swimming pool? Is that

592
00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:27.039
a waste of time and money and
effort? And then after that, I'll

593
00:45:27.079 --> 00:45:30.280
probably get rid. I'll probably have
some food, right, I'll probably have

594
00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:35.840
some food. If you haven't had
the Chicago tavern style pizza from Pizza Hut,

595
00:45:35.920 --> 00:45:38.599
I would highly recommend it because it's
really good. But does that because

596
00:45:38.679 --> 00:45:42.199
I had that the other day and
it's really, really, really good,

597
00:45:42.440 --> 00:45:45.119
the tavern style pizza from Pizza Hut. Hmm, that's good? All right,

598
00:45:45.159 --> 00:45:49.119
all right? But I see,
I see, I see how excited

599
00:45:49.159 --> 00:45:52.960
I'm getting about food? Is that
really matter for eternity? Oh? And

600
00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:57.800
then you know what I may do. I may watch a movie tonight.

601
00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:02.000
Oh you know what I was doing
last night? Okay, you're ready?

602
00:46:02.280 --> 00:46:09.880
Oh? I was reading comic books. Yeah, the big Summer DC comic

603
00:46:10.280 --> 00:46:17.400
Summer Comic Crossover special where this crazy
lady who hates superheroes is trying to drain

604
00:46:17.480 --> 00:46:21.760
them of all their powers and it's
chaos and it's crazy. Oh it's a

605
00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:25.000
really good story. But see is
that going to matter for etorney? I

606
00:46:25.079 --> 00:46:30.599
know what you're saying. How unspiritual
of you. You should have been reading

607
00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:34.000
your Bible. You should have been
listening to sermons. You should have been

608
00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:51.000
chanting Psalm one nineteen. You you
heathen, you reprobate, memento Maury,

609
00:46:51.159 --> 00:47:00.679
I'm going to die. Remember you
must die, you will die. Was

610
00:47:00.119 --> 00:47:04.679
all of that a waste? You
could be arguing. You could have been

611
00:47:04.679 --> 00:47:07.960
broadcasting. You could have been doing
a devotional message. You could have been

612
00:47:07.960 --> 00:47:10.159
doing sermon reviews. You could have
been you could have been talking about what's

613
00:47:10.199 --> 00:47:14.400
going on? Why weren't you doing
that? You're absolutely right? I could

614
00:47:14.400 --> 00:47:22.000
have been How should this impact us? Do? How do you? Because

615
00:47:22.119 --> 00:47:29.079
look everywhere every single Christian listening to
my voice. You've made some decisions in

616
00:47:29.119 --> 00:47:31.199
your life. Look, you've reached
a point where you're comfortable. I guarantee

617
00:47:31.239 --> 00:47:35.559
you've reached a point where you're pretty
comfortable with how much time you read your

618
00:47:35.559 --> 00:47:37.519
Bible, whether you go to church
or don't go to church, whether you

619
00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:42.519
skip Wednesdays and Sunday nights. You've
you've found a place. You're comfortable.

620
00:47:42.760 --> 00:47:44.840
You're just like you know, well, we may go to Sunday school,

621
00:47:44.920 --> 00:47:47.639
may not go to Sunday school.
We may go to you've already you've become

622
00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:52.119
comfortable with that. How much you
read, how much you study, You've

623
00:47:52.119 --> 00:47:55.079
comfortable with it. Whether you've memorized
a scripture in fifteen years or not,

624
00:47:55.440 --> 00:47:59.920
You're comfortable. You've found a place
where you are comfortable. You feel like

625
00:48:00.119 --> 00:48:04.320
there's enough spirituality that you don't feel
too much guilt or too much shame.

626
00:48:04.960 --> 00:48:09.320
You feel somewhat comfortable, and you've
accepted it, and you still pursue all

627
00:48:09.320 --> 00:48:13.400
of these other things. Money goes
to How much money do you give to

628
00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:15.800
the work of God? How much
I mean, there's always the I mean

629
00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:20.960
every church in the world that the
joke has been in the church since I

630
00:48:21.079 --> 00:48:24.559
was a teenager. That church is
a lot like a sporting event. Right.

631
00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:30.880
You have twenty percent of the people
in that huge stadium who's doing all

632
00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:35.400
the work, and they're badly in
need of some rest because they're out there

633
00:48:35.440 --> 00:48:38.400
playing this sport. They're beating them
theirselves up there, giving their body to

634
00:48:38.480 --> 00:48:43.320
it. They discipline themselves, They
work, work, work, work work

635
00:48:43.360 --> 00:48:45.159
to be able to play this sport. So twenty percent of the people are

636
00:48:45.159 --> 00:48:49.960
in desperate need of rest. They're
in desperate need of some kind of relaxation.

637
00:48:50.119 --> 00:48:52.280
Well, the eighty percent of the
people in the stadium are there in

638
00:48:52.400 --> 00:48:58.559
badly need of some exercise because they're
just sitting there stuffing popcorn in their face

639
00:48:58.760 --> 00:49:00.639
or a hot dog, and they
haven't done anything, and they're just sitting

640
00:49:00.679 --> 00:49:04.719
there watching everyone else do all the
work. I've heard this my whole life.

641
00:49:04.760 --> 00:49:07.400
That's the church. You got ten
percent of the people who do everything,

642
00:49:07.800 --> 00:49:10.159
and you got the other rest of
the people who don't do anything.

643
00:49:10.239 --> 00:49:13.719
In fact, it's hard enough for
them to even show up. And in

644
00:49:13.719 --> 00:49:15.840
many cases they don't even give ten
percent of their income. They give none,

645
00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:20.719
So they don't give, they don't
show up, they don't do anything.

646
00:49:20.800 --> 00:49:23.639
They'll be the first to complain about
everything, but they won't do anything.

647
00:49:25.960 --> 00:49:29.760
Well wait a minute, wait a
minute, we metto Morey. You

648
00:49:30.159 --> 00:49:34.519
remember you're going to die, so
shouldn't you be dedicating yourself to the things

649
00:49:34.519 --> 00:49:43.880
of God? Now, See,
it's easy for pastors and churches to utilize

650
00:49:43.880 --> 00:49:47.360
this as a manipulative technique, right
because you can manipulate everyone. Hey,

651
00:49:47.480 --> 00:49:51.440
stop spending all your money and time
on this and this, and then give

652
00:49:51.480 --> 00:49:55.480
more money to this ministry. Be
here for every service and participate and volunteer

653
00:49:55.719 --> 00:49:59.800
because what you do for Christ will
last. Everything else will not last.

654
00:50:00.159 --> 00:50:04.840
It can also be very You can
be preached and with very questionable motives as

655
00:50:04.880 --> 00:50:07.559
well, because the church benefits.
When people stop with all of the other

656
00:50:07.599 --> 00:50:13.320
stuff and give their time and their
treasure and their attention to church, the

657
00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:16.320
church benefits. The church is better
off. They have more money, they

658
00:50:16.440 --> 00:50:21.000
got more volunteers, they got more
people helping, and they got people actually

659
00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:27.400
showing up to services where you don't
have to cancel them. But it can

660
00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:36.079
also be done in a selfish way, right, what's the answer. I

661
00:50:36.079 --> 00:50:44.000
don't know the balance we say,
see Christians talk a big game. Oh

662
00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:45.559
we love God with all of our
heart, mind, body, and soul.

663
00:50:45.800 --> 00:50:50.199
God is the most important thing.
Ask go to any church, what's

664
00:50:50.239 --> 00:50:54.079
the most important thing in your life? God? And family? God and

665
00:50:54.119 --> 00:50:59.320
family? Will you spend most of
your life doing everything else other than focusing

666
00:50:59.400 --> 00:51:01.920
on God or family? So I
don't really know if that's number one or

667
00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:06.400
number two. I think God maybe
even down there about number sixty three.

668
00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:08.719
If you look at the actual time, you focus on the things that God

669
00:51:08.840 --> 00:51:12.679
and now you say that people get
offended. But I think there's some truth

670
00:51:12.760 --> 00:51:16.239
to that. Now, will Memento
MORI make you go, hmmm, I'm

671
00:51:16.280 --> 00:51:22.119
going to die. This is a
limited amount of time. What do I

672
00:51:22.199 --> 00:51:25.559
do with this limited amount of time? Now, I think I've gotten the

673
00:51:25.559 --> 00:51:30.559
point across and enough for you to
consider. Let me. I started with

674
00:51:30.639 --> 00:51:35.079
kind of my own struggles with this, my whole Christian life, and especially

675
00:51:35.079 --> 00:51:37.119
because I became a Christian as a
teenager and was like, okay, right,

676
00:51:38.039 --> 00:51:42.760
whether I thought about I'm going to
die, I did realize I'm supposed

677
00:51:42.800 --> 00:51:45.760
to be living my life for Christ
because that's the only thing that's going to

678
00:51:45.800 --> 00:51:47.400
lie and I need to be put
on these other things aside. And I

679
00:51:47.480 --> 00:51:51.519
never got it. I never figured
out the proper balance. Well, now

680
00:51:51.519 --> 00:51:57.400
here I am. Let me explain
this story, all right. So my

681
00:51:57.840 --> 00:52:08.320
daughter, oldest daughter, she's obsessed
compulsively so with our family line. She

682
00:52:08.440 --> 00:52:14.719
wanted to trace back and she's done
the DNA and ancestry dot Com and she's

683
00:52:14.800 --> 00:52:19.679
just like research, research, research, and she traced back that my family.

684
00:52:19.719 --> 00:52:23.039
If we go all the way back
that our family served. That she

685
00:52:23.079 --> 00:52:28.480
found out she's like a granddaughter of
the Revolutionary War because one of the first

686
00:52:28.519 --> 00:52:34.159
people in our family was very instrumental
in the Revolutionary War. He worked and

687
00:52:34.360 --> 00:52:37.320
wrote letters to George Washington. Some
of those letters still exist. Not only

688
00:52:37.400 --> 00:52:45.960
that he worked, he was like
a general under Alexander Hamilton. He was

689
00:52:45.079 --> 00:52:52.960
very much involved in trying to gain
rights for Native Americans and trying to work

690
00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:55.960
with the different tribes to give them
rights and protect them and where they wouldn't

691
00:52:55.960 --> 00:53:00.320
be, you know, messed over. So Alexander Hamilton, George Washington to

692
00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:07.320
me, he goes way back with
some really important concepts during the Revolutionary War

693
00:53:07.360 --> 00:53:09.039
and things that happened. And I
won't go through the entire born story now.

694
00:53:09.079 --> 00:53:12.360
For me, I don't really care. I don't really. I'm like,

695
00:53:12.440 --> 00:53:14.559
well big, I mean, in
some ways it's cool, but I'm

696
00:53:14.559 --> 00:53:16.719
like, I don't really care what
my ancestors just did. They died,

697
00:53:17.000 --> 00:53:20.800
that's all I know. And here
I am, okay. And I know

698
00:53:20.840 --> 00:53:23.440
you may think that sounds horrible,
but I'm never I'm not. I don't

699
00:53:23.480 --> 00:53:27.000
like nostalgia. I don't like to
look back, even when it comes to

700
00:53:27.119 --> 00:53:30.360
music. Yes, there's a lot
of older music I love, but I

701
00:53:30.360 --> 00:53:32.840
would rather listen to new stuff eighty
percent of the time and just mix in

702
00:53:32.960 --> 00:53:37.679
some of the older stuff because I
like to move forward. Older movies.

703
00:53:37.960 --> 00:53:39.559
Sometimes I'll pull up an older movie, but I'd rather watch a new movie.

704
00:53:39.679 --> 00:53:44.199
Sometimes I want to, I'll get
in a little marathon for a older

705
00:53:44.599 --> 00:53:45.920
I always like move forward. I
like to move forward. I don't like

706
00:53:45.960 --> 00:53:49.559
to do a lot of looking back, because you know what, you can't

707
00:53:49.599 --> 00:53:52.320
go back. It's over, it's
done. Give it up. Stop talking

708
00:53:52.360 --> 00:53:54.880
about the good old days. They're
gone. It's over. It's done.

709
00:53:54.559 --> 00:53:59.000
Forget Can you move on? For
crying out loud, I can't say when

710
00:53:59.039 --> 00:54:01.400
older people are like, oh all
the music today, stop it. Okay,

711
00:54:01.559 --> 00:54:05.719
your day is over. It's done. Stop right. But she was

712
00:54:05.760 --> 00:54:07.920
going on and on and on and
on about this, so she went further

713
00:54:07.960 --> 00:54:12.440
and further into our family line.
And when she started realizing, as you

714
00:54:12.480 --> 00:54:19.000
get especially more to my more immediate
relatives, man, they all died young.

715
00:54:21.239 --> 00:54:23.840
And she's like, she's like,
hey, dad, you know,

716
00:54:24.719 --> 00:54:30.760
if you base it off everyone else
before you, you may have ten years.

717
00:54:31.320 --> 00:54:36.159
If you're lucky, your mom didn't
make it to forty. Your dad

718
00:54:36.159 --> 00:54:38.760
didn't make it. I think he
made it to maybe sixty something he died.

719
00:54:39.239 --> 00:54:44.360
You don't have long okay, you
got about ten years left. And

720
00:54:44.400 --> 00:54:46.159
of course saying it more as a
joke, kind of a morbid, dark

721
00:54:46.239 --> 00:54:49.960
humor, but that's okay. I'm
all down with that. And and then

722
00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:53.719
I was like, that's funny.
Stop calling me at three am to tell

723
00:54:53.760 --> 00:54:58.079
me about your research. And because
she does call me two am, three

724
00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:00.960
am, four am, and I'm
like, yeah, I'm going to die

725
00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:05.440
because you never let me sleep,
okay, But so so we have our

726
00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:12.280
little joke, and then I start
thinking about it. Man, ten years,

727
00:55:13.199 --> 00:55:15.760
If I make it ten years,
I'm like, like, I'm beating

728
00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:20.840
out my whole family. Like I'm
gonna be like, I'm gonna be the

729
00:55:20.880 --> 00:55:23.360
alpha dog. I'm going to lead
a leader of the pack. I'm the

730
00:55:23.400 --> 00:55:27.880
survival of the fittest. I outlived
all of you. Yeah, come on,

731
00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:34.840
what do you gotta say now?
But ten years, for crying out

732
00:55:34.840 --> 00:55:45.440
loud, ten years, that's gonna
be like, that's gonna be like gone.

733
00:55:45.039 --> 00:55:49.679
So then I started thinking, huh, now what do I do?

734
00:55:49.920 --> 00:55:52.360
What do I do? What do
I do? Now? Everything I'm about

735
00:55:52.400 --> 00:55:54.639
to say. You're gonna think I'm
fleshly, You're gonna think I'm ungodly,

736
00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:58.559
and hey, I'm just being down. I'm just gonna look, I've stated

737
00:55:58.599 --> 00:56:02.440
it if if anyone ever has any
misconception that I'm look, I'm only a

738
00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:07.360
podcaster who's a sinner. I don't
sell this any other way. I'm just

739
00:56:07.519 --> 00:56:10.519
a center with a microphone, That's
all I am. So I'm just gonna

740
00:56:10.519 --> 00:56:14.960
tell you my fleshly thoughts. I
start thinking, so what should I do?

741
00:56:17.159 --> 00:56:21.320
Ten years? Let's just go with
ten years? Like I just started

742
00:56:21.360 --> 00:56:23.000
going, like as if I know
it's not a fact, obviously, I

743
00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:25.840
know it's not a fact, but
let's just go I mean, because reality

744
00:56:25.960 --> 00:56:30.400
is I mean, you know,
with my all the things that happened in

745
00:56:30.400 --> 00:56:31.840
the military and my seizure disorder,
you know, I could be gone any

746
00:56:31.880 --> 00:56:35.920
day, right. The doctor's always
used to tell me you have a cazear

747
00:56:35.960 --> 00:56:38.360
disorder, it's gonna kill you,
all right. So but I so,

748
00:56:38.360 --> 00:56:40.920
so I know in one way,
but I just go with the ten year

749
00:56:42.039 --> 00:56:44.440
mark. Just go with that,
right, all right? So then I

750
00:56:44.440 --> 00:56:49.440
started thinking, Okay, well,
if the church my kind of ministry,

751
00:56:49.480 --> 00:56:52.480
time is kind of coming to an
end. The church is basically over where.

752
00:56:52.679 --> 00:56:55.199
That's kind of done. I'm kind
of finished with that. So now

753
00:56:55.239 --> 00:57:01.199
I'm a I'm a podcaster, a
spiritual, fill logically minded podcaster. All

754
00:57:01.280 --> 00:57:06.800
right. So then I started down, what am I really accomplishing? I

755
00:57:06.880 --> 00:57:12.480
mean, come on, I spend
hours a day. Does anyone really care?

756
00:57:12.639 --> 00:57:17.039
I mean, Memento MORI. Remember, you're going to die. Are

757
00:57:17.039 --> 00:57:22.000
you really accomplishing anything? And when
you're gone, nobody's going to care.

758
00:57:22.400 --> 00:57:25.719
Your podcast is going to be deleted. No one's going to remember one thing

759
00:57:25.800 --> 00:57:30.239
about your stupid episodes? So do
I do? I keep putting an hour

760
00:57:30.559 --> 00:57:37.400
after hour, trying to challenge hermeneutical
principles, trying to challenge the way the

761
00:57:37.480 --> 00:57:43.400
church does things, putting for theology, challenging us to consider Memento moray some

762
00:57:44.039 --> 00:57:46.840
you know Latin phrase, What what
do I? What do I do?

763
00:57:46.880 --> 00:57:51.239
I double down? You got ten
years? You better start doing like eight

764
00:57:51.280 --> 00:57:53.519
episodes a day. When I get
to the end of those ten years,

765
00:57:53.559 --> 00:57:57.639
let's see. Then it does come
to it. Whoa you did? Look

766
00:57:57.840 --> 00:58:00.320
you did? You did? Fourth
thout? I had five thousand episodes a

767
00:58:00.400 --> 00:58:05.360
year for ten years. Wow?
Great? And then you're gonna die.

768
00:58:05.440 --> 00:58:07.280
You know what's gonna matter. I
mean, come on, let's just be

769
00:58:07.280 --> 00:58:12.039
painfully honest. You know what.
Nobody's gonna care. Come on, you

770
00:58:12.320 --> 00:58:15.239
can sit there and try to sell
it all day. Nobody's going to care.

771
00:58:15.480 --> 00:58:19.400
I will be replaced just like that. And look, I've always known

772
00:58:19.440 --> 00:58:22.440
this. I've talked about in the
military, watching people have their retirement ceremony

773
00:58:22.599 --> 00:58:28.559
and then watching them leave. They're
literally their office is taken five minutes after

774
00:58:28.559 --> 00:58:30.880
they walk out the building, and
people for they may talk about them once

775
00:58:31.000 --> 00:58:35.760
or twice, but usually within a
week or two, nobody even knows they

776
00:58:35.800 --> 00:58:38.000
care, and they may come back
six months, a year later. A

777
00:58:38.039 --> 00:58:40.320
good chance a lot of the people
that were there when they were there have

778
00:58:40.360 --> 00:58:44.960
already been PCs. They've already moved
on in their military career. And everybody's

779
00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:47.039
looking at you like I don't know
who you are, I don't care,

780
00:58:49.480 --> 00:58:52.760
but I did this and I did
that. Nobody cares, buddy, go

781
00:58:53.000 --> 00:58:59.280
what you want. Nobody cares what
you accomplished. That was yesterday, This

782
00:58:59.360 --> 00:59:06.440
is today. We move forward.
We don't look back. You can think

783
00:59:06.480 --> 00:59:10.639
of some musical artists that is like
changed to music forever, ask ask a

784
00:59:10.679 --> 00:59:14.440
thirteen year old, fourteen year old, fifteen year old about some of those

785
00:59:14.519 --> 00:59:19.039
I don't even know who they are. Now. The music still exists because

786
00:59:19.079 --> 00:59:22.480
I'm streaming services still there. Maybe
some young people will stumble upon it,

787
00:59:22.519 --> 00:59:25.119
but in many cases they don't know, and you know what, they don't

788
00:59:25.159 --> 00:59:29.519
care. They'd be rather listening to
something from today, which makes sense.

789
00:59:31.280 --> 00:59:38.920
So I started thinking, ten years
what do I do? Do? I

790
00:59:38.920 --> 00:59:43.559
say? You know what? Get
out what the getting's good? Let's end

791
00:59:43.559 --> 00:59:46.840
this baby, wrap this up?
Now? What am I gonna do with

792
00:59:46.920 --> 00:59:50.679
ten years? Now? If I
don't do a podcast, what do I

793
00:59:50.719 --> 00:59:53.440
do? Well? What would that
mean for my spiritual life? My spiritual

794
00:59:53.519 --> 00:59:58.159
life is so much connected to this
podcast. It could be utterly like it

795
00:59:58.159 --> 01:00:01.159
would be like taking a gun and
sticking to my head and spiritually speak.

796
01:00:01.280 --> 01:00:07.280
You may think that's ridiculous, but
you know, so much of my reading

797
01:00:07.360 --> 01:00:10.840
and studying is about what I'm going
to say behind it. If microphone,

798
01:00:10.920 --> 01:00:15.519
I read and study and then to
come to this microphone. It's almost like

799
01:00:15.559 --> 01:00:19.719
my devotional time. It's my spiritual
time, like it's all connected. You

800
01:00:19.880 --> 01:00:22.320
eliminate this, I like, I
don't like, do I just read and

801
01:00:22.360 --> 01:00:23.920
study, and now I have no
what do I do with it? What

802
01:00:23.960 --> 01:00:25.920
do I do with it? Like? I don't know how to You can

803
01:00:25.960 --> 01:00:29.480
say, well you shouldn't think that
way. Well, maybe I shouldn't,

804
01:00:29.480 --> 01:00:32.760
but I've been thinking that way for
basically since I've become a Christian. I've

805
01:00:32.760 --> 01:00:38.360
always been involved in teaching to some
capacity from very early on. It's never

806
01:00:38.440 --> 01:00:42.840
stopped. So all of my study
is always I have an outlet for it,

807
01:00:42.920 --> 01:00:45.280
no more outlet? What do I
do? I don't know. I

808
01:00:45.280 --> 01:00:49.800
don't even know what to do?
Like that could be devastating. I don't

809
01:00:49.840 --> 01:00:53.599
know what do I do? What
do I do? If I if it

810
01:00:53.639 --> 01:00:58.440
wasn't there? What would I be? Would I just then dedicate my life

811
01:00:58.440 --> 01:01:02.960
to I don't know me music and
movies and comic books and reading and wrestling

812
01:01:04.039 --> 01:01:07.360
and all the other hobbies that I
would I just dedicate myself to that?

813
01:01:07.760 --> 01:01:08.920
What would that look like? Well? Wait a minute, I got to

814
01:01:08.920 --> 01:01:12.800
be putting God first? Well how
do I put God first? If I

815
01:01:12.800 --> 01:01:15.159
don't have this podcast? I mean, this is like, this is how

816
01:01:15.199 --> 01:01:19.480
I know to do that? Right? We say, and some people say,

817
01:01:19.519 --> 01:01:22.119
no, you do this for your
own ego. I won't deny I'm

818
01:01:22.119 --> 01:01:27.119
a I'm a selfish center. But
I do know that there's a lot of

819
01:01:27.199 --> 01:01:31.039
like there's a lot of my own
spiritual like you, it's like me,

820
01:01:31.800 --> 01:01:38.760
it's like my own spiritual walk on
display. I'm not coming at this like

821
01:01:38.800 --> 01:01:42.760
I'm better than anyone, I'm more
godly than anyone. I'm coming like like,

822
01:01:42.840 --> 01:01:45.280
hey, how are you doing today
in your Christian life? Well,

823
01:01:45.320 --> 01:01:47.079
this is where I am today,
And you kind of hear what I'm thinking

824
01:01:47.199 --> 01:01:51.840
or talking about in real time,
so that this is kind of like I'm

825
01:01:52.119 --> 01:01:53.440
like, this is not just like
it's a part. So I don't know,

826
01:01:53.559 --> 01:01:58.920
like momento more, what do I
do? What do I don't?

827
01:01:58.920 --> 01:02:01.119
I don't know. Remember, you're
going to die. I know I'm going

828
01:02:01.159 --> 01:02:08.079
to die. How do you work? How do you balance it out?

829
01:02:09.199 --> 01:02:12.800
Now? In some ways, whether
I have five years left, ten years

830
01:02:12.880 --> 01:02:15.880
left, three days left. In
some ways, you know what, it

831
01:02:15.920 --> 01:02:20.719
shouldn't matter. I should have still
been putting God first, irregardless of how

832
01:02:20.760 --> 01:02:23.039
much time is on the calendar or
how much time is on the clock ticking

833
01:02:23.079 --> 01:02:25.880
down. It shouldn't matter. But
you know what the reality is, I

834
01:02:25.880 --> 01:02:30.760
don't think we always put God first. And I don't know that balance,

835
01:02:30.920 --> 01:02:32.920
because I think if you struggle with
that, I think you just I think

836
01:02:32.960 --> 01:02:37.960
you find yourself in a very dark
abyss. Now, on one hand,

837
01:02:37.119 --> 01:02:39.480
here's what I do know, and
this is the one thing that does give

838
01:02:39.519 --> 01:02:44.599
me peace. Whether I put God
first or whether I put God in like

839
01:02:44.719 --> 01:02:49.480
one hundredth place at the back of
the list, none of that has anything

840
01:02:49.519 --> 01:02:52.400
to do with my salvation. My
salvation is not dependent on where I put

841
01:02:52.440 --> 01:02:55.599
God. My salvation is where I
am, and that is in Christ Jesus.

842
01:02:55.679 --> 01:03:00.719
And I am eternally secure by faith
alone, not by what I do.

843
01:03:00.760 --> 01:03:04.400
And what I do doesn't prove anything, because my faith is based off

844
01:03:04.400 --> 01:03:07.320
an imputed righteousness, not an infused
righteousness, and I have to prove that

845
01:03:07.360 --> 01:03:14.320
infused righteousness by what I do.
I can't prove it imputed righteousness. But

846
01:03:14.639 --> 01:03:17.199
I don't know how you live your
life knowing you're going to die and being

847
01:03:17.239 --> 01:03:22.480
told now because you know that you
should only live for what will matter in

848
01:03:22.559 --> 01:03:27.760
eternity. You should only focus on
what is good for the Kingdom of God.

849
01:03:28.039 --> 01:03:31.320
God should be first in everything you
do that I preach is so good?

850
01:03:31.719 --> 01:03:40.679
What does that look like? And
if I'm being honest with you,

851
01:03:45.800 --> 01:03:49.719
that is kind of what led me
to the ministry idea in the first place.

852
01:03:50.320 --> 01:03:52.440
Wait, I'm supposed to put God
first. God is a book.

853
01:03:52.639 --> 01:03:57.280
Well, then the only way to
pull that off is my job be well

854
01:03:57.320 --> 01:04:00.880
God. Now, I had no
idea that ultimate I was gonna end up

855
01:04:00.880 --> 01:04:12.079
being a bi vocational pastor where yeah, yeah, I destroyed everything. I

856
01:04:12.079 --> 01:04:18.679
don't know. Memento Maury, Remember
you're going to die? What do you

857
01:04:18.719 --> 01:04:23.280
do with that phrase? Have you
found the balance in all of this?

858
01:04:24.920 --> 01:04:30.079
Does it even bother you? Or
have you become so comfortable with it you

859
01:04:30.119 --> 01:04:33.719
don't even care anymore? You can
email me News I F at yahoo dot

860
01:04:33.719 --> 01:04:39.480
com. News I F at yahoo
dot com. Now, after I've talked

861
01:04:39.480 --> 01:04:43.880
about I'm going to die and putting
God first, I'm just gonna be honest

862
01:04:43.920 --> 01:04:45.599
with you. I'm gonna I'm getting
ready to upload all of this, and

863
01:04:45.639 --> 01:04:49.760
I'm gonna go downstairs and do things
that really have nothing to do with God

864
01:04:51.280 --> 01:04:57.119
responsibility. I got to get the
pull cleaned and then watch your movie.

865
01:04:57.760 --> 01:05:00.199
Now, I'm gonna try to make
the movie a spiritual exercise, because I'll

866
01:05:00.199 --> 01:05:02.360
probably think about the concepts in the
movie from a spiritual perspective. So I

867
01:05:02.400 --> 01:05:06.199
will do that. Does that count? I don't know. I may read

868
01:05:06.199 --> 01:05:11.639
some more comic books. I don't
know. I may listen to music I

869
01:05:11.679 --> 01:05:16.599
don't know. I may just walk
around in circles going. I don't know,

870
01:05:18.320 --> 01:05:23.920
because this topic can drive me to
the point of going because I don't

871
01:05:23.920 --> 01:05:27.000
know how to balance it. But
you figure it out and let me know.

872
01:05:27.039 --> 01:05:33.039
Thanks for listening. Everyone have a
wonderful day. I'm mentor more. God bless