August 26, 2013 Podcast

Show open: announcements, teasers, and the Jesus funnel

The produced intro plays, then the hosts welcome listeners to the Monday 10pm broadcast on livefromthepath.org and the Saturday 7pm rebroadcast on 99.3 KTIA. They tease the episode: Bible reading from Luke, what listeners have in common with Miley Cyrus, and Pope-style advice, with Dan Hudson running Dear LFTP tonight while Ben Foust is out on sabbatical. One host introduces 'the Jesus funnel' bit: Jesus works through people like a funnel, with the hosts as the wide part where the penny just spins around.

What you and Miley Cyrus have in common

• How should Christians respond when a celebrity acts outrageously — with outrage or with prayer?

The hosts discuss Miley Cyrus's scandalous MTV Video Music Awards performance and the wave of Christian outrage on Facebook and Christian blogs. The main framing: her public sin is the embodiment of the same sin in the outraged onlookers, who are 'Miley Cyrus, just not on TV.' They talk about fathers and daughters, the 30-plus crew members who approved the performance, pop culture as an inverted moral compass, the teen-idol cycle of rebellion (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Lindsay Lohan), and how Hollywood celebrates and sells the sinful nature.

Pray for her instead of railing: self-righteousness convicts

Picking up the Miley Cyrus discussion, a host argues the dominant Christian reaction is self-righteousness, which he calls the one thing God cannot work with. He shares a Facebook post from a friend asking whether anyone actually prayed for her instead of railing against her. The hosts extend the point to daily life: when you notice someone else's sin, do you pray for them or just gossip? The chapter closes with the charge to get off the 'self-righteous donkey' and start praying for people, and for those who pray, to start talking to people too.

Luke 19: the triumphal entry and 'the Lord has need of it'

A host reads Luke 19:28-35 in his own words: Jesus sends two disciples to untie a colt, telling them to say 'the Lord has need of it.' He explains the prophecy-fulfillment background (the Savior riding a donkey versus the conquering king on a horse in Revelation, 'Faithful and True'), and the double-edged point that God could have done it any way but chose to use his people: everything God does is for his glory and our joy.

The Buick analogy: would you hand over your stuff?

• If someone from your church said 'the Lord has need of this,' would you hand it over?

The hosts modernize the colt story: Jesus a town over from Barry's house needs a Buick, and the disciples are sent to take it with 'the Lord has need of this.' They wrestle with whether they would actually hand over a car to a fellow church member making that claim, how little they trust anyone, the faith of the colt's owners, and what it would have been like to be the awkward disciples sent on the errand (plus a theory that Judas, as treasurer, may have prearranged it). It turns convicting: tithing statistics, and the question of which possession is each listener's 'proverbial donkey' they would not give God.

Radio show vs. hands-and-feet ministry

• Does the radio show itself count as ministry, or should the hosts take a sabbatical to do more hands-on ministry work?

A host confesses he considered whether the show should take a sabbatical so the hosts could do more literal hands-and-feet ministry, then defends the show's value as fellowship that has strengthened people's walks. The hosts riff on the idea of a daily Christian talk show with call-ins, and on evangelism style: skip the heavy 'steak' (like opening with why Joel Osteen is wrong) and start with the love of Christ, but also drop the church platitudes that sound like nonsense to outsiders.

Improv: the disciples rehearse the donkey heist

Pure comedy improv: the hosts act out the two disciples on the walk to fetch the colt, rehearsing who says 'the Lord has need of this,' who watches for onlookers, and who unties while the other runs. Includes the 'Dang it, James' and 'sandwich Joe' riffs.

Sponsors: the Eisenhower team and Westfield Veterinary

Station ID and sponsor read: Bob Eisenhower of the Eisenhower team (real estate, eisenhowerteam.com) and the Westfield Veterinary Clinic in Johnston, Iowa, with a joke that Eisenhower deals in houses, not donkeys or tomfoolery.

Pope-style advice: get out of God's way

Troy gives his pope-style advice (after the running bit's premise: 10,000 people mistake your house for the pope's vacation home and will not leave until you give them advice). He tells of years of fruitless gospel conversations with his brother Trey, then praying for God to remove him and use someone else: Trey's best friend from high school was saved, invited Trey to church, and Trey was saved and baptized. The same pattern repeated with a coworker, whose mother stepped in after Troy prayed to step aside. The advice: pray wholeheartedly, accept you may not be the tool God uses, and ask him to put in whoever he wants.

Dear LFTP: is medication the way to go for anxiety?

• Is medication the way to go for anxiety?

Dan reads a Dear LFTP question from a believing man in a Facebook group: negative and angry, his wife begging him to go back on anxiety medication, asking 'is medication the way to go?' Troy argues the fruit of the Spirit is peace and the man should examine his walk with Christ; another host pushes back that anxiety is not a faith deficit and medication is not a bad thing. Dan lands in the middle: first try Life Transformation Group accountability with a monthly check-in with his wife, and go toward medication if it is not helping.

KTIA sign-off and sponsor ads

The hosts sign off the 99.3 KTIA radio portion, thank the sponsors, and point radio listeners to the podcast at livefromthepath.org for the bonus content. Then two produced sponsor spots: a 'Dr. Fido' comedy ad for Westfield Veterinary Hospital and a Bob Eisenhower / Eisenhower team real-estate ad.