Why Manifesting Feels Harmless And Isn’t

We talk about why manifesting is so normal in everyday talk and why it can subtly move our trust from God to the “universe” or our own will. We connect modern spiritual trends to what Scripture says about witchcraft, superstition, freedom in Christ, and the daily choice to crucify sin instead of excusing it.  

•  defining manifesting and why it feels harmless  
• treating the universe like a higher authority  
• spiritual roots and why intention-based spirituality conflicts with the gospel  
• stories and warnings around witchcraft and getting what we want fast  
• Leviticus and Deuteronomy on sorcery, mediums, and false spiritual power  
• evil eye symbolism, myths, and why Christians rely on prayer  
• Galatians 5 on freedom, flesh, and fruit of the Spirit  
• pride, being blind to sin, and learning to receive correction  
• social media influence, identity confusion, and testing feelings against truth  
•  confessing sin, finding accountability, and walking with godly community  

Transcript

Welcome Back And Life Update

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Savor the Savior podcast. I'm your host, Avery. I have a little special guest here today. Now that I've moved back home, I graduated college literally so crazy. So my little best friend, Minnie Me, is joining me. If you know Pepper, you love Pepper. She's the best. And yeah, so grateful she's joining us. She's she won't say much though. Today we have some very exciting stuff to talk about. Now, I had a youth

What People Mean By Manifesting

SPEAKER_00 0:45

student of mine actually ask me this, and I was like, honestly, this would be a really great topic to talk about because I do feel like this is a very normalized thing. And something called manifesting. Yeah, and I feel like even growing up, it was like, oh, did we really like we haven't really named that, you know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like when I was in high school and you know, even early years of college, it's like it's really easy to like fall into obviously what people around you say, the slang, all of that, and manifesting was something I feel like was just so normalized, and people are just like, oh, I'm manifesting this and I'm manifesting that. And basically, basically, manifest itself just means to like name something clearly, to show something clearly, and like through your thoughts or whatever, and bring it to a reality, and it's like, ooh, like I'm manifesting that I'm gonna find my husband tomorrow at a coffee shop, and it's like that's essentially what manifesting is is like all the things, and people manifest all different kinds of things, but you know, people we've just kind of caught on to the slang, and there's actually like a lot more deeper stuff within manifesting, and I just find it really interesting, and you know, when it first comes to mind when I think of like manifesting, I think I I feel like when people are doing it, it's like we kind of do it thoughtlessly, you know what I'm saying? And some people maybe they don't, maybe they're like, oh no, I'm really serious about manifesting. And I think people usually like when they do it, they're like, Oh, I'm calling upon the universe, and I'm like asking the universe these things, or the universe is gonna give me. We're kind of making the universe into some type of being kind of thing, which I don't feel like it is, it's something that God, oh goodbye. Sad. Oh, she wants to leave. That is so sad. Pepper. Okay, okay, now that we're back. And when I think of manifesting, I think of you know, some people just calling upon the universe and treating the universe like they're it's their higher authority, and so sometimes we don't think of they're thinking of like the universe as their god in a way too. You know, when people ask the universe, they're like, oh, the universe give me this, universe, whatever. And it's like I just like don't feel like we're giving the universe these qualities of like a god, and that's not it at all. And

When The Universe Replaces God

SPEAKER_00 3:20

God created the universe, and so he is the one with ultimate authority and dominion over the universe, over us, over all things. And actually, what's really fascinating about this is it actually manifesting in all of it actually originated from Hinduism, and it's so fascinating, and like for Hindus, it's very common to like speak things into existence of like reality, you know, like, oh, I'm going to find my husband, da-da-da-da-da. When you're speaking those things and things to that become a reality, and that's a very, very common in Hinduism. So that I feel like in and of itself speaks for itself, you know? And it's kind of like using you're you're kind of saying, Oh, I'm enough to like you're using your own personal willpower and like universal energy to bring what we want. So, like, I enough by myself am joining with the spirits around me or whatever to manifest this and it's gonna come true, kind of thing. And it's actually so fascinating, it's actually known to be like working, described as working with spirit rather than alone, and it's more involves setting an intention and allowing the universe to bring it to you rather than to force a specific outcome. But when you're like, it's not just something like you're the universe and you are like co-working together, it's not like more you or more the universe, but like you're doing it together, which is so weird. And I don't like that at all because the whole point and the whole purpose of the gospel is bringing ourselves lower and no, like realizing like we're sinful, we fall short, we can't do everything on our own, and that's why we trust God, and we know that his he has good plans for us, and we know that he has already done so much for us, and why wouldn't he continue to be for us and because he's so loving and because he's so good, and so obviously I have like a whole

Witchcraft Stories And Real Stakes

SPEAKER_00 5:30

bunch of uh feelings about manifesting. Um, but anyways, why God's laws even speak against us, especially in the old testament, we see this a lot, and not just manifesting, um, I would say like also on that kind of topic, and these are similar but different, like you know what I'm saying? I feel like all this kind of goes into like the spiritual realm of things of like witchcraft. And this is something I feel like for so long it was like, oh, I don't want to talk about that because that seems scary and that seems uncomfortable, and that seems um what's the word? It just doesn't seem like I'm like, oh, if I avoid it, if I don't talk about it, maybe I'll just act like it's not a thing. Yikes. So yeah, like I'm like, okay, maybe if I just ignore it, it's not a thing. Not true. And actually, super fascinating. I listened to a podcast, I think it was Madison Pruitt's podcast, and she had an ex-witch on her podcast. Everyone needs to go listen to that episode. Stay true, ex-witch. Look it up, it'll pop up. It is so fascinating and crazy how she came to know the Lord and all of these things that she told us about witchcraft, and I will share a little bit, but go watch because it's it's great. Basically, like she was talking about how her grandma was a witch, and she was like, Oh, I'm a good witch, and all these things, and so she like believed that there was like good witches and bad witches, which is not really a thing. Witch witchcraft in its in of itself is wholly bad. It's not like, oh, you can be a good witch, that's not really a thing. So, anyways, she just learned, and I was like, I didn't realize it worked like this, but like for witchcraft, like people I feel like they fall into it too because they can get what they want. It's to be like, oh, I want money and I'm going, you know, there's certain tales or whatever, like you can put money under your doormat, and then the longer you wait, the more money will be there when you look next. And like that literally happened to her, and there was more money. And and I mean, like, that's insane. Like, you don't even think about that. But I I never really thought, like, oh no, like literally, it's it's the enemy granting your wishes so you can sell your soul and be a follower of his because it's worth it to him. He can he'll give you all the money, he'll give you all the fame, he'll give you whatever you want as long as you stay away from Jesus and stay away from God. And that that might mean, you know, all of the things that come with witchcraft, but you know, it's very dangerous, it's very, it's very compromising to your faith, and it's very, very horrible. Like, uh, in the old testament, there was witchcraft was very common, and as much as I thought like it wasn't really common now, I think I just was unaware of how common it was. I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I lived in Lakeland, and there was a it's one of the like Lakeland Facebook groups. You know how you can be in Facebook groups? You can be in Facebook groups that are around your area, and so I was one of these groups, and basically there was someone who did a post and was like, Where are my fellow witches? I want to connect and find some friends. And I open this and I am just scrolling, and it's just hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people commenting, like, witch here, oh I'm a witchy, like all of these things. And I literally am just like, Are you serious? There's that many of them, and I that just like kind of proved to me how like unaware I was of like that kind of you know spiritual realm and world, and um, and

What Scripture Says About Sorcery

SPEAKER_00 9:20

it's honestly like really disheartening, but important to talk about. So here we are, and so like seriously in scripture we can also see this in Leviticus 20, 27, it says that sorcery was actually punishable by death, and it was a crime against God Himself, essentially to invoke these evil powers would violate the first commandment to have no other gods except our God. And um, sorcery was this rebellion against God and his authority. So you're basically taking things into your own hands, you're saying, I know better, I my authority, I have better authority, I have more authority. You're discrediting God for his authority, you're saying I don't trust God enough to give me what I want, so I'm gonna take it into my own hands. Essentially, is what that what's going on, because it's like instead of praying to God and asking him, Would you give me this thing or would you bless me with this thing? This witchcraft and whatever manifesting is like, oh, I'm taking it into my own hands because I don't trust that God will either give me this thing or I don't want to wait on it. I think also the problem is we're very, very impatient people, and since witchcraft is like that, you know, it's for a split second, it's like you um it's uh always comes at a cost, you know. I talked about this when Maddie was on the podcast and she went to Zambia because there was a lot of witchcraft and that kind of stuff there, and it's very, very, you know, in different cultures too, you'll see it a lot more than other cultures, and that's where she went, it was very, very common and uh popular, and so super interesting, always comes at a cost, it's never what you think it is, and you will always be giving up something of yourself, whatever, uh, for what you want or whatever. And instead of you know, going to God and praying, and like, hey, if this is something that you know is part of your will, then would you bless me with this kind of thing? And so, witchcraft, not uh yikes, and so yeah, obviously in Leviticus, that's clear, Old Testament. This is very common. God had to address it. He was like, No witchcraft, punishable by death. Oh, yeah, magic. We could talk about that too. And yeah, it's crazy that this talks about this because I feel like when you're like a kid and you're like magic, it's like I feel like you can have like uh I don't know, I feel like magic. And also another thing that I didn't really realize was like actually a thing, you know. And I feel like I would have thought that, you know, because there's all these magic tricks, it's like, oh, but you actually have a way to perform that, you know what I'm saying? Okay, do not turn to mediums or necromancers, I don't know how to say that. Do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. God again, just addressing himself to be our first and our only God. Again, the greatest commandment. You're making, you know, other idols, you're putting other things um above God, that kind of thing. And Leviticus 20, 27 is the one that says, A man or a woman who is a median or necromiser shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, and their blood shall be upon them. Deuteronomy eighteen, nine through twelve. When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering, and do not let your people practice fortune telling, or use sorcery, interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells or function as mediums or psychics, or forth or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. When these people are entering the land that God is giving them, He is very specific. Do not fall into the customs and the ways that the people around you are living. The people around you may be doing this, maybe doing witchcraft or sorcery or magic or any of those things. Don't do it. It is detestable. I d you know, those things you're calling on spirits, you're calling on things that you are honestly giving more authority to than God, and God is meant to be our ultimate authority, He is meant to be the person that we call upon and we pray to, and we understand that we should understand that when we pray to God that yes, he hears us, will he always give us what we want if it's not necessary for the kingdom of God? Not always, I don't think he will, or I think that, you know, there's a right timing to everything, you know. I think a lot of times, you know, especially even in high school, it's like, oh, I want my husband, I want my husband. Not everyone finds their husband in high school, you know, and that might be a timing thing. It might be like a Lord is refining me thing and he is waiting until I'm ready for it, you know. I think you can still have you can be with the person, the right person. I feel like if it was the wrong season, it was the wrong season, you know. And there were times I was like, oh, I feel like I wouldn't have been actually ready for a relationship at that time in my life. And so, you know, the Lord never withholds good from us because he knows far more than us and he knows far more than what we know, and he sees the whole picture and we don't, and it's easy to think for us because we're very single-minded in the way that we think. So, yeah, it's easy to come into mindsets and you know, try to take things into our own hands. I feel like that's what is happening with witchcraft magic, all these things is you're trying to take things into your own hands because things aren't going, you know, the way that you want or you desire. And it's just very, very dangerous. And God reminds us that he is our ultimate authority, he is our one God. Like we should only be loyal to him and we should only give him our attention. And, you know, he's not asking us to give him anything, you know, when we ask for things, you know, he'll give us stuff because he loves us and because when it's the right time and when he wants to decide to bless us, you know, he's already blessed us in the ways that he did not have to send his son to die on a cross for us, and he didn't have to do that, but he did anyways because he loves us. And obviously throughout scripture, we just see situation after situation of the Lord showing his faithfulness and his kindness and his grace to us over and over and over again. In Galatians 5 20, it reminds us that witchcraft is again forbidden and we should not do it. It lists out all of these different sins and and it kind of we kind of are reminded that we all desire some type of evil in some way, and maybe without even knowing it, or maybe in slight ways, and it's just like the flesh and the sin part that lives in us too that desires things that aren't always good or things that will maybe drive us away from the kingdom of God. And in Paul's terms, he actually says we have to crucify these things and like put them to death. So the obvious things, the sins that we are dealing with, the things that drive us away from God, we actually have to put them to death and get rid of them fully. And I just I love that because it is a a flee and a sprint away from sin. It isn't like to put them to death is to like not like bring them back and to look back and to go back to those things, is like crucifying them. I imagine when you like crucify it, like oh, it's done, like it's finished, and you're you're done with that, and you aren't gonna go back to it, is what I imagine crucifying.

Evil Eye Myths And Superstition

SPEAKER_00 17:20

And also, we do have other things like the evil eye, and this is something that you know I heard about in high school or whatever, and it's kind of like this anxh uh ancient I don't know how this word, the some type of it's some type of curse that is originally and originating in Samaria or Mesopotomia, I don't know how to say that, over 5,000 years ago, which is insane. And it's actually based on the belief that a jealous or envious gaze can cause injury, illness, or bad luck. It's deeply rooted in the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indo-European cultures, and it's actually prominently in Jewish, Islamic, and Greco Roman traditions, and it's kind of seen as this um superstition or a form of this protection, which would contradict trusting God for safety. And instead of amulets, Christians and followers of Jesus, we are called to rely on prayer and to armor up with the armor of God for protection against the spiritual evil. While these are just like symbols, and these are just little things like, oh, like, you know, you see an evil eye or someone gives you an evil eye and it means something, and it's like, okay, like we are called to call upon our God and all those things, rather than things that it's like, oh, this is just like based off of a curse, or someone like kind of made this up, and it's just like, oh, this is what people follow, and and then we have things like old old wives' tales and fables in 1 Timothy 4 7. It says, Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales, rather, train yourself to be godly. And this kind of refers to profane and superstitions and trivial myths that lack spiritual truth and hinder spiritual growth, is what they ultimately do. And Paul actually warns Timothy to reject these speculative stories and actually focus on the godly doctrine rather than just man-made myths and sensual traditions. And so I think this is something very, very important, is I think we tend to lean towards the man-made ideas, truths, manifestations, all these different things that men made up and we made up. And you know, I could make something up right now, and it's like, like, yeah, no matter how crazy it sounds, people actually follow these things, you know. I mean, we have think about it, we have trends that people make up, and they make up trends on TikTok and all these things, and whether or not they're good or godly, people fall into them, people do them, you know, dances, whatever it is, like it becomes well known by everyone around them, and it doesn't have to be good for everybody to fall into it or to listen to it or do it even. And I think we're just reminded that just because you know it's popular or man-made doesn't necessarily mean it's godly, and so when we look to the Bible and we when we look to the foundation of truth and what truth actually is, and we lean into that and we back things up spiritually with with God's word, then we can know what we actually should be searching for and what we should actually be listening to.

Galatians 5 Freedom Versus Flesh

SPEAKER_00 20:50

And so now I just kind of want to talk about Galatians 5, and I did mention this a little bit ago. I did read a verse, verse 20 found in Galatians 5, which was great, but I think this whole chapter is great and really talks about just the freedom that we can have in Christ and what Christ offers us and how much better it is, and so I'm just gonna read through Galatians 5. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, stand firm, then do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. Mark my words. I, Paul, tell you if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. And I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law, and you who are trying to be justified for the law have been alienated with Christ. You have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You are running a good race. Who could In on you to keep you from obeying the truth. That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast works through a whole batch of dough. I am confident in the Lord. You will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I being still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross have been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole day, the whole day and emasculate themselves. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather serve one another humbly in love, for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself. If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh. But they are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealous, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbidden, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Again, such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have been crucified, the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Wow, that is so good. Basically, there is so honestly, yeah, it can be really over. Basically, it can be really easy, and it can be really easy to lean into the desires of your flesh of the things that you want. This entire passage is telling us like just because it's what you want doesn't mean it's right, and doesn't mean, you know, we have a battle against against our spirits, and we have a battle against what we want and what God wants and what we feel is right and what we what God knows is right and what God tells us is right, and I think that's why it's so important that we read the word and we are aware because I think the most dangerous thing is like becoming your own God without even knowing it. And I've talked about this with someone before, but when we become our own God, we're setting our own rules, and we most of the time we might not even realize it, you know. We might say, Oh, like I follow God, but really like the only thing you're following is yourself and what you want, and that is not God at all, you know, that's your own wants and your own desires, and you're making up your own rules, and God has God is very specific in his word, and he tells us very specifically what is right and what is wrong, and when we follow the way that we

Pride And Waking Up To Sin

SPEAKER_00 25:30

want, and when we do when we give when we give into the flesh, we are not living by the spirit, we're not living by what you know God tells us to do. We are not living a life that is honoring to him, and it's so you know normalized to cuddle people's feelings, and I see this so often that like we have become really numb to knowing what it's like to take criticism, and I'm guilty of this too. I remember like the first couple of times when I actually had hard conversations with friends of like things that I was doing that weren't okay, and I was very unaware of these things and until they told me, but I was shocked and taken aback because for a long time in my life I just was like, oh, like I do a lot of things good, like I'm a good person, I'm kind, I go to church, I have a good friend group, you know, I don't go out and do these things like these people, and so I labeled myself as good. I labeled myself as a good Christian, I labeled myself as a follower of Jesus, and I labeled myself as all of these things, but even sin I didn't really understand, and I was just like, Well, no, like I check all the boxes, like I get good grades, I don't go out and party, I obey my parents, you know, I do all those things, and I was like, to me, that seems like good in my mind, but that doesn't matter at all. If I didn't see myself as sinful, I definitely wasn't gonna inherit the kingdom of God. I genuinely didn't see myself as sinful. I was very, very prideful without even knowing it. I could not see past my sin. I could not even see that I had sin. I was very convinced that I was very good and I just was a good person and I didn't lie and I didn't do these things. And, you know, while some of those things can be true, I had a lot of pride in that is a sin. And so being in denial of those things in that, you know, I I didn't have sin was very, very dangerous, and that was detrimental. And until I realized that, you know, there it was one moment where I am I remember the hill that I was driving. I don't know if I was driving up or down it. I think I was driving down it. I remember the hill literally like around the corner from my house, and I remember driving down that hill, and I just broke down sobbing because I was like, I am by far from perfect, like I really am, and that was like I think the Lord really did reveal my sinfulness and my nature the sinful nature I had to myself. Like I genuinely felt like I was I I don't know why. I felt like I was being blinded to my own sin because of my pride, and I think that's what pride did for me is like it really did blind me from the ways that I was broken and actually in need of a savior, you know. I talked about in one of my episodes the fact that like I did really not believe I needed a savior for a really long time, and you know, I said Jesus was my best friend and I acted like all these things, but there was a lot of disconnect, and that is just like my fear is that you would continue to walk in sin, normalizing it when it's not normal and when it's not what God has for you and it's not God's best for you. And so I would just encourage you with this like whatever sin that you are dealing with or that has been holding you captive, I encourage you go confess it to a godly mentor, someone, a

TikTok Faith Fame And Discernment

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trusted friend, someone who can pray over you, help keep you accountable, and help you to stray away from that and walk away from that. You know, something very interesting has been going on on social media, especially. I don't know if any of you follow this guy, but there's this guy named Niza Powers, and his name is actually not Niza, it's Thomas. But he claims that Niza is the name that God gave him. He was like a de-transitioner, and he transitioned from being a woman to being a man when he found Jesus. Well, apparently, I don't think he ever really like fully transitioned, and he's been posting about his journey on TikTok, and it's just very, very interesting how this whole thing is played out, and because he got a super, super large following from TikTok from Christians wanting to follow his story as he transitioned to being a Christian and um said that he was gonna step into who God had called him to be and who God said he was going to be, which is a man, and he said that, and then now he's transitioning back into being a woman, and he just doesn't feel like God would want him to change who he is and his identity and all of these things, and it is really hard because you know, we fall into like, oh, I feel this way or I feel that way, and it's like you know, like scripture is very clear that our feelings lead us astray. God tells us the heart is deceitful, don't listen to the heart, and we have to be very, very careful where we put, but when you add something like fame and you know, these like so many voices into your life, you just have to be very, very careful because even me, like I was very fully like believing like that he, you know, had accepted Jesus, and maybe he has, but it's just such a touchy thing and such a really, really difficult thing to navigate is like understanding that, like, yeah, just because I feel this way, or just because I like this, or this feels right, or this is how you know, whatever. That doesn't mean just because I feel like I should be rich doesn't mean I should, like, and just because I feel like I should murder someone doesn't mean I should. Like, we can all agree on that. And, you know, there are things, there are a lot of morals, even that you can find throughout scripture, and things that's like, don't lie, obey your mother and father, and all these things, and the people that you surround yourself with, and you know, when you decide to post everything on social media and stuff, it very much makes a difference in your life and the voices that you let speak into your life, all of those things really, really matter. And honestly, we should all be praying for Niza because I really do hope that he comes to, you know, know the Lord and know that you know he's enough the way God created him to begin with, and know that he doesn't have to, you know, change himself again and he's getting married to this girl, and you know, it was just more than that. There was a lot of lies that he was telling people through his story on Instagram, and people found receipts of like when he was growing up and the ages and the differences of like how he said that he transitioned in high school, and people found high school pictures of him, and he was clearly like dressed like a man and you know, presenting himself like a man, and so it was very interesting, and he lied about his age to everyone, and so more than like the Christianity part, it is concerning that like he was lying to like 500,000 people more, probably, and it's just like really scary how you know we let people influence us and talk to us so much, and now he's got like this whole different community who's trying to support him and love him and say, Yeah, you should stay in that position. They're like, Yeah, now that you want to transition back to a woman, like it's okay, like God still loves you, all these things, which yes, God still loves you. Would God ever want you to stay in the sin that you're in? Never. That's like also saying any of these things, you know, being in idolatry and drunkenness and selfish ambition and jealousy and witchcraft and all those things. Like, if you were in any of those things, I would tell you, yeah, that's not godly, you know, and I would hope that you know it's not like, oh, I'm attacking you, I'm not coming after you, I'm uh, you know, I'm not mad at you or any of these things. I think we're so I don't know if soft is the right word, but you know, we do have to armor up with the armor of God, and I think there's a way to do things in love, but I also think like the most loving thing God does for us is call us out of our sin. And constantly in scripture, you see him doing that. I mean, exactly what happened in the beginning of scripture in the old testament when God was saying in Leviticus, you know, don't do these things and Deuteronomy, he's warning them, like, don't do these things, you know. He wants to call you out of those things because he knows those those things aren't best for you. And those, you know, if you're putting other gods before him, he can never be your God, you know. If you are always

Confession Community And Final Encouragement

SPEAKER_00 33:40

putting something above him, he can never be your one God. And so it's just very dangerous. So be very cautious of who you listen to and you know, ask yourself how you hey, how do I receive criticism? If someone were to come up to me and call me out or tell me the things I need to work on, how would I receive it? If someone were to, for the things, the sins that we are so comfortable in, ask the Lord and ask him to redirect you and give you other ways out and contact friends and people who are godly and help them to keep you accountable for the things that you want to step out of. You know, you have to do it with community. I think the most dangerous sins are the ones we keep to ourselves and the things that we hide because we're ashamed of those things when God does not want us to feel shame at all, but he wants you to know that he died for your freedom and he died for you to be able to be set free from those things. There is no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus. That is true for all of the things you know that you deal with and doesn't excuse you to stay where you're at. You know, it's not so you can remain where you're at and say, you know, I want the kingdom of heaven while I also want to allow myself to stay in the sins like that I am comfortable in. It's not at all. You can't really do that. Sorry, the kingdom of heaven requires us and tells us Paul tells us to crucify the things that are not of the kingdom of heaven. You can't have the things that you want and hold on to the sins that are keeping you captive, even if you don't realize they're keeping you captive, and you cannot ultimately inherit the kingdom of heaven too, you know, you can't have like one closed hand and one open hand, like, oh, let me receive the kingdom of heaven, but I want to keep these sins that, you know, are comfortable to me, or these things that don't make me more godly. Like, you can't do both. You have to like lay down the sins and turn from them and crucify them, and then you will be able to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Like the Lord wants you to inherit the kingdom of heaven, and you have to be willing to crucify and get rid of the things that aren't making you like God. So, okay, everyone. This was a great episode. I'm so glad you tuned in, and yeah, I'm really excited. Thanks for all the patience and all the things I've had really, really crazy past couple of weeks with, you know, graduating with my bachelor's and just moving back home and into my room and setup will look like this for a little bit, but probably only one more episode, and then I am headed to Ohio for the summer, so I'm very, very excited and I'm looking forward to it. And if you live in Ohio, um get in touch with me and come visit me. And yeah, so I love you all, and please don't forget to savor this savor. I'm your host, Avery. This is my guest Pepper, and she didn't have a lot to say, but I hope you enjoyed her presence too. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you next week.