Joe White Drive Time Podcast

"One of the many reasons I just admire my wife and every cell in her body is the witness that she has to her family. Her family were not believers but one by one because of the life of that girl that grew up in a home that just didn't know God."

Family Discussions:

1. Why was it the most difficult for Jesus to be effective right there in his own hometown?
2. Why is it the most difficult for you to be a true witness for Christ in your home?
3. How can your family support you and how can you support your family as you try to be an effective witness in your home?

Transcription:

"I have a little friend, her name is Jenna and she's a hero. This precious girl for decades has suffered from deteriorating sinuses. She has probably not had a healthy day in her life for 20 years. In fact, on a regular basis maybe annually they have to come in and peel her skin down off her face and go into her sinuses and do work on her sinus cavities. And then to make matters worse, she has a horrible two year battle with hepatitis. And then she had a terrible personal, but terrible tragedy happened in her life. It was so hideous and so wrong. But every time I talked to Jenna, she's filled with joy."

Family Discussions:

1. Can you recall a recent storm in your life and how do you normally act to the wind and the waves?
2. Call attention to a fellow family member or to a friend who was faithful to God in a recent stormy period and compliment that family member or that friend for how they handled it.
3. Why is faith in the storm so important for us to live and to learn?

Transcription:

"I met an interesting guy one time named Larry and Larry is a helicopter mechanic for the Ohio state highway patrol. You know, Larry's been a Christian for many years and he has walked with God with a peace in his heart that only a true Christian understands. The helicopter pilot that Larry serves is a pretty high breasts highway patrolman that spiritually is paralyzed."

Family Discussions:

1. Why does so relatively few friends bring their friends to Jesus?
2. Who's the Larry in your life that needs to know Jesus today?
3. How can you lower your friends through the roof to see Jesus?

Transcription:

"My first girlfriend left me for my best junior high guy friend. You know, that was puppy love, but the puppy sure thought it was love. It also was a pain in my gut. I'll never forget that day. A whole lot more painful than that was when my first wife, my college bride, left me from my best friend. She had fallen in love with him."

Family Discussions:

1. How do trials build character when God is in charge?
2. What has been the greatest time of brokenness for you?
3. What are you going through now and how has God building character in you through that experience of pain?
4. Describe how he gave you hope and how he gave you hope through the pain.

Transcription:

"Counselors that'll meet each other at Kamp and then they'll marry each other. But one of my favorites of all of our marriages is this couple that are married. They're raising kids together. But three years ago, they were ready to kill each other." 

Family Discussion:

1. Who is it in your life that you need to love like that?
2. Who is it that that may be the hardest to love, but that you need to watch God do a big miracle as you begin to love that person like Jesus would?

Transcription:

"I learned so much from my daddy. The encyclopedia couldn't contain everything I'll learn from that man. And you know what? 99% of what I learned from him is what he did. Like most kids, I didn't appreciate it all. I didn't appreciate nearly enough that I learned from him until I had my own kids."

Family Discussions:

1. How do we tend to push aside the less fortunate in our lives?
2. Why is it a sin to show partiality?
3. What is our responsibility as representatives of Christ toward the less fortunate?
4. What are ways that we can show our love and care for the less fortunate around us every day? 

Transcription:

00:13 I will never look at a sweet roll and a cup of coffee the same way again. When I see a sweet roll and a cup of coffee, I see a man that I can't wait to tell you about today. We're in James Chapter two verse one. Listen to this. James says, "my brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with the gold ring and dressed in fine clothes. And there also comes a man who's poor and he's in dirty clothes and you pay special attention to the one in nice clothes saying you sit here at a good place and you say to the poor man, you stand over there. Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives."

00:57 I learned so much from my daddy. The encyclopedia couldn't contain everything I'll learn from that man. And you know what? 99% of what I learned from him is what he did. Like most kids, I didn't appreciate it all. I didn't appreciate nearly enough that I learned from him until I had my own kids. Now wish I had listened more. You know what that men, he's been in heaven for probably five years now, but he's still my hero. I'm still learning from him. My Daddy never told me to love the underdog or to love the less fortunate, but I will never forget watching my daddy meet the men who came to our backdoor to clip the garbage twice a week. Every single time humbly with a cup of hot coffee in a sweet roll for each dear man with a huge smile on his face and with words of encouragement. Sometimes my daddy would come home from work without his coat or without shoes or money because he'd met a janitor, someone less fortunate who needed what he had. In church or at a social gathering, he automatically would find his way to the lowest man on the totem pole.

02:07 And you know what, those humble, poor people are always my daddy's best friends. Funny thing about it all, my daddy was the happiest man I knew. The discussion questions today are this: How do we tend to push aside the less fortunate in our lives? And secondly, why is it a sin to show partiality? And the third discussion question is this, what is our responsibility as representatives of Christ toward the less fortunate? And specifically what are ways that we can show our love and care for the less fortunate around us every day? And the thought for the day is this. Can each of us name someone less fortunate that we come into contact with? And can we show that person Christ's love? Hey, how about a sweet roll and a cup of hot coffee for somebody.

"I got to coach football at Texas A and M. One of my heroes, Gene Stallings. I ask him one time, I said, coach, when he was with the cowboys, he said, coach, what is the best football season of your life? He said, well, it had to be the cowboys in 1975. And looking back that far back over his shoulder, I said, coach, what was so special about that team?"

Family Discussion:

1. What is it about encouragement that enhances our lives?
2. How does encouragement, especially to somebody in your family, show that person or family to face of Jesus and how can encourage them literally transform this home that you're in today?

Transcription:

00:13 Hey if you ever been amazed as I have every day by the power of a hug, the power of a sincere handshake by the power of a little birthday card or just a little love note dropped in a lunchbox before one of our children goes off to school. This verse, if I have a favorite, this is certainly one of them. It's Hebrews chapter three, verse 13 and 14. I think it's the most powerful verse on Relationship Building in a business, in a family, in a home, that I've ever seen. Hebrews three, 13 and 14, and it says this, "But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance and hold it firm unto the end." You know, I got to coach football.

01:12 at Texas A and M. As I've probably shared before and one of my heroes, Gene Stallings was telling me after all of his years in coaching of coaching the National Championship, Alabama Crimson Tides. Coaching the Dallas cowboys, the Arizona Cardinals, and the Texas Aggies. I ask him one time, I said, coach, when he was with the cowboys, he said, coach, what is the best football season of your life? He said, well, it had to be the cowboys in 1975. And looking back that far back over his shoulder, I said, coach, what was so special about that team? He said, well, 12 rookies made the team and, and we took them to the playoffs. And I said, how'd you do it? And he said, "our goal that year was to encourage every player socks off. Our goal that year was to make every player feel good about themselves."

01:59 And you know, what, if it works with 300 pound defensive tackles, how much more will it work with 12 year old boys going through the pains of junior high? You know if it works with guys who get bored by counting money by the thousands of dollars, how much more with a mom who works her heart out all day, every day as a household executive or a dad, who pours it out at the office all day long, or a mom sometimes who are having to do both to bring home the Bacon and keep the bank account from going barren. How much more to a daughter who's going through the pains of adolescents? Man, y'all encouragement puts you on your tippy toes. Encouragement makes you smile. Encouragement is the powerful wrench that pulls you out of the quicksand of the doldrums of depression or the stages of perceived insignificance. "That a boy! I'm proud of you, son! Way to go, dad! Super job, Young Lady! Wow, that was amazing! You're awesome! I love you! You make me so happy when you're around. I'm so lucky to have someone like you in my life. Hey, hold that pose for a minute while I called sports illustrated to take a picture of that.

03:16 There's a million ways to encourage somebody. You can write it, you can say it or you can just smile it. It's the greatest gift you can give. Let me ask you this. What is it about encouragement that enhances our lives? And how does encouragement, especially to somebody in your family, show that person or family to face of Jesus and how can encourage them literally transform this home that you're in today?

"A father with a lot of kids, that's who God is."

Family Discussion:

• How does this Bible verse motivate you to tell others about Jesus Christ?
• How does this passage of scripture changed your perspective about God's heart?
• Where would you and I be if God wasn't so generous with his invitation to come to him and be in his family?

Transcription:

00:06 Today I want to tell you about the biggest basketball player that ever came to our sports camps and the biggest family that I've ever heard of, and they were one in the same. But first I want to read from First Timothy Chapter Two verses three through six. This verse is awesome and it shows you the heart of God. Check this out. In verse three it says this: "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." And then verse five says this: "There is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time."

00:58 We called him Tomahawk Tom Hun. He was six feet 11 inches tall when he played basketball for Kansas State. He was a counselor at our sports camp here and he had a tremendous love for kids. His huge Kansas smile and his warm gentle ways, gave him personality that was more contagious than the chicken box. Everybody at Camp loved this guy. Crazy as it sounds, there was one more thing that was more remarkable about Tom than his size. He had 22 brothers and sisters. That's right. There were 23 kids in his family. That's one less than two dozen. One more than a complete offense and a complete defense in football combined. Four basketball teams plus three managers. Tom said as many as 20 of he and his siblings lived in the home at one time. He said they would sleep four to a bed. That was the rule in their small Kansas farmhouse, but this 23-some would wake up early every day, do the farm chores and then they, they would pile on their own school bus and they would whisk off to school. Man, I love big families and some of the best families I know are big families. But what's cool about God is that God wants a big family too. He wants a big family so bad that he sent his son to the earth to pass out adoption papers and to pass out invitations. Look man, he wants you in that family and he wants the girl who sits next to you in geometry class and he wants to the kid who plays third clarinet in your band, and he wants the biggest defensive end on your football team. In fact, he wants the whole school. He wants the guy who's sitting next to you in the cubicle, in your business office. He wants the woman who you work with in the marketplace that you work in. He wants a big, gigantic family. In fact, he desires that all men and women are in that family, and all they've got to do is to hear the call, to lay down their pride and to receive Christ as their personal lord and Savior. A father with a lot of kids, that's who God is. A father with a lot of kids. He won't be satisfied till he gets them all, and you and I get to be the messenger of that invitation.

03:27 Here's the questions for today. How does this Bible verse motivate you to tell others about Jesus Christ? And then secondly: How does this passage of scripture changed your perspective about God's heart? Where would you and I be if God wasn't so generous with his invitation to come to him and be in his family? And then here's the lifeline. Oh, remember this verse. God is patient and slow to anger, not wanting any to perish, but for all to be saved and to come to repentance.

"Seasoned with salt, speak always with grace."

Family Discussion:

• Why do so many Christians dread witnessing? Do you think it's possible that you go about it in the wrong way?
• What are some ways that we can salt a conversation spiritually?
• How can you entertain thoughts that are "salty" with that person?

Transcription:

00:04 Man, I love to cook. I really love cooking when I'm out there on the grill. But the most important part and the most fun part is marinating and preparing, especially when I'm cooking wild game on the grill and salting it up and peppering it up. Paul's got a lot to say about salt, and I'll tell you why in a minute. In Colossians 4:5-6, if there's somebody in your life that you've got a problem with or if there's somebody you'd love to see change, check this out. He says: "conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, always making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt so that you'll know how to respond to each person." And you've probably heard this before, but in that little verse in Matthew Chapter 5, it says: "You're the salt. You're the salt of the world, you're the light of the world." And I think the reason scripture uses salt a lot because salt makes it tasty and also salt makes you thirsty. Let your speech be with salt. What's he talking about? Seasoned with salt, speech always with grace.

01:24 It was just a week ago, I got a phone call from a neighbor and that neighbor was so mad, just mad about my dog and was just threatening to take the dog off so that I'd never see the dog again. I kind of got a little bit hurt, especially when you know how cool my dog is. So what we did was we just cooked a Turkey and got a pumpkin pie and a couple of dozen cookies and took them over there and just left them on his front porch and we didn't even sign it. Well, I called him a couple of days later. My dog had gotten away again and we had one of the greatest, most friendly conversations in the world. He knew who brought him that turkey. He knew, he brought him that pie without even saying anything, and salted our friendship. We're going to be friends for life. And he was, he was cool about my dog. It's amazing when you season your speech with salt.

02:18 I like to play golf and there's this golf pro, and he had nothing in his background about Christ. But I started praying for the guy. For three years, I started just seasoning it with salt and just loving on the guy and just finding ways behind his back just to kind of serve him and to befriend him. And then one day I went to him and here's the greatest salts you can use on somebody who needs to know Christ. I just went to him and said, "how can I begin to pray for you?" And you know what, he gave me some things to pray for. Later, he wanted to get married and so he wanted me to do the wedding. And I actually, in the counseling before the wedding, I got to lead not only him to Christ, but I got to lead his wife back into a relationship with Christ.

03:02 My daddy would literally almost every morning would write little love notes to my mom on a little yellow sticky pad and he would place them on the kitchen counter where when she would go out to work and she'd have her first cup of coffee, that little love note from my dad who had already left, would be on the counter for her. I mean, no wonder they stayed married 66 years. No wonder I'm getting to disciple, this golf pro now. No wonder this neighbor over here and I are going to become friends. Let your speech be with salt. Who in your life are you having problems with? You know, what kind of conflicts are you having or is there somebody in your life that you'd love to see change? Is there somebody in your life that you would love it if they could come to know Christ? And they may even be an agnostic. They may be even picking on you because of your faith. Well, you think of ways to put the salts shaker on them, and watch God change that relationship.

04:04 Here's some questions for today. Why do so many Christians dread witnessing? Do you think it's possible that you go about it in the wrong way? What are some ways that we can salt a conversation spiritually, and even in entertainment stuff, what a great opportunity to witness. Oh, you know, what are some kind of conversational opportunities you can have in witnessing entertainment, sports talk, politics, economics, hobbies instead of seasoning with crashing our opinions. How can you entertain and entertain thoughts that are salty with that person? And here's the thought for the day. If a friend asks you to go to some R-rated slash-em-up nudity movie, write a little paragraph that you would share with that friend and, and how you might, witness to him your faith in Christ, even over something as difficult as that, and then discuss it with someone in your home and watch what happens with you in that frame in that relationship.

"Forgiveness is God's greatest gift to you."

Family Discussion:

• Why does God demand that we forgive others, just as he forgives us?
• If there's any speck of bitterness hidden in your heart, what do you need to do to deal with that bitterness today?

Transcription:

00:06 You ever wake up in the morning with a great big suitcase, tied to your back that's full of barbells and you just can't seem to get through your day? Man, I've got a Bible verse for you today that I think is going to help immensely and helping get the backpack off your back. You'll feel just as free as the spring wind when you get the backpack off your back. Listen to this. Second Corinthians chapter 2, verse 9-10. It says this, "the reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake."

01:03 I'll never forget the chairlift ride in Park Cities, Utah with a counselor from our summer camp. Her name was Emily. She was a beautiful, bright eyed athlete from West Virginia. But beneath those beautiful bright eyes and that beautiful smile that just made the Utah Rocky mountains glow like a sunrise, was this heart of bitterness, this heart of just hatred and anger. And, but I'm so glad it was a long chairlift because something happened on that chairlift that I'm sure will change Emily's life forever. You see, Emily's mom had taken off with the choir leader from the school and it left Emily and her dad broken and in shambles. Emily was so bitter at her mom and the backpack she carried on her back was heavy because bitterness is probably the greatest burden that anybody can ever carry in their life. But, somewhere on that chairlift, Emily forgave her mom. And you know what, when she went skiing off that chairlift and I went snowboarding with my kids in the other direction, that little girl was finally free; free of a backpack of weights that she'd been carrying for years.

02:23 I remember another young man who came to our campus, his name was JD, and he was so bitter. He was so mad. His mom had died of cancer and he was bitter at God. He was doing just all kinds of drugs. But, somewhere during the term of that camp, he and I became friends and JD forgave. JD cleaned his backpack. JD looked at the God that he was mad and bitter at, and he saw the love of God who had come to this earth to die for his mom so his mom could go to heaven. You know, today JD is the most happily married man you've ever seen your life. He's actually living in the slums of Cairo, Egypt, intentionally giving his life to lead people in the Muslim world to Christ.

03:15 Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give, not just to somebody that you're bitter at, but it's the greatest gift you can give to yourself. Here's the questions for today. You know, Emily's sparkling eyes and contagious smile was the result of an unbridled, bitter-free heart. Why was her trip up the mountain, forgiveness, the most important trip up the mountain in her life? And then, here's a great question. Why does God demand that we forgive others, just as he forgives us? And then, men, get honest with this question. If there's any speck of bitterness hidden in your heart, what do you need to do to deal with that bitterness today? And the thought for the day is this. Forgiveness is God's greatest gift to you and it's your greatest gift to him and your greatest gift to your family.