From Surface to Soulful: Engaging with God on a Deeper Level

Good morning, good evening, good midday, good in the midnight hour to you. Welcome to another special remixed edition of the Road Less Travel. I am your co-host, Doug Smith, and I have my illustrious sister with me, Regina D Jemison. Say hello to the people.

Hey, hey, hey.

So listen, normally what happens when we record family is that we do just what we did and bring in the show, and then we do a little introduction to the topic and off to the races we go. Well, this time is a little bit different because, as we were doing some pre-production, we started talking and it instantly started getting good to us, and so we launched into the conversation without doing a proper introduction. So what you're about to hear is where we actually start talking about the idea of what we're going to talk about and then the ensuing conversation. So hang on, and here we go, we recording about what we're talking about today.

That is a good question. Oh, so yesterday I was having a conversation. Every Monday A friend and colleague of mine has a prayer call every Monday night and she calls me to get cleared and prayed for and we discuss whatever her topic is And she talked about getting your head in the game and just kind of getting away from all the distraction and that and the other. But what I came away with was what I think is interesting about that is that most people aren't in the real game, like they don't know where the game is. We're in increased numbers in church and maybe have more giving or this, that and the other, but it's like that's not really what God was asking. You know what I'm saying. It's like that. So when I think of it's like how I would language it the real game is, is, is is faithfulness and vigilance and bringing people to Christ, right, and. But we're in a whole lot of other games in the church.

So Interesting that you should bring this up. Boy, i'm okay, so I'm going to say something, and then we're both going to say male, we should have just went ahead and start the episode, okay, and so we might have to restart the episode or do something creative. So a couple days ago I was I don't remember what I was doing, but thought just crossed my mind that We look at God and I'm just speaking in general as trans.

Yeah, we both are Yeah.

As transactional, when God is really relational Absolutely. And everything that you talked about.

Absolutely.

Just speaks of transactional language. Number in attendance Yeah, nation. How big is your church? How new is your church? Yeah, you know. And it goes on and on and on and on, and we mistake the edicts of God And we consume those things and we've turned them into transactional elements, when, in fact, all of those things that God has put in the Bible for us, things like, you know, giving your tithes, bringing in your offerings, doing communion, being baptized, you know, on and on and on Yeah. All of those things were meant not as transactional elements, but relational elements. Yep To cement a.

I'm listening to this. turn on a little light, yep.

With God.

Yep.

And we have. For some of us, we, That's the hill we want to die on. We want to die on Right And we want to be transactional items If you're not dressed a certain way when you come into the church.

Right.

You know, or if you're quote, unquote, un-churched, you know, which you know, i don't necessarily think is necessarily a bad thing, because that means Right, you haven't developed any bad habits. And for folks who think you can't develop bad habits in the church, you need to look at the New Testament and some of the letters that were written Right, it told folks to get out of their own way Right, to start being in relation Right Yeah. Yep, and so the game? going back to your original preposition, the game is really to set our eyes on relational things and relationship with God, rather than just these elements that are siloed into transactional events. Yeah, yeah.

Yep.

And it just hit me. Trust me, when I was having this thought a few days ago, it just came out the blue. I wasn't like I was thinking about the mysteries of the world. Right, right, right, right You know, I wasn't even in my prayer closet. Yeah, i was just shocked on me And it made a mark on me, because I can see how even my own thinking has been jaded by transactional thinking. Mm, hmm, the subtlety of that that the enemy would tell you that. Well, all we have to do is be concerned about those times where we you know I'm not saying that that we have done this in a while or recently, but I'll just be transparent. There are times where I went out and had too much to drink long time ago, and I will come back home and be on the porcelain throwing a grace, just praying God, if you just deliver me from this foolishness. I will you know. fill in the blank Right. It was a very transactional element and we get sucked into thinking that's the only type of transactional thinking that we do, and it's certainly not the case.

All right, so let's start recording and whatever We already pressed record a long time ago.

We just going to keep going and out there.

And we'll just deal with it.

It's a very unusual episode. We're going to keep going today, tonight, today, wherever you're at. Thanks for joining.

You want to keep going or we're going to start?

Yeah, let's just keep going. I mean, you know we already dropped a couple of gems, so we might as well just keep it moving. We're in the groove now.

So here's, here's what really speaks to me. to me, when I think of transactional, as a ordained Christian minister who gets the privilege of presiding over the communion table and blessing the elements, it is a very I don't know. I just it's like being it for me, being at baptism, right, and I get full most every time. right, literally, almost to the point of tears. And because I understand, feel and really reflect on the gift of being able to come to the table right, and what has already been done in Jesus Christ and in Christian history, right, what's already happened for me, for you, for anybody who's listening that believes that that it's already happened. right, and there's something about that that we come to a moment and we get to reflect on the depth of love that God has for us, and we come to a moment and we get to repent And miraculously, amazingly, be forgiven. Right. And so, because I'm speaking to the perfect people, i'm speaking to the real people, right, so that moment really overwhelms me and the gift of it, the joy of it, the depth of the love, the breath of it. And I look out in the congregation, right, and I see, and oftentimes I just kind of glaze over and look beyond the congregation. right, because I don't want to be distracted by the complacency or the transactionalness that I see. Right Because those same people and look, i'm not even talking about, i ain't judging nobody, i ain't saying nothing about nobody. right Because, look, communion wasn't always Community inspector. Look, communion wasn't always that way for me. Let me be clear.

I understand You can be a fruit inspector, that's okay.

It's like that there's you take the bread and you take the wine and the body in the blood, right, and you can see the rudimentariness of it, right. You can see the, like you said, the transactional nature of it. You give me this. I get that Like it's just and it is.

Or, and I'll just tell on myself, you get the. Well, i'm covered until the next time, and we just, and so Regina just logged off for a minute and she's back There. She is Okay. And so I was just telling the audience, i was just telling on myself. You know, since you told on yourself, i'm going to tell on myself. You know, there was a time where the transaction was okay, i'm good until the next time we have communion. Right right right, right, and I'm just being transparent, you know. And family, if we're not saying that you have to stay where you're at, if that's where you're at, okay. Our conversation, though, is you know things like communion, baptism, accepting Jesus as your Lord, you know, it's not a one-time you know thing. You didn't put those things there as a mile marker that you should never pass by it again. He put those things in there as guideposts so that you can come into a full knowledge of how deep his love is for you and how deep your love can be for him.

So, and here's. Here's the thing that I was about to say, before it got glitchy, is that those, those same people will cut you over that. You know communion supposed to be on first Sunday, or communion, you know, don't mess with the communion, right, but it's not like. It's kind of like you know, being in love with somebody and you bringing flowers home and you like here and throw them on the table, right, you know, it's just like. It's kind of like ain't no feeling into it, ain't no relationship, there's no. You know, i'd rather you bring me one dead, half dead, crumpled up flower and mean it. You know what I'm saying. Then all of that, and you know some big grand gesture with no, with no depth, with no, no risk, no, no, no, nothing like nothing there, right, Right. So that's the to me, that's what speaks, that's what speaks most loudly and hits me the hardest when you think about transactional versus relational Like, and I so get, i feel so recreated. You know, when you like, i'm good. To the next time, right, right.

Yeah.

I'm good, to the next time, or those prayers where you like, oh Lord, thank you, jesus amen. You know, or you know you call yourself less than food. You say Jesus with amen. You know it's like for real. Come on now. There are people hungry. There are people that harvested this food that didn't get paid probably what they were worth. There are people that transported this food. There are people that you know we often bless the hands that. That prepared you know that, prepared it. But but, oh my God, we take for granted, particularly those of us oriented in North American culture, about the readiness available and look, there's a whole lot of hungry, starving people in North American culture too. Let's be clear. But you know the things that we take for granted. You know about the accessibility and the availability of something essential like food. And we got like grand, like I was just watching a cooking show, right, and the amount of gluttony on there. And, of course, because I love food, i'm like, oh, i can recreate that, right, you know, like some insanely gargantuan meal, right, right, but we, and how we take that for granted, it becomes, you know, a transactional, you know, check the box, bless the food thing, versus really appreciating what it is to have never been hungry Like for real.

Right.

Right, so so, box, but yeah, i just, i really employ our listeners, like wherever you are on the spectrum, right, because we're all transactional in any given moment. Let's be clear, i'm not speaking from my. I done been delivered from my transactional, yeah, so so, wherever you are on the spectrum, what what we're really employing and demanding? employing and what's that Am I saying? the right Employing?

Employing, employing, employing.

Employing our listeners. Come on, let's get you in. I know Be here now Inside your family Inside your listeners And the key of our sales is to is to really check in with yourself in any given moment about how cavalier and complacent and faced by othergenommen, you know, marginal and taken for granted we are about our relationship with God and what is available in our relationship with God. Right, we just missed the boat. We missed it so much.

So you know, I want to jump back to something you said I don't know how many Hanimini minutes ago. I remember you were talking about Union Time. You gaze out at the crowd and look right above them. I think that is so perfect if folks are thinking, well, how can I move from where I'm at to someplace else? So I'm going to do something real quick and, gina, you're going to pick up on this almost instantly. When Peter was walking on the water back towards Jesus, as long as he had his eye on Jesus he was fine. But as soon as he started looking around at other things, at noticing the waves and noticing the wind, he started to sink Right. But as soon as he then affixed his gaze back at Jesus. He was able to get back on top of the water and the text says they walk back together to the boat. And so well, if we are being transactional, the answer is simple to affix our gaze back towards Christ, back towards God, and that elevates us out of our transitional nature into a relational nature with God.

That's good, that's good, that's good. Yeah, that's good.

Yeah, we're just trying to help some people today. Yeah, that's all we're trying to do. We're just trying to help some folks. Look, I think we got it all figured out.

That's a perfect fit of pity right.

You know, come back and save this episode, share it with somebody, because we don't have time to live from transaction to transaction to transaction. Oh, we just really don't. Oh, there are folks who were here yesterday who were betting on a transaction today. They did not make it, yeah.

Well, there were folks that that had movement of limbs yesterday and today don't, because they have a stroke. There was somebody yesterday that had their child or their parent or their loved one, and today they don't. There was somebody yesterday that they had a job and today they don't know how they're going to provide for their family. There really was somebody yesterday who laid down beside their spouse Come on. And today they woke up and they were gone.

Is that a preach?

Like for real like yesterday, it's not even it's loss of life, but it's loss of function, It's loss of joy, It's. You know, there's somebody. Yesterday I ran into two people today like look like they got the crap beat out of them and they were in a car accident. My God right, it was from all of the you know the jarring and all of the injury from being in the car accident, right, yesterday had a working car, had transportation, you know, had, you know, certain, not injuries. And today, right, like life changes in an instant. You know, just like you can see a baby that moment that they learn to walk, if you've ever been a parent or participated in parenting and and watched a toddler or baby learn to walk, like when they finally get that balance and they take that step and they sustain it and don't fall down. Something changes in a moment, right, something amazing happening. Life moves forward, well, and then there are the moments where life seems to stop and the key part of that is seems. There are moments where life seems to you know, to exist And and and and and transaction ain't gonna help you in them moments.

Right, you need a friend.

That's why I got to help you in them moments You got to have a relationship to get you through. I'm just speaking for myself.

You need a friend. You need a friend that you can call on when don't nobody answers the phone. You need somebody that you can, you can rely on when, when everything else has failed, You need to be able to turn to someone who can do the impossible And even if they don't do it for you, they could still do it, And that's enough. The only, the only entity, the only person, the only people that I know is Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God. That's it Never fails, Never lost a battle. Yeah, And so it. The day is is short. You know I I'm laughing inside as I say that, as I said it a few moments ago, because I can remember being a little kid, being in church and being at the end of every service And it almost right, before at all, to call pastor whoever was given the word with sound exactly like we're sounding, as we're living in the last day. You don't have time. You know you could. You could be gone tomorrow. Something could happen tomorrow. You need to know, you need to have a relationship, you need to believe And, again, being transparent, I was like man, do we have to go through this 20 minute? you said you was going to close, like 45 minutes ago And and I'm hungry and the sister's auxiliary is cooking chicken downstairs and I can smell it. I just want to go home And we see that you know is by God's grace that you know the last, the last days haven't happened yet, But I don't think anybody would disagree that you know, living in 2023 is is, if it's not the last days, it's certainly like our dress rehearsal, And so we can't underestimate the value of having that authentic relationship with God. If you want to really know what the game is, you need to be operating on the relational level. You cannot play checkers with God.

Wow, Yeah that part.

You just can't.

And look, and I'm not a I'm not a fire and brimstone kind of person, just, And for those of you that have certain church histories, you know exactly what I'm saying when I mean that, meaning to say, you know, I'm not the scare people into believing kind.

I believe I have one in me. I believe I got one in me. I don't know when it's gonna come, but I believe one day.

One day it's gonna be by saying this, by um you know to say, you know, by any stretch of the imagination, that's not my theology, That's not how my personal faith is organized, That's not what I teach or kind of how I structure, And where I'm speaking from today is a sense of urgency. Right Where I'm speaking from today is that life changes in a moment, And don't wait till you need God to know God.

Don't wait, put it off.

That's all I'm saying. Just don't, don't, don't wait till. you desperately need God to you. I'm struggling to the next moment to to work on that relationship, invest in that relationship, nourish that relationship. discover that relationship now So that in academic terms?

Yeah, wouldn't it be a lot easier to have the answers to the test before you took the test?

Yes, professor, yes, dr Smith, yes, dr Smith.

It's a simple as that.

Boom, drop the mic, we go home now. Yes, dr Smith, it won't be.

And there's only one answer to any type of question that you might have in life, any type of situation. It could be essay, short answer, multiple choice, true, false. Whatever the court, the situation is, there's one answer And that's God. Yeah, and if you don't remember nothing else, if you can remember that you're gonna be nothing else.

Nothing else nothing else. Well, i think we should pray on that note. Okay, you want to?

pray. You want me to pray I?

can pray Yeah Christus and loving God. God, we thank you. We thank you for being able to speak about you, because we know you. We thank you, oh God, for being able to call upon your name and know that heaven is listening and earth will be different, simply because we've had this moment. So, god, thank you for every listener and their loved ones and families. Thank you, god, for even every problem that's listening, oh God, because we know you are waiting with answers, you are waiting with solutions, you are waiting with strength, you are waiting with peace, oh God. Thank you, god, for every person listening. We pray, oh God, that you would speak to their spirits and that you would shake them up a little bit and give them more depth and prep with you, so that perhaps they can discover how wide and how deep and how amazing your love is for us. We thank you, god, for all of the ways that you have loved us, for all of the ways you have accepted us, for all of the ways you have healed and delivered us. We pray, oh God, that you would continue to speak to the hearts that are listening, that you would make them and mold them and shape them in a way that would deepen their relationship with you. We pray, oh God, for anybody facing tragedy or a challenge, for grief, for whatever it is. We pray, oh God, that your spirit would speak to their quiet places and help them in the way that they need to be helped. We thank you for this conversation, we thank you for your Holy Spirit stopping by to be with us And we thank you, most importantly, for the privilege to talk about the God we know, the God we trust, the God we love and that loves us. We say this prayer in your name and we thank you and we say amen, amen.