137: How Surrender Unlocks a Full Life with Lyle Phillips

25:37You wanna have a relationship with God? Follow Jesus. There's no other way to God aside from Jesus. That's what he says. That's what Jesus says. I'm not saying that's what Jesus says. There's no other way to God, No other way to the Father except through the Son, Christ Jesus. So he says, follow me and enter into a relationship, and I will make you. That's the next part. That's discipleship. So this relationship is not just one of, come, let's be BFFs. But no, come, take my yoke upon you, which is his teachings. I'm going to disciple you. And that's the glorious thing about the gospel is he says, follow me, and I will make you, not follow me, and then you make yourself.

26:14And I think one of the things that you hit on earlier is something that all of us do from time to time, but many in our generation do incessantly is that they work on themselves so much while trying to follow Jesus. And it's good for us to work on ourselves, but ultimately Jesus takes supreme responsibility to transform me into the person he's called me to become. Follow me and I will make you. Not follow me and then you go make you. You go figure it out, buddy. You know, good luck with that. Try to transform yourself into God's image. It's not gonna happen, right? Follow me and I will make you, the third part is a fisher of men, right?

26:54So that's evangelism, that's missions, that's being on God's mission with God. And so what I try to tell people all the time about the surrender switch is that if you're not fishing, you're not really following. Because Jesus said, if you follow me, I'm gonna transform you into a fisherman. And so this is what I love about your story, bro, as you're being bold to share with the platform God's blessed you with and the conversations you're having, you're saying, hey, I'm following Jesus and this is the byproduct of that. Let me tell you about my life. Let me tell you about Christ. Let me tell you about what's available for you as well.

27:32You're fishing. And I think that that right there is probably one, if not the most primary marker of what it looks like to have that surrender switch on. Because my spiritual life is personal. but it's not supposed to be private. So it's when I'm coming to that place where I'm saying, I'm gonna share, I'm gonna share with others. I'm gonna share the gospel. I'm gonna let them know, I'm gonna testify, right? The people who testify are the people who are witnesses, people who have actually seen something. And so all that to say, bro, is, you know, that's what I see in the gospels, Christ doing. Follow me, unbroken fellowship, and I will make you consistent discipleship and then empowerment unto life's mission.

28:13And we don't know where that will lead us. You know, that may lead somebody to a boardroom. That may lead somebody to become a dentist today. That may lead somebody to, you know, be a coach. That may lead somebody to start a podcast. And that's okay. Like in Christianity, you can be and do and all kinds of different stuff. Because one thing that's unique about Christianity is that Jesus does not require you to, you know, light all the rest of your desires on fire and leave them. he requires you to reorder your desires so that you can still have desires as a Christian, but Christ needs to be the first desire.

28:50And when he's in front of the line, everything else gets ordered. I think that's one of the things that like, as we're touching on this, is like a lot of people are afraid. I don't want to follow Jesus because I really like to do these things. Well, Jesus is not, he's not telling you, okay, well, you can't like that anymore per se, unless his word says that you need to walk with him and allow him to correct your thinking on a thing. But he's not saying, hey, I want you to abandon all of your desires. No, he's saying, I want you to reorder your loves. That's what the church theologian Augustine said.

29:21Reorder your loves. It's about having Christ first. It's about him in supremacy. And I feel like I'm going on too long about this now, but maybe that's what you're experiencing as part of the 65%. Like you had a list of loves and Jesus was in there. He just maybe fourth or fifth or, you know, I got my wife, got my kids, you know, got my fitness, got my business, you know, I think a lot of Christians, that's where they are. It's not that they don't love Jesus. It's not that they don't have a desire to follow Jesus. It's just, he's not first. Yeah. I relate to that a lot

29:55Nick Bare:because what held me back for so long was just that I would take an audit of my life. I'd say I I have my business I have my marriage I have my kids I have my fitness ambitions and goals I have these social media platforms my my schedule is full where am I going to where am I willing to sacrifice energy and time to to give God some more priority you're right I was like, for the longest time, I don't have room. I don't have room for anything else. So I didn't make room. And then it slowly just ate away at me more and more and more. And as I've reordered my priorities, the truth is that I haven't had to sacrifice anything.

30:50Nick Bare:That's right. I've, you know, like everything has been strengthened. Yes. because of it. I'm in this Ironman prep right now. I'm enjoying this Ironman prep more than any other fitness prep I've done ever. Let's go. My marriage is stronger than it's been since before we got married. I'm spending more time with my family and my kids. On the weekend, for example, I used to be a miserable person to be around on the weekends because the lulledness of not striving and doing something would drive me crazy. And Steph would see it and feel it. I was the type of person who even on the weekends had to go, go, go.

31:32Nick Bare:I wanted to be busy. I wanted to be hurried. I wanted to be rushed. Yes. Now on the weekends, Steph's like, what are we going to do this weekend? What do you want to do? Let's just chill at home with the family. Let's do nothing. It's amazing. Let's do nothing. I'll knock out my run early, get all my training done. Let's just sit by the pool and hang out. Yes. In a complete peace. you know as a pastor how do you measure success of of what you are doing within your work with the teachings with a church like what is what does success look like for you so i'm gonna kind of harp on something we've been hitting on a lot but this is a phrase i use a ton success Success for any of us is the same.

32:19It is simply obedience to God. If I'm obedient, then I'm successful. Because I think for a lot of pastors, they fall into the temptation of, well, unless I'm famous, like I have a notable platform, then I've not been successful. Or unless I have a mega church and 10 ,000 people come to my church, I'm not successful. Unless I plant so many churches or unless I start a school or unless I raise this much money, whatever it might be. But at the end of the day, I think that what God's called us to do is not necessarily be successful. God's called us to be faithful. So at the end of the day, I can't be caught up in what anybody says is success aside from him.

33:05And I think that's just being obedient to whatever he asked me to do. If I am obedient, I am successful. Now I have things that I want to do and in relationship with him. I obviously speak that and tell him that in prayer, but I've also got the scripture. And ultimately my job is to be obedient to what God speaks to me, starting with the Bible. So as a pastor, the first thing that I look at is what we call the great commandment and the great commission. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's the great commandment.

33:42And so I look at that first and foremost, I must be obedient. Have I loved God? All my heart, all my soul, all my mind, all my strength. Like I'm pushing towards that and I'm relying upon his help to do it because I can't do it in my own strength. It's impossible. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. The Bible says, right? So I'm relying on him. And then loving my neighbor as myself. That's also difficult, but I understand like I'm loving with borrowed love. So I'm in prayer. God, help me. I want to love people well. I want to love my neighbor as myself. This could be somebody of another faith.

34:19This could be somebody who's agnostic, somebody who's an atheist, somebody who's mean to me online. Well, I'm sure that that happens to you a lot more than it happens to me. But people love to say crazy stuff to pastors because they know we won't retaliate, right? They know we won't say anything publicly back because we have to turn the other cheek. Some people talk crazy to me sometimes on the internet. But that's what I'm looking at. I'm like, okay, I'm looking at the great commandment. And then I'm looking at the great commission. The other great of Christ, which is Matthew chapter 28, go make disciples, baptize them, name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe everything that I've commanded you to do.

34:51And I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. So I know that anytime I step out to be obedient to Jesus, Jesus promises me his presence. He said, I'm gonna be with you. It's a co-mission, it's a joint venture, right? So when I look at success for my own life as a pastor, I start there. I start great commandment, great commission. Am I in love with God? Am I giving myself to relationship with God? Am I loving my neighbors? Am I loving other people? And am I going and doing something about the faith that I've been blessed with? I always love to tell people two thirds of God's name is go.

35:29G-O-D, go, make disciples. Go, go one more. Go, right? Go, do something. Do something about what you say you believe in, right? Go make some disciples. How do you do that? Well, he tells you right there, baptize them. You don't have to take somebody to your pastor in order to baptize them. If they accept Christ, they believe in their heart, they confess with their lips, dude, put them in the hot tub, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything I've commanded you to do. Some people would think I can't teach the Bible because I don't know where to start.

36:01Well, Jesus tells you where to start in the Great Commission. What has he obeyed just to do? Just find one and share it with somebody else. And let's pray together and let's try to obey this to the best of our ability and the grace of God. Help us, God. We wanna love our neighbor as ourself, that being one. So for success for me as a pastor, bro, is like, I strive to keep it simple because I think the more complicated that I let it become, the more likely is that I'm actually carrying a yoke that Christ has never put on me because he says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And for a whole lot of pastors, as I'm sure, or the whole lot of entrepreneurs and business people is like they're Christians, but if they were honest about what they were carrying, they wouldn't say it's easier light.

36:42They'd say, dude, this thing is heavy. It is strenuous. And there ain't no way I can take a day off on Saturday. I got to get up and I got to do my thing. But what's interesting, not to segue too much, but what's interesting is that whenever God creates Adam, right? Adam's first day is God's seventh day, which is the day of rest. So whenever God creates man, he doesn't say, all right, I've created you, get to work. He says, okay, you've been created, take a day off. And that's so subversive because that's just not the way that we've been trying to think. But like going to heaven, enter into the rest of God, right?

37:19So there's something to be said. And I see it on you, bro. I mean, I see it on you. You're different from the last time I saw you in person. It's like, you're rested in your soul, man. You're at peace on the inside.

37:28Nick Bare:Do you think that's a problem right now in society, and especially in like the space that i'm in entrepreneurial productivity athlete the go go go go go mindset and mentality no rest yeah reaching close to burnout like how big of a problem is that and then how do we how do we how do we fix it it's a huge problem uh in christianity you know i think they call it like hashtag hustle porn right like you get on you get online you're like scrolling through, looking at personalities, like we're team no sleep. Grind till we shine, baby. No days off. We getting after it. Well, that might be cultural, but it's not biblical.

38:10And I think ultimately what you hit on a moment ago was, man, I'm reading, I read all these self-help books and they were helpful because they got me here. But as I've read the scripture, I've realized, hold on, wait, there's nothing new under the sun. The wisdom was right here the whole time. And so my effort, Nick, is not to be like, oh, I wanna be really disciplined or I wanna be this or that. Sure, I wanna be those things. But ultimately, I just wanna be biblical. So I think if you look at the scripture, the scripture is very clear about pace and rhythms. And ultimately, I just wanna walk at the pace of grace.

38:46And I think that if I am in a place where I believe that God is in such great need of me that I don't have time for a hobby, I'm pushing harder than he's asked me to. Yeah. Yeah.

39:00Nick Bare:One of the things I've learned since really diving into the scripture is how much emphasis is put on prioritizing our marriage. Yes. And it is really, I mean, me and Steph had sat down and had some deep conversations as we're both, you know, reading and exploring and Steph's been on this journey much longer than I have. and I don't think she'd ever get think I'd get to this point and now she's she leans over to me every night before we go to sleep and she goes I'm so proud of you I say tell me why and she goes into beautiful just like this transformation and beautiful I'm learning and just like realizing that I've always said my wife was a priority but not prioritized in the way that God tells us to put that emphasis.

39:57We had a family meeting yesterday after church.

40:01Nick Bare:It's me, Steph, our two dogs, our one-year-old son and our three-year-old daughter, Charlie. And we had a family meeting and I said, broad strokes. And this family, God is first. Me and mom are second. You guys are third, not last, not least, but third. And then it's everything else. and then we prayed over Charlie as she's about to go into her first day of school tomorrow, preschool. Sweetheart. I was just like blessing her and asking for the blessing of courage and bravery and strength and confidence, all these things, but it's made our family stronger. It's made Steph and I's relationship stronger so quickly just because we've reordered what we prioritize and allowing for actual rest.

40:52Nick Bare:One of the things I've been saying recently is I want a busy life. I want a busy and full life, but I don't want a hurried and rushed life. Yeah. And now I see the difference between those two things. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Full life is so much different than a long life even. Like I want a full life. I want a long life too. Don't get me wrong, but I don't want a hurried life, but I want a full life. And isn't that what Christ promised John 10, right? I've come to give you life and life abundantly. And that's the life I'm after. I don't want to live below the standard of what he paid for on the cross.

41:25That's a full life. That's an abundant life. That's a life filled with the fruit of the spirit, filled with joy, filled with adventure, filled with exploration, filled with risk. He's the author and the finisher. He's the author. He knows how to write a good story. Becoming a Christian does not mean that your life will be exempt of drama. Nobody watches a movie without drama. There's going to be ups, there's going to be downs, but he's the author and he's the finisher. and life will be full when you walk with him. You know, some people tell me, well, my destiny is this. And I'm like, oh, tell me more.

41:58Well, my destiny is to make this amount of money. My destiny is to build my company to this big, my destiny is to be this influential individual. I'm in Nashville. So my destiny is to be on The Voice. My destiny, you know, is to be on American Idol. My destiny is to have a Grammy. And I'm like, okay, all right, I hear you. I mean, I love the ambition. Like I don't have a problem with ambition. I don't like selfish ambition because the Bible says that's not good. But like when people are telling me all of these things that their destiny is, I said, no, no, no. Your destiny is not a position. Your destiny is not an income bracket.

42:33Your destiny is not a zip code. Your destiny is not a place. Your destiny is a person. It's just Jesus. If you walk in fellowship with Jesus, he will guarantee that you end up exactly where you're supposed to be. supposed to be. That's it.

42:50Nick Bare:Just faithfulness. You see, I used to think that being a Christian and being a believer was just to be a good person and get you to heaven. I actually used to think, and you can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I used to think that if you were a Christian, you went to church, you were a good person, you were automatically entered into heaven. I thought going to heaven was much easier. Now what, now I think I understand it is. From my understanding now, you have to be fully surrendered, all in, obedient follower of Jesus Christ. It is not a lukewarm Christian. And to get to the kingdom is much more challenging than I think most people think it is.

43:40Am I correct in saying that? I think so. I mean, he said it's a narrow path, right? Like ultimately at the end of the day, we are not saved because of anything we do, right? Like we're not saved by works, right? So no matter how well you perform for God, whether you do good or whether you do bad or whether you work hard or whether you don't work at all, at the end of the day, like we know that we cannot save ourselves. It is only because of his grace and mercy. None of us are good. Not one of us are good. All have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God. So unless Jesus gives his life to us and becomes the propitiation for our sin, the substitute takes our place on the cross.

44:18There's absolutely no way that we're able to get to God. No way that we have access to heaven without Christ Jesus as our substitute, as our savior, without faith, without confessing, with our lips, believing in our heart, Jesus, you're my savior and I give my life to you. No, it's not possible. However, that being said, once that point starts, then there is works that we have been called into. And that is to walk that narrow path. And if there's a scripture that haunts me, it is the passage where Christ said, many are gonna say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not do these great works in your name?

44:59Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not give all this money in your name? Did we not start these ministries in your name? and he says, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. Now that's crazy to do a whole bunch of stuff for God, but then God say, I never actually knew you. You did all this stuff. You gave me your hands, but you withheld your heart. Like you gave me your time, but like you refrained from giving me what was actually happening on the inside. And that scripture haunts me. And so that is something that I would say about, you know, what you're saying, Nick, is like, man, at the end of the day, you know, before I do a whole bunch of stuff for God, I just want to know God.

45:39That word in the Greek is the word genosko. And it is an experiential knowing. It's not an intellectual knowing. It is an experiential knowing. It's an intimate knowing. It's a connected knowing, right? So that's how I want God to feel about me. That's what I want him to say to me when I get to heaven. I read that piece of scripture a few weeks ago. Yeah.

46:02Nick Bare:And when I read that, I had a pit in my stomach. of oh oh this is like this real this is real what what is it it's i i do not know you yeah i never knew you i never knew you never knew you just like in that moment thinking you're you're on this path yeah and you get to that moment and then you realize you weren't this entire time of the ultimate judgment. That's powerful. It's powerful. If that doesn't produce the fear of the Lord, I don't know what will. Yeah. So Legacy, what are you guys working on right now? Yeah. Right now we're church planting, bro. Will this be your second church? Yes. Yes.

46:50Nick Bare:It'll be a new location. When did you initially open up the one in East Nashville? Eight years ago. Eight years ago. So we're eight years in. God has been very kind to us. We started in East Nashville there on Main Street. So not far from where you used to run quite a bit. And then a few years after that, our church grew and we purchased another church building that was about a mile and a half down the street. And we've been there for the last several years. And so the first one, that's our HQ. That's where we have our staff, our team, our schools. We do some classes there. And then we have the church that you know of, Legacy Nashville.

47:31They're in East Nashville. And now we are going to be planting another church in Franklin, Tennessee. Do you have the land already? No, not yet. We're looking at some. Okay. Yeah. There's one that I really like. Somebody just sent me yesterday and I was like, I really like it. And the reason I really like it is because they're putting an in and out, like not very far. I've heard about the in and out in Franklin. And I'm like, yo, how easy would it be to invite somebody to church? Hey, come to my church. Where's it at? You know where in and outs at? Yes. Everybody knows where in and outs at. So right now, man, we're church planting.

48:01We're raising up leaders. I mean, leadership development is something that you see in the life of Christ so much. And I think it's something that churches often overlook. Like we just want you to, we just want to get you to come and sit in the seat. and I always tell our church, man, I'm trying to get you from the seed to the wheat. I'm gonna get you out there in the harvest field, man. You know, the harvest is plentiful. The labors are few. We don't have a harvest problem as Christians. We have a laborer problem. And so I'm trying to raise up as many leaders as I possibly can. And we're gonna do that through church planting.

48:34And so that's where we're at right now, man. I've heard there's a lot of new stuff going on in Franklin. A lot of new stuff, especially past Highway 96, if you remember where that's at. Yep. Yeah.

48:45Nick Bare:My buddy Joe Greer lives out there. Bro, I really, I've never met him. I really like him. And we have some good mutual friends. Yeah, you guys would really get along. We need to connect. I should connect you guys. Please. But he was posting photos of this new coffee shop called Hank's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Al Franklin. Yeah. Yeah, all this stuff. Since we left, all this new stuff is going in. Hey, we'll keep it warm for you, bro. Whenever you're ready to come back, you know, come back for a visit. We're coming back actually in September. Let's go. And then I'm bringing the family out in December for a whole week.

49:18Heck yeah.

49:19Nick Bare:So I'd love to swing by. You let me know. Would love that. Because we loved going to church there. Yeah. When we were out in Nashville. Yeah. It's a great church. Yeah. There's energy. Yeah. To your church. It was just, it was so alive and so electric. And I know people like get emotional and really like living it. A lot of people with that surrender switch on. I could tell. And that was my first time being in an environment with people of such passion with that surrender switch on. Yes. And if I'm being honest, at first it made me a little uncomfortable. Of course. I was like, well, I'm not there.

50:00Nick Bare:And like, what are they feeling? Because I was always the person who sat in the back and kept to myself. Of course. Never put my hands up. Of course. Rarely stood up. I was always uncomfortable in those moments. Of course, me too, for a long time. And now when I see the passion, I mean, when I'm on my bike here in the gym sometimes, I got worship music playing, I'm letting it rip. I mean, like hands in the air, I'm yelling, I'm screaming, like, let's go. I'm feeling it. Yes. I can feel, there's moments where I can feel the presence of God with music, but then I feel the same thing in silence. Absolutely.

50:40Nick Bare:On a morning run, complete silence. Yeah. I hear things so vividly. Yes. You know, one thing I wanted to share with you, and we've kind of touched on this, but the prioritization of time and things, responsibilities, but also your energy. You know, I've put a lot of my energy over the course of my life. and also I was explaining this to you a little earlier into training, into fitness, into business. And that would leave for very little energy at the end of the day for things like my marriage and my wife.

51:23Nick Bare:God, all of my energy was going to these few things and it got me here. And I'm very grateful and very proud of that. But I would be ignorant to say that putting that energy into those same things at the same amount moving forward after have have realizing the truth and being on this journey that would be disobedience moving forward yes sir so i'm in this iron man prep right now let's go and that requires a lot lot of energy. Of course it does. Right. We just made a YouTube video live this morning. I, for, for years said I would never do an Ironman in my life again. And I was, I was, when did you do your first one, by the way?

52:13Nick Bare:2019. How'd it go? It was good. I mean, I did 11 hours, 28 minutes. Insane. I really didn't know how to train properly. I was just following this plan that wasn't very structured or specific. And then in 2020, 2021, I trained for another one. That training protocol, I had a coach. It was much more structured, specific. I got in much better shape. I learned a whole lot in that process. But that was before having kids. Training 20 plus hours a week requires a lot of time, a lot of energy. Yes. there was this one morning probably 10 weeks ago at this point and i just had this calling to sign up for an iron man yeah so i went and hit it did you tell your wife first i had the conversation with my wife afterwards once i got approval once i got approval from her okay yes then it was locked in yeah but for some something happens in my mind i'm like well if i don't sign up what if it sells out and then Steph says yes and I go to sign up and I can't sign up so I thought I'm gonna sign up just in case of course I'm gonna reserve it of course and then have the conversation with Steph yes and at first she's like this is not the time to be doing Iron Man prep we have a one-year-old we have a three-year-old Charlie's about to start school the business is is keeping you very busy yes we're trying to prioritize our marriage and all these things i said i'll make it work i will make this work i just have i'm being called to do this iron man and there's some people that are probably going to hear that saying come on man yeah you just want to do an iron man i'm telling you i didn't want to do an iron man i was fighting against it for so long of course i believe now that god was calling me to do this iron man because he wanted me to spend 20 plus hours a week in solitude yes in the word yes in reflection yes transforming into this new person so that after this 18 week prep i come out the other side a brand new man a different man i'm in that transformation right now and i know i have 11 weeks left to prep when i come out of it i'm going to be a completely new man usually during these preps i'm dead at the end of the day no energy exhausted of course trying to like just be zombie mode with steph and the kids yep i haven't felt any of that lack of energy in this whole wow Wow.

54:59Nick Bare:And Steph has even made comments. You know, Saturday, for example, Saturday morning, I woke up at 4 a.m., ran 18 miles before the kids were awake. Yeah. Got back. We had a full day. We had friends over for dinner that night. Everyone left the house at 10 p.m. I had trouble falling asleep. And I heard on my run last week, this is before this 18-miler, I decided that morning not to take my phone with me, listen to any podcast or music or book or anything and just be in the silence and pray i heard vividly i'm going to give you exponential energy in this prep because i know you will be faithful and obedient afterwards i already know you're going to do this so i'm going to bless you now i heard that heck yeah on a run come on absolutely dude it's insane absolutely you did come on bro yeah praise god yes that's amazing i know i think running is one of the best places to hear the voice of god one of the best places that's why i do all my praying out loudly you can also i think even scientifically it's supported because your brain is in that passive state so it's easier to be in a place where you can just listen for spontaneous thoughts upon the mind as one guy said but that's i hear god all the time whenever i'm running i can't tell you or prayer walking, just go on walks.

56:27Like some of the most significant words I've ever received have come when I'm walking. And obviously it's all come to pass. So, you know, like you said, somebody may argue and say, oh, well, you know, you didn't have a calling to do the Iron Man. Just like somebody might say, well, you didn't hear that from God, but okay, well, look at the fruit. Look at the by-product of what I'm telling you I felt and knew. I have more energy. and throughout this process of training for this Ironman, I'm a transformed individual. That right there confirms to me, yeah, the Lord was calling you, bro. And yes, he spoke to you.

57:04Yeah, I know people are going to try to find the,

57:11Nick Bare:of course, the how. Yeah, I've recently heard, don't look for the how because the answer is the who or the what. yeah come on and i don't feel like i have to defend myself i know what i'm experiencing i'm just sharing it i'm not in a position to defend it is what it is and if someone doesn't believe what i'm saying that's okay that's okay that's okay people will be bad at me for things i've said bro and they won't even be people who uh are like not christians they will be leaders there'll be pastors there'll be people who are like well he should have said this or he should have said that i mean everybody's always got a critique but back to what you said man i want to fear god not man just want to be obedient to god who cares what people think i'm not checking for their opinions when i already have a word yeah yeah there was uh the team was having this conversation last week and there were these group of individuals online that were attacking bpn and to go on more mission.

58:23Nick Bare:And this is the first time I did this and it felt really good to do this because the team that I was speaking to and that was speaking about this, very strong believers. Yes. And I walked out and I was like, guys, don't let these people ruin your day or our mission or what we're working towards. And I brought up Romans 12, 19 to 21. Let's go. I said, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. The wrath of God for it is written. Vengeance is mine. I will repay says the Lord. I was like, it's right here. It's right there. It's right here. Don't let it. Vengeance is mine.

59:06Nick Bare:It doesn't have to be ours. It is his. No, man, just keep following him. you know there was a guy recently uh online that was really mean to me and what i wanted to do was just like just go after them right because i think all of us have that tendency on the inside right it's like somebody says something mean to you but then um what i what i decided to do was i was like all right better wisdom prevails it's probably unwise for me to spend my day trying to respond to somebody who's been unkind to me online. So why don't I kick off with just praying for the person? Just praying for the, like, I don't know them at all, but why don't I just take what I do know and just pray for them and bless them and bless their business and bless their family and bless their kids if they have them and just pray for them and then try to tap into, okay, God, how do you feel about this person?

1:00:04And then it makes it a whole lot harder to root against them after you've tapped into what God feels about them. and he loves them. And then I'm not mad anymore. I'm like, you know, like sucks that that happened and that was unkind. And I can be honest with my friends and my family and say that actually hurt my feelings. And I feel sad about that. And I feel like that guy was, took that a bit too far, but let's pray for him. And then I noticed that the anger subsides and I don't feel the way that I felt before. And they might keep going. They may not. I don't know, but I don't care. Yeah.

1:00:39Nick Bare:What I'm learning through that too is it sets such a great example for your children as you're raising them. Yes. You don't have to fight all your battles. And being in this new relationship with Christ gives me so much confidence in leading my family and raising Charlie and Nico. to be people who I'm so proud of and build off character and integrity and humility and generosity and all of these things that are Christ-like, it gives me so much hope and faith for their futures. Yes. Come on, bro. You're a great dad. Thank you. You are, and a great husband. I follow you and your wife on socials And I love to see what you guys do for your children.

1:01:39It's very inspiring. I appreciate that. I know it's helping a lot of people. I know it's helping me and my wife because we buy the things that your wife posts on Amazon. The links and like the playhouse and everything you've built for your kids, man. You're a phenomenal father. Thank you. And a great example to many fathers and many husbands. I do feel a huge responsibility.

1:02:00Nick Bare:Which is why I need to do the men's thing at the ranch. And I want to get you involved for sure. Come on. Yeah. Come on, bro. Yeah. I really want to do that. You see what our homie Steve Weatherford is doing. Yes, you you know I know you guys are connected because he's been on the podcast before. Yep I love what he's doing and you see all of these men bro Men today. They're not just looking for something to live for man. They're looking for something to die for They're like dude. Let me bleed for something man. Where's that warrior spirit? Where's that opportunity to suffer? Well, yeah, you know I think man, I think you got it on your life nick Yeah when I signed the lease for the ranch, I knew there was a huge purpose there.

1:02:40Nick Bare:I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with it yet, but I knew there was a reason to build it out. It's like build it and they will come. And it's all really starting to make sense now. And I think there's a huge opportunity to do something on the ranch in that capacity. But I feel this huge responsibility to share the journey that I'm on for men who are in a very similar position that I'm in. They're professionally driven. They're athletically motivated and driven. We want to achieve. We want to succeed. We want to raise our kids and our family to be individuals and people of character and integrity and humility and all of those things.

1:03:27Nick Bare:And now I want the foundation to be, we will do all these things and i'm going i'm going to share with you how i'm achieving all these things because i i have this this obedience and faithfulness to christ and that's honestly why i want to use these platforms that's what motivates me to do podcasts and create youtube videos it's you know it's it's much larger the mission is much larger than i ever thought it would be. And I feel that, that weight and that responsibility. That's what I'm working towards. Let's go, bro. Let's go. You've already done it in the fitness space for so many. Just imagine how that will translate into the faith space.

1:04:08And I get it. Yeah. Some people push back or whatever, but when you found life, it's like that passage, the pearl of great price. You find this pearl in the field. It's like, man, I go sell everything and I buy the field. I see that. You're walking in that. You found that pearl. You found that life, that abundance of life. And in the same way that you found ways in which you could train more effectively and the experience of doing these 100-mile runs and how you've inspired us all. Bro, you're going to do the same thing with faith. Bro, I started running because of you. I watched my dad run as a kid, and I always wanted to run, but I never thought about doing a race.

1:04:47My dad was always trying to get me to sign up for a marathon, but it was because of you, Nick, that I was like, oh man, I'm going to start running. And what in the world is a hybrid athlete? Now you got everybody online talking about in their bio, hybrid athlete. Well, that started with you, dog. I appreciate that. Like you were the one that was like, I'm a hybrid athlete. I do bodybuilding workouts and I run. And whenever COVID happened, I didn't miss a Nick Bear video, bro. I watched every single one of them and every single morning, I went out with my Garmin, I ran seven to eight miles and every single afternoon, I was in the weight room and I was lifting.

1:05:21Bro, I have you to thank for that. I appreciate that. Yeah. And a lot of people have asked me, they've tagged me on socials. Like, hey, I heard you on the Nick Bear podcast. Like, how fast did you run your marathon? And I said the last time I was on your show, I am going to run this marathon in under four hours because previously I had, you know, it was very sloppy race and I didn't actually train. And I achieved it. I achieved it. I was three, I think it was 354. Oh, yes. So I did it. I got the sub four. which I know like you know we really need to go we need to go sub three and a half sub three even I remember you said I would love to train you I would love to train with you bro yeah I would love that if you would train me I would get back into training I've been traveling so much this year that I've not been training as much as I need to maybe we need to do it

1:06:08Nick Bare:let's find a race that you want to do where you have time yeah absolutely we'll dedicate let's say like 15 weeks to a prep yep and we'll get you really fast and fit. Oh, let's go. I would have so much fun with that. Let's go. Let's do that for real. Let's do it. I'm so down. You know, earlier you were talking about that people sometimes don't go all in and surrender because they're afraid of what God will ask them to do. Yeah. Are there some things that come top of mind to you that God has asked you to do that you were like, come again? Yeah. Yeah. Can you, can you, do you really, are you really asking me to do this?

1:06:50Nick Bare:Yeah. And then you said yes and went and did it? Yes. Can you share some of those? Oh, heck yeah, man. I mean, I feel like that is in a sense kind of countless in my life. And sometimes it's not the things that you would think. Like, honestly, I think for a lot of people who knew me as a missionary, they would think that I sold out by becoming a church planner, but it was actually me surrendering to become a church planter in the West. I did not want to be in America. I wanted to die in India. And that's where I started. And that was one of the things that I surrendered to doing. I don't know if I've told you this part of my story or not, Nick, but whenever I moved to India, I moved because I sensed that that is what God was calling me to do.

1:07:34So I moved to India with a focus on rescuing kids from human trafficking. Did I tell you this last time we're hanging out? No, I don't think so. So that's why I moved to India. I moved to India initially because I was doing some work and there was a CNN news report that was on in the background and I just overheard it. They said there are over 1.2 million child prostitutes in the nation of India. Well, there's actually a lot more. I didn't know that at the time. I just heard the news report. And I said to myself, you know, maybe God might be calling me to go and do something about that. Now, I've never worked in that field.

1:08:06I don't have an education background in that field or anything. It was just something that seemed to like spark in my heart. Kind of like you said, you saw the Iron Man, I felt called to it. You're like, hold on, I kind of feel like maybe I should do this. And so I started thinking about it. And I was like, okay, God, have you given me a word? Then of course I reflect on Matthew 28, go. If God's not saying no, he's probably saying yes. Why would he stop me from going and winning souls and trying to help kids involved in human trafficking? And as I prayed about it, I sensed that that was what he was calling me to do.

1:08:34Go over there and try to get as many kids as you possibly can free from human trafficking. That's crazy. How old were you? 24. Okay. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm single, 24. I have no money, by the way. In order for me to get to Africa previously, God told me to take all the money out of my bank account and go put it on the altar at church. Now it wasn't that much money. So, you know, don't think of it as a huge sacrifice, but it was all I had. And he told me, this is a seed that I want you to sow. If you don't have enough to go, then take what you got and sow. And so that's what I did. And by the time I was going to Africa, I had all the money that I needed.

1:09:10He supplied the need. So when I moved to India, bro, I met a guy who knew where some children were being trafficked. And I went there. He took me there. And I started to meet these children that were working in these rock quarries in central India. And there were kids there as young as four or five years old, right? They were loading buckets with little rock fragments and things. And there were other kids that were in there that were in the bottom of these rock quarries, slate rock mines. And they were helping wrap chains around rocks and so on and so forth. and they're being lifted up out of the quarry.

1:09:42And so I met these kids. And as I began to talk to them about their story, they told me like, my parents sold me into this. Like, I cannot leave this place. I'm being used as a slave throughout the day. I'm not paid anything. That's wild. I'm working eight to 10 hours a day, 12 hours a day. I get one meal a day a lot. I'm used as a prostitute in the night. People are beating me. They're putting out lit cigarettes on me. Like I heard these stories from little girls who did not know how old they were, Nick. I thought maybe they're 12, 13 years old. They're like, I don't know how old I am. How long have you been here?

1:10:13I don't know how long I've been here. I just know my parents sold me here. And one little girl in particular, her name was Anita. And I said, do you have any siblings? She said, I do. I have three older sisters, but they're all dead because they've all committed suicide because we were all sold into this at the same time. They've all killed themselves. So I met Anita and I said, okay, I'm going to get you out of here. No matter what it takes, I'm going to get you out of here. So this is how I started ministry in India, was with this girl, Anita. So I left there. We received a message from the man who owned the mines.

1:10:45He said, if you come back to this place, I will have you killed. Never come back here again. If you try to help these kids, I will have you killed. If you come here and preach Jesus, I will have you killed. He's a man of another faith. And he was not happy about us going there and talking to her. And I prayed that night. and I said, okay, I know this guy, you know, he's got corrupt cops on the payroll. He could probably make this happen if he was really bent on it. What am I supposed to do, God? Am I supposed to go back there? And I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said, you gave that girl your word, didn't you?

1:11:21Said you were gonna get her out? I said, I said I was gonna get her out. And I told her I was a Christian and he said, so go get her out. I'm like, yeah, but bro said he was gonna kill me. He's like, you've been shot at before. my testimony. People used to drive by shootings on my house when I was a crack dealer. He's like, go get her out then. So I showed up the next day. No one attacked me. You know, no one threatened me. Just talked to her again and we reached out to the guy and he had called us and we said, hey, we want to take this girl out. He said, I told you never to come back. I said, yeah, but we gave this girl a word we were going to take her out.

1:11:56He was like, you're not, leave. Came back the next day. Came back the next day.

1:12:01Nick Bare:Came back the next day. And we continued to come until finally he said, you know what? Let's work out some terms where you can take the girl out. Now that guy, we threatened our lives initially. We ended up taking Anitha home with us. We were able to take her to the hospital. She had HIV, AIDS, fourth stage at the time is what the doctor told us. She's, to my knowledge, still living today. Praise God. Put her in school, put her in a home. She was able to stay with us there. We were able to take a little boy out. so that was a moment in which you know it didn't seem like a like risking it all on a word from god seems quite dangerous but let's go for it because he's telling us to so we did it and we were able to do what we went there to do which was rescue this little girl now that guy eventually like a year later bro calls me because those same mines have been flooded there's a storm that hit india the mines flooded and he said i'm wondering if you could help me and i said why do you want my help he said because i threatened to kill you and you came back and i've and and i've just never met anybody like that so maybe because i know you guys are christians would you come and like show me some charity because i've got all these people who work in my mines who are stranded all them all these mines are filled up with water could you guys come with some boats and help me distribute you some food and like washing powder for their clothes and like all this all this he said absolutely we will do it and again nick i prayed and the lord said take all of your money that you have out of your bank all of your money and at the time now like i'd started a non-profit organization we i think we had like thirty thousand dollars he said i want you to take all the money out of your bank and i want you to make sure that this guy is able to meet the needs of these people these people who are slaves i'm like lord you want me to give thirty thousand dollars to a guy who's an oppressor to a guy who's a slave owner, to a guy who's a trafficker and do everything I can to help these people.

1:13:50And what I sensed that God was telling me to do, take all the money you got and go help the people. We did it. We went and helped the people. After we were done, he said, why don't you come over to my house for tea because I'm very interested in talking to you. This was a guy who had threatened to kill me like a year before. He says, tell me what it is about you that would make you come back to a place like this and treat me with the kindness that you've shown me. I said, well, we want to talk to you about Jesus. This is why we're here. We prayed, we have the Bible. We're just trying to live our faith.

1:14:23And he said, well, I would like to become a Christian. This guy becomes a Christian, becomes our biggest donor. And over the next several years, we empty out all of his minds of all the children that have been trafficked and are enslaved in those minds.

1:14:37Nick Bare:Wow. In just a few years, we rescued over 400 kids from human trafficking, child slavery, and prostitution. Had we not went back after the man said, you'll be dead if you come back, but listen to God, then those kids still be enslaved. That's incredible. What a wild way to spend your early 20s. Yeah, my mid 20s, bro. Early and mid 20s, Africa, India. That is absolutely incredible. I was just listening to this story in The Circle Maker talking about how you have to view generosity in terms of your time and your money, not as addition and subtraction, but as multiplication. Yes. And when you give everything, you will be blessed with exponential return.

1:15:32It's crazy. That's what I was thinking about when you were sharing that story. Money to Jewish people is not like cake. It's like a candle. and don't think of, this is what a guy told me recently, like, cause I asked him, I said, it seems that Jewish people are really anointed to be rich. They're super rich, right? And he was like, don't think of it like that. Think of it like Jewish people that you know and you see, they're adhering to the word of God and the word of God has principles for how to steward your wealth. And I read this book one time by Rabbi Lapin. It's a great book, by the way.

1:16:04Can't remember what it's called right now, but if you Google that, it'll come up. And he says, money is not like cake. It's like a candle. But when we think about sharing our piece of the pie, it means we'll have less. He said, no, no, money's not like cake. It's like a candle. The more you share, the more you're able to light the world. And the more that comes back ultimately. And I believe that that's true. And it's not true because it's karma. It's true because Bible. Yeah. Given, it will be given unto you. Press down, shaken together, and running over into your lap. serve a god of multiplication man yeah that that uh that description

1:16:45Nick Bare:put generosity in a whole new light for me come on man and uh man there's just been a lot of things that i now since being transformed can like look back over the course of my life which I thought were just these coincidences or things that happened to me, not for me. And I'm putting all the pieces together now thinking, oh, this all makes sense. Come on. Like where I'm at right now is not because I just had the vision and it worked to get here. It was all part of the plan. Yes. And what I'm going through right now is just another part of the plan. And these previous 13 years were a part of the plan to get me to this part of the plan for the next part of the plan.

1:17:40Nick Bare:Yes, sir.

1:17:44I'm loving what's happening in your life right now, Nick.

1:17:46Nick Bare:My mind's been blown recently. I'm just very, very grateful and appreciative

1:17:58Nick Bare:to have once been blind, but now see. Especially at this point in my life. My kids are so young. Me and my wife, we will be celebrating five years of marriage in October. Congrats. Thank you. I'm just really happy that I'm learning this and seeing this now as opposed to when I'm 75, 80 years old, if not ever. And I can take this new approach into my life to serve the people that I love. Yes. But ultimately, God. Yes, sir. Yeah. I love it, bro. Well, I'll, I mean, I appreciate you. Oh, bro. I appreciate you. I really appreciate you. And I've loved this conversation. Me too. I've wanted to have this conversation.

1:18:49Nick Bare:You were the person, I think, to really help guide it. I love what you're doing in Nashville. Thank you, bro. I love what you're doing in the space. When I'm back in Nashville with the family in September, in December, let's go. We're coming to Legacy. Come on, man. Come on. But no, man, it's really grateful for you. So I appreciate you. Likewise, Nick. You've been a great blessing to my life. Well, thank you. A great blessing to my life. Thank you. I'll never forget the moment that we met at church. Yep. And you were like, hey, we've been watching you on YouTube. And I was like, yo, I've been watching you on YouTube.

1:19:25I remember that. I was at church with Dr.

1:19:28Nick Bare:Axe. That's right. Our homie. Yeah. Well, whenever you want to go for that marathon PR. All right. Yep. Let's make it happen. All right. You're going to train me. I'm going to train you. All right. Let's go. One-on-one. Let's go. All right, man. Thank you.

1:19:48I'm just I'm just