Foxhole Symphony
Foxhole Symphony
Whose Kingdom are You Building? Overcoming the Pressure to Achieve and Accumulate
Have you ever found yourself caught between your personal ambitions and a higher calling? Mark and I tackle this profound dilemma in our latest episode of Foxhole Symphony. We share our candid experiences of navigating societal pressures to achieve and accumulate, while striving to honor our God-given calling and spiritual identities. Mark opens up about his own transformation from centering his life around personal goals to embracing a balanced existence that prioritizes service to God's kingdom. This thought-provoking discussion is designed to make you rethink your life’s pursuits and evaluate their true purpose.
Join us as we peel back the layers of identity and the relentless quest for validation that so many of us face. Are you constantly seeking affirmation and material success, only to feel unfulfilled? We dive into the roots of these desires and how they often misalign with divine intentions for our lives. Emphasizing the importance of grounding our identity in God, we offer practical steps to realign your daily mission with spiritual growth, freeing you from the heavy burden of societal and self-imposed expectations. Feel the power of redemption and humility, and learn how embracing Jesus Christ’s easy yoke can fill your life with unprecedented love and purpose. Through heartfelt prayers and actionable advice, we inspire you to prepare for spiritual movement and stay true to your divine calling.
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Welcome to Foxhole Symphony, a podcast about the transformational value of men in authentic community.
Speaker 2:In our foxhole. Men are equipped to build relationships that foster belonging, accountability and growth.
Speaker 1:Stop believing the lie that you can thrive in isolation and instead join us on the journey from broken to whole.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone. They call me the Maestro and we are back in the foxhole where we actively pursue belonging, accountability and growth through authentic relationships. No masks, no agendas, just iron sharpening iron. Steve and Mark are in the foxhole and today they're asking about whose kingdom is being built. It's time to dig in deep. Let's open our hearts, our minds and our favorite notes app. Let's get started.
Speaker 4:Hey, welcome back to Foxhole Symphony Podcast. I'm Sarge here with my good friend Mark.
Speaker 1:Hey brother, checking in from just cool and comfortable New Jersey, at a 52 degrees and sunny.
Speaker 4:Wow, amazing.
Speaker 1:Right, so we're. We're recording here at the end of August and it's in the low fifties every morning for the past five days.
Speaker 4:Unbelievable, unbelievable Early fall. It won't last, no, it won't last, no, but you know what?
Speaker 1:Everybody here is smiling and really there's a, I think, a general joy, because a week ago we were 90, 90.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, Just that sticky, thick icky.
Speaker 4:Yes, well, and and people might be wondering, hey, sarge sounds a little different, he sounds a little further away and that's because Sarge has moved. Sarge is in Florida. Not sure exactly why I'm speaking in the third person, but maybe because I'm a big George fan. George is getting upset. So yeah, man, it is not in the 50s, it's not in the 60s, it's a whole lot warmer, it is steamy and teeming rain. But hey, I'll take it, I do. I, you know. I'm looking at you and looking in the background and seeing seeing the sunshine and I can feel the cool, crisp air that you're talking about, and that's it.
Speaker 4:That's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 4:Excited to be back with you here in the foxhole and you know I would say not so excited about our topic. Why am I not excited?
Speaker 1:Because it's not like it's a challenge.
Speaker 4:Listen, it's a challenge. It's deeply challenging. It's deeply convicting about whose kingdom we're building, whose kingdom you're building, whose kingdom I'm building, and you know for years, whether it be in business or just in personal lives. This is an area that I've really paid close attention to, and it's something that I see a lot of people struggle with, or at least manage the tension, or try to manage the tension between building their own kingdom and building God's kingdom, and what I'd like to do is just talk about what we mean by that. So you know, what does it look like to build our own kingdom? Well, go ahead, what comes to mind?
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm an expert. Many topics. I wonder what the heck I'm going to talk about here. And I get on my knees and say, lord, give me some words that make a little sense. This one's easy for me, right? You know?
Speaker 1:In the scale of zero to 100, whose kingdom I'm building 47 years, 47 years of 100% Mark. That's the truth, that's the God's honest truth. I hate to say it that way, but it's the truth. And that means 18 years of trying desperately to find some balance in my identity as a follower of Christ, as a believer. As you know, it's for me, man, you know I am sold out. It is one true God, the creator of everything. That's my identity today, but I don't live it out every day. So, from a hundred percent mark for 47 years and 18 years of 50, 50, 70, 30, you know, I have some good days, I have some great moments, you know, where I feel totally, totally immersed in my identity in Christ. But, bro, it is a pick. Your metaphor it's a seesaw, it's a roller coaster. It's embarrassing some days how un-Christ-like I am.
Speaker 4:That's how I think. And you're not alone. Yeah, and you're not alone, and one of the words I want to really hone in on that you said was balance, because I think that is the mindset of many, many, many people. Right Is I've got to balance this. I've got to balance building my kingdom, because that's what I'm supposed to do, it's what I'm trained to do, it's what I'm brought up to do to, to, to, to get after it right, to do well in school, to to, to get that first job and to make as much money as possible and to get the first home and to care you know care for my family financially and to, you know all of these things right. That just we're, we're, we're brought up to, to, to go after, to get after it, to build your kingdom.
Speaker 1:That is the world's message.
Speaker 4:To build your bank account, build your kingdom. That is the world's message. To build your bank account, build your 401k. You know all the way to retirement and you know we talk about Chris Bruno all the time in this book, sage, and he talks about it in Sage the sort of stages of life we go through and you get to a certain point in your life where you begin to look back and you question it all Right, you say what was I doing?
Speaker 4:What was I doing? Working, overworking. You know 12-hour days, six days a week, seven days a week, weekends, evenings. You know missing out on the kids' activities, or you know the needs of my wife or whatever it is, so that I could build my business, I could serve my business, I could serve my employer and listen. These are noble things to build a business, these are noble things to serve your employer. God's designed us for work, right, so I'm not suggesting we shouldn't be working and working hard, but that idea of balance, life balance, life balance is important Kingdom balance. We've got to address, we've got to tear that down Because there is, you know, again, it comes back to perspective, it comes back to the lens through which we see these things and we see the world and we see work. Even You're right.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:We see business. If you're an entrepreneur, if you're a business owner, I would ask you whose business is it? Is it yours or is it God's? Who's the CEO? And what do your actions daily? How do your daily actions inform others about whose business it is? And when I say others, I mean customers, vendors of retirement, of our 401k, of our daily needs being met, of our business, ownership of our whatever it is, whatever situation you're in, build my kingdom while also trying to build gods and balancing this, and some days I'll pay more attention over here and other days I'll pay more attention over there and I'll invest over here and I'll invest over there. Listen, that is an exhausting lifelong exercise. Get off the treadmill, give it all to God, see it all as God's, accept the fact that it's all his, because it is anyway and he could take it all away in an instant.
Speaker 1:Preach, Preach brother.
Speaker 4:I am fired up about this because it is such a challenge and I see so many people, especially men in bondage, over this theme In bondage and it ruins their marriage. They get to a certain point in their life, they look back and their marriages are barely hanging on. Their kids resent them. They have deep resentment themselves.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say the look in the mirror is not good.
Speaker 4:Why did I do that? Why did I choose that? Just to make a little bit more? Or because I felt like I had to model the hard work ethic for my employees? Come on, come on, I don't know. I hope this is speaking to somebody that needs to hear it.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, let's, let's get one thing out of the way. I'll throw out the bumper sticker, all right. The bumper sticker says that on your deathbed nobody ever looked up and said, oh, if I had only worked just a little bit more, okay. So let's, let's throw the easy one out. You've hit on so many things, right. You touched on, you know, in your job, serving well right. The Bible calls us serve your masters well right. And there's so many biblical things I think four that you just threw out so quickly I can't catch up to them. But this has to resonate with men today, bro, I know it's resonating with you. The reason you're fired up about this is because there's parts of your life that have you in an exhausted stage with your job where you're grinding right. But at the same time, I have to be clear. When I started this by saying in a world of zero to a hundred percent that's Mark's measurement Our God is 100%, god, period. There's no balance 100%.
Speaker 4:And that is the other word I wanted to touch on that you mentioned, and that is identity. Okay, because this issue is not just a cultural issue, it's not something that's done to us. Certainly there are contributing factors, right, there's bad managers, there's bad bosses, there's, you know, all these other things right. But we have a choice, we have a choice to make, and that choice comes down to living our lives, beloved sons and daughters of the creator, god, and and that. You know our identity, our needs, right, our woundedness that come into play. My need for affirmation, which might be insatiable. My need for acknowledgement, which might be insatiable. My need for, for more things right, for material possessions to just have it. My need to be seen in a certain light by others, right, all of these needs which come from a place of woundedness. This is not of God, right. And so, as soon as we see ourselves the way that God sees us and we, our identity is rooted in him and only him. Let me say that again, our identity is rooted in him and only him, not in what we have, not in the, the, the, the, how others view us or see us, right, but only how he sees us and and our sees us and our mission, our daily reason for the breath that we breathe, is solely and radically rooted in the work that he would have us do, at work, at home, wherever it is we are.
Speaker 4:Now we're talking, now we're laser focused, now we are mission. And that doesn't mean that God won't bless us financially or we won't receive some fruit from that labor, but it's the why. It's the why. It's what are we after? What are we building? What is our mission? What are we getting after? Right, every day, day in and day out. And this merry-go-round or this balancing act, this tight, tight rope walk, you know, high wire act that we go through life with, is exhausting and so release it, give it up. Give it up, release it, leave it at the foot of the cross. Let's go to the Heavenly Father, get clear about our mission and get after that. It doesn't mean that there even needs to be a change in our work lives. But you know, are there needs of our families? Do our wives or significant others, our parents, our children, our friends, our loved ones? What would they say about who our master is? What would they say about the master we're serving?
Speaker 1:Well, that's what I'm thinking about right now. Two things come to mind. First of all is I tend to put God in the corner, and if you were sitting next to me, you know there's a bar stool right there and it's my Jesus bar stool, and I put them right there and I tell them to just chill, just take a break, relax, I'll be back when I need you. Right, that's one part of it for me. That's how I act in my day. The other is to achieve what you're talking about. There's a few things.
Speaker 1:This is not done in a vacuum. You actually have to turn off some voices that are valuable and that you like your wife telling you you're a good man and your boss telling you you're a good worker and there are voices coming at you that misdirect you. They also are distracting and keep you on the merry-go-round. Oh, absolutely, I think the world culture, social, etc. Throws some negative stuff at you. But this is also this problem of identity is compounded by positive voices from people that we might love, but their identity is not correct. You need people around no-transcript.
Speaker 4:You just took that to a whole new depth, absolutely. So now, those closest to us, maybe their identity is not rooted in God, right, they're not seeing us. In fact, they love the fact that we chase after or are building our own kingdom because they get the benefit. Right, they reap the benefits of that, whether it's our boss or our wives or our kids or whoever. And so now, oh, that just compounds the pressure, right, it just raises the bar on that burden. To get it done, atta boy, Mark, do it again. Go get after it.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know, yes, right, like oh get my tail wagging and off I go and I don't even look back. Right I'm. I'll give you a practical example of this in my life. I'm just picturing myself, even in the moments where I know the Lord has blessed me with something. It could be a financial gain, it could be just a loving word from my wife, it could be a closing a deal. Right? As a sales guy closing a deal, I get there are good things coming my way and then I give God thanks. After the fact, my equation has God in the wrong place, on the wrong side of the equal sign. Does that make sense, right, yeah?
Speaker 4:yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do this on my own and my own strength and then I'll give God some thanks and glory later. Right and so ignorant I'm laughing because I'm laughing at myself but awareness of this for me has been key in my life, in the evolution of my faith. Walk in the journey, as our brother Richard talks about so often. Shout out to brother, slaughter that journey. The awareness for me was so eye-opening and I felt good about realizing okay, all right, I know what sold out looks like. I believe today I have a pretty good picture of what Mark's identity is and who it should be in. I am not exercising it. I'm not executing well all the time, but I'm certainly executing better than I was 20 years ago or 18 years ago.
Speaker 1:And each day each day a little bit more, a little longer. It, as usual, begins for me in the word. I need to have his word, his spirit washing over me. I need to be reminded. I love to see what you guys write in the daily devotional. It's always food for me and reminding me who I. My identity is that that I am loved, I am chosen, I am redeemed, and I try to live those three things. Those are the. I mean, I know there's a lot of other words you could use to describe it, but love, chosen and redeemed.
Speaker 4:I'll add to that gifted and called. Gifted and you're called, and so because that's where you are, all those things, that is your identity. And then you've been gifted and you've been called, and it's about mission, right? So now it's like, yes, because you are all those things, you are redeemed, you are loved, you are chosen, you are, you know, all of those things forgiven, right, that deals with the, with the, the woundedness, right, right, and and provides the healing and the foundation that you know then gives you the ability to acknowledge your gift things, your unique gift things and your unique calling in this life and how god wants to use you to build his kingdom. And so that's exactly. I mean, it's just, it's beautiful, that is the tapestry, this is his design for our lives. It's not to juggle and balance and walk the high wire right, and so this requires enormous courage.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely yes, Dude. I just listened to a podcast in the last week and it talked about-.
Speaker 4:That wasn't the Foxhole Symphony podcast. You listened to a different podcast Cheating on me.
Speaker 1:I did, I did. I think it was. Oh, my, Brett Snodgrass. Okay, Iron Deep, Iron Deep. Brett Snodgrass. Okay, Iron Deep, Iron Deep. Sorry, Thank you, Wow, Brain cramp.
Speaker 1:It might've been that because it's popping up on my podcast list all of a sudden, at the top which there are too many Long story short. It talked about exactly what you just said the spot on need for courage to actually not wow I'm shouting out to too many people that have been on here before, but Brother Michael talked about ceaseless striving. Yes, Actually, turn down the volume on the noise. Decide how you're going to live with an identity in Christ, throw the balance beam out the window and trust that God will provide for you that having that retirement fund funded and the 401k in the right place and the stock and so on and so forth.
Speaker 1:Just not saying those investments aren't good and smart, but it's not what it's about that. We actually have to have the type of faith that requires us to trust God. Surrender that to God and know that when it comes time for you to stop the work part, I'm going to stick with work, to stop being somebody else's employee and paying taxes or big taxes, et cetera, depending on what state you're in, that you and I, I would have the courage to say yes, Lord, like I'm going to stop and I'm going to trust that in my later years you will provide for me. And I have to tell you, when I heard him say it, I got cramped, I got like a visceral reaction to whoa, because I'm nervous about that right now that you've heard, that is one of my greatest fears.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:That I just haven't prepared for a long life. I'm presuming God wants me around. It just helps me sleep, you know. But whether I have a day or 10,000 days left, I want it to be as fruitful as possible. But am I I'm asking myself, bro in the mirror? Am I willing to just let God live according to the plan I know he has for my life and let him take care of me? And that's scary as heck for me. It it is. That's desperate courage for me it is how about you?
Speaker 4:oh, I share that, I share that and I and I can only imagine that there are, you know, some younger folks listening saying easy for you old guys to say you already built your kingdom right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 4:And to some extent yes, to some extent we have. I got a lot of years left and I've made some really hard decisions that have deeply impacted my future financial position in retirement, and many reasons for that is to live life to the fullest the way that God would have me live it serve my family well, not just my wife and my children, but to honor my parents and those that you know need some care and are going to need care. And I'm sure this resonates with a lot of people, and maybe not just younger folks, but older folks too, and some that may even have regret that they made those hard decisions. And so you know God is Jehovah Jireh, his provider, right.
Speaker 4:And you know I would encourage people to jump into Matthew 6 and read about and soak in the promises of God and the challenges from him. Right, you know, these are things like listen, some of those fears are very real risks. There's very real risks involved in some of this. He is faithful and true to his promises and so you know, prayerfully discerning what God would have us do. And again, I'm not suggesting everybody just go jump off the high dive. What I am suggesting and challenging people to do is to you know, just like when you go to the eye doctor and he starts shifting the lenses, you know better, worse, same Better, worse, same Left. Shift the lens, shift the lens.
Speaker 1:That's wisdom.
Speaker 4:That's wisdom right there, you know, just just begin there. Start there. When you, when your feet hit the floor in the morning and you take that, that first conscious breath and you go about your day, what are you feeling? What are you thinking? What are you thinking about? What are you focused on when your head hits the pillow at night? What are you thinking about? What are you focused on as you go about your day? What are you thinking about? What are you focused on? Where's your heart? What is your heart? Posture right? What are you running after? What are you prioritizing? And priorities are what we do, not what we talk about. Priorities are what we do, not what we talk about. So, what are you doing? What are you doing? And because everybody around you those closest to you are watching and God is watching.
Speaker 1:You know, by the way, bro, you hit two things I've got to grab on Matthew 621, right, treasures here on earth versus in heaven, that's. You saw my response to you this morning. That's the first thing that came to my mind is you're right, get in Matthew 6 and talk about you know where rust and and uh, rodents destroy, right, yep, so that's one and the other is Jehovah Jireh. Well, the preaching uh at at Southridge this Sunday tomorrow, uh happens to be. That's the topic, and brother Pete Gatto, the only two time-time Foxhole Symphony podcast guest, is preaching tomorrow. So shout out to Brother Pete Gatto.
Speaker 4:That's awesome, yeah, and that's it, it's Jyra.
Speaker 4:Well, brother, listen, it's a journey, as Brother Richard says, the journey continues and, you know, we just get an inch closer and an inch stronger. We sharpen each other and I need you and my other brothers in my life to remind me, you know, of my priorities and to ask me the hard questions and to help me ensure that I'm living my life through the lens of my identity in him and choosing the right things Choosing him, choosing my wife, choosing my kids, you know, rather than choosing work, choosing possessions, choosing affirmation and acknowledgement and all these dry wells that never get filled up.
Speaker 1:Right, and I want to just be sure, I just want to spend a moment each on loved, chosen, redeemed, and just tell, I want to look you in the eye and I want to tell anybody who's listening how important it is that your identity is tied, that realizing how loved you are by the one true God. It's. It's a love that I mean it, agape love, right, it's it's. It's different. There's an unconditional nature to that that the world can your, your, the greatest love of your life, your wife or whoever that is in your, is nothing like the love that our Father in heaven has for you.
Speaker 1:You're chosen. He chose me, he chose you, sarge, and he chooses each of us. That choice is because he made you, especially you, right. This isn't like a chromosomal mistake. You are a child of God. He chose you and you're redeemed. It means you're made new. The old is gone and the new is here and you can choose that today. Today can be your day to be redeemed and turn, repent from my sins, your sins, and act like a redeemed, chosen, loved, child of God. Please.
Speaker 4:Amen, invite him into your life today, if he's not, and if he is, may he restore to you the joy of your salvation and the peace that only comes from him, and may we be living on mission for him, with him, to build his kingdom, not ours. Amen. So good to be with you again this morning, brother, and I build his kingdom, not ours, amen. So good to be with you again this morning, brother, and I look forward to the next time.
Speaker 1:Peace.
Speaker 4:Peace.
Speaker 3:Brick by brick, we build our kingdom. Year by year, we establish our place in the eyes and minds of the people around us. You know those broken people just like me and you, and we become slaves to the grind. I don't know about you, but for me it's exhausting. Praise God that he doesn't leave us in that dry desert land. We are blessed with the Lord and Savior, our Redeemer, jesus Christ, and His yoke is easy. He strengthens us, he encourages us, he corrects us and he humbles us. In fact, he provides all that we need. He simply asks us to follow Him, to humble ourselves long enough to see the depth and breadth of His gifts. His love Less of me. The depth and breadth of his gifts. His love, less of me, lord, and more of you. Lord, please continue to use this podcast to impact the lives of all who listen. I ask that you would bring hope and healing to each and every one of them. Meet them right where they are and reveal yourself to them like only you can do.
Speaker 2:In Jesus' name. Amen, as it'll help us get found by others who could benefit. Find, follow and like us on your go-to social media networks by searching Foxhole Symphony or visit foxholesymphonycom to make it super easy to find us. Drop us a line with feedback, questions, topic requests. Who knows, maybe you'll be a guest on a future episode. In the meantime, prepare to move, embrace discomfort and just be you.
