BraveMen S4E108: John Arana - Closer to God

It's Brave Man with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. Hey, this is 15-go with Brave Man podcast on Paul Cole. I'm here with John Aronna, pastor, Zoace's church in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Right? Right around the corner. Right around the corner. I'm right around the corner from there. So this whole series, 15-go, is that we take issues that are issues for us as men, obstacles, problems, things you and I have talking to men about all the time. And we hit it for 15 minutes, just like a bam, do it. Part of the Brave Man podcast, which is a ministry outreach of the Christian men's network, and you can find all our tools at cmn.men. Don't go to CNN. You won't find any answers there. And see Christian men's network, cmn.men, and you'll find all the tools you need. And so we do this. It's going to be a 15 minute thing. Yeah. We just started this whole series. Yeah. It was great the first time. We'll see how good it is the second time. Yeah. Hopefully a little sharper. Oh, no. I thought you were pretty good the first time. I thought you were good. So anyway, everybody needs a little affirmation, don't you? I'm just following you. You're just following me. You're just doing that. All right. Clock is on, man. There we go. And here's the obstacle, or here's the issue. How does a man get closer to God? Right? Yeah. How does a man get closer to God? I think in our culture, let me tell you something, people in average, I've found that they think that to get close to God is to just get a lot of information about God. Wow. Yeah. Just tell me about God. Okay. I got it. I'm getting closer to God. Unfortunately, we have a lot of people that have a lot of information, even know a lot of Bible, but are not really close to God. You know, the scripture says, draw near to me, and I will draw near to you. You know, so it's not about information, it's about a relationship. Yeah. It's about connecting with God at an intimate level, like you were mentioning before we started the program. So I think we need to dissipate that idea, that information doesn't necessarily draw near to me close to God. Information. What we need is revelation. What we need is revelation, insight. Yeah. Information can give you inspiration, and easily becomes evaporation. I like it. I like it. I like it. I'm going to use that. Revelation. It's an impartation of his presence that produces a transformation in lifestyle. Yeah. Now, let me hit you with one, John. Good. So your pastor, you've taught leadership around the world. Yeah. You teach at a Bible institute, pastor of large thriving church in Arlington, Texas. Bible says in Romans 8, it says, it says, the spirit of Christ, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. I like that. I like that. I like that. So how can I get closer to when it's already in me? Yeah. That we're talking about, we're assuming that, obviously, that is a case. Okay. So there's only two types of people. Yeah. There's Christians, followers of Christ. Yes. And there's soon to be Christians. Okay. That's the way we call it. All right. Okay. That's the way I've got to look at people. Okay. I see the same thing, but I see it in a little different light. I see there are real believers, and then there make believers. Make believers. Okay. Okay. There's a lot of people in church, including our church. I mean, there's people in every church that they're there because that's their custom. That's their tradition. Yeah. But they're not really born again. They're trying to get inoculated. They're not. Yeah. So they don't really have a relationship with God. They just show up and get the information and said, wow. Okay. I did it. I took a box. Yeah. I did it. I'm in church, and I'm okay with God now. I had friends, and when I, when I was in college, I spent a little time in Nashville with my uncle. In fact, I spent almost a year there. And working as a teamster. Okay. So I had these friends that I made friends with. Yeah. And they were from Dandridge, Tennessee. Okay. And what I discovered real quick is to be a good Christian was you could go out drinking on Saturday night. Okay. But you better be there at 10 30 on Sunday morning. If you did that, you're okay. You're good. You're good. So closer to God, really, when we talk about that, there's two things. I have guys tell me I want to be closer to God. Yeah. And what they're really saying is I'd like to not screw up as much, right? Yeah. Pretty much bottom line. Yeah. Pretty much bottom line. Yeah. I'd like to not be in porn as much. I'd like to not be hanging out at these bars as much or whatever. Right. Part of that is, okay, well, then to be closer to God if Christ really is in you. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's good. And once you can't get closer, I like what you said, because I mean, if you're truly in Christ and Christ is truly in you, come on, I mean, it can't get any closer than that. However, you need to acknowledge the indwelling presses of God in your life and in every area. In other words, okay, can you hear God's voice? Can you talk to Him? Okay. So now you have to go from program to passion. Yeah. It's not a method. It's a relationship. It's not an add-on. Yeah. So are you talking to Him? Is He talking back to you, you know, when you read His Word, you know, are you getting a sense of? Do you read His Word? That's that. There you go. That's a big issue. It's a big issue. That's a huge issue. So if we want, you know, I mean, in my own life, when I've made decisions in different seasons in my life, man, I want to get even closer to God, then that means I'm going to go the extra mile to seek Him. I take the initiative to talk to Him. I take the initiative to read His Word. And those things are not necessarily methods, but those methods open the way they build the bridge for me to be able to connect with God at a more personal level. Yeah. No question. Well, the Bible says that if we, if James, his half brother said, if we come towards him, he runs towards us. That's it. So to be closer to God, what we're really saying, I think for most of us as men, is we're saying, I would like to not just be pulled easily back into old stuff. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I mean, I want to be closer to God. That's a phrase that says, I would like my life to be more like a follower of Christ. I would like to, I would like in my, the way I talked to my wife, I would like to be more God. Yeah. So what we're really talking about is moving into a place of passion for Christ. And there's, there's two things I think, John, that you can't do without there. They're like the basics. They're like fuel. If you don't have gas in your car, you're not going anywhere. You could own a car. That's right. That's a fuel. Okay? I think it's prayer and being in the Word of God. Absolutely. And I think that sometimes we overlook that because it seems so basic, almost like it's childlike. Yeah. But Jesus said, you've got to be that way to even enter the kingdom. In other words, there's certain things you need to do on a regular basis. Yeah. Right? I think, I think you hit it on the nail because those two things are foundational in order to connect with God. See, if I pray and I read His Word, then I put myself with, I take initiative to be in His presence. And guess what? It's, it's His presence in me through His Word that's going to do something in me. So it draws me into Him, you know, because remember, God's not moving away from me. I'm the one that moved away from Him. Exactly. I moved towards Him and it may appear that He moved towards me, but He didn't really move towards me. He's always been there. But I'm the one that's actually moving towards Him and I'm, is that moved towards Him? I'm going to see Him and I'm going to go, wow, okay, He's always been there. So really it's getting rid of some of the stuff that stops us. My grandmother planted three churches, my dad's mom, and she was, she was a crusty old son of her man. I mean, she was. God bless them, man. Yeah, she was amazing. She was an amazing woman. One of them in San Angelo, Texas is still going, but she grew up in Cherokee County, Texas. So my family came here in like 1824 or something while my dad's side, on his mom's side. And she used to say this, she said, she said, if somebody gets between you and God, just remember this, they're closer to God than you are. There you go, there you go. And I think that, I think Instagram, I think social media can get between us. You know, so when we want to get closer to God, really what we're saying is, I'd like to not care as much about some of this stuff. I'd like to cut it away. And prayer does that. Yeah. But think about this. The last statistic on Barnard Research says that the average question spends three hours a day watching TV. Get out of here. Three hours a day watching TV. That's fine. Not even the ESPN. So I understand it. I could understand it if it's the outdoor channel. Right. The ESPN. No, really. Now, but the average Christian, the average Christian, now the average person's like six or seven hours. Imagine. Imagine. Now, here's the thing. The average question spends about 15 minutes, a week prayed, a week, a week brother. Imagine. So it's like, okay, I'm getting, if I'm watching through, I was a TV every day. I'm getting a lot closer to those commercials in those TV programs that I am a God. Yeah. So in other words, that has, so what's happening is that has greater influence on me. Yeah. And people invest in God. People invest their time watching TV. And I don't have anything against TV, you know, I watch TV, you know, but you, like you were saying, there are things that get in the way routines and habits that get in the way that causes this is between God and us. You know, in this whole pandemic, and I'm talking with, I'm Paul Cole. I'm talking with Pastor John Arana, Oasis Church in Arlington, Texas. And we're doing this series, go 15. We're hitting, we're 15 go 15, we're hitting these things in 15 minutes and just going after it. And we're talking today, this week about being closer to God. To me, John, there's some basics, you know, there's basics in football, there's basics in athletics. You were a basketball player. There's this basics, certain things you learned to do and you do over and over and over. And I think the same is true of being a follower of Christ. And we're talking about getting in the word of God. Yeah. It's not a rigidity. Sure. In fact, let me put it this way, talking about you, you just mentioned habits, rituals. Right. I'll guarantee you in the last year and a half during all this COVID stuff, the men who already had rituals, a morning Sabbath, whatever you want to call it, a time where they were in the word, time in prayer. Yeah. I'll guarantee you, those men have gone through this with more peace than men who didn't have that. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Because I mean, they're in the presence of God, they're connecting with God, they get that peace. I think their businesses have gone better. I think they haven't lived in as much fear. Yeah. I think they haven't been just overwhelmed by the 24 hour news cycles. If you get up in the morning, and here's the thing, Coach McCartney, you know, Bill McCartney, one of our heroes. Right. And my dad, Dr. Cole, was one of his mentors, starting in 1986, building promise keepers and all that. Coach McCartney said one time in front of a group of men, he said, hey, I'm going to give you an extra 180 hours a year, an extra 180 hours a year. How many want it? Yeah. Fantastic. He said, here it is, get up a half hour earlier every day. And the fact is, is that you can do that. And if you'll do that, like you version is a great thing, I'm on a couple different you version. I'm always on a you version plan. Yeah. I'll read him. I'm on one with now with Michael Murphy from our, who's one of our board members of the Christmas network. And we're going through the book of, we're going through Luke and Acts. Oh, okay. Cool. And, and so I'm enjoying it. Yeah. Plus, it kind of hits me like, dude, I missed a day, I'm going to be back. And then we read Proverbs every day for the day of the month. So 25th of the month, you read chapter 25 of Proverbs. Okay. And if you just started those disciplines, a daily discipline, obviously there's times like I had up in a emergency happen a couple days ago, missed it. So that night, late, I just went, oh yeah, I got to pull that up, get back, you know, it wasn't like a law. No, no. Of course not. A rigidity. Yeah. But there is a law reciprocity. That's right. Right? That if I invest my hard time effort into this, God is going to return that into my life and wisdom. Yeah. Understanding. Peace. Peace, dude. Yeah. Absolutely. In a chaotic world. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Hey, it to me is kind of like when I first met my wife, I saw her and I went like, I'm going after her. She's the one for me, man. And and you know what? I saw her. I saw her after her. I invested time in her. I took her out. We spend money going out to dinner, you know, we talked, we communicated, you know, we went through different experiences together, we shared life, you know, and so the same thing with God. So if a man wants to be closer to God in that sense, we call it closer to God. Yeah. And in church, we had this thing about, like if the music's really good, they go, wow, you know, the Lord really showed up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can feel it. I can feel it. I think it was already here, man. Right. He's never left. See, all that music does in all those things and I love music and you two, but it's what it really does is music is the oil of the soul and it opens us up to the fact that the presence of God was always there. Yeah. Read the Word of God. It's not just about, oh, man, I got this new thing in me. I got, no, it adjusts your life and opens your heart to the presence of God. That's good. You can begin to speak to you. Yeah, that's good. You know, David, King David, you know, wrote the Psalms, had this amazing life. Yeah. And I believe that one of the things that happened to him when we talked about closer to God was his intimacy. Yeah. And it came out of adversity, his dad, like he gets, he gets anointed as a king at 13 of his dad tells him, yeah, I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, head back out to the fields. Right. Like his dad just dissed a man, like, yeah, yeah, I mean, he wasn't even called when they came into the lineup with his brother. It's like in the prophet said, don't you have any other side? Yeah. Because Jesse had said, what are you guys going to be the king? Right. Yeah. It will be him. Yeah. So I'm not even going to call him. Well, I think there were some other issues going on there too, because when David showed up, he looked different than all the other guys. That's a whole look. We'll discuss that differently. I think Jesse didn't want to get busted. Yeah. There you go. There you go. That's a hole in the right track. Yeah. And so anyway, but here's David rejected by his dad. Yeah. So and then he has to call a lion in a bear, all these things that happened. Yeah. And he talks about it when he came to kill Goliath. Yeah. Goliath adversity, because he turned his heart towards the Father. Yeah. There you go. Right. Over and over. He's right at Psalms. The Lord is my shepherd. Yeah. And climb my ear to you. And you read the Psalms and you see the heart of David, a man who messed up bad. Seriously. Seriously. Seriously, yeah. Right? Yeah. And he's always going, Father. I'm yours. And so that relationship, what you were talking about, that relationship. And I think that David's a good example because he pursued God. He turned to God. Come on, man. And I think instead of turning to other things, we just need to learn to turn to God. And I think that in itself is just the right initiative to begin to draw closer to God. Because he's there. He's there. He's never left. So brother, you're listening right now and you're talking about, man, I want to get closer to God because of issues, obstacles, problems you've got in your life. I think you've just heard something really remarkable. I think you've heard a word from the Lord. So today, just make a decision. In fact, it's like, don't think about it too much, right, John? Don't even think about it. Yeah, just do it. Just do it. Just do it. So talking with Pastor John Arana, Oasis Church, Arlington, Texas is part of our 15-go series on Brave Men. Thanks for being with us today in the Brave Men podcast. You can find the tools for discipling men. For enlarging your own life, discipling your family at cmn.men. This Christmas network, cmn.men. And Psalm 131 has been alive to me the last few weeks. It talks about God. I didn't ask for anything. I'm not trying to be a big shot or anything else. I just want you in the last verse, verse three of that short little chapter. Very last part in the Amplified says, or in the message says, hope now. Hope always. And I say that to you today as we close on Brave Men. Thanks for being with us today. Hope now. Hope always. God bless. You just experienced Brave Men with Paul Lewis Cole. Paul is president of the Christian men's network. Connect with Paul at cmn.men or write to him at Paul at cmn.men.