Morgan [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to Am I Doing this Right? We are your hosts, and very professional ones at that. My name is Morgan, and I am here with Leslie. And if you're new, if this is the first episode you're tuning into for the Am I Doing this Right Show. We're so Glad Podcast. We're so glad that you found us.
Leslie [00:00:16]:
This is just right.
Morgan [00:00:17]:
The best way to spend your Monday, or wherever it is that you. Wherever it is that you listen to podcasts.
Leslie [00:00:22]:
That's so true.
Morgan [00:00:23]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:00:23]:
And, you know, I'm. I'm glad, Morgan, you're here, because you were really. You were really on one this morning, man.
Morgan [00:00:29]:
I. I was in a spiral last night, and I was in a spiral this morning, and I'm. I've got my essential oils on because I've been in, like. I've been in full panic mode, you guys. I had to go to the doctor to do a urine. Sorry, this is a lot of information, but you guys need to know, because I was having these symptoms that was consistent with this thing that I usually get. It's like an infection. So then I.
Morgan [00:00:53]:
It's. Sorry, it's all very graphic, but used to this. Long story short is I went and got this urine samp sample done, and. And the test came back before my doctor was able to look at them. So of course I'm in there screenshotting my test results.
Leslie [00:01:06]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:01:07]:
Putting them into Chat GPT or the Internet, trying to diagnose myself. Chat GPT is like, this is completely fatal. There's no cure for this. And so then I'm just over here, like, you know, freaking out and having a. As Amy Zielsdorf would call it, a Menti B. She calls it a Menti B.
Leslie [00:01:24]:
That's funny.
Morgan [00:01:25]:
A mental breakdown. And. Yeah. So I don't know. And then we just. It just kind of spiraled, and I was. I don't know, I was. I was losing my mind yesterday.
Morgan [00:01:34]:
I just. I'm having a really hard time trusting God right now. And that's. Right. That's a. Kind of a serious turn. But I really am having a hard time trusting God because we're from urine test to trust. And then we were sitting here.
Leslie [00:01:45]:
Yes.
Morgan [00:01:46]:
Talking about this. And then my chipotle bowl is sitting over on the table, and our sound guy, Cody, comes in, and he's like, hey, can I put your bowl in the fridge for you? Because rice sitting at room temperature produces bacteria. Bacteria that can make you really sick. And I'm like, all right. So nothing is safe.
Leslie [00:02:02]:
Nothing's Safe.
Morgan [00:02:02]:
We're all just. The world is just one big ticking time bomb of materials.
Leslie [00:02:07]:
Oyster. Yes, that's what it is. Morgan. You guys got up as he said that, and instead of going and putting her bowl in the fridge, she just throws in the trash.
Morgan [00:02:16]:
I'm like, if not. Honestly, she goes, when do carbs produce bacteria? I was literally eating that bowl, and I was siphoning through every single piece of carnitas to make sure it was all cooked. And little did I know know that the rice is probably poisoning me anyways.
Leslie [00:02:33]:
Maybe.
Morgan [00:02:33]:
How are we supposed to live here?
Leslie [00:02:35]:
I know, I know.
Morgan [00:02:37]:
I gotta get home.
Leslie [00:02:37]:
Well, I told Morgan, I said, I said, maybe. Maybe we don't go on chat GPT anymore. Maybe we just let the doctors call.
Morgan [00:02:46]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:02:46]:
She says, well, what if they don't call? And I was like, then that's a good thing.
Morgan [00:02:51]:
They could have lost the paperwork or, or something.
Leslie [00:02:54]:
I don't think they're losing the paper. I mean, now I say that, but then someone's gonna write in and be like, they lost my paperwork and how.
Morgan [00:03:01]:
Often do you go to the doctor?
Leslie [00:03:04]:
Only when there's a problem. Do you go for checkups?
Morgan [00:03:08]:
No. I mean, yes, I go for, like, annual checkups. Do you have an annual.
Leslie [00:03:11]:
No.
Morgan [00:03:13]:
Like, you have a primary care physician?
Leslie [00:03:15]:
Yes, but because I had a problem, like, I, I, I think when I broke my arm, they're like, well, who's your doctor? I'm like, I don't know.
Morgan [00:03:22]:
I don't have one.
Leslie [00:03:23]:
I've been to one.
Morgan [00:03:24]:
I'm a free agent. Probably four years ago. Free agent.
Leslie [00:03:26]:
I'm a free agent. I just don't feel like I need to go to the doctor if nothing's wrong.
Morgan [00:03:32]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Leslie [00:03:33]:
I think, I mean, find something.
Morgan [00:03:35]:
Yeah. I, I feel like I have no shortage of problems to head into the doctor's office for. Like, I'm probably in there leaving urine samples. Like, honestly, it's so. I know that this is graphic, but I just feel like I have so many problems and I have so many. I think my unpopular opinion. And this might be popular to some. I, I think that doctors should not let you have access to your test results.
Leslie [00:03:58]:
Yes.
Morgan [00:03:58]:
By yourself. Like, you know how on, On My Health Online, like, you can look at whatever your test result is, and it says your physician hasn't seen these test results yet.
Leslie [00:04:07]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:04:07]:
I'm like, no, if they haven't seen it, I should be able to see.
Leslie [00:04:10]:
Your new thing is you just don't open them.
Morgan [00:04:12]:
But what if in there is some kind Of a thing. What am I gonna do?
Leslie [00:04:17]:
It's gonna be better coming from your doctor. Even if something were wrong, they can at least be like, hey, here's the plan.
Morgan [00:04:23]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:04:24]:
Instead of just being like, I'm dead.
Morgan [00:04:25]:
Well, that and also like, what? Even if. Yeah. If they came to me, if I saw a problem in there, what am I going to do about it? I have no resources, I have no medical tb.
Leslie [00:04:33]:
And that's basically it.
Morgan [00:04:35]:
Which is what I did last night. I was literally. I was, I was so. I was crying, I had a headache. I was so. I was so close to the edge. It was bad. The edge of a full on menti be.
Leslie [00:04:48]:
I do.
Morgan [00:04:49]:
Okay.
Leslie [00:04:49]:
I don't, I don't go to a lot of checkups, but I love getting my blood drawn. Not the. I hate getting it drawn. Yeah, I like getting results like that.
Morgan [00:04:57]:
Like a clean blood test.
Leslie [00:04:58]:
So, yeah, it's so interesting.
Morgan [00:04:59]:
It is very interesting to see, like.
Leslie [00:05:01]:
What am I high and low in?
Morgan [00:05:02]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:05:03]:
But then I did go to a naturopath this last year because I wanted to know, like, hey, what supplements should I be taking? What am I low in or high in? And the stuff. This might be a hot take. This stuff that I got from my doctor that was like, hey, here's your blood test and here's the ranges. And a lot of it was like in the normal range. So I took it to my naturopath, who's awesome. And she's like, yes, see, you're actually really low in this. They say that's normal, but like in my book that's not like normal for you, like, as a person. Like, you shouldn't have that range because with taking into consideration of everything about you, I guess.
Leslie [00:05:44]:
I don't know.
Morgan [00:05:44]:
What does she know that they don't know?
Leslie [00:05:46]:
Well, she's saying that. They're saying more like, what's a dangerous level of low or high?
Morgan [00:05:51]:
Oh. And she's measuring more like overall health.
Leslie [00:05:53]:
Hey, like iron, for example.
Morgan [00:05:55]:
Yeah, yeah.
Leslie [00:05:55]:
Like, I was on the lower side with my doctor, but it was still in normal range. So you would think to not do anything about it. And my doctor was like, it's fine.
Morgan [00:06:02]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:06:02]:
And then I went to my naturopath, she's like, no, you're really low. And she's like, because I'm looking at like, how could. Like, you're going to be really tired. I'm assuming you're tired a lot and whatever. And I was like, yes. And so she's like, I'm looking at like, how do you feel your best? And I'm like, I feel like doctors should. That would be a good thing to maybe feel your best. That's what I would like to feel.
Morgan [00:06:22]:
I. Yeah.
Leslie [00:06:23]:
The more I still love doctors, everybody.
Morgan [00:06:25]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:06:26]:
And the regular.
Morgan [00:06:28]:
Yeah. Yeah. See both. See both and figure out both. Yeah. It's like the other thing, too, I think about, too. If doctors have so many patients, then, like. Yeah, they don't.
Morgan [00:06:38]:
I don't know that they necessarily all have time to focus on, like, your full individual health. Like to make sure that you feel your best at all times. It feels like they're more like you've got a problem. Come see me. A naturopath's more like, I want to help you live the very best life.
Leslie [00:06:50]:
Yes.
Morgan [00:06:51]:
In the very best body that you can live in. You know.
Leslie [00:06:53]:
Totally. Oh, yeah.
Morgan [00:06:54]:
Which I feel like there's good needs for both of those things.
Leslie [00:06:56]:
It's like some doctors are so impacted, it's like they can't even expect them to.
Morgan [00:07:00]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:07:01]:
Necessarily. I mean, some. Some do, but it's. Tough world out there.
Morgan [00:07:05]:
Tough world. So hopefully this has been encouraging to.
Leslie [00:07:07]:
You if you don't see Morgan next week on the podcast, because I've.
Morgan [00:07:12]:
I've. Yeah. I've been checked into some kind of an. I need. Honestly, I could use this couple. I could use a break, but I don't.
Leslie [00:07:20]:
I was going to say needed like a mental institution, but I could really.
Morgan [00:07:23]:
I could honestly use some time away, I think. But anyways, so I don't know if I can say that on the podcast. Okay. So we are in an episode that is airing the Monday before Easter, which is super exciting. And last week on the podcast, we talked a little bit about Palm Sunday and some of the Easter preparation. So today we had this cool idea of merging a little bit of Easter content with also the whole purpose of what Easter accomplishes, which is new life for all who. Bless you.
Leslie [00:08:00]:
That might have been my first sneeze on the podcast.
Morgan [00:08:03]:
I've never seen you sneeze in the podcast.
Leslie [00:08:05]:
I know.
Morgan [00:08:05]:
That was also a really. That's the most unsatisfying thing in the world when you can't sneeze. You're just stuck in that little cold.
Leslie [00:08:12]:
Sneezes in. That's bad for you.
Morgan [00:08:15]:
What happens.
Leslie [00:08:16]:
Because it's trying to, like, get rid of bacteria and growing your body. Yeah. I'm claiming a lot of facts today that I probably don't know much about training and all this stuff. I. This is what I do. I hear little bits of other People talking about stuff. And then I try to say it like I know what I'm talking about, like this whole tariffs thing. And the, and the stock market apparently is up and down right now.
Leslie [00:08:39]:
And I literally, in a conversation the other day, someone's like, like, these two guys are having like an actually deep conversation about it.
Morgan [00:08:46]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:08:46]:
And I just like leaned over and I was like. They said something like, wow, yeah, in a, like tomorrow it might be even higher or something. And I was like, well, hey. Or even 20 minutes. Because I'd heard someone else say, oh, in 20 minutes, this stock market changed this quickly. So I just pulled that little info.
Morgan [00:09:03]:
Did they laugh or like, did they like, they were like, oh, they're like, oh, yeah, totally.
Leslie [00:09:07]:
I was like, you take small bits and you put them in, grab off.
Morgan [00:09:14]:
Little bite sized chunks just to get.
Leslie [00:09:18]:
You where you need to go.
Morgan [00:09:20]:
That's awesome. That is so funny.
Leslie [00:09:23]:
I'm glad that they did not include me in the conversation because I would have not brought anything.
Morgan [00:09:27]:
Yeah, they probably. What if they tried to engage you more? Because it's the 20 minutes thing and you're like, oh, I've maxed out on my information.
Leslie [00:09:33]:
I only know about the 20 minutes.
Morgan [00:09:35]:
That's why I'm not even sure. I couldn't even explain that to you.
Leslie [00:09:37]:
No, I think it went up 20 minutes fast.
Morgan [00:09:42]:
That's so funny, man. We should have someone come on and talk about tariffs because I got no idea.
Leslie [00:09:46]:
We should honestly have somebody come on who's super smart and be like, give us. Which we understand, we have a lot of smart listeners, but for those of us who might maybe not have time to look into tariffs and stuff.
Morgan [00:09:58]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:09:58]:
That they just give us like, hey, here's what you need to know.
Morgan [00:10:01]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:10:01]:
Bare minimum.
Morgan [00:10:02]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:10:02]:
But enough to be like, I could join a conversation.
Morgan [00:10:04]:
Yes. Yeah. Give me, give me a couple key phrases. It's like when you go to Mexico and you're like, I just need a couple key phrases under my belt. Oh, seriously, that's what I need, man.
Leslie [00:10:14]:
I just feel like everybody knows so much about stuff that I'm like, do y'all get an email? Like, what? How are we knowing just facts this quick? Like, how does, how do some guys keep up and girls keep up with sports? The stock market.
Morgan [00:10:29]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:10:30]:
Their job, their family, their well being. I'm like, I got enough time for my well being in my job.
Morgan [00:10:35]:
And yeah. Jake Cody, other things, I follow him on Instagram. He's a friend of ours from the area and he, he has chat, GPT Give him a daily report, which I think is actually really smart. Like a current events daily report of what's happening. And I think that that would be really cool to do at some point. Like. Or I. I think I.
Morgan [00:10:54]:
I pulled it up once and read them to Benji. And that was like, at least informative just to know what's happening in the world. Just in case people say stuff and you're like, wait, what?
Leslie [00:11:03]:
So I like that. I'm gonna ask it right now.
Morgan [00:11:05]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:11:06]:
And I'll read it.
Morgan [00:11:06]:
Okay. Wait. Ask it.
Leslie [00:11:07]:
Did you know chat GBT takes.
Morgan [00:11:09]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:11:10]:
Every time you give it a prompt. It uses a water bottle size of energy. See, this is one of those fact.
Morgan [00:11:16]:
Someone else and I have. I have no idea what that means. I. You're acting like Chachi PT is a person who needs hydration.
Leslie [00:11:21]:
A warehouse. They have warehouses and big computers. Super computers.
Morgan [00:11:26]:
How big are they?
Leslie [00:11:27]:
I don't know.
Morgan [00:11:28]:
I'm imagining like a massive desktop. Like a big screen.
Leslie [00:11:31]:
My. My picture like this. But I'm pretty sure it's much bigger.
Morgan [00:11:34]:
But a computer is not like the screen. The computer is like a little machine.
Leslie [00:11:39]:
That was crazy when I found out the computer was not the monitor, it's the box next to it.
Morgan [00:11:46]:
I forgot how we got here. Are you about to read the current events?
Leslie [00:11:50]:
Yeah. I said, give me a daily report of what's happening in the world, but say it so a girl could understand it.
Morgan [00:11:56]:
I know.
Leslie [00:11:56]:
That's so I'm pushing us girls back. I'm so sorry, but I needed them. It's a. Here's a simple rundown of today's top stories. Changes in US US tariffs. President Trump has decided to lower tariffs to 10% for most countries, but has increased them to 125% for China.
Morgan [00:12:13]:
Oh, my God.
Leslie [00:12:14]:
Dang.
Morgan [00:12:16]:
I don't know enough to comment, but.
Leslie [00:12:18]:
This is some gossip right here.
Morgan [00:12:20]:
Tea? Wow. Anything else?
Leslie [00:12:24]:
A ballerina was released from Russian prison. A ballerina with ties to Maryland has been released from a Russian prison. I don't know.
Morgan [00:12:31]:
That's just ties to the state of Maryland.
Leslie [00:12:33]:
Yeah, I guess maybe she's from there.
Morgan [00:12:37]:
She's in. She's in prison in Russia.
Leslie [00:12:39]:
And then the Supreme Court case on school books. The Supreme Court is set to hear a case regarding the content of school books which. Which could have implications for education materials nationwide.
Morgan [00:12:48]:
Oh, my gosh.
Leslie [00:12:49]:
And then it gave me the weather.
Morgan [00:12:50]:
What's the weather?
Leslie [00:12:52]:
65 degrees.
Morgan [00:12:53]:
That's awesome.
Leslie [00:12:54]:
Mostly cloudy.
Morgan [00:12:54]:
It's the only thing I understood so far. See, that's a Good tool. Okay, so everybody go look up Chad GPT current events. But yeah, what we were going to talk about is obviously, I don't remember how we got. How we got so that direction, but Easter being this huge celebration of all people who have. All people being made new in Christ who have come to him in faith, the resurrection Sunday, the fact that the tomb was empty. That. Yeah.
Morgan [00:13:24]:
Anyways, all those things. Right. And what that means for our lives. The fact that all of us have the opportunity to walk in complete freedom and have a brand new start, brand new life because of Jesus. So we're gonna talk about. Talk a little bit about that today and like, read some of those scriptures too, just to get your minds and hearts excited about Easter. But also you had the idea of what's. It's cool that Easter is positioned in springtime because springtime has a lot of those same themes.
Leslie [00:13:48]:
I feel like it'd be cool, like, as we think about spring, there's. Well, first of all, I'm so excited. I'm done with the rain.
Morgan [00:13:55]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:13:56]:
I'm done with all of, like, the wintry stuff. And so I'm excited about spring. But I also was like, oh, just like, how fall has meaning. It's like all of these different seasons have so much meaning in it that I feel like was very intentional on God's part.
Morgan [00:14:10]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:14:12]:
Like, for example, it's like spring shows us that, like, some really great things can come out of storms in our lives and how. Yeah, maybe like, even for some of us, it's like, oh, this last season was an actually, like, really hard one. Or maybe it was like a really dark season for you. But to know that, like, you don't stay in those seasons, like, you don't have to stay in that. And there is like, so much, like, hope in life that springs up from it.
Morgan [00:14:39]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:14:40]:
If you didn't have the storm, then you wouldn't experience springtime.
Morgan [00:14:43]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:14:43]:
You know, and we talked about that with Good Friday too. It's like you gotta know the hardship to experience joy.
Morgan [00:14:49]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:14:50]:
And. And what that brings.
Morgan [00:14:51]:
Yeah, it's like that. It's the theme of. The theme of newness sprouting out of something that was really hard. And that's. I think what's. What's really cool about that picture, especially with. With what we're celebrating this week as a body of believers, is that that is the story of the cross. Right.
Morgan [00:15:08]:
It was the job that Jesus took on to pay the ultimate price for our sin and die the very gruesome death that he did die on the cross, but the result and the fulfillment of what he came to accomplish. Came to accomplish is the resurrection and freedom and new life for all people who choose to believe. And so I like that theme too, in the sense of like, yeah, for a, for, for all of the days leading up to Jesus's time on the cross and then obviously the, the very long time that he was being tortured and then being put up on the cross to die, all of that was very dark, it was very hopeless. It was very judgment and wrath. But then morning came and the stone was rolled away and there was nobody in the tomb anymore, signifying that Jesus had conquered all death. And so I love that illustration because the same is true for us. Right. Because Jesus died and rose, we now get to die, to sin and then rise with him.
Leslie [00:16:06]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:16:07]:
Experiencing that same kind of newness of life and newness of heart. And so it's, it's a similar image for us too. Like we don't have to live in the, the storms and the downfall and all of the, like the, the suffering and darkness of, you know, fall forever. That's for a season. And then like light and newness is coming with spring.
Leslie [00:16:28]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:16:28]:
I wanted to read. I love, I love if you're looking for an Easter passage to study all of the resurrection accounts, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, it's all captured in all four of the gospels. So if you are new to a Bible reading plan, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all different, all different eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus told from different perspectives, told from different apostles with, or sorry, different disciples with all different personality types and ways of phrasing things. And what's cool about it is that you would think that four different eyewitness eyewitness accounts would have some contradictions between the four of them, but actually that's not the case. The events that are, that are scribed and reported are the exact same across all four accounts. But then different details are added in depending on the person. Just like if you were to, you know, be a detective and you were going to investigate a crime scene and you took, you know, four different witnesses in to question them, you should hear the same story, but different details would come about from each of the different witnesses depending on what their most prone to pay attention to. Right.
Morgan [00:17:36]:
So Matthew, Mark, Luke or John all capture that story. And the closer you get to the end is the closer that you get to the resurrection. But I pulled a passage out from John and I Think that this is really cool. I love the way that this is written because it's told from the perspective, not from the perspective of. It's told from the perspective of John, which is the disciple that Jesus loved. But it talks about the experience of a woman named Mary Magdalene. And Mary Magdalene is a pretty prominent figure in the life of Jesus because she was saved by Jesus. It actually says in Luke that she had.
Morgan [00:18:14]:
What is it? She had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. She had seven demons come out of her. So she was living a crazy life. She meets Jesus, he gets a hold of her heart, he rescues her from these seven demons is what the scripture says. And then she spends the rest of her life devoted to following him to the point where she is with him at every stage of his journey to the cross. Even the most gruesome points of the cross where some of the disciples had gone home. Like before he breathes his last breath, she's standing around the cross with him, devoted to him, loyal to him to the very end because he had changed her life so much. And this is what I think is really cool.
Morgan [00:18:55]:
So in John. I think it's John. Might be, it might be Luke. Actually let me double check Luke 8. No, I think it's, I think it's, I think it is John. I think I'm right here. But I'll. We can, we can double check it now.
Morgan [00:19:10]:
It says now Mary stood outside the tomb crying as she wept. She bent over to look into the tomb. So what's happened is Jesus was taken to the cross. He's on the cross, he's got prisoner, a prisoner on his left, a prisoner on his right, who are all getting this same brutal death experience, a punishment. And then he breathes his last breath. And after that they take him up off the cross. It was interesting cuz they, they, they had to break the, they broke the legs of the thief on the left and the thief on the right to make their death go by quicker. Because the way that you obviously like being on a cross is suffocating to you, right? The weight that comes down on your lungs, it's death by suffocation.
Morgan [00:19:53]:
It's not death by hanging, it's not death by bleeding, it's death by suffocation, which is the most painful kind of death. But then the only way that you would come up to get more breath on the cross is by pressing up on your feet and then like getting more room to. So it would expedite the process to break their legs so that they couldn't Press up, and then they would suffocate faster. But by the time they went to break Jesus's feet, he had already died, which was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Zechariah, I think it was like, it prophesied these things about him, that his legs would not be broken. Right. When they pierced his side after he was dead, to check if he was dead, blood didn't come out. Water came out instead, which can be a symbol for like. Because of Jesus, we're now purified from sin.
Morgan [00:20:35]:
So though our sins were like scarlet, he's made them white as snow. And then after he dies, they take him off, they bury him in the tomb. And then this is the scene that Mary Magdalene comes upon. She stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus's body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, woman, why are you crying? They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don't know where they put him. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not realize that it was Jesus.
Morgan [00:21:05]:
Which is funny. He must look really different, thinking he was the gardener. She said, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've put him and I will get him. Verse 16. Jesus said to her, mary. She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, the word for teacher. Jesus said, do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
Morgan [00:21:29]:
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news, I have seen the Lord. And she told them that he had said these things to her. So it's like the moment of the tomb being empty is significant for a lot of reasons. But the big idea here, especially if you haven't grown up in church or you're just unfamiliar with the story, the wages of sin is death. So because we sin and fall short of the glory of God, there has to be a righteous judgment or punishment for sin. God did not want us to take that punishment on ourselves, so he sent Jesus to take it in our place. Place. So he dies this death on the cross.
Morgan [00:22:06]:
And it has to be gruesome and it has to be bloody and it has to be hard because he's taking on the full weight of all humankind's sin. And then as he dies, his death is that righteous judgment of God, of, I can't be in the Same place as evil. So this is my punishment on evil. I didn't make human beings carry it. I made Jesus carry it because he's capable of carrying it, but not letting it consume him or crush him. And then after three days, he rises from the dead. And this picture of the resurrect resurrection is. It's insane because it's essentially God's punishment on sin has been satisfied.
Morgan [00:22:43]:
Now death and sin have no hold on Jesus, and they have no hold on us. He defeated it, right?
Leslie [00:22:50]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:22:50]:
His resurrection from dead means that death, death was no match for him. Right. He conquered death because death couldn't hold him. And so what that means for him is that he was obviously resurrected. He was about to ascend and go be with the Father again. But what this means for us, this is that because Jesus resurrected from the dead, that means that we also resurrect from the dead. That means that. Not that.
Morgan [00:23:13]:
That means that when you die, you rise back to life. It means that we were all spiritually dead in our sin and in our mistakes and in our habits and our strongholds. But because of Jesus's resurrection, we believe in him. And now we experience that same rising, that same resurrection where we're. We're set free to walk in life that is not. That is not dictated by sin or evil. Like, that stuff doesn't hold on to us anymore. We have power over it because of Jesus.
Morgan [00:23:41]:
And so I think what I love about Mary Magdalene's story is, well, three things. She believed in Jesus because she had walked with him throughout all of his life, and then even in his death. The second thing is she had walked away from her old life of being involved in all kinds of sin, being involved in all kinds of, like, demonic stuff, all kinds of weirdness. She left all that behind to follow Jesus. Now her life is totally new and different. Because that's the thing with Jesus. It's not just that he gives you a second chance. He gives you a brand new start.
Morgan [00:24:12]:
So if you're listening to this and you're like, I could never come into Christianity because my life is so full of all these, like, past skeletons and terrible things that I did, like, God wants nothing to do with me. Christianity is the exact opposite of what you think it is. It is the space for not just second chance, but brand new starts. But then the third thing that she did is she went off and she told everybody she saw the tomb empty.
Leslie [00:24:34]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:24:34]:
She sees that Jesus has risen. She sees that death is no longer a problem. Sin is no longer a problem. Separation from God is no longer a problem. Sorry for the rant, but it says that when Jesus died and when he rose the temple, there's a curtain in the temple that divides the people from the place where the holy of holies sit. And the temple tears from top to bottom. So there'd be no question of whether or not a human came in there and tore it from the bottom. It tore from the top to the bottom, which is impossible.
Morgan [00:25:00]:
But that signifies there's no longer a separation between God and man because of Jesus. You get a brand new start to be in closeness with God and all that to say. I think those are kind of like the three things that we take away from the resurrection. It's a you believe. And believing does not have to just do with knowledge. Even Satan knows that Jesus rose from the dead. It has to do with like a love and a devotion and a receiving of that.
Leslie [00:25:26]:
Yeah, yeah.
Morgan [00:25:26]:
Receiving it to where it changes your life. So that number two, you live like you're a new person. Like, resurrection is possible in your life. And then the third thing is you have to tell everybody. And so if you're kind of looking like, what does the resurrection mean for me? What do I do with this? I think it's those three things. It's belief, it's living into newness, which is part of what we're talking about with springtime. And then it's telling everybody about what you've seen.
Leslie [00:25:49]:
So good.
Morgan [00:25:49]:
That's kind of like an Easter.
Leslie [00:25:50]:
Yes.
Morgan [00:25:51]:
In a nutshell. Even though it was really good, I.
Leslie [00:25:53]:
Feel like I just. Just got my Easter sermon for the season. This was so good. I think it's good to sometimes even. Even though some people might know that story, it's like, it's good to go back and realize all of the steps that it took to get there. And even, I mean, we sing like, those songs where it's like, oh, the veil torn before you. But like, I think people sing that, not even realizing, like, how big of a deal even that thing was. And how.
Leslie [00:26:21]:
What I also love about Easter and kind of like the springtime thing is it's not like. I think a lot of people just think, okay, Jesus died for my sins, so I won't go to hell. Like, I will go to heaven, which is, to be honest, enough in itself. But they stop there instead of going, but what can God actually do now? Like, God doesn't promise. He wasn't like, hey, guys, I'll see you in heaven. That's the only. That's the only Life I've brought to, like, your death is like, if we talk about being a new person even here while we're still here on Earth and we aren't, we haven't gone on into what's next, but it's like, God can even do stuff in our lives here that feel dead. And we see that time and time again where God has done, like, miracles in people's lives and even things that don't feel like, as insane as a miracle, but even in some ways where you're like, man, this relationship was here, felt like it was dead.
Leslie [00:27:19]:
And God. God saw it through. Or he brought things to life. And so it's like he's kind of like the author of bringing things from dead to life.
Morgan [00:27:27]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:27:27]:
And so it just makes me think, like, okay, what things in my life have I kind of deemed, like, okay, that's dead, or this isn't really going that well, or I don't really have hope for this thing in my life. And it's like, like, no, God. Actually, maybe Easter is a good time to take, like, stock of your life right now and go, okay, what are some things that God is like. No, I actually would like to bring that thing.
Morgan [00:27:48]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:27:49]:
Back to life or resurrect the situation you're in. You just have to trust me. Like, you just have to get.
Morgan [00:27:56]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:27:57]:
Either get through it or whatever that looks like for you. I don't really know.
Morgan [00:28:00]:
But it's a great point, because I think we do a lot of. I think that's probably true for a lot of us is like, you. You get saved, and then you're like, it's. You kind of stop at the. Just. I'm saved from. From death and from hell. And so now I'm going to just kind of, like, live in my safety of that.
Morgan [00:28:16]:
But there's a whole thing, the whole life that Jesus has called you to, one where you can expect for God to move miraculously. Like, right after this point in Scripture is when we get thrown into the Book of Acts where Jesus is on the move in these really powerful big ways through the. Through the apostles and all the stuff that they're doing on. On through to reach the Gospel throughout the earth. And I think that a lot of us, we don't expect for God to accomplish resurrections in our life. We think that the only resurrection he has accomplished is his on the cross and our resurrection from our own death to life. But then that's it. But what if there's more.
Leslie [00:28:53]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:28:54]:
Which we don't think about. There's this really cool quote that I heard someone say yesterday in sermon prep. And it was kind of, it was interesting. It's kind of like a why, why Jesus? This amongst all the other religions. And I thought this was cool about the resurrection. It's by G.B. hardy. It says, when I looked at religion, I said, I have two questions.
Morgan [00:29:13]:
One, has anybody ever conquered death? And two, if they have, did they make a way for me to conquer death also? I checked the tomb of Buddha and it was occupied. And I checked the tomb of Confucius and it was occupied. And I came to the tomb of Jesus and it was empty. And I said, there is one who's conquered death. And I asked the second question, did he make a way for me to do it too? And I opened the Bible and discovered that he said, because I live, you shall live also. I think this is one of the coolest. This is, this to me would be the common denominator of all people that are searching and trying to figure out their way towards a higher power, towards religion, towards whatever. The thing is, it's like all other religions create a really great like blueprint for you to experience closeness with God.
Morgan [00:30:02]:
There's steps, steps in mind. Whatever their version of God is, there's ways to live, there's things to do. But none of those involve somebody dying and then rising from the dead. And then the, the actual reality of what that means for us. Right. It's like, only with Jesus is there a chance for you to have a brand new start. Freedom from your past. All of us know what it's like to mess up and to fall short to a degree that we never thought that we could.
Morgan [00:30:31]:
All of us know what that feels like to make huge, huge, huge mistakes. Weeks, there's only one who takes your sin and your mistakes that look like scarlet, like blood, and he can wipe them clean and make them white as snow. There's only one who can do that. There's no other world religion that offers that kind of freedom and a second chance. Yeah, with Jesus, there's no like blueprint for how to get back to God. It's that God came down to you. And I don't know, I'm just thinking like, if you're listening to this and you're like, I'm actually just not sure what I believe about this. I think the common denominator of all of humankind is that you know what it's like to mess up.
Leslie [00:31:07]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:31:07]:
What do you want done with your mess ups? Because God says that he's the Righteous judge who has this high standard for us to live, but that he knows we can't live it. And so then he makes a way for us to experience grace and forgiveness and, and new starts every day. His mercies are new every morning. And I feel like that's. I don't know if you're, if you're listening and you're skeptical about faith. Faith. That is the reason why I think that Jesus is. I know that Jesus is the answer to all of this because he is the only one with a solution that makes sense for humankind 100%.
Leslie [00:31:41]:
It's like, we all know death is coming. As morbid as that is, it's true. And I think that's all of like the root of all of our fear and insecurities and all of that stuff all end up kind of. It's like this. We know something is going to happen, you know, and it's like, like, okay, what, what is all of this really about? And who is actually the one who can save you from that? And Jesus really is the only one.
Morgan [00:32:06]:
Who'S the one that I should trust.
Leslie [00:32:07]:
Exactly.
Morgan [00:32:08]:
Yeah, that's a good point. I think we're all like, everyone's, everyone's running around trying to figure out what to do because death is coming.
Leslie [00:32:14]:
Yeah. I mean, we literally talked about that this morning. We're like, our whole like fear and conversation was all around that and it was like, I think our lifelong struggle as people is going to think that we can somehow earn our faith.
Morgan [00:32:27]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:32:27]:
And earn it like.
Morgan [00:32:28]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:32:29]:
It's so countercultural. Which is why I honestly believe in Jesus and trust in God is because I'm like this just when you really think about, you're like, oh, this makes sense. Yeah, like, it does make sense. It's so countercultural. But everything else, you're having to earn your way to something and that's such a human made thing.
Morgan [00:32:48]:
Like. Yeah, it's a good point.
Leslie [00:32:50]:
We can't earn our way to heaven yet. We try, even as Christians. Like, I mean, we were literally just talking about, like, but how do you really know you're gonna go to heaven? And all that's rooted in like the fear of like, well, I have to be able to achieve it. Like, it can't just be a free gift.
Morgan [00:33:03]:
Yeah, it can't. Yeah. Because think about the way that our world's set up too. Right. It's like everything that we do is a merit based system.
Leslie [00:33:09]:
Yes.
Morgan [00:33:10]:
Right. It's like the promotion that you get at work is a merit based system.
Leslie [00:33:13]:
You work harder, you get more money, you 100 study more, you get farther in school. Like, everything is, you do this, you.
Morgan [00:33:20]:
Get this or the opposite. If you do something bad, you get punished. Right. Which it's like, that can be as, as mild as, you know, I don't know, like, you put your finger in that socket. You weren't supposed to. You got electric.
Leslie [00:33:34]:
I went straight to jail in my mind.
Morgan [00:33:35]:
But also jail, right. That's the bigger thing, right? Yeah, it could be jail. That could be a severing of a relationship. Like, there are real consequences to action. And so I think because of that, we tend to apply that human understanding of both grace and consequence to God.
Leslie [00:33:49]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:33:49]:
And God doesn't He. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our hot. Our thoughts. He's not a human being. So his understanding of grace is not limited to what we have the capacity to do.
Leslie [00:34:00]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:34:01]:
He's not a merit based system. But when you said that, I'm like, oh, duh. Like, I'm sitting here and I'm like, how do we really know? Like, I'm a Christian and I'm asking that question. And that's the key difference. It's that as a Christian, you don't have to sit here wondering, like, how do I really know? Because it's not about what you can do. It's about what Jesus did.
Leslie [00:34:19]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:34:19]:
You, your focus doesn't need to be on what you can do to get right with God. It needs to be on, like, what did Jesus do? And how can I love and receive.
Leslie [00:34:28]:
Yes.
Morgan [00:34:28]:
And appreciate that and live according to the resurrection that I've been given.
Leslie [00:34:32]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:34:33]:
Like, that's all that you need to do. Right. There's no. I think that's encouraging. I needed to hear that actually today.
Leslie [00:34:38]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:34:39]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:34:40]:
Because it, it is something that, it's so funny. Like, no matter how many times people tell us, like, it's a free gift.
Morgan [00:34:46]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:34:47]:
We're like, like, what's the catch? You know, we just so, like, we're so distrusting of it. And I do that all the time where I'm like, okay, but how do I really know? Like, how. Okay, what do I need to do? Like, if I'm not in my Bible enough, if I'm not serving as much as I normally do, if I'm not, especially daily time with God, if I'm like, not having that, I feel like, oh, gosh, God's like upset with me or he's disappointed or I'm not living. And I just feel like, man, I get it so backwards sometimes. Like all of those things are for your benefit. Like it's beneficial for you to know God and to spend time with him. It's not God being like, oh well that's one strike against you, three strikes you're out. You don't get to come to heaven anymore.
Leslie [00:35:31]:
It's like, that's just not how it is.
Morgan [00:35:32]:
Yeah, it's a benefit. It's not meant to be a burden.
Leslie [00:35:35]:
This is a hot take and I don't know if this is right, but I think when we get to heaven, and I know there's lots of verses about like getting in through the eye of a needle. Isn't that a verse? Yes. How it's like difficult or something. But then also you read verses where it's like God, like, like you'd be surprised who's going to be in heaven. And I actually think we had a conversation about this a couple weeks ago at small group. But I was like, I think maybe we're going to see a lot more people in heaven than we think I'm hoping. But yeah, just because I'm like the love of God. And now I think people need to actually like accept Jesus into their heart.
Leslie [00:36:15]:
I think that's obviously like the prerequisite to heaven, but I think we'll be surprised at how many people like maybe did have a relationship with God.
Morgan [00:36:23]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:36:23]:
But we wouldn't necessarily see it.
Morgan [00:36:25]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:36:26]:
Maybe from some of their, some of their lives.
Morgan [00:36:28]:
But yeah, I think that grace is too, it's, it's, it's both things. Right. It's so simple and it's so tangible that we can wrap our hands around it and receive it. Right. It's not like too high of a concept for us to get, cuz it's for us. And at the same time the magnitude of God's love that exists within grace is way too big for us to fully understand. So it's like you can wrap your hands around it, but you can't always wrap your mind around it. And I think that's part of what makes it so beautiful.
Morgan [00:36:56]:
Yeah, I think you're right. I think we'll be shocked by how many people are there that we didn't think would be. Yeah, I think that our, we might.
Leslie [00:37:04]:
Be shocked at who's not there.
Morgan [00:37:06]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:37:06]:
But, but I think it, that's where you're just like, it's about your heart. Like it's really about your heart and your heart towards God. And I just think sometimes we overcomplicate it. We make it like, if you didn't do Babylon a year, you're not going to have. It's like, no, that's not. I don't find that anywhere in the Bible.
Morgan [00:37:24]:
No. So what do you feel like springtime tells us about living into that new life? I love the idea of, like, you expect blooms. Right. So I love the idea of, you know, the whole, like, transition from fall. Right. Is that we're coming out of fall.
Leslie [00:37:43]:
Winter.
Morgan [00:37:44]:
Winter, yeah. Coming from winter, which is like heavy rain, heavy snow, heavy storm, cloudy, dark.
Leslie [00:37:51]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:37:52]:
To then spring is like this, you know, all of a sudden all the plants are really watered and ready to go and they're ready to bounce back. And others, these big, beautiful blooms that are coming.
Leslie [00:38:01]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:38:02]:
I love the lesson of you can expect blooms in your life even after the hard stuff.
Leslie [00:38:06]:
Y.
Morgan [00:38:07]:
Because that was also the reality of the cross. After all of the hardship of the cross, there was the beauty of the resurrection, and that was to be expected because God said that would happen.
Leslie [00:38:16]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:38:17]:
So I love. I love that. That instruction that you gave at the beginning, too, of like, are you expecting bloom in your life? Are you expecting resurrection in your life? Because God says that you can expect that stuff. Yeah, I like that little practical application.
Leslie [00:38:31]:
When. When does, like, the trimming of flowers happen? The spring?
Morgan [00:38:37]:
I don't know.
Leslie [00:38:38]:
In the spring.
Morgan [00:38:38]:
I don't know. The gardening season. I don't know if there's a certain season when that happens, but my assumption is it's probably after a bloom happens or after growth happens, then you begin to trim. I don't know if there's a certain season says that.
Leslie [00:38:53]:
Oh, yeah. Late winter, before spring is best for pruning, like, trees and shrubs. And then. Yeah. It's right after blooming for spring and flowering.
Morgan [00:39:02]:
Oh, interesting.
Leslie [00:39:03]:
I think there's something to learn there, too. What stuff do you need to prune out of your life for things that actually grow.
Morgan [00:39:09]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:39:09]:
Can't just expect things to grow.
Morgan [00:39:11]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:39:11]:
It's like we always. Everything is gonna go in a downward direction unless you pay attention to it. And that's. That's convicting for me, like, okay, if I'm not actively putting what's most important, the most important in my life, and like, tuning to it, pruning it, all of that, then it's not gonna. It's not gonna flower like it does in the springtime with everything else. And so it's like, okay, what do I need to cut out of my life? Or what do I need to even just trim in a Good way in my life, like my relationships. Like, what can I do in a it to. To prune that better so that something can actually grow from it.
Morgan [00:39:52]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:39:53]:
Instead of just not tending to it.
Morgan [00:39:55]:
Yeah. And the other thing too, it's. I think it's John 17. It's like John. Sorry, John 14, 15 and 17. All. It's like all this language about abiding, but specifically John 15 has this, this whole chunk about abiding with God and remaining with God. And it compares us to these branches that are attached to the vine.
Morgan [00:40:17]:
So Jesus says, I'm the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me or abides in me, they bear much fruit. Yeah, whoever doesn't bear fruit, God tosses, basically. And it's the idea of like, if you're attached to the vine, you are bearing fruit, you're a branch and you are bearing fruit. Not all of your fruit is good fruit. Sometimes certain seasons have you producing more fruit. Fruit. Sometimes certain seasons have you producing less fruit.
Morgan [00:40:44]:
You and me went to Napa. We saw like, we taught at this church in Napa. We saw all the beautiful vineyards and yeah, that's actually a grapevine is the image that God's using here. Jesus says, I'm the vine. So he's like the big connecting vine that goes through the vineyard were the branches that offshoot from the vine and produce grapes. And it says the father is the gardener. So the gardener comes in and he prunes. Prunes.
Morgan [00:41:07]:
He prunes. And I don't know, I don't know if either of us have like a green thumb, but my mother in law, she has a green thumb. She's like a green. Yeah, she comes into town and I got only three plants. She's like, she's God, she's just moving my. No, she, she moves my plants around. Like she knows what different kinds of plants need. She knows which plants need sunlight, which ones need more water.
Morgan [00:41:28]:
Yeah, she knows if, if there's certain things. Because sometimes plants actually do need to have things trimmed off of them. I don't, I don't know how to measure that.
Leslie [00:41:36]:
Yeah. Or certain flowers.
Morgan [00:41:37]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:41:38]:
You cut them off of like vegetable plants. Because if you cut them off, it actually grows fruit.
Morgan [00:41:44]:
Yes.
Leslie [00:41:45]:
There's a lesson in that.
Morgan [00:41:46]:
There's so much like sometimes you gotta.
Leslie [00:41:48]:
Cut off good things too.
Morgan [00:41:49]:
Yes. And so I, I like the idea too of like you're saying, hey, let's, you know, what do we need to prune in ourselves? And I think that's a really good lesson. The reminder that If God loves you and God wants you to produce more fruit, then he's going to prune you. Like, I feel like right now I'm going through this big, massive trust exercise like I have never been through before. I. I feel very out of control right now in life, and I do feel like there's a spiritual nature to this, of God being like, hey, I want to prune some stuff this season. I need to get rid of some areas where you lack faith. I need to get rid of some doubt.
Morgan [00:42:23]:
I need to get rid of some panic, some senseless panic. And all of that stuff feels hard.
Leslie [00:42:29]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:42:29]:
Right. Like, none of that feels good, especially in the moment. But what comes after is a fuller bloom. Right. What comes after is. Is more color and more fruit and all that kind of stuff. And it's like. Yeah.
Morgan [00:42:42]:
Like, if you're experiencing a lot of pruning right now in whatever your season is, be reminded that that is the father's business to take care of you and to give you the best kind of fruit.
Leslie [00:42:53]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:42:54]:
So it means that he loves you. But also that pruning season is going to be followed by an incredible bloom season where you'll experience some newness and you'll get to walk in some new gifts or some new trust, some new faith. Like, all of that stuff is coming too.
Leslie [00:43:08]:
Yeah. But I love that.
Morgan [00:43:10]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:43:11]:
Well, this was great. I feel like I needed this.
Morgan [00:43:14]:
I. I needed a huge reminder about the grace of God.
Leslie [00:43:17]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:43:18]:
I think we should do a series at some point on the podcast about, like, who the actual person of Jesus is, because I find myself getting in these little mind traps, perhaps even as we've been Christians for a long time, of wondering, like, oh, do I think that God thinks this way about me because it's actually true or because I'm writing a story in my head about that? I think it could be cool to be like. Like, dispel some of the myths of. Here's what God's not like. Here's what God is like.
Leslie [00:43:47]:
Like who God is and isn't.
Morgan [00:43:49]:
Yeah. I like that because I think that people could experience a lot of freedom from that.
Leslie [00:43:53]:
Oh, yeah. I feel like I could learn a bunch from that, too.
Morgan [00:43:55]:
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Eventually.
Leslie [00:43:57]:
Wow. I love it, you guys. Thanks for listening.
Morgan [00:44:00]:
Happy Easter.
Leslie [00:44:01]:
We hope that you have a great weekend and get to experience, like, the fullness of what. What this actually is about this weekend. And it's more than the pastels and the Easter egg hunts, which we love those. But, yeah, it's about so much more.
Morgan [00:44:17]:
Spend time with your family and. Yeah. Just, like, lots of prayer and.
Leslie [00:44:22]:
Yeah.
Morgan [00:44:23]:
Celebration and worship and all those kinds of things.
Leslie [00:44:26]:
Love it.
Morgan [00:44:26]:
Yeah.
Leslie [00:44:27]:
All right, you guys. We will see you next time on Am I Doing this Right?