God on the Go: Against the Crowd – Beatitudes

In this episode, Julie Lyles Carr discusses the concept of going against the crowd, using her personal experience of amusement park rides and motion sickness as an analogy. Sometimes, what most people say is fun or valuable may not line up with your preferences or beliefs. She relates this to Jesus’ teachings in the Bible, specifically the Beatitudes, where He challenged what society considered normal and valued. There will come times when you will need to go against the crowd and stand firm in your faith and personal beliefs in order to do the right thing. You can do it!

What’s New!

Monday Story:

• What’s ‘fun’ at amusement parks / Jesus describing the kingdom of heaven

Tuesday Key Verse:

• Matthew 5:11-12 – “Count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds.

Wednesday Prayer:

• Dear Lord, help me see things the way you do. Help me call good what you call good. Help me say what is right according to what you say is right. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Thursday Question:

• What is something that other people say is fun that you don’t think is fun?

Friday Fun Fact:

• Q: What percentage of people get motion sickness?
• A: 25% of people get motion sickness at amusement parks, in the car, on a plane, or even in a movie!

Show Notes:

To get this week’s episode and daily text prompts, text the word Go to 89419.
If you are in Canada, text GodOnTheGo to 866-729-1065

Transcription:

Guess what’s something that my family loves? They love to go to amusement parks, and I do too. I like roller coasters. I like fast rollercoasters, moving really fast, and I love to look at the fun exhibits and just the whole vibe of being at the amusement park, just enjoying ourselves. But… my family and I have a disagreement about something at the amusement park. See, there are things that my family calls fun that I do not think are fun at all. If anything spins or twists or if it has a 3D screen element to it, where it makes you feel like you’re flying or falling or something like that, my stomach can’t take it. I have something called motion sickness, and that’s where my eyes and my understanding of where I am in the world, don’t match up and it can make me really, really sick to my stomach. So, what my family calls fun at an amusement park trigger warning, I often call “barf.” I just do not like it at all.

This is God on the go where we help you make the minutes matter. I’m Julie Lyles Carr and this is part of the Purposely Podcast Network. I want to take a quick minute to thank a couple of my friends who are listening. Margaret, I know that you love to tune in and listen. Austin, I hear that you like to listen to the show, so thanks for doing that! And hey, we would love to shout out to you too. Just leave a comment wherever you get your podcast for God on the Go, let us know you’re listening and I’d be happy to say hi to you too.

We’re in a series called “Going Against the Crowd”, and we’re going to be talking about for the next few episodes what it means to go against the crowd because we all want to be liked. We want to feel like we belong, but there are times as we follow God that we’re going to have to go against what other people are doing. Now, I told you about my experiences at the amusement park and what my family calls fun, I call barf. Here’s a little interesting tidbit for you. Doctors say that 25% of people get motion sick, whether that’s in the car or on a cruise or on a boat or at an amusement park. I even got motion sick at a movie one time. So, there are a lot of things that people would say are fun that I have to go against the crowd and say, that is not fun for me.

There were several times when Jesus was here and he was talking to people that he called some things different than what the crowd usually called it. One time Jesus was up on this hill where people could see him and hear him very well, and he began talking about the kingdom of heaven. The way he was describing the kingdom of heaven was very different than what people thought he would say, than what the crowd thought that it meant. He said that people who were poor, were rich in the kingdom of God. He said that people who were sad were going to feel better. He said that people who were meek or gentle would be the ones in charge of the land. In the Bible, this teaching of Jesus became known as the Beatitudes, and actually it went against a lot of what people usually thought. Usually people want to think that rich people are the ones who get to be in charge. That people who are super strong are the ones who get to control things, that people who have everything going their way are the ones who are the happiest. But Jesus went against all the things people usually think, and showed them that God cares so much for people who might not think they have much going on for them, that he loves them in a big, big way. That people who don’t always get the attention in the spotlight in our world, actually in the kingdom of God, have great value and worth.

That’s what it means at times to go against the crowd, that there are things the world might call fun, or the world might call powerful, or the world might call valuable… That in the kingdom of God, that’s not how it works. God often changes up how we look at the world and the things that the world says are valuable. There are things that your friends are going to tell you are fun. There are things that your friends are going to say, oh, the popular kids get to have this. Or if you go along with the crowd, you get to do that and that’s the thing that is most important. But there are times when you go against the crowd, when you walk with God, that you have a different way of looking at certain things.

What are some things in your world where you need to go against the crowd? You need to go against the way that people say or define something, and look at it through the way that God defines it. Matthew five verses 11 and 12: Jesus says, count yourselves blessed. Every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. You can be glad when that happens. Give a cheer even, for though they don’t like it, I do, and all of heaven applause.

Alright, friends, I want you to text the word go. That’s go to 8, 9, 4, 1 9 and we will send you great updates, upcoming episodes, trivia questions, discussion questions, all kinds of stuff that you can take with you this week as you consider what it takes to go against the crowd. I’ll see you next time on God, on the.