S05E012, Training for a Purpose, Endurance

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On this episode, we are looking at the idea of training for a purpose and with a goal.

Endurance is your weekly spiritual workout, whether you think of yourself as a beginner, an intermediate, or advanced!

#GoDeeper

In this week’s GoDeeper Steven starts off by relating the need to train for a marathon to the value of training for our future. He gives an example of training for the future from his own life.

Steven also warns about planning too much for the future, because after all we don’t know what tomorrow may bring. On that note, he points out that we can’t prepare ourselves for everything.

You can read the GoDeeper transcript here.

#GoDo

For the final segment, Nathan asks Steven a few questions about his talk:

1. We should prioritise spiritual training over physical training, don’t you think?
2. I suppose as Christians we should be motivated. Is that true?
3. Why do you want to be a Royal Marine?

Watch this, the last episode of this season, to find out Steven’s answers to these questions.

Steven and Nathan

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Transcript

Nathan 0:23
Hello and welcome to Endurance, your weekly spiritual workout. This week's topic is training for a purpose. And we're looking at the idea of having a reason to train both physically and spiritually. I mean, we don't just train for no reason, we need to have a purpose, a plan, and something to motivate us. Obviously, in the Christian life that is our obedience to God, that is our love for, for Jesus. In our physical training, of course, that might be a desire to keep fit, desire to look after ourselves, or perhaps, to train for a marathon.

Nathan 0:55
As always, if you wish to keep up to date with all that we produce, you can sign up to our newsletter at www.BerryBunch.family, so that you won't miss out on anything. This is in fact, Episode 12, our season finale, our grand finale, although it might not actually be so grand, it will be just like all the other episodes, but at the same time, it will still be the last episode. So I hope you enjoy it, as Steven unpacks our topic.

Andy 1:28
In 2018, Jo and I were full time children's ministers, loving what we were doing, and wanting to share our resources freely with others to use. Scroll on two years to 2020. And we'd finally launched our BerryBunch.family website. Chock full of resources. It was a bit embarrassing when we had one video, but we've now got nearly 500 videos for you to use, stream, share and download with 900 posts, all full of information that you are free to use in your situation, whether that's a church, a family, or just for your own personal use.

Andy 2:01
We've been asked to do all sorts of things, we've made logos for somebody who wanted a new logo for their blog, we've been asked to create children's discipleship group. So we've done that. We've been asked to create a book about broken dreams and hope. And we've done that as well. We love creating resources that are relevant for your situation. But get in touch with what your needs are. Our vision and our passion is to create material that is family safe, for free for all, wherever you are in the world. And that is exactly what we do. So if you want to help us continue to do that, or if you want us to make something specific for your situation, then get in touch

Steven 2:45
God will often speak through other people, but he often speaks without them knowing it. #SpeakTruth.

#GoDeeper Transcript

Steven 3:08
So as Nathan said, we're talking about training for a purpose. So in exercise, sorry, this is GoDeeper with me, Steven, and we're talking about training for purpose. So in exercise, you might be training for a marathon, you might be training for a half marathon, or simply just a 5k. We train for a purpose, there's a reason behind that training, or generally, perhaps just goals to keep ourselves fitter, or, or what have you. And in, oh dear, and in life we might be training for careers or a next phase of life, perhaps people were, you know, preparing for retirement or what have you. We're training for a purpose, for a reason, perhaps preparation could be another word. So we have a scripture, 2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17 says this, All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work. So there we have it. Scripture is useful for training for whatever training we're doing.

Steven 4:14
So for me, I want to join the Royal Marines. That's my dream career. That's what I'm sort of aiming for. That's my goal. And training for that obviously requires certain qualifications and keeping quite fit. It's still one of the highest level of fitness required for the Royal Marines. But in addition to that, there's a spiritual side to it. So as a Christian, it's gonna be a tough crowd in the Royal Marines, if I do end up there. And I need to prepare myself spiritually, I need to train for what would be in there. So for example, I make a habit of reading a few verses of scripture every morning and every evening. Specifically with the idea that one day I might join the military. That habit is not necessarily the reading of the Scripture, but more the principle behind it. There's something different than not everyone's going to do that reading of Scripture. It might seem a bit religious, but it's really helpful and beneficial to stick out in that way.

Steven 5:08
And it's training for potentially joining the military. That's what I'm doing for that. Now, everyone who competes, No, Now everyone who competes, exercises self control in everything, they do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body, and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I might, I myself will not be disqualified. One Corinthians 9, 25 to 27. That passage is one we've used a lot because there's so much in there for the idea of Endurance, the idea of physical exercise and spiritual exercise. As we train for whatever it is we train for, whether it be a marathon, or whether it's the next phase in our life that we know is coming up. We need to train deliberately, specifically, with a purpose not not beating the air.

Steven 6:07
As Paul who wrote this said. Proverbs 6,6 says, Take a lesson from the ants, you lazy bones, learn from their ways and become wise. So when you're training, don't become lazy, look to the ant in that deliberate and specific training, in that preparing we need to be like the ant. We shouldn't plan for the future. I think it's something that we are often told as Christians, we shouldn't get too caught up in what might happen, what might come. But we are to, we do know that something is going to change in the future. So we need to prepare for that, without getting too fixated on it. We shouldn't worry about tomorrow, which Jesus said, more than once in the Bible.

Steven 6:57
Jeremiah 29, 11 says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope, and a future. It's a very common scripture. We love that scripture, don't we as Christians, the idea that God has plans for us. And perhaps we need to prepare for some of those plans. But sometimes plans come along that we're not ready for. When you think about Queen Elizabeth II, she wasn't really ready. She wasn't fully prepared for that, becoming queen as she was. But she was trained to a certain extent. It came on her really suddenly, and things in life will come on us really suddenly when we're not prepared or not ready.

Steven 7:36
And we can't help that. But there are things that we do know one day will happen. So as long as I'm alive on this earth, there is one day I'm gonna get a job. And I can prepare for that as best I can. But I don't really know what job and I can't guarantee that I will, you know, make it to then. I mean, it's a bit depressing, but we don't know what tomorrow will bring. So we shouldn't plan too hard. But we can prepare for what we know will come. And that is training for a purpose.

Jo 8:09
You'll never guess what? Dave The dog has his own show. And it's called Dave unleashed.

Steven 8:16
Are we sure about this?

Jo 8:17
Well, I'm gonna be there on hand. I'm gonna to help him.

Steven 8:23
What, what mayhem are we to expect?

Jo 8:25
Well, to keep him on track, he's got storytime, he's got art time. So you know, and I'll be there to help him.

Steven 8:33
What could possibly go wrong?

Nathan 8:57
Right, well, that was very good talk, Steven. Short and to the point.

Steven 9:01
Thank you very much.

Nathan 9:02
Excellent. So obviously, this is our season finale, as you know, and we've chosen for our topic, training for a purpose, the idea of having a motivation, having a reason to train for anything, either our spiritual lives or for a job as you said. So here are my questions.

Steven 9:21
Here we go.

Nathan 9:22
Right, so we should probably prioritise spiritual training over physical training. Do you not think?

Steven 9:29
That is the whole crux of Endurance, isn't it we need to train spiritually more than physically, because our physical bodies are only going to last whilst we are here on Earth. And then we die, and our spiritual bodies are there for eternity. So, obviously

Nathan 9:41
Blimey, all doom and gloom today, isn't it?

Steven 9:43
Yeah, so we need that more important.

Nathan 9:45
We may not make it to our next job, we're going to die one day.

Nathan 9:49
Although it is true, you're right, this physical life is only temporary so we shouldn't put too much effort into preparing ourselves physically. Our spiritual lives, our relationship with God, they are far more important.

Steven 10:02
Amen.

Nathan 10:04
Preach it. Anyway. I suppose as Christians, we should be motivated. Is that true?

Steven 10:10
Motivated? Yes. But motivated for what?

Nathan 10:13
Well, motivated to serve God, motivated to do what God is asking us to do.

Steven 10:18
Yes.

Nathan 10:19
If we're not motivated, then we have no reason to do what God is asking of us.

Steven 10:24
Yes, but have you ever gone for a run? And you're not in the mood for it? Have you ever gone running? And you haven't got the energy? You can't really be bothered? But you go anyway, you haven't done that?

Nathan 10:33
Yes.

Steven 10:34
Yeah.

Nathan 10:34
Most of the time.

Steven 10:35
You don't have that motivation? Oh, okay. Fair enough. You don't have that motivation. But you go anyway, you have to just have to because it's healthy for you, because you set out there so you can keep going, you're gonna keep running, you don't stop and walk? Well, maybe do from time to time, but you don't just quit or give up because you're not motivated. You got to work past that lack of motivation, which we all face.

Nathan 10:57
Yeah, so what you're saying is, sometimes we will go through the motions, but we need to endure.

Steven 11:03
Endure, have Endurance.

Nathan 11:04
Precisely.

Steven 11:05
Yeah.

Nathan 11:06
Okay. And finally, why on earth do you want to join the Royal Marines? I mean, it sounds like a very difficult job. I mean, getting dirty and working really, really hard.

Steven 11:15
For, for me, I enjoy that, I enjoy breaking a sweat. I enjoy getting a bit muddy and wet and rainy and cold.

Nathan 11:21
Muddy and wet? Deary me. I think not.

Steven 11:24
I enjoy the rain,

Nathan 11:25
Not for me.

Steven 11:26
Well, yeah, it's not for you clearly. But I really like the idea of that.

Nathan 11:31
Yeah, well. Obviously, we all have different interests, and to each his own.

Steven 11:37
Yeah, no one's perfect.

Nathan 11:39
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so basically, we all have different purposes, obviously. And we need to make sure that we train for a purpose. We don't just run aimlessly. That's what Paul said. We don't just run aimlessly, and run around in circles, or like a boxer beating the air, no, no, we train specifically, we discipline ourselves. And we train for a purpose. And that is to win the prize to, to run the race.

Steven 12:08
And we all have different purposes. All basically the same to serve God. And to do well, do you wanna conclude.

Nathan 12:17
Yes. Okay. So to conclude, obviously, this is the last episode of season five. And yeah, that, I mean to be honest, training for a purpose that really does sum up Endurance, it's about training for a purpose. And that purpose is to run the race and reach the end, to reach our goal, to win the prize. So this is the end of season five, and I hope you've enjoyed it. And then we're going to take a break for a couple of weeks or so. And we hope you will join us for season six.

Jo 13:02
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Steven 13:16
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Andy 13:46
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