Finding Your God-Given Purpose

In this episode we seek to understand the question that we all wrestle with - what is my purpose? Real estate agents and Christians everywhere want to know why they were made, what is my God-given purpose. Tune in as the guys discuss ways to seek and understand our identities as business owners and our identities as believers. 

• Prioritizing God's will in life. 0:01
• Finding God-given purpose and overcoming decision-making pressure. 1:03
• Finding purpose and direction in life through biblical principles. 3:17
• The tension between free will and divine providence. 8:09
• Balancing work and faith through the lens of creation and the Sabbath. 10:22
• Balancing freedom and responsibility in business. 14:28
• Sources of wisdom and the dangers of using Scripture out of context. 19:05
• Self-awareness and identity in Christ. 20:56
• Finding purpose and wisdom in real estate business through Bible reading and prayer. 26:41
• Balancing business and faith with intentional decision-making. 32:28

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Transcript

Garrett Maroon: 0:01

So Go marry someone, provided you're equally yoked and you actually like being with each other, go get a job provided it's not wicked. Go live somewhere in something with somebody or nobody. But put aside the passivity in the quest for complete fulfillment, and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future. And for God's sake, start making some decisions in your life. Don't wait for the liver shiver. If you are seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be in God's will. So just go out and do something. The end of the matter is this. live for God? Obey the scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you'd like with whomever you'd like, wherever you like. And you'll be walking in the will of God. Excerpts from just do something by Pastor Kevin D. Young. All right, Tyler, we're trying something a little different today, buddy. Yes, we are like that. That's That's good.

Tyler Wilson: 1:03

I just maybe we'll just sit here for a little longer and let you read to me because that was just poring over me. I liked that a lot. But now what do we do?

Garrett Maroon: 1:12

Well, I think what's so cool is you know, as a as a quick introduction, we're excited to be here. We're going to talk about finding your God given purpose. And I thought that that excerpt would be impactful. That book was really impactful to me. It's called just do something. It's a small little book, Pastor Kevin D. Young, I was coming out of college, and I was stuck in this I stuck in this world of I don't know what to do next. What do I do? What kind of job should I get whatever. And one of my mentors, one of my buddies who's an older older guy, gives me this book, and he's like, Garrett. Basically, I remember him I physically remember him telling me I literally remember him telling me, Garrett Scripture doesn't say, you need to grow up and work nine to five and cut your grass on the weekends. It doesn't say that. It says these things it says is the what I read in the code open, live for God, obey the scriptures. Be holy love Jesus, right, and then go do something with your life. That's what it says. And I remember you and I is we're going to dive into this topic. You and I both been in this place of trying to figure out Lord, what do you really want from us? Right? Well, I think we both feel this, this idea that we have more to give, and but we don't know how to use that or put that to work. And I'm sure our audience feels that too. And so man, I just I read that extra that book came to mind and thought, bro, we got to we got to talk about that as we try to unpack and figure this out. Yeah,

Tyler Wilson: 2:29

I love it. I thought that was a good extra actually just finished a Kevin Dionne book he he wrote about being busy and and what it means to be busy, super short, very gracious, and how short it was when you're busy, quote unquote, I think that was on purpose. But in terms of this purpose, the image, the image that I always think about in terms of just going and doing something. I've said this before, I don't know if I've shared with it on a podcast, but it's profound, and it resonates with me is this idea that when you're making a decision, and we come to so many crossroads in our lives, sometimes, you know the forks in the road feel much more significant than others, whether it's changing a job, or just honestly deciding, like, where to put your kids in school, or what house to buy, like the certain forks, that you feel that we put so much pressure on ourselves on making the right decision. And the same thing with identifying the purpose in our life. What's the right purpose that we have for us? Well think of this image as if you are standing at the entrance of a wide open field, 1000s and 1000s of acres, that there's a fence that is around that in the large, overwhelming majority of places you can't see the fence, but you walk into it through a gate you enter in. And then you have complete freedom and autonomy and dominion to do whatever it is that you choose to within the confines of that fence, most of the time, of which you've never even really been up against. And the walls of that fence, the established boundaries that are for your good to protect you and to keep you in place are the will and the scriptures and the what, what the Lord calls you into, from the way that he created you. So if you are in whatever decision you're making vocationally, personally, spiritually if you if you are butting up against the fence of what Scripture calls you into, there's clear direction in that. But in most things when we're defining our purpose, if we are pursuing the Lord, if we are aiming, pursuing righteousness, if we're aiming to be more Christ, like you're in the center of that wide open field, where you can literally do whatever your heart's desire because you have been given that gift from the Lord to go forth and to honor Him because the purpose in whatever it is you're doing is to bring honor and glory to his name and to do with excellence. It's not a matter of being on the right path or being in this this lane that we feel like is this you know calling that we have into that we have to fit into know that take that calling that lane of calling that we in our mind is one road wide and blow it up and and make it 1000s of acres huge that you can go freely and roam through. Now that doesn't make it simpler to decide when you do get to those kinds of Crossroads within the field of how to make decisions, decisions can be challenging, because we want to make the right one, we want to do the right thing. But again, that brings us back to the Lord calling us into total peace when we are under His provision, when we trust that He will provide for us more than he will the sparrows in the sky. Like when we truly have that enlightenment, of his desire for us to thrive within the framework of those walls, all those crossroads or those? Those forks in the road just become so much clearer.

Garrett Maroon: 5:42

It's good man. I love that I love that image. Because, you know, even just talking about this and reading that excerpt again, in our cold open, I think about so much of my wrestling, it's like, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? And it's as if he hasn't told me anything. Right? And you look at scripture exactly what you said, like, he's told us exactly what are we called to do live for Him, obey the scriptures. Think of others above yourself, be holy, as Christ is holy. He's told us what we're called to do. That's our purpose is to do those things, right? And then go and make disciples of all the nations, he's called us to go do those things. That's he's laid it out. Right. That's the purpose. And I love you know, when you were talking about that, I was thinking of, you know, those old books, where it was like the Choose Your Own Adventure book? Yes. Right. You get to that part in the book. And he'd be like, do you want if you want to do this, go to page 120? You want to do that? Good. Whatever, right? Yeah, great books. Well, and then there's different outcomes. I feel like so often, in my own heart, in my own life, and I know, plenty of us do this is I kind of act as if that's the way the Lord works, too. Right? Is okay, now it's your choice, you better make a choice. And I hope you don't make the wrong one. If you make the wrong one, you're not you're outside of my will. And now you're totally screwed, and everything, nothing's going to work for you, right? And you're gonna be living in this terrible condition, and everything's gonna be awful until you get back to the right page. And that's not how it works. I mean, that's not what Scripture teaches us is true. They exactly what you said, it's not this, choose your own adventure. It's like, no, within the confines of this book, The here's the rules. If you want to be in this book, and you want to play this game, you've got to be holy, like Christ is holy, you've got to live for the Lord, You've got to put Him first, above all things, you've got to serve and love other people and sacrifice for them. If you do those things, you get to be in this book. And you get to make choices because the Lord gave you a rational mind. So use it to make choices and go in a direction. And it's not this, Oh, you went to the wrong page. Too bad to start over. Right? Like, that's not how this actually works. But I do you think that we can become so scared, and we get so stuck to make a decision? I'm talking to autobiographically. Right? So stuck to make a decision? Because exactly what you said, it's like, well, I want to make the right one. And at least for me, what tends to happen, and then jump in. But what tends to happen for me is when I just don't have clarity, I ended up doing nothing. I just kind of waste time, because I'm like, I don't know what to do. So I guess I'll just do nothing. Yeah, right.

Tyler Wilson: 8:10

That's, yeah, those books, like the best. And I think that that are the best because they feast on the original sin and our desire to dictate what the outcome is, like now that they're doing that to little kids. And that we were thinking that deeply when we were 10 years old, reading those books, and turn to page 72. You fell off the cliff and died and Exactly. The other outcome, then yes,

Garrett Maroon: 8:34

don't do that in life. Don't go to page 72 out of 10. Yeah. What are we earning? Yeah.

Tyler Wilson: 8:40

But that's why we get so I mean, truly, that's the I think the source of being hamstrung in those moments of, I don't know what to do, like, I have to make the perfect decision. Well, if you're making the decision outside of the framework of God, then it's going to be wrong. If you're making the decision within the trust in His provision, then it's right, no matter what, like that's the binary nature of right and wrong decisions. And so, but so much of our core, and the way that we've been taught and conditioned, and what we see around us is to an original sin is to drive the outcome. I mean, that's not a bad thing. Like we're not again, disclaimer, we're not preaching Jesus take the wheel like that's, like we have to, we're called to be excellent at what we do, and to champion that, but so much, if in our core, we're torn up over the decision that we're going to make because we think that it ultimately dictates the outcome, and that our identity or the success there of the decision that we make is based on our actions, then we're looking through the wrong lens. We're looking we're looking at making decisions through how we can drive what we're trying to get to, rather than making the decisions through the lens of how do we honor and pursue the Lord better and better and better and more consistently and more freely. The Lord the Lord created us to be free. He has to have listened to that Arden for us to rule over and to have total dominion and authority over for our good and for His glory and for us to partner with establishing a thriving kingdom for his namesake. But when that wasn't enough for us, right, simply put, that's the gospel. And then here we are today still doing the same thing, just on micro cosmic layers of that over and over and over again. I mean, I love what you're in so much of it is because we're conditioned to what's going on around us the definitions of, of living freely are pursuing the right things they get. So they get so muddied up, they get so clouded like, even this morning, Chelsea and I, we had our prayer time together, and we ended up usually talking for an hour and like, barely get into prayer, because that's just like, the one time that we get to sit down, distraction of diving into things but like, yesterday, our pastor taught on the Sabbath, and the premise of the Sabbath, and what does that look like. And so one, something profound that he taught us was that creation. And obviously, we know the story of creation that the world, everything established in it heavens in the earth, everything that abides in it was created for six days, on the seventh day God rested. So that the creation story is all of this build up to what life is supposed to look like as the Sabbath like that, that all of this creation goes into a life that we are destined to live in a state of like, of Sabbath of rest and total peace in what God has created for us. But even in just like our legalistic nature, and in what we think as humans who are setting goals and motivated and trying to do the right thing, I need to have something that I can hang on to, we have to have will tell me, Pastor tell me book, what does the Sabbath look like, you know, on Sundays, I can't do any of this. I just got to, you know, sit around, and I'd spend time with my family. That's all great. That's awesome. But like, Take, for example, yesterday, I took my son. And we went and vacuumed all of the chewed gum and Fig Newtons out of Chelsea's van, to celebrate her and to say thank you to her. And I taught my son what it looks like to honor his mom and to serve her. And to be thankful for the van that he has to be able to drive around in like, that's literally manual labor that I'm teaching him into, but in the piece and the rest that the Lord provides us from a Sabbath definition. Like that was so restful to me, you know, that was so restful to him that we got to spin those bones together. So I'm getting a little bit off on a tangent here. But I'm saying the point of this purpose, what we're talking about now is so much of our purpose. We allow to be influenced by the people around us. We allow to be influenced by the measures of the world. This is not new stuff that we're saying. But when we are making decisions on what we're going to do vocationally, there's that word, what we're going to do vocationally what we're going to do with our family, how we're going to live our church life, all of the most important things in our life, we should be making those decisions through the lens of what it looks like to pursue the Lord. And not a matter of how we're driving the outcome. We just need to be really clear on how we're making decision again, through which lens we are making that decision and, and that's the only binary nature of the fork in the road is through which way are we justifying the decision or making the decision and if that's the right one, then you can't be wrong.

Garrett Maroon: 13:31

Too many agents are feeling the weight of inauthentic action. Too many agents are bogged down with bad clients and ignoring their families. Too many agents are waking up each day stepping into the hamster wheel and chasing an unending cycle. Well, it's time to step into something greater my friends and fellow agents. That's why we introduced the faithful agent group coaching, if you've desire to know your God given gifts and how to use those to build a God honoring business, or if you longed to be challenged, encouraged and taught by other brothers and sisters in Christ, who know not only your work, but also your heart. Reach out to us for a call. We'd love to show you the power of a group of like minded believers coming together to become more excellent in their work and their faith. If you want to learn more visit faithful agent.com backslash chat to grab a time to talk with me. Now back to the show. I feel like there's this, this idea that when we are we can become so fearful in this chooser and adventure we become so fearful of making the wrong decision that we think if we make this wrong decision that the consequences just an explosion back in our face, right? It's either that and so we're so hesitant to make a decision because we're afraid that it's either that or juxtaposed with this No I've there's freedom in Christ and there's so much gray so I'm just gonna do a bunch of stuff not even thinking about consequence. CES, right? And we tend to, at least in my own life, I tend to operate in one of those two extremes, where it's, I trust the Lord, He's gonna take care of me, and he's gonna make what I do good. So I'm just gonna go do something, right, which I know is the title of the book, but doing it not with the thought of how do I honor the Lord? How do I love Christ and love Jesus in this, but doing it because I'm like, I just need to do something. So I'm gonna go do it. Because that's my nature is I don't want to sit around and think about, I'm just gonna go do something. That's absolutely my nature. And so I just expect the Lord to make it good. As opposed to remember, wait a minute, though, man, there are consequences for dishonouring the Lord and not not living within exactly what Pastor the youngest talking about living in the context of being holy and loving Jesus. And, and those are my pay to play things. But the opposite of that is which I often sit in as well, as I was talking about as I sit there, and I don't do anything, because I'm like, Yeah, because if I do the wrong thing, it's gonna blow up in my face. And but that's not how the Lord works, either. He's not, he's not vindictive. He's not it. That's not what he does. And he certainly wouldn't have sent His only Son to pay the penalty for our sin, just to then punish us for making a wrong decision. Because we make wrong decisions all the time. I do things wrong all the time. And yet, he is gracious to us on that. And so I think we've got to find, where's that? Where's that middle ground of freedom, like you've talked about? And for agents, as we're talking about this, excuse me, for real estate agents for business owners. I think too often, we sit around and either A, we sit there and don't do anything, we're not as excellent as we should be. Because we're sitting around like, I don't want to do the wrong thing, which often is a cover up for not doing anything, right? Well, why aren't you doing anything? Well, because I don't want to do the wrong thing. That's stupid, go do something. Right? Or we are the people that say we're Oh, you know, I remember when I started to read and learn and grow and do all these things. And so I had gotten all this mindset of the world in my head, honestly, I'm reading all the books and listen to all the podcasts. I mean, it was insane how much I was putting in my brain. And it was firing me up at man, what I turned into was this rocket ship that just went full speed ahead without understanding or the seeking of the what does the Lord desire for me in this not tell me exactly what I'm supposed to do Lord here, because that's not how this works. But with the understanding of am I can I do this and look like Christ? When I do this? How do I reflect who Jesus is or what he's done? For me, it was just, I'm gonna go full steam ahead broke because I live in grace. And that means I could do whatever I want. Right? It was kind of this cage stage where I just was unleashed, right. And so I think that we've got to come back as agents and recognize the business owners and people in general, but as business owners to say, the first question is, whose kingdom Am I living in? Is it mine? Or is it the Lord? Right? Because I, I think if we're honest with ourselves, and most of the time, it's my kingdom. And if it's my kingdom, then I get to do what I want. I get to set the goals that I want. I get to aim to try to make as much money as I want because I want it because it'll buy me X, Y, and Z and I can see comfort in this life and blah, blah blah. But if we go before the Lord and say, Lord, make this your kingdom today, before we got on this podcast, I was praying with this part about this podcast right? How do we become more excellent in this and literally praying Lord, did David's prayer after he cheats with Bathsheba right and get your Ico created me a clean heart? I can't do it myself. Lord, create in me a clean heart. And then I'm allow me, Father to just seek Your glory above all things. You're not going to tell me exactly what how to do that with this podcast and blah, blah, blah. But you're gonna say seek Me first. And if I do that, then I can just go do something with the show. And do it to the best of my ability because that will honor him and his pastor Jung says I am then in the will of God. I want to read this one more excerpt because I want your takeaway in this. He says there's three ways to access wisdom. Number one, read the Bible responsibly. Number two, seek wise counsel from others. And number three, pray for illumination wisdom, and what you already know is God's will. What do you think about that?

Tyler Wilson: 19:22

I think it's really good. First of all the the turning back real quick, you talking about this rocket ship, this total Grace phase where you can just go do whatever you want. That's the least Reformed Baptist thing I've ever heard you say it's so not not you at all. But

Garrett Maroon: 19:38

it was it was years ago. Oh, gosh. Okay, now we'll walk that back. That's right. Imagine how bad it was. If I'm better now. It was pretty bad. And

Tyler Wilson: 19:47

listeners if you only knew Garrett, a decade ago, you

Garrett Maroon: 19:51

would not be part of this. I would not be married. Absolutely. The

Tyler Wilson: 19:58

so too. Whoo, get back on track here and thinking about the sources of wisdom and clarity, the

Garrett Maroon: 20:05

Bible responsibly, seek wise counsel from others pray for illumination wisdom, and what you already know is God's will, I

Tyler Wilson: 20:11

think are so good. And obviously align with Scripture. And I think that they're really hard to do. And one, because we get no way. And because so often, if we're really honest with ourselves, and we think about when we're trying to make a big decision, we we use the Lord's word, and in Scripture, and we use affirmations from other people. And we use things that we know wisdom that we have. So each of those three things we use, we use them out of context, to justify the outcome that we want to constantly. And that's heresy. I mean, simply put, to take the to take the Lord's word out of context and use it to justify a fleshly desire is sin. And we do it all the time. I do it all the time. I mean, I would say all the time, but like, I struggle with that, and that's something that we all need to be sanctified. And that's just reality, which is why, for the second part, you need people to hold you accountable, that are going to tell you the truth, that aren't just going to tell you what you want to hear, say yes to everything that you have. But that requires you being honest, and how you filter who you let into your inner circle, and speak truth into your life. And then lastly, I mean, screening wisdom, things that you know, to be true, that's just accountability, and being just crystal clear on the foundations that you are building your decision making on foundations that you're building your life on. If it's not the foundations of Scripture, then then you're not doing it the right way. But to speak a little practically, or to speak a little practicality into this conversation of identifying purpose, making decisions in the vein of purpose. I mean, I really believe that there is a combination of knowing who you are like that the way that the Lord made you the things that you're really good at, and getting clear on that by that's that again, that's that it's an oversimplification, I know that that's hard to do. But that that is something that we all need to do, you know, figuring out, getting really clear, maybe not on what we think we're good at. But what we actually are, and that's a combination of taking time to be self reflective, and also just getting affirmation from the people that are closest to you, from people or maybe even people that aren't the closest to you, like, have you ever heard somebody that come up to you and, you know, to say, like, Man, that was really encouraging, like you, you know, you being honest about that, like really encouraged me, or spoke truth into my life and you know, an impact at something or, you know, man, you're just really your energy, the energy that you bring every day like it lifts me up, like I'm, I don't have that and whatever, whatever little word it is, whatever affirmation that you're getting, like, listen to it. You know, like there's, there's something that when you if you're not pretending, or trying to do something, and you just do it, and people are encouraged by it like that's, that's a gift that the Lord has given you. So don't ignore that. I confess to each of you listening right now that that's something that I have ignored for a very long time in my life. And in part because I've just let it stroke my personal pride, and say, like, oh, that's just like something that, you know, I do really well. And that's a confession. But like, also, in part, because I'm just ignoring for a long time, I really ignored the way that the Lord has made me or the gifts that He has given me, and how to implement them into growing his kingdom. I just knew that it was something that maybe I could do, I could turn toggle the switch on and off whenever I wanted to, rather than recognizing that that's something that's a source or a gift that I should be implementing into what I do all the time.

Garrett Maroon: 23:46

And let me let me jump in sorry, real quick, because I think that that exactly is this idea is not my idea. But the idea of, Am I living in My Kingdom or the Lord's kingdom and being honest about that? Because if you're like, Well, I'm living in my kingdom, then yeah, I should stroke your ego, because you're the king. You're the one that's in charge, you're the best there is. But if we're living in the Lord's kingdom, then all of it should reflect to say, hey, praise God, that he gave me a small part of his character. And others see that as excellence, right or others see the fact that I can encourage them. Well, that's not me, bro. That is part of the Lord's character that he has chosen to give me for whatever reason, and praise God for that. It's not my kingdom. He's it's his kingdom. He receives the glory for that. And anyway, sorry, no, it's

Tyler Wilson: 24:31

right. seek it out. So like, you're seeing that eye, open your ears, like open up your ears, your eyes, all of your senses, but definitely your ears in terms of what you're hearing from people from an encouragement perspective, and lean into that like seek it out. And I'm seeing here sitting here saying that like GE knows this intimately, obviously. But this has been a this has been a years if not decades long. Pursuit of me that it didn't listening to the affirmation that I've heard from other people is something that I heard but I just like stuffed down and Woodberry away because it didn't jive with who I thought I was supposed to be in the framework of the world. I felt that I was supposed to live a life that looked like x because of, you know, some of the other talents that the Lord had blessed me with. And so the affirmation that I was hearing like, the voices that were profound, like constantly speaking over me that I was choosing to ignore. I mean, it's disobedience. Like it's blatant disobedience that I had to confess. And in truth, like it's Geno's, it's been like super uncomfortable for me for months now, like once I've let it kind of boil up to the tip of my tongue. And then like, I use the image, like I set it on the corner of the table. And like I'd let people sometimes, like glimpse into it, and then maybe speak into it a little bit more. Now I've kind of moved it to the center of the table, we start talking about it a little bit more. And there is just so much freedom that comes when you stop trying to be who you think you're supposed to be like when you just stop trying to fit yourself into this mold that you've built in your mind that has been shaped by the ongoings of the world around you, which we all do it. Everybody does it. If they say that they don't do it, they're a liar. And it takes I mean, here, I'm sitting here, 34 years old, feeling like I've finally unpacked it fractionally, like just taking the lid off of what it starts to unpack, to truly live a life that's filled with purpose. And it starts the first step is truly the definition of how to live the life with purpose. That is not that I'm not the king, and that honoring the Lord, my God, my king is the king like that. I mean, we all know that. We all know that. Like if we're if we call ourselves Christians, we would say that we know that. But there's a difference in knowing

Garrett Maroon: 26:48

it and knowing it, right? Yeah, I read this morning, somebody to the extent of like, it's really easy to ascend to mental, what he say like a mental understanding of God, and his theology. And what he teaches us is very difficult to actually live it. That's right. And that's so true. And I think that at the end of the day, as we talk about as Asians, as people, what is my purpose in this business? What is the Lord's already? What is he already told you? That should be the first response? What does He already said in His scripture? What is he already told us? It's read the Bible responsibly is number one, three ways to access wisdom. So go seek that out. First. I was having a conversation with someone recently, it was actually about a relationship they had. And they said, Hey, what do you think about this? What's your opinion? And I said, Well, what does the Bible say? And they weren't sure. And so we walked through it. They're like, Oh, wow, I need to do something about them. Right? Why? Because the Bible told already gave information that already existed. I've got a mentor, Butch Joyce, who's an incredible man, who has been an entrepreneur for 40 years loves Jesus. And what he when he told me, this was years ago, when I'm reading this, reading all these books and my cage states, right? reading all these books, all these things, I'm this rocket ship that's on fire. I said, Hey, what are your what are the best books you've ever read? Whatever. And he said, You know what, Garrett, this was an Armstrong said, You know what, Garrett? When I got deeper and more mature in my faith, when it came to matters of business, I mostly just read the Bible. And I was like, what, what about all these other good books, and you know, all the things it's like, it's not that I didn't occasionally read those. But I went to the source of what was true. And I went to where I knew that everything I read was right, and true, and godly and biblical. And I made decisions that way. And I remember thinking, Man, that is not what I'm doing. And so you're seeking wisdom in your business? What does scripture say? You are trying to decide whether you should go show houses Sunday morning, or go to church with your family? Well, what does scripture tell you about that? You're trying to decide whether you should build your business in a way that honors the Lord, or if you should just get as big as you can, as quick as you can and make as much money as you can? Well, what does scripture say about that? Right? I think if we just start there, then exactly what you said to one of the reasons we care about this community that we're that we have, and we're actively seeking to grow local groups so we can help you identify where the other believers are in your area in real estate, is to seek wise counsel from others now wise counsel, right. If you meet someone and you're like, That person doesn't know what they're talking about. That's not wise. Counsel, wise counsel is counsel that points you back to Scripture. Right? So seek that out. And then finally, pray for illumination wisdom, and what you already know, is God's will. To me that means Lord, I'm wrestling with this reveal to me what you've already said is true. So that I could do I could obey. What you've told me that I could have put aside this passivity that I have in person. sue you and, and go after you, right and love Jesus and be holy as you call me and live for You, Lord, not just sit here and do nothing. Give me wisdom and what that looks like. And I think, agents people doesn't matter who we are, but and our business, there are so many things that are thrown at us. A big part of our confusion. For me, at least a big part of my lack of clarity, is that I'm not in a place where I have one thing I could do, I'm in a place where I could do 100 things, and all of them seem good, right? And we're kind of pulled in a million different directions, were given a million different piece of pieces of advice. And so we are susceptible in huge ways. Think about your own life agent, as you listen to me too. We are susceptible to sitting there and not doing anything, right? Because we're just hoping or sitting there waiting, if I make the wrong choice, what's going to happen, or we just go and do everything, without any clarity without any thought of how does this honor the Lord agents, we've got to sit and be still before the Lord and read the Bible responsibly, first and foremost. And then as we seek each day to live for the Lord, to honor Him, to love Jesus to be holy, as he is holy, then, and only then should we take the freedom to go live in a way that the Lord has put in front of us. That's where the freedom comes from. When we first do those things, Freedom doesn't start. When your day starts, Freedom starts after you've hit your knees, you've been in prayer, and you've been in the word to seek out what the Lord has, who the Lord has said he is and how we can submit to him today. That's my encouragement. For us. It's there's a lot going on in this world, there's a lot coming at us as agents is yes, go do something have freedom in that exactly. You said t but also seek and understand, Lord, where is that fence? Because I don't want to go outside of him. And I need clarity to do those things. Man, we we hope this has been a helpful discussion. We're trying to figure it out ourselves. And so if you know the answer, then call us because I'd really like to know exactly how this works. But I think at the end of the day, it is the encouragement when you're trying to understand your purpose. This, the Bible already says a lot about it. Right? Go do these things be like Christ. That's your purpose, first and foremost. And then after that, there's freedom in that. But T What do you think, man? Take us out buddy,

Tyler Wilson: 32:28

man, also good. And I think that the last, this isn't anything that we haven't repeated on the podcast again, but I think applies when you're the balance of being in those 1000s millions of acres of freedom to go and play but discerning, seeking wisdom first when you make a decision is to remember that when you're saying yes to something, you're saying no to something else, and that we're finite, that we're not perfect, that you're being sanctified constantly. And remember that there is freedom and making your decisions when they are made in the framework of what Scripture teaches you and calls you into so be intentional with how you spend your time you're a gift, your creation, you're made in the image of God. So value the time that you have and value the people that the Lord's put in your life value the relationships that are most important in the hierarchy that he establishes it first with being a relationship with Him, then your spouse and your family, your church, prioritize those. And so may your yeses be yeses and your nose be nose as you guys go out forward. So they flow agents. Thanks for listening. As always, we're grateful for you. We're hope you're encouraged and we pray that you're excellent and all that you do as you leave here today.

Garrett Maroon: 33:44

Hey, faithful agents. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope it encouraged you to both grow your business and your faith. And as always, make sure you share this episode with a friend who you think would be encouraged by it and join us on our Facebook group. If you aren't there yet to come together with the other faithful agents around the country. Just go to facebook.com and search the faithful agent. And if you want to be encouraged more locally, because after all local groups is where the real growth and change happens. Go to faithful agent.com backslash local groups to check out what we've got going on. And if there isn't a group near you, you can reach out to us right there. And tell us you're interested in starting your own. Thank you as always for tuning into this episode. We hope to see you next week.