Episode 298: I’m Talkin. . .Recap

I’m talking episode 298 for December 31st, 2023.

This is Joel from the I’m talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking recap.

Recap is exactly what it sounds like.

So this year I did a theme for the entire year, and I just kind of want to recap some of the things that I, the words that I covered.

I didn’t actually go back and listen to what I said, but I looked at the words that jumped out at me over the course of the year, and also looking back at the theme, and I did a little bit of this in the last microcast, but I’m going to do it again here today.

So the theme for 2023 for my microcast was challenge Christian listeners to live sold out for God’s glory.

And then I picked words that could lead us to living that kind of life.

And what really does that look like anyway?

And I think it really means that we are second, that we think of ourselves less, and we think of God more, and we think of others more.

And when things go well, we give God the glory.

And when things don’t go so well, we still give God the glory.

And if we live a life that’s sold out for God’s glory, then we will have abundant life.

Coming from my favorite verse, John 10.10, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

That’s what it means to live sold out for God’s glory.

Am I always good at it?

Absolutely not.

But it is something that I strive for, something that challenges me every day when I think about who I am, and whose I am, and who I want to live for.

It helps me be a better husband.

It helps me be a better dad.

It helps me be a better grandpa.

It helps me be a better friend.

It helps me be a better Bible teacher.

When I think of living a life sold out for God’s glory, putting God first and myself second, that is a life that is worth living.

So looking at the word list, so there ended up being, like I said, last week, 53 Sundays in the year, and I only had 52 words, but I went and looked, and somewhere in the, I think it’s 11 words that really stuck out to me, and they are as followed.

So the first one was enlightened, and I think that’s just a word that helps us understand the theme that an enlightened person understands living for God’s glory.

I look at, the next one I did was a gift right around my birthday time frame, and I think that’s probably why the word stuck out, and we think of the gift of salvation, which was a word I did later in the year.

And then I did the word thankful, because that’s how we live if we’re sold out for God’s glory, through trials, which was another word I did, through real circumstances, and real was another word that I did.

We have victory, which is another word I did, and we’re thankful through all of that.

Other words that I picked out was obey, and obviously we can’t live a life sold out for God’s glory if we’re not willing to obey what God is asking us to do.

If we’re not willing to obey His words straight out of His Bible, then it’s hard to live sold out for God’s glory.

And then I talked about delight, and you know, when you live a life that’s abundant, there’s just delight in that, and living sold out for God’s glory brings that.

And then the last two words that jumped out at me, one was ready, and that really means that in the life that we choose to live, when we choose to live sold out for God’s glory, we’re ready for anything.

We’re ready for more life.

We’re ready for debt.

We’re ready for conflict.

We’re ready for successes.

All of those things we become ready for because our perspective is correct and our thoughts are properly aligned.

And then the last word I did, just last week, was the word you, and that really is the focus.

It’s not the focus on me or you specifically, but it’s our focus being on ourselves in that we choose to put ourselves second.

And how we choose to look at ourselves means that you becomes less significant and He becomes more significant.

And I just want to thank you who listen on a regular basis.

As you know, my mom passed away this year, and she regularly sent me a text basically every week and thanked me for doing this microcast.

It’s a joy to do.

I don’t know how many people listen.

I don’t look at the statistics about downloads.

All that’s available to me through Apple, but I do this microcast to challenge myself and hope and pray that it challenges others in my life to do the same, to live, sold out for God’s glory, this year’s theme, and I hope to continue it on.

I’m almost through my sixth year of doing this microcast, and the listeners, even though I don’t know who you are, occasionally I’ll get a note.

This year I got a note from a friend in California who said she listens every week, and they always encourage and challenge.

I know my mom listens, I know my brother listens, and I know my daughter listens.

And there may be others that I am unaware of, but if you do listen and you want to pass this on to others because you enjoy it, that’s great as well.

In the meantime, my challenge remains the same as we go into 2024 to live sold out for God’s glory.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking microcast.