Bible, Brews & Christian Liberty: Where Should Believers Draw the Line?
FULL TRANSCRIPT
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He's just a regular guy with a cool job that God loves for some reason. Welcome to The Steve Marston Show, a daily journey in learning how to live more like Jesus, conversations with those that God is working through, and dad jokes. It's the most unique show you'll hear today. Now, here's Steve. All right, thank you for being a part of today's festivities, and I'm gonna start by asking you a question. Riddle me this, Batman.
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Have you registered for our Ministry of the Month Resourced Giveaway? Well, if you have, kudos to you. Big applause emoji. If not, let me tell you about this book that we've got. It's called Winning the Invisible War by Dr. Michael Youssef. Now, I hope you know that name. Dr. Youssef is an amazing Bible teacher. He's heard on great radio stations all across the country, including our own AM 630, The Word.
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deep in the heart of Texas. You can hear him every morning at 830 with the program. But he's sent us some books to give away called Winning the Invisible War, How to Recognize Lies, Resist Temptations, and Be Victorious in Spiritual Warfare. Now, if you are listening to this program and you are a follower of Jesus, let me tell you that you're in a battle every single day. Now, if you aren't realizing that,
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Odds are you're losing the battle. And look, it's not a typical battle that we think about with physical stuff. It's spiritual in nature. And Dr. Youssef's book is incredibly helpful to identify and defend against the devil's strategies and schemes, how to apply the power of God's Word to your everyday battles, utilizing the full armor of God as provided in Scripture. That's Ephesians chapter 6.
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and also how to rest in the already and yet to come victory of Christ over Satan. Very good stuff and again, you can get a hold of this book and win it just by registering when you send me an email, steve at Salemmedia.com. Oh, and don't be worried about, I'm not listening on the radio, I'm not gonna be eligible. Oh yeah, whenever you're listening to this, you are eligible. We will...
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have a winner and draw for it coming up at the end of August. So get those entries in and we will be naming a winner really soon. As we get started today, I've got to be honest with you. I have wrestled back and forth with how to express my feelings on what I'm about to talk about. I don't want to sound like a legalistic curmudgeon that yells at the clouds and tells the kids to get off the lawn.
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But I also don't want to water down what I think is God's Word and what God would have us to do. But I know there are people who are going to listen to what I'm about to say and totally disagree with me. They'll be brothers and sisters in Christ. So I want to be respectful of that, but I also want to stand where I think I need to stand. So let me just dive into it and let the chips fall where they may, okay?
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Yesterday I was just minding my own business, scrolling through my social media when I came across an advertisement on social media for a brew house that's in our area. Now you know what a brew house is, that's where they actually make their own beers and liquors and things, and they have a restaurant as well. And the advertisement was called Bible Buds and Suds, and it said, come grab some dinner, order your favorite brew.
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and pull up a chair for an evening of faith, friendship, and meaningful conversation. Tonight we're continuing our Who is Jesus series as we talk about Jesus as the way. No need to be a Bible expert, no pressure, no prerequisites. Just come as you are, bring your questions, and join the conversation. Now at one point in my life, when I was a lot younger, I probably would have championed this.
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I would have thought, is a great idea, bringing the gospel to those that are not going to darken the door of a church. That'll be there in their element and we can expose them to the gospel and let them know what the Bible says. But now that I've grown older and I think more wise, this is just not the best way to go. Now I know that puts me on thin ice with some of you, but just please hear me out and then you can...
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feel free to rip into me, okay? Whenever these kind of ideas come around, inevitably the gospel gets diluted. Just think about the 90s, those of you that were around. In the church culture, our little bubble, we wanted to do everything to be seeker friendly. We wanted to look like, act like, be like the world, and just bring Jesus into it. Which sounds good in theory, but...
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That's not what the gospel is. The gospel is not adding Jesus to, but changing completely from one person to another, being transformed as a new creation. All the old being passed away and behold everything new. That's what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians. Now if this is not an evangelistic tool to reach the lost, then I don't understand it.
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Why would believers want to gather for a Bible study in what's really a glorified bar? And I know the first thing you're going to say, well Steve, the Bible doesn't say anything about drinking being a sin. No, you're right. It says don't get drunk. I understand. I know that scripture. But I think I can make a pretty strong case for believers being abstinent from alcohol.
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Now don't want to come off sounding like a goody two shoes or a prude or anything, but I really believe that God has outlined in the Word the best way to live our lives. And I just don't think alcohol is a part of that. And here's the reason for me personally. I have been given a pretty big sphere of influence in my life. And I'm not talking about this radio show and podcast. That's a part of it now, but even before.
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A lot of people looked up to me spiritually at my church and just in my day-to-day life. They see me as someone who's kind of got it together spiritually. Now, is that always the truth? I would like to think so, but yeah, I have struggles like everyone else. But if one of those people who I've been able to minister to or they have just looked up to me sees me out drinking at a bar, it's going to, whether subconsciously or even overtly,
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make them think less of me and consequently and more importantly less of Jesus. They're going to say, yeah, well see we thought he was a spiritual guy but look he's just he's like all the rest of them and I just don't want that to happen. Now you may be sitting back thinking Steve you can't worry about what people think you can't allow that to dictate how you live your life. Well I would agree with that to a certain extent
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but not in this area at all. Just because in Christ we have freedom to do anything we want doesn't mean we should or ought to. Now having said all of that, I also have to practice what I preach in another area, and that is this. Christian liberty. A lot of times I have got on here and talked about how if you have a conviction about something,
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then you need to follow that conviction. But at the same time, you don't need to be judging others about their convictions. And that's the truth. I'm not going to sit here and condemn you for going to a Bible study at a bar. I don't think it's best. I will voice my opinion that way, and I will tell you that it could be a slippery slope, because we all know the cliches. No one takes a drink.
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thinking they're going to become an alcoholic, but it happens on the regular all the time. It's like playing with fire. Will it hurt you? Well, maybe not, but there is the distinct possibility that not only can it hurt you, but it burn everything down. That's the gamble that you're taking when you start participating in stuff like that. But again, that's not for me to judge you. It's for me to
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let you know my concerns, and then encourage you to follow God's leading. And you are to do the same for me. All of that to say this, whenever you are presented with one of these options that makes you question whether or not this would be God-honoring for you to participate in, the main thing you need to do, I need to do, is take it to Him. And maybe situation by situation it's different.
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but ask him for direction, ask him for peace, and guess what he'll do? He will lead us and guide us if we will just ask him what we should do.
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The Steve Marston Show continues where faith and fun are both taken seriously. Happy to have you aboard and our YouTube page is continuing to grow and it's like the little train up the hill. We need your help. Like, subscribe and hit that notification bell if you would, because you're going to be on YouTube at some point I would guess today. If not today, then probably tomorrow for sure.
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a faith journey who don't have a relationship with Christ, if they stumble across it, then hey, all the better, welcome in. So do us a solid and head to youtube.com slash Steve Marston show and subscribe. Okay, it's time for our seek and find segment. This is where we get you to put on your kind of a little investigative hat and track down something in the Bible. And we go over a different book.
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every week, and then I'd leave a little nugget for you to find. So we're going to be continuing today in our look at the minor prophets. And again, I say this every week, so I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the minor prophets are not minor because their message is any less important. It's just the length of the book versus, like say, the bigger books of Isaiah and Jeremiah.
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This is just a smaller, condensed version, but God's message is still God's message. And in this book, Micah gets visions from God about both the northern and the southern kingdoms. And if you're familiar with your Bible, God rose these prophets up because the kingdom of Israel had been split and they had drifted far away from God. You'll remember back even further before there was a kingdom.
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God was their king. And then all of a sudden the people said, well, we want to be ruled like everyone else. All the other nations around us have a king. Why don't we have a king? And they in fact rejected God because God looked at himself as their king, as their leader. So God allowed them to have what they wanted to have. And there was the United Kingdom for a little while. But Solomon's son really started messing things up.
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along, well actually, would you really get down to it, Solomon kind of screwed it up himself. It was ripped into two portions. There were ten tribes of Israel in the northern kingdom. They called themselves Israel. And then there's two in the southern part called Judah. Okay, everybody with me on the history lesson there? So Micah is one of these prophets that God had raised up to go and tell those kings and kingdoms
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Hey, you better repent. We better stop going down the drain or else God's really going to bring judgment onto us. So he had visions for both the Northern Kingdoms and the Southern Kingdoms. He also pronounced judgments against the wealthy oppressors of his day. And you see that a lot in Scripture as well. Because not that there's anything wrong with being wealthy, it's not that God's upset with people that have material things.
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It's the fact that they take advantage of those who don't. They use it for injustice. And God, through Micah, is really pointing that out in part of the scripture as well. And then another section of this book talks about the judgment against Israel's leaders. Again, because they are leading the people astray, not following after what God has said in His Word so clearly, but continuing to...
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do whatever is right in their own eyes. Then you continue to look and right there in the middle of this wonderful little minor prophet Micah, you see the future reign of the Lord. You see hope all of a sudden come from all of the negative and heartbreaking judgment stuff that he's talking about in the first part of the book. And then it starts talking about the return from exile.
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They haven't even been put into exile yet, but Micah is saying, yes, exile will happen, but God's going to bring a remnant back out of it. And then he talks in specifics about a ruler coming from Bethlehem. And we all know that's a prophecy of Jesus actually finally coming to earth, the long-awaited Messiah. And then he talks about the remnant being purified, that small group of people that will come back.
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from the exile and come back to Jerusalem. God said he's going to purify that remnant. And Micah continues his book talking about the Lord's case against Israel, again for judgment, again because they are not following what God has clearly commanded. And he talks about guilt and punishment that Israel will receive. And then, again, right as it seems like
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Well, wow, God is just going to lower the boom on these people. Where's the hope? Where's the justice? Where's the mercy? Well, the justice is coming, but the hope is that the misery will be turned around. The misery will be brought and beauty will be made out of it. And that's exactly what he promises there. And then it concludes with the Lord's compassion on the nation of Israel. Even after all that Micah
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has prophesied against Israel and against the southern kingdom of Judah, even after all that God has against him, there is mercy, there is restoration, not only available, but it will happen because not of their good works, not because of their somebody, but because of God's great mercy and of His amazing grace. In fact, Micah, it's pretty cool.
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He kind of condenses everything in chapter 6 verse 8 of what God expects, what God's will is. And that is for us to love mercy, do justice, and walk humbly with our God. Those three things is all we have to do, Micah says, and it brings true for us today as well. And then at the end of the book,
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final couple of verses, it talks about God's amazing love and how His compassion is going to override all of the sin that Israel has committed. And the imagery of how God deals with Israel and their sins and what He does to those sins is pretty cool and pretty neat. And this is where you come in to seek and find. Check out Micah chapter 7 verse
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and see that imagery that God uses about how He's going to rectify and deal with sin. It's really pretty neat. Micah 719, Seek and Find. The Steve Marsden Show continues, the only Christian radio show and podcast that matters, really, when you get down to it. We've got a free PDF we'd like to get into your hands. It's called Five Tips for Bible Study.
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just strategies to help you get the most out of your time in God's Word. You can pick it up now. Again, absolutely free as a digital download at stevemarshtonshow.com. I wanted to bring back a conversation we had a couple of weeks ago with a new recording artist by the name of Nicole Lauren. She is uber talented and so fun to talk to, and we started our conversation by talking about the extreme heat we've been having this summer.
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Yes, low 100s right now. A little bit humid from the monsoon season, but we're surviving. We just need a lot of AC. There you go. That's the way it goes too, because I get so tired. I don't know about you. I get so tired of hearing the people that are in Philadelphia or Chicago or Kansas City. And they say, oh, it's triple digits out here. What are we going to do? How are we going to survive? I'm thinking, come on. Come down here. That's just a Wednesday. You know what I'm saying? Yep.
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So anyway, I am glad that you're here. Thank you for spending some time with us here. So let's talk about your career, talk about you as a person a little bit. So let's first start with how did you get involved with music? Is it something that you just kind of grew up with or is it something you picked up along the way? Yeah, you know, so it's really funny because this career wasn't something I was actively pursuing.
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So I've always had, you know, music in my life growing up, you know, in church, being involved in choirs. I mean, there was always music at home. I sing on the worship team at our church currently alongside with my husband. And that's where I was discovered and offered this wonderful opportunity. And, you know, I'm always praying, like, God, use me wherever you need me. And so I had no other desire than to say yes, yes to him.
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Yes, for him to use me as a vessel and to grow my talent and to share the gospel through music. Well, tell us about that. I mean, you just show up a normal day for worship. You're there at practice. You're there at the service. And then afterwards, somebody comes up to you and says, hey, I got a contract for you. Yeah. So my now manager, he just built a new studio at the time and wanted to turn it into a record label. And he's like, you know, God has been
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pressing this on my heart for a few weeks now. And I just knew I had to come up to you and give you this opportunity. And what turned into just a random studio day of doing cover songs turned into an official record deal. And never knew I would be writing music. But just really relying on the Holy Spirit. And OK, God, here I am. Use me. Send me. Give me the words. Give me the messages you think that people need to hear. So it's been a great journey.
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Isn't that something? mean, just you're going down the path one day and then all of a sudden God has a detour that we didn't see coming and all of a sudden everything changes. That's amazing. Nicole Lauren is our guest here on the Steve Marston show. She's a new Christian artist. I say a new Christian artist. You're getting started, you're getting yourself established. And I'm glad that you're spending some time with us here. Let me ask you, you mentioned songwriting. Was that something you were doing before or?
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Is that just something that you feel like as an artist, I've got to be able to express my own songs and not rely on covers? Yeah, I actually haven't written any music before, but I think that's the beautiful thing about this. I just totally stepped out into this journey in complete faith and trust in the Lord. And at the time I'm like, I don't really know what I'm doing here, but God, I trust you. And I know you're going to help me with the songwriting.
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It's just, you know, it's my big mission. My ministry is to use my voice. More than just singing, also pour into people's lives in other ways. And honestly, like the word that keeps coming to me to, you know, this year has been stewardship. So I feel like in many aspects of your life, whatever God has given you talent-wise or blessing-wise, you know, I'm a mother of two. So even just stewarding motherhood while being a
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a wife, you know, being a good, faithful wife, stewarding that well, and asking that God grows that because we don't want to stay stagnant. And where we are at, we also want to grow because you never know what you're capable of and what God can do through you. that's for sure. Thank you again for being with us. It's Nicole Lauren here on the Steve Marston show. So you've got this unexpected journey and here you are in the middle of it. So kind of
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What's it like now? Are you touring? Do you have a new, I guess we don't have CDs anymore. I guess everything digital download, but do you have projects you're working on? Is there something out right now? Yeah. So I am actively writing. I've written about 12 songs so far and we are sending them out as singles and doing a lot of studio time, a lot of recording and we did send out a single a couple of weeks ago.
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My Good Shepherd. So if you go to my website, NicoleLaurenMusic.com, we have all the links to a major streaming platform so you can take a listen in all my social media to follow along. Let me ask you about the recording process because as just listeners of music and consumers of music, it just kind of shows up at all packets like that. But really, it starts out with just a very crumb of an idea.
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You've got your song, maybe you've written on a guitar, written on a piano, and then it really takes shape when all the other instruments are added. I mean, it really is a creative collaborative process among a lot of people and it takes a lot of work, doesn't it? Yes, it does. We have a fantastic team at Wyrify Good Shepherd Studio. My music producer, Brian Skowronski, he works for Wyrify. He's been fantastic in helping with the music arrangements and
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I'll never forget the first time I heard my music come to life. It was just such a thrilling moment. And you know, have all these ideas in your head and, then once you really hear all of it, it's, it's pretty cool. It's been so amazing. I can imagine. mean, just thinking, cause I'm a creative kind of person too, you know, it just to have that experience, like what you're saying to see your creation actually be something.
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more than you ever thought it could be. just turns it, it's just something just amazing. So, so cool. Yeah. And so I am self-taught on piano. I'm trying to learn a little bit more of guitar. Very basic right now. And so like a lot of my inspiration will come from, you know, sermons or just reading scripture or just, you know, in being in prayer, like, okay, God, what, what message do you want me to bring forth? And I will just try my best to relate that mostly on the keyboard at home.
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I'll hear chords in my head and just try to get that down and then I'll bring my ideas forth. And yeah, all the creative activity has been so cool. Nicole Lauren is our guest here on the Steve Marston show. She's a CCM artist and she's got several songs that are out. can check out her website, which we'll give you all the details of here coming up in just a minute. one of the other aspects of not only writing, recording music, but is touring. Is that something?
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that's on your radar, you ready for that? I am, I'm ready to go wherever God leads me. It's an exciting process and I'm just really excited to see how my music can move people and just the messages that are coming out. So our team is working really hard behind the scenes to put all these things together. So if people wanna follow along and stay tuned for those music releases and also...
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touring or concert dates. They'll see all that there. Speaking of concert dates, because I gotta imagine it's a little bit different from being a worship leader where you're on stage to, you I mean, you're on stage point people to Jesus anyway. I get that, but it's kind of different when it's your name kind of out there out front versus just a worship team. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. It's different. A little more pressure. I'm not going to lie, but, it's so cool. mean, I want
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I want people to hear my story and then just like having the relation and yeah, just all the messages. It's just so cool to be able to do that. feel like this is just such a gift, such a dream. It is, and it's, so happy for you to be able to experience it because very few, seems, are able to do that, to experience the dream that they have kind of deep in their heart that they don't want to really maybe.
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express out loud for fear of maybe being laughed at or thinking, well, that's never gonna happen, that kind of thing. I'm so happy for you. We're talking with the old Laura here on the Steve Marston show. You mentioned your story. Let's get into it a little bit. How did you, I know you said earlier that you grew up in church. How did you come to know Christ and what's kind of your testimony, faith journey story? Yeah, for sure. So yeah, I did grow up in a Christian home.
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I'll forever be grateful just to have believing parents and, you know, to always have God in the center of my life. You know, I grew up in a very traditional church. We sang a lot of hymns, a lot of choirs. And honestly, in my life, I don't, I don't know who I'd be or where I'd be without Jesus. He's brought me through so many difficult seasons.
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at the age of 12, I started developing severe chronic anxiety and panic attacks that I thought I can, yeah, I thought I can never overcome. But we can always overcome with, with Jesus in our lives. He helps us get through and having people around you who are there praying for you. And then also I've been through some pretty severe postpartum depression, something that a lot of women don't talk about, and a miscarriage that left me absolutely
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In those times, I was most grateful that I had Jesus in my life. And I just put my trust in Him and, you know, I just completely surrendered to Him. you know, I knew Him from my upbringing, but I really didn't know Him, know Him until I've experienced some things. And He just showed up in some miraculous ways. Isn't that always the case? I mean, it seems like we don't really know, know Him until
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the hard stuff comes and we can really understand how faithful he is and how he's never really left us, even though we may have felt all alone at points in time. He's always been there and I don't want to get into too personal and stuff, but you mentioned postpartum depression and I know that is a big thing. I'll be honest, I didn't really understand it too much either and my wife was telling me that after
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after really after all of our kids, but especially after the last one she had postpartum depression really bad as, oh, no, you don't. And she's like, Oh, no, I do. And I'm like, what do you have to be depressed about? That's so not the best. So wrong thing to say, isn't it? A little. But you also don't understand, right? So it's like you're trying to understand and be there because you have a happy baby and you're just everything's great. It should be.
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But that's not the case for some ladies, maybe all ladies. It's incredible what your hormones can do. hey, I am just like I said, I'm just so grateful that I have Jesus. And I had incredible people surrounding me. And rather than prescribing me this medication and that medication, was like, be surrounded by people that can support you. Don't isolate yourself. Be in a lot of prayer. My midwife, Tracy Akram, was amazing.
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She was a believer or she is a believer and yeah, she just promoted a lot of time with the Lord and I'll forever be grateful for that. And I think you hit on something so key and not just for that, but for really anything. The enemy wants to separate us and make us feel isolated and feel like we're the only ones going through whatever we're going through and how God's just not either interested or that God's too busy or whatever.
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if we, if we buy into that lie, man, we are, we are just setting ourselves up for failure because God never intended us for to be alone, especially in like suffering times and hard times. yes, absolutely. And that brings me to my song, My Good Shepherd, the one that was just released. It's just so beautiful because you see this beautiful picture of a shepherd, you know, when you read in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep and
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it speaks about a shepherd going out to find that one lost one and leave the 99 to go and pursue that lost sheep. And sometimes we are that sheep, you know, and we either have these difficult seasons in life or we get off, you know, onto a beaten path. And Jesus is always there reminding us like, Hey, I am your good shepherd. I am there for you. I am never going to leave you or forsake you. I'm going to pick you up and carry you back to my heart. Just
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Trust me, trust me in all these seasons, whether it be selfish seasons of you wandering away from Christ or just the difficult seasons that you're gonna be going through. So that was kind of my intention behind the song is yeah, Luke 15 and then just God really put that on my heart. Remind people that I am the good shepherd. I'm never gonna leave them or forsake them. Well, you went right where I wanted you to go. I wanted you to talk about the song. so tell us how
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Number one, people can get a copy of it, but also how they can get it played on the radio. Yes. So if you go to my website, NicoleLaurenMusic.com, you will see links to stream the song on Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes. And then we will also be releasing through my social media as well. OK, that's awesome. So the best way to help, is that the best way?
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is calling radio stations requesting because that used to be that's the old school way that was that was how a lot of times artists would would be able to get kind of a little bit of a notoriety. Is that still something that should be done? I think so. Yeah, absolutely. I have it. I have a team setting up wonderful interviews and you can get in contact with the team as well. If you would like to interview and talk about the music. Fantastic, that's that's awesome. So.
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go to the different Spotify's and I guess YouTube channel too, right? Yeah, YouTube. There's a YouTube link as well. Yes. And I assume you've got some videos up as well, music videos? We were actually just currently working on those. they will soon be released. Yeah, we had a really good three hour session yesterday actually. Yeah, just to put some really good videos together with the songs. So we have another one coming out to be released really soon. That one is called The Battle.
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It's very different style-wise than what you have heard so far. That one is a really cool, it's a spiritual urgency to believers to be constantly armored with the Word of God and to go out and share the gospel because the enemy, you know, he's always been prowling around like a roaring lion on earth trying to deceive and destroy. But we just need to be ready to share the good news and a reminder that, you know, Jesus is coming back.
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and we need to be ready. So we need to continue to bring these Kingdom Warriors onto the good side. So absolutely. So tell everybody again your website and how they can get in contact with you. Nicole laurenmusic.com and then there are some links to all my socials and where you can stream my music and then also get in contact with our team. Fantastic and we're just out of time. Nicole Lauren. It's been awesome. Thank you.
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Thank you so much for having me, Steve.
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The Steve Marston Show rolls on. Discipleship has never been this much fun. Welcome back. And speaking of so much fun, our website has been completely updated. Now, it's kind of the crown jewel of all of the revamping we've been doing. And I really would love for you to check it out because it's so much more than just a homepage for a radio show or a podcast. We were really turning this into a library where people can find hope.
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and encouragement through the gospel for your walk with Christ or maybe those of you who have never made a profession of faith yet. Both are going to be able to find everything you could ever want or ask through this website. And what's cool is our computer nerds, and I use that term in the most lovingly way possible, they are working on making sure that not only is it
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you and I as this audience going to be able to participate. But in all the big search engines, when people start typing in these keywords about faith and hope and finding comfort in times of hardship and all of those things, we are going to start populating and they're going to be able to see it. And they're going to be able to listen to these conversations that we've had and to be able to see these resources that we offer. And here's some of the things I've said about it.
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and it's gonna, the bottom line is, it's so much bigger than just me in this little show. It's really something that we're prayerfully hoping God will use in a much, much, much bigger way. So please, check it out, stevemarschdonshow.com. I think you'll be very impressed by it, because I know I am. It's really well done. Okay, time for some stories you may have missed. If you are a child of the 90s,
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you'll know the names, Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg. They are two of the biggest stars from back then. Jenny McCarthy was doing a lot of things, let's say, not so Christian on MTV. And then Donnie Wahlberg was, of course, a part of New Kids on the Block. And they have now lived their lives and got up to being senior citizen ages. And guess what they have done?
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they have both given their lives to Christ. In fact, Donnie Wahlberg's latest Instagram reel was with he and his wife Jenny, and a part of it for his birthday celebrations, showing a bunch of different highlights, was both of them being baptized and them participating at a C.C. Winans concert, because that's what Donnie Wahlberg said. The one thing he wanted for his birthday this year
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was to see CeCe in concert. Now just think about that for a second. I Donnie is still one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, having been on that show Blue Bloods for a long time, and now he wants to see CeCe Winans of all the musical artists he could have chosen. How about that? Another story you may have missed is about life action. It's a ministry that is pro-life and is right there on the front lines of everything going on.
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with the culture war there. And the lady, Lila Rose, is the founder and the president of this organization. And according to her, she has been, quote, pressured into using language that hides what abortion does or making the killing of preborn children easier to accept. When she wrote this on X, she said, breaking all CAP letters, a George Soros-backed law firm is threatening live action.
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demanding we retract statements where abortion is described as quote unquote killing preborn children. And then she says, our answer is no. Threats will not stop us from calling abortion what it is or for fighting for the right of every child to live. We will not be pressured into using language that hides what abortion does or.
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makes the killing of a preborn child easier to accept. Wow, I just love that boldness. God bless her for saying that because look, there may be some other issues where we as believers can soften the language and not be as harsh, but I don't think with abortion we can. I think that's just one of the things we have to call it what it is and make sure that people understand that it's not healthcare, but it's actual murder.
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I know that sounds harsh and sounds stinging, but that's exactly what it is. Calling a spade a spade is what we have to do and the truth hurts a lot of times. So good for Lila Rose for doing that. And here's another story you might have missed. CCM legend Phil Kegge talking about how he chose faith and family over fame. And I just got to say before I get into the story here,
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Phil Keagy is as good a guitarist as there is alive today. And I don't care what kind of genre you're talking about, this guy is an uber-talented musician. And he made the choice a long time ago, in the mid-80s, that he was not going to pursue all of the fame and the glory of being a touring musician and being a musician that is highly regarded. He...
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said in an interview with a podcast guy, Mark Joseph, the other day that he paid a price for choosing contemporary Christian music because the decision ultimately limited his reach. But Kegge says he wouldn't change it for anything. In fact, here's a little case in point. Back in 1987, his son was four months old and he took a tour of the UK.
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and he was gone for five weeks through Wales and Scotland and England. And he said, my son Ian was just four months old and I'm on tour for five weeks. And I said, after that tour, I said, that's it, no more of that. And then he became primarily a weekend musician, limiting his schedule so that he could return home to his family. Keggy said, from that point on, I just became a weekend musician to do three or so concerts.
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a week and then home with my family and tuck my kids in bed. It wasn't always the most popular decision to make while promoting his career, but he said that's how I wanted to live. And that disappointed booking agents as well as record companies, and they figured I wouldn't sell enough records because I didn't tour, but I felt I had to do what was right for me. I think I made the right decision and I have no regrets about it. How about that? Someone
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who is as talented as that guy making the conscious decision that yeah, fame, fortune, all of that stuff, that's not near as important to me. If you've never heard of Phil Keagy, this is probably why, but you owe it to yourself to go to Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your music and find some Phil Keagy music to listen to today. I'm telling you, you won't be disappointed. The guy is amazingly talented at what he does.
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But yet he chose his family over a career that could have made him incredibly wealthy and incredibly famous. Just an inspiring story all the way around.
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Here at the Steve Marston Show, we're serious about faith, but we love a good dad joke too. The dad joke of the day comes to us from the home office in Volonia, Arkansas. My wife told me I need to stop acting like a flamingo. I had to stop acting like a flamingo, she said. So I put my foot down.
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Well, of course, you just have to do that from time to time when you're a man, The Steve Marston Show continues.
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where faith and fun are both taken seriously. It's great to have you here. And we've talked a lot about our YouTube channel and I want to remind you again about it because it is all new and it's revamped and it's not necessarily just for you. Although it is, but it's not. Here's what I mean. The YouTube channel will let you know when we upload new videos, which is every day. But by you going there and liking and subscribing and hitting that notification bell,
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really does help this show grow. And we want to get this content in as many people's hands as possible. And you are the conduit for that. You're the person that's gonna help make that happen. So I do humbly ask that the next time you're at the YouTube page, which come on, you're gonna be there probably in a little while today. If you're not already there right now listening on the podcast, like, subscribe, hit that notification again.
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youtube.com slash Steve Marston show. Faith Between Your Ears is what we lovingly call our scripture memory verse little section of the program. We get together on Mondays with a new verse and all week long we work to learn it together as a podcast slash radio show family. And I just am convinced that knowing and learning God's Word is the key
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to everything we want to do as a Christian. You want to go deeper in your faith? Learn God's Word. You want to have victory in your life and have that abundance that Jesus talked about? I think knowing His Word is the foundation of doing that. And this week we are learning 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 where Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying,
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what God has prepared for those who love Him. And again, Paul is quoting from Isaiah chapter 64 when he says that. But when you think about those words and meditate on them, I'm telling you, it just brings chills to you. And I know the first thing that you're going to say is, I'm too old to memorize. I just can't do that anymore. It's just too hard. Well, first of all, it's not too hard. Will it take some effort? Probably a little, but you know what?
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probably not as much as you think. It's really easy memorization. All you have to do is find the way that works for you. It could be saying it out loud over and over and over until you just get it. Or you need to just write it out longhand. I mean, take a scrap piece of paper and write it out four or five times and you'll be shocked at how it will jump into your head and get in between your ears. Or maybe you just need to
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write it out on a Post-It note and put it where you'll see it sometime on the regular, you know, and you'll just be able to see it all the time and that'll click it. We wrap up every show with a call to action, your next step, and I think it's to realize that there are precious few things that we are non-negotiable on as Christians. Let everything else be Christian liberty. Put that into practice. We're out of time. Back on the radio tomorrow at three o'clock, everywhere else online. Adios.
