Christ Focused Podcast

About Christ Focused Podcast

Followers of Christ fighting back against doom scrolling, bringing light and salt into the digital landscape. Covering the everyday muses necessary to build the Kingdom of God here on earth within our everyday lives. christfocused.substack.com (https://christfocused.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Envoy by Christ Focused Network

Category

religion & spirituality · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 May 2025

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

62 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Month 10 - Justice & Mercy | Week 4: Guest Speaker Father Stephen Gadberry

   Month 10 - Justice & Mercy | Week 4: Guest Speaker Father Stephen Gadberry (https://www.catholicextension.org/stories/priest-military-veteran-and-ninja-warrior-the-remarkable-life-of-one-arkansas-pastor/) Guest Q&A with Father Stephen Gadberry (https://www.catholicextension.org/stories/priest-military-veteran-and-ninja-warrior-the-remarkable-life-of-one-arkansas-pastor/) Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. Shawn Ryan Show appearance: Anchor Scripture “…to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” - Micah 6:8, ESV (https://www.esv.org/Micah+6/) Guest Q&A with Father Stephen Gadberry Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. What happens when faith moves beyond what we believe and begins shaping how we actually live? As we close Month 10 of ENVOY, we’re joined by Father Stephen Gadberry, a Catholic priest and former U.S. Air Force serviceman who served in Iraq before entering the priesthood. We’ve spent the past few weeks studying Micah 6:8. This week, we turn to the practical realities of living it out. Drawing on his experiences in military service, priesthood, and everyday discipleship, Father Stephen shares some valuable lessons about discipline, humility, mercy, and loving others when it’s inconvenient. 1. Before we can do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly, what needs to change within us? Father Stephen began by explaining that justice and mercy are two sides of the same coin. Justice recognizes wrongdoing and the need for change. Mercy doesn’t ignore that wrongdoing but offers help toward restoration. He described God’s invitation to repentance simply: “You need to change. But I’m going to help you change.” For Christians, this means being willing not only to correct others but also to accompany them through the difficult process of transformation. 2. How has your understanding of strength, discipline, and sacrifice changed through military service and priesthood? Father Stephen sees significant similarities between military service and priesthood. Both require discipline, structure, sacrifice, and a willingness to put something greater than ourselves first. He challenged the assumption that freedom means living without restrictions. Discipline, he argued, actually creates freedom by helping us overcome the desires and habits that would otherwise control us. “It’s a lot harder to love our neighbor if I can’t make my own bed.” His point was that faithfulness in the small responsibilities of life prepares us for greater acts of service. 3. How do we discern when faithfulness requires us to speak and when humility requires us to listen? Father Stephen encouraged us to approach conversations with humility rather than treating them as something to control. “A relationship is not something that we possess. A conversation is not something that we possess. It’s something that we enter into.” We rarely know the full story of the person standing before us. Listening allows us to recognize their humanity before rushing to correct, challenge, or defend our position. Sometimes courage means speaking truth. Other times, it means having the humility to listen first. 4. Who has God used in your life to teach you that mercy is harder when it becomes personal? Father Stephen spoke about the friends and fellow priests who know his weaknesses and imperfections yet continue to love him. Their example reminds him how much mercy he has personally received. “If God and these other people are so good to me, why would I not be good to them?” Mercy becomes easier to extend when we remember how much we’ve needed it ourselves. That doesn’t remove accountability, but it changes the spirit in which we approach others. 5. How does God move us from reluctantly showing mercy to genuinely loving it? Father Stephen distinguished between acting out of duty and developing a genuine desire to serve. Duty isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Marriage, priesthood, military service, and Christian discipleship all involve commitments that require faithfulness even when we don’t feel enthusiastic. But Christian maturity takes us further. Love means willing another person’s good for their sake, without expecting something in return. We may begin by doing what’s right because we know we should. Through spiritual formation, God increasingly changes our desires so that we begin to love what is good. 6. How do you represent Christ to someone suspicious of Christianity or hurt by the Church? Father Stephen’s advice was direct: “Proceed with listening first.” He encouraged us to hear people’s experiences before attempting to correct their conclusions. Acknowledging someone’s pain doesn’t require abandoning biblical truth. It creates an opportunity for honest conversation. He also spoke about welcoming difficult questions rather than treating doubt as something threatening. Our task isn’t simply to win arguments. It’s to represent Christ with truth, gentleness, and genuine concern for the person before us. 7. If someone’s Christianity has become comfortable and disconnected from the needs of others, where should they begin? Father Stephen offered a surprisingly practical challenge: “Do something uncomfortable every day. Do something you do not want to do every day.” He shared a story about repeatedly leaving his clean laundry piled on a recliner rather than folding it. Eventually, he felt convicted about avoiding such a simple responsibility while being entrusted with the much greater responsibility of caring for others. The lesson wasn’t really about laundry. It was about developing the willingness to do what’s necessary, even when it’s inconvenient. If we continually avoid small sacrifices, we’ll struggle when loving our neighbor requires larger ones. Putting Micah 6:8 Into Action One theme ran through our conversation with Father Stephen: discipleship becomes visible through ordinary decisions. Justice requires more than identifying what’s wrong. Mercy requires more than feeling compassion. Humility requires more than thinking modestly about ourselves. They call us to act. And often, those actions begin in the places we already occupy: our homes, workplaces, churches, friendships, and daily responsibilities. As we finish Month 10, consider three questions: Justice: Is there someone I need to help, restore, or treat more fairly? Mercy: Who needs kindness from me, particularly when offering it will cost something? Humility: Where do I need to listen, accept correction, or take responsibility rather than defend myself? Choose one practical act of obedience this week. It doesn’t need to be dramatic. It needs to be faithful. As Father Stephen reminded us, sometimes learning to serve God begins with doing the thing we’ve been avoiding. Closing Prayer Father, thank You for the mercy You’ve shown us through Jesus Christ. Teach us to pursue justice without losing compassion, extend mercy without expecting repayment, and walk humbly without seeking recognition. Give us the discipline to be faithful in small things and the courage to love others when doing so is difficult. May our lives increasingly reflect the character of Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen. I’m glad you’re here. Let’s run the race - Eyes Up, Chin Up! Grace and peace, Sam Johnston Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@EnvoyDiscipleship) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3zHbixG1akUBw9p6RJT4KY?si=b95ef77caf8b4684)| Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/envoydiscipleship/) | Free Christ-Focused Business Course (https://sam-johnston-s-school1.teachable.com/p/building-a-business-with-a-christian-kingdom-mindset?) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christfocused.substack.com (https://christfocused.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Month 10 - Justice & Mercy | Week 2 & 3: Love Mercy. Walk Humbly.

   Month 10 - Justice & Mercy | Week 2 & 3: Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. Learning to offer the mercy we need and surrender the pride that resists it. Anchor Scripture “…to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” - Micah 6:8, ESV (https://www.esv.org/Micah+6/) This week we will be covering: The life grace produces Week 2: Love Mercy When mercy costs us something Remembering what we have received Week 3: Walk Humbly The prayer that stops comparing The Lord who chooses to serve Gentleness without pretending The God who delights in mercy It’s possible to love the idea of mercy without particularly enjoying the practice of it. We appreciate forgiveness when we need it. We’re grateful when someone considers our circumstances, gives us time to change, or refuses to define us by our worst decision. But when another person needs those same things from us, mercy can suddenly seem less reasonable. We remember what they did. We wonder whether they deserve another opportunity. We become concerned that kindness might allow them to escape too easily. Humility presents a similar difficulty. We admire it in other people, especially those with influence or authority. Yet receiving correction, surrendering credit, or admitting that we were wrong can feel considerably less attractive. These questions reach beyond our personalities. They expose what we believe about grace and whether receiving it is changing us. In Week 1, we considered the call to do justice. Across these next two weeks, our attention turns to the next two expressions in Micah’s command: loving mercy and walking humbly with God. The question before us is not simply whether we approve of these qualities. It is whether we’re willing to become people whose relationships, motives, and responses are increasingly shaped by them. The life grace produces Before moving further, remember where Micah’s words belong. In Micah 6:1–8 (https://www.esv.org/Micah+6/), God confronts His people while recalling His faithfulness to them. He brought them out of slavery and preserved them along their journey. The questions that follow propose increasingly extravagant offerings. Verse 8 redirects attention from what someone might bring to God toward the life God has already required. The point is not that an impressive religious contribution can compensate for an unchanged heart. God calls His people to faithful obedience. For Christians, this must never become a message about earning salvation through improved behaviour. Ephesians 2:1–10 (https://www.esv.org/Ephesians+2/) establishes the order: God acts mercifully toward sinners, salvation is His gift rather than our achievement, and those saved in Christ are created for good works. We are not trying to become merciful enough for God to accept us. We are asking what His mercy should produce in people who have received it. Grace removes our grounds for boasting. It does not make our treatment of others unimportant. Week 2: Love Mercy The expression we commonly know as love mercy appears in the ESV as love kindness. The Hebrew noun, hesed (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2617.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com), is used for kindness, mercy, and faithful love. Here, Micah calls God’s people not merely to perform occasional compassionate acts, but to cherish this kind of goodness. That makes the command more searching than it first appears. We can help someone while resenting every minute it takes. We can forgive while ensuring that the other person never forgets how generous we have been. We can meet a practical need while quietly enjoying the difference between their dependence and our apparent strength. Loving mercy asks God to change not only what our hands do, but what our hearts value. This does not mean waiting until we feel compassionate before acting. Sometimes obedience begins with doing the good we recognise while honestly asking God to change our reluctance. The aim, however, is not permanent generosity through gritted teeth. It is a growing willingness to seek another person’s good. Mercy must also be broader than forgiving wrongdoing. People need compassion because they are grieving, lonely, hungry, exhausted, or vulnerable, not only because they have made poor choices. In Deuteronomy 10:17–19 (https://www.esv.org/Deuteronomy+10/), God’s concern for the fatherless, the widow, and the sojourner takes practical form. His people are commanded to reflect His care. Their response is rooted partly in remembering their own experience as strangers in Egypt. Remembering changes how we see people. The person needing help is not simply an interruption. They are someone whose dependence should not be difficult for us to understand. We have needed patience, provision, welcome, and support ourselves. Some of us need those things more urgently than we are willing to admit. When mercy costs us something Jesus takes mercy into the relationships where we are most likely to resist it. In Luke 6:27–36 (https://www.esv.org/Luke+6/), He commands His disciples to love their enemies, act for the good of those who hate them, and pray for those who mistreat them. He challenges a way of loving based entirely on exchange: helping those who help us, loving those who love us, and giving where repayment is expected. The pattern He sets before His disciples is their Father’s kindness, which reaches even the ungrateful and the evil. Their mercy is to reflect His. That brings the teaching into uncomfortable territory. Can I genuinely desire another person’s good when their gratitude is unlikely? Can I pray for someone without turning the prayer into a request that God prove me right? Can I help without making the relationship another opportunity to secure influence or recognition? These questions do not make wisdom unnecessary. They reveal how easily calculation can occupy the place where love should be. We might be willing to help someone who is pleasant, appreciative, and likely to improve quickly. We can struggle more with the person whose needs are repetitive, whose manner is awkward, or whose circumstances do not lend themselves to a satisfying story. There are appropriate limits to what any of us can carry. But we should be honest about the difference between recognising a limit and deciding that someone has become inconvenient. Mercy asks us to notice the person rather than merely evaluate the usefulness of helping them. Remembering what we have received Jesus addresses the relationship between received and withheld mercy sharply in Matthew 18:21–35 (https://www.esv.org/Matthew+18/). A servant owes an enormous debt that he cannot repay. His master releases him from it. The same servant then encounters someone who owes him a much smaller amount and refuses the patience he himself had requested. When the master hears what happened, he condemns the servant’s refusal to extend mercy and hands him over for punishment. Jesus concludes with a serious warning about refusing forgiveness from the heart. The contrast is deliberate. The mercy the servant received should have changed the way he treated someone else. We should not use that comparison to tell a wounded person that what happened to them was insignificant. The point is not that wrongdoing does not matter. It is that God’s mercy cannot be treated as irrelevant to our response. John Chrysostom draws a closely related connection when discussing the Lord’s Prayer. In Homily 19 on Matthew (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200119.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com), section 9 (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200119.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com), he explains that remembering our own sins teaches humility, while the command to forgive others works against the desire for revenge. He sees Jesus teaching people not only how to pray, but how their prayers should reshape their treatment of others. That is worth pausing over. Prayer can become a place where we rehearse someone else’s failures before God. Jesus teaches us to bring our own need for forgiveness into that same room. The question changes. It is no longer only, What do they owe me? It becomes, How should someone who depends upon God’s forgiveness respond? For some of us, the first honest prayer might be an admission that we do not presently want the other person’s good. We want them embarrassed, inconvenienced, or proved wrong. Naming that desire before God is better than dressing it in respectable language. Mercy does not require us to pretend we were not hurt. It calls us away from making another person’s suffering the condition of our satisfaction. Week 3: Walk Humbly Mercy and humility belong together because pride continually finds reasons why other people should receive less patience than we do. We understand our own pressures. We know the history behind our reactions. We recognise the difference between what we intended and what actually happened. But with someone else, we can move quickly from observing a failure to making a settled judgment about who they are. Humility interrupts that certainty. Micah places humility within a relationship with God. The command is not simply to develop a modest personality, but to live before Him with a willingness to be taught and led. Our conduct toward others belongs within that daily dependence. (Micah 6:8 (https://www.esv.org/Micah+6/)) This is not an invitation to pretend that we have no abilities or that every opinion is equally sound. It is a refusal to make ourselves the final authority over our lives. A useful question is not simply, Do I think of myself as humble? It is, What happens when I am corrected? The prayer that stops comparing In Luke 18:9–14 (https://www.esv.org/Luke+18/), Jesus tells a parable to people who rely upon their own righteousness and treat others with contempt. A Pharisee and a tax collector enter the temple to pray. The Pharisee names his religious practices and contrasts himself with other people. The tax collector stands at a distance, acknowledges his sin, and appeals for mercy. Jesus says the tax collector returns home justified rather than the Pharisee. The problem is not that fasting and giving are bad. It is that religious obedience has become evidence in a case for personal superiority. There is an especially uncomfortable detail: the Pharisee begins by thanking God. His self-reliance is expressed in religious language. Mentioning God does not prevent him from using another person’s failure to elevate himself. The tax collector’s prayer offers no such defence: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Luke 18:13, ESV (https://www.esv.org/Luke+18/) That contrast asks us to examine more than our vocabulary. We can speak frequently about grace while remaining difficult to approach. We can value sound teaching while becoming impatient with those who are still learning. We can be grateful for progress in our own lives while forgetting how slowly some of that progress came. Perhaps the revealing moment is not when we speak about humility, but when someone less experienced than us notices something we have missed. Do we listen? Or does their position make the observation unwelcome? Humility does not require us to accept every criticism as accurate. It does require us to consider that a criticism might be accurate before dismissing the person who offered it. The early Christian letter 1 Clement (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com), traditionally attributed to Clement of Rome (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com), makes the relationship between humility and mercy explicit. Chapter 13 urges believers to abandon arrogance and anger, then recalls Jesus’ teaching about mercy, forgiveness, and the measure used toward others. Humility takes shape in obedience to that teaching. That gives us a practical test. It is not enough to speak modestly about ourselves while treating other people harshly. Can we apologise without immediately explaining why the other person should also apologise? Can we recognise someone else’s good work without making sure our contribution is remembered? Can we ask a genuine question without already preparing our rebuttal? Humility is not the disappearance of conviction. It is the willingness to remain teachable while holding it. The Lord who chooses to serve If humility were only a lesson about our sinfulness, we might assume that it belongs chiefly to people with little reason for confidence. Philippians 2:1–11 (https://www.esv.org/Philippians+2/) overturns that assumption. Paul addresses the shared life of the church, calling believers away from selfish ambition and toward concern for one another. He then directs their attention to Christ. The One who possesses divine glory takes the servant’s condition, enters human life, and humbles Himself in obedience even through death on a cross. Paul then describes His exaltation and the universal acknowledgement of His lordship. Christ’s humility is not a confession of unworthiness. It is the willing self-giving of the Lord. John gives this a concrete expression in John 13:1–17 (https://www.esv.org/John+13/). Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, then affirms that they are right to call Him Teacher and Lord. His service does not cancel His authority. It reveals how He exercises it, and He commands His disciples to follow His example. We often approach service as something to do once our importance has been recognised. Jesus makes His lordship the reason His followers cannot regard humble service as beneath them. The question is no longer whether a task matches our status. It is whether love requires our attention. In a household, a church, or a workplace, there are necessary acts of care that offer little visibility. Someone has to notice, listen, clean up, stay behind, or carry a responsibility that will never become an impressive story. Humility allows us to do those things without treating them as an insult. But John’s account also prevents us from reducing Christianity to copying a good example. When Peter resists having his feet washed, Jesus insists that Peter must receive His washing to have a share with Him. Before the disciples are instructed to serve as Jesus serves, they must receive what He does for them. (John 13:6–15 (https://www.esv.org/John+13/)) We need more than instructions about becoming better people. We need Christ Himself. In 1 Clement (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com), chapter 16 (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com), the letter similarly directs believers toward Christ’s humility, drawing upon Isaiah’s account of the suffering servant. Its challenge is clear: those who have received the grace of the humbled Lord cannot justify exalting themselves over His people. And the cross is more than a moving illustration of selflessness. Romans 3:21–26 (https://www.esv.org/Romans+3/) places our acceptance with God in the redemption accomplished through Jesus. God deals with sin through Christ’s blood and demonstrates His righteousness in justifying those who have faith in Him. We serve others as people who have first been served and saved by Christ. Gentleness without pretending When mercy and humility come together, they change how we approach another person’s failure. Galatians 6:1–5 (https://www.esv.org/Galatians+6/) calls believers to pursue restoration with gentleness when someone is caught in sin. Those helping are warned to watch themselves because they too can be tempted. Paul also tells believers to carry one another’s burdens and examine their own conduct. The wrongdoing is named. Restoration is pursued. The person helping is not permitted to imagine that they stand beyond temptation. That is different from either avoiding the problem or enjoying the opportunity to condemn someone. It also leaves room for accountability. Matthew 18 contains both instructions for addressing sin and a warning against withholding forgiveness. Romans 12 rejects personal vengeance while recognising that living peacefully does not depend entirely upon one person’s actions. (Matthew 18:15–35 (https://www.esv.org/Matthew+18/); Romans 12:17–21 (https://www.esv.org/Romans+12/)) Practically, mercy must never become a reason to pressure someone into remaining in danger, concealing abuse, or immediately restoring trust, access, or authority. Forgiveness, reconciliation, and restored trust are related, but they are not interchangeable. Nor does admitting that everyone needs grace mean that everyone bears equal responsibility in a particular situation. Humility requires truth, not the erasure of meaningful distinctions. Seeking someone’s good can include confronting their conduct and protecting those they might harm. What mercy and humility resist is the desire to humiliate, retaliate, or use someone else’s failure as reassurance about ourselves. The God who delights in mercy We could end here with a demanding list of things to improve. Be more forgiving. Be less defensive. Serve more quietly. Stop comparing yourself with others. But Micah does not leave us looking only at ourselves. The book’s final verses celebrate God’s pardon, compassion, and faithfulness to His promises. His mercy is not presented as a reluctant concession. He delights in faithful love toward His people. (Micah 7:18–20 (https://www.esv.org/Micah+7/)) There is a connection here that is easy to miss in English. The Hebrew noun translated kindness in Micah 6:8 (https://biblehub.com/interlinear/micah/6-8.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com) is the same noun translated steadfast love in Micah 7:18 (https://biblehub.com/interlinear/micah/7-18.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com). The quality God commands His people to love is the quality in which He Himself delights. We are being called to reflect the God we belong to. This does not erase Micah’s warnings. Earlier in chapter 7, sin is acknowledged and the Lord’s indignation is accepted. The closing hope is therefore not based on denying guilt. It rests upon God’s compassion, His removal of sin, and His faithfulness to His promises. (Micah 7:7–20 (https://www.esv.org/Micah+7/)) That gives us a different place from which to face our failures. Perhaps this study has exposed someone you have been treating with contempt. Perhaps you recognise that your service has become entangled with a hunger for recognition. Perhaps you have used the language of truth to excuse harshness, or the language of mercy to avoid a conversation that love requires. The answer is not to hide those discoveries beneath another layer of religious effort. Bring them honestly to God. Confession is an opportunity to stop defending what needs to change and entrust ourselves again to the mercy offered in Christ. Nor are we left to manufacture transformation alone. After describing Christ’s humility, Paul reminds the Philippians that God is at work within them, shaping both their willing and their doing. Christian obedience involves real effort, but it is not independent self-improvement. (Philippians 2:12–13 (https://www.esv.org/Philippians+2/)) So begin with the actual life in front of you. Not the imagined situation in which you would surely be courageous, compassionate, and humble. Begin with the conversation you keep postponing, the person you find irritating, the correction you are resisting, or the ordinary need you have learned not to notice. Ask what faithfulness looks like there. Perhaps it means speaking firmly without trying to wound. Perhaps it means accepting an apology without keeping the offence available for future arguments. Perhaps it means helping someone whose gratitude you cannot secure. Perhaps it means saying that you were wrong and allowing the sentence to end there. These acts will not earn God’s mercy. They can become expressions of a life being changed by it. We learn to love mercy by returning to the mercy of God. We learn to walk humbly by remembering whose grace sustains us. A personal examination Where have I welcomed mercy for myself while resisting it for someone else? Consider a particular relationship rather than answering in general terms. What would seeking that person’s genuine good require, while remaining truthful about what has happened? What does my response to correction reveal? Think about the last time someone challenged you, overlooked you, or received recognition you wanted. What were you protecting? What would humble dependence upon God have looked like? Where am I avoiding ordinary obedience? Is there an apology, an honest conversation, a practical need, or a hidden pattern of behaviour that deserves attention? What is the next faithful step, rather than the most impressive one? Two weeks of practice Week 2: Offer mercy deliberately Choose one person whose need you can meet in a practical and appropriate way. Offer a meal, a visit, patient attention, help with a difficult task, or another concrete act of kindness. Let their genuine need, rather than your desire to feel useful, guide your response. Ask rather than assume what would help. Alongside this, bring one strained relationship before God each day. Ask Him to free you from contempt and show you what truthful love requires. This may involve action, a necessary boundary, or a change in how you speak about the person when they are absent. Week 3: Practise teachability Ask a trusted person one honest question: “Where do you experience me as defensive, unteachable, or difficult to approach?” Listen without immediately explaining yourself. Consider what they say carefully and prayerfully, then identify one change to make. Also choose an ordinary act of service that does not need to be announced. Let it be useful without making it evidence of your importance. When you meet with others, share what these practices exposed and what you learned. The purpose is not to present a successful version of yourself. It is to help one another follow Jesus more faithfully. Watch, Listen and Read These resources offer three ways to continue exploring mercy and humility. Take your time with them, keeping your Bible open and allowing what you learn to become part of your prayer and practice. Watch BibleProject: Khesed / Loyal Love5 minutes, 11 seconds This short word-study video explores the Hebrew word khesed, also transliterated hesed, and its connections with love, loyalty, and generosity. It provides a helpful companion to our study of the relationship between the kindness God commands in Micah 6 and the faithful love He delights in at the end of the book. As you watch, consider: Where have I reduced mercy to a passing feeling rather than a willingness to remain faithful in seeking someone’s good? Watch Khesed / Loyal Love on BibleProject (https://bibleproject.com/videos/loyal-love/) Listen Tim Keller: Blessed Self-Forgetfulness40 minutes, 26 seconds | 1 Corinthians 3:21–4:7 In this sermon, Keller explores the human ego and the transformed sense of identity that the gospel makes possible. His treatment of humility offers a useful companion to our examination of comparison, defensiveness, recognition, and the need to establish our own importance. As you listen, consider: How might my response to praise or criticism change if I stopped treating either as the final verdict on who I am? Listen to Blessed Self-Forgetfulness on Gospel in Life (https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/blessed-self-forgetfulness/) Read 1 Clement: Chapters 13–16 Read these four short chapters, beginning with “An Exhortation to Humility” and ending with “Christ as an Example of Humility.” They connect mercy, forgiveness, sincere peacemaking, and Christ’s humility. The translation uses older English, so read slowly. Consider: What would change in our relationships if we took Christ’s humility as seriously as we take His authority? Read 1 Clement, chapters 13–16, on New Advent (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com) Next Dispatch: Micah 6:8 in Action In Week 4, we’ll bring the month’s themes together. We’ll consider situations where something wrong needs to be addressed, another person needs compassion, and our own motives need correction. What does faithfulness look like when all three demands arise in the same relationship or decision? These two weeks give us space to examine our responses to others and our dependence upon God. The next step is learning to practise justice, mercy, and humility together, especially when doing so is costly or complicated. Closing prayer Father, You know the difference between the mercy we admire and the mercy we are willing to show. You see the pride beneath our defensiveness and the motives we can hide even from ourselves. Thank You that we do not have to conceal these things from You. Forgive us for receiving Your kindness while withholding kindness from others. Forgive us for using knowledge, service, or obedience to establish our superiority. Where we have caused harm, give us courage to acknowledge it and make appropriate amends. Teach us to love without pretending that wrongdoing does not matter. Give us wisdom to protect the vulnerable, gentleness when correction is needed, and freedom from the desire for revenge. Help us to receive correction without despair and to serve without demanding recognition. By Your Spirit, turn our attention from defending ourselves toward trusting You and seeking the good of others. Keep bringing us back to Jesus, who served us before we could serve Him, and whose grace we need in every part of our lives. Teach us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with You. In Jesus’ name, amen. I’m glad you’re here. Let’s run the race - Eyes Up, Chin Up! Grace and peace, Sam Johnston Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@EnvoyDiscipleship) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3zHbixG1akUBw9p6RJT4KY?si=b95ef77caf8b4684)| Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/envoydiscipleship/) | Free Christ-Focused Business Course (https://sam-johnston-s-school1.teachable.com/p/building-a-business-with-a-christian-kingdom-mindset?) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christfocused.substack.com (https://christfocused.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   18 Sept 2026

   Rally Call M10 | W3 - Guest Speaker: ALONE S11 Finalist Timber Cleghorn

   Rally Call M10 | W3 - Guest Speaker: ALONE S11 finalist Timber Cleghorn Christ in the Wilderness: A Conversation with Timber Cleghorn ENVOY Rally Point | RiverLife Fellowship Anchor Scripture “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”- Micah 6:8, ESV (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah%206%3A8&version=ESV) We’re now in Month 10 of ENVOY’s 12-month discipleship journey at RiverLife Fellowship. Over the course of this year, we’ve been asking what it looks like not simply to know the teachings of Jesus, but to actually live them, at home, at work, in our relationships, and particularly when life becomes difficult. Our current month has taken us into Micah 6:8 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah%206%3A8&version=ESV) and the call to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. Alongside those studies, this Rally Point gave us an opportunity to explore another theme that every disciple eventually has to confront: resilience and steadfastness in those matters. For this ENVOY Rally Call, I was joined by Timber Cleghorn from Season 11 of Alone for an honest conversation about following Jesus through grief, isolation, uncertainty, and the pressure to prove ourselves. Timber grew up off-grid in southern Indiana and went on to train in linguistics and work overseas in humanitarian settings. His experience includes serving in remote communities and conflict zones, alongside his life as a husband, father, and wilderness survival teacher. But it was his willingness to speak openly about Jesus, including the difficult parts of believing, that made this conversation particularly valuable. Our Guest: Timber Gelghorn History Channel - LINK (https://www.history.com/shows/alone/cast/timber-cleghorn) Instagram Channel - LINK (https://www.instagram.com/timbercleghorn/reels/) Website - LINK (https://www.timbercleghorn.com/) YouTube Channel - LINK (https://youtu.be/zLBJrlxs7tc?si=4eDd9p2wwLTPgSX0) Book - LINK (https://www.timbercleghorn.com/memoir-of-a-wildman) This session brings us particularly to walking humbly with God. Timber’s story challenges us to consider whether our confidence rests in belonging to Christ or in our ability to produce the outcomes we want. We prepared seven questions from the group. The conversation moved naturally between them, so the summary below gathers the relevant insights under each question. Where a question wasn’t addressed separately, I’ve made that clear. 1. What did your relationship with Christ look like when everything familiar had been stripped away? Did the isolation deepen your faith, expose weaknesses, or change your understanding of dependence on God? Timber’s answer began before Alone. He explained that the stripping away had already started through personal bereavement and humanitarian work in war zones. His younger brother had died in an accident, and he had encountered devastating loss while trying to help people in Afghanistan and Ukraine. He entered the Arctic carrying grief, confusion, and questions about prayers that hadn’t been answered as he had hoped. He still believed in God, but he was wrestling with what that belief meant amid everything he had witnessed. The wilderness initially offered no immediate escape from that internal turmoil. For the first two or three weeks, he carried the same unrest with him. Gradually, however, the external quiet became something deeper: “There began to be silence in my soul.” Timber described a renewed conviction that God saw him, was with him, and cared about what happened to him. He wasn’t describing an audible voice, but a deeply personal awareness of God’s presence. Takeaway: A change of surroundings doesn’t automatically resolve what we carry inside. Make room to bring your actual condition before God, including the questions that remain unresolved. 2. Did the experience test your conviction that “God is enough”? What happens to that conviction when comfort, food, community, and control are removed? This question ran through the whole conversation rather than receiving one separate answer. Timber described entering the experience determined to keep praying and seeking God without insisting on a particular result. He was candid that this posture initially included emotional exhaustion and confusion. It wasn’t a polished account of effortless surrender. Over time, his emphasis became clearer: God’s presence mattered more than securing the outcome he wanted. He could ask for food, protection, or success without treating those things as a test God had to pass. Later, he made the distinction concrete. Receiving a moose after praying did not mean he could expect God to provide a moose every time he asked. One answered prayer was something to receive with gratitude, not a formula for controlling the future. Takeaway: Pray specifically and honestly, while resisting the temptation to make your trust in God conditional on one particular answer. 3. Were there moments when Scripture or prayer became especially real? Was there a passage, truth, or prayer you kept returning to? Timber recalled day 17, when he was exhausted from processing and preserving the moose. Persistent rain made the work difficult, and he was afraid that the meat would spoil. Alongside the practical pressure was the fear of wasting the animal and being judged publicly for it. Then he remembered a friend’s advice before he left: while working hard to feed his body, he must also remember to feed his spirit. He sat down and began reciting Psalm 27 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2027&version=ESV), starting with its declaration that the Lord is his light, salvation, and strength. For Timber, Scripture became nourishment he needed in that moment. He described receiving strength to continue, and Psalm 27 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2027&version=ESV) remained central to his experience. His account also brought us back to ENVOY’s earlier teaching on daily bread. We need the Word within reach of our memory and attention, especially when pressure makes it difficult to think clearly. Takeaway: Spend time with Psalm 27 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2027&version=ESV) this week. Read it slowly, pray through it, and begin committing a portion to memory. 4. How did you process suffering with God? What did exhaustion, disappointment, and uncertainty teach you about biblical perseverance rather than simply “being tough”? Timber spoke movingly about the effect of witnessing suffering he could not prevent. He described how those experiences had unsettled his confidence that God was close and attentive to the details of human life. In the Arctic, that confidence began to return. Cold, exhaustion, and isolation remained real, but he experienced them differently as his awareness of God’s presence deepened. He described moments when hardship and genuine joy existed together because he believed God understood and was beside him. We also discussed the importance of bringing anguish to God. Scripture gives us language for lament, protest, and questions. We don’t have to disguise pain before approaching Him. The conversation returned to the cross as evidence that God takes evil and suffering seriously. Jesus entered human suffering; our pain is not foreign to Him. Takeaway: Perseverance can include tears, questions, and lament. Bring those things into prayer instead of assuming you must first become strong enough to speak to God. 5. What did the wilderness reveal about your identity? As a husband, father, provider, competitor, and, first and foremost, someone who belongs to Christ? This became one of the most significant parts of the conversation. Timber recognised that he had entered the competition carrying a need to recover his sense of worth after experiences he regarded as failures. Winning offered the possibility of proving that he was capable, strong, and successful. Looking back, he could name what was happening: “I was trying to find my identity in my victories.” He then described an early morning beside a mist-covered meadow and lake. A moose moved through the scene, and for once he could neither pursue it nor film it. He simply watched. In that stillness, he experienced a conviction that the animal did not have to achieve something extraordinary to possess value as God’s creation. He began applying that truth to himself. His limitations, losses, and inability to rescue everyone did not erase the fact that God had made him with intention. Timber connected this change with his eventual decision to leave the competition. Proving himself through victory no longer held the same power over him. He was equally clear that this remains a daily choice. He still has to resist defining himself through achievement and return to doing his best from a place of belonging. Takeaway: Take your responsibilities seriously, but don’t ask success to establish your worth. Ask where achievement has become something you need in order to feel that you matter. 6. What did extreme isolation teach you about other people and Christian community? This question wasn’t addressed separately in the recording, so there isn’t a distinct answer from Timber to reproduce here. However, relationships remained present throughout his account. A friend’s counsel helped him remember to nourish his spirit. His family featured in his reflections on grief, hope, and purpose. He spoke appreciatively of the opportunity to encourage other believers and closed by praying that we would encourage one another in walking with Jesus. For our discipleship, these moments offer a useful reflection: even an experience of profound solitude can be sustained by words, love, and truth received through other people. Making room for quiet before God and receiving support from Christian community can belong together. Takeaway: Consider whose encouragement has helped sustain your faith. Thank them, and make room for an honest conversation with someone who can walk alongside you now. 7. How do we remain faithful when hardship doesn’t quickly go away? What would you say to someone facing unemployment, grief, family pressure, financial strain, temptation, or a prolonged difficult season? Timber returned to “Even If” by MercyMe, a song he had listened to repeatedly before entering Alone. His central encouragement was to continue trusting and honouring God without treating faith as a guarantee of immediate rescue. He spoke about mercy, resurrection, life, and the goodness revealed in Jesus as reasons to remain faithful when individual circumstances remained unresolved. That brought our conversation to Daniel 3:16–18 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%203%3A16%E2%80%9318&version=ESV). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew God could deliver them from the furnace, but their refusal to worship the king’s image did not depend on being rescued. Timber also shared a tender memory of helping his young son process the death of his brother. They encountered Jesus’ words in John 11:25–26 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2011%3A25%E2%80%9326&version=ESV) about resurrection and life. His son recognised the hope in them and responded: “Daddy, those are such good words.” That simple response stayed with Timber. The hope Jesus offers had become precious within real grief, even while many questions remained unanswered. Takeaway: You can ask God to change your circumstances while continuing to trust His character. When your own words are difficult to find, return to Scripture, prayer, and worship that help you express that trust. Carry one thing into the week At the end of our conversation, I encouraged everyone to bring one thing from the session into their prayer life. Perhaps it’s disappointment you’ve been reluctant to admit, a need to prove yourself, or a longing to recover quiet with God. Perhaps it’s simply this question: “Father, where do I need to depend on You more honestly?” Choose a practical response. Read Psalm 27 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2027&version=ESV). Set aside a few minutes without your phone. Speak to someone in the church. Bring a particular fear or unanswered prayer before God without trying to tidy it up first. Timber closed by praying that we would see the value of walking hand in hand with our Creator and seek Him wholeheartedly. That is a fitting invitation for this week: to continue walking with Christ, even where the path remains difficult. My thanks to Timber for his generosity, honesty, and willingness to invest in our discipleship community. I hope you’ll make time to watch the full conversation and allow something from it to shape your week. SNEAK PEEK | MONTH 10, WEEK 2 - LOVE MERCY Anchor Scripture: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” - Luke 6:36 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206%3A36&version=ESV) Next week, we’ll continue our Month 10 study by looking at what it means to love mercy. We’ll explore mercy as part of God’s character, how Jesus embodies it, and why Christian mercy is never weakness, compromise or the avoidance of truth. The question is simple: Do we only value mercy when we receive it, or have we become people who love to give it? I’m glad you’re here. Let’s run the race - Eyes Up, Chin Up! Grace and peace, Sam Johnston Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@EnvoyDiscipleship) | Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/3zHbixG1akUBw9p6RJT4KY?si=b95ef77caf8b4684)| Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/envoydiscipleship/) | Free Christ-Focused Business Course (https://sam-johnston-s-school1.teachable.com/p/building-a-business-with-a-christian-kingdom-mindset?) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christfocused.substack.com (https://christfocused.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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