I Know a Guy Podcast

You’ve probably prayed these words hundreds of times:  “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.”

But have you ever stopped to think about what you’re actually saying?

Because if I’m praying for His Kingdom to come…

I’m also surrendering mine.

• My plans.
• My timetable.
• My expectations.
• Even the outcome I desperately want.

And sometimes what I call surrender is really just me han...

What get the final word in your life?  Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters."

And while He was talking specifically about God and money, money isn’t the only thing competing for the throne.

• Success. 
• Approval.
• Comfort.
• Control.
• Reputation.
• Even being right.

Sometimes the easiest way to discover what we’re really serving is to ask:  What am I most afraid of losing?

Because whatever I absol...

What if Christianity is bigger than “believe in Jesus now so you can go to heaven later”?

When Jesus began His ministry, He announced something much bigger:  “The Kingdom of God has come near.”

A Kingdom means there's a King.

And following a King means eventually we have to answer a difficult question: Who actually gets the final word in my life?

We're starting a brand-new series on I Know a Guy called ...

Caleb waited forty-five years.

And at eighty-five years old, he stood in front of Joshua and said:

“Give me this hill country.”

The giants were still there.

But they no longer got to decide who Caleb was.

On today’s episode of I Know a Guy, we’re bringing home the What Are You Waiting For? series.

You’ve survived.

You’ve learned.

You’ve healed.

You know who you are.

Now the question is:

Are...

God said Caleb had: “A different spirit.”  Not because he saw different circumstances.

He saw the same giants everyone else saw.  The difference was what he believed about God.

On today’s episode of I Know a Guy, we’re continuing our series, What Are You Waiting For? with Episode 6: A Different Spirit.

Because biblical confidence isn’t: “I’ve got this.”

It’s: “My...

Why did Israel want to go back to Egypt?

Not because slavery was good.

Because slavery was familiar.

On today’s episode of I Know a Guy, we’re continuing What Are You Waiting For? with Episode 5: Egypt Wasn’t Better. It Was Familiar.

Because familiar pain can feel safer than unfamiliar freedom.

The unhealthy pattern.

The old coping strategy.

The role you’ve played for years.

You may hate what it costs you&he...

Ten men said no.  Two men said yes.  And the crowd believed the ten.

On today’s episode of I Know a Guy, we’re continuing our series,  What Are You Waiting For? with Episode 4: Ten Voices Can Still Be Wrong.

Because fear gets incredibly persuasive when enough people agree with it.

And sometimes the life everybody calls normal is the very life keeping you anxious, exhausted, disconnected and afraid.

The ma...

The ten spies said:  “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes.”

Not in the giants' eyes.  Their own.

And that may be one of the most revealing sentences in the entire story.

On today's episode of I Know a Guy, we're continuing our series, What Are You Waiting For? with Episode 3: Grasshoppers.

Because sometimes the biggest thing keeping you from freedom isn't the giant in front of you.

It's the identity yo...

The ten spies weren't lying.  The giants were real.  The cities were fortified.  The danger existed.

But Joshua and Caleb saw the exact same circumstances and came to a completely different conclusion.

On today's episode of I Know a Guy, we're continuing our series,  "What Are You Waiting For?" with Episode 2: "Same Giants. Different Story."

Because fear doesn't always invent the facts.

Sometimes fear simply int...

You can leave Egypt and still live like a slave.

You can survive the wound, the crisis, the relationship, the childhood, the failure—and still carry the survival strategies with you for years.

On today's episode of I Know a Guy, we're beginning a new series called What Are You Waiting For?

We're walking with Joshua and Caleb into the story of the twelve spies and asking one simple question:

Are you actually free?

Because the ...

You can survive a dysfunctional pattern for a very long time.

You can stay angry.  Stay distant.  Stay in control.  Keep performing.  Keep escaping.  And eventually tell yourself:  “This is just my life.”

But is it?

On today’s I Know a Guy, we finish the series You Don’t Have to Survive Anymore with one question:  Are you really willing to spend the rest of your life accept...

I was 55 years old when I finally admitted that my way wasn’t working.

Pornography.  Inappropriate online relationships.  Secrets.  Escape.

My survival responses weren’t healing anything. They were just delaying the pain — and creating more of it.

On today’s I Know a Guy, Part 4 of You Don’t Have to Survive Anymore gets personal.

I’m telling you why I eventually went to rehab &mdas...

You can explain your survival response.

You can understand where it came from.

You can even justify why it made sense.

But eventually there’s a harder question:

What is it costing you?

On today’s I Know a Guy, Part 3 of You Don’t Have to Survive Anymore is called Look at the Collateral Damage.

We’re talking about what happens when the thing that once protected you starts hurting your marriage, your kids, you...

What if one of the strongest forces shaping your life is a decision you don’t even remember making?

“I’ll never be weak.”

“I’ll never trust anyone.”

“I’ll prove them wrong.”

“I’ll stay in control.”

On today’s I Know a Guy, Part 2 of You Don’t Have to Survive Anymore is called The Vow You Forgot You Made.

We’re talking about how quiet vow...

What if the behavior causing problems in your marriage, your work, or your relationships isn’t actually the real problem?

It may be a survival response — something you learned years ago to protect your heart.

On today’s I Know a Guy, we begin a new series called You Don’t Have to Survive Anymore with Part 1: What Kept You Alive Is Killing You.

We’re talking about what happens when the strategy that pro...

What if letting go of expectations doesn't mean you stop wanting things?

You can desire a great marriage.

Hope your kids make wise decisions.

Pray for healing.

Long for reconciliation.

Want to be remembered.

The problem begins when the outcome becomes responsible for your peace.

In the final episode of our Expectations series on I Know a Guy, we're talking about learning to desire deeply while surrendering the outcome.

You can hope...

When we talk about letting go of expectations, some guys hear:

So I'm just supposed to let people treat me however they want?

No.  Acceptance is not approval.

In Episode 6 of our Expectations series on I Know a Guy, we're talking about grace, boundaries, forgiveness and learning to see people as they actually are.

You can love someone without trusting everything they do.

You can forgive without pretending nothing happened.

And...

What happens when somebody forgets you?

Doesn't call?  Leaves you out?  Doesn't acknowledge something important?

The hurt may be real. But then comes the dangerous part:

What are you making it mean about you?

In Episode 5 of our Expectations series on I Know a Guy, I share a personal story about birthdays, being forgotten, and learning the difference between lowering expectations and actually healing them.

Because knowing...

Something happens -  and before you know it, you're angry, defensive, shutting down or firing back.

But what if your first question wasn't: What's wrong with them?

What if it was: Father, what's going on in me?

In Episode 4 of our "Expectations" series on I Know a Guy, we're talking about the space between a trigger and a reaction — and how learning to pause can reveal the expectation, wound or fear underneath the emotio...