This podcast episode explores the theme of servant leadership, emphasizing that true greatness in the kingdom of God is found in serving others rather than seeking personal exaltation. Dr. David Spoon delves into the biblical account of James and John's request for positions of honor, highlighting the ensuing indignation among the other disciples. He discusses how Jesus responds by teaching that leadership should be characterized by servitude, contrasting it with the worldly view of authority as dominion over others. The episode encourages listeners to reflect on their own prayer practices and the moments when they feel closest to God, prompting a deeper conversation about connecting with the divine. Throughout, Dr. Spoon invites listeners to engage with their faith actively, sharing praises, prayer requests, and insights that foster a supportive community.

Takeaways:

• Prayer time is an intimate moment to connect with God, reflecting on when you feel closest.
• Jesus teaches that true leadership in the kingdom of God is rooted in servitude, not authority.
• The disciples' indignation towards James and John's request highlights common human jealousy and competition.
• In prayer, the connection can happen at different times, whether in praise, confession, or worship.
• Dr. Spoon emphasizes the importance of being a servant to others, reflecting Christ's own service.
• The episode encourages listeners to evaluate their interactions and perceptions of others through a lens of grace.

Dr. David Spoon takes listeners on a reflective journey into the heart of prayer and its significance in fostering a connection with God. He emphasizes the importance of identifying the moments in prayer that resonate most deeply, challenging listeners to think critically about their spiritual practices. By asking questions about the nature of their interactions with God—whether during moments of gratitude, confession, or worship—Spoon encourages a deeper exploration of the spiritual life. He posits that prayer is not just a routine but an opportunity for personal transformation and connection.

In addition to dissecting prayer, Dr. Spoon shifts the conversation towards the concept of leadership within the Christian faith, contrasting it with secular leadership models. He articulates the idea that true leadership in Christianity is rooted in servitude, a principle exemplified by Jesus. This segment serves as a call to action for listeners, urging them to embody servant leadership in their communities. By reflecting on biblical teachings, he challenges the audience to reevaluate their roles and responsibilities, fostering a spirit of servanthood that transcends mere authority.

The views expressed on the following program are designed to amplify those of the speaker and are not necessarily those of kam, DJRD Broadcasting or its sponsors.

Hello, everybody.

I've got Sunshine on a cloudy day when it's cold outside I've got.

Here's what's coming up on today's experience.

It's Dr.

Dave's devotional Diamonds of the Day, also known as DD DDD is where my daily devotions become some of our spiritual reflections.

Sound effects placed throughout the show, which have nothing to do with life.

But the Bible teaches there's a time to laugh.

The review of the goofy news which proves Jesus is coming back sooner than you think.

And that's good news.

Life lessons for our faith that we could actually use probably won't if we sit on our blessed assurance.

Humor that will force you to think, why does this guy have a radio show?

Because God said I could.

That's why.

Ha.

Also Bible trivia for fake and yet somehow real cool prizes, your phone calls and more.

Living this life, not always easy running in.

Welcome to the Davidson Experience, local, national and heavenly talk.

My name is Dr.

David Spoon and I'll be your host for the next 5,400,000 milliseconds.

Get ready for one of the more bizarre experiences on live radio.

Here is the key to the show.

We don't know what we're doing.

We have no idea what's gonna happen and we don't care.

But for the next few minutes, I wanna talk hope with you.

So here we go.

We're asking questions about living life.

As a Christian, I find this question challenging for me, and I hope it will be challenging for you during your prayer time.

During the time you talk to the Lord, is there something in there that draws you closer?

In other words, is it the beginning of your prayer time when you're being thankful?

Is it when you're unloading your heart?

Is when you're sharing different things that are on your mind?

Is it at points where you're asking for forgiveness, for provision?

Is it the worship?

Is it the close?

What part of your prayer time really connects you to the Lord?

Beginning, middle, end, anything in between, where do you connect?

Where is it the best?

Like, sometimes for me, it's the best in the opening when I'm praising and giving thanks.

Because everybody knows the laundry list, right?

Yeah.

But sometimes it's at that moment where I confess and just drop everything before him and just say, I need help, that there's that great sense of redemption and forgiveness.

So I'm just Asking you what do you connect with in the certain parts of your prayer time?

What just really draws you in?

That's the question.

If you have a response to that or if you have an opinion, a comment, a thought or a question, really, you don't have to let it die of loneliness.

You just gotta reach out and give us a call on number here.

Talking to Jim and Jacob is like talking to a person that you can count on.

Oh, that's so nice.

Oh, Happy Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday to you, my friend.

We'll do Jake's take in the other 60 minutes.

There's not a lot to talk about there.

I did not stop start a fire though.

I should have.

Bottom line though is we want everybody to keep Jacob in prayer because there's two things going on.

One, he helped me finish the rough recording today, 50 days after starting.

It's only just so you can know.

The last time it took us 145 days.

This was 50 days.

We beat that record by almost 100 days.

The rough draft.

Faith that pleases God all in my voice because you guys are glutton for punishment.

We're finished today because of Jacob.

And then also he might have jury duty on Monday.

He'd like a little prayer of deliverance for that.

Not that he doesn't want to serve, but he likes being participant and serving the people in the audience.

So you can be in prayer for him for that.

So thank you, by the way, for helping me finish the book so swiftly.

You're welcome.

And yes, it's not that I despise going, but it would be much easier if I didn't have to go.

And it was just a normal Monday here at the station.

That sounds beautiful.

We'll be praying for your well being in that process and that the Lord's perfect will be done.

Here it is in a nutshell.

You can reach out to us by telephone.

Telephone, really?

Does it work?

It does.

You can also text.

I just want to point that out to you.

Text.

Not Texas as in Texas as in the state.

It's not overly complex.

That's the number for the ministry, but during the show it's text only.

After the show you're welcome to call that number for reaching out to the ministry.

Or you can email and that's fun too because emails are cool.

You are welcome to email us.

David.

That's my name.

D A V I D at A with a circle around it.

He must increase from John 3:30.

He must increase.

I must decrease.org because we're a non profit corporation.

So you can call us, you can text us, you can email us.

Why would you do that?

Simple.

You might want to share a praise report.

Did the Lord get you through something?

I'm giving you a praise report right now.

We finished the rough draft on the book the Faith that Pleases God, which is done in my voice.

So it's not an AI.

It's got all the right influctuations which makes it a lot better according to certain people like my children and my wife.

And therefore I praise the Lord that that project is done.

I prayed about being able to get it done.

I'll tell you something that happened.

I had no idea what the last little bit was because I don't actually pre read when we were doing these recordings.

But it turns out that the major portion in the last chapter was the exact same thing that was in my devotionals this morning.

Didn't know.

Nice surprise.

I love stuff like that.

So that's kind of a cool thing because you can share those kind of things.

Maybe you got a prayer request.

You have some prayer we prayed for.

So Shel's wife Lisa, she is having surgery.

I don't know if it's over yet, but we do want to pray a brief prayer for her because she's having surgery in her feet.

Let's just pray real quickly for them.

But that's another reason you would reach out to us is prayer.

Let me pray for Shel's wife Lisa.

Let's pray.

Father, we come before you right now.

We thank you for Shel, we thank you for his wife and we just pray very simplistically that the surgery.

Complete success, Lord.

Super easy.

Complete success.

No issues.

Watch over Shel and watch over these and let them have a great report that comes out of that.

We ask you to bless them as a couple, as a family, in Jesus name.

Amen and amen.

So you can also reach out to us for prayer.

We love doing that.

Additionally, by the way, you can just share something the Lord has shown you.

Maybe the Lord has really shown you something in scripture and you're like, you know what?

I came across this.

This really helps me, and I'm really getting a hand on it.

Cool.

We love that.

Maybe you even have an answer to my original question starting the show.

When you're in prayer time, is there a time in that prayer time that you really connect?

You just really like, wham.

Is it when you're worshiping?

Is it when you're saying thank you?

Is it when you're asking for needs?

Is it when you're praying for other people?

And I've had that happen a couple of times where I'm praying for other people and this rush of faith just overwhelms me.

And I love when that happens, and I believe that's how God designed it.

When we're praying for one another, enjoying in one another's struggles, I love all of that stuff.

You got that to share?

You're welcome to do that.

It can be anything that's on your heart and mind.

We're not against politics.

We're just for trying to help people draw closer to the Lord step by step, if that makes sense.

All right, so for those that do not know, by the way, we are in, in fact, the book of Matthew.

We're in Matthew chapter 20, and we're in verse 24.

And I'm going to give you a thought nugget.

That's right.

I'm calling it a thought nugget that you might not have considered in the past.

As we get into this Matthew chapter 20, we're actually going to pick it up at 24.

It says this, and this is right after last week we talked about James and John and their mother were making an approach for the kids to have a secured position and what was up and coming for the ministry that they were all going to enter into in eternity.

And so mom was trying to secure them a good position.

Good mom would do that, by the way.

I'm just saying I don't have any problem with that.

She's trying to secure their future.

She's not spending her moment with Jesus on herself.

She's selfless, unlike certain people who had a daughter who danced for somebody.

She is trying to get them in the best place.

They don't really know what they're going into or what they're talking about, but she was trying to do it.

They were with her in it.

They also said, we can do it.

We're picking it up right after that.

Wow.

Right after that.

And this is what verse 24 says.

Of Matthew 24.

When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant.

Verse 25.

But Jesus called them together and said, you know that in this world, kings are tyrants and officials lord it over the people beneath them.

Verse 26.

But among you, it should be quite different.

For whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.

Okay, I want to jump into this thought nugget at this point.

The mount of Transfiguration took place four, three chapters ago.

Who was on the Mount of Transfiguration?

We've done this trivia question about 50 times.

It was Jesus, Elijah, Moses, and who?

Peter, James, and John.

So here James and John are positioning to have a really good position with Jesus to sit at his right hand and his left.

And it says the other disciples were indignant.

When they heard what they were doing, what James and John were doing, they became indignant.

I want you to stop for a second, because most people won't think this thought nugget through.

Most of the engagements that have taken place with Jesus.

And the disciples would have the 12.

If it didn't have the 12, then it would have Peter, James, and John.

If it didn't have Peter, James, and John, some of them would include John himself.

But James and John pushing for position.

Just for a moment, take a second, be a human.

Think about what Peter might have been thinking.

After all, just a few chapters earlier, it was Peter who said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, right?

Peter was a very strong member of the Peter, James, and John troop.

And while all the other disciples were probably irritated, I suspect not scripturally, I suspect that Peter might have had a larger argument about being indignant than the rest of them, since he was already one of the key components in everything that was going on.

So we pick up the story in Matthew chapter 20, starting with verse 24, where they just had this request for James and John and the mother, and they're trying to get.

Trying to get him a little boost in the afterlife.

Now, disciples hear about it, and they're not too happy with what we call the Bash Brothers.

That's right.

We call them the Bash Brothers.

It should be noted that this is a specific point where division begins to creep in, doesn't it?

You got the two looking for position, right?

And you've got the rest of them going, that's not cool.

And now we have a division that's coming about, because now you've got the 10 against the two.

And what was it based on?

Was it Based on that, James and John had more knowledge.

Was it based on James and John being better at arguments?

Was it based on any of that?

No, it was based on personal exaltation.

That's what it was based on.

The indignant that the disciples had and held is because these guys were trying to one up the rest of them.

So we see the other disciples not responding well to that.

We can understand that.

But Jesus always steps in to rescue, doesn't he?

He does.

He steps into rescue in this situation.

He calls them all together to explain to them the kingdom principle, which seems to evade almost every kingdom of mankind, which is amazing.

And it is simply this.

Jesus makes it clear that kings are often tyrants and officials, people in power positions, lord it over other people.

But the people of God, the kingdom of God, the children of the Most High God, are to be quite different.

In simpler terms for you and me, when the church and its government or its functionality reflects how society structures organizations, that is where the church fails to reflect Jesus Christ.

Whoa, what did you just say, David?

When the church and its governmental structure reflects society and its structures, it has failed Jesus.

Because that is not what Jesus wants.

That's not what Jesus wants from his very own.

In fact, that's the opposite of what Jesus wants.

And every time the church makes a move to reflect the world, they fail in their mission, individual mission.

Since being a friend of the world makes you an enemy of God.

The kingdom of God is different, isn't it?

To receive you give, to see you believe, to live, you die.

Opposite of everything that the structural world would offer.

But we are not supposed to be of the world.

Oh, we're in the world, but we're not supposed to be of the world.

And worldly, we are separated.

That's what the word holy means.

Separated unto the Lord as his peculiar and specially chosen treasure.

But we are not the world.

We are kingdom citizens.

So we don't do the things the way the world does them.

Get that?

Okay, here we go.

Here is your first trivia question.

Before we do anything else, these will be relatively interesting.

They will have a little bit to do with Christmas.

For those that are about humbug on Christmas, we don't mind.

We're still going to do them.

Here is the trivia question.

What was the occupation of Mary's husband Joseph?

What was the occupation?

Matthew, chapter 13, verse 55.

Matthew, chapter 13, verse 55.

In the meantime, I will send you up to the website and remind you of these few things.

There are very, very cool things on the website and there is a place to give on the website and we could use it on the website.

Check it out on the website.

He must increase.org prayer request.

He must increase.org praise report emails.

Increase org looking to give to this ministry.

Confused by what's happening right now.

He must increase.org he must increase.org sweep the leg.

You have a problem with that?

Okay.

There you go.

Sweep the leg.

All right, so the trivia question, make sure everybody has it and has a chance to answer real quickly.

What was the occupation of Mary's husband Joseph?

And then additionally, you can send an email, David athe must increase.org we do not encourage people to sweep the leg, by the way.

All right, we do have somebody ready to answer trivia question.

Let's send them on through.

Knock, knock.

This is David.

Who am I talking to?

This is Curtis, my brother.

How you doing, David?

I'm doing good, Curtis.

How are you?

I am doing fine, my friend.

I thought I'd give you an answer to that trivia question while I was rolling down the road here listening to my favorite show.

You'll have to excuse the background noise.

Not a problem.

Not a problem.

Here you go, brother.

What was the occupation of Mary's husband Joseph?

Well, I'll tell you what.

My father was an electrician, but I don't think they had a lot of electricity back then.

But my father's favorite hobby was carpentry, and I believe that's what Joseph did.

That is correct, Emmanuel.

Joseph, he was a carpenter.

And then Jesus was a son of a carpenter.

I mean, my savior, his dad was a carpenter.

It's like so great.

My dad was in the building business.

So he didn't do building or he didn't do the carpentry.

He did the building, building, the development.

But it's just like, amazing, right?

It's just so cool.

And it's like Jesus, he wasn't born in with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He was born with a chisel.

I know the feeling, David.

I was pretty much born with, like a plastic spoon in my mouth.

That is so good.

That's hilarious, brother.

Excellent job on that.

Very, very, very good man.

Excellent.

Thank you, David.

All right.

Have a very blessed day, my friend.

Always a pleasure.

Mine as well.

Thank you and God bless.

Thank you, sir.

Bye bye.

All right.

Great job, carpenter.

See he was a carpenter.

See now if you understand Jewish tradition, you can go a whole other route there, but we'll just skip that right now.

Mary's husband Joseph was a carpenter.

Right?

That's always a good trivia question.

We got a few more right around that realm.

So don't go far away.

Get it?

Okay.

Okey dokey.

Let's go back into this text because this is a fascinating text and I do consider this to be, I just think so.

One of the things that I do, it's not like imaging and all that other weird stuff.

I just think if I was sitting on a bale of hay watching this interaction between Jesus and James and John and the other 10, you know, what might I observe?

I love doing that just so you can know.

And it's just like, I just think Peter would have been like, I just think he'd been losing it.

I just think somebody would have pushed him aside.

But look at what Jesus says after he goes through this.

He goes, look, I don't want you to be this way.

He goes, here's what I want you to be, verse 26.

Among you, it should be quite different.

Whoever wants to be the leader among you must be the servant.

And whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave.

For even I, the Son of man, came here not to be served, but to serve others and to give my life as a ransom for many.

There's no doubt in the universe, especially for us Bible believing, born again Christians.

No matter what your background is, this is the best example ever.

Jesus took on the form of a human to serve.

So all of our requirements for serving are much, much lower than what Jesus did.

I mean, it's just not even, not even in the ballpark.

So I do want to give a quick nod, by the way, to John Maxwell.

Every once in a while you hear his stuff talking about servant leadership.

He did a great job making that clear that servant leadership is the only way to go.

And Jesus makes this statement and this is where John Maxwell and his ministry got from him.

Whoever wants to be leader among you must be your servant.

Whoever wants to be first must be the slave.

Dave, are you saying that we should be slaves to one another?

Even with everything the media says about the country?

No, I'm not saying that.

Jesus is saying that.

And if you don't like it.

Go argue with him.

Tell him he's wrong.

Go ahead.

But he gives us the ultimate example.

It's hard to deny when he says, I, the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and give my life a ransom for many it's like how many people have we given our life over for as a ransom for their well being?

That is the straight out question.

That's where you have the, that's a pretty big standard.

How many people have we given our life over for as a ransom for the well being of somebody else?

Right.

How often, how many people have we come to serve as a fair question to ask Christians?

Or maybe this is another fair question.

How often do we put on the servant's heart to be giving rather than to be receiving?

See, that's when you get into the practicality of your Christian faith and you move past all the other rubbish and all the this that, whatever it's like, look, Jesus set the example.

He wants us to love one another.

A way that we love one another is helping carry one another's burdens.

So how often do we put on that servant's heart to carry somebody else's burden and to love them and to care about them more than we're just thinking about our own little universe.

And I would say, and venture to say, I think you'd be right in saying it, that you know, he's not just talking about your immediate family, you know, that he's talking about the spread, he's talking about everybody that God brings into your universe.

I mean, he even makes reference that some people would even dare for somebody.

That's good, great.

You know, so they get lay down their life.

But Jesus laid down his life for us when we were enemies.

Oh man.

Lord, just help me learn and grow to have a servant's heart because that's what will please you and that's what I want to do please you.

Right.

Can't get away from that.

All right, let's follow the example of Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

Amen.

Put on a servant's heart.

All right, we're going to take a break and then come back.

You're listening to the David Spoon Experience right here on KAM 770, the true station here in Texas.

Short break, we'll be back.

Don't go anywhere.

What is the David Spoon experience?

Here is a DDD entitled Custom Eyeglasses Used on Others.

Custom Eyeglasses used on others.

First Samuel, chapter 18, verse 9.

So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.

Stop There it is.

So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.

How do we see people in our lives?

Saul saw David through jealous glasses.

He put on these glasses.

They weren't the ones from the Lord, right?

They were glasses that had much more flesh in them.

And then everything was tainted.

This is what happens to you and I.

And let's just do the honest.

You know, those honest moments where we put on our glasses regarding.

Regarding some people, because almost every time we get a communication from them, there's just something coming.

This just low.

This is going to be lousy.

I haven't even opened it.

I'm already dreading it, right?

Have you ever gone through that, right?

Or every time this person texts me, I'm not smiling after I read it.

Or something along those lines.

And it could be somebody who has got a spirit of complaining.

It could be somebody that's got a spirit of pride.

It could be any of those things.

And you're just going, oy vey, right?

But you're not saying it much.

But you know how you're seeing it.

And that's custom glasses.

You've already put the glasses on, you've already determined how it's going to be.

You're already seeing it through that slant.

It's not that they've never done anything.

It's just that you and I tend to stay in those zones and see people that way.

And so no matter what was going to happen with Saul and King Saul and David, David was going to impute evil motives to Saul's actions.

I've gone through this with a professor.

I'm just confessing, right?

I had a professor before we started the radio show.

And my buddy in the, in the process was a pastor, was my, like a schoolmate.

And he would write me and go, what's.

Why does she, you know, jump on you like that?

I mean, he was asking me, right?

And I'm like, every time this.

And instead of having any kind of change of heart or mercy, I was mad.

But my anger did not work.

The righteousness of God.

And sometimes people do that because of other reasons.

It's not because of you.

And we need to do a better job of not wearing custom glasses where we see the downside on people.

So the question to ask is, what kind of glasses do we use with others?

And are those glasses approved prescription glasses from God?