For Such a Time // S08E07
We are created by God and chosen for these very days we live in. He has a purpose for us and a plan for us that is more wonderful than we can ever imagine if only we will submit to Him! In this episode featuring Savannah and Irais from the podcast “For Such a Time As this,” we discuss our how our Christian life should be built, from evangelism, to social media in the crazy world we live in.
Guest Bio and Links:
Verses from this episode:
John 10:10, Mark 10:42-45, Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 12:2, Luke 10:2, Isaiah 61, Hebrews 1:31
Quotes from For Such a Time As This:
“God chose us for these times and we will probably going to endure persecution as well, hard decisions like social media, metaverse all these things that, you know, we’re like having to raise our children through and you know, all the complications that we see around us, but the principle remains the same, you know, just get out and do it because you were created for such a time as this, God chose you for this time. And how, I mean, what, what more encouragement do we need?”
Irais Vela, The Pantry Podcast, For Such a Time As This
“Do it all for the glory of God and I’m like, okay, is what I’m about to do right now going to glorify God. And if it’s not that I need to step back from it. You know? And so as, as the body of Christ, I think that is the one thing that are a huge thing that we really, really just need to focus on right now in the times that we’re living in is, making sure that we are doing it to glorify God and not ourselves.”
Savannah Calixto, The Pantry Podcast, For Such a Time As This
” This is the time that we’re going to go out there and we’re going to preach the word of God. And when I say that, that means we’re going to love people. We’re going to give people grace, we’re going to give people mercy. We’re going to show them that this is the better way, the real way.”
Shea Watson, The Pantry Podcast, For Such a Time As This
What’s going to hurt me and what’s not, and how I can use it. And when I shouldn’t and more importantly, does it stack up against the word of God? And is there something better for me if he wants me there…Anytime conviction comes, check the word of God, you know, because there’s a reason.”
Michelle Watson, The Pantry Podcast, For Such a Time As This
Annotated Transcript:
Shea: You’re listening to the Pantry Podcast, part of the spark podcast network. Now playing on the Edify app. Hey, I’m Shea
Michelle: I’m Michelle, and this is the pantry podcast. Season eight road to Revelation.
Shea: We’re here to help you crave a healthier spiritual diet by teaching you to ask the right questions, seek the right answers in the right place. God’s word and break free. The junk food. The world wants to shove down your throat.
Michelle: We live in a broken world. We can fall down in despair or rise up for our wedding day. This season, we’re looking at what it really means to be the bride of Christ in the end times. And the many things we can learn from the book of Revelation that will guide us today, tomorrow, and to the end of time.
Shea: Join us and fellow listeners in 47 states and 66 countries. As we marinate on the word of God, clear the junk from our pantries and feast on real everlasting food.
Michelle: Support the show by sharing this episode with two friends that need a godly snack and becoming a partner at patreon.com/the pantry Podcast for as low as $5 a month.
Shea: And now let’s dig into the meal.
Shea: Hey, what’s up again? Excited to be here. We’ve got some good guests here. This is going to be an awesome show. Y’all I’m telling you, I’m excited about this one.
Michelle: I love it. I love it. Look you really legitimately do. You’re always pumped up when we are planning an episode, you’re always talking about how great it’s going to be because at the root of it, we know that the Lord is leading us to pick people at very specific times for such a time as this.
Shea: Ooh, “For such a time”, that is the episode title. I’m going to tell you guys something. Some days I’m exhausted, but then I get in front of the camera, I started talking to some awesome guests, or I started talking to my wife about Jesus. It’s like energy. It’s like better than red bull. Y’all I’m telling you. So, Hey, check this out tonight. We’re going to be talking about “for such a time as this”. We’ve got two awesome guests, but here I want to throw something out in front of us. First of all, Kenya, man, we love you guys. Thank you for listening. Thank you other listeners for listening. Now, listen to this, in every age, God has used people to further his kingdom, right? He used Abraham, Deborah, Isaac. I mean, come on, let’s go down that list tomorrow. David he’s used so many people in their time, in their time, we could carry that forward to the disciples, to the apostle Paul. We could carry that even farther. I’m not going to say any evangelists on it because who knows what’s going on in their life, but he continues to use believers to further his kingdom, right? We have been made for such a time as this. There is no difference now than those days. In fact, they’re all the same. Now, as I went into this totally opposite verse completely, I was like where this came from. And maybe it’s because of the guests that we have on today and the way that they serve the kingdom and, and their busy lifestyles and everything that’s going on. But I think that Mark 10:42-45 says something very beautiful about being in this time or being in a time or furthering the kingdom, right? And as Jesus called them to him and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great ones, exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be the first among you must be slave of all for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, think about that. I want to go out and beat people down, but here, here, Jesus is telling me, don’t worry about them. People who are ruling over you, who are standing above you for a time such as this, sit back, be a servant, spread my light and move forward.
Michelle: No, that’s a very good starting place to introduce these two guests. Now we know both of these wonderful, lovely ladies that love the Lord. Check out that alliteration. Because of all of the stuff that we have just done through podcasting, and then they have started a podcast together actually named For such a time as this. And when we were thinking about revelation and the road to it, yeah, everybody that’s listening, you were made for this time and God has a call on your life for this time. Part of it is the great commission and part of it is specific just to you. And so Savannah Calixto and Irais Vela co-host the For Such a Time As This Podcast, where they discuss hard stuff most may hesitate to discuss in church. We weren’t created just to live ordinary lives- We were created for such a time as this! Last season we welcomed Irais’ husband, Pastor and Christian rapper Victor Vela onto the show to discuss what a relationship (rather than religion) with the Lord offers us. I met Savannah through a podcast episode with our other good friend Micaela Deegan, who joined us in Season 6 on Happy Lies, when they discussed the occult origins of the enneagram and how when you realize something is not of God you need to drop it like it’s hot. And I just fell in love with both of them. And I reached out to Savannah. I was like, oh my gosh, your podcast is so great. And I would love to talk to you. And she seemed just as excited to talk to me, which just proves the humility in the body. And so I think this episode is going to be amazing because they’re both wives, they’re both moms. And most importantly, they both love the Lord and they talk about this all the time. So I wanted to bring them in. So welcome to both of you. It’s so exciting to have you guys at the same time.
Savannah Calixto: Thanks so much for having us.
Michelle: So give like the brief history that led you to co-hosting together. Like what kind of led you guys to that point?
Savannah Calixto: I took a step back from my podcast. “Wait, pray, Slay.” And I don’t know. I just felt like it wasn’t for that time in my life, that season in my life, I was pregnant. You know, I was really busy with my son and I don’t know, I just, I lost the passion for it. And I knew that God wanted me to do something with a podcast. I didn’t know what it was. So I just kinda, I was quiet and I was like, all right, I’m listening. If there’s something you want me to do, I’ll do it. I started working towards rebranding my old podcast. And one day I’m literally taking a shower. Cause you know, that’s how God works. He just comes to you when, when you’re just showering or about to go to bed or something like that. And he’s like “start a podcast.” And I was like, all right, well, I have a podcast, you know, or I had one and I don’t know. It just, it just started flowing through my mind, like the possibilities that could happen. I’m starting a podcast with Irais. And so, she’s one of my best friends and we, you know, we have women’s fellowship every week and, and we talk and so our conversations are always so edifying and so powerful. And so I was like, all right, girl, you want to do this? And she’s like, yeah, let’s do it.
Irais Vela: Yeah. And then my husband was also like, he kept telling us for the longest time y’all should get on a podcast together. But we just kept saying, yeah, we should. And then it never happened. You know? So when Savannah finally told me, I was like, yeah, let’s go for it. And she knows more about podcasting too. So it really encouraged me cause I’m, I’m super new to all of this. So she’s really been encouraging me to, you know, use these types of platforms like this, to share these conversations and reach women, you know, that really need to know these things.
Shea: And I know something a little bit about you that you’re the backside of his ministry. So I know that you’re doing a lot of behind the scenes. And so it’s amazing , and he’s been saying it to me too on the side. He’s like, you know, she has just some good words and to hear you guys finally come out, like, like it really makes me think of be still, you know, it’s like be still like, I’ve seen Savannah, talked to Savannah as well, you know, online and watch it. And I see her, you know, she stepped back and then all of a sudden, now she’s coming in with this powerhouse and it’s like, okay, she stopped. She listened. And I think that’s one of the most important things in seasons like this, when it is our time to be able to hear that voice. Now I’m going to ask and you can be as open or, or whatever about this because you both have things in your life. So you have a child, both of you that has special requirements and, and you know, being friends, we all know this. So that adds another layer. So when I’m talking about these two ladies getting together, making time and really putting into the, what is that like on your scheduling?
Irais Vela: Honestly, it just takes effort. Like we have to put the effort in to get it done because, it is hard, you know, we hardly have time for anything. And I mean, we’ve scheduled it out to where, you know, Sundays is when we record. And but, you know, realistically it doesn’t always go that way. And for the past month, we’ve had to learn how to deal with it because things come up, we can’t record this weekend or something happens. I got sick or just things happen, you know? So we’ve just been learning to keep going. As a matter of fact, that was one of our recent episodes was talking about just keep moving forward, no matter what, you know.
Savannah Calixto: Taking the time and just doing it. Cause I know Sunday comes around and I’m like, I don’t want to get on. I don’t want to, I don’t want to make this episode. I want to be chilling with my family right now, but this is something that God’s called us to do. So we literally have to make the time for it. If you’re, if you’re called, then you gotta go. And so that’s kinda why we decided to do it twice. Like twice a month, we’ll come out with an episode. So we still have that time with our families in between. And so we’re not taking on too much, but we’re still doing what God has called us to do. And I think it’s been such a blessing, more for, I know for me than anything, this is like my little getaway. Cause we do have children that need that extra help. And so just being able to come together and edify one another and know that somebody else out there needs to hear something that we could be talking about, you know, it’s just, I don’t know. It’s, amazing. God works in mysterious ways
Shea: So like what verse pops up? Like, you know, we all have a verse when I was laying I’m a COVID deathbed. I had Nahum 1:7, you know? So what is the verse that it continually just resonates within you in these moments when you’re trying to put all this together. Like how does God use his word in your life?
Savannah Calixto: Yeah. I mean, for me, it’s Galatians 2:20. I have to realize that it’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. It’s not, it’s not what I want to do. I need to stop being selfish and thinking about myself all the time and stop thinking about, okay, well, how is this going to bless me and think about the fact that this could bless other people. And so really just laying down my own desires and just stepping into that calling that God has called me to.
Irais Vela: Honestly, that’s like my favorite verse. And then also it’s not a verse, but it’s something that God like confirmed for me at least, through a dream that I had one time, you know, long story short, I woke up saying, I am willing Lord. And ever since then it’s stuck with me. So I always end my prayers with I’m willing, you know, when I get nervous about starting the women’s call, for our women’s group, I just say I’m willing Lord, you know, cause it’s not I, it’s him now. So it’s not my voice. It’s his, you know, I’ll probably mention my husband a lot here. Cause we just talk, you know, from each other’s point of view, I guess, from what God is teaching us. But he always says like faith is a perspective. You know, the reason that we start, you know, feeling discouraged or even falling into temptation or backsliding or anything like that is because we’ve lost that perspective of what truth is, you know? So in order to be embolden and encouraged and have that drive to keep going and you know, being that Esther in these times, is by keeping that perspective, knowing what the truth is and holding dear to that.
Michelle: So far we’ve already gotten so much and I want to recap it. So fellowship is huge, both with your family, but also with other members of the body, then just doing it, which also goes down to the dying to self. So just getting, like just getting up and going the 1, 2, 3 go that Shea used to talk about a lot. And then what’s funny is he used to have to do 1, 2, 3, go a lot. And now he doesn’t have to, as much, at least he doesn’t verbally do it because he’s, it’s like the energy is coming, but the desire is there a lot more pausing and listening and waiting on God and doing his time, blessing other people, making that a big deal, faith as a perspective, keeping perspective and then clinging to,
Shea: I just quit doing 1, 2, 3, go verbally. I didn’t want the, I didn’t want the powers that be to be able to use that as an advantage, like, oh, he needs 1, 2, 3 go. Now it’s just, I keep it to myself. You can’t hear me, haha, just kidding. It is still a part of my life.
Savannah Calixto: That’s so funny. I think we all say that it’s, it’s just, it’s a thing. It’s a thing you really just have to like push yourself and do it. And once you do it, you just feel amazing. Like you were talking about earlier, just feeling so energized. And when, when you’re talking to one another and the holy spirit is speaking through you and you’re just like, well, that wasn’t even me. I don’t even know what I’m saying now.
Irais Vela: Out come the good works out of that. You know, like people are always asking like, how do you get good works then? Cause they just focus on the works part, but they forget the faith part when you’re gathered together in the safe, the good works just flow naturally, you know,
Shea: I like that. Faith drives, you know, everybody misunderstands James, when he says show me somebody that has Christ has faith, that doesn’t work. And so in that aspect, your faith is driving you. Correct?
Savannah Calixto: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Shea: And so, and so when we look at that as faith driving you, I know both of you guys do works. And so I want to hear about a little bit of this, you know, the evangelism that’s going on. I know a lot just on one side of this because I know someone’s husband, but how does this pan out in your day to day schedule.
Savannah Calixto: Well, I mean, for me, a lot of the, I guess you could say evangelism that I do is through social media. I have such a busy life and I don’t know. It’s like my family’s obviously my first ministry. So making sure that my son is taken care of, he gets to his therapies cause he goes to therapy, four days a week, three hours a day. And then, yeah, I think a majority of my time is really just dedicated to reaching people through social media right now in this season of my life. And I’m just talking to people, being their friends, praying over them, even if they don’t know that I’m praying over them, reaching out, sometimes God will just put somebody on my heart and I’ve, I’ve learned my lesson that if he puts somebody on my heart, I just need to reach out to them and talk to them sometimes I don’t even know why. I don’t know if there’s something going on in their life or you know, what it is or whether it be, the other day actually I was picking up my son from therapy and I just felt so strongly in my spirit to pray for someone who was on the corner. And just that it was almost like a gut punch, you know? And so while I’m not, I wasn’t able to talk to that man. I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of my car to talk to him just by myself. But really just making it a priority to just, just go wherever God leads me to, even if I feel afraid. And I think that’s something that the enemy has a tactic that he really uses in my life is being afraid to speak up, being afraid to come on this podcast, being afraid to post something. And then afterwards I’m like, did I post the right thing? And I’m like, no, I know I posted the right thing because I was called to do that. So really just following through with those nudges, from the holy spirit and knowing his voice, you know, we have to be able to discern and know his voice to know that he’s telling us to go one way. And so, yeah, I hope that answers the questions.
Irais Vela: And for me, obviously through the ministry, we reach out to a lot of people online as well. But God has been like moving me in the opposite direction, I guess, as what the seat in that Savannah’s in right now. Cause I was on social media too, big time and then I just felt that I needed to stop, you know? And I feel like he’s leading me to face-to-face interactions, you know, ministering to people every chance that I get, for example, my son also has therapy four days a week. So it’s just ministering to people you know in that manner, like simple ways or our son’s therapist or son’s doctors, my doctor I’m pregnant right now. So my doctor, you know, the nurses that I speak to, just people at the store, like if I get a chance, you know, my husband usually goes for the grocery runs, but sometimes, you know, I get a chance to speak to people too. And even just, a big one right now is my sister. She’s in jail right now. And she’s coming to the Lord, you know, which I never, ever, ever thought that she was gonna, you know, get to that spot, but just really learning how to interact with people face to face without letting the awkwardness and the whatever insecurity I might have, you know, get in the way. To put it in a practical sense, how can you witness to people or how to share the faith or be bold in a practical sense is to always remember why you’re doing it to begin with, the worth and value of the people that you come across every day, you know, and our women’s group. I always tell the ladies, we have such a huge sphere of influence everywhere we go as a mission field, whether he just go and pick up coffee at a Starbucks every Friday, that’s a mission field right there. You know, you can literally reach those people there with the simple, Hey, I just want you to know that Jesus loves you. You know, it just plant seeds everywhere you go. And you’d be surprised how it reaches people. Some people are probably on the verge of like taking their own life, you know, and you sharing that bit of hope with them, keeps them going. With our kids, I encourage Savannah a lot with this. Sometimes it feels like we’re not doing enough, but just as simple, like teaching our child, a Bible verse or, or praying with them at night, it just teaches them the love of Christ. You know, being happy with my husband and not arguing in front of my son that teaches the love of Christ to, see what I mean. Like it’s just little ways. It’s super simple and practical. We just sent it over complicated because we want to do more and more. You know what I mean? It’s like, it turns into like religious works, unfortunately.
Shea: Everywhere I go, every space that I occupy I’m occupying that space for Christ. And it makes.. cause I get that. I mean, I get that. And it, and it also makes me think of when you were talking about, in Ephesians, where was that at? It’s I think it’s 5 and it’s like, walk in love, walk in light and walk in wisdom. It’s like, everywhere we move, we’re moving with Christ. And man, just to hear you guys say this, like, cause the busy lives, you know, I know Savannah just had another, another baby, you know? And, and then she has her son and then you’ve got your son and it’s like, amazing that like you’re like, oh, I just talked to the doctors, the nurses, whoever they send my way, I’m going to, I’m going to find a way to shine his light. And it ain’t for brownie points. It’s for their soul.
Michelle: You humbly listed all the things that you do. And yet we never know when the next person we minister to is going to be that person who takes it and runs with it and just goes off and does the next amazing thing. And the next amazing thing. And it’s not about one cell in the body being the superstar. It’s about when all the cells are working, the body is healthy and well and growing and it’s so important because we think we have to go bigger, go home. And if we don’t do it big, we didn’t have enough faith or we don’t have, or we’re not making enough time.
Irais Vela: This quote that I once read just keeps popping up into my head right now. And it’s, we, we need more people to know that they’re servants then to think they are leaders and we see that in body of Christ a lot is that everybody wants to have the platform. Everybody wants to have the voice. everybody wants to have the following, you know, and it reminds me of, I think, Shea, you said it earlier, you know, people want to, go out there and do the big things, you know, start a ministry from the ground up or, go to Kenya like you were talking about and start churches over there or feed the poor. And these are wonderful, amazing things that people aren’t called to do specifically by God, you know, but what happens when you can’t do that? Does that mean that you can’t be used by God? No. It means that you, God has you, where he has you for a reason to reach the people that are around you for a reason. So instead of us trying to strive to get the platform, to get the microphone and all these things, let’s look at the little ways that we can actually serve and not lead.
Savannah Calixto: The holy spirit, like for weeks now has really been putting, what is it, 1 Corinthians 10:31 and basically just do it all for the glory of God. And I think that is the most important thing. And I think it’s also pretty simple at the same time, you know? It’s something that he’s definitely been working in me. And I know because every once in a while do it all for the glory of God and I’m like, okay, is what I’m about to do right now going to glorify God. And if it’s not that I need to step back from it. You know? And so as, as the body of Christ, I think that is the one thing that are a huge thing that we really, really just need to focus on right now in the times that we’re living in is, making sure that we are doing it to glorify God and not ourselves. And so, with that being said, you know, I don’t know. It’s just kind of, because being on here with you guys, I’m all, I’m always thinking like, I’m not doing enough, I’m not doing enough, but I realize, you know, I’m doing exactly what God wants me to do. And if I’m doing it for his glory, that’s, that’s more than enough. My thing right now is talking to women one-on-one or reaching them through social media, planting those seeds. And I think all Christians should be doing that. Not necessarily through social media, but planting those seeds everywhere we go. Like Irais was saying just literally being the light of Christ, being the salt of the earth. We are here to preserve this earth until Christ returns.
Shea: You know I remember we used to hit the streets and you know, I still feel like I need to be out there and I do need to be out there. And, winter, time’s a little rough out here though, to be out there cause nobody wants, nobody wants to talk to you in our neighborhood now. I mean, in the summertime, they don’t want to talk to you, but they just don’t wanna talk to you. They don’t want to talk about what we’re talking about, but you add winter to it. Boom. You ain’t get nothing, but, but she was always, what was always better for us is when we broke away from the bigger group and we could just sit down and have a conversation with people. I think that is the bottom line of what this is in our Christian walk. And what I’m hearing from you guys is having that availability to have conversation. I want to know where you guys are going to go with your show. So a show for such a time as this, give me some,chop it up a little bit, man. Tell me like what’s in the cards. What are you guys going to be talking about? Oh, I want to hear some of this. Come on, tear it up and why.
Savannah Calixto: So if we’re feeling really strongly about a specific topic or something, and talk about like a couple episodes ago, we talked about Facebook metaverse
Shea: So Metaverse huh?
Michelle: Oh yeah, no, I think we should go there for a second.
Shea: I also think they should go. I think at episode y’all should do pastoral AI’s. Oh man. Yes. You can bring your husband on then, and he could chop that up.
Michelle: Right? Like we’ve got, we’ve got some time and I think, I think you, you, you cat out the bag, this one where like the episode’s going this way and then it just drastically veers and it’s exciting. And I think we need to go here for a second. Like what are your opinions? And in, in like in a nutshell,
Savannah Calixto: Okay. So let me, let me think back a little bit.
Irais Vela: I was like, oh man, I was just thinking, dang it. I deleted the note. I had a lot of notes that I took on that one.
Savannah Calixto: Actually for forever for us, our children, we’ve all been conditioned. for something like this, there was actually a video that, you know, you sent me and the guy was saying these games have like, okay, so the games that the children are playing and stuff, these games have them living in an alternate reality that is growing by the day and intends for their minds to be attached to a world, not created by our father in heaven, our true creator. And so we all know that the enemy tries to copy everything that God does, and he doesn’t do it well. He wants his own sort of universe. And so the way that I see it is I’m taking the discernment and I’m running with it because my discernment is telling me to step away from that. Like not even get involved with that, just because we’re supposed to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And I really feel like this is going to be a stumbling block for a lot of believers. It’s just taking away their sense of reality and, you know, reality, this, this beautiful, beautiful creation earth, you know, that God created. and just, creating their own image of God and their minds, like in Romans 1, Klaus Schwab of the World Economic forum when referring to the Great Reset, he said, you’ll “own nothing and be happy about it.” So in this metaverse you own property. You own really fancy designer clothes. You own all these things with real life money, but you literally don’t actually own it because it’s in this virtual world. And I don’t know if y’all have ever used the Oculus or anything like that before, but it is trippy. Okay. I played it and I started running into things and it really just sucks you in. And before I knew it, I was on there for over an hour. It literally just takes away from any sense of time. And I, it’s just, it’s not, it’s just not purposeful for the life that we’re called to live here on earth.
Irais Vela: When I first heard about the metaverse coming out and Facebook, you know, switching over and renaming and all this stuff, that’s when I decided to leave Facebook, I saw where everything was headed. I saw, you know, how they’re trying to make it a place, to where, there’s like no real like religion, you know? There, it’s more like a transcendence type of thing. I don’t know if I’m saying that right. But, it’s more, I don’t know, it’s more a cult, more mystical, more. And, and the ad that I saw for it was like this was, it was for portal actually, which is also part of Facebook. But they were levitating, you know, they were, they were having like this group meeting where they were teaching and they were teenagers. There were young kids, teaching the group how to levitate. That was their advertisement. That was a video that they decided to put out. When I saw that I just got so, so convicted. And I said, you know what? The only reason why these people are still running is because we still consume it. And although I know that I’m sharing the gospel on there and I pray, and I appreciate for all the brothers and sisters, like you guys that are on there, I just could not do it. You know? it was just that personal conviction that I had. We’re drawing a thin line now. We’re walking and really, you know shaky waters here in the mixture, you know, with this mixture of realities. We can easily get slipped in thinking that we’re going in for the right reasons. And then, we ended up missing the point and we ended up being entranced by what the enemy is enticing people with or trapping people with, you know, like, cool, I’m gonna, you know, I’m here to share the gospel, but let me go by make sure that my house and this virtual reality looks nice. Let me go buy this. Or, you know what, I’m going to stop by the bar there because I’ve seen videos already of the testing of this metaverse and there’s literally like bars where you can go have dates. Another thing is your identity as well. You know who God created you to be in this reality, you can be anybody. You can literally be an animal. You can be another gender. I mean, we see that obviously in this reality, obviously Mark Zuckerburg said it. I don’t know Savannah, if you remember exactly what he said, but we talked about it. He said something like, anything you can imagine is possible here. And that reminded me of this verse. I can’t remember the verse right now. Actually it was Genesis. I just can’t remember the chapter verse. God said that he was going to wash them all, you know, with the flood because he, everything that they thought of was evil. Every thought they had was wicked. And, and we’re in the days of Noah right now. Like we see it happening everything is so twisted, good is evil and evil is good in this meadow verse. It’s literally giving full vent to the desires of your flesh. And we as a body of Christ have to be very, very careful with that. It turns out that Facebook has been working with churches and it’s crazy. It’s, it’s actually the popular churches, the charismatic type of churches, mega churches. Yeah. They’ve been working since about 2016. I believe the article said, into moving towards this metaverse this virtual reality. So they’ve literally been merging this idea with religious leaders, if you may call them, so that way they can transition over there. Why is it so important for these churches to join their? Like, they’re almost saying like, partner with me, so that way your followers can follow you here. You know? it just seems so weird to me. And, I would definitely encourage our brothers and sisters to, you know, have discernment with that.
Shea: As I’m sitting here thinking about this, first of all, Jesus, wasn’t an avatar, right? Number one, but let’s just, let’s just put it, let’s just put it out there. Number two, interaction and fellowship, together in the body of Christ, zoom and, and online, I give it it’s props to a point, but then I also believe that in-person is very important as well because in person it really grounds us. I mean, I can still be whoever I want to be right here, but when we’re around each other in the family and the family, God, then reality comes out and we get to see each other and we get to work together. We get to let Christ come in and work with us. We get to let our brothers and sisters know what’s going on. This brings abundant living right now, as I’m sitting here thinking about it, but I’m sorry about, I’m about to go. I’m sorry. This is how this works. As we sit here, we think as we sit here and think about abundant living, we start to think of verses like John 10:10, where it says that, what does it say? That the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But listen to this. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And as you’re sitting there talking, you’re talking about identity, we already have an identity crisis problem in the world. People are who they want, who they think they should be. And they’re not who they were created to be. And so here we are taking that one step from what I’m hearing and what I won’t be on the metaverse either. I’m just letting you know, I’m this close to dropping Facebook. I’ve already just, I’m sitting here prayerfully about Tik TOK. I’m like, all I hear on Tik TOK is people going after people or hearing something that was happening or saying something about something. And I’m just like, this is ridiculous, but I’m still prayerful. But metaphor is just taking it to this level of like, okay, it was hard enough in my bad past to sneak out the house and go mess around or go do whatever it wasn’t that I wasn’t supposed to be doing. Right. I get online. I put this little thing on my eyes and now I’m anywhere I’m at the bar picking up women. I’m at the, you know, I’m over there, like doing what I want to do, building my house, building my car, building out the fakest identity and right there, John 10, the enemy, the enemy wants this destruction. The enemy wants us to go even farther down in this pit of an identity crisis. Simply delusions. I mean, it’s just amazing to hear these things. And I’m like, well, right there in a verse, it says the thief comes to only steal, kill and destroy. And what better than your identity, right. What better than your identity so you’re so far away from God that you don’t understand that fruit of the spirit and who you’re supposed to be. The world has constantly wanted to define us. Enneagrams I mean, you name it astrology. Now we’re talking metaverse, social media. I see people on social media and I meet them, realize like, what, who are you? And it’s like, so we’re taking it another step. This is a ploy of the enemy.
Michelle: They will go after new tech with the goal of reaching more people. They’ll say it’s to reach more people with Christ and for all intensive purposes, that may be true. But the difference is when we don’t discern and realize that the way that God did it back then actually still works now. So we’re, we’re all made for such a time as the time that we’re in. But the truth is the Bible doesn’t change. And it works for all of us, no matter what time period we’re in. And so when we start thinking or accepting or even entertaining, could an AI pastor actually do anything, could an AI worship song be a worship song unto the Lord? Well, the question is, how well do you understand that he made humanity? And that there’s something that you can’t even tangibly under. Like we can’t physically see what makes us special. We know like we have our flesh and whatever, but we have a soul and the holy spirit and we can’t see those things. You can’t quantify or measure them. You can’t figure them out. And right now we’re saying, well, there’s nothing wrong with that. You know, the metaphors could be used for good without knowing or understanding how the spiritual works. I really appreciate the critical thinking that you’ve put in. And, and more than that, before you thought critically, you honored what the Lord told you, what he impressed on you. And then you started thinking critically because why not? But what came first was not a ton of explanation. When I tell my daughter don’t touch the hot stove, I don’t start explaining why not first and then wait and warn her after she’s already burned her hand. I tell her don’t touch it. And once the issue is gone and dismissed, then I can explain why. And I think sometimes the believer wants to see it proven first, show me how this is going to be bad. And in a time like this, where we’re ramping it up, maybe it’s 500 years from now. Maybe it’s five minutes from now, but we’re ramping up. You can see, you know, the world economic forum. I’m so glad you brought up that guy because his book is literally the antichrist prequel manifesto. But like technology plays a role. And the last thing I’ll say on that is that I listened to a pastor. He was asking, should we all just ditch our technology? And he said, something very important that I think is really cool. He said that the amount of technology that we have in our hands right now, the amount of technology we’re currently using to record this podcast is more than any of the Kings like David, you would have had need of so many servants to get even a 10th of what we’re capable of doing right now from our home. And so technology is a form of wealth. And the question is, are you going to use technology? The wealth you have, cause it’s not all just cash money. Are you going to use that wealth to bring glory to God or glory to self? And the vast majority of the metaverse, I’m sure he’s going to call someone in there to deliver someone out, right? He’s going to do something, but it’s not everybody’s job. It’s a prayerful thing. Are you going in to redefine yourself to build up a kingdom for yourself, even in the name of the Lord, or are you going in there to wake people out of it to appreciate the God-given body and reality they’ve been given because that’s, that’s really the difference
Shea: And the Sims. I just had to look this up because Sims is a big deal. Y’all it’s still, it’s still hitting Sims 5 is now coming out and it’s like, wow. Like, because people want to be something different.
Irais Vela: We want to have also that’s another thing is that we want to have control. And that’s another thing that we are not honest about, you know, a lot of the, of the reason why this is so, how do you say it? What’s the word for it? Like it’s shiny to you, you know, it looks good to you is because you can control it. You literally have all the control of what you do with these things. And, and I say this from my experience with these types of games, even like the Sims, for example, I love simulation games, you know? And I had to, when we started talking about this whole metaverse and stuff, like I had to sit down and really think about everything that I’ve contemplated or have ever done in my Christian walk when it comes to all this, you know? And, because that video that Savannah was talking about, he talks about that. How, how heavily we’ve been conditioned into accepting this with all these games that have simulation, even just something as simple as I don’t Mario Kart that you get to choose your character and, you know, you choose, oh, he mentioned, NBA, you choose your character. You literally like customize everything about that character. Like you have so much control in these video games, you know? And the Sims is a perfect example of that. Another thing that I was really convicted of, was I’ve never tried the Oculus thing. I’ve never done that, but I’ve always wanted to every time we go to an arcade, I always tell Victor, let’s go try it. Let’s go try it. But thank God. Like now I’m realizing that it’s a God, it was a God thing. It was never open. Like it was always broken. Something was wrong with it. And I, and I thank God now because I’m like, if I had tried it, I know myself, I would have probably just fell deep into it. Like, oh, this is amazing. You know, we can do all these things with it. I would have probably owned one by now. if I had that opportunity to get into it, but it easily entraps you in that because of how much control you have over everything that your hands touch in that reality, you know,
Savannah Calixto: Well and at the end of the day, it’s like, what is the game? What is the simulation you’ve been doing to further the kingdom? We really have to like sit back and literally look at every aspect of our lives. Every decision we make is this decision going to impact the kingdom? Is it going to, is it going to glorify God? You know? And, and that’s really something that I noticed with a lot of things, like just getting on Facebook and scrolling just to scroll or, you know, whatever it might be that you do, like, okay, what is, what’s even the point? What’s the point in sitting there and watching YouTube all day? What is the point? Is this furthering your walk with Christ? Is this sharing the gospel? Are you evangelizing by doing this? Are you doing this for the glory of God? And that’s really all it chocs up to
Shea: Hey man, that’s, that’s the common theme right there.
Irais Vela: This type of mentality can also make us reject God’s timing. Like what he’s calling us to do at that time, or the seasons that we’re in. For example, if you’re trying, I’m just going to share something that happened to me. I’m sure y’all know all of you here know about this, but we had a miscarriage last year, January, actually. So it’s already been a year, but I found myself after having that miscarriage. I’m not saying this was directly from God, you know, I don’t know. I don’t know why these things happen. I mean, I know that the enemy is the one that kills and brings death and stuff like that. But I just know that it wasn’t God’s timing and when it is his timing, it happens, you know? But I say this because I started looking for games of simulation of a baby or something like that, you know? And I just view this as, I mean, if I reacted that way and I consider myself to be, you know, kind of strong in my faith, you know? What about those that are not, and God is telling them, no, not right now. You wait, you know, you’re in this season, I’m teaching you this. I’m trying to teach you this through this, you know, event that happened in your life or something like that. And you’re over there saying, no, I reject that God, I’m going to go make what I want to make for myself in this reality. You know, it just conditions your mind in so many ways to reject God’s wait.
Michelle: So good. That’s such a good observation about the time that we’re in that the verse about the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. It makes me and everything that we’re saying, he wants to rob us of the real. And he offers a counterfeit that we can often get faster and easier that offers if you’ve never had the real thing, it gives you a very good feeling. And the only way you’d know that it’s not good enough is if you’d had the thing you were asking for, but if God’s sake, not yet, or no, not at all for you, how would you know? And in those moments you have to have so much faith and there’s people, there’s always the person that they’re the exception, but most of us are not the exception. We’re each exceptional in like a couple of ways. And in the rest, we’re just like everyone else, you know? And so I remember like online dating, I was online dating for a few years and I was,
Shea: Then she met a real man at church.
Michelle: I met a real man and canceled my account. Let me just say, I had just paid for an Eharmony account for a year. And that thing was not cheap. And I met this guy and I was like, totally. I was like, look, if he’s out there, I’ll find him. Cause the Lord is going to send him. But I remember the amount of choice, just like, you know, you were talking about with the games, but with real people. So it’s not just like the effect of like, oh, I can be anyone. I won this game and escape the failure I am are the things I’m not happy with in my real life, but in a dating, like swipe left swipe right? You can, they’ve done studies that show the harm it does people you would have used to rate a 10, become like a 7 because you just have the ability. There’s always someone else you can choose. And so you look at people like they’re dispensable and we see that in the world today.
Shea: I was watching my friend go through that. And okay, I’m a little older, I didn’t have all that, like dating app stuff going on in my life. And plus I just never dug that thing, but I’m watching it today. And it was like it was such a simple swipe. It wasn’t like you’re looking at their bio. It was a picture of them, and what was that one?
Michelle: It was Tinder.
Shea: I think it was Tinder or so one of those, and it was like, there’s no data. It’s just a picture. And it’s like, she has a blemish. Oh, she has. And it’s like, and I’m like, you’re are just like pushing this person aside with no knowledge of who that person is. And so really, I like what you’re saying, Michelle it’s like, it really takes us away from reality in a lot of ways that it’s just like, we cheat ourselves out of the opportunity to have an abundant life, right?
Michelle: I think this is a lot for people to process for sure. Because I think sometimes they hear this and they’re like, well, that’s so cynical and negative. Like think of all the good that the internet is doing and I’m not discounting any of it. I’m not telling my daughter no to go back to the stove. I’m not saying we throw the stove out. And the stove is evil because my daughter can get burnt on it. But I am before I teach her all the, what all the little dials do, I’m a teacher, how to not get burned, you know? And so it’s not being negative to be critically thinking about how this doesn’t align with the word, how this thing that some could argue is neutral. The idea of just like the internet technically quite neutral, but it’s all about, who’s wielding it, who has power over it, who maintains it and how they use that. And so in that it’s like, well, yeah, you could. I mean, I don’t care if you’re a pessimist or an optimist, I care about critically thinking. What’s going to hurt me and what’s not, and how I can use it. And when I shouldn’t and more importantly, does it stack up against the word of God? And is there something better for me if he wants me there, like Savannah, this is the perfect example. Savannah’s on it, Irais is not. Anytime conviction comes, check the word of God, you know, because there’s a reason. And it doesn’t matter. I’m positive. Thats works. I don’t care if you’re positive. I don’t care if you’re negative. I care if you’re obeying the Lord, I care if you’re bringing him glory. I care if you are living an abundant life.
Irais Vela: Yeah. Instead of looking at things as, cause we tend to base everything off of opinions, like a lot of the teachings that we see and we buy into it because a person is just sharing their opinion on something. And we immediately in our brain think, okay, it’s either this way or, or, you know, the opposite way. But, this is where discernment comes. You know, God speak to us, speaks to us individually when it comes to these issues. So Savannah and I are a perfect example. She’s on social media right now. I’m not, we’re both working for God, wants us to be working. So don’t allow yourself to be discouraged. If you’re not on social media and then don’t stop pointing the finger at the people that are, you know, on social media, oh no, you should not be doing it that way now, instead of basing things on our opinion or even just personal convictions, let’s take it to what the Bible says. What is the basic principle of the Bible? When people feel discouraged, I encourage them by saying, God could have chosen any people to live in this time. You know, we look back at the apostles at the disciples and we think, and they’re just, they’re just so on fire, you know? And they were, they were, directly chosen by Jesus. I mean, how amazing is that? But we look at them as like superheroes, when they literally had what we have. They had the same faith. They had the same Jesus, the same holy spirit, the same motivation. God chose them for that time. And they endured, heavy, heavy persecution. And God chose us for these times and we will probably going to endure persecution as well, hard decisions like social media, metaverse all these things that, you know, we’re like having to raise our children through and you know, all the complications that we see around us, but the principle remains the same, you know, just get out and do it because you were created for such a time as this, God chose you for this time. And how, I mean, what, what more encouragement do we need?
Irais Vela: This reminds me of Luke 10:2. Let me pull it up real quick. I just love this so much guys. I get so happy when I read this part, just hearing that Jesus was praying for this and, and knowing that we’re, that answered prayer right now, you know, he says these work has instructions to them. The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest and ask him to send more workers into his fields. And I just picture him like walking with his disciples and saying that, and them contemplating that, let’s pray for more workers. And here we are a bunch of workers right now, you know, but we get caught up in so many little things that stop us that discourage us. And it’s like, we’re literally that answer prayer.
Shea: I like how that verse carries on. It says, go your way behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves, Hey, there’s your warning believers. You’re going to, you’re going to go out. You’re going to share the word of God. And you’re going to have to endure different things. I will never sit here and say, well, okay, I work overseas and I see other things and I’m, and sometimes I have to reel myself back on the American dream. It’s like, you first world problem people anyways. But it’s like, but at the same time, it’s it’s, this is what we were born into. And so when whatever you were born into starts to flip upside down, it is a challenge for you as well, or for us as well. I’ve gone through wars, I’ve gone through battles. I’ve worked overseas. And let me tell you something, the last two years has worn on me too. You know, it’s like, there’s no seasoning. You know, you just accept the Lord, except the salt, like Savannah was saying earlier, Hey, we’ve come to preserve this, this atmosphere around us so that that light can shine. And, and you know I was gonna use this for closing, but I think I’m just going to say it now, you know, Isaiah 61, it says arise, shine for your light has come. And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Then you jump to Hebrews 1:3 , and it says he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power Metaphors, my butt, I’m sorry. Look at that right there. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high arise shine, your light has come. Hello guys, come on. This is a time for us to shine. This is the time that we’re going to go out there and we’re going to preach the word of God. And when I say that, that means we’re going to love people. We’re going to give people grace, we’re going to give people mercy. We’re going to show them that this is the better way, the real way. Not some goggles. I’ve never put goggles on either. I don’t even know if the things are man. I put on goggles for war because it was sandy. But other than that, that was real cool. It’s fine. And it was real. That’s real goggles, but this metaverse googles. I’m sorry. I’d never bought into it anyways. I’m like, I don’t want to sit there.
Michelle: Well don’t worry. Cause one day there’ll be a microchip in your head.
Shea: No there won’t!
Michelle: No, no, not yours. Don’t worry about the goggles. Those pesky goggles, God, there’s a chip And people will still be like, but you know, the chipping, the mark. So let’s do it for the glory. No, I mean, this has been, this has been awesome. This has been amazing. And yeah. So thank you both so much for being here, being transparent, being down to get down. Well, we completely switched it up halfway through the show,
Shea: But I want to say this. She mentioned Marked this week.
Michelle: Oh no, no. That’s last week.
Shea: Oh, okay. But I’m saying no, we’re about to talk about it.
Michelle: That’s last week.
Shea: Oh, was it? Oh, but last week we talked about buddy, let me get my shout out the right way. Not the forward way. It’s in there somewhere. We talked about marked, check it out. I’m telling you it’s intense. Pastor Jackson from Kenya came on. It’s going to be something that’s going to be excited because that brother threw down some knowledge just when I thought I was like, he’s gotta be on. We gotta figure out how to get Kenya in here, but right. Have those conversations though, Christians have those conversations, believers have those conversations that don’t always feel good that are raw, that even hurt yourself. Because I think at the end of the day, we have to be sifting ourselves. Let it actually letting God sift us, but allowing God to sift us. What’s that verse? Come in and search me O Lord search me O Lord, because this is the time when we have to be careful. This is a time when, when the conversations like these, be these awesome women of God, you know, for such a time as this would just get on in the raw and talk about these things. Because I think it’s important. Don’t just shun it and say, oh well, I’m going to go out there and be the, the, the missionary who does this. And you better pray about it. Pray about it
Michelle: Don’t think you are enough to withstand the temptation, right?
Shea: Pray about talk, pray about Facebook, pray about it. Wherever platform, wherever, go on the street and you pray about it. We never go anywhere out on the street without praying about it. Why would you stop our social media? Why would you stop in all these things? If you think you can handle the metaverse, I’ll be praying for you.
Michelle: This has been awesome. Thank you guys again. Thank you. So remember guys, the pantrypodcast.com for show notes for this episode and references to all the episodes that we brought up throughout the episode. And of course all the Bible verses that got dropped and all the, all the links to all the things.
Shea: We love you Josiah.
Michelle: We love you Josiah.
Shea: Shout him out all the time
Michelle: All right. We will see you guys next time. Thanks for listening to the pantry podcast. Subscribe to the show, wherever you listen and check out other great shows on the Edify app and eternity ready radio.