In a world where first place is the goal, God tells us that being second is best. This truth is a staple for fruitfulness in Christ, and it sets the stage for all of Season 2.

QUESTIONS WE TOUCH ON IN THIS EPISODE:

• Are you putting God first?
• Are you taking responsibility for the good things?
• Do you credit God with your blessings?

VERSES FROM WE ARE SECOND

 John 3:30, Matthew 6:33, Proverbs 27:20, Zechariah 4:6-7. Philippians 4:12 -13

QUOTES FROM WE ARE SECOND

“He will take you exactly where he wants. The key is that you have to actually humble yourself, which is what I am. Second. We are second is about, you have to get that humility, you know, pride ins in humiliation.”

Michelle Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S02E01, WE ARE SECOND.

“I liked that feeling in my own life because you know, when we look at the Bible, we should always have a perspective. We’re not that, but I’m saying we need to live like that. We need to live in that trust live in that knowledge.”

Shea Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S02E01, WE ARE SECOND.

Transcript

Shea: You can be broke down, right. That can also be ahead of the game, right? Yeah. All right. Cool. Hey pantry. Hello, man. Here we are.

Michelle: Here we are against season two, the first official full episode.

Shea:  Awesome. Is that it’s pretty sweet. I think so.

Michelle: Yeah, not like we needed like tons of funding or had to get a certain number of votes, but you know, we have been called and God did not hang up the phone. So here y’all

Shea: Man and tonight is actually a, a topic that can really build someone up if you can really learn to be in that position. Yeah. I’m not good at being in that position.

Michelle: Yeah. I think sometimes the best ways to be built up are to kind of take a little bit of a beat down.

Shea: Yeah. Uh, so tonight’s episode is called. We are second. I was not built to be second from high school sports actually before that middle school sports, the high school sports to the military, it was never about like, it’s cool. You know, to be second. No, it was always gotta be number one, gotta be number one, you gotta be number one. And you know, that really repetitiveness starts to take on its own life. Yeah. I like that word, the school word life, because all of a sudden here we are, you know, in everything that you do, you want to be on top. Right. And you know, that’s not really how it works in the kingdom. No. In fact, you gain when you’re behind. If that makes sense. And actually I’ll bring a verse to that because I really, I really like how this works. Um, John 3:30, he must increase, but I must decrease. But what’s funny is when I decrease, right. And he increases now, everything that’s being built into me is being increased properly. It’s no longer I, but him that lives in me. And that’s a beautiful thing, you know, and that carries us right in the Matthew 6:33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added. I like to be added to, I mean, everyone does.

Michelle: Yeah. Knowing that he can factor in every single thing that he knows for a fact is going to happen. And that’s how he has built the plan he has for me. I would be crazy to not want what he sees the best for my life. It reminds me again, Proverbs, I’m always in Proverbs. Like I, I just love it, but it says workers who tend to fake tree are allowed to eat the fruit. So workers who protect their employer’s interest will be rewarded. That’s Proverbs 27. And when you put the employer’s stuff first, right. And you know, who’s our employer, our manager, our boss, our King, our Lord, our God you’re awarded. And he has the best gifts, the edifying spiritual eternal buildup that he can give you just simply by doing that.

Shea: Yeah. I like that algorithm. It’s just something that flows seems unnatural until you start to see what he can do. I mean, it’s kind of funny how, when we start to throw more faith at him, it’s like, you know, first of all, he is faithful. Therefore we are faithful. Just FYI for the critics. No, just kidding. But it builds us up and we start to see who he is, the power that he has when I back down, he raises me up and it made me think of the story of Zerubbabel who’s mentioned in Ezra, Zachariah, Nehemiah, Chronicles. It’s this guy he’s actually mentioned out there quite a bit. And you know, it’s really cool. I was like digging a little bit. And I was like, cause I like the story. I like how he comes back, you know, to build the second temple.

Shea: But I dug a little deeper this time because I wanted to know about this guy, basically Jerusalem is in ruins. I mean just devastated. The only people left there, the poor people doing the vineyards and you know, the little things. And so here they are without a temple, you know, being imprisoned or watched over by the Babylonians as cool that his grandfather comes out. As in favor, I love how God works in these things. So there’s ruble steps on the scene. It’s kind of this lead into who he is because I think it’s important. Cause sometimes man, you could be an athlete. You could be, I mean,

Michelle: You could have the 10 K followers on Instagram. You could have the blue checkmark on Instagram,

Shea: Those things, right. Or, or a public speaker, a great singer, Robbie, Zachariah, you know what I’m saying? But I guarantee you that when you’re second and you put God first, then he, he, he lifts it up. And this is who’s rebel is he’s an ancestor. First of all, to Jesus Christ. He’s actually in the genealogy. He’s a leader of the tribe of Judah. He was appointed governor over Judah by the Persian King. He’s known for spearheading the rebuilding of the temple in the sixth century, BC, born in captivity after his parents had been exiled into Babylon and the son of Shealtiel. He was also the grandson of jihad jihad. Ken was the last King of Judah before they, the Babylon conquest. So see if this guy had something, he was something he wasn’t just, you know, the, the poor person, you know, that we hear all the time that was raised up, you know, and all of a sudden, but he was, he was already in this position.

Shea: It could have easily, I’ll do what I want to do. But when Zachariah had his vision in Zechariah 4:6-7, he said, so he answered and said to me, this is the word of the Lord to, Zerubbabel not by might nor by power. But by my spirit says the Lord of hosts, who are you? Oh, great mountain. Before his rule belt, you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. You have this guy that has a position, but what’s the Lord telling him. He said, it’s not going to be from that. That might know that power, but it’s going to be by my spirit that you build this temple. And so he took it off. You know, it’s kinda, it’s really cool because there was a lot going against them from government to bitter people.

Shea: You know, everybody’s trying to cover there’s one group that comes in and says, we’ll help you build it. But they had like their speed of shady on the side there, you know, they were, they were disrupted and he just straight out said, Nope, we’re going to build the Lord’s temple. So he was in this position and he trusted in God. He believed in the, in the prophecies that were given to him that what the prophets told them that, Hey, you know what, it’s not going to be by who you are. You’re going to be second. And God is going to be first.

Michelle: You know, I used to work at a career center and this idea of having your own brand, everyone needs their own brand personal branding. We could have a whole sermon on just the term branding, right? And there was multiple connotations of that. But, uh, but this idea that you have to prove, you’re somebody special to get ahead, to get noticed, to get to your dreams. That’s what he could have done. You know, if he was in today’s society, his LinkedIn would have all these things listed, right? All these qualifiers, all this clout. But at the end of the day, when you have God who, you know, he counts the stars and calls them by name. I mean, if he thinks you’re somebody which he does, you don’t need all those qualifiers. You know, that really common phrase, he doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called, right?

Michelle: He also calls qualified people yell. But it’s a saying for a reason, because you don’t have to be qualified in parting waters or leading people or building a temple for him to call you. And he will equip you when we’re looking at our own way, our own dream, how we want to present ourselves, what we think we’re entitled to based on our titles or what titles we want. So we can then get access to things, right? There’s a verse again, in Proverbs in book 27, I am Proverbs. Now do something about it. But Proverbs 27:20, just as death and destruction are never satisfied. So human desire is never satisfied. Doesn’t that? Just say what a never ending pit you get in. When you just chase after what you want, it’s ever changing our hearts, deceitful above all things. So what we want, our hearts desire is always changing.

Michelle: It’s changing with current current circumstances, current emotions, it sways back and forth and it never stops. You’re never going to find the satisfaction that you can find in knowing God has something for you and you don’t need to have all these qualifiers. I’m not saying you don’t need to work on your LinkedIn page. Y’all but I’m saying that if you feel like you don’t have enough on there, you don’t have to lie about it. You don’t have to embellish. He will take you exactly where he wants. The key is that you have to actually humble yourself, which is what I am. Second. We are second is about, you have to get that humility, you know, pride ins in humiliation, which is another Proverbs.

Michelle: Seriously, I’ll just read Proverbs. Like every month is going to minister to you. But anyway, you know, we are so incompetent at handling our own path and he’s so capable. He has absolutely every tool in the bag. And I love that you chose a story that most people probably wouldn’t hit on when they’re thinking about coming in second, because it shows somebody who literally could have just been so caught up in what they weren’t getting, that they deserve or what they could get with what they had. And that wasn’t his thing at all. He was just like, Oh, the Lord said to do something, let’s get it done.

Shea: He wasn’t even mentioned at the end of the build, by the way.

Michelle: See, that’s awesome because what does it matter? I think so many people are looking to have this legacy. They want to leave a legacy. What legacy are you going to leave? What Mark are you going to leave behind? And I don’t know where it is in Ecclesiastics, but it pretty much says people. Aren’t gonna remember you eventually, you know, they’re not, you can say you want to be the next Elvis or someone who, you know, we just drop a name, but what does it matter in an earth? That’s going to fade away. It matters what God thinks about you because that’s what is eternally relevant.

Shea: Right? And then what’s amazing is in the Bible, in the Bible, ancestral to Jesus. I mean, hello. It’s amazing to me. But what really got me on this story was he could have been someone who thought he had all that, but he listened to the Lord. Yeah. It came through prophets , but he listened. And that’s where he put his trust in. I liked that feeling. I liked that feeling in my own life because you know, when we look at the Bible, we should always have a perspective. We’re not that, but I’m saying we need to live like that. We need to live in that trust live in that knowledge. Yeah. I know Philippians 4:12 -13, he says, all realms, you’re covered. It’s like, I know how to be a bast. And I know how to abound. I know how to be beat up.

Shea: And I know how to be on top everywhere. And in all things, I’ve learned both to be full and to be hungry. It’s like, it’s okay. You know, sometimes we’re up there. Sometimes we’re in the full, but we know we’re with God. And then sometimes we’re just so stinking hungry, but you know what? You’re with God, you know, I fought my whole life against the river. But the day that I jumped into the river of God, everything that I faced was easier because God was in control. I was no longer in control. I could trust in him. And that’s where I want to live.

Michelle: How often do we credit God for things we did with our own might like, it’s amazing that a lot of people don’t realize he doesn’t bless things that he doesn’t want for you. It might look good for awhile. Am I work out for a, for a short time span, but he’s not impressed with our hard work when it’s not for what he wants. So I’m going to go into songs. I was in Proverbs this whole time. He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or inhuman might know the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him. Those who put their hope in his unfailing love. It’s so easy. I love that. You said the river fighting against the current this whole time, because no matter what he is, the river master, he told the river which way to flow. And if you’re fighting against it, you’re going to be exhausted and you might get a win here or there.

Michelle: You might find a rock to hang on to for a while. You might catch a fish, eat some sushi. But regardless, this is the God that when Paul was preaching and the guy fell asleep and fell out a window, he gave Paul the power to bring the guy back to life. So he could finish hearing Paul’s sermon. How are you going to think you’re first against a God that can just be like, Nope, you fell out a window because it was boring. Don’t worry. I got you. You need to hear this like this. God can do anything. You know, I it’s so freeing at first, it hurts. I will be real. At first it hurts because we’ve grown up. I mean, at least I, you grew up and you were focused so much on yourself. That that was what does, what do I want? What makes me happy? What are my goals? But you know, all that power, cause that is power right. Comes with responsibility that we aren’t equipped to have. It comes with weights. We’re not equipped to have, cause we can’t control the outcome. And if we don’t get it now, what we have, we can have the comfort knowing if we go after what God wants for us wants, it’s the best thing for us in two ways.

Shea: That’s that’s awesome. What an exciting time the season’s going to be some awesome interviews coming up. I mean, we’re sitting here learning how to humble ourselves. How to, who step, how to step down to God. I thought there was a kind of funny we’re about this before we started. I said, wait man, I have second wait. Then he tells me to serve my wife down third in my family. Now daughter, fourth, fifth. Cool. I’d rather be there. I’d rather be there serving people. I’d rather be doing what God’s telling me to do instead of doing what I want to do. Right. But I guarantee you the makeup of who you are when he dials you in, you’re going to be doing what makes your heart happy. I know next week we’re interviewing someone off Iamsecond.com an awesome group of people who sit there and say, Hey, you know what? I am, second God is first. Right? And it’s got some people on it, really influential people. And they’re saying, no, no, no, no, no. God is number one.

Michelle: We were putting all of this together and did not even know about that until we had already come up with all these things and realize that that perfectly embodies a theme for all of these episodes that we already had slated in. So I’m, I’m really excited.

Shea: Awesome. We are second.

Michelle: We are second from first. And from last

Shea: They, there you go. I like it. I like it

Michelle: For joining us. We are excited for season two. We want to hear from you guys. So remember to rate, review, subscribe, comment, leave us prayer requests all on the pantrypodcast.com and the pantry podcast Facebook page. Yeah. I love you guys.

KEYWORDS: GOD FIRST, GLORY, YOU ARE QUALIFIED, YOU ARE CALLED.