Sunday Service: What Would Jesus Do

What would what would Jesus do? Christian in Christian theology, the invitation of Christ is the practice of following the example of Jesus. So what does that even mean? How does it apply to you and to your life? If it even does, that’s what we will explore today. Welcome to the Sunday service. So that phrase, what would Jesus do? Do you remember? Do you remember the bracelets? Seems that they were ubiquitous, but that just could have been that a lot of people in my life were wearing them. But it became really popular in the early 90s. There was a novel by Charles Sheldon called What would Jesus do in his steps, and it became very personal to a lot of Christians. And I think it’s certainly extremely catchy, w, w, J, D, and why wouldn’t people want to do that, particularly if you are a Christian, if you are a follower of Christian, if you were in a Christian youth group, I bet the vast majority of people in those circles wore this bracelet. And I thought that they were all very dumb. I thought that they were very dumb. I was a kid. I was a teenager, and just thought that they were kind of cheesy. I did not get it, and I’m sure, sure of it, that I made fun of those kids that were doing it because I was a little jerk. Today. I’m an older, bigger jerk, but you get the idea, but I don’t anymore. A lot has changed in my life, and you have a deeper understanding of yourself and the world over time, hopefully, God willing, as we age, we grow and develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and our lives and what is important and through life’s experiences, UPS, downs and in betweens and all of it, the way that we view things changes, we have a deeper appreciation, hopefully i i have a deeper appreciation of the Place and the role that values play in our lives. I have a deeper appreciation for the necessity of positive role models, and none finer than Jesus Christ, the perfect man, perfect human being. When you study the life of Jesus and what he did, and just all of it, it’s extraordinary, and to be able to look and see okay, do I know how this this person lived? Do I know what they believed in? Do I know how they conducted themselves. Do I know how they put their he put his values to work in his life, and I do I have the opportunity to do that. So why wouldn’t I emulate that? Why wouldn’t I attempt to model that behavior, knowing full well that it never going to happen, that I am maybe not the farthest thing in the world from Jesus, but pretty far just my very nature, as as as fallen, as flawed, as somebody who who is a sinner and will continue to sin. But we need to have examples, people that we can aspire to be that we can work towards getting closer to their standard and their ideal of both the ways that we think, but more importantly, the ways that we live and the ways that we act and the way that we behave in the world. And that’s really what this is all about. The world is littered and awash with educated derelicts, people that know so much, but for whatever reason, don’t put it to work in their lives, either, because they don’t want to, they don’t know how, or they choose to not. There’s just so many people and you know them, and maybe you are one, or have been one, you know what is right, but you don’t do it. Just such a vast chasm between what I know and what I actually do. It’s this behavior gap shows up in every aspect of life. So so much changed, so much has changed. But the biggest thing that’s changed for me, they got figured out, is that I’m just going to start taking people’s words for it. I’m going to start taking people’s word for. It, it’s estimated that there have been around 10 billion people who have lived as Christians throughout history, certainly, certainly quarrel with or quabble with quabble with that number. Maybe it’s way bigger, probably way bigger than that, but 8 billion people throughout the course of history have been Christians. That’s a lot of people. Are they all wrong? Of course not. Are they all right? Of course not. But I’m going to take their word for it that for millennia, people have been following Jesus’s example and his teachings. So I’ve decided I’m going to take people’s word for it that there’s so much value in following Christ, there’s so much to be learned from the life of Jesus that my life would most certainly be better if I practice what he preached and he believed. So that there were teenagers walking around with what would Jesus do? Bracelets, and I teased them and made fun of them, but they had it right all along. I don’t know if a teenager intellectually or emotionally in a place where they could really appreciate what that fully meant. But the people that were wearing it, a lot of them just took the word for it. Okay, this is what I’m going to do. This seems to make sense in a lot of ways. That’s that’s what we’re all doing. That’s what I’m doing now, at this point in my life, this seems to make sense to me. So much to be gained. And again, I’m going to take the world of 10 billion people, the word of 10 billion people that there must be something going on there. So when you think WWJD, are you here to see something? Someone wear that? What does it mean? Well, it’s really worth talking about values, and I’m mildly exhausted by too much talking about values, but I think I am just I’m refining it down, condensing it down, and just coming to a deeper understanding of what it really is and what values are. They are the filters through which we take in the information that we process. They’re the filters through which we process the information that we take in, take it in, we make judgments about it. This is aligned with my system of values. Then I make a decision that, yeah, I’m gonna, I’m gonna take this information and use it or act on it, or I’m not, I’m just gonna discard it. This is just noise to me. This is of no value to me. So understanding that that is the framework through which all the information that I take in, I am assessing and then taking action on it, or or doing nothing. What finer system of values than the than those of Christ? Has there ever been a finer one? Will there ever be a better one another? I doubt it. I doubt it. You know, we’re talking about what we’re talking about, our values, like life, love, peace, truth, righteousness, sacrifice, gratitude, service, I’m not mad at any of those. Are you mad at those? Do you? Do you have a quarrel with any of those? Life, love, peace, truth, righteousness, service, gratitude? No, I think that these are universally agreed upon values. That’s not crazy. Funny. Stretch the imagination. But there’s so much more than just wearing a bracelet. There’s so much more than simply knowing something again, you’ve got to put it into practice. You’ve got to put it into action. Put it into action in every area of life. And this is true for everything that is of value, of substance, that is of importance. You know how important goal setting is? Do you know how important goal setting is? Verdict is in it’s super important. Might be one of the most important things that a human being can do is think about what you want, because that’s what goal setting is. As you’re thinking about what you want, then you make plans for achieving that thing that you want, for bringing whatever your desired future is into your current reality. Then you make plans, and you execute those plans, which I’m fond of talking about is a human superpower. So I’ve known the importance of goal setting for a really long time, I think, since I was 10, it took me a time about 35 years old to actually write down my goals. Superhuman of me.

Do you know what percentage of Americans have written goals? We all know how important they are. Do you know 2% of Americans have written goals? Do. So there you go. What about being self aware? This is a value. This is an important thing. The the what is the term that I’m searching for? The unexamined life is not worth living. I wrote a book about this called the purpose book, for goodness sakes. It’s being self aware. It’s knowing myself, knowing the impact that I have on others. Do you know what percentage of Americans or people think that they are self aware? What do you think it’s around 95% of people think that they’re self aware. So just about everybody, do you know what percentage actually are self aware? 10% around 10% so that’s that behavior gap, right there, just classic behavior gap. Everybody thinks that they are something, but very few actually are, what about virtue signaling? What do you think about virtue signaling? What virtue signaling is, is posting something on social media that says, I’m for panda bears. It’s posting a square picture of panda bears, saying, panda bears lives matter. Okay, cool. You know what’s so great about virtue signaling is that the person who’s doing it gets to feel morally superior, to feel like you’re on the right side of history doing the right thing. Do you know what percentage of people that engage in virtue signaling do anything beyond simply posting on social media or wearing a bracelet, less than 20% is that surprising to you? Classic Pareto distribution of 8020 80% of people who do it, 20% actually do something about it. So again, I am not because I am this. I have done all of these things. I am imperfect. I am constantly making mistakes. I’m constantly screwing up. But I’m trying. I’m striving, working to become better. So classic. So it takes more than awareness, and it takes more than understanding. We must also put what we intellectually know and believe into action. Have to do something about it, to live as Christ did, and to ask to act based on what Jesus would do. We need to practice it every day. You need to practice it every day you want to get better at something. How do you get better at anything? You need to practice it. Need to decide that you want to do something and then do repeatedly the thing that you’re interested in getting better at, and miraculously, you will get better at every day. Jesus had really strong values. He valued many things. And you could probably make a list of hundreds, but I’ll give you a couple. Jesus valued life. He he didn’t take life. He did not take the life of anyone. He preserved it. When people lost it, he restored it. So we value life, we must not kill. Jesus valued love and was motivated by it. He gave freely to others. He lived by love and died because of love. Jesus loved everyone. He loved his enemies. He loved his detractors. He loved everyone. He loved the poor, he loved the sick. He loved everyone. That’s not easy. We can remind ourselves of that. Jesus valued peace. Prince of Peace, he brought peace to mankind. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do that or not. Jesus valued truth. Jesus was truth. He valued knowledge. He pursued the knowledge. So Jesus valued relationships. He valued his relationship with God with everybody. And what God desires most is to have a relationship with, with with with you. We have an opportunity to have a relationship with with God and with our Creator. Jesus valued faith. He knew that trust is what sustains a relationship. Jesus valued prayer. Spent a lot of time praying, thinking about things you could look at prayer as just as as meditation or mindfulness. He valued. Souls. Jesus prayed for everyone’s soul, the people that he loved and the people that despised Him. Jesus valued righteousness. He lived it. He modeled it, he characterized it. Lived in obedience to God. Jesus valued service. He was a humble person. He served others. Jesus valued sacrifice, obviously, sacrificed everything, obviously he paid the ultimate sacrifice. He died for our sins. Finally, Jesus valued gratitude. He highlighted the need for giving thanks. He taught us to give thanks and to praise and to worship, to give glory to God. So some of those are really, really, really hard. Some of them are easy, but really, really hard all of them, all of them sound that’s not true. Some of them sound really easy, but do really hard. Some of them sound really, really, really hard, and will be really hard to do, but we keep them top of mind. We remind ourselves the life and the teachings of Jesus, we keep those top of mind, and then we apply them and use them to filter in all the information that’s coming away all the time and to make better decisions and to take better actions, that’s what it’s all about. So at the end of each day, I advocate, I encourage you to ask yourself, what went well today? What are some examples that where I was able to live the values of Christ. Next, what didn’t go so well? What didn’t go so well today? Where did I fail to live up to the values? That’s probably going to be way longer list, which is okay. And then finally, what can I do differently tomorrow? So it’s combination of being self aware, it’s combination of learning to live through values, and it’s combination of of putting to work the values and the beliefs of the ultimate human being, Son of God. So what went well today? What didn’t go so well? What can I do differently tomorrow? And we try again? It’s what it’s all about. And if it’s perfect, gonna screw up. You’re gonna make mistakes. That’s a feature, not a bug. You’ll get better at it. You will. You will lead a happier and more rich life. I just guarantee it. It’s all worth a shot. Maybe you’ll be like me. Maybe you’re going to take somebody else’s word for it, which is really hard to do. It’s really hard. We all know that we’re supposed to take advice, to take feedback. Man, I need to touch that hot stove a lot of the time. But I’m trying. I am trying to take the word of 10 billion plus human beings who have been followers of Christ and to try to put that wisdom and those teachings and those values to work in my life. I think it’s going to go great. I’m going to do my best. As always, I encourage you to do your part by doing your best. I’m.

george grombacher 16:00
So if I want my iPhone, and my Tesla and my Bitcoin to work, we need to get the metal out of the ground.

Pierre Leveille 16:07
Absolutely. Without it, we cannot do it.

george grombacher 16:13
Why? Why is there a Why has production been going down.

Pierre Leveille 16:21
Because the large mines that are producing most of the copper in the world, the grades are going down slowly they’re going there, they’re arriving near the end of life. So and of life of mines in general means less production. And in the past, at least 15 years, the exploration expenditure for copper were pretty low, because the price of copper was low. And when the price is low, companies are tending to not invest more so much in exploration, which is what we see today. It’s it’s, it’s not the way to look at it. Because nobody 15 years ago was able to predict that there would be a so massive shortage, or it’s so massive demand coming. But in the past five years, or let’s say since the since 10 years, we have seen that more and more coming. And then the by the time you react start exploring and there’s more money than then ever that is putting in put it in expression at the moment for copper at least. And what we see is that the it takes time, it could take up to 2025 years between the time you find a deposit that it gets in production. So but but the year the time is counted. So it’s it’s very important to so you will see company reopening old mines, what it will push also, which is not bad, it will force to two, it will force to find a it will force to find ways of recalibrating customer, you know the metals, that will be more and more important.

george grombacher 18:07
So finding, okay, so for lack of a better term recycling metals that are just sitting around somewhere extremely important. Yeah. And then going and going back to historic minds that maybe for lack of technology, or just lack of will or reasons, but maybe now because there’s such a demand, there’s an appetite to go back to those.

Pierre Leveille 18:33
Yes, but there will be a lot of failures into that for many reasons. But the ones that will be in that will resume mining it’s just going to be a short term temporary solution. No it’s it’s not going to be you need to find deposit that will that will operate 50 years you know at least it’s 25 to 50 years at least and an old mind that you do in production in general it’s less than 10 years.

george grombacher 19:03
Got it. Oh there we go. Up here. People are ready for your difference making tip What do you have for them

Pierre Leveille 19:14
You mean an investment or

george grombacher 19:17
whatever you’re into, you’ve got so much life experience with raising a family and doing business all over the world and having your kids go to school in Africa so a tip on copper or whatever you’re into.

Pierre Leveille 19:34
But there’s two things I like to see and I was telling my children many times and I always said you know don’t focus on what will bring you specifically money don’t think of Getting Rich. Think of doing what you what you like, what you feel your your your your your, you know you have been born to do so use your most you skills, do what you like, do what you wet well, and good things will happen to you. And I can see them grow in their life. And I can tell you that this is what happens. And sometimes you have setback like I had recently. But if we do things properly, if we do things that we like, and we liked that project, we were very passionate about that project, not only me, all my team, and if we do things properly, if we do things correctly, good things will happen. And we will probably get the project back had to go forward or we will find another big project that will be the launch of a new era. So that’s my most important tip in life. Do what you like, do it with your best scale and do it well and good things will happen.

george grombacher 20:49
Pierre Leveille 21:03
Thank you. I was happy to be with you to today.

george grombacher 21:06
Damn, tell us the websites and where where people can connect and find you.

Pierre Leveille 21:13
The it’s Deep South resources.com. So pretty simple.

george grombacher 21:18
Perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show up here your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciate good ideas, go to deep south resources, calm and learn all about what they’re working on and track their progress.

Pierre Leveille 21:32
Thanks. Thanks, have a nice day.

george grombacher 21:36
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.