A creation never needs permission from the creator to do what is created to do.
Hello and welcome to the very first episode of the Stand Up Dude podcast.
I am one of your hosts, Stewart White, along with my host Tim Bisagno.
And if you came across this podcast, you probably found us a few different ways.
Possibly an ad, possibly you were on social media, maybe you were just searching for podcasts,
but either way. So many ways. Yeah. You could have found.
We are so stoked to have you here. And we want to dive right into answer some questions,
because maybe your first question is what is a stand up dude? I know a lot of you are probably
wondering that very thing. So Tim, can you just hit it right away, just go right for it?
Well a Stand Up Dude is a man being the man that he's created to be. You know, I've just seen
that in today's culture, it's bold and potentially offensive to call a man to be a man.
The part that has just pushed me to want to make this thing happen here is just considering the,
what I'm calling the emasculating lies that many young people are being led to believe as
truth air quotes about manhood. A stand up dude is really the guy that's willing to risk
to stand up and to be the man that he's created to be.
Well, I know some guys might listen to podcasts or hear guys where they'll hear a lot of like
calling men out, like just shaming them mostly. And they just say things that kind of are meant
to motivate, but often they just kind of maybe emasculate even further. What makes us different?
Yeah. First of all, nobody that I know likes being called out. So a stand up dude isn't calling
men out instead were calling men forward. Stand up dudes are really just a resolution of
called men forward, men that are called forward who are willing with with God's help. And there ain't no
way to do it without it to do the work to discover to to uncover or even rediscover the man that
they're created to be. We don't necessarily have to have this big revolution then. Right.
I think maybe that's the thing people get tripped up on is I know for me, I'll find something
and think I have to go all in and it's all or nothing. And if I don't do this hardcore, then
somehow I'm going to fail. And we're not really doing that. We're trying to create a process that
is realistic, that is actually achievable so that you can have real success and not just temporary
success. Yeah. Stand up dude isn't something to be confused with a revolution or even
a movement. It's not a revolution but rather we don't need a revolution but what we do need
is a resolution. We need men that have made a resolute decision in spite of the cost to stand up
and literally speak up and be the man that they're created to be. A stand up dude has decided
to stand what he's going to stand on, what he's going to stand for, and what he's going to stand with.
And that is the truth of God's word which graciously ends up in boldening that dude to actually be
that man that he's created to be. That is really interesting to me. Those three characteristics
standing on, standing for and standing with. And it's not just anything though, it's the truth
of God's word. I know there's going to be some people listening to us and they're going to think,
well I don't want your God, I don't want your religion. How would we even approach that with them?
Yeah, that's a great question. When we first started, the best way to explain it is
vitrall comes to mind when we put these ads out and trying to encourage young men to be the man
that they're created to be. And then we end up fairly quickly letting them know in order to be the man
you're created to be, you got a man, you got to start by first knowing your creator. And that's when
the rubber hits the road and guys just get ticked off. They're like, how can you tell me that I am
not a man? If I don't worship your fake God and you want to be a prophet, teacher guy, you guys
called Jesus that supposedly resurrected from the dead and somehow offers you guys to live for
you joking me. Are you telling me that I can't be a man if I don't believe that? That was a lot.
Yeah. The first day out of a gate. And so that's why I said, considering or even potentially telling
young men the truth, it could be seen as quite offensive. And so we're just encouraging young men,
we're inviting young men to seek the truth with personal honesty. That means looking inside.
That means we invite them to stand for the truth in integrity and share actually the truth in
love, key, sharing the truth in love. We think that I understand that only by really just knowing Jesus,
the Jesus of the Bible of God's Word, can we see the incredibly balanced model of masculinity,
of masculine conviction and the resolute strength met with an indescribable compassion and love.
These young men were inviting them to see Jesus, to recognize him for the man, the model of
masculinity that he is that represented and gave us such an incredible balance of masculine conviction
and resolute strength yet met incredibly with an indescribable compassion and love.
Just by really just by emulating Jesus and the trunist that he lived to his core, to do the hard stuff
at the cost of being misunderstood and eventually canceled to death by bucking the norm.
Well, today stand up, dude, can truly once and for all, as we've mentioned, no, finally, what he
stands on, what he stands for and who he stands with. That's so good. I literally just had a
conversation with a group of guys and I know the common thing is people will look at Jesus and they'll
think that's not a very masculine man because the way he's been portrayed is like long flowing,
blonde hair. He looks like he's wearing a dress and he's always super soft spoken and everything.
I was like, that's not the biblical model of Jesus that we see. Now, he isn't this extreme,
wrestling bears. He is the god of the universe. This is what the Bible teaches. If this offends you,
we want to ask you, why does that offend you? Maybe you think it's offending your intelligence,
but maybe there's something deeper at play and knowing that he is the god of the universe become a man
who humbled himself, joined us. He's familiar with us, right? He's familiar with our weaknesses.
And he took on the sins of the world on the cross. We always praise these men who can do great feats
and amazing efforts and things like that. But at the same time, we tend to look at Jesus and not
really be that impressed. And I used to be that way. I used to not be that impressed. If I read the
Bible and be like, I'm more impressed with guys like Paul. Paul was kicking butt. Paul was doing things.
He was amazing. Love me some David too. Yeah. Yeah. David. He's slaying giants. We want the heroes.
But we miss it. And we're like, oh, this Jesus guy. Hold on. He bore the sins on the cross. He
died one of the most brutal deaths you could die. And according to what the Bible says, he took sin
and death upon himself. And he bore that hour sin the entire world. There's no greater strength,
no greater feat than anyone's ever accomplished. Oh, yeah, man. You know, stand for, stand on and
stand with. I just wanted to remind anybody listening that a stand up dude really, he stands with
God, yes. But he also stands with other men. I want to read you a verse. There's a couple right here
that are life changing to me. Go for it. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Don't be terrified or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. That's Joshua
one nine. A stand up dude knows who he's standing with. He's standing with God. But we're going to get
here to this other men part in a second. But the godly courage that we're speaking of is far less
about your bravery and far more about knowing God is with you. That's what's up. My favorite verse,
which is always just burning at least in the background. If not right in front of me is is
Hebrews 13 5 and 6. Check this out. For he, God himself has said, I will not in any way
fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not. I will not. I will not in any degree
leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down or relax my hold upon you. So we take comfort
and we're encouraged encouraged. It's like courage inside. We are encouraged and confidently and
boldly say the Lord is my helper. I will not be seized with alarm. Such that if that's true and it is
what can what can man do to us? What can what can we not do with with with God's power with God's
conviction with God's truth in our heart and his light in our eyes? That is so good. I love the fact that
that version there it just digs into the real confidence. Yeah, that courage, it's not courage that's
just made up inside of yourself. It actually is the courage that comes with like if you have that
bigger stronger brother or something when you're a little kid, you've got the big guy on your side.
In this case we have the very God of the universe who's saying I'm there. I've got you. I'm not letting
you go. And I think so many guys that's where they're at. They're angry. They're fed up and frustrated
with life because they feel like somebody has disappointed them, failed them. Maybe it's their father,
maybe it's their friends, maybe the family they were born into or their job or whatever to know that
there is a God who actually loves them, who actually cares for them. This is what real courage comes
from. You can face those things I mentioned because you've got that. Oh yeah. That the verse about him
never leaving us or forsaking us. That truth is always refining my resolve to be the man that I'm
created to be. But the cool thing is and we're getting to this is we don't do it alone. That's just
the, that's just for me way I'm built. And I think all men are even if they don't like to admit that.
We don't like to do it alone. We can run our families. We can run our businesses. We can run just all
kind of things. And sometimes it's a lot of pressure and we can feel all alone. But God doesn't expect
nor even want us to to ever stand here on this earth alone. There's something magical that happens
when we stand with other men. Men are created to stand with other men. And that's just why we've created
this resolution of stand up, dude, for men. There's no need to stand alone. I just want to say something
in all my, in all my years, I've seen God being very, very patient with me. He's just so good, so good.
We know from scripture, he just doesn't wait forever, you know, he just doesn't. So right now we feel
at stand up, dude, that God is waiting. Certainly, also we also feel that culture, culture is waiting
for men to stand up. And you know what I have learned in the last three to four years,
as I have really, this has been on my heart, all the women that I talk to about what we're doing,
the women are waiting for men and young men to stand up and be the man that God created them to be.
And as we strongly feel that men are waiting. And perhaps, you know, what we're waiting for is maybe
permission to be men, but a creation man, a creation us, a creation never needs permission from the
creator to do what it was created to do. It was just set and made to do what it was created and
designed by the creator to do. But we don't do it alone. Our creator not only does not create us
and set us on the floor and say, get going. No, he teaches us how to walk and he walks with us as well.
I love that. It feels like something to me in there that rings true is that we men tend to wait and
we wait and we want a hero, but we tend to put our focus on another hero. Or we just wait and you
see a lot of men sit around and just do nothing. And it's equally as devastating. Men doing the wrong
thing or doing nothing at all. And we think, well, if I just hold back, I'm going to be in a place that's
safe. I love that you said that the creation never needs permission from its creator to do what the
creator made it to do in the first place. I feel like a lot of us are sitting back maybe waiting,
like thinking, I need permission. But that's not the case. That's truly how I perceive culture,
especially young men. This is not a judgment of unyoung men. I'm here, have created a stand-up
dude out of my love and incredible empathy for young men. I have sons and praise God that they
do walk in their masculinity and their giftings that God has made them. They're both very different
from each other and they're both amazing them. And it's just something that I have seen. I wasn't sure
I was going to go here, but let me just explain something. So I recently told a young man when he
asked me, why are you doing this? And I said, let's call him Joe. I said, Joe, from my experience,
I'm viewing today's young male population. And it's a little bit like they are in the in the
cattle. They're the frog in the cattle and the water has been slowly turned up on them their whole
life. It's not default. They didn't turn up the water. I'm just this is by perspective seeing it.
It's like they're in this pot and culture has slowly turned this thing up and they don't necessarily
per se understand the water that they are in. And he asked, well, why do you care? Like, well, I care
because it's important for you to not boil in this culture that tells you you're not allowed to
be a man. And it's like, what, Tim? Like what? Like, well, gosh, like some of the just watch the
commercials on television. The man is always the idiot. The husband is always the lazy buffoon
that's uninformed almost every time. And I'm just like, that's just a piece of the culture that you
guys have grown up in and that you might not notice because you were born into it. If you're born
into a blue room, you kind of think everything's blue. And that's probably because it is. And tell you
realize, not the whole world isn't that what was not created to be just blue. I just am here to to kind
of hold a mirror up and say, hey, hey, hey, you're created for more than this. And you don't need permission.
The Lord has given you a significant calling. And that is to be the man that you are created to be.
And guess what? It's not always easy. So matter of fact, it is hard. Yeah. So matter of fact, men do
the hard stuff. And that's why he's giving you this calling because he knows you can do it. Yeah,
I'm passionate about seeing young men walk into their purpose and live out their calling and be the
man that they're created to be. So something I'm picking up on in what you said before was,
it sounds like you're saying, men, they don't have to do this alone. They're not left to themselves.
But they have other men and they have their creator there. One man at a time, I like to think of it as
with men together. It's kind of like iron, a sharpened iron. You know that verse, it's you use steel to
sharpen steel and one friend sharpens another in proverbs. Sparks can fly when you use steel to sharpen
steel, but a friend sharpens another. And that's what we have here. Another verse straight out of
of proverbs. It says, faithful are the wounds of a friend who corrects out of love and concern.
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. I grew up kind of hurt hearing that one, but I looked it
up today. And there's this other translation. Check this out. It's called the EXB. It says, the slap
or bruises of a friend can be trusted to help you. But the kisses of an enemy are nothing but lies.
Oh boy. That's a good one. That is a good one. We're here to graciously slap each other.
It's silly. Wake us up and be the man that we're creating to be. And those slaps or bruises can be
the faithful wounds of a friend who corrects and and loves because of their concern. So we have
heard that iron sharpens iron. And it would seem that it's kind of implying like as one man,
iron sharpens iron, it says so one sharpens another. There's almost this like danger or benefit
if you're not being sharpened your dull, right? Yeah. If you are being sharpened now your
precision instrument, perhaps like a scalpel like the scalpel in the hands of a master surgeon is
useful. But a dull scalpel or a dull knife, a dull man can be dangerous, right? Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, just use a dull pocket knife and try to cut something your the user use is probably going
to get cut. Yep. And worst cuts I've ever had have been on dull knives. Yeah, that's what they
that's what they say. I've cleaned a few deer and had to change blades halfway through and if you
don't change it up, you're gonna cut your neck. Yeah, we got a lot of dull men out there. But as
you're sharpening sparks fly, right? Yeah, just like on the iron sharpening iron. But in a healthy way,
it's sharpening them up. Yeah. So really what that is looking like is God is calling men forward,
right? He's calling men to be useful for the purpose he made them. Yes, yes, absolutely. God is calling
them really forward to today to sharpen their minds and strengthen their hearts with this butter
like to edged sword of truth of who God says that you are and living into your purpose for your life.
There are listeners out there that don't know personally this this Jesus that we've spoken of.
If you would love we would love for you to go to standupdude.com/standup and then you'll see
something else that I think is just super helpful there that will give you a great growth path to be
able to help you grow and lean and begin to wear this great armor, this great fitting, this just clothes,
your favorite shirt, your best pants, your shoes you love, the socks you like to wear with it,
everything custom made for your likeness and for what makes you tick to grow into what God has created
you to be. You can find those tools, those specific things that will help you be that man at standupdude.com/be-more.
We encourage you guys to go check out those links. They'll also be in the show notes if you didn't
write them down. So Tim finally, what does a standup dude actually look like? Oh, there's a greatest
verse. It's in first Corinthians 16, 13, 14. It describes it as to be watchful. Stand firm in the
faith. Act like men. Be strong and let all that you do be done and love. Whoa, those first four
pieces just feel like kind of like chest beaters like well, be watchful. Stand firm in the faith.
Act like man. Be strong. Oh, and then it ends with and let all that you do be done and love. Yeah,
it tempers it doesn't it. It does, doesn't it? And that's what it looks like to be standup dude.
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us on this very first episode of the standupdude podcast.
If you have more questions or your interest in learning more, go to the links we mentioned. They'll
be in the show notes and also drop us a line. You can do that at the website as well. We'd love to hear
from you. We'd love to answer your questions or even take your hate mail because we believe that
Jesus is big enough and the gospel is strong enough to handle even your objections. So thank you guys
for listening and tune in for the next episode soon. Yeah, do that. We'd love to see you.
[Music]