Alright, well, welcome to The Training Room. The first episode of The Training Room where we will work out in God's Word, grow in God's grace and live for God's glory. My name is Ryan Limbaugh and I am a host of The Training Room along with Cole Limbaugh. Yes, I am old enough to be Cole's dad, but I am not tall enough or slender enough. We are technically cousins, our grandfathers are brothers.
Ryan Limbaugh:But ironically, Cole and I did not know one another for the first twenty two years of his life and then we got acquainted with one another through the fellowship of Christian athletes and what we found is that there is one clear thing that binds our hearts together, more so than the blood that's running through our veins is the power of the word of God in our lives, in our love for God's word, our love for Christ, and our desire to grow. And he and I have shared an iron on iron relationship. Proverbs 2seven 17 says, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens the countenance of his friend. And Cole and I have experienced that in a tremendous way over the last ten years or so. And so, we are fired up to be able to host a podcast in which we're gonna grow together in God's Word, and Lord willing in His grace, and live more excellently for His glory.
Ryan Limbaugh:So, welcome, Cole.
Cole Limbaugh:Amen. Amen. I'm super fired up to be here.
Ryan Limbaugh:So, we wanna really just introduce the show on this first episode. What are we about? What are we doing? Why are we doing it? And I think one way to do that is for us to kind of talk a little bit about who we are, and how have we gotten to the place that we wanted to create a podcast and produce something that other people can participate in.
Ryan Limbaugh:And it really goes back, Cole, to what I've already said, and it's really the power of the Word of God in our own lives. Mhmm. And, I would just launch out and give a brief testimony about it in my life. I'm so privileged to have grown up in family that went to church every Sunday and was able to participate in a lot of wonderful things. The reciting of the Apostles Creed, the reciting of the Lord's Prayer, the taking of communion, singing awesome hymns, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
Ryan Limbaugh:I mean, God was using every one of those types of things to implant into me truth about himself. But it was the word of God that came to me as a high school student, sitting on a rolled up wrestling mat inside the field house, what is Bill Cullenback Field House, and a guy from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, that guy's named Mark Jackson came from a couple of hours away and shared a message from the word of God, from Judges chapter six and seven, where an angel of the Lord shows up to this guy named Gideon. And he and he says, Gideon, I'm gonna I'm gonna use you to defeat the Midianites so that Israel can prosper. And Gideon is a reluctant leader. And as Mark told this story from the word of God, I've never heard it before, and I'm just finding myself leaning forward, and leaning forward, and leaning forward, just like, what's gonna happen next?
Ryan Limbaugh:What's gonna happen next? And, you know, if you're familiar with the story of Gideon, he goes from being a reluctant leader to a valiant warrior in a in a god honoring way so that the crescendo of the story, it was the sword of the lord and for Gideon. And and ultimately, Mark pointed us to the greater Gideon, Jesus Christ. Amen. And and he said, look, Jesus was not a reluctant leader for god and his people, but rather he willingly came and led and and he and he's calling some of you to be leaders as well.
Ryan Limbaugh:And God used his word that day to transform my mind and my heart and my life, and to really call me into this this transformative relationship with him. And a couple of years later, I'm playing college baseball, and I'm a part of the FCA program at Central Alabama and there's this bible study on the off weeks. And Cole, we're studying Revelation chapter three and we we get to that last letter to the church at Laodicea and our coach who was the volunteer huddle coach had put this printout and had the text of scripture on there, and we're reading about how Jesus says to the church at Laodicea, hey, I wish you were hot, like really on fire for me. Or I wish you were cold, like that you really, you know, you didn't know me yet, but you're lukewarm. You're just like in this mediocre average neutral state as it relates your relationship with me and because you are lukewarm, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth.
Ryan Limbaugh:Yeah. And also this, the coach actually had a 10 scale on there, had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten And and he said, just be honest with yourself before the Lord about where you are in your relationship with the Lord Jesus. How on fire for him? How cold are you? And, man, I I circled the number seven very proudly.
Ryan Limbaugh:And I said, I just looked around me and I'm like, well, think more than on he is, not as much as she is. I feel pretty good about a And seven right then he put in there, listen, if you put one to two, you're cold. If you put eight, nine or 10, like you're hot, like you are hot for Christ and you're growing, but if you're in that three to seven range, you're lukewarm. Yeah. And that scared me.
Ryan Limbaugh:And and it alarmed me and it inspired me. And it was that moment that God used the letter to the Laodiceans to say, I'm going all in. It's either all out or it's all in and I'm going all in. And he used Revelation three to do that. And then, I was I started dating this girl named Jamie after I transferred to over to Huntington College, and I was driving an hour and fifteen minutes to go, like, take her out on a date maybe once a week, like on a Saturday night.
Ryan Limbaugh:And on my way back home one night, I'm hitting scan on the radio in my little Honda Accord, and it lands on preaching that is explaining the meaning of the Bible. Yeah. And it was the gospel of Mark. And man, hit stop right there, I wanna listen to more of that. And he's just like, explaining verse 14, and then explaining verse 15, and then explaining verse 16, and I'm just like, wow, I didn't know that's what that meant.
Ryan Limbaugh:And he's drawing connections to other passages of scripture that help illuminate, shine light on the meaning of this passage here, and it just, it set my heart aflame for understanding the word of God. Mhmm. And it was just a, it was a powerful moment in my life. And then, it's about three years after that, 2001, and Jamie and I have gotten married, and we are visiting regularly and participating in a local church, and the pastor's name was Bob. And Bob invited me to do a Bible study with him on Thursday mornings at 06:00 and he said, we're gonna study the book of first Peter and we studied and prayed from 6AM to 9AM for nine months every Thursday morning.
Ryan Limbaugh:And that, I'd never studied the Bible before. And it was taking it section by section and reading it over and over, praying that God would show us what it means, taking it like, not just verse by verse, but phrase by phrase. Yeah. And us drawing conclusions, and then ultimate applications from that, that God meant He just put me on fire for the power of His Word because in that book of one Peter, and you know it very well, He covers a lot of territory, including being a great husband. Yeah.
Ryan Limbaugh:And I was really convicted by the Word of God about how I was being a husband to my wife, Jamie. And how to learn how to live with her in an understanding way. And that really had a powerful impact on me, is like the value of knowing the Word of God, so that I can know the God of the Word and what He values. So that's my testimony of like four snapshots of why the Training Room, think So, is what about yourself? What brings you here?
Ryan Limbaugh:What made you say, yeah, let's do this?
Cole Limbaugh:Yeah, very similar testimony as far as I grew up in the church, same family, and had a dad who is a pastor, been a pastor for forty years. So long before I was born. And now he he's a coach. He became a coach when I was in the eighth grade. So I saw in my dad and in my mom, he wasn't just preaching God's word on Sunday and then living a different life, you know, throughout the week.
Cole Limbaugh:Not a perfect man, but by God's grace. You know, I grew up in a home where I hear God's word preached and then I see a man and a woman who are living in accordance with God's word striving for holiness and obedience. So I grew up knowing a lot about the Lord. I had a head knowledge. I could recite some script scriptures and tell you some Bible stories.
Cole Limbaugh:But for the first seventeen years of my life, I was professing what I didn't possess. You know, if you asked me if I was a Christian, I would say yes. So I'm putting out this appearance that I've got it all together, that I'm walking with the Lord. I had some of the right answers, but deep down, the only God I served was whatever ball was in season. Yeah.
Cole Limbaugh:I loved all the sports, baseball, basketball, football, played all those growing up. But really it was my senior year that the Lord began to expose how I knew about his word, but I did not have his word in me. I did not have his spirit in me. So I'm walking through my senior year and from the outside looking in, it probably it probably appeared that everything was great. I had played all the sports, but baseball was my best.
Cole Limbaugh:I signed a scholarship to play division one baseball that November, and that was a lifelong pursuit. So I got that going for me. I show it to my first game against my rival school that spring. And there's 12 major league scouts at the game to watch me pitch. Ended up getting drafted shortly after high school graduation by the Mets.
Cole Limbaugh:So athletically, all these things are going great. I was in a great family. I had, I guess, popularity, good grades at school. But in that season, Ryan, felt hopeless. Wow.
Cole Limbaugh:Broken. I felt unfulfilled. And it was really the Lord bringing me to the end of myself to help me realize I knew about His word, but I didn't have His word in me. So, you know, was chasing all the wrong things in all the wrong places drinking from the well of this world and I was drinking it dry and it never satisfied. And it was just I remember the day vividly and I'm driving down the road and I decided to turn on Christian radio.
Cole Limbaugh:And I'm driving down the road. I'm listening. And it's in that moment that I realized I need the gospel. Like I need this man, Jesus. I'd heard about my whole life, knew about him, but had no relationship with him.
Cole Limbaugh:And it was in that moment I believe that that God gave me new life, brought me to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that began really my spiritual journey of growing in the word. So just a few months later, I'm at Stanford University, I'm playing baseball there. And I thought, hey Christians read the Bible. So that's what I gotta do.
Cole Limbaugh:And I said, I'm gonna read the Bible in a year. And then I would wake up early in the morning and I'm just reading through the Bible. I just started in Genesis, made my way through Revelation. And then we had a Bible study with our team. We had some seniors on the team who were great leaders who love the Lord.
Cole Limbaugh:And that was the first time that outside of my home, I had people pour into me that iron sharpening iron and just getting into God's word growing together. And as they graduated, it was now kind of me and another teammate to kind of take the lead in that and begin leading that Bible study. So God's word just began to transform my life. And then throughout that time, similar to your story is when I really began learning how to study book by book and verse by verse. And as you and I got acquainted with one another and that relationship began to grow, that God's word has just been the catalyst.
Cole Limbaugh:And as you were sharing your testimony, it just stood out to me that, you know, the gospel, the word of God isn't just what saves us in that justification sense, but it's what sanctifies us. Like God's word isn't just something that touches us way back when, but it's the very thing that sustains our spiritual life day by day by day.
Ryan Limbaugh:Oh man, that's exactly right. We can give testimony upon testimony of that. And the truth is, Cole, you and I, as much as God has done in our life, as much as He's transformed our hearts and given us a perspective to love our spouses, to care for our kids, to serve in the church, and we're very imperfect people. Yeah. And we I have sin that I have to try to kill.
Ryan Limbaugh:I have persistent sin sometimes. I look up, what am I doing? Yeah. You know? And so, while God's Word has been incredibly impactful for us, we also know that it is incredibly important for us to continue to put ourselves under the authority of it where it is revealing light where there are dark places in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives.
Ryan Limbaugh:And I think that's crucial for every Christian, and it's very critical for me and my life. I would just say, I don't know if it was D. O. Moody or Who said, you know, this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. But I've found that to be true in my own life.
Ryan Limbaugh:Well, vision for The Training Room and the reason it's called The Training Room is not because Cole and Ryan wanna start another podcast so that we can just sit on some chairs and talk it up and Yeah. See what's going on in our lives and catch up and as fun as that would be, and it would be fun Yeah. And hopefully would even be edifying. I feel like Cole and I realize may maybe there's not a huge need for that kind of podcast as much as there's a huge need for us to grow, to get stronger in God's word. I mean, I found a lot of times in my ministry is I engage in things that are gonna make me better.
Ryan Limbaugh:I'm gonna engage in things that make me stronger. And if it makes me better, if it makes me stronger, it's gonna help other people Mhmm. Be better and be stronger. And so that's really the vision for this is that we want to come into the training room and we want to do some heavy lifting.
Cole Limbaugh:That's
Ryan Limbaugh:right. Now we want to do it in a way that if you're going on a thirty minute run, a little five ks run and you can listen to it and be edified by it. Yep. But, we also wanna do it in a way that if you wanna grow in your ability to study God's word, to read it and to understand it and to apply it to your life, you can sit down with an open Bible, with a with a journal in your hand, with a with a pen, and you can walk with us through the workouts of the word and you can strengthen your muscles. I remember when I was first starting working out, it was my seventh grade year and you could play football for the school in the seventh grade.
Ryan Limbaugh:And so, got access to the weight room down in the bottom of the gym at Childersburg High School and I walked in and there are all these guys working out and they're strong and here I am, I've never worked out in my life and guys are doing dips and there are these dip bars that are about six foot tall. So, you gotta have to like hold your arms up here and jump up there and you lock your arms out like this and you go down to do dips and they they work out your triceps and your shoulders and your chest, know. And I'm like, man, that looks I've never seen that before. It was my turn and I get up there and I go to do my first dip. And alright, so I'm locked out like this and then, and then I go down, and I get down here, I'm like Like, literally can't go with it.
Ryan Limbaugh:I get so tired that I fall to the ground. I don't know if you ever had that experience, but it took me about two and a half weeks before I could do a dip. Yeah. A real dip. But what did I do?
Ryan Limbaugh:I went into the weight room every day and I got there up on that bar and I just kept working at it until finally I get down and I eke out that thing. You know? And so, I got to the point where I could do 30 dips, you know, over the because course of I got stronger and I got better. And I think working out in God's Word, training in God's Word is that way. And I use that illustration very specifically because, Cole, there's gotta be people who listen to this and watch this who are just like me and just like you.
Ryan Limbaugh:Where the truth is, is that they've never really experienced the transformative power of studying God's word. Yeah. They might have even gone to about five bible studies, but but it ends up being more like a book study or a book talk or Yeah. This is what I think or I'm kinda hoping, you know, and it but they really haven't been trained and equipped and empowered to do it. And so, I think that that's what this is all about.
Ryan Limbaugh:You know, our tagline is gonna be working out in God's Word, growing in God's grace. Because when when we when we work out in God's word, we're gonna see Christ. Yep. We're gonna see his love and his mercy and his power flood us in a way that we're gonna become more aware recipients of His grace, and then ultimately, we're gonna be dealers of His grace.
Cole Limbaugh:Mhmm.
Ryan Limbaugh:We're gonna be doling it out to our family members, our friends, our church members, the Word of God is having that transformative power in our lives. So, working out in God's Word, growing in God's grace, and living for God's glory. Because at the end of the day, the chief end of man, the chief end of Ryan, the chief end of Cole, the chief end of you is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. So that's really what this is about. That's right.
Ryan Limbaugh:When I think about why do we need the training room? We're in
Cole Limbaugh:the athletic world. We work in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Our life, God, what He did was kind of through the vehicle of sport. And we see in the athletic world the need. Were a seventh grader trying to make a football team and you were exposed that, hey, I gotta get stronger.
Cole Limbaugh:You know, so we go into the training room as athletes and we know deep down, I've got to see some things broken down in order that they're actually built back stronger. Right? When you get under that weight, that bar, you're bench pressing, you're squatting, you're doing those curls, the reality is you're in training to say, I'm going to prepare my body to grow, to be strengthened. If you're a runner, you know, you got to run farther. You got to run faster in order to be strengthened.
Cole Limbaugh:Right? So we see the training room in that way. But you know, if we're being honest, Ryan, there's times where I was competing in the sense of, you know, high school, college sports, I had people tell me, you're gonna go into the training room. Wow. You know?
Cole Limbaugh:Maybe you grew up in a Christian home and and and you learn the catechisms and you you you're kind of, hey, we go to church on Sundays. That's what we do. But at some point in time, I put that playing cap, took my cleats off for the last time, and then it was, hey am I going to keep stewarding my body? Am I going to keep going to this training room? And you have a decision to make.
Cole Limbaugh:Are you going to go into the spiritual training room on a regular basis? And the reality is there's times I've went into that training room physically and it felt a lot like duty. You know, I ought to do this. You know, I don't really feel like it, but I know I ought to do this. There's times it feels a lot more like a discipline.
Cole Limbaugh:I need this. I've seen what this has done for my health. I've seen how this is improving as an athlete and I need it. And man, there's those times that aren't they sweet where it's a delight. And I guess not always the easiest thing, but man, you you get down with that run and it's just like, man, praise God.
Cole Limbaugh:That was awesome. You get down with that workout and like you genuinely delight in it. And guys, I just want to tell you, there's gonna be some times in your life where you go into that spiritual training room and you're you're working out in God's Word and it might feel a lot more like like a duty. Yeah. I'm doing this because I I need to.
Cole Limbaugh:I know I ought to do this. There's times it's that discipline of it's just, hey, this is this is what I'm gonna do. I need God's Word in my life. Need God's grace in my life. But Ryan, ain't it just sweet in those moments where we're delighting in God's word.
Cole Limbaugh:And I guess my encouragement to you is, guys as an athlete, whatever you're training for, maybe your job, like you understand training. And you know that even in those seasons you've to press in and you've got to persevere. And what do you see on the other side? You see that growth. You go from doing one and a half dips to doing 30 dips.
Cole Limbaugh:And man, when you get in the training room of God's Word, it's so true. Like we want to be in those seasons of delight. But if you're not there right now, I just want to encourage you, don't give up. Press in. Keep getting to that Training Room and God is going to grow you by the grace of His Word.
Ryan Limbaugh:Yeah. Yeah, it's such an excellent Word. One of the ways that we're going to do this, and really the chief way, is what I would call, and others have called a basic Bible study method. It's what we're going to employ. This is not going to be complex, complicated, it's something that everybody can follow.
Ryan Limbaugh:If you're 10 years old and you love the Lord, you can follow this. If you're 90 years old and love the Lord, you can you can follow this. It's it's a basic method of observation, interpretation, application. Mhmm. There are a lot of people that don't understand, or are not familiar with those terms as it relates to the Bible.
Ryan Limbaugh:Yeah. So, observation. What are we doing? We're putting on our glasses, so to speak, our spiritual glasses, and we're gonna read the Bible, and we're gonna observe what we see. Yep.
Ryan Limbaugh:Like, what do I see? Who is this talking about? Who is this writing? Who are the recipients? Right?
Ryan Limbaugh:What is the subject? As I read this through a couple of times, what is the, what is this writer talking about? Like, why? What is even the purpose of this writing? What seems to be the major impetus behind why this writer is even writing these words?
Ryan Limbaugh:What is repeated? Like, he seems to be talking about the same thing over and over and over again as we walk through this. Why is he doing that? Why is that such a big deal? And should that be a big deal in my life?
Cole Limbaugh:That's right.
Ryan Limbaugh:And the more questions that we ask, who, what, where, why, how, more questions that we ask, here's the thing, is that the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, and the people of God collectively, helps us to arrive at a very solid interpretation. What does interpretation mean? It means understanding the point of the passage. Mhmm. Understanding the meaning.
Ryan Limbaugh:And this is where I think a lot of people kind of, a lot of Christians think, I don't know that I have that ability. Right. And this is what I want to say. If you've got the spirit of God, and you've got the word of God, you have the ability to understand the word of God, to know what it means, and ultimately how it applies in your life. Do not buy the lie of the enemy who is prowling around saying, hey, leave that Bible study thing to the experts.
Ryan Limbaugh:Yeah. But listen, listen, God's given us all His spirit, He's given us all His word, and we have the ability to know what it means. And so we're gonna arrive at a meaning of the passage, and then we're gonna turn around and we're gonna do this thing that we call head, heart, hands. Head, heart, hands. Okay.
Ryan Limbaugh:What does God want us to know from this passage? Yeah. What are some truths that we can hang our hat on and say, this is true about God. This is true about me. This is true about life.
Ryan Limbaugh:This is true about the people that I want to know Jesus the way that I know Jesus. Alright? And then, what does he want me to feel? Like, in my heart, what is he stirring inside my emotions that that create, you know, like for an example, a deeper affection for Jesus. Mhmm.
Ryan Limbaugh:Or a stronger love for my friend. Yeah. Or a stronger desire to train my children in the way of the Lord, or whatever the case And may then, hands. That's just an illustrative way to say, what does He want me to do? Like, I gonna walk this thing out in a very practical way?
Ryan Limbaugh:Because here's what I think is the cool thing, and I do think it's cool about Cole, about you and me, is like, man, we love theology. Yeah. I love theology because theology is the foundation of my life. Yeah. But, we're also pretty practical, you know, and we're, I think we're, we would be called doers, You know, it's a, I can't remember, I think it was like an art, a theological argument between this guy and this guy and their camps, the one guy said, well, I like the way that we're doing it better than the way that you're not doing it.
Ryan Limbaugh:And he's talking about evangelism, you know? Yeah. So, he was a doer. Yep. He loved theology but he wanted to go out and work that thing out.
Ryan Limbaugh:And I think that's what we want to do, too. We want to be practically helpful to our own lives and our own souls and to those who are a part of the Training Room.
Cole Limbaugh:So when we think about observation guys, the key question here is not yet. What does the text mean? And I think far often that's what we're rushing off into. That observation, the key question is simply what does the text say? What does God's Word say?
Cole Limbaugh:And when we really slow down and ask these questions, you're talking about the who, the what, the when, the where, what type of literature is this? Who's the author? What time period is this? What's the context surrounding it? When we slow down and ask that question, what does the text say?
Cole Limbaugh:Now we can ask the question in the interpretation, what does the text mean? And when we slow down, really good observation is what leads to correct interpretation. And then application is simply, well how do I live this out? I've observed these things in God's word. I've spent some time there.
Cole Limbaugh:Now I've I've I've asked the question, what does this mean? I've I've prayed for God's elimination through the Holy Spirit. I've asked these questions. Maybe I've gotten a little bit outside help. And here's what this text means.
Cole Limbaugh:And man, now I'm gonna go out today. I'm gonna live it. And you know, Rhino, when you think about the head, the heart, and the hands, for me, there's a there's a word that we don't like in this part of the world that I think is the key thing that takes it from our head to our heart and it's meditation. You know, we often think meditation is an emptying. You know, it's getting in a posture and I'm emptying myself of all thoughts.
Cole Limbaugh:That's not biblical meditation. Biblical meditation is a feeling. It's a feeling of God's Word. It's a thinking on God's Word. As the scriptures say day and night when you rise and when you go about and when you lie down, like we're constantly thinking on God's Word.
Cole Limbaugh:That's the key thing that takes it from our mind to our heart. And as God does that surgical thing, as we get into this training room and He begins to change our heart, man, that's when we're gonna go out and run the play and live for God's glory.
Ryan Limbaugh:Well, the Apostle Paul had a mentee, he was a mentor, he had a mentee named Timothy. And he had spent some time in the training room with Timothy. And Timothy had been in the training room with his mother and his grandmother even before that, being trained up in the Word of God. But when the Apostle Paul is writing back to Timothy to remind him of the most important things, He says, now Timothy, you need to remember this, that all scripture is breathed out by God and is useful for teaching, for reproving, for correcting and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully equipped for every good work. That's our conviction.
Cole Limbaugh:That's it.
Ryan Limbaugh:That's what that's what we believe about the Bible. That's what we believe about what the Bible has done and is doing progressively in our own life. And that's what The Training Room is all about. It is all about experiencing the transformative work. He he actually told Timothy elsewhere that listen, like physical working out, the training room with the weights and doing the dips, man, that has some good value to it.
Ryan Limbaugh:Yeah. But godliness has value not only for this life, but for the life to come. And the chief way to gain godliness is the word of God, the spirit of God, and the people of God together growing and working out and getting stronger together by his grace.
Cole Limbaugh:That's exactly what we want to invite you guys to be a part of. Man, we're not extraordinary people. No. But we serve an extraordinary God. Yes.
Cole Limbaugh:And we just want to invite you guys to come into the Training Room, not because we're special people, but because is a special word. And yeah, we're on this journey with you. Hey, we're entering the training room on a regular basis and we want to ask you to enter the training room with us and invite your friends. And we're looking forward to
Ryan Limbaugh:a really fun time in God's Word. Thank you for joining us in the Training Room where we work out in God's Word and grow in God's grace to live for his glory. And we're gonna start the book of Philippians next and we're fired up about it and I hope you join us for
Cole Limbaugh:the whole series.