Aftershow Interview - Mike Riley

[00:00:00] You're listening to Testimony on the GoodLion Podcast Network. Welcome back to Testimony.

[00:00:06] In today's episode, I'm going to sit down with my friend Mike Riley. In the last episode,

[00:00:11] Mike was telling us about his story about how Jesus broke through the darkness of his

[00:00:15] life and introduced him into how awesome it is to actually follow Jesus and how amazing

[00:00:20] it can be to be in actual Christian community. So in this episode, Mike and I are going to

[00:00:26] sit down and discuss some follow-up questions that I was writing down while I was listening

[00:00:30] to him share his story. Here's the interview.

[00:00:33] All right, so I'm here with Michael O'Reilly. Is it O'Reilly?

[00:00:40] It's a Riley. I'm sorry for assuming. I just moved here and this is a guy who is in my

[00:00:46] community group at church. We've been friends for how many months now? Like three or four?

[00:00:50] Since the summer. Since the summer. Yeah. Can you lean just a little bit closer to that

[00:00:54] Mike? Yeah, okay. Great. There you go. Yeah, that's great. So we just recorded your

[00:00:59] Testimony and I was super blessed by it. I'm really excited to take it home and edit it

[00:01:04] up and get it out there. This is season one of the Testimony Podcast. It's going to be

[00:01:08] a lot of different people's stories, just really short bite size and then maybe we'll do

[00:01:13] some Q&A stuff like this. How'd you feel about giving your Testimony?

[00:01:17] I loved it. About a month ago, a month and a half ago, I was able to give it at our community

[00:01:23] group. And unfortunately, I know that you weren't there that night. Right. But ever since

[00:01:27] then it made me realize that I need to be sharing this story because there could be somebody

[00:01:32] out there who has the same problems I had or dealing with the same issues that I dealt

[00:01:37] with. So just kind of really cool, really exciting to get it out there and tell people

[00:01:44] how the Lord has worked in my life and how Jesus has moved in my heart. It's awesome, man.

[00:01:47] Why had a few questions I want to run at you? Is that cool? Yeah. So you grew up in a Christian

[00:01:53] home, right? I'm from California and that has its own issues. But a lot of issues in

[00:02:00] Southern California actually. But I've heard a lot about the Bible belt and just how out

[00:02:05] here in Oklahoma pretty much everyone you meet would say they were a Christian. And I've

[00:02:10] experienced that like I would do this thing called Street Winnius thing where I would go

[00:02:13] and just talk to people on the street and try to tell them about Jesus. Pretty much every

[00:02:17] person I've met here in Oklahoma when I've gone to the different coffee shops, they're

[00:02:21] like inviting me to their church. Everybody here seems like they're pretty Christian.

[00:02:25] Yeah, I mean it's definitely very, very prominent. It's just being in the South, there's a church

[00:02:33] on every corner and across the street there's probably a liquor store. But I just say that

[00:02:38] because yeah, church and Christ is very prominent but at the same time living in the Bible

[00:02:44] belt what I've noticed is that people growing up in church surely don't understand what

[00:02:50] it means to posture their heart for Christ. I think that a lot of times what happens is

[00:02:54] they get very complacent because they do live in the Bible belt and they think, okay this

[00:02:57] is just my way of life. And they don't truly understand that outside of the Bible belt

[00:03:03] or even in the South our country is just really not very Christ-centered. And I think it's

[00:03:10] just really cool to kind of sit back and realize like you know there is more outside

[00:03:15] of just this realm. Basically I guess this is kind of a nutshell within the whole grand

[00:03:20] scheme of things in the United States. The Bible belt is and I've noticed that because

[00:03:25] I've traveled throughout the United States and I've noticed that there is not very much

[00:03:29] courtesy, I guess you could say. And you can definitely tell that there are areas throughout

[00:03:37] our country that Christ isn't there, God isn't there. So I guess what I'm saying is living

[00:03:46] here in the Bible belt we kind of get spoiled because like I said there is a church on every

[00:03:51] corner and everyone grew up in church almost everyone did.

[00:03:56] I live in Mustang and there literally is a church on every corner of Mustang. Yeah it's

[00:04:00] just part of the culture we live in but again what kind of stinks is we get complacent

[00:04:06] in that I think. Well I think that I've seen that happen in my own life. I was a youth

[00:04:10] pastor and so you know I would deal with kids and just even myself where it's like you're

[00:04:15] there on an Easter Sunday at your church and the pastor is talking about what Jesus went

[00:04:20] through on the cross, the way he was beaten, the way he was bruised and the crown of

[00:04:24] thorns. You're just sitting there and you're in your mind you're like yeah I've heard this

[00:04:26] before. Yeah, like cool let's call you did that but and you're not really thinking

[00:04:30] about what Jesus was going through and what not even just the physical pain but the weight

[00:04:34] of taking on all the sins of everything I've ever done, everything you've ever done.

[00:04:39] It's so easy for us to take our faith for granted and so you feel like that happens a lot

[00:04:43] out here. Well that's what that's what's crazy you know about my story is I grew up in church

[00:04:48] and I heard Easter the Easter story over and over and over and over again and in reality

[00:04:54] that sermon came back into my life and changed my life forever and so yeah I do think people

[00:05:01] just get complacent and that's the thing is like people will go to church on Easter or

[00:05:04] Mother's Day and you know these specific holidays and just kind of skip them between moments

[00:05:09] because they think okay well I live in the Bible belt I can just you know use that as an excuse

[00:05:15] I think sometimes but you know back to your point about the Easter yeah I mean it just seems like

[00:05:21] just gets drummed into our head early on and we just kind of sit back and we're like okay

[00:05:25] but when you truly understand the magnitude of what Jesus did for us and the amount of grace

[00:05:30] that God gave us by sending his only son to die for us when in reality we didn't deserve it at all

[00:05:35] yeah it changes everything yeah it just opens up a whole new world and it makes it so much more real

[00:05:41] because I think that is one of the hard things about being raised in it and having it all around you

[00:05:46] it's I think for anyone no matter what faith you're raised in or what you're raised until

[00:05:50] and in or what you're raised into believing until you have a real actual experience with it

[00:05:56] it's not going to actually be real to you you're just going to be doing it to make mom and dad happy

[00:06:00] exactly and that might be a good transition to this next question about youth group so again

[00:06:06] yeah I ran a youth group and just one of the things that breaks my heart is I see so many kids

[00:06:11] in youth group whether they're there and their you know their parents are in there and they like

[00:06:14] the pizza they like the video games they like hanging out with people but it just hasn't clicked yet

[00:06:20] and for me it's so frustrating because I'm there preaching my heart out and it's like everything

[00:06:24] I'm saying is coming not from a place of religion but it's coming from this deep seated place

[00:06:28] if this is who Jesus is and what he's done in my life but I remember being a kid myself and I was

[00:06:33] I was that weird kid where even at the age of 15 16 it was very real to me but I remember having

[00:06:39] several friends where I could tell like they didn't believe it at all and I mean what was kind

[00:06:43] of your experience in youth group and why do you think it's so easy for kids to be at youth group

[00:06:48] and be involved and be in the band like you were and still not have a click I think a lot of

[00:06:52] it has to with maturity I think I really do I think a lot of it also too you know you mentioned

[00:06:58] parents you know kind of sending them off me I did on my own and and I'll come back to that

[00:07:05] maturity thing you know I let outside influences coming to my life around the age of 16 17 18

[00:07:16] and I decided that I wanted to do something other than worship the Lord and

[00:07:22] I think it's just because it goes back to not really understand the true magnitude of what

[00:07:29] God did for us when he sent his son to die on the cross and I don't know if it's

[00:07:34] immaturity being naive at that age or what but I think that at least for me was an issue but I

[00:07:43] also look back on that time and I look back on it and I think man if I had the fire that I had

[00:07:48] for God back then I'm not saying I don't know because I definitely do but if I had the fire that I

[00:07:52] did or if I had that fire with a matured I have now tell them like what I could have been able to

[00:07:58] or who I could have brought to church or what so I think a lot of it at least in my mind has

[00:08:03] to do with maturity and understanding the true magnitude of what it means to send your only

[00:08:09] son to the cross has to be honest hopefully someday I have kids and I'm gonna be honest I like

[00:08:16] Aaron but I would never give up my kid for for you or anybody right especially people

[00:08:23] and I don't even have a kid yet I say that you know and especially you wouldn't give them up

[00:08:26] for people who actively were hating you and trying to crucify exactly you'd be like no you can go

[00:08:31] to hell yeah exactly exactly so I think as a kid you know we it's not as a kid excuse me as a teenager

[00:08:38] especially later in our teenager teenage years but kind of it's just kind of and I think plays back

[00:08:44] into that bio-belt thing and just you know we heard this over and over and over again it kind of

[00:08:47] just gets turned on the back burner and yeah and what sucks too is that I don't I don't disagree with

[00:08:52] church camps and stuff like that but what sucks is you get on this church camp high I used to run church

[00:08:57] camps every year for like eight years I in they're great they are they're great if they can last

[00:09:03] 365 days a year but they only last a week yes and so you get on this church high and then you get

[00:09:09] back to reality yes and so as a kid I think it's hard to to kind of go from that and transition

[00:09:15] from a church high being around everything and living in this bubble for a week and then applying

[00:09:20] it whereas as an adult you don't have those you don't live in a bubble life doesn't stop you know

[00:09:25] yes and so you have to kind of deal with life when being a follower but again it comes back to maturity

[00:09:31] and understanding that the true magnitude of what it means that Christ came and came down from heaven

[00:09:36] lived amongst us and died for us that's so that's so key what you're hitting on too with the church

[00:09:41] camp thing because I would see it so many times I mean I would go and take my youth group up to the

[00:09:47] church camp and they would just they would be so on fire man I I would see you know that one kid who's

[00:09:52] like selling drugs to the rest of the game and he's like in the front row like trying his eyes out

[00:09:56] and raise hands raised like you know and I don't know if this was a I feel like this is a universal

[00:10:02] experience at camps but we call at least in my Southern California Calvary Chapel camp culture

[00:10:08] we called the last night of camp this is just a joke between me and the other youth faster but we'll

[00:10:13] call it cry night because the last night of the camp everybody cries yeah I don't know if it's

[00:10:17] because you're so freaking tired from the week before you've been or you just who knows what's going

[00:10:24] on there's a mix of emotions and I specifically remember yeah Friday night was cry night you just

[00:10:29] I did it you let it you let it hang out and just you know you just freaking yeah you know you

[00:10:34] brought all out and yeah and it's just I don't think it's a bad thing no I don't think it is but like

[00:10:39] I said I just think that at that age when you go from this bubble back to reality

[00:10:45] think sometimes it's hard to adapt yeah resident adult there's no bubble this this is kind of

[00:10:49] the experience God took me through with it because I was a kid as well at those camps and I went

[00:10:53] through cry night and then I was like what the heck it's two weeks after camp but I'm sitting the

[00:10:56] same way I was before camp and what I think everything's gonna change yeah you think everything's

[00:11:02] gonna change because of camp and it doesn't and and what I've realized is camp is to a fire

[00:11:08] what gasoline is to a backyard bonfire yeah it creates this big burst of flame but it doesn't really

[00:11:15] last like it's it's it's big but then it dies out and I mean you don't know me that well but

[00:11:20] you can probably tell I'm not really like a man's man like I you know I'm not out split in logs

[00:11:26] in my backyard you know when I we moved to this place in Vista California that was kind of more

[00:11:30] rural I remember that we got a bonfire pit because we're gonna have the youth group kids over and

[00:11:35] I was like oh I'm gonna start a fire and the way I did it was I just grabbed a bunch of wood

[00:11:40] threw it in a pile and then I got lighter fluid and I just soaked that wood with lighter fluid and if

[00:11:45] you know anything about starting fires I lit it the flame went up really big and then it died

[00:11:50] immediately and that's really like what a lot of these youth camps and conferences are in kids

[00:11:55] lives and so what I I begin every time I led camp I would tell the kids this story and I would say

[00:12:01] what I had to learn with that fire was the way to keep the fire burning was I had to do some groundwork

[00:12:06] I'd go and get kindling I had to put the wood and arrange it in a good order and I had to put

[00:12:11] kindling underneath it and I had to add newspaper and some other things and basically build this fire

[00:12:17] and then light it and then it would start burning and what what do you have to do you have to

[00:12:21] continue to add to it if some of the wood dies out you grab another piece of wood and you add it

[00:12:27] if some of the kindling goes out you you get some more and you add it if you need a little bit of

[00:12:31] lighter fluid like camp you put that on it's great but you have to continue to add to it and

[00:12:36] I've just realized with the Christian life what we need to be doing is take the things that

[00:12:40] we're learning at these camps and conferences and these amazing church services and not just let them

[00:12:45] exist in that moment but then like write them down in a journal or whatever on your phone and go

[00:12:51] home and just continue to pull that stuff up and pray over it and just ask God you know just

[00:12:56] to add to it that's how the the Christian life needs to be lived it's not about the lighter fluid

[00:13:01] experiences about the continuing not effort it's not about our effort but it's about the

[00:13:07] continuing experience of turning to Jesus and saying Jesus continue to keep this fire burning in my

[00:13:13] life I can completely agree with that it's it's definitely hard when you don't have the means

[00:13:22] around you to keep that fire going what do you mean by that like just like you were saying the

[00:13:26] what is it the can't I can't the word the kindling yeah can't I always say that we're on

[00:13:30] I think of it like as that like the kindling you know just the community being around you

[00:13:37] yeah because we can't do it alone like so many Christians try to do the lone ranger Christian

[00:13:41] thing where it's just me Jesus and my Bible and that's it and it's spiritual warfare that we are

[00:13:47] every day we're in spiritual warfare and you need warriors with you to fight this battle right you

[00:13:54] know because the enemy does not stop no he's not gonna stop and he will never stop but you know

[00:14:02] you can outnumber him with the amount of people that you have on your side yeah absolutely that's

[00:14:06] so good yeah like it will because at the end of the day like he's he attacked me at my lowest

[00:14:12] moment because he knew that I was by myself yeah and he's still I mean he attacks me every day right

[00:14:18] yeah but it's not me too it's not in the same ways that he did before right he was telling me these

[00:14:22] lies that I was just person that I wasn't that I'm not right but he did that because I would he

[00:14:28] attack me when I was low when I was by myself right now that I have an army behind me I know

[00:14:33] that that's not true right and I know that if he comes out me I have this kingdom this this this

[00:14:40] yes army behind me to fight him amen yeah and the thing it sucks about Satan there's something

[00:14:46] you talk about say one of the things is you know he'll have a strategy and then we'll get

[00:14:51] wise to it and we'll overcome it and then instead of just giving up he's like all right time for

[00:14:54] a new strategy he's constantly doing that but yeah well you're yeah it's funny uh micah said at

[00:15:02] community group the other night uh his tricks don't change yeah you know he's just consistent yeah

[00:15:09] he's consistent absolutely he's consistent in that he continues to attack yes he's not going to

[00:15:15] give up and you know I see someone like you and um you know you've lived your whole life kind of

[00:15:22] in the faith world but it's just been the last year that you've truly decided to to follow Jesus

[00:15:28] and you know if you want to talk about like salvation I mean you know I I think God's grace is so big

[00:15:34] I think there's a lot of people out there who are saved in that you know they they believe in Jesus

[00:15:38] and you know that's that's enough to get them saved but there's a lot of people who are in that

[00:15:42] saved place but they're not actually following Jesus there they're I kind of make a distinction

[00:15:48] between a Christian because the Christian is become this cultural term where it's just anybody who

[00:15:52] believes in Jesus is a Christian but there's a difference between being a Christian and a Christ

[00:15:57] follower yeah someone who's like I'm a disciple of Jesus and so for you I mean you're you've entered

[00:16:02] into the space we're all of a sudden you're following Jesus I think absolutely you're gonna get a

[00:16:05] target on your back because Satan sees the potential yeah I think Satan sees anytime somebody moves

[00:16:10] from that place or just being somebody who comes on Sunday and sits in the pew or whatever

[00:16:14] or in the chair or whatever and just kind of listens and says oh good message and then they go

[00:16:18] back and live their life however they want to live it the Satan doesn't like care about that person

[00:16:22] like Satan can kind of just keep them exactly where he wants them under his thumb but somebody who breaks

[00:16:26] out of that and is like I'm gonna I'm gonna actually do what the Bible says I'm gonna actually

[00:16:31] live my life for Jesus Satan's like oh shoot like if this person gets out of control like they're

[00:16:36] gonna be a huge threat to my kingdom because they're fighting for the other kingdom yeah so

[00:16:41] community has been great um I'm really enjoying that yeah I love our community

[00:16:47] great it's fantastic without that community group and those people I would not be where I am today

[00:16:57] and it's because they showed me just what it truly means to live amongst brothers

[00:17:05] and sisters in Christ no matter what kind of flaws you have it doesn't matter because we're all

[00:17:10] fighting for the same goal and that's to live a somewhat decent life but the end goal is to live

[00:17:17] an eternity in heaven yeah yeah it's fantastic like when we get together we'll talk about all types of

[00:17:22] stuff that our community group and Mike and Kristen and Nicole and Donald do a fantastic job of leading

[00:17:28] that and when we get together it's like we'll talk about what's going on in life but sometimes we'll

[00:17:31] talk about our sin and it's never this place where it's like you do that like what the heck is

[00:17:37] wrong with you get out of here you're not welcome here it's a place where we're real and we're honest

[00:17:41] about our struggles and we're like kind of locking arms saying hey we're gonna fight this together

[00:17:46] and I think that's so key it's it's one thing I've learned in the past year is to learn how to be

[00:17:51] vulnerable something I didn't do yeah ever wow and be intentional and it's

[00:18:01] progressed my faith so far because being vulnerable allows you to actually

[00:18:05] heal back this layer of like what's the word I'm looking for just kind of this I don't know

[00:18:12] idea that you're putting on that I'm okay but you peel that back and it's like I'm truly not

[00:18:16] this one anyway and when you do that what's fellow crisis minded people like minded people yes who

[00:18:24] aren't gonna judge you who are gonna sit there and really you're not alone yeah that's nice to know

[00:18:29] yeah when you hear that you're not alone it's because the enemy says that you are but you're

[00:18:33] really not yeah again his tricks don't change they just are consistent yeah absolutely and I think

[00:18:40] what you're touching on the community is so key because I've talked to so many people um

[00:18:46] like a lot a lot of times like when I'm out and I'm just like on the street and uh whenever I talk

[00:18:51] to people like this I feel like I have to do a lot of deconstructing of what Christianity even is because

[00:18:56] so many people that had so many bad experiences with the church I've talked to so many young people

[00:19:00] who are college age or high school age and there there's this one girl who's like oh I hate the church

[00:19:06] and I was like why she's like well when I was there you know it's going through this goth phase and

[00:19:10] I dressed in black and my nails were painted black and just everyone in the church was so judgmental

[00:19:15] to me they're always like why don't you wear different clothes like why don't you change like

[00:19:20] why don't you just change it was all about change and it was all about people looking at her

[00:19:23] and saying you're wrong on the outside you need to change your outside behavior and your dress

[00:19:28] and everything and then we'll accept you and for so many people that's their experience with

[00:19:32] a church they went and they just constantly felt judged because you know all the little old ladies

[00:19:37] in the church were looking at them like they were a sinner and they never found that community

[00:19:42] where they could be at you know somebody's house or a coffee shop but just surrounded by people who

[00:19:47] are like hey it's okay to not be okay we love you and that's all that matters exactly yeah we're

[00:19:52] here for the same reason we're here for the same reason and part of that black blue white yellow

[00:19:58] whatever doesn't matter we're all made in the same image of God it doesn't matter if you dress

[00:20:02] like a goober or you dress like a person who works on wall street doesn't matter yeah

[00:20:08] because again at the end of the day the goal is different it's to spread the word of Jesus

[00:20:12] and God and which as many people as possible awesome man well I think that's probably a good place

[00:20:19] to end how you feel about it do I feel awesome I really appreciate let me do this this was really

[00:20:24] cool and you know it's weird to hear your voice sometimes but you know it is weird to hear my

[00:20:31] yes but I do appreciate let me do this I appreciate let me get my testimony and if anybody

[00:20:36] hears this in their life has changed then that's not my doing that's God's doing so

[00:20:42] awesome man love you man love you too man appreciate it yeah all right

[00:20:45] testimony is a ministry of the Good Lion Podcast Network and is produced by Aaron Salvado

[00:20:51] that's me we are a show about real people and real stories of encountering the love of Jesus

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