The Power of Pals

Written By Paul McDonald

Coming up on the Men at the Movies podcast, we visit the wild west with Young Guns 1 and 2. This movie appeals to us because we all want to have a group of pals who pursue adventure and purpose together, who fight for freedom and justice. However, without a control line to guide us, we can easily lose our pals, and die alone. We’re going to the spirit world, and join us in discovering God’s truth in this movie.

The Quotes

  • The desires of your heart place value on what’s around you.

  • We glorify the pirate lifestyle, the outlaw lifestyle, because it looks like adventure.

  • I kept going places expecting God to bless me, instead of asking where He wants me to go and following in obedience.

  • My tribe has gotten bigger because we share the same father.

 Themes

  • Why it appeals to young men

    • The idea of having a father figure who believes in them

    • A place where you belong with pals

    • A group of men with a shared mission

    • Stand up for justice

    • Being known, larger than life

    • Roles of the pals

      • Dick: Voice of Reason

      • Doc: Voice of their Heart

      • Billy: Voice of Chaos

      • Chavez: Voice of the Spirit

      • Charlie: Voice of Fear

  • The downside and danger of being like Billy

    • Caught up in his own idea of who he wanted to be.

    • His dream became more important than his pals.

    • He becomes a narcissist and all about him.

    • For all his talk about pals, Billy ends up dying alone.

    • He lacked a control line and lost control of his hubris.

    • He was famous, but alone.

    • If he really cared about his pals, he would’ve gone west with Chavez.

  • Standing up for justice

    • Not just avenging Tunstall, but also rescuing Young

    • Motivation is important.

  • Three themes of a man’s heart

    • Beauty to rescue: Doc tells Young, “You are necessary.” Empower the women around us.

    • Adventure to live: Feeling lost, but following God into the unknown.

    • Battle to fight: Doesn’t mean picking up a gun, but moving with intention and focus towards a direction.

Resources

Questions

  • Which approach to sin have you taken in your life?

  • How have you seen one little decision snowball into “thousands” of regrets?

  • Where do you feel helpless from sin? What territory has it taken?

  • What would it look like to take territory back from the dragons in your life?

  • How have you identified by your sin instead of your salvation?

  • What do you think about the idea that all of your sins (past and future) are already forgiven?

  • Why are you squabbling in the mud and hiding in the castle? What does freedom look like?

  • Where are you focusing: your sin or your savior?

More info

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Edited and mixed by Grayson Foster

Logo and episode templates by Ian Johnston

Audio quotes performed by Britt Mooney, Paul McDonald, and Tim Willard, taken from Epic (written by John Eldredge) and Song of Albion (written by Stephen Lawhead).

Southerly Change performed by Zane Dickinson, used under license from Shutterstock.

Links:

Paul McDonald
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A Guide to Chaos