359 - Offended

The PowerBreak Podcast

Program 359– SHOW NOTES (2025 – 28)

Show date – July 15, 2025

THE Q&A FORMAT

  1. OPEN with Tease

(Bob) “This is the PowerBreak Podcast, number 359 titled:

Offended

 

Pause for 5 seconds

– I’m Bob Brubaker along with JT, as we hope you will stay tuned as we seek to give you a little power in this break to help you succeed in the race of life.”

  1. (JT) This is the – PowerBreak Podcast – with a focus on the spiritual, the mental, and the physical aspects – all to help you succeed in the race of life. For show notes from today’s podcast go to bobbrubaker.com and follow the link for the PowerBreak podcast.

 

  1. Welcome – Bob and JT – talk (((SOMETHING FROM LAST PROGRAM – From The Power Of Next (new)

 

  1. bb: Plea and thank you for ratings and review & for spreading the word via social media and word of mouth…
  2. SHOUT OUTS
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  1. TRANSITION

BB –  We are talking today about “OFFENDED”

”

So JT What does that title bring up to your mind? ((JT ANSWERS))

 

  1. Bob – POINT: Jesus warned his disciples so we are included --- that for sure offenses will come.. BUT how we deal with those offenses is very important.

 

Matthew 18:7 (ESV) — 7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! .

TODAY ---  “OFFENDED””

(pause)

 

  1. JT ------ OK THEN LET’S TALK SOME MORE ABOUT THAT as we bring up… WHAT’S NEW –  as we open Bob’s recent blog from bobbrubaker.com …

““OFFENDED”

 

  1. Presentation and discussion of Bob’s published article,
  • Bob and JT discuss highlights of the PowerBreak blog

“OFFENDED”

 

Bob concludes with “The PowerBreak blog is found at bobbrubaker.com”             ((((:03 PAUSE))))

 

  1. JT – What’s happening Bob? What would you like our listeners to know about this week?

 

  1. Bob – God’s Powerline Of Prayer –… & Sermon link on the website.

(((:03 PAUSE)))

 

  1. JT – This is the PowerBreak Podcast, I’m JT along with Bob Brubaker and this is the –– time for some questions and answers. Feel free to submit your questions by EMAIL TO jtrebino@mac.com and we’ll get to the answer on an upcoming PowerBreak. Podcast…

 

JT – Question ONE - FROM THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF LIFE….

 

I don’t get it. On one hand you emphasized the need to take the initiative and go to the offender if we have been offended, BUT on the other hand you said if we realized we have offended another, we have the obligation to take the initiative and go to that person. Why are we the ones responsible?

 

  1. Bob

Matthew 5:9 (ESV) — 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Romans 12:18 (ESV) — 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

2 Corinthians 5:18 (ESV) — 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

As God is the offended, yet reaches out to us, the offenders, and reconciles us to Himself through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and NOW CALLS US TO the ministry of reconciliation…. As His ambassadors

2 Corinthians 5:20 (ESV) — 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

It just makes sense then as an ambassador of  God for the purpose of reconciliation we are the ones who take initiative either as the OFFENDED OR THE OFFENDER.

DISCUSSION

  1. JT – Question Two… “FROM THE MENTAL ASPECT”

How can we mentally bring ourselves to be the person who takes the initiative?

  1. Bob

It’s commanded!

Matthew 18:15 (ESV) — 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Matthew 5:23–24 (ESV) — 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

James 4:17 (ESV) — 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

  1. Discussion
  2. Third question … Turning to the Physical

 

Are smart phones hurting us physically?

 

  1. Bob ---

 

according to a Computers in Human Behavior study using fMRI brain scans, the results are wild. Your brain basically throws a neurochemical tantrum. We’re talking about real, measurable shifts in activity in areas two hotspots that also light up when you experience drug withdrawal and food cravings. Here’s the gist of what the study found:

📱 After 72 hours of no smartphone, participants’ brains showed increased activation in reward and craving-related regions, especially those tied to dopamine and serotonin pathways.

🧠 The longer the “phone fast” lasted, the more the brain “craved” the visual cues of a smartphone. Even just seeing a picture of a phone triggered participants' neural salivation.

🧲 Regions of the brain responsible for attention, salience, and motor inhibition (like the parietal cortex) also lit up, kind of like your brain saying, “WHERE IS MY PHONE?”

😬 Despite all this neural activity, participants didn’t report feeling more anxious or craving their phones… yet their brains told a different story.

What’s fascinating about these findings is that these patterns mimic what you’d see in other addictive behaviors, including gaming, smoking, or sugar binges. The researchers even found correlations with the same neurotransmitter systems involved in alcohol and heroin withdrawal, like dopamine D1 and 5-HT1b receptors. So yes, the struggle involved in ditching your phone can be very real and intense.

To sum it up, going without your smartphone for three days doesn’t just “feel hard”—it has significant biological effects, including rewiring your brain’s reward circuitry. Your noggin gets twitchy, your dopamine pathways get antsy, and the parts of your brain that usually help with inhibition and focus light up like Times Square.

If you're trying to wean off your device dependency, don’t expect your brain to be chill about it. It’ll protest—and most likely, loudly. But just like a tough workout, there’s growth on the other side.

 

JT’s Comments

 

Take Aways – JT …. And Bob

 

Bob’s final comment – It takes discipline wean yourself DOWN from smart phone use… and even more to wean yourself OFF… but wow what a difference it would make..

 

Point: DISCIPLINE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE --- in all aspects of life

Closing statement Bob…. “check out today’s show notes at bobbrubaker.com and click on the PowerBreak podcast – today’s show is 359.

 

  1. JT – Submit your questions by EMAIL to jtrebino@mac.com and listen for OUR answer on an upcoming PowerBreak Podcast (((:03 pause)))

 

  1. (((commercial by Bob))) – God’s Powerline Of Prayer

(((pause for music transition)

(JT) Thank you for joining us for the PowerBreak Podcast. Please subscribe and leave a review where-ever you have downloaded the podcast. Check out the show notes, news, Bob’s weekly blog, and other cool things at bobbrubabaker.com and listen next time for the – “PowerBreak podcast.