Disciples Repent & Get Baptized
What does it actually mean to be a disciple of Jesus? Not just someone who believes the right things, watches a message, or calls themselves a Christian, but someone who has truly turned toward Jesus and chosen to follow His way. In Acts 2, Peter looks at a crowd that had been cut to the heart and gives them a clear response: repent and be baptized. That moment still speaks to us today because discipleship is not about pretending we have it all together. It is about letting the goodness of God change our mind, redirect our life, and bring us into the freedom Jesus died and rose again to give us.
In this message, Trevor walks through the meaning of repentance, the power of forgiveness, and why baptism is more than a religious symbol. It is a public declaration of allegiance to Jesus as King. Whether you are just beginning your walk with Christ, returning after a long season away, or learning what it means to live as a disciple every day, this teaching will help you see that forgiveness is available, fresh life is possible, and following Jesus starts with a surrendered heart.
Oh, and it is lovely! Just beautiful. You know, you are quite a decorator. It's amazing what you've done with such a modest budget. I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hip-Hop hooray! Oh! Hey! Oh! Hey! Oh! Hey! Oh! You drew a picture on my morning, but you couldn't make my day. I'm rockin' in your unit, but you never look my way. I'm looking down your door. I don't even know if I can say this, and y'all are going to laugh at me. I'm not going to laugh at you. I promise you, we're not going to laugh. When I grew up, right? And I remember. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! No, I'm not laughing at you. What it is, what it ain't! It's time to put another one in that. Livin' in a van down by the river. Now, y'all, with a tear in my eye. It's time! All right, all right, all right. All right, what it is, what it ain't. It's time to add another one. Ladies and gents, all over PandoLand and the PandoApp Bank, baby. Hello, everybody out there in PandoLand.
My name is Trevor. I'm so honored that you... I got a new hat. I got a new hat. My brother gave me this hat. He gave me this hat. It's American... It's a... Let me try that again. Hooked on phonics, Trevor. It's an American flag inside the Buffalo Bills. Praise God. Praise God, and God bless America. That's all you can say, and go Bills, baby. Go Bills! Go Bills. Go Bills. It's a hard night life for us. Got that Prime. Got my favorite... I think this is my favorite one, Orange Swirl. Ooh, I love anything like that. And I got all of you from everywhere. Being a part of what we're doing, so honored as always to be with you. That you would take time out of your day to watch what we are doing here. All that kind of stuff. A little bit of housekeeping. If you've never been around before, what we do is we ramble like this just a little bit. Give you kind of what's going on. Housekeeping sometimes, and then we'll take a ride on... I think last week we were surfing. Surfing in the USA. I don't know what we're going to do this week. I haven't pulled any of those videos yet. It's early Tuesday morning. Your boy's a little... I just feel weak. That's the only way I'm going to describe it. Not like... I don't know.
My body just... I'm not getting sick or anything. I just feel weak. So maybe I am weak. Maybe it's just like, hey, Trev, you're weak. And maybe I just need to look myself in the mirror and be like, You are weak, little boy. Little boy. You little weak boy. Anyhow. What we're going to do. Housekeeping. A couple of things. Number one, I read all the comments. And y'all have heard me say this before. And there's a gentleman. I don't remember his name. He commented last week. I don't remember which video it was on. So I just remember this specifically. And he's like, hey, man, I love Champion Church. Which, first of all, I love hearing that. Like, it means a lot that you guys would even tell me. Like, hey, I love what we're doing here. So many of you, we passed over the 200,000 sub mark. So 200,000 of you riding, riding, riding. With us being a part of what we're doing. Now, I shouldn't have said riding. You know what? I missed an opportunity. 200K rowing with us, baby. Row, row, row, row, champion.
Gently down the stream. Fairly, fairly, fairly, fairly. Life is but a dream. That's how that song goes. But anyhow, the point is this. If you haven't subscribed, what are you doing? Like, here's what subscribe means. Like, listen, I want to disciple with you guys. I want to walk with you. There's so many great ministries here on the Pando app. And we just get to be a part of it. And kind of, you know, just come alongside of you. Maybe in a different way. In a way that helps you or whatever. Okay, back to the comment. He said, man, I love what Champion's doing. Love the teaching of the word and all that kind of stuff. And then he said this. He goes, but I'll know. He said, I will know if Trevor is a real one. If he'll text, I don't remember if it was his mother or his grandmother. And so, like, listen, I hear your heart in that, okay? But here's the truth of the matter. Guys, I love all of you so much. I can't, I'm not, like, I'm just going to say like this. I've already gotten in a little bit of trouble with the DOC. I'm not trying to do that again, okay? So, I am a real, I feel like I am. I feel pretty real. But I'm not texting family members for you.
I love you so much. I really do. And don't be like, whatever. I just, I can't do that, all right? So, if you don't know, you're new to the channel. I get to volunteer as a lead pastor here at Champion Church. We don't have any staff members. I don't work at the church. I work just a regular job, and so does everybody else there. But this is just the seat that I sit in, that I get to be a part of, that I get to row. So, we call Champion Church. A big robo all of us row like it takes all of us if we're gonna move down the river in a van If we're gonna move down the river It's gonna take all of us rowing even you sitting there and wherever you're at from from alaska to arkansas to california No, no, no. No, no, that's not the one. I did that one last week. Um man, the red hot chili peppers song, um I guess I had a couple about california But anyhow, the point is this like wherever You are we all get to be a part of it and it's simply it's telling somebody maybe somebody gets moved into your pod or Into your work camp tell them about hey, man, this church really helps me Maybe it's telling somebody back home. Whatever it might be Man, we all get to row together and if you're like, well, i'm not doing any of that. Well, that's fine, too I still love you. I'm not gonna think differently of you. Uh, so it's just it's all of us together making this happen We don't haven't said this in a while. You see every week we're up there trending every week It's not because we're cool I can promise you that I mean Look at me Look at me I'm, not I can guarantee you that uh, but it's why it's because all of us together are rowing all of us together are watching All of us together and contributing something that we can ephesians chapter 4 verse 16 is one of my favorite verses It says listen, let each part do its own
Special work let each part of the church of the body of christ do its own special work So the whole body so the whole church is healthy and growing and full of love and here's the truth of matter Here's the crazy part. This is why community matters This is why being a part of something like this matters because without you What happens is we can't be healthy and growing and full of love like I literally need you to be healthy growing and full of love That is the level of what it is now If you say hey, listen, trevor, you got a big forehead that forehead's massive And I don't want to listen to that and I don't like that. You wear a black shirt every time that's cool, too There's so many different places find where you fit be a part of what they're doing even again sitting in the department of corrections find Something that you can do to contribute to what we're doing because somewhere somebody needs you to grab an oar and start rowing Okay What else we want to say before I get into the message Did baptisms this week? That was fun. That's cool. A lot of people ask trevor. Will you baptize me when I get out? Uh, yeah, sure, I guess I don't care. I mean, I don't I mean I care but you know i'm saying like that sounds cool to me um What else is going on? What else is going on? I think that's about it uh I've been dealing with I don't know if y'all have ever felt like this I've been feeling like overwhelmed But not overwhelmed in like the classic sense if there's so much to do and I feel overwhelmed and that's I feel like that's always Can be there or there's so much going on or there's so much pressure or whatever it might be I feel like that always can be there. I feeling for myself though, and maybe you can relate the Overwhelming thing is like there's all this stuff that I want to do. All right There's a lot of stuff coming down the line But at the same time it seems so out of reach that I it just like I'll just say like this What's going on with the new building, right? There's so much that has to happen
But yet I can't do any of it yet, right? Um, there's a dream in my heart for a show on Youtube and maybe I would put some of this in here as well I want to take because the amount of letters that y'all have written me the amount of questions that i've heard i've been uh in ministry something like this since I was Well 2010, so however old I was then 20-ish something like that I've been preaching consistently since super bowl sunday 2010 So that's kind of like my I mean I served before that but anyhow I've been preaching since then so i've heard through the thousands of letters I've gotten from y'all through just the last 16 years of teaching So many questions and so I have this like idea in my heart to do like answer the bible's toughest questions toughest questions um that are in there and and that that that people are just like hey, I just want the truth on this and just give my My insight my input my opinion in a way of like this is what I think the scripture is trying to teach I want to call it. Um toughest 100 like t100 and it's not going to stand for trevor 100 But I want to call it t100 the toughest 100 questions in the bible But I want to talk like I do with all of us here on the pando app Just me being silly and all that kind of stuff because that's who like if you hung out with me That's who I really am. I will say this if you hung out with me I'm, probably quieter than you think I am Because um, there's always something going on in my head And I I don't probably talk as much as you might think I do But I do love singing songs randomly, which I already know so not that anyone cares But if you were like, what was it? What would it be like to hang out with me? Um, I don't talk as much I look forward to lunch probably more than I should And uh, yeah, and right now I just feel this overwhelming things I have these dreams like I want to do I want to do like a kid's guide I'll tell you I'm just like listen you get fast forward if you want I want to do this like kids coloring book essentially with the different series that I'm doing like I just did that delicious and stormproof life like I
wish I could do like a kids not enough coloring book would be the right way but something like that for kids to have and where they can engage in what I'm teaching as well I would love to turn every series that I do into a small book many of you have heard about my book 41 that's right over there that y'all vast is it on Pando no because that's that's two hundred some dollars a month that I don't have to put on there or whatnot but it takes so much to do this but like I have all these dreams in my heart but at the same time it's like I feel like I'm not doing anything for them I'm just dreaming and I don't know if you've ever had that so I've literally this week been praying this prayer so if you feel like that like I want to start this business when I get out or I want to start this ministry when I get out or how do I share my testimony and like all that kind of stuff I just began to ask God this tell me the next right thing to do just tell me the next right thing to do because I know I have all this vision and it's not self-centered like it's not I want to do this for me that's how you always know if it's a God vision or not by the way is it surrounded is it something to benefit you is there something to benefit other people like I want to and I want to do that show simply that it could benefit other people who are asking hard questions and put it out online and just be another voice to maybe help somebody that they could find it like I want to create these books not because you know how much do you know how much money let me tell you how much money I've made off 41 okay you ready I'm about to about to mess you up right now you ready zero I'm actually in the negative quite a bit I've never made a dollar from selling these things at all right now I haven't sold a lot either but that's I never did it for that literally if your family was to go order 41 on on I said YouTube on Amazon or whatever I do by the time Amazon pays out I get nothing I literally get nothing for that but I don't care like it's never been about that for me can I help people can I help people grow in Christ can I see somebody that other people overlooking but man how can I come alongside you and help you champion this season I'm rambling a lot y'all you know I've actually got to teach I'm
not gonna show the video from this past Sunday I'm gonna teach you guys from right here so I've got a little bit of time and before I got to get into work so anyhow that's just kind of what I'm dealing with what I'm dealing with I guess been it's been so much it's almost been this like tightness in my chest I thought I have a panic attack yesterday over and I was like literally like Lord I had a panic attack in a minute well that's not your head one like two weeks ago before that it's been a minute haven't had a big spiral in like a big overwhelmed depression kind of spiral in probably a couple probably couple months I would say so but anyhow the point that I'm making is that's just where I'm at it's just what a feeling this is what I'm going through and there's someone else I was supposed to address I don't remember I remember the guy saying if you're the real one text my mom or my grandma I don't remember and maybe there was something else all right I think that's enough of me rambling let's get ready to get into the rest of the episode All right, here we go. Let's jump into it. Acts chapter two is where we're going to go in your Bible. Acts chapter two. Last week I tried to do the closed captions. That's so much like work to go through it. And I'm a little bit of a perfectionist. So I didn't. So if there's words that were messed up in it, I'm sorry. That's technology. It is what it is. But I did hear from so many of you like, Hey, could you put the closed captures on? Let me know if you like them. Let me know if it's helping or not, because if it's not helping, it's not that big of a deal. I just don't want to.
I don't want to like waste time doing that, if that makes sense. OK, so. But anyhow. Yeah. Maybe that was the other thing. I don't feel like that was it. I feel like there was more. Acts chapter two is where we're going to go. If you don't have a Bible, it is. I cannot send them. We tried that. If you watch some old episodes, I say, hey, I'll send you my book, I'll send you my Bible. That was very ignorant, Trev talking. I had no idea how hard it is to get stuff into jails and prisons and detention centers and all that kind of stuff. Speaking of, speaking of, in older episodes, you hear me talking about wanting to come to jails, prisons, detention centers, all that. That has not been able to happen yet. And I don't know why, I feel like I've done everything I can. There was one training for me to go to the Florida State Prisons, like I had everything done except one training, and I can literally not find anywhere to get this training. And part of me, I don't wanna say I gave up on it, but just how life got busy with work in the spring and now into the summer. It's almost like, I wonder, I'm like, Lord, were you almost kind of stopping that
or protecting that? I don't know, because I felt like I did everything right. And even like I was just talking about, when you're overwhelmed, what do you do? Well, you do the next right step. You do the next right thing. You take the next thing that you can do in that moment and just walk that out and let the Lord open the next door and open the next door and open the next door. That's how it goes. Sometimes I just wanna jump to the end, right? I just wanna get to the payoff. And God's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but let's start here. Because often what he does, here's what I know. When God puts a dream in my heart and the dream is here, I'm way over here. I think I'm ready to be here, right? I'm like, no, Lord, you put this in my heart. I'm ready to do that tomorrow. And I feel like he's like, listen, I have put that dream in your heart, but there's actually a journey that is you starting here to get to this, that I need you to grow as a person and grow as a disciple in Christ so I can handle when I get to this. So don't get discouraged when your dream is here, right? When your dream is at this point, you're still here and you feel like it's small steps, man, that's how you're gonna get there. People aren't gonna like this, and this is fine.
I don't believe there are big steps of faith. I believe it's all small steps where you look back and you see how far God has brought you in trusting him. Anyhow, that's for free. Nothing new we're talking about. Oh, if you don't have a Bible, at the bottom of the Pando app, there's a Bible little icon, click it there. That's how we were getting there. All right, I wanna talk to you about a word. We're gonna talk a new kind of set of messages and whatnot. We're gonna talk about this word that is mentioned 261 times in your Bible. The crazy part is most of those are all in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the book of Acts. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are different perspectives on the life of Jesus. And then the book of Acts, or some Bibles would call it the Acts of the Apostles, is about them living this thing out in the early church and walking, learning how to do life with Jesus now that he had died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven and is sitting at the right hand of the Father until he comes back one day, all right? Now, in those five books, 261 times you're gonna find this word. Here's the crazy part. Only three times in comparison would you find the word Christian. Only three times in your Bible
are you gonna find the word Christian. 261 times you find this word, and here is that word disciple, a disciple. Now, we're gonna talk a lot about what a disciple is. You've even heard me say on this, listen, when you're subscribing, you're not just subscribing to whatever. Like, here's the seriousness of it to me. You're saying, hey, I want a disciple alongside you guys at Champion Church to be a part of what you're doing to learn from what you're doing. See, disciple is a term that would actually predate Jesus, right? But at the same time, we call ourselves now disciples of Christ. So it would predate Jesus. When there would be a rabbi, he would have disciples. Now, those disciples, all they wanted to do was to live their life just as that rabbi would live their life. Like, they trusted in that rabbi. Rabbi means teacher, master or teacher. They trusted in that rabbi to the point the old proverb would be, let the dust, or it was an old blessing, an old Jewish blessing, let the dust of your rabbi's feet be on you. I messed that up. You get the point. The point is this.
You follow your rabbi so close, so close, that his dust from his feet would be on you. So that's what a disciple would do. It wouldn't just be like a teacher in the front of the room. Wouldn't just be like a teaching like this. It would be like you do life with them and you learn from how they do life and that is now how you live your life, okay? So that was a rabbi and a disciple. Same, you would see, depending on your translation, 15 or 16 times in the New Testament, in the Gospels, Jesus is actually called rabbi. Now, we know, yes, he was that, but he was even more as King and Lord and Savior and Messiah, right? But they would call him that because they would learn from him in that way. It's the same with us today. And there's that word disciple 261 times. Now, a few famous moments you would see is where Jesus would call his 12 disciples to him or Luke chapter nine, when he would say, if anyone wants to be my disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, right? Or Jesus would say in Matthew 28, hey, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit and be intentional, be careful to teach them all of my word.
Ways, right? So he's like go make disciples is what he tells us to do and to continually learn from his ways now We've talked a lot about this even in discipleship language in the last couple episodes out of Luke chapter 6 verse 47 Well, you're talking about a delicious and storm-proof life We would see that Jesus would say this I'll show you what it's like when someone comes to me Listens to what I says and then does it and then follows it when someone comes to me Listens to my words which are in Scripture and then follows it and that's essentially discipleship language We turn our heart to Jesus, right? We get to know him through his word We get to know him through teachings just like this this kind of stuff now I will say this there's no substitute for the Bible and then then we have to make this decision Am I going to follow his way or am I gonna follow my way? Right, is it gonna be my selfishness or his spirit leading? We looked at Galatians chapter 5 if you remember and if you haven't seen it go back and watch it Where it talks about the Holy Spirit will produce this fruit in us But we still need to deny our flesh and be led by his spirit So we go to him we get to know him and then it's like this fork in the road Like what are we gonna do here? Is it my way or his way now? Here's what I've learned and if you walk with Jesus continue to walk with Jesus that decision gets easier and easier To follow the spirits leading because now that's just what disciples do Right. So like eat now there'll be times where you have to decide my flesh or his spirit 100% But it will get easier and easier And that's what I want to start to look at is as you're coming to him giving your life to him If you've never given your life to him, you need to let me just make that as clear as I can Listen, obviously, I'm biased. I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of Jesus. I'm a disciple of Jesus But I believe he is the one and only true God I believe he left heaven and came to earth because he could not live When heaven without us and he wanted us in the family that he displayed the heart of the father He did what none of us could do and he went to that cross He died the death that we should have died for our sins and he took all the sin shame shortcoming filth Humiliation, whatever word you want to put in there from our sin on him He died and three days later. He rose again. It is factual read the history of it
It is 100% factual that he did rise again that he is who he says he is and then he ascended Witnesses even saw him ascend to heaven. So I won million-percent Believe Jesus is the one and true God and I would encourage you to take that step and make him the king of your life Accept the work that he's done for forgiveness. We're gonna talk about that more in a moment Pando makes it so easy There's a button right under me that says give your life to Christ if you never have today is the day. Okay, anyhow Now, I don't remember what we're saying before that I got all fired up All right. I think that's good. Let's jump into the script. Oh When you're discipling under him and you're living getting to know him or turning to him getting to know him and then following what he says You'll just start to notice there's these things that disciples just do man And this is this is what I want to talk about just disciples just do this hat I love my brother for giving it to me. I'm not gonna lie to you. It's a little uncomfortable. I Haven't broke it in. I guess it's a little uncomfortable as you see I'm messing with it too much. That's on me y'all Anyhow, I think I've said all that. This is just what disciples do That's what we talk about like the next couple weeks next couple episodes. This is just what? Disciples do and I think we need to start with these two things disciples repent and disciples get baptized now I understand you're sitting in the Department of Corrections from a detention center or work camp or prison or whatever might be and you're Watching this and baptism might not be easy. Don't worry I'm going to talk about that here in just a moment But Acts chapter 2 is where I wants to look at Peter is preaching in this moment Okay, Peter is preaching in Acts chapter 2 if you go to verse 36 He is giving this sermon and he gives this sermon to them and notice what it says now Everyone in Israel can know for certain that Jesus whom you crucified is the one God has made both Lord and Messiah when they heard this they were crushed and realized what they had done to Jesus and deeply moved They said to Peter and the other apostles. Okay, what do we need to do? Peter replied repent and Return to God and each one of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus the anointed one to have your sins removed Then you may take hold some translation will say then you can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for God's promise of the Holy Spirit is for you and your families for those yet to be born and for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself Peter preached to them now watch this and warned them in these words be rescued from the wayward and perverse culture
Of this world those who believed the word that day Numbered about 3,000 or numbered 3,000 and they were all baptized and added to the church So two things we're gonna look at here's what disciples do disciples repent and disciples get baptized. All right, let's talk about repentance now repentance is a pretty He is not just saying sorry. Let's think again who Jesus was preaching to. And hear my heart on this right here. Like listen to what I'm about to say. Lean in. Or I might say Jesus is preaching to. Sorry, Peter is preaching to. He is preaching to the crowd that according to the scripture in verse 36, he says, y'all crucified Jesus. You did it. Think of the weight of that. He's like, listen, you're the ones who killed him. You're the ones who made it happen. And they turn to him and they get cut to the heart. They realize what they've done. And they say, okay, well, what do we do? What do we do? And Peter does not look at them. Lean in here. Peter does not look at them and says, guys, I really appreciate all y'all listening to my sermon so it can be recorded in this saying that's gonna be called the book of Acts. Thank you all for listening. But you messed up too bad.
You screwed up too bad that now you can't receive forgiveness because you killed Jesus. Think of the weight of this. Peter says, y'all are the ones who crucified him. You made this happen. You would think Peter's like, no. No, there is no hope for you. You've went too far. You've messed up too much. You have made too many mistakes and let's just be honest, the evil that you did, the wickedness that you did was too far, but that's not what Peter says. Peter says, listen, okay, okay. If your heart has changed, which we know it has, repent and be baptized. This tells us this, man. Forgiveness is for everyone. You're obviously watching this, like let's not pretend here. You're obviously watching this because you made a pretty big mistake. Some of you bigger than others. Some of you worse off than others. I mean, we have people that are watching this because from unpaid child support to people who have taken other people's lives. I understand that and everywhere in between. So like, here's just what I'm saying.
The chances of you watching this is probably because something happened. I get it. People are like, I was wrongfully accused. Just hear my heart and you might think, man, I'm not able to be forgiven. I'm not able to receive that forgiveness, everybody. I'm not worthy of salvation. I'm not worthy of saving. I'm not worthy of what Jesus did. Maybe that's for everybody else, but I've went too far. Listen, well, you're listening to this random dude in Northeast Florida with a hat that is incredibly uncomfortable on the top of my head right now. And you found it on this app and maybe a super low, dark place to look you right there in the eyes and say, listen, you too can receive forgiveness from Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross at Calvary was for all. Even you. These people were literally the ones who killed Jesus. I don't know, man. I don't know. And Peter says, okay, here's what you do, repent. Now repent is not saying, hey, I'm really, really sorry. I messed up. I shouldn't have done it. And I'm sorry. That's remorse.
Now there's part of, I believe there's a part of remorse in repentance, but repentance, the word would actually mean to change your mind. And in the change of mind, you change your direction. So it's like, I'm going this way and I'm believing this with everything aside of me, this is what I'm doing. I'm here. Let me just get a little, that PRI, me, that prime. You're like, okay, this is what I'm, this is the way I'm going, okay? This is my way. It leads to sin. It leads to destruction. It leads to hurting other people. We all know this, okay? Repentance is like where you realize, it's like the light bulb moment. I'm not, this is not the right way. And this has not gotten me where I want to be, right? And so what happens is there begins this change of mind. And in this change of mind, it changes the direction. This is why Jesus would say, that's what repentance is. That's why Jesus would say in Matthew 4, 17, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's like, listen, have a change of mind that leads to a change of direction and the kingdom of heaven is within reach. One of the clearest examples that I could show you of this
is number one, Romans 2, verse four, it is this. The goodness, do you not know that the goodness of God leads to repentance? It's God's goodness that even turned that light bulb on. That's the only way I can say it, like that light bulb moment of like, I am going the wrong way and there's gotta be a better way. It is a goodness of God that begins the change of mind that leads to a change of direction. And in that change of mind, it leads to a change of direction. And in that change of direction is where you follow Jesus as a disciple would follow a rabbi because he is our King and our Lord. You track him? All right, and that's where we follow his way. It's Luke 6 47 come to him get to know him and then do what he says. It's the same thing come to him I've got a change of mind get to know him. That's my whole direction is changing and then I'm gonna follow what he says That's what this is. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of direction now Here's what I love first John 1 7 one of my favorites Portions in Scripture right here, but if we can't keep living in the pure light that surrounds him Right now I know y'all can't see it But there's there's one light here one night here one here And then we've got these three back here, and then we've got one on the floor down here Okay, and there is some on over there, but that's neither here. No there The main lights are all off if I was over there in the area That is not lit up the clarity of what you would see Would be very minimal if you could see me at all even if we turn the camera all that tracking with me But if I sit here now everything is lit to the point where you see how hot it is in here already
Then my face is sweating, but if I was over there, you couldn't see it So what's the point again first John 1 7 if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him? We share unbroken fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son. This was shed at Calvary Continually cleanses us from all sin. Here's what it means if I live here you can see me Clearly you can hear me you could you could feel what I'm trying to get across here in this moment That's what he's saying if you live in the light that surrounds Jesus if you live Continually getting close to him what will happen is literally we share unbroken fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus Continually cleanses us of sin see oftentimes people are afraid to get around Jesus because of the light that he has But what it like what if it exposes something? I'm ashamed of that's the loving nature of God It's the goodness of God that even pulled you into repentance He's not trying to shame you if there's anything I've seen in my own life the closer I get to Jesus come to him get to know him follow his ways the closer I get to him where my heart is turning towards him his light will show me things in my life That are not his way. So what happens I thought this way about this. He begins to show me There's a better way my mind begins to change so I am now Walking with him in his way, but it happens by getting close to him You don't have to get your mess together to be able to get close to him He looks you in the eye and says listen, I know what you did and I'm still pulling you close to me He says come here in the light Because when you come in the light what happens is now you begin to see the things that he wants to make right in your life Not in a way of get your mess together in a way of like hey, you know, this isn't best Let's change our mind on that and go in a different direction Verse 8 of 1st John Continues if we claim we are yeah, we have no sin We're only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth now watch this But if we confess our sins to him He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness Thank you God for that verse it can you confess God I messed up Jesus I sinned against you. I hurt that person. I lied here. I did this I sinned against you
That is the change of mind. Lord. Will you forgive me? It says he is faithful and just to forgive you for all wickedness like that scripture man or Woman, ladies and gents. This is what he says This is the goodness of God that he left heaven came to earth This is listen. I died in your place I rose again, and if you just will confess just come near to me confess your sins to me. I will forgive you Thank God. So here's what disciples do we repent now? Here's the thing some of you are gonna give your life to Christ for the very first time today You're gonna have that repentance your minds already changing your direction is coming with it. That's what's happened. I'm not going this way anymore I'm now living for him and for his kingdom Some of you have accepted Christ years ago. We still repent it Repentance wasn't one and done right? I don't have to keep getting saved But as I continue to come into the light that surrounds him first John 1 7 I continue to see things that I need to get Realigned with his kingdom or aligned with his kingdom that is out of sorts that I need to have a change of mind and change The direction in it's repentance Repentance is not one and done not to get into the kingdom of heaven But as we're living our life you start to see hey, maybe I'm thinking about this wrong I'm thinking about this wrong and it's just what disciples do It's just what we do man. We repent he says listen. Okay, they say what do we do Peter? What do we do back to our chapter 2 he says repent and be baptized now baptized Here's the thing. This is an outward sign of an inward decision Some of you will get this more than others, but I also understand For the majority of you, being baptized in a work camp, prison, jail, detention center, whatever you want to call it, is borderline impossible, okay? That does not mean your forgiveness of sins is held up. If you can't be baptized, God's not like, well until you get baptized, I do not believe that at all. My defense against that would always be the prisoner, the two prisoners, the two thieves that were hanging next to Jesus on the cross. One mocks Jesus, one sees him for who he is.
The one who sees him for who he is, Jesus does not look to him and say, listen, if you can get down from here and go get baptized, I'll make sure you're in heaven. He says, no, today you will be with me in paradise, right? So that tells us baptism does not stop us from spending eternity with God, but if you can be baptized, you absolutely should be baptized. It's like someone who never gives generously ever to anyone, but is a Christian. Kind of oxymoron there, but the point that I'm making is this. You will still go to heaven if you accepted Jesus. If there's someone who's like, well, I've never been able to serve somebody else. Again, oxymoron as a disciple of Christ, but I don't think it would keep you out of heaven if you accepted the work that Jesus did through salvation to give to you. His free gift of salvation, right? But if you can be baptized, you need to be baptized. Why? Number one, Jesus said. Number two, Jesus said in Matthew 28, 19. Number two is this. Baptism is an allegiance to Jesus. Now, some of you get this because you've been a part of gangs or are part of a gang, and I got to be careful what I say here because I'm not trying to get in trouble again, but here's what Jesus is saying. That baptism declares I belong to Jesus. Some of you have tattoos declaring who you belong to. Some of you, you know who you hang out with and who you sit with and who you associate with. Again, I know this is a very real thing, and you belong to them essentially. Jesus is saying this. Baptism says I belong to the kingdom of God. Jesus is my king and my Lord, and now I'm gonna do everything I can to live this promise of continually going to him, getting to know him, and following his ways. When Peter is preaching this in Acts chapter 2, most historians would believe he is on the steps of the temple, and all around the temple there is these purification pools that were around there that Jews would often have to purify themselves to enter into the synagogue, and Peter says, and listen, I don't know why Jesus chose baptism, but he did, and Peter's like, listen, you all need to repent. Change of mind, change of direction, okay? But at the same time, you need to let everyone around here know that you belong to Jesus because you believe in Jesus, and he is who your allegiance is to. Did you know
in that time where we hear like Jesus is Lord? Jesus would say that because Caesar would make you say Caesar is Lord, and Jesus flips and is like, listen, I know it's the most powerful government in the world at that time, but Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. The Jews that hated Jesus and did not believe he was a Messiah, listen, if you declare that you are a Jesus follower now, that he was the fulfillment of the law, that he was the Messiah, and he calls us to live for him in the ways of his kingdom to have good fruit and a firm foundation, the fruit of the Spirit, the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control, and you're like, listen, I believe that's the kingdom, and they get baptized there. Many of them would never, they'd be banned from the synagogue because of their allegiance to Jesus, but here's what Peter is saying. Remember the words of Jesus. If you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you. This is a serious thing. This is why baptism is serious. Jesus said to do it because it's a public declaration of what has happened inside of you. It's an outward sign of an inward decision, and I know people are like, well, baptism's like a wedding ring. Yes, but so much more. It is allegiance to the kingdom of God that Jesus is the one and only true God, that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Christianity has been the most inclusive people group in all of history for the last 2,000 years, but it is also the most exclusive one. It's the most inclusive because it doesn't matter your race, your background, your gender, your socioeconomic status, what you have done in your past, or what you're involved in right now. If you accept that Jesus is who he says he is and the work that he did, Christianity welcomes you into that family for the forgiveness of your sins and the entirely new kingdom of heaven life. It's also incredibly exclusive because there is one way to the Father, and it is through Jesus according to him in John 14. He is the way the truth in the life Paul would say in baptism. You're actually partaking in Jesus's death burial and Resurrection so in baptism when you sit in that water and you are baptized and you're brought down Baptism means immersed you are brought down that is that is Displayed to everyone but Paul also says what's happening in the natural is actually mirroring what's happening in the spiritual realm So it's not just a natural thing. It's actually a very spiritual thing as well and the supernatural realm
So he says listen, I I'm I am joining in his death death to my ways But when I am raised to life, I also am Co-resurrected. This is Romans chapter 6. I'm actually co-resurrected with Jesus to walk in a freshness of life that is the seriousness of This if you've never been baptized and you can you should if not when you get out You need to go find a church to baptize you Because it's a public decoration of what Jesus has already done in you It's the public decoration of who I belong to my allegiance is to Jesus and Jesus alone He is my king. He is my Savior He is my rabbi. I am a disciple of him and I'm going to be with him become like him and do what he did That's what a disciple is someone who is with Jesus becomes like Jesus and does what Jesus did the worst of the worst You say what do you do repent and be baptized? Remember Paul was a terrorist His name was Saul I have time to go into that What was he told repent and be baptized? So what you need to change your mind change the direction It's gonna happen because God's goodness and then and then you need to be baptized as a public decoration of faith So Romans chapter 6 verse 4 or 5. I don't remember which one it is so you could walk in a freshness of life I got pretty fired up about this and it's hot in here already Not that anybody cares listen Hope this helped you in some way. Genuinely. I hope it did. My name is Trevor. It's such an honor To be with you to be a part of this to help you to disciple along with you To champion every season even this season wherever you are Man, listen, if you are a part of this and you're subscribing you're rowing with us making it happen That's somebody know man. Hey, this this church is helping me grow my relationship with Christ whether it's there in your pod Dorm work camp, whatever. Maybe it's somebody back home as well. I see all the messages to me when people said hey My my husband's watching or my sister is watching or you know, my son is watching. My daughter's watching whatever I read all that stuff up
It's it's it's honestly quite a bit where I can't get back to all of those messages But please let your family members know I do read them. I see them It is so encouraging more than y'all know, but until next time god bless all of you I love all of you so much such an honor to be in your lives in this way. We'll see you right here next week I Just heard the news today It seems my life It's gonna change I close my eyes begin to pray Then tears of joy stream down my face with arms wide open Under the sunlight Welcome to this place I'll show you everything With arms wide open With arms wide open Well, I don't know if I'm ready to be the man I have to be I'll take a breath. I'll take her by my side. We stand it Oh, we've created light with arms wide open Under the sunlight Welcome to this place I'll show you everything With arms wide open Now everything has changed I'll show you love I'll show you everything I'll show you everything With arms wide open
With arms wide open I'll show you everything I'll show you everything With arms wide open Wide open If I had just one wish, one wonderment I hope he's not like me, I hope he understands That he can take this life and hold it by the hand And he can greet the world With arms wide open Under the sunlight Welcome to this place I'll show you everything With arms wide open Now everything has changed I'll show you love I'll show you everything I'll show you everything Guitar solo Mm-mm-mm-mm Guitar solo Mm-mm-mm-mm Well, I took a walk around the world To ease my troubled mind I left my body lying somewhere In the sands of time But I watched the world Float to the dark side of the moon I feel there's nothing I can do here I watched the world
Float to the dark side of the moon After all I knew It had to be something to do with you I really don't mind What happens down there As long as you'll be my friend At the end if I go crazy Then will you still call me Superman If I'm alive and well will you be there Holding my hand I'll keep you by my side With my superhuman might Kryptonite Guitar solo You called me strong, you called me weak But still your secrets I will keep You took for granted all the times I never let you down You stumbled in and bumped your head If not for me then you'd be dead I picked you up and put you back on Solid ground If I go crazy Then will you still call me Superman If I'm alive and well will you be there Holding my hand I'll keep you by my side With my superhuman You're human, my kryptonite If I go crazy, then will you still call me Superman?
If I'm alive and well, will you be there? Holding my hand, I'll keep you by my side My superhuman, my kryptonite If I go crazy, then will you still call me Superman? If I'm alive and well, will you be there? Holding my hand, I'll keep you by my side My superhuman, my kryptonite Mm, mm, mm A hundred days, it made me older Since the last time that I saw your pretty face A thousand lies have made me colder And I don't think I can look at this the same But all the miles that separate They disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face I'm here without you, baby But you're still on my lonely mind I think about you, baby And I dream about you all the time I'm here without you, baby But you're still with me in my dreams And tonight it's only you and me Yeah The miles just keep rolling As the people leave their way to say hello I've heard this life is overrated But I hope that it gets better as we go Yeah, I'm here without you, baby But you're still on my lonely mind I think about you, baby And I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you, baby But you're still with me in my dreams And tonight, girl, it's only you and me Everything I know, anywhere I go It gets hard, but it won't take away my love And when the last one falls, when it's all said and done It gets hard but it won't take away my love Oh, I'm here without you baby But you're still on my lonely mind I think about you baby And I dream about you all the time I'm here without you baby But you're still with me in my dreams And tonight, girl, it's only you and me Yeah Oh, yeah Oh Guitar solo Oh Oh Ooh Oh Oh She was more like a beauty queen From a movie scene I said don't mind but what do you mean I am the one Who would dance on the floor in the round She said I am the one Who would dance on the floor in the round
She told me her name was Billie Jean And she caused a scene Then every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one Who would dance on the floor in the round People always told me be careful of what you do And don't go around breaking young girls' hearts And mother always told me Be careful of who you love And be careful of what you do Cause the lie becomes the truth Billie Jean is not my love She's just a girl who claims that I am the one But the kid is not my son She says I am the one But the kid is not my son Ooh For 40 days and 40 nights The law was on her side But who can stand when she's in demand Her schemes and plans Cause we danced on the floor in the round So take my strong advice Just remember to always think twice To think twice To think twice She told my baby we danced till three Then she looked at me Then showed a photo of a baby crying His eyes were like mine Cause we danced on the floor in the round
Baby People always told me be careful of what you do And don't go around breaking young girls' hearts She came and stood right by me Then the smell of sweet perfume This happened much too soon She called me to her room Billie Jean is not my love She's just a girl who claims that I am the one But the kid is not my son Billie Jean is not my love She's just a girl who claims that I am the one But the kid is not my son She says I am the one But the kid is not my son She says I am the one But the kid is not my son No, no, no, no, no I love the Boston energy, and you guys, all of New England, you guys love your seafood, and it's just disgusting. Disgusting. Lobster. Lobster. I was at this seafood restaurant, right? And this guy came over to our table. It wasn't even our waiter. He came over to our table. He was like, hey, I don't know how to do the Boston accent. You're not eating lobster.
Is there a reason why you're not eating lobster? And I was like, uh, I thought I'd order what I want. I wasn't really in the mood for bug meat. Because that's what shellfish are. They're just creepy crawly giant insects on the bottom of the ocean. You know fish are swimming around like, we've got to get an exterminator up in this piece. They're bugs. They have a shell like a bug. They have spindly legs and crawl around like a bug. They have antennae like a monster. They're probably monsters. Like if you went home and you saw a chicken in your house, you'd be like, what the hell is a chicken doing in my house? But if you saw a lobster, you'd be like, we're moving. Because there's not a nickel's worth of difference between a lobster and a giant scorpion. No, I understand everyone loves lobster. I love lobster. Hey, I like butter too, okay? How can I eat three sticks of butter? Well, I found this giant swimming sea scorpion. It's just a spoonful of butter helps the bug meat go down. In the most delightful way. Lobster tail. Is that the area near the butt? That's what I want, a little turf and bug butt. How about those restaurants where you have to pick out your own lobster? You're like, I guess I'll take that one that's really struggling with the rubber bands. He seems appealing.
Why don't we boil him to death? Why am I involved in this decision? But the Northeast, it's all shellfish. Maryland with the crab. Isn't it kind of a red flag you need a hammer to eat a crab? Oh, you're having the crab? Let me get you some tools. So you can crack open that bug shell and get that half a bite of bug meat. Crab, it's too much work. They're like the pistachio of seafood. And there's that nasty part of the crab. You're not supposed to eat. I think it's called all of it. Even the crab as a creature is creepy. It always looks like it's trying to avoid an awkward situation. Is that? Oh, I owe that guy money. Crap. Clams and oysters. How do we even start eating those? Hey, I'll fight a rock with a snot in it. It's a thing of eating it. Go ahead. All right. What's it taste like? Pneumonia. Oysters on the half shell as opposed to what? In a Kleenex? Pearls come from oysters. Yeah, I try not to eat things that also make jewelry.
Clam chowder. How can we sell more clams? Why don't we put it in a soup that looks like vomit? But most seafood gives me the willies. Like anchovies? What exactly is the difference between an anchovy and a sweaty eyebrow? Because whenever I see an anchovy, I think someone has attacked Tom Selleck. Why would you put that in a salad? Squid more like the swimming sea spider. But I like calamari. Hey, you could deep fry a rubber hose. It would taste good. Ew, a little cocktail sauce. This is good hose. I wish I liked seafood. I do. I live near Chinatown in New York because I'm Chinese. And like most Chinatowns, a lot of the restaurants in Chinatown have live seafood tanks in the windows. And I'm always like, do you want us to come in there or are these sea monsters protecting your establishment? Because I am scared. And I love Chinese food. And I love the Chinese culture. And I'm not just saying that because we're all going to be working for them in six months. The Chinese have an amazing culture. culture. They do. 3,000 years ago, they were doing brain surgery in China, yet they still haven't figured out dessert. You ever go to a Chinese restaurant? I'm not talking about the fancy Chinese restaurant that has the tea ice cream that tastes like a pack of menthol cigarettes. I'm talking about a regular Chinese restaurant. With the dessert options, there's two, right? There's sliced oranges. Ooh. I don't want to overwork the kitchen. Oranges? Did a schooner just arrive from the Caribbean? Looks like our scurvy's cured, fellas. There's
sliced oranges, or there's the fortune cookie, which is not even a Chinese thing. It's an American thing, and we gave it to them, and they're like, we don't want it. And we're like, it's now part of your ethnic identity. Don't you feel like the fortune in every fortune cookie should be, you are about to eat a stale cookie? Hey, my fortune came, too. Everyone has the same reaction to fortune cookies. They're always like, these things are so stew. What does mine say? Like there's some ancient wisdom in there, as if Confucius himself was putting a tiny piece of paper into a tiny tie-branner. Happiness is a long journey. 15, 31, 12. Put this in a stale cookie for me, would you? It's like they wait for them to be stale. How old are these? 1990? Let's wait a little longer. I do feel sorry for the person who created the cookie that ended up being the fortune cookie, because they were probably pretty proud. They're like, hey, you got to try my new cookie. Tell me what you think of it. Try my new cookie. Tell me what you think. All right, I'll try it. Here you go. You know what this could use is some paper. This would be good for holding a note or a recipe for a good cookie. How much do you think I could charge for it? I'd give it away with a check. The SEAL motto is, the only easy day is yesterday. So that would infer that, hey, you're always uncomfortable. They make us do plenty of drills and different training throughout my career, specifically more in buds, that teaches you to be comfortable being uncomfortable. If you take drown proofing, they tie your hands and feet, throw you in the pool, make you do a whole bunch of drills. To a lot of people, that would be uncomfortable. Your hands and feet are tied, you're in a pool. But it's a heated pool, and it's in San Diego, and there's six instructors swimming around, and they're not going to let you drown. Six months long. It's big, it's overwhelming, but I broke everything down into one bite at a time. Because if you focused on, hey, look, how am I going to get through six months, that would be much too overwhelming for me. So I broke everything down into one meal, one bite. So hey, if I could make it to breakfast, awesome. If I could make it to lunch, even better. Dinner, okay, cool, let's see if I can do it again the next day. And I did that throughout my entire career, no matter what I was involved in, what I was doing, everything was down. Prioritized list, top to bottom, one bite at a time, the most important things first, and then the things that didn't need to be dealt with, I just simply moved to the side and I wouldn't worry about. The more pressure, the smaller bites, because you've
got so much going on. I look at everything that way. I've been in so many miserable situations that just plain suck. Okay? You're going to do it, I'm not not going to do it, but if you can sit back, look at yourself, laugh about it. I've been in some crazy situations, you name it, where everybody's miserable, but you look to your left and right, you see your buddies, they're kind of laughing and joking, and you're like, okay, all right. I honestly, and you talk to different guys, some guys say, you know, hey, they thought about quitting every day at Bud's. I honestly never thought about quitting. Every single day did I think, wow, this sucks, absolutely. Yeah, it sucked every minute, but the way I looked at it was, hey, look, I looked at these instructors. If they can do it, I can do it. There's nothing that they've done that I can't accomplish as well. The majority of people that don't make it through the program simply quit. So they choose not to be there. Not that they couldn't do it physically, but they choose not to be there. If you break everything down, I've got some statistics here. This is a culmination of what each class, each Bud's class has done in a six month period of time. Each student runs 1,627 miles during that time, swims 134.2 miles, runs the obstacle course 39 times, conducts 42 dives, spending 61 hours underwater. Each class expends 1,413,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. Each class detonates 13,382 pounds of high explosives. You hike or patrol 150 miles. You complete a combat conditioning course, which is a 12 mile run, wearing 70 pounds of gear in three hours or less. basically the equivalent of swimming from Cuba to the southern tip of Florida and then running all the way to New York City. Had they shown me these statistics before I went to FUDS, no way, I'd be a banker or something. I wouldn't have been a SEAL. I would have been completely overwhelmed. I would have moved right back to Alaska and been, all right, this is not for me. But again, back to breaking everything down and the majority of the people quit. They thought about two months ahead of time thinking, wow, what if I can make it through rather than worrying about the bite, you know. A lot of us used to laugh and joke. We look back on our FUDS experience and it was kind of nice because you didn't have to think of anything. It was simply do exactly what they tell you and do it at 200 percent. As you mature on the teams, you become a leader, then you got more responsibility.
I remember a drill that our teachers had us do and it had to have been third grade. I don't remember exactly, but it had to have been around third grade. It was wintertime. The majority of the people who died in the area would die of hypothermia, fall through the ice, whatever it was. So the school had two different drills. One of them, they went out, cut a hole in the ice and literally, I don't even know if we signed release waivers, but they take you out there, they dunk you in the cold water. It was the middle of winter, hole in the ice. It was like 15 or 20 seconds. They held you in there, pulled you out and then you were expected to rewarm yourself. They had a tent set up there and the concept was, hey, get used to taking off all your wet clothes. If you have to put dry clothes on, whatever it is, the steps to rewarm yourself in a situation like that because that happened a lot. The other thing they had you do is they gave everybody a one gallon tin can full of soapy water. Two matches and you had to go start a fire from scratch. No paper, no fuel, no starter fluid, no anything. Peel bark, start a fire. You had two matches. Third grade. The first kid to build a fire big enough to take his pot of water, put it on top, get it to bubble over, he was the winner. That was third grade, how I grew up. I didn't think anything that I learned in the military would translate to civilian life. I assumed that I'd be a really good shot, go skydiving on the weekends and so on and so forth, but everything I did learn in the teams does translate. I apply the exact same rules I did when I was in, getting through pods, assaulting a target, going through any training I did. I apply those same ones now. Little takeaways that I look back on and I think, wow, okay, I apply every single one of these things to my life today and I got out of the SEALs two years ago. The first thing I have is teamwork. There's absolutely zero that I accomplished during my career that I could not have done without a team, period. You got to put the needs of the team above your own. Buds does that repeatedly. They throw you in a boat, make you battle out through the surf zone. You're already tired, miserable, hungry, and then, you know, the boat gets flipped
over in the surf and you got to work together as a team. It's very easy to see who's willing to put the needs of the team above their own. The folks that pull back and worry about their own needs, they're typically not the ones standing there at the end. Prioritize and eat one bite at a time. I apply that to the stress that I'm under these days. I break it all down. I prioritize it. If I can't affect it, I don't even worry about it. And that's something learned. You know, you don't get good at that from the beginning. Be all in all the time. A quote from Tommy Valentine, one of the better leaders at the command for a long time. And he used to ask a lot of the new guys that at what level are you willing to participate? And the only right answer was be all in all the time. Whether you're sweeping floors, charging a that's what whatever it is you do. I don't worry about two weeks in advance. I worry about what I'm doing right then in the moment that I'm going to do that as best as I can. I look back and think, Okay, listen, I'm nobody special. Anything different or better than anybody else. But I look back and think, okay, I lived through that situation. I can deal with this. F**k yeah! Come on! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! There it is. F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah!
F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! F**k yeah! Andrew's Aaaargh! Staaah! Aargh! Stop! Stop resisting me! Ohh! Woah! Oh. Ahh! Aargh! Ahh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh!
Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Aargh!
Aargh! Aargh! Aargh! Oh So So Today i'm at florida's best crocodilian facility. Oh, look at that. That is a dinosaur With over 50 acres 500 animals and nearly every crocodilian species with some reaching over 15 feet long This is florida's jurassic park. Oh boy. Oh boy. Come on Kyle, dude, get out of here. What are you doing? No, kyle. No, no kyle. Get out of here. You got bitten. Yeah, she tagged me Kyle, what's up, bro? How are you man? Good to see you. How you been? Dude, this place is incredible. I can't believe i've never been here. I know it's been way too long way too long Is so enormous I had no idea it's a lot going on how have you Rescued and brought in over 500 crocodilians. I ask myself that very question all the time. So this is a cuban, right? Yep. Hey, buddy, so i'm gonna hop in there and give them a tickle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Now great cuban crocodiles are notoriously The the biggest psychos they are what's the deal with that? They're just so extremely agile and so terrestrial that they are A very dangerous crocodile to mess with especially, you know, usually We're on land. They're in the water We have our own space. Nope These guys will come on land and mow you down and they only live in cuba and nowhere else Yep, kyle has told me that this cuban's a little bit fat and needs some conditioning So we're just gonna work to get it to run right now And it's not taking that much work because it's already locking in on on kyle the cameraman over here I have a feeling if we do this. Hey, buddy. What's this? What's this Come on what's this? Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this Wow, look at that. They're just looking for anything Come on croc jim croc jim croc jim
Wow, have you ever been in with a cuban? Yes, and and I have the scars to show for it. Really? Yes. Oh boy So you got right here. You got bitten. Yeah, she tagged me. How bad? She just skimmed my leg just skimmed it. No way. Oh, that's that's a just skim. Come here. Come here. Come here Come here. Look at this So if you think that my man kyle here is anything but a crocodile nut That is from just getting skimmed by this one right? That's the sides of her teeth That shows how serrated her teeth were that she just skimmed me there and just with a single tooth Yep, holy smokes and that's from this one this one because I went in there and fed her Yep, and she just ran me down and I was like chicken chicken chicken I had a whole chicken in my hand. Yep. She could not care less who's after you. Yep Wow, now they really get up on those limbs like you could see here and gallop more than any other crocodile Yes, very much. So again, they're exceptionally terrestrial because most likely in cuba they have to be resources are slim to none So they have to work outside of the box of a crocodile. Yep Not always hunt on the water. They have to certainly go on land after their prey crazy Well, I like cubans, but we're definitely not going to get close to this one. We are going to get close to some others Yes, so let's get going. Let's go meet some more of your amazing crocodilians. Let's do it So far, we've only seen a fraction of what kyle has to offer coming up He's going to show me some of the rarest crocodiles in the world But first we're going to meet the biggest and most dangerous animals on the planet. All right, kyle Who do we have here? Oh my god, that is a dinosaur. This is ragnarok The Australian Saltwater Crocodile. That's such a good name for an enormous crocodile. Isn't it? Yeah. Isn't it? So he's what, 14 feet? No, he's definitely pushing over 15. We haven't gotten an exact measurement because his sole goal in life is to eat a person. No way.
So obviously, we're not getting in there and measuring him easily. But he's about 15 plus. He was produced in Gatorland back in the 90s. And they had some monster Australian Saltwater Crocodiles that they imported many, many, many years ago. OK, so let me ask you this, Kyle. You're an expert on this. I'm not. This croc's 30 years old. Right. He was born in captivity. He's been hand-raised, fostered by people his whole life. And still, his biggest goal in life is to eat a human being. Yep. How is he not like a puppy dog? You know, like, how does that work? Why is it some alligators are friendly, and then this guy just wants to kill you? Is it just individuals? Like, you have grumpy guys in the bar, and you have nice people. Like, what's the story here? For sure. For sure. They definitely are incredibly individual, you know? So every single crocodile and alligator has a different personality, somewhat. I mean, obviously, they have their species tendencies, but especially these animals.
The Saltwater Crocodiles and the Nile Crocodiles are animals that eat monster, monster prey. So to take that out of them, to make them friendly, is like taking the spirit of the animal out that has been designed and perfected for tens of millions of years. I want to point something out to the camera here that's really interesting. Kyle has 500 crocodilians of 20-something species, right? Now, most places that I have ever been to see crocodiles or alligators in captivity, they're either too fat or too skinny. But I want to show you something about this guy right here. And a credit to this human right here. Look at the width of the tail. That is an animal that is carrying a good amount of fat, but by no means obese. Because when you come to the body side of the animal, it's nice and narrow. This is what a crocodile in the wild looks like. It has musculature. It has dense fat. And it's not overweight and it's not underweight. That's a credit to you, man. That's hard to do with crocodiles. They're either usually overfed and no muscle or underfed and skinny. And this guy is perfect, so way to go. That's awesome. Thank you very much.
Yeah, that is really cool to see. And he is terrifying. Kyle, for me, these guys are not the gnarliest crocodile. I don't believe the saltwaters. And I know there's a lot of debate about this, but I don't believe saltwaters are nearly as bad as somebody that you have right over there. But before we move on, Kyle wants to show me how this monster salty feeds up close. And you just pointed out this individual literally just wants to kill you. Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. So hopefully I don't trip. It's funny, I work with crocodiles on a daily basis, close quarters. My heart's beating. Well, you don't have to do this. No one's making you do this. I'm confident. That's a disclaimer. Okay. I'm confident. One of the fastest stop-to-start speeds in the animal kingdom. So watch. If Kyle doesn't get out of here, he's a big trouble. So that's the thing. The second I hit the ground, he's coming. Coming, okay. Ready?
I'm ready. Come on, bud. Come on. Come on. Oh boy. Come on. Kyle, dude, get out of here. What are you doing? I hate this. Come on. No, Kyle. No, no, Kyle. Get out of here. What are you doing? If you didn't have that rabbit, he would not have stopped. No, no, no question. Kyle, come on. And again, luckily it was just cold. So he's a lot slower. If you come in July, August, he's blowing through that rabbit and coming for you. And still continuing. Oh yeah. Yep. Dude, if you weren't like a good rabbit flinger, would have been all over. I've had a lot of practice. The beauty of it though is once he has a rabbit, he's happy.
He's happy. That's all he wanted. He just wants to be fed. Yeah. Yep. It's obvious these crocodilians are built to kill, but they're far from mindless killing machines. And the next species Kyle is about to show me proves that in a big way. Oh, swamp puppies. Big swamp puppy. Yeah. So male, female? Male, female. So if you're watching this at home, see if you can guess who is the male and who is the female of these alligators. Now I think, correct me if I'm wrong, you know more than I do, of the crocodilians, except for gharials, maybe the most size sexual dimorphism is in alligators. Yeah, I'd say so. So that is the female over there, the little one. And then this is what you call like a bull gator, like a big male gator, which is pretty amazing. So what's their deal? Rescues. Yeah. Nuisance alligators that ended up here. Okay.
So have you had him a long time and that's why he's so big or did he come in huge? He came in pretty big. He was like 12 and a half. So that's why I'm anxious to measure him if we can. Yeah. And then she came about that size. Now this is a relatively unusual size for an American alligator. Yeah, huge. Generally speaking, the males are about 10 to 11. And he's what, 12? He's probably 13. 13, oh my goodness. Well, let's find out. So how are we going to measure them? I assume we have to get in there. We do. We have to get in there. So what we're going to do is feed the babies first. They got seven babies in there. Oh, cute. Look at these guys. Yeah, you'll see. Right here mixed in with all of these cichlids are a bunch of baby alligators. And I assume they just laid the eggs in here, hatched them naturally. They did. So cool.
And that's what I love about these enclosure designs is seeing them not only flourish by exercising, by having naturalistic enclosure, but even successfully breeding and raising their own young together. All right, so they've got a bunch of pellets. So now, how do we split them up so that we can measure him? She's very food motivated, but she is very shy. OK. So the only reason she's here is because I want to grab my food and run. Right. So the second you give her food, she's gone. And him? Oh, no. No, he's chill. He does not care. And does he want to kill you? He's an alligator, so if you give him the chance, he will take you up on that opportunity. Makes sense. Let's do it. I'm excited. This is our first hands-on getting in there with one. For me, Kyle already ran away from one. So Forrest, I'll have you feed her over there. OK. And then once she gets her food, she'll take off. She'll take off. Then we can prep over here for the big guy.
Come on. Not you, big guy. Oh, man. Come on, buddy. Come on, buddy. See how close you can get to her. Nice shot. Pretty close. There we go. I'm no rabbit frisbee expert like you, but oh, yeah. She's out of here. Look at that speed, too. All right, so she's left. Now there's this enormous alligator right here. Right, and he's almost perfect for measuring. I know. Right? Yep. So let's get in there and measure him. OK. When's the last time you measured him? Honestly, probably the day I got him 10 years ago. Oh, my god. Oh, so this is actually a big deal. This is cool. It is a very big deal. Oh, sweet. All right, you want me to take the sharp end? Sure, yeah. You want to take the sharp end?
All right. OK, here we go. I trust Kyle's judgment. But when you're this close to a gator of this size, here in his world, and things can go bad fast. Kyle, don't get eaten by that one, OK? Hey, buddy. All right, so I'm going to come around here. He hasn't been fed yet. I'm going to get as close as I can to the nose here without losing an arm. Oh, boy. Right there. Right there? Kyle, can you pull that tight? Yeah. Yeah, I want it to slack out. Yep, this is crazy. I need to not take my guard off. But look at the size of this alligator. I mean, when I kneel down, just the top of his back comes up to probably nearly my shoulder height. I mean, maybe not. Maybe mid-chest. But that is such a big dinosaur. And to think that we live here in North America in such a grumbling a little bit, in such a cool place where these guys get to live alongside us. I mean, literally, probably less than a mile from right here at Kyle's facility, this 50-acre facility
with 500 crocodilians are wild alligators in the backyard. I mean, it's just so darn cool, man. It is. You're going to give him a snack. All right. You're going to toss it to him, and you'll get a really cool view of him swallowing it down. Hey, buddy. OK, we're going to give him a rabbit here. This is cool. I haven't fed a gator hands-on like this in a long time. Here you go, buddy. Ready? Come on. There you go. Whoa. Yeah, yummy. Oh, look at that dinosaur. Man, that's so cool. Isn't it? Yeah. But it's cool to see the metabolism of an American alligator that's designed to live in this ecosystem, where you can see he's definitely looking for food, and he wants to get more and more and more, where the crocodiles are definitely a lot slower. Hey, bud. All right. Take this little water. Whoa.
Whoa. Oh, god, he's big. I kind of want to hug him. Don't you? But I'm not going to. Now it's finally time to find out how big this alligator really is. Holy smokes. So we are at 13 foot 2 inches, almost on the nose, 158 inches total. Jeez. That is crazy. That is a beast of an alligator right there. 13 feet long. That makes it easily one of the largest I've ever seen. Alligators are known to get a little bit bigger, but at this size, it's a true giant. And somehow, this is just the beginning, as Kyle still has more to show me, including the rarest crocodile on Earth. But first, I have to stop and check out a crocodile that looks nothing like anything I've ever seen before. Wow. So this is really interesting. These are Niles. They are. But they don't look like Niles. They've got some weird colors going on. What's up with that?
So these are technically piebald Nile crocodiles. So they kind of have like a cow pattern, where it's like the normal coloration, but then there's white blotches as well. Is that just a genetic mutation? It is. It is. And hopefully, we can prove it out to be a recessive genetic mutation where these two breed and then produce more piebald offspring. Male, female? Male, female. Cool. As you can see by the fence, they aren't getting along the best. So we're going to move them into a much bigger enclosure and hope for the best then. And they're not brother or sister? They are not. Oh, cool. Very cool. These piebald Nile crocodiles are fascinating. But now, Kyle's taking me to meet the real Nile crocs. And these ones are a lot more fired up. So let's feed this species. This species is one you know very, very well, the Nile crocodile. Now, I think these are the worst of the worst. I really do. I do.
I'll tell you why. Because over millions of years, Nile crocodiles, oh, I love that pop, were evolved to eat large animals, whereas salties were just evolved to eat anything they could. Now, I can see you're thinking through this. What's going on here? We've got to make sure everybody gets one without fighting. Is that right? Exactly. OK. So obviously, with three mouths right there, it's relatively difficult. So let's try to separate the group if we can. OK. I'll bring this one over here. Come here, girl. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Get out of here, girly. Run. Come here, pup. Hey, big boy. Big boy. Salt. Uh-oh. See that? Did I screw it up, Kyle? No, you're fine. OK.
Now, where did you get Nile crocodiles in the middle of Jupiter, Florida? Hey. Buddy, right here, look, look, dum-dum. There, ah-ha, you did it, nice. All right, there we go, OK. So how'd you end up with these guys? So this guy came from another facility in central Florida. OK. I was just looking to re-home him. And then those two came from the Miami area. OK. They were actually, one of them is the mother of the Nile crocodiles they found in the Everglades. I was just going to ask you about that. So is it true that there are now a small population of Nile crocodiles living in the Florida Everglades wild? There's certainly a chance. Yeah. You know, they've caught three. Yeah. But are there more? Are they reproducing? Are there more? There are three small animals, and they caught them pretty quick. So hopefully, they caught all the ones that got out. That's so interesting. Florida is such a wild place. Everything can survive here.
That's why I think there's more invasive species here than maybe anywhere in the world. Yeah. And you're still giving them home. So that's really cool. Let's go see some more crocs. Let's do it. But before we move on from the Niles, Kyle wanted to show me how sneaky yet powerful these animals can be. So this is the male Nile crocodile here. So of course, he's coming first. And now here comes his girlfriend. Yeah. So two in here. Two. Look how menacing this is. Come here. Come get a shot of this. Look at this. As they swim over and their body moves like that, it's so insane. I think these guys, oh, look at that, are just the absolute perfect predator. They're just so crazy, Nile crocs. Come on, buddy. Here you go. Come on. Come on. Nice job.
Look at that. Oh, it's so cool. So for her. Yep. Check this out. As we're talking over here, the rabbits are getting smashed on. And look at how, isn't this interesting? Look at how the crocs have gone away from each other to feed so that they're not fighting. There's no competition. Each one has their own rabbit. And that's intentional. Don't think that by any means that's an accident. Let's go see some more. Let's do it. We've seen some incredible crocodiles. But now Kyle's taking me to see the rare stuff, some of the most unique crocs he cares for, including the rarest crocodile on Earth. Who's this? This is an adult female Philippine crocodile. So that's full size for a Philippine? That's full size. Maybe a little bit bigger, just beefier. You know, with age and maturity, they'll kind of beef it up a little bit. But that's about as big as she'll get. So what's the deal with Philippine crocs if they're that big?
Can I get one and put it in my fish tank? You can. Yeah, you're going to take a lot of hits on it. That's the problem, yeah. Because these guys hit hard. They do. When they, with the lack of size, they definitely make up with attitude. These guys hit hard. And you can see they're not very shy like the salties can be. And they really run after you. Really? It's almost, it's not like a gallop. It's more of like a grizzly bear kind of thing. Like, it's a bullish run. Interesting. It's very weird. They are endangered, though, if I'm not mistaken. They believe this is the rarest crocodile in the world, as far as wild population. More so than Chinese alligators. Wow. Interesting. That's cool. Well, you can see that she's like, I dare you to stick your arm in here. Let me show you what's up. Yeah. Steve Irwin, who said, crocodiles are easy because you just know that they want to kill you.
People are much more complicated because they pretend to be your friend first. Exactly. And you have really proven that today. And not you at the friend part, the crocodiles in the sense of like, you're like, they just, they do want to eat you. They're not your buddy. Right. And there's peace in that, just knowing exactly what the animal's intentions are and just working around it. Yeah. The Philippine crocodile is incredible to see up close. But the next one is even stranger. An alligator living halfway across the world in a place it almost doesn't make sense for it to be. Oh, so cute. Yeah. Chinese alligator. Chinese alligator. So I thought this was the rarest crocodilian in the world, but I'm wrong. It's the Siamese. It's a close second. Now, and they are truly, truly because, oh, there's another one there. That's a female. Hey, this is a female too. Yeah, that's a very, if you guys heard that, that's a very indicative call of the Chinese alligator.
It's very short. That grumpy one. Yeah. Interesting. Well, hi. So you said she'll give you a sign like that. She'll get a little bit like, I'm going to come see you. Now, is this a feeding response? Or is she hand raised? Or what's the deal here? It's a feeding response, for sure. She just associates people with food, so that's why she's here. And she's excited and ready to eat. Now, these guys are interesting because China is old world. They're the only alligator from the old world, if I'm not mistaken. The Chinese alligator, it's very weird that an alligator popped up in that part of the world. And now they're really under the gun when it comes to habitat because China's become so industrialized and developed. And so these guys don't have a lot of wild space left. She's probably, I'd guess, 30. So she's full grown. Yeah, oh yeah. And I know friendly is a weird word, but friendly? Could you hold her unrestrained? No. Couldn't. She'd bite you. Yeah.
Gotcha. Oh, yeah. Because I've seen some that they do that, right? Like all alligators. Right. Now, what's your take on that? So after rescuing over 200 alligators from captive settings in the last seven years, I've seen a lot of that, where everyone says, OK, it's the friendliest alligator you'll ever meet. Nine times out of 10, the ones that I get, the previous owner says those very words. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What I've learned- You can pick it up, you can cuddle it, blah, blah, blah, yeah. These animals are physically virtually bulletproof. Right. Emotionally, they're extremely sensitive. And based on what I've learned is they just completely have given up on life is when they are friendly. Oh, that's so sad. Having over 200, having them in natural settings, I've seen that they become absolutely completely different alligators. Interesting. And they then become a natural, having a natural wild behavior. Act like an alligator. Yeah, that these animals have been locked in a fish tank for 10, 20 years. That's so interesting because, you know, I like to consider myself a bit of an expert in animals. Yeah.
And I've always thought the one thing that I would like, and I've never had one or anything, the one thing that I would love to have as a pet, if you would, would be like a friendly alligator because I love crocodilians. But you're saying that it's really not friendly. It's like a stress response, an emotional stress response, and they've just given up on life completely. It is. Yeah. That's so sad. And obviously the pet trade doesn't want to hear that because they want to think that whatever they're doing with the animal is not vindictive or malicious, but you're just being ignorant. And people genuinely think that like this alligator is my friend, but it's not. It's just, it's just defeated. Of everything that I've learned here today at Primitive Predators, I think the idea that these friendly alligators are actually just emotionally destroyed is probably the most interesting thing. That's a message to anybody at home watching who's thinking about getting an alligator. Have it the right way. Hey, like, comment, subscribe. Hope you guys enjoyed this video and we'll do some more tours. Kyle, thanks bro. Most people remember 2008 as the year of the Gators, the year we got one of the most iconic speeches in college football history and Florida's second title in three years. But the 2008 season was actually complete chaos. We watched a team stacked with talent get stunned overnight. We witnessed one of the most explosive offenses in the sports history and saw another one that looked just as unstoppable until one night in Lubbock changed everything. Together with a team that finished second, yet never even got a chance to play for the title, the beginnings of a soon to be empire and last second upsets, the 2008 season was
truly crazier than we remember. George, waltzing down the sideline for Johnson and he is leveled by Major Wright. But before all the chaos, all eyes were on one team as the season kicked off and it wasn't the Gators, but the team that stomped them one year prior because the Bulldogs had one of the most exciting backfields in the sport and they just added a five star everyone couldn't wait to see. We'll get back to them because another team out west was geared up to take back the sport. The Trojans were stacked with five stars, especially on defense, where names like Ray Malauga, Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews, and Taylor Mays were ready to smother their opponents. But USC had talent for years, yet continued to fall short. So it wasn't a question of talent, but if this would be the group to finally take them back to the promised land and lucky for us, we got our answer immediately. Because in week two, USC welcomed Ohio State, a team that had taken their spot as the premier football program in the sport, having gone to back to back title games. And coming into 2008, they had arguably just as much talent. It was one of the most highly anticipated games in recent years, but that hype lasted for about 30 minutes because by halftime, the game was over and USC looked like they were back to their 2004 ways. It was such a beatdown, it had us all thinking, how is anyone getting through this USC team? Especially looking ahead at their Cupcake Pac-10 schedule. If they did that to the Buckeyes, what chance did anyone else stand? Especially a 1-2 Oregon State team that was up next. But those Beavers had a secret weapon, one kind of built like a beaver himself, because Jacquez Rogers was sensational that night, dodging Trojans who were playing whack-a-mole on Heisman mode. And even when they slowed him up, his brother was causing problems on the perimeter. Suddenly, two Beavers had gnawed right through the impenetrable Trojan Dam, crashing out yet another USC season for the third straight year. This will energize the championship chase and there will be a humongous party in Corvallis tonight.
So as the USC domino fell, our eyes shifted back to Georgia because no-shawn was starting to roll and that 5-star freshman finally busted loose. But honestly, Florida was looking even scarier, because they not only had their Heisman leader back, but now he had a ferocious defense to match. One that had Hawaii looking confused as to which team they had to give the ball to. And one that had the Canes wishing they stayed in Coral Gables. So when they rolled right through Tennessee, it was hard not to think that the Gators were destined to claim the top spot. But Ole Miss had something. to say about that because they came into the Swamp as a team with nothing to lose, disrupting the Gator offense while they tore right through that vaunted defense. Even when Florida punched back, the Rebel special team stepped up before the defense did the unthinkable, stuffing Tebow for the win. The Swamp couldn't believe it, their dream season seemed over before it even started, which meant their golden opportunity was now back in the hands of the Bulldogs. But there was just one problem, Nick Saban now had a full year under his belt and the collection of talent he now had was simply overwhelming for the Bulldogs. The Crimson Tide rolled right into Athens and let the nation know that this sport was now theirs for the taking. But for as loud as that statement was, it honestly may not have been as impressive as what was going on out west. Because if you were watching Oklahoma in September, it was impossible not to think, how in the world is anyone stopping this team? Bradford was averaging nearly 5 touchdowns a game, and behind him stood none other than DeMarco Murray. Out of all the great teams Stoops had, this one had to be the one that finally got him back to the top. But for as unstoppable as they looked, something scarier was gaining in their rearview mirror. A team that could possibly go toe to toe with them, and one that may have had the better defensive unit.
But there was no need to debate, because on October 11th, we got to watch it play out on the field. The world expected a good one, yet somehow, what we got blew the expectations out of the water. Sam Bradford was putting on an absolute clinic, but when he made a play, Colt was right there with a response, giving us a back and forth thriller that went down to the wire. But ultimately, the difference wasn't on offense, it was the Longhorn defense derailing the unstoppable Sooners when it mattered most. But for as big as that win was, did it put Texas above the rest? Because Alabama had just taken out the preseason favorite with ease. So we were asking, could the Big 12 fireworks show hold up against an SEC defense? But as that debate raged over who the top team was, a player up north was sprinting into the equation. One with an explosive offense as well, and a ferocious defense to match. So in October, the question became, who was the best of the three? Because Penn State was building quite the impressive resume. One that included a massive last-minute win in Columbus, but could they hang with someone like Texas? Bama was probably the better choice. Yet they started to look vulnerable, barely getting by Kentucky, before almost ending up like the Gators against Ole Miss. Meanwhile, Texas hit another level, because after dropping 45 on the top ranked Sooners, they dropped 56 on Chase Daniels Tigers, then added another top 10 win over Oklahoma State. So by November, Texas was clear cut the top dog in the country. But November has a way of rearranging the whole sport. Touchdown! Eric Morris, his fifth touchdown of the season. Because waiting for Texas was a team that was red hot, led by a quarterback putting up video game numbers.
And a sophomore sensation looking like 03 Larry Fitzgerald. So it was safe to say the Longhorns had their hands full going into Lubbock. And immediately they got a taste of that overwhelming air raid attack. But Colt was a Heisman favorite for a reason. He methodically broke down the Red Raider defense, storming his Longhorns right back into the game, before snagging the lead late in the 4th. But 90 seconds was a ton of time for this offense. Graham locked in, and was methodical himself, marching the Red Raiders within striking distance. But just then, it all seemed to end in the blink of an eye. Deflected, intercepted, Texas! Somehow, the Red Raiders avoided catastrophe, and on the very next play, they turned their good fortune into college football history. Capture! Pulse free! And touchdown! Red Raiders with a second to go! What we just witnessed was hard to fathom. The Longhorns' dream season evaporated into thin air. But they weren't the only ones to feel that pain. Because 7 days later, it happened again. Penn State needed to get through just 3 games. But on November 8th, one kick unraveled their season of perfection. So now Texas Tech was in the driver's seat. And unlike Penn State, they weren't getting caught. Because what they did to Oklahoma State right after Texas was a crime. Just look at the insane stat line Graham and Crabtree put up. No one could stop them. Crabtree was on the cusp of history. The Red Raiders felt like the top team in the country.
But little did they know, a tsunami approached just ahead. Because the very next week, those Sooners reminded everyone who they were. Sam was life. while his backs were running on freshman mode. But most impressive was that Sooner defense, a unit that harassed Graham all night long and utterly erased Crabtree from the equation. It was one of the loudest statements of the year, but there was just one problem. Texas was still ahead of them in the BCS with just one game to go, and the BCS standings decided the Big 12 tiebreaker. So as long as Texas took care of business, they were in. And that is exactly what they did, annihilating A&M in a statement of their own. Texas had done it. They could taste a return to the promised land. But two days later, the Sooners dropped 61 on Oklahoma State, which meant the BCS would have to decide. Would it be a red hot Sooner team, or the Longhorns who beat them? It was a lot like a situation that happened almost 10 years prior. In outcome, the BCS would ultimately repeat, as the Sooners leaped over the Longhorns that claimed the 2nd spot. Colt could only look on in disbelief. He had done everything he could, but it'd be Oklahoma who rolled into Arrowhead. And it didn't take long for them to make that decision look like it was the right one. Because for the 5th straight game, their offense looked like the greatest of all time. But for as impressive as the Sooner offense was, how would it stack up against an SEC defense? Because Alabama's unit was smothering opponents. Outside of one last LSU test, Saban's Crimson Tide blanketed their November schedule. Outscoring opponents a combined 103-7. So if anyone had the answer for the Sooner train, it'd be Saban, just like he did in 2003. However, there was one last variable to the equation. A team whose one loss didn't ruin them, but supercharged them and united them behind a single promise. Because after Ole Miss, Florida hit another gear. They flattened the top 3 LSU team by 30, gave Georgia nearly 50 for last year's Gator Stomp, and by the end of the year looked like a team possessed. So when the two giants met down in Atlanta, it felt like the Gators were destined to walk out winners. But they were without their best weapon. And Alabama was a different animal entirely. They had a relentless run game, not to mention Julio Jones, who was quickly emerging as the star he'd become. The combo was enough to give them the lead going into the 4th, but the Gators made a promise to give it their all. And with the game on the line, Tebow delivered,
as he built out a 4th quarter lead before his defense silenced any chance of a comeback. So with the Gators' win, attention shifted to one question. How could they slow down the Sooners? Their quarterback was now the Heisman winner. He was protected by a future NFL Hall of Famer. Even with one running back out, they still had another 1000 yard rusher. And on the perimeter, they had league leading weapons. For a month, the Gators had to hear the question over and over. But it only took them a few plays to provide their answer. Because Major Wright set the tone immediately. And what followed was the opposite of what we expected. The first half was defined by two units fed up with all the talk. Tebow looked mortal, while Bradford and Co could just not find the end zone. By the 4th, it was still anyone's game. It felt like chaos could break out at any moment. I mean, it was a season full of it, with incredible thrillers, shocking moments, and devastating heartbreak. But with just 12 minutes to go, Florida delivered the cleanest message yet, as the Gators proceeded to shut down the unstoppable Sooner train, while Tebow made the plays to seal the deal, turning a promise made into a promise kept. But while Florida raised the trophy, questions remained. Because what would Texas have done if they got their shot? Or USC, with all their NFL talent? And how about that Utah team, the one that took out Alabama and finished second overall, yet was never even considered? All we can do is debate what could have been for those teams left on the outside looking in.
Recommended topics
- God Behind Bars Music+
- New to Pando+
- Ministry of the Week+
- Devotionals+
- Foundations+
- Mental Health+
- New Believers+