Episode 14 - Truth Moments

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Truth moments. Back in action. Back in action with you. Hey, man, I know that, you know, we ain't been tapping in as regular, but, you know, hey. Very grateful to be here. Hey, we are very grateful to be here. I feel jailed up, jailed up because I got this cross on. Lay that. That's straight from the prison. And then also a guy in Texas sent us this coffee that I'm drinking. I don't even know what kind of coffee it is. It smelled exactly like kefi. It did smell exactly like kefi. I mean, if you would have blindfolded me and put it to my nose and sniffed that. I would have said kefi. I would have bet every dollar I owned that it was kefi. Yeah, I would have bet kefi. If I was a gambling man. But if I would have tasted it, I would have said, hold on. It's actually a little. It's a little smoother to me. I enjoy it. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't. I think, I think because. Kefi can have a bad bite, you know, it can. Yeah.

So I'm grateful for that. So who sent that? I'm not exactly sure. Yeah, I don't know. I'd have to look at that. But you know that you did. And I really appreciate you that. Because I'm hyped up on it. Yeah, you know who you are. Yeah. Yeah. I'm hyped up on it. It ain't like that Cavalier one though, you know. That thing might get me riding the stallion. I mean, listen, one thing that we are going to talk about is faith. And we will speak on this now. That we have faith in the Chiefs. Come on, man. We have not given up on them. You know, my, my, one of my pastor friends, Pastor Brian, he preached here not too long ago. He's kind of one of my mentors. He hit me up this morning. And he said, hey, I hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Yeah. And that you're glad in the morning and upset in the afternoon. Oh, yeah. And I had to think about it. And I was like, he's a freaking Cowboys fan. Okay. Okay.

I didn't think it was Cowboys. I thought for some reason it was something weird. Yeah, we're playing Cowboys. No, I know we're playing Cowboys. I thought he was like a Seagulls or something. No. A Seahawks or something. Okay. No, he's, yeah. Because this is one thing that happened. I shared this. I don't think that one posted for service. But I did share at church Sunday that when I woke up that day, bro, I didn't want to put on that jersey. Like, literally, I got my son ready. And I put on his jersey. And then I thought to myself, you need to put on your jersey to match him. And then I thought to myself, why would I do that? You know what I mean? Because we're going to lose. This is what I thought. We're going to lose. And it's easier for me to disconnect, right, completely disconnect and not think about it. Not even turn on the game. I literally thought to myself, I'm thankful we have a noon service so that I don't get to watch it. Have to watch it. Yeah. And I'll just catch it on the ride home.

I didn't even watch it. I'll ask Siri. I watched the last 30 seconds and overtime. Well, this is what I did. Me too. At the steakhouse. Yeah, I did. The last 30 seconds is finally got enough time. Because we're at church for about 17 hours. People be like trying to do stuff with us on Sundays. It's like, that's impossible, bro. We're there all day long. But anyways, I watched the last few minutes, right? And then I got done. And then they won. So then I was able to go back and watch it joyfully. You know what I mean? Once I know the outcome, I know they won. I'm like, I'm sitting back and replaying it like, okay. And then it's enjoyable. How did we almost not win? You know, I'm kind of thinking about it and I'm just rejoicing in it. But I did feel bad. That's why I texted you. I said, man, I'm happy that we won. Because now I care about it Thanksgiving. You know what I mean? Thanksgiving, it would have been hard for me to even turn it on. With no chance of the playoffs. There would be no Thanksgiving at all.

Dude, who cares, bro? Just turn it off. I'm not giving thanks and I'm not giving a crap. I don't think we usually play on Thanksgiving. We just started to the last couple years. Okay. Yeah. The Cowboys always have. Yeah. It's always been Redskins and Cowboys. Yeah. Oh, is that Redskins? Believe that one out. The Commanders. Believe it out. Yeah, the Washington Commanders. We talk about Redskins on Thanksgiving. Yeah. Yeah. Cowboys and Indians. Yeah, that's kind of. Yeah, that's what it was, bro. You see what I'm saying? It's kind of derogatory. That's kind of crazy. We were just talking about, we didn't really, you know, we're not really too educated on. Politically correctness. That or American. history, I guess, because I thought to myself,

Thanksgiving, you know, what are we, what's the context of this, you know what I mean? And then I thought, well, that's maybe a touchy subject, be politically correct, but they play a red skin and a cowboy every Thanksgiving, battling. And I wondered to myself, when that day happened, were they battling or were they feasting and eating together really though, you know what I mean? But now we come together as a family and we're thankful. Cause it's like, where did the turkey come from? Yeah, like, was that a delicacy? Cause it's not a delicacy anymore, bro. No, it's like, it's trash, straight up. You want to know, we're doing a Thanksgiving dinner for the Reach Homes on Saturday. I got, I got Dave smoking a brisket. Yeah, yeah. And two pork butts. Yes, yeah. Let's change the narrative. I was also talking earlier, I was like, let's do steaks. Yeah, why do we need, let's do ribeyes. Why do we need turkey and ham? I mean, I'd rather do ham than turkey, personally. The turkey's just. The turkey's got to be deep fried. Yeah, and so I know, I know them guys in the state. They, they're not, their, their, their portrait is not. Yeah, I mean, you get all right. And sometimes they'll let you get second.

I just remember putting, still crushing up hot Cheetos and ranch on the top of it, no matter what it was. So even if it was potatoes. That's basically. We're going to put that ranch and them chips on there, man. But. Well, hey man, now we're glad to be with you guys, man. For real. And you know, we've been in the middle of a building project. And so we got a, a new building that we've been building. And so life is just crazy. We're trying to sell ours and, you know, lots of just moving pizza pieces, pizzas. I'm hungry. You can tell. I've been talking about steak, brisket. Yeah. All kinds of pizza, you know. They going to pause this and start with it. Yeah. They're going to like, hey, go get some, who got a summer dog, you know, but you know, I just, you know, just a lot of stuff, man. And so we ain't forgot about you. Just rock with us and we'll get some more stuff out. Maybe. Working on an album too. Yeah. We are working on an album. We're very close to wrapping up an album.

Actually, the producer just messaged me when, when we got that new song back and he's like, so is this all going towards a project? I was like, yeah, we almost done, man. So we almost done, got another album. If you haven't, go on, go on the media player, man. You could download our album. We got three albums on there and a couple of singles. Go ahead and get that, rock it out. There's actually been some more sales here recently, man. I mean, for whatever reason, they hold the money for, for whatever reason, they hold the money. Man, there's like $2,200 on it right now. All right, all right. But it's only released like 400, you know. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, that's like six months worth of sales. So we are not balling by any means, bro, you know. But hey, we willing, we thankful for everything. We don't give thanks for everything, but. Shout out JCCC too. We was just there last, that was the last prison we were at. Yeah, that was a pretty good event, man. Like, you know. Well, let me, let me, let me boast on the thing a little with that because let me talk about a, so me as it is, I still consider myself a baby Christian. Okay. Because it's not been decades walking with the Lord. And I personally have never seen a true revival.

Okay. I've seen, I've seen people be stirred up. I've seen spiritual progression. I've seen lives transformed. I've seen miracles done. But to walk into a place that had a dark covering on it. I mean, I remember the first time we went into this prison, we walked out of there questioning the call of God on our life. That's a fact. Because it was just so. And then another time that we had went there, they had went through an uproar with authority, someone that died there. Okay. And so there was an uproar against authority and it was dark as well. All right. And then the last time we were there, the time before last, there was another event. You could see a little shift, but man, nothing like what we just experienced, dude. And it was like, never before have we been in doing an event and not have to do an altar call, not present the opportunity, but the men just come and just decide that they were going to just do that. And that was the spirit of God moving. And that to me was the biggest revival I've ever seen because I knew, I was confident leaving there, man,

that God was working through the hearts of those men and those men were responsive, dude. I think so too. I was left encouraged, bro. I mean, I was left on fire. Yeah, no, straight up. Yeah, no, that was that was that was special. It was funny. We came back that next morning You know, we usually do these and then on Saturdays and so Sunday mornings are kind of like You know drink your coffee Cuz we're a little and then every one of us that went the worship team. Everybody's like, how you doing, you know, and it's like How can I tell you anything but amazing? Yeah, great. That's how I'm doing Like, how can you witness what we just saw weird and weird thing that happens maybe with me? If my wife was the same was When you come back from a moment like that, it reminds me of Moses coming down off the mountain All right, because he had just literally spent time with God dude to the point that he came down and he was glowing You know what? I'm saying? And then he comes down to the bottom of the hill and he's like What is happening here? You know We'd smell Then it's like, you know, you go through church and at the end of it it was like Was that even good? Yeah, I know. I mean it was good, you know, but it was like it was like man I was just like you're comparing it to like, you know, what happened yesterday and it was just like I don't know Yeah, it's weird, you know, it's weird, you know kind of thing in your head, but that's why I think it's cool to have people that come along with us and like people like, you know, like forest and stuff that they've That just they've been doing church their whole life but never experienced that side inside these walls man Yeah inside those walls is a whole different level. Yeah, and it's like you go into it and and That's why I'm just

It's almost like we need a song Just for that, bro. Yeah, you know Even if we caught it like behind the walls or the walls or something and and like we would literally just talk about The the harboring of the spirit in such a capacity because like, you know in reality Full transparency when we go to the women's prison it seems to usher the spirit in a different capacity than when we've went to men's prisons and specifically Maximum security prisons because maximum security prisons are just different. You know, I mean dudes are doing life, bro They got to carry themselves. They're just different. And so when you walk into some of these prisons, it's just a little bit different And so, you know you walk into a max and you're thinking Okay, I mean, you know, it's all good. Like I'm thankful to be here Lord but then when something moves like that, it's almost like the spirit just checks you and it's like don't don't underestimate The power that I possess, right, you know it really comes down to hungry hearts, you know and Johnny The guy we go into the prisons with or under he said To do the events. He said He said man something shifted when we did gather 25 and do you do you remember hearing about that? So the overnight prayer, yeah, yeah, and so they basically met and was locked in the gym for 25 hours And prayed they ate there. They they slept there. They did everything in the gym Yeah, I mean it was a good J-trip, you know, and he said something shifted that day and like it also goes to the passage where Paul says I can't remember exactly it's in the beginning of one of the chapters, but he says, you know Paul planted Apollos watered and God gave the growth, you know, it's like that guy is it Corinthians? It's like gather 25 Johnny planted. Yeah, you know what I mean? Then when we came back it was like Apollos watered, right, you know And God gave me what I can grow. Yeah, you know, it's just like man What a special moment you just leave there and it's like, okay. All right

I won't hold any reservations anywhere. I go. Yeah, you know like have your way Lord people come hungry You know come hungry to the event expecting for the Lord to do something because it's like I Reminded of that song all the time is that take the world away from me? I'll be okay And that That to me is like, okay. Here is Individuals and I and I've been there you've been there but here's individuals. The world is tooken away. Literally, man Literally it's like my brother he's coming home in January and I tell him all Tom Soak it up. Soak it up. This is the only time in your life that the world is physically taken from you. What an honor, in a sense, right? Just hear me on that. Just hear me on that. In a sense, if there's rehabilitation in that and through that, because there is life on the other side of it, and now here we are. I mean, what a... Maybe honor wasn't the right word. What an opportunity, right, to press in. Because when you build the armor of God on you without the world distraction, then you are ready, if you are privileged enough to leave it, to go and battle with it. It's very much harder out here. The world is actually there. And it drives me to the importance of Scripture, right? And we did a little thing here with this and finding this. But if there's ever been a time where you're like, Hey, we need... Speak to me, Lord. Hey, find something in the Bible. Speak to me, Lord.

This thing is living, okay? This thing is... This is a guideline and a template and living word that will convict and it will urge and it will move, okay? And here in Peter, all right? So this is a different teaching than Paul. But Peter, this is a man that stood at the top of the mountain, okay? Who Jesus decided that he was going to reveal himself to three, okay? Peter, James, and John, okay? He did not reveal himself to the other eight. He revealed himself to these three, okay? And here Peter is talking, and this is in 2 Peter 1, okay? So if you got your Bible, grab it. If you don't, pause it. Get on it. It's in 2 Peter 1, and it says, paying attention to Scripture, he says, Therefore, I will always remind you about these things. Even though you already know them and are standing firm in truth, you have been taught. And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live. I like how he says this, right? Because it's like, dude, when we preach and we teach and we fellowship and we worship and we have godly conversations, what are we talking about? But we're to God, dude. And it's like, well, man, them guys, they're just kind of beating the same old stuff in my head. They want me to sanctify myself. They want me to crucify my flesh. They want me to get rid of all these things.

And it sounds like a broken record. You just told me something different, like something that's actually going to change my life. Yeah, something else I want to hear, something else to entertain me. No. Here, Peter says, I don't care how many times you've heard it. And I actually, he says, actually, I see you standing firm in the faith. I see it. But I will still not neglect the opportunity to tell you to get into the Scripture. You want to pick me up in 13? In 13? Yeah. Yeah. And for this reason, I will not neglect to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right. As long as I am in the tent to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, which would be body, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. This reads quite a bit different than my, this is a New King James version. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, crafty words, basically, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father in honor and glory when such a voice came to him in excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice, which came from heaven,

when we were with him on the holy mountain. And so we have a prophetic word confirmed, which you do as well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. And yeah, I think, you know, you spoke a minute ago on this and the opportunity or the honor that we had. And the lifetime, what is that? The opportunity exists in the lifetime of the opportunity, you know? And I remember getting released in 2011, December of 2011. And I made it about a year and I had started smoking weed low key, like nobody really knew, you know, except the person I was buying it from, because back then you couldn't go get it at the convenience store. and crazy, but that we're actually talking about these days. It's illegal. Don't make it peaceful. Don't agree with that. But, you know, and so anyways, I had kind of missed this opportunity in my life of just giving it all to God, and I was walking with the Lord, and I had been for about two years at this point, and I was working one day, and I got pulled over in Harrisonville, and honestly, I had a small sack of weed on me, and got pulled over by Cass County. You took that puppy. I tucked it. Yeah, yeah. And I had these boxers, bro, that had like the, you know, like the pouch went back, and I tucked it that way, and I will come to find out I had a Class B felony warrant, possession with intent, and so I got arrested. They didn't find the weed, you know, and so I was able to toss the weed and dispose of it. Didn't get caught with it, but I was actively walking with the Lord, bro, you know, and that moment convicted my heart so bad because I was like, dude, how did I allow myself to get away from the Lord in such a capacity that I was smoking weed? Because, let's face it, you should not be actively pursuing the Lord and smoking pot, smoking deuce, smoking anything, bro, like anything. And so, long story short or longer is I,

so now I had this Class B felony. Conviction was in my heart for smoking pot. I had literally just met Katherine, which is my wife, and we was just at a Bible study together, and I had only seen her like a couple of times but knew in my heart I was fixing to chase her, you know, but was waiting for the opportunity and was trying to do it right. And after I got out of jail that night, I was just overwhelmed with condemnation and shame and just stuff, and so I go, I don't go to Bible study and Katherine... Ain't that something? Oh, yeah. Ain't that something, though? Shame and condemnation will keep you away from where you need to be at, bro, you know, and that's the crazy thing because like the enemy will use it to wash over you. And so Katherine gets my number from my sister and calls me or texts me, rather, and to just check on me. Well, then that opened the door for me to actually respond to the chick I was wanting to holler at anyways, you know what I'm saying? And so then we kind of just, we just never stopped communicating. And a couple of months, a few months later, I'm going to court now in Cass County, and they was not coming off of a seven-year sentence. It was five to 15 on the charge. And they was offering me a seven and would not come off of it. And I remember looking at Katherine one day and I said, I think maybe the Lord just wants me to be back in prison. And she's like, why would you say something like that? I'm like, babe, I don't think you understand the depth of my relationship with the Lord when I was incarcerated because I walked with him, like for real, you know, like I had no distractions.

It was easy for me to get in and take BET out of my TV because I didn't want to see booty shaking. You know what I'm saying? Take CMT out of my TV because there was some country girls with booty shaking, you know. I would literally filter myself and segregate me from any opportunity to even potentially lust. Like I didn't want it. I didn't want it in my life. You know, I would rid it. And if I did, dude, I would fast for three days and I'd be like, Lord, purify me. And I mean, I was literally in that moment where it's like, I could hear the Lord just speaking to me like this. You know, and it was just like, and I remember telling her that, and she's like, Adam, that is crazy. And I'm like, yeah, but is it? Because I feel like the Lord was, and, you know, I'm struggling with this shame of dealing with this weed and all of this stuff, you know, and I just thought for real, like God wanted me. And obviously I didn't, you know, I ended up getting a bunch of character witnesses letters and they actually, you know, my father-in-law went in and spoke to the prosecutor and he didn't have no weight with them, but they ended up giving me five years paper with 10 year backup, you know, and I mean, obviously I walked it down and nothing ever came of it, never had a single violation, nothing. But, you know, it makes me think of even this. And so we have a prophetic word confirmed,

which you do as well to heed as a light that shines. science in a dark place. And it's like, when you're in that dark place, let your light shine, man, and walk it out with you. Because when you get out here, bro, it is so much faster pace. It's not easy. It's not easy, dude. I mean, you can't drive down the street in any, you can't remove that channel from your TV when you're driving down the street in Johnson County, Kansas. You know what I'm saying? No, I mean, it's out there. And the thing is, he says this. He says, you must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place. This is just another version of what you're saying. And a day dawns, above all, you must realize that no prophecy in scripture ever came from prophets' own understanding or from human initiative. No, those prophets, they were moved by God. The Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. So the severity of what Peter is saying to me is just blasting me, because I think about the fact that this is a man of only three men total in the history of earth that was able to witness what he witnessed. And then he comes down and he pleads to the people,

beckoning them, telling them that this word that you are reading, these prophets that have spoken, the real truth prophets that have spoken by the Holy Spirit is real, and it is from God, and it is his word, and obey it, right? And I think how many of us get to a place where we are unable to find Jesus in the first part of the Bible, because it is speaking indirectly, right? And this is where I'm at in my life. I don't, that's not where I'm at. Where I'm at is I want a, I have a hunger for God, bro. I want to know him, dude. Like, I want to just have such a hunger for him and a knowing of him that it, I don't, I can't get stagnated by my life because I am pressing and pursuing him to know him. I want to get excited about reading of the Old Testament prophets, the major prophets like Jeremiah, the major, and other prophets like Joel and Isaiah, and I want to read them, and I want to look through the scripture, believe exactly what Peter was saying, which he's saying, this is real. This is 100% God. Believe it because it is spoken, and it is written, and if it's written, it is true, and I want to read that, and I want to see Jesus in that text, and I want to see it complement

the New Testament and see him into that because what happens when I get, when I obtain that? I get more knowledge, dude, more knowledge with the root word of knowledge being know, and I want to know God, you know what I mean? I want to know him. I want to know my father more, and I have a good understanding of who he is, but I know for a fact that I am light years away from where I could be if I continue to press in, and I continue to know him, man. Yeah, no, I like that, and he goes on to say, but there were also false prophets among the people. There wasn't just holy men that were moved by a Holy Spirit, but there were false prophets among people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction, and it makes me think of when I started Bible college, I started it, to be honest, because I wanted to know more about the Bible. I wanted to know more about the Lord. I wanted to learn how to study and really dig into the scriptures, and I envied people's revelation, not in a bad way, but in a good way of like, man, how did you get that out of that text, you know? And so I started, and then as I started going, and I'm sure you experienced this

and will continue to as you go through classes, is the more I went through classes, it was like the more I learned about the Lord. The more I learned about the Lord, the more I loved the Lord, you know what I mean? And it was like, it's because you can't be friends if you and I never ever talked. We'd be acquaintances. Right, because ultimately what it breaks down to is when you are on the Pando app, okay, and you are plugging in on sermons, right? You plugged in on a sermon, it was fire, great. You moved on, you went to a different church. uh, network plugged in a sermon, right? You're eating. That is great. And that's good for you. But you are only receiving secondhand revelation, bro. And if you're only receiving secondhand revelation from God, you are not maximizing on your potential with the relationship. You're eating leftovers. You are all the time because it's always secondhand. And that man of God, I listened to you on Sunday speak that I have a revelation from, okay. And they hold weight. Nothing though holds more weight when I'm in his scripture and in his word. And he is speaking directly to me and he is saying, son, this is where you're finding me at firsthand revelation. And that's why it goes on. And he says this in the beginning chapter of two of second Peter is, but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring themselves swift destruction. And, you know, it says, and many of them will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of the truth will be blasphemed. And, and, and it makes me think of situations like this. Like if you don't have firsthand revelations, then you will be subject to other people's false revelations. And if, you know, and I have people, you know, I've had conversations with people, bro, that, you know, many would call conspiracy theorists or whatever. And my conversation with them is because they're always like, well, have you seen this video? And I'm like,

I don't need to see that video, bro. I don't need to see that. I don't need to watch this Tik TOK. I don't need to watch that YouTube video. I need, have you read the scripture? Well, I, you know, and, and, and so then I asked one, one day, he used to be in the, the, I can't remember, but anyways, he, I asked him one day, I said, I said, how long have you, how long? Oh, this was, yeah, that's what it was. He was with us on our launch team. Whenever we plan at the church, little youngster. And remember the other day when I was telling you about dude that was running along and he smashed into the van, it was him. But anyways, not that that matters, but, and he would sit and watch videos, bro, for two, three hours a day. And then, and he's like, but bro, and he would always try to convince me. And then I'm like, I'm like, let me ask you this, bro. How often do you read the word of God? And he's like, well, you know, I mean, I try to do it every day. And I'm like, do you, how much do you read? Or I mean, how much do you watch videos every day? And he said, well, probably two to three, four hours. And I said, so is what you're telling me is you watch videos for three to four hours a day, but you don't even study the scripture daily. And he's like, yeah. And I was like, bro, don't you realize that if you studied the truth, it will expose the lie. You don't have to study the lie. The lie will expose itself. If you study the truth, you don't have to get in. And the sad reality is, is too many people are being given over to destructive heresies and don't even, don't even realize it. Yeah. Because the, the, so I had to look this one up, but Ecclesiastes 12, 12 is of making many books. There is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh. So there is a fine line, right? And your level of study and the intake in it, in what you are studying of, because you can have a desire that could start out, dude, so honest to know God. And through your study, if you are not submitted and consecrated through your study, you will become what is self-righteous dude in your study, because now all of a sudden, you know, you know the word and by curiously through your actions, through how you treat people, you now are all of a sudden putting your study and your knowledge above the relationship that Jesus has called you to love it. You know what I mean? And so now all of a sudden, because of that, so there's a, there's a, there's a fine line in that. And, and, and you got to be very careful on that because the bottom line is, is that he says, man, if you, you could have all these things, right? And if you don't love well, it is a waste. Yeah. You, you could, you could speak in tongues.

You could be a noisy dong and bong and dong, whatever we talked about that. And if you don't love, well, it is a waste. So if you're studying all this to know God, great, right? That is the first step. And that is important. But if you were studying it to know him, you feel the spirit working in your life, but then you do not direct that love out to people. It is a waste. It is and it's that serious. And if you have any, you break it down to that serious. this, then it's easier to get caught up in conspiracies, political agendas. I'm telling you right now, dude, I am grateful for the men that advocate in the political scene. I'm grateful that they are called to do that, man, and they are knowledgeable for what is going on, and they have influence, and they're able to represent well, and they are able to push that. I have no influence in that, dude. So my heart is not lend out to that, bro, because I see it, and I say, great, that's also a man of God, keep pushing, right? God, he's called me to minister to broken individuals, to minister in my home, and to be with the ones in prison. That's where my thing is going to be. And so, so often we get so caught up in the news. That news is a death cycle, and we have friends, man, love Jesus, love Jesus with all their heart, but are so wrapped up in a conspiracy, wrapped up in the world, wrapped up in trying to find, it's like they're trying to make their own timeline of what Jesus said you will never know. You know what I mean? Because they're looking through revelation, they're looking through old books, and they're putting them together, and they're comparing them with the world scene, and yes, that is important, because you're kind of seeing where scripture is canonized, because it is all together, and it's adding up with what's going on in the world. So it's almost like you can do that, and you can be aware and urged to repent and to have salvation today, because you can see where scripture is accurate, right? But it's scary to try to paint a timeline for the Bible, though.

And I've never, I don't think I've ever had a conversation with somebody and was like, you know what? If you was to die tomorrow, and you're going to burn in hell, like I don't, I've never, I've never, yeah, I've never like won anybody to the Lord. I mean, obviously I talk about that kind of stuff, but I've never won anybody to the Lord convincing them that the world could end tomorrow. But I've won a lot of people to the Lord by convincing them that the Lord loves them and died for them, and gave his life, and did all of these things. It's just, it's a mission creep, you know? It kind of just comes in and just steals the mission, and just gets you off focus, and you know, I just think of, man, I had a thought, and it's fleeting, but, you know. Do you see it floating away? Dude, I didn't even see it. It just went, it just like, like a bubble that just popped. But it was very relevant. But anyways, you know, I don't know. I don't even remember what I was going to say, but. But the day of the salvation being today is very, very important, and the way you present that is very important as a minister, man, to present it truthfully. But it says that the kindness and the goodness of God draws them to repentance, man. I know the day God called me, bro. I know it, bro. There wasn't an altar that was laid out for me to lay my life down at. There wasn't a prayer after me prayer. There wasn't a Pando app that was a video, and it was somebody at the end giving a altar call virtually. None of those things happened, dude, to me. And I'm not saying they couldn't, but what I'm saying is, you know when the Lord calls you, dude. Period, bro.

Yeah. Like, and it may not be, this is what we would teach in class to write the testimony, okay? Is a lot, some people, they have what we call an aha moment, okay? Light, come on. And it was like, boom. And then some people have a subtle shift, and this is a more case than most. They have a subtle shift where they say, hmm, something is different, and then they make small steps towards that progressive sanctification, and that happens a lot, you know what I mean? But my point to say all that is that it happens, man, through your relationship with God in that moment through it. It is not somebody that is scaring you into repentance. It is not somebody that is motivating you into repentance. It's not somebody that is influencing you into repentance. It is the Holy Spirit. Yeah. And that reminded me of what I was going to say. I just remembered. I got it back, man. Got it. That was me. That's what brought it back. Brothers do, man. No, it's, you know, sometimes people can say, well, how do I know? Right. How do I know that I got it? Well, I will tell you this. When you have the Holy Spirit, your life is convicted to change. You continue progressively to get better.

You cannot sit in sinful living and be comfortable. You can no longer have it. And so like, for me, it was like, hey, dude, if you want to know authentically that you have the Holy Spirit, your life should be changing. You should start becoming more in the image of God. You should start having some of these things because he gives you the power to live. Yes. You know, he gives you the power to change. He comes in and, you know, it's like, you know, he literally just begins to change your heart. You know, you say something a lot. You say, you haven't heard from God. You go back to the last thing they told you. Now, I just had somebody that came out of prison. They messaged me on Facebook. They say, hey, I seen you in prison. I lost this person. I lost that person and people very close to me within the last three months. When I was in prison, I did not have a relationship with God. Something told me, this is how people put it, man. They don't, they can't identify it. It's very weird to identify that, bro. As a person that is not a believer, you classify it as it, because it's very, very, very weird and awkward to say the Holy Spirit pressed upon me.

You don't say that. That's the people that have been in the game a minute. They start saying- That's when you've been married to the Lord for a while. Right, right, and then you start a thousand hours a day. I started out with, I'm not a Bible thumper. Right, and so they said this. They said, something told me that I should message you, okay? And I don't have any, this is what they told me, man. They said, I don't have anyone else to say this to, but I want to know God more. That's what they said, and at that moment, that, in a sense, coupled with confession and belief in your heart, is salvation, right? Because that is how you get there, because they had that, that it, Holy Spirit, they had it happen. Now, neglect that opportunity and walk away from it. It's going to take whatever else it's gonna take for God to intervene to get back to that place, but you have to respond right then and there. So now that person respond, I received that message. I said, man, I am praying you through the loss. Please come meet me Sunday. I will, this was a woman that said this. So I say, hey, I will introduce you to godly women, and we will pray with you, and we will get you 100% connected. Now, that is step one. Do you need to get into the body of Christ to have that?

Not technically, but basically, that's how we say it. You know what I mean? Do you want to keep growing? You can meet the Lord in a back alley with nobody around, but to walk your faith out, you need the body. And the next step is the body, and so, boom, get her connected, and boom, she starts getting connected, and then, boom, and in the name of Jesus, these things start happening, and then she grows. Does she remember when she came? No, this was this week. Oh. No, this was yesterday. She messaged me. She was in a show of coffee, and so, hopefully, she shows up Sunday, and then I connect her, and I show her women like Randa. I introduce her to my wife. I introduce her to these women. They get in her number. They plug her in. They get all these, and then she starts coming in, and she starts reading her Bible, and she's curious about the Word. She has a question. She sends it out. We answer these. You know what I mean? And all of a sudden, it's like, when did you get saved?

And then her answer is. Well, I started coming to reach. Well, yeah. Her answer is, well, I lost my fiance, and I lost my father in three months, and I feel like God told me I needed to go to church. Yeah. Bam! The moment of salvation. You know what I mean? And boom, then she comes in there, gives her life in the name of Jesus. Nine days from now, she's getting baptized, and her life is flourishing, right? And it just happened like that. And so, how often does it that we have just got to a place where we heard the God say, and he's like, all it could be in your life, man. All it could be in your life is, you know you're supposed to go there. Yeah. It'd be something so subtle, dude. It doesn't have to. Then that's what we look for, God to do these things in our life, to shake us up. And sometimes it'll take a shaking. It will, and it'll wake you up in many ways. But sometimes it's just a subtleness, man, because he is a gentle father, dude. Well, and even in that, it's like,

I think so often we're like, Lord, I need a sign. And we want. Man, what does Paul say about those signs, bro? He goes hard on you about the sign. You lawless generation, you're searching for a sign. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like. Yeah, no. And that's real, but even in it, it's like, that subtle contact to this person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a sign. Yeah, yeah. This other, like it's, you know. You're in a billboard that's blinking. It never will be, dude. But it's something for you to respond to, and it's something that, it's the small things that matter, man. They add up, dude. Yeah. They just, they add up, dude. Where was I at? Where were we at here? I don't know. Finish it up. Second Peter, two. Okay, I got it all switched up here.

Yeah, no, that's. Yeah, I mean. I mean, that's just a fact, dude. I mean, it's like, you know, seeing how it's so easy. You know, it talks about false teachers. It's so easy to fall in, you know. I mean, bro, I've seen false teachers out here actively, you know, looking like they're walking with the Lord and people, you know, people will follow them. I mean, they have a group of people that follow after them. And you hear their doctrine that they believe and it's off, but you can't, you know. I mean, heck, you can't even talk like Paul anymore, you know, because then you're just a bigot, you know. It's like, you know. But then, you know, even six years later, seven years later, those same people, bro, are smoking dope, you know, doing all these things. Like not the people following, the people that was leading the freaking pack, dude. You know, profess themselves to be leaders and pastors and apostles and all these other different things, dude. And then they're out smoking dope and doing all this other stuff. And it's like, well, hold on, man. What about the God that radically changed your life? Like, where's he at? Like what, you know.

And then it just makes people question. I don't know. I think about this, I testify about this. I used to go to the gym, okay. And I'll share this move because I'll give you prime example of how God will just, when you respond, how he elevates these things, okay. And I believed that, I developed that gym discipline in prison, okay. To a unhealthy point. I worked out in that gym to a point where I, I could get way off here. So let me reel it in. I could get, I was in prison. I was doing burpees in my cell for so long in the day because I had to beat myself down physically so that I could sleep at night. Because my mind raced so hard, dude, okay. That is example of not having peace, okay. That is example of not having peace. To me, I was peaceful because when I got done with it, I was physically exhausted. I could finally lay back in my bunk and I could read like a self-help book, okay. And I could do my little prayer in the morning. And I felt okay about myself, all right. But that peace was not inner, dude. That peace was forced through that working, right. And one day I woke up in prison and I had a knot on my left ankle

that had swollen up like this, dude. Mind you, we are in COVID lockdown. I haven't left my cell in two weeks. You got out once every two weeks to shower, bro. Literally, we were sponge bath and you didn't shower then because you had 15 minutes, you could use the phone or you could, I told you, Texas coffee is hitting and I could go somewhere else. But I'm gonna reel it in, okay. So bear with me. And so all of a sudden, the knot swolled up on me, dog, okay. And when it swolled up on me, I thought to myself, dude, what is going on, right? And the first question I have to ask is God, why? Why is this, right? And we can ask God in two different ways. We can be a self-pity or we can be very curious and very vulnerable, okay. And so thankfully in this moment, I was very curious and I was very vulnerable, okay. And what happened to me in my life is just be full transparency, is that I decided that day that I was gonna do something different, okay. And I took my crutches because I walked down there and I said, look at this. They had no idea what it was. I didn't fall, nothing happened, right. And through that, I decided I was gonna go to the library and I was gonna look for something else to read, all right.

Like the word, the Bible wasn't enough for me. Like I wasn't connecting at that point. And I picked up an Alcoholics Anonymous book, Durham. I picked it up. bread in it, and I saw in the text where it said God, and it had these steps, and in it it said higher power, and being the seed planted in my heart, I just replaced that word higher power with God, and I looked at it, and from reading that, I found another Christian that was in that pod, and me and him started to go through these steps together. Once I had gotten through those steps, I got to a place where I started digging in the word, okay? I stand here firm to tell you today now that this is the only book that I need, okay? But I will tell you this, that it was a stepping stone to get me somewhere, okay? And I believe that God laid me down, dude, laid me down, because guess what? All of a sudden, two days later, it just went away, but I had a fire lit in me, and it was like the Lord spoke to me, and he spoke to me, and it was affirmed through scripture, because he said to me, hey, man, you've made an idol out of this working out. You have glorified it too much, and then I read in Hebrews, where if it is causing you to sin, cut it off, okay? And so the working out, it became less of a priority for me, okay?

So now that is to say that out here in the world, the same type of things happen. I go to the gym, I'm in the gym, I'm reading the text, right? And I'm filled with the spirit. I get to the gym, what's in the gym? Shaken butts. I mean, I'm talking about the way that they're in the gym now. It's not good for a Christian man. I'm gonna tell you that straight up. If you don't have your own wife there with you, it's not good for a Christian man. What they're wearing, and the exercise that they're doing, and the fact that I would tell myself, hey, don't look over there again, bro. And then you have to challenge yourself, and then you look over there again. And then now I'm allowing what? The condemnation. It's the same thing in prison where that one CO walked by, and the same man that's filled with the spirit that says, I'm not gonna look at that, eyes up, right? You know, tell yourself, eyes up, eyes up, eyes up. And then all of a sudden walk by and you still did it. Now, what do you feel about what you just read? Do you think that it even applies to your life? And I was referred back to that verse

when I got into there. And it says, if it caused you to sin, man, cut it off. And I decided, you know what? This is something I very much enjoy. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna spend a few hundred dollars, and I'm gonna put a very makeshift gym in my garage, man, and I'm gonna do whatever I can. And through that, through that decision to respond to God saying, leave here, dude. If it ain't good for you, get out, brother. You know what I mean? And I left, I went into my garage, and through that, my wife decided that she was going to work out. She wasn't gonna spend her mornings sleeping for that hour and a half. She on her own said, this is what I want. Here's some goals. And now we spend the first 90 minutes of my day together doing something together. We do a 25-minute imam, but after it is our time where we sit down and we pray and we get to talk before the kids arise and go, God, bless something. I mean, into a marriage where it's already great, but then he just unified something to it. And that's the type of stuff that he does. And never would I have thought, oh, this is where to go, but it's the response of the spirit that did that. Now I have little weights down there, and my kids come down, they wanna play with them

and do all these things. And so- It's like, how many times do actually, you know, it's like, how many times do you not respond to those moments that seem subtle? Right? It's like, ah, that ain't that big of a deal. Like, I'm here for fitness. Yeah, it's not that big of a deal. I looked a couple of times. And then the next thing you know, you're viciously addicted to pornography. You're participating in an affair now. Your marriage is thrown away. Your ministry opportunities are gone. Because you've compromised. Yeah, then you get back and you're like, what happened? You didn't listen to the unction of the Holy Spirit when he said, hey, it's not right. Yeah. It's not right. And that goes as far as that's applicable to every single person in every level in any environment, no matter what. No matter what. I remember reading a book when I was in the county. Was I in the county? I think I was in the county. And it was called Winning the Battle of Every Man's War. Winning the battle of every man's struggle.

Or something like that. Winning every man's battle? Maybe that's what it was. Winning the war. Winning, here, since you pulled your phone out. Winning the war of every man's battle. Every man's battle is what it's called. Every man's battle. and there's a subtitle, Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time. And I remember reading that book, and dude, it just, honestly, it helped change my life, you know? It just, I mean, especially when you're in jail and you're just overtaken with this struggle. And I just remember, man, like, I don't even remember where I was going with it, but, you know, just that moment where you think those little things don't matter. They do. Yeah. Dude, I'll be a hundred percent. I've prayed to God about that. And I know for a fact, I know this 100%, bro. I was in prayer one day, and I was praying for God to remove it. And I just, in prayer, it was like, I'm not going to remove it, bro. You know what I mean? And when he told me that, it was like,

it changed my life, dog, because it was like, all right, because you remove it from me, then what, dude? Then what, bro? Then what? Then I'm removed from it, and I get to just go on with it? Because he took my addiction, dog. I'm telling you that straight up. 100%, I testify right here, bro, to say, I am, dude, he freed me of it, bro. No, no temptation to drugs. Yeah. None, dog. Me neither. None. And he did that to me. But how in the world am I so greedy, dog, that I believe that he'll just take the only other thing that I'm dealing with, bro? No way, bro. No way, there's gotta be something that I need to suffer through. There's gotta be something that's gonna bring me back to his feet, dude. There's gotta be something that makes me seek out his face, dude, and to say no, because Paul dealt with it, and we just, you just shared this Sunday. When we get to heaven, I'm gonna talk to that brother,

ask him what it was. Guarantee you it's the same thing every other man's struggling with, though, too. God's not gonna remove the biggest thing in your obstacle that you are facing. He wants you to grow through it, dude. So he wants you to lean in and to find the words in scripture and be talked to and be loved on and then deal with it. And so now knowing, right, that it is not going to be removed from me, it gives me such a greater sense because I believe in what? I believe that there is power inside of me, dude. I believe that there is power inside of me, that Christ is in me, that the Holy Spirit is in me, and that I can choose to believe it or I can choose to believe a lie. And that's exactly what it boils down to. And it sounds simple, and it sounds simple, and it's very complex in a sense, but it is simple. It is simple because I can stop those thoughts in the moment and say, I'm gonna choose to believe that God is in me, and I believe that there's a power in me that is greater than this world right now, and I'm leaning on it, and I'm not going back on what I was saying. I'm believing in it. I'm believing in the truth of it,

and she's gonna show me a way out so that I can endure. And thank you, God, that you took. So she'll hear me when I say this. This is a two-part thing. Endurance and suffering and deliverance, they are both real. But you ain't gonna get total deliverance. So get that out of your mind. Not on everything. Not on everything. Ain't no way, ain't no way, dude. Ain't no way, bro. Yeah, he might deliver you from some stuff, but you gotta fight through the rest, you know? You gotta struggle. I mean, it is, it's just, it's unrealistic. And then too many people have turned their back on God, because he didn't. They were unwilling to fight that one. Yeah, he didn't remove something from them. You know, it's like, well, God don't love me. Yes, he does. But forced love is not real love, you know? And I can't, he can't force himself to do anything. The only way, I was thinking about this when you said it, the only way to remove that temptation is to remove the temptation altogether. And so it's like, do you want to be a eunuch? Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

There was many men in the Bible that were born eunuchs, and there were many men that chose to be eunuchs. I'm just saying, you know, I'm not one of them, you know? Yeah, but then it would become food, though. Yeah. That would be your next temptation. For sure, yeah. You know what I mean? So it doesn't matter. Nah, you're gonna struggle. You're gonna struggle. You're gonna cut your joke off. Get it right. Get it tight, bro. Yeah, you know. And they can't stop eating hundreds. No, they can't eat. So then you're gonna go have a surgery. Right. To make you, you know. Anyways. Better stop. Yeah. Oh, man. That's good. Well, hey, man. We are just so glad that we were able to be here with you. Man, thank you for tuning in. Honestly, man, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already yet.

That way you can get something popped back up to you. Or whenever we post something else, man, we got music videos that we post and sermons that we post regularly, man. And my brother said it a minute ago without saying it, but don't just allow Pando to be the only option that feeds your soul. Get into the word, man. If you don't have a Bible, they have one on Pando. So you can, I mean, you know, a digital Bible is better than no Bible. You know, I mean, I like a physical Bible, but hey man, I mean, get in it, you know, let it change your life. Seek it. You ain't got nothing but time and opportunity on your hands right now, man. Seek the face of the Lord. And we're just thankful to be able to do this. And so we appreciate you. Father, we just thank you, Lord. We thank you for the lives that are tuning in right now. Father, we thank you for the impact that you have had on their life through this even. And so Lord, we just pray that you will just move in their hearts, move in their spirits, Lord, draw them to repentance, God, and encourage them for those of them that need to be encouraged, Father, that feel like giving up.

And Father, we just thank you for all that you're doing right now. Lord, we just pray that you would just do a revival in the prisons, Lord God. I pray that you would just raise up an army of men and women coming out of the prisons, God, that would be able to just reach people and those that are still, may never get out, Father, that they would just start a revival inside the walls, Lord God. And so Lord, we just thank you for all that you're doing in Jesus' name, amen. All right. That's a good one. That's good. Yeah. It worked out. Yeah, it did.