God Didnt Promise Easy!

0:00 Am I not? Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you. Rejoice because your names are registered in heaven. Hello everyone, welcome to bumper sticker wisdom. I am John I'm Terry.

0:54 It's so nice to have everybody with us today. Thank you for joining us It may be a little bit weird today. We're recording off schedule Really just kind of more concerned mostly concerned about surgery that you're about to undergo and and all that kind of stuff and if there's anything I can talk about about that and it's interesting that the sermon series recently about rest And again, it is kind of about physical rest, but it's more about being rested in knowing, rest assured in confidence of our Lord that he's got our backs, right? If there's anything that I have been concerned about, it's not about the surgery, it's about the... impatience for things because I'm gonna have to take on all the responsibility of our household and all of the things that we do outside of the household and your impatience with not wanting to not be in that position for not wanting to sit still like you're gonna have to and it's really my concern that it's gonna turn into fights and arguments but I'm really trying not to speak that. I'm trying to say that.

2:13 And I'm trying not to think that because some of that is like when you start thinking and saying it, it's self -fulfilling itself. It's gonna happen because you're saying it's gonna happen. Or it's, remember when we were talking about the automatic negative thoughts thing about fortune telling? I'm trying to read a predict or predict an outcome that hasn't happened. And so I'm saying that I already know this is gonna happen and it may or may not. Could something like that happen? For sure, because we're going to be on it's in an uncomfortable situation. You're not in a position to do things that you normally do, and you're going to get agitated at times.

2:53 You know, I've been praying that God help me to have the fruits of the spirit. You know what I mean? And that's what we need to do is pray right now. Yeah, pray about it. We will pray about it. But I really fully commit and understand and know that the physical part of it is gonna go great I think your recovery is gonna go Supernaturally good right it's gonna be better than even they expect And you may even return sooner than you think as long as you follow the boundaries So yeah with that being said it's probably a good time to to commit everything to prayer and then we'll get started So Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for giving us this opportunity and this time. Father, I just want to lift up Terry to you and myself and just help us to lean into you throughout what could be a struggle. We're not going to say it's a struggle. We just know that it's possible. We also know that it's possible for supernatural things to come through. I think the supernatural healing will be in the recovery.

3:56 I think that you have put hands on on Terry's body that are going to intervene in a way that is going to help her to heal and feel a way that she hasn't felt in a long time. Father we just want to lift up anybody who's listening right now if they have a physical issue that by your stripes We were healed we can take hold in that we can rest in that we can know that you have already taken care of it Just because we don't see it right now doesn't mean it's not true. So father God We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy your grace and your great patience for us Father God And it's in Jesus name. We pray amen That was a babbling babble it was not so Yeah, I think that the idea of I Think the only concern I have with that message the message that they've been preaching is that people can take that in The wrong way.

4:56 It's not about it is about rest because God rested. Yes, but it's about being Assured being confident. No wing. It's like it's like resting and then resting into your Bible That's what what I'm getting out of it. Like, you know taking it and Getting into your Bible. I'm resting into that use what I'm getting the more I keep listening to it, right? That's what I'm getting into, you know I'm saying like so you're saying like it's more of a it's a call to lean in or like engage further Yeah, and then getting it in resting into it. You know, I'm saying that's what I see I don't know, that's what I'm seeing. I'm not seeing, hearing. That's what I'm hearing, you know, my opinion. I have to get better with my hands. I was watching on, when I was editing this week, there's new camera angles. So I didn't realize at some point I was talking to you and I have my entire face covered by my hand Because I'm used to the camera being here instead of over off the offset I have to try to get my hands under control. I think the hands help, you know, it helps with yeah, you know, I'm an active hand talker obviously But anyway, yeah, I think that I think that you're on something there a little bit it's it's I'm not getting the resting to I get that point to for the most part like I

6:28 had lots of people like the first service I didn't I prayed over two people which I prayed over lonely Lee You know, and then I prayed over my little people that are going to um, I'm Dallas this weekend. I wanted to pray over a protected spell over them too. I'm get there safely spell didn't mean it like that a prayer of protection yes over them to get there and be safe a lot of magic show i do to get them there and safely and those type things um and then the second service um i was standing there in my hand went just and i went trying to make it like like nothing else i said no Like I'm like, you know, and of course Lacey next to me it was her mom that said that she and she prayed over me and then I had Stephanie that was there her one of her friends is having knee surgery So I prayed over that and then she prayed over me for you know stuff And then I had some other things I prayed over it was good. My second service was bringing over people. It was good. It was awesome I was excited that dad was able to come back to church today.

7:39 It was so nice to see him there. People missed him. Yeah, lots of people missed him. I've talked a bunch of times about this. I think that's the one thing about Our church for some people it's uncomfortable at first but something that we all crave is to be seen and known right like it's For people to recognize when we're there and to be like, oh, hey, you're here You know what? I mean, like I think that we all crave that in a way. I think it's as a Being someone who's in kids ministry I think it's the most important thing we can do is snow them by name and greet them when they come through the door. I am too. I am a face person. I'm okay. Yeah.

8:21 You know, but then you're like, feel bad. Cause I'm like, can I see your tag? Yeah. They don't put tags on the adults. They put tags on the kids though. So I get it. I get it. I get a little bit of a help there. You know, I recognize kids all the time, but I don't always remember their names. Uh, and so having tags helps that, but yeah, I just think that. Being known being seen is one of the most important things that we can do as a Congregation as a ministry and so yeah, I think that I just think I just I think we Underestimate the impact of that or the value of that. Yes We have no idea we have no idea we should watch that video The the third one that that line I thought it was a very it's two minutes Okay, so it's just somebody that's talking and we can talk through it We can stop it as it goes if you have something you want to say Because a lot of times what happens when you get to the end of a video that long There's 14 things you thought about saying yeah, and you'll forget by the time you get to the end So yeah, we can listen to it To preface it. I think that the overarching theme of the video is to understand that The struggle is part of the process and it's a necessary part of it That's a lot that's going on in our world right now is people are thinking, you know, their water world is failing They think you know so -and -so was against me

9:53 and yeah, and I mean I feel like you know You know God didn't make it easy. God God's life was not easy. So why should I make it easy for us? Right, you know I Asked God for love He removed people from my life. Confused, I asked why. He said, because not everyone who walks beside you is meant to walk with you. I will never allow the wrong people to keep you from the purpose I have for you. I have brother and sister and all that kind of stuff, but I have no, there is no part of me that has those relationships as impactful as some of the other relationships in my life and people that I consider brothers, you know what I'm saying, sisters. And not in a negative connotation towards anybody, I'm just saying. Not that they're wrong people for my life. I'm pleased to understand. I'm not trying to say that I just want to kind of put in your head that Man the people that we surround ourselves with you know It's him. It's an important piece of the puzzle and not everybody who is in your circle has your best interest at heart and you

11:23 really need to check that and if you ask God to surround you with people who are really seeking after him and Really trying to help you grow and you start seeing people disappear. There's a reason it's not because God's saying Yeah They don't care about you. He's just saying they're not the right people for you. It's funny you said that because I'm I was trying to tell someone the other day about and I wouldn't be where I am today without you and I'm glad you're in my life and and it's like But I have people that see me now. They're like the same person know And you have to, God took those people out of my life for a reason for me to be where I am today. And is my circle small? It is small, but I like my circle. Just because you're not in my circle doesn't mean you're not in my circle.

12:18 You know what I'm saying? I keep people in my circle, it's small. I don't have a lot of people in my circle. It's funny that people that we're the closest to, the people that we love the most, we spend the least amount of time with usually, And then you, when you reconnect, it's like there was never any separation. You know what I mean? Those are the best relationships. Those are the best friendships. You know what I mean? Those are the relationships that are probably the most real. I mean, just being honest. So I find that real interesting. It's a weird dynamic because you feel like if you care about somebody or you love somebody or like somebody, you want to be in their presence often. And yeah, you do, but life is life, man. And we got - It's like, pressure what you say. Show me your friends, I'll show you your future. Let me tell you, when you have those people that have your best interest, you're gonna go farther in life. Not what you wanna hear. Not what you wanna hear, because I'm not gonna shoot a gun at you. Like you say, man, God doesn't give you what you want, he gives you what you need. I asked for peace. He allowed storms. I cried, why? He answered Because peace isn't the absence of storms It's the strength to stand firm while they rage I asked for strength.

13:39 He gave me burdens to carry Frustrated I asked why he replied Strength isn't given it is built Just as iron is forged in fire and shaped by the hammer Your character is formed through what you endure So I think about that too I've said a couple times about I've had my pastor and counselor both look me in my face and be like it's a it's a wonder that you're even still with us, you know what I mean? That's a testimony to the endurance and the things that we have endured and my favorite scripture in the entire Bible is Romans 5 chapter 3 through 5 And it's the very first part of it we can rejoice to when we run into problems and trials because they help us develop endurance.

14:29 The struggle and the trial and the thing, those are the thing that build the character to become the people we are. Look, the things that happened to me as a younger person aren't okay and they're not all my fault, right? Some are because of other people. They put me in positions I should have never been in. You know what I'm saying? But at the end of the day, the diligent, stubborn, hardworking person that I am doesn't happen without those trials and struggles, right? I was made to be an adult way faster than I was supposed to be an adult. You know what I'm saying? And I mean, I'm not saying that you shouldn't have responsibilities and things like that, but there's a difference with what I'm talking about. I just think that... There's so much value in the struggle and we don't want to recognize that We don't want to recognize those things like so this is like the storm like we go back to the when he says I give you storms but dude You you're gonna go through storms, but don't forget who you're in the storm with Right, you're not always gonna be by yourself, right? You're gonna have someone just remember Just reach people that are gonna help you through your storm. It reminds me of what pastor Richie talked about earlier today when he was talking about Jesus rested while the storm was going on right and I love the Illustration that because when Christ stepped to the shore and he said hey guys get on the boat. We're going

16:01 to the other side You can rest assured we're going to the other side, right? Yeah, but you get halfway across and a storm rises and Jesus is over here and They're freaking out Right, what are you can you sleep through this? Yeah, they're like don't you even care that we're gonna die and he's like, bro Didn't I tell you we're going to the other side how little faith you have, right? That's the kind of rest in that I'm talking about. It's not sleep. It's the confidence that We're going to be over there no matter what happens right here. This storm is just part of it. You may have to do something. You may have to work. You may have to put something in it. You may have to let the sails down. You may have to do something. But at the end of the day, we're going to the other side. Absolutely. I asked for an easier road. He placed a mountain before me. Exhausted, I whispered, why? He said, Because the strongest legs are built by climbing, not by standing still. That's the thing about the rest, right? Rest doesn't mean absence of movement or absence of activity. Rest means, what's the scripture he used? It's in Hebrews. He said, we labor to enter into the rest. It's not...

17:25 we labor so we can get tired and sleep. It's labor to get into that confidence. We work so hard to grow this relationship so that we are fully confident in what God says. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Only always. Only always. God doesn't want it to be easy because if it was easy, dude, what would it be today? Oh, yeah, there's no value in getting stuff handed to you, right?

18:05 Ask some of the greatest athletes, the ones that were, and I'm not saying anything ugly or anything like that, but a guy like Vince Young, right? He just was so naturally gifted and people And coaches just kind of handed him everything when eventually the world slapped him in the face now He had some things that were against him once he made it to the NFL, but it didn't last because His character wasn't developed. It was too much stuff was given to him now I'm a Texas Longhorn to the core and I love Vince Young I do I love Vince Young but also I've seen numerous times how these world -class athletes, football players, baseball players, things like that turned into broke, druggie folks because they have no character. It wasn't developed. They were just handed everything because they were so good.

19:09 You know what I mean? That's not you got to earn it. You know who my favorite baseball player is? I love Pudge Rodriguez. I love Nolan Ryan, love Adrian Beltre. My favorite baseball player of all time is Michael Young. Short stop in second, but who'd you think I was gonna say Barry Bonds? Okay, when I was first getting into baseball 1988 -89 Jose Canseco was everything and yes, I did like him at first I don't now Michael Young he's he quietly became Mr. Ranger because he was just the guy that showed up reliable, hardworking, played hard, led by example, did anything that the team needed. And look, he was a very good baseball player. Don't get me wrong. To me, he's a Hall of Famer on a level, but He's just that guy. He showed up and did the job every day every time without question without complaining Hey, we need you to move to shortstop. Okay. Hey, we need you to move to second base. Okay. Hey, we need you to go to third Okay, but you know what's so funny about that is what do you call it a utility player? Oh, yeah, so listen to me So being a utility player is the same thing as about being in God's Word. Oh, yeah, nice Utilities is all about getting into it, being a strong person, being, you know, how did Jason say it one time, being steeled, you know, ironed, forged,

20:42 being forged and just in all ways, you know, going through those things, it's all about being there. I think something that can help people is understanding that we're not going through these things for no reason. We think it's just, it's unfair. It is unfair, man, life. is unfair things that happen to us there are negative things that happen in people's lives they should never happen but they do and god can work even those negative things into a good purpose yes but we've got to learn how to use it the right way you have to learn to be able to forge it the way we should forge it yeah you know what we should yeah i can i can get metal hot and beat it down But it probably won't end up being sharp, and it probably won't end up being strong, because I have no idea how to do it, right? But listen, you've already forged it. Yeah. But just like it says, who's going to help you sharpen your blade? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, iron sharpens iron.

21:42 You know? He wasn't making my life easier. He was making me stronger. I didn't receive the life I asked for. I received the life that would prepare me for what lies ahead. Because comfort rarely changes us. Fire refines iron. Trials refine faith. Endure the fire. God is still shaping you. This is an AI video so For sure, but I love lions are so there's an intensity about them and such a majesty about them I think that's why they're called the king of the jungle. Of course, they're not from the jungle. They're from the frickin desert, but My favorite big big cat is a tiger Tigers that's the real king of the jungle to me like but they're so They have that same kind of power and majesty about them. They're fierce But they're majestic, you know what I mean? But I wouldn't play around with either one. I'm like, oh, bones coming apart and everything. Goodness, those are creepy. Yeah.

23:01 But I think to the other part of it is like, um, he was talking as a reason we stopped a minute ago was he was talking about, um, It's not that he wasn't answering my prayers He was just answering it differently than I wanted it to be right and that's exactly how God always works God's not gonna give you the answer you want. He's gonna give you the one you need You're gonna get what you asked for is you're just gonna get there a way that you didn't expect And you're not gonna get it in the time that you wanted either Heck no, man. Heck. No why because we have to be developed have to learn to be patient and dude if I If I wanted him to give me something then dude, we would be we would be trying to pray like that all the time Have you ever uh, hey, okay, so that that kind of brings a good point to me You know that there's a separation progress process, right? There is a weeding out kind of situation going on, right? God is willing to love you and give you everything. He's paradise is waiting right heaven is waiting for you But he has to let people decide whether they really believe this stuff or not right he wants true real actual love not perceived fake love Not people who can just say it people who can mean it and be it bring it every single time so in the grand scheme of things That is what separates us. That's how

24:33 we get weeded out so to speak and I That might sound negative, but it's it's a concept that happens in everyday life. Yeah, things get separated. We weed things out. I'm going to weed that person out of my life because they're not good for me. It's just like we were looking at some of John's comments on something. He goes, I guess this is why I don't look at it. It's just like they take the contact that we were talking about and like made it. I was like, that's not what came out of that. That's not what you said that's what i ask all of the soldiers of christ who are listening to our content you know a lot of people who don't believe what we have to talk about and and choose to hate about it are willing to give us comments but people who actually believe don't Frickin comment and it's like man. I wish y 'all would engage with us. That's all we're that's what we want We weren't we want you to engage with us. I just need y 'all to be our Always say hey, I need and prayers wherever I need warriors on my side. I need prayer words I need people to message and say hey this this is our I need you to comment to some of these things to us for us. Yeah, because their their comment i was just like oh some very hateful stuff comes through yeah i was like god is poison i was like okay what did you get out of that much is is that i had one video it was talking and we're talking about christ or or talking about the bible or something and that there was

26:04 like 17 comments all negative it's like where's the people i know they believe i know y 'all see it if these negative people see it y 'all see it too so help us out man now now what jesus felt like when people didn't really you know He was speaking, and he was like, are you not listening? I guess, um... Why are you not listening to me? I've already told you this. I already told you the promises I have for you. I know for sure Jesus got, I wouldn't say got impatient, but got flustered by people. I can't say, there was at least two or three times when he said... How many times do you think he ever rolled his eyes? I bet he rolled his eyes often. Often, often. He'd be back there talking to the Father like... Man it's funny. Oh awesome for a comment on one of our tick -tocks right there if only a God existed nice Thanks guy or girl or girl But I know there it was Scripturally documented at least three times where where God said how or Christ said how long must I be with you? That's a frustration I'm tired of you. I am so tired of your lack of faith. Especially when it was coming down to these final days and y 'all still don't understand. You're still not getting what I'm trying to tell you. The 12 dudes he spent three years with, day after day after day after

27:35 day. Walk the same path every day in the same sandals. As much as they walk they probably change sandals, but I'm sure they did But can I say though that there's an encouragement in that? There's an encouragement in that because we always think we should be somewhere where we're not absolutely, right 12 men spent three years Right next to Jesus wandering around listening to him preaching listen They don't even always record the car all the conversations they had behind closed doors Now think about that and then think about how at the end of that three years they were still Not perfected. They were still Trying to figure it out. You know what I'm saying? That's the encouragement for us today Yeah, right. We're still not gonna we're never going to be that's the thing right and that's what we need to understand and yet those men who he devoted so much time and energy to Didn't understand it but still became the pillars still became the foundation on which Christ's church was built, right? That's an encouraging thing. Yeah, and died sometimes.

28:47 Some of these people died in horrible deaths. Horrible. But you know what? Not for a lie, my friend. I'm sorry. Not gonna happen. Not gonna happen. Not for a lie. I'm sorry. Wouldn't happen. You can't convince me that they were getting paid for this lie. Not to die like this, I'm not. You can't pay me enough to dip me in boiling oil. You can't pay me enough to crucify me. You can't. I'm sorry, not gonna happen. Not gonna happen, I'm sorry. I think that the thing that comes to mind to me right now is it's such a hard question to ask anybody. It's such a hard thing to think about because it's just impossible to answer truthfully you can give your best possible answer but If you got to spend a few minutes in the presence of God I Mean, what would you say? What would you I don't know what I was anything.

29:50 I would probably just more like in it and Feel like I wouldn't be able to say anything I feel like I would just want him to I would just want him to hold I just would want to hold his hands and just Just you know, I would just play listen to him talk, you know to me. Yeah, you know, I don't know what I would say to him I really don't know what I would say to him. I think if If I had the opportunity this is what came to me just now If I had the opportunity to be truthfully in his presence and ability to communicate with him in such a way in such a direct way Wouldn't say anything and I wouldn't ask a ton of questions. I would just say what is it that you need me to know? What is it that you need me to hear?

30:33 I would love to hear what is it that you're trying to say to me right now? What would you want to say Christ? What would you want to say to me right now? I? Would really love to know that answer that would be I would want to know what my pathetic word prophetic word That's another one like do you okay here's something so, you know that God has plans for you Knowing who we are and people in general how we operate If God sat can sit you down right now and say this is my plan I Don't have that part of it I'm just saying if he could sit with you or if he was going to sit with you right now and go hey This is my plan for you. So all of this is building you to this This is where I want you to be. This is what I'm trying to get you to because it's gonna do this for my kingdom Do you think you follow it? Do you think that you didn't believe him? Would tell you yes, yeah sure I mean it's God rise Say it three times if you really mean

32:09 it It's it's I just that's an interesting thought I just wonder if You would even believe it right would you even believe what he was telling you? Would you even believe that he's calling it, that he's saying that this is what I called you for? This was my plan for you all along, you know? I don't know. Knowing people. Some people still wouldn't believe it. What we would say is something to the effect of, well, that might be for somebody, but not me. Yeah. You know what I mean? Some people's belief in things are just not believable. You know, don't believe anyway, you know? Sad state of affairs. This world is so I was looking at comments. Okay on our Other tick tock and there's about 17 comments on one from today and all are positive except for one So just so you know They all said amen. Amen.

33:10 Amen. Amen. Hey, but you know what? As long as we're getting some amens and that's there was one that was a meme and it said A page a day keeps the Satan away. Another one said, God loves you. Yes, he does. It's always nice to get feedback. It's nice to get positive feedback. I'm okay with being, I can take constructive criticism. I understand if people look at what we're doing and be like, you know, you could do this and you could do that, you should do this, you should do that. Your camera angle sucks. It probably does. I'm not a production engineer. You know what I mean? I don't know anything about what I'm doing. Well, I'm not. I want to create a good product, but that's not what I'm here for.

33:56 Okay. So my deal is so some people want to be, what do you call that? Um, negative, mean, ugly people when people are on Facebook or tick tock and they want to be influencers. Yes. What's the difference between that and this? This is the same idea. We're just not there. We don't have 2 .7 million likes on our video. Thanks, Ben Matias. Ben Matias is amazing. He does great production. My thing is, is if you'll look like some of his background, you can, you know, he doesn't, some of his backgrounds are not like perfect or whatever, but you know what? I don't think he really cares what you think. You know what I'm saying? You know, he started somewhere too. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We all do.

34:44 At the end of the day, I'm trying to do the best I can and I'm trying to Help people while helping myself You know, we just want to reach that one. That's just I want if we reach that one I have to I have to say today was uh, it was hard to listen to that testimony from from Wyatt He really was not hard in a bad way when your kid he was in I was in youth with him Yeah, that's where I met him. It was where I met him and you know Yeah, I did stop and tell him, hey man, I just want you to know I'm proud of you. You know what I mean? I walked up to him and said, did you just want to make me cry today? I know, right?

35:25 I said, because that was awesome, dude. Most of the time, you don't get the opportunity or the benefit of seeing the people you actually impact. He's never said anything to me, and I don't. Dare take credit for anything. He's never said, you know, you did this or anything like that and I don't assume that But I know I was in there I know was involved at some level so that's good. That's good It's part of your hearts like okay. Yeah, and I had an impact on that. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I was involved I'm part of the story. I may not be the central figure and that's okay Christ should be the central figure anyway But you know what, to see these kids, like I prayed over some kids today and I won't, you know, um, his, their mom went to prison. I didn't ask why. Yeah. And some of the, the lady that's keeping home is, I don't know if it's a family member or a friend, but she took these two grown kids and I'm not saying they're little, they're grown. They're probably fixing to middle school, probably blast time in middle school and they're going to move to high school. and to take on those kind of burdens and take these kids on. I prayed for their mom, hopefully she gets what she needs there and you get what you need and this lady that's taking you in that she's gonna give you what you need and put God in the center of your lives guys because God is where it's at and God is where

36:57 he needs to be in your lives right now God's putting you in this path For you to be right here at this moment and that what the bigger kick was and he hugged me so hard John I was like But you know what felt that I felt that yeah, but you know what it was amazing and it almost made me cry and I was just like I Hope he takes it and I hope he comes back next Sunday feel so bad and it's just great and I loved it because you could tell in his eyes He just you know you you know I don't know what their mom's there and I'm sure they're mad or upset or she probably didn't deserve it or this but you know it doesn't matter what the story is let's what we get let's get what we need now and let's pray about it every day because now I have it and if I every time I think about people that I've prayed for um in the I mean weeks and weeks I still think about I'm like oh hey God please hey I haven't thought about them hey can I pray for them hey send out some of my My positivity to them. Give my positive to them. Give it to them. I love them. I want them to know that you know what, they have someone right there. That little person right here that's just tickling their ear. What are you doing? Nothing. You're touching my feet. Stop just touching your feet.

38:17 I'm like... I can't hold your hand from a distance. It's one of the things that makes I just feel so much pride and love. When you tell me stuff like this just I just love I just I'm so proud. I just love kids I just I just you know some kids you're gonna some kids you're going to you're gonna get through isn't kids You're not yeah, and that's just people in general I would tell you you know you were looking at those negative comments, and it was it was getting on I was upsetting you It to me. I used to I used to get upset by it now. I just I just feel sorry for him I just want you with a bird Just kidding I would never do that, but yeah, I probably would I'll give him a bird Probably not what I'm supposed to give him, but I'll give him one No, I just I just Okay The thing is to me Could I be wrong sure I could be wrong. Yeah, I could be I Don't think I am I strongly believe that I'm not But I could be You know when I when we first got together when we first got together, I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you I don't didn't know the Bible as good as I did a kids Bible. I needed kids. You know the stories I know the stories but when y 'all interacted with you and dad talk y 'all's conversations were so I Mean intense I was just like I can't do this and I get it

39:48 but But now I look at it. I'm like, okay I'm getting it I'm getting better and better and better at it on the stories and the Bible and the words and and just listening and I'm telling you it's just guys get into your Bibles because I know I sometimes I don't understand either get about what you understand some people understand all too well and they think they know everything is what happens they think that they know but reading but they're not reading yeah they're not receiving yeah right I It just disheartens me that people can't have that relationship because all the things that they say negatively come from an Old Testament perspective and the things that were established through the covenant of the Old Testament and the law, we don't live under that covenant anymore. We live under the covenant of grace and mercy. I will never presume to say that God made a mistake. I won't. How can I tell the creator of the universe that he made a mistake? How can I? How can I? How can you tell an artist that his painting was done wrong? It's his painting. It's like you were talking about the way I write. You know how I

41:18 like, I basically talk to myself while I'm writing, you know what I mean? I'll argue with myself on the paper. I let you into my thoughts in the process. It's a way that I feel like I communicate on a personal level. That's important to me. It's weird for people and people will read it and be like, I don't get it. Okay, you don't have to. You don't have to get it, but somebody will get it. At the end of the day, you can't tell me it's wrong. It's not wrong. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine and it's what comes from my heart. It's like Ephesians 2 10 when God says, you are God's masterpiece. Bro, a masterpiece is created through the eyes of the artist, not the freaking patron who looks at the art. The artist is the author, right? So your imperfections while they may be imperfect They were there for a reason. Yes. Yes every little thing. God does not make mistakes They may look like mistakes But he don't make mistakes man. He did everything he did on purpose. Let me tell you something Every single thing when I read through the Bible.

42:35 It's so intentional Right. It is so intentional. It's a connected to something else Okay, I'll give you a great example the plagues right happens in the Old Testament before the Exodus before the The Israelite people were let out of Egypt right every single one of the plagues You know that that was addressing one of the Egyptian gods every single one was addressing one of the Egyptian gods Basically showing hey this God Egypt that you've been believing in guess what he's not real, but I am That's what that was every single one of them right another great point The three temptations of christ whenever he's refusing the enemy every one of those temptations are the temptations that adam and eve faced And guess what he conquered all three of those It's intentional. Yeah, it's it's done on purpose It's written on purpose not to make robotic people To draw people into a relationship. That's real And to rescue people from the freaking stupidity of humanity humans have the capacity to be great and Yet they use their ability to be great to be hateful. Mm -hmm Stinking hurts my heart.

43:57 Yes, sir. And that's why I hate I don't hate those comments. I feel sorry for you. Yeah You can you can say I'm dumb whatever you say, yeah If you sit down and have an intellectual conversation with me, I don't think you would ever think that I'm dumb. Exactly. Until you find out I believe in Jesus. Right. Shame on you. Yeah, shame. Shame, shame. So, shame on me and how stupid am I for putting myself out there in that way with no prior experience or knowledge or I don't have anybody trying to help us push it out there. You know, we just put ourselves out there. Yeah. Hey. Why not I'm such a I'm such a great face for Jesus, you know what I'm saying like come on man that's my point though the whole point of everything that we do is because God uses the imperfect Right every single person has a story Every single person has a calling and my story may not look like yours. My story looks like a lot of people's And your story looks like a lot of people's. And we're meant to help each other. That's right. That's what we're supposed to do. That's the point. That's the entire point.

45:15 That's the entire point of this relationship. It's a struggle. It's a fight. And just because you believe in Jesus doesn't mean it's going to get easy. That's right. It's actually going to get hard. Everything's a struggle. Doesn't matter what it is. 100%. It's just like people who... Wait their whole lives to try to be in the perfect situation before they get married or before they have kids. Oh, yeah You'll never get there. Yeah, if you wait for the time that it's everything every ingredient is perfect. Yeah Right, so I Don't know man. I just it hurts. I feel sorry for people. I want them to be in this relationship I really do but I also want People to be willing to surround themselves with other people to get into conversations to to be Okay, I have firm opinions and firm feelings and firm thoughts and firm Faiths right we all do right. Yeah, I do too But I'm not so firm that I'm not willing to listen or bend anything Right, and that's the forum that we're trying to create in our small group here is to create a space where it's safe to have a conversation without fear of judgment, without fear of hate.

46:35 You don't have to agree with me. That's fine. It's okay. You don't have to. You can choose to believe something else. That's fine. I love you anyway. But you don't have to be hateful to me about it. I agree. I totally agree. If you want to say that comment, you're not brave enough to continue saying the comment after I'm like, well, why do you say that? You don't say nothing. You're brave enough to say the first thing but you're not brave enough to follow it up. Come on, man You know, it's just a conversation This is the way it goes, but I want to have conversations with people. That's what that's what I'm trying to have here, you know, I'm So what are we? We're coming up closely on three years worth of doing this 150 episodes coming up really soon in the next few weeks. I mean That's a lot You know some people I mean the statistics is you don't even make it What was it would you say even a year or even half a year the? Statistics on the number of podcasts that make it past 10 episodes is astronomically low So yeah, and the statistics get smaller as the number gets bigger yeah, right and we're still doing it coming up on 150 episodes in right and And look I'm here. I'd say we're further than we started But it doesn't look like what we thought no, but it's not like it was before heck No, but now look where we're one step ahead and we're still going stronger than we were I'm gonna keep going. I just want us

48:06 to surround ourselves with people I want people to come into this space. You don't have to come into this room I mean you're welcome to if you want to you can but I can't pay you We want to have real conversations You know, I'm not an interviewer. I don't even know what that looks like. I don't even know how to conduct an actual interview. I know how to ask questions. I think you'd be good at it. I really do. Well, I mean, maybe, but I don't know. I've never done it before, right? It's just like trying to do the freelance voiceover thing. I've never done that before. I think you'd be good at it. Y 'all have to see the picture. Nobody's hired me yet. Y 'all have to see the picture he put out. I was like, ooh.

48:48 You can go see it on Fiverr if you want to hire my voice I Think it's been a really good conversation interesting. I didn't know how this was gonna go because it's not But and I don't think we're quite there yet There's one last video. I wanted to show and it's this been another been the tires video Man I would love Ben Mathias, reach us out, reach out. I hope I'm saying that right. I don't know if it's Mathias or Matias, it's hard to tell. Yeah. All right, check this one out. Hey, I'm gonna order me a pizza, you want a thing? Yeah, just give me some wings. All right, just cash app it to me. Should be here in about 30 minutes. What about Mark? What about him?

49:35 He's broke. I'll pay for him. You know, you need to stop doing that. He's here like every single day. He doesn't do anything but just sits there. He'd have some money if he wasn't so damn lazy. What is wrong with you? No, what is wrong with you? You condoned this? When do we stop supporting each other? It's okay, guys. I'm just gonna go. No, you're fine. When your car broke down, who was there to help you fix it? When you needed help moving, who was there helping you move? For free didn't charge you anything He's got things going on in his life that he would rather not talk about but being around friends Helps him deal with it. Amen. He's no longer useful to you. So you just want to cast him aside. I Didn't say that You didn't have to Go pick up your pizza You can have my wings, too Are you serious right now? If the only reason you want to sit at my table is to benefit yourself, I'm sorry, but there's no chair here for you. Amen.

50:47 Oh, golly. Whatever. It's true, though. There's no chair here for you. Do that. If you're only in it for you, then you don't belong at this table. Yes. Like I said, I'm telling you right now, I couldn't, I mean, anybody's welcome on my table. But burn me once. I'm okay for me twice Here's a lost cause here you go He's just have packing, you know, it's it's the it's the selfish thing that it's like, you know, man We're all selfish on a level. We all have selfish Things so ways that we can be so I'm definitely selfish with my time With you and I don't really necessarily like to share me Hell no Hell no. You're my best friend, bro. Like I have other people that I love spending time with and things like that, but we always have to spend time with them and a bunch of other people. I don't want to spend time with them. I'll spend time with them. And then I just, I like to spend time with you. I think it's crazy because I know you don't understand it, but like, just being at my computer doing work or whatever I'm doing. You're in just you're in the vicinity. You're in my presence. I am at peace. It's the most at peace that I am at any given time in my day and week. So that is

52:17 what I thrive for. Right. And that's where I'm that's what I crave. And so when you disrupt that because I got to go do this or I'm going to go do that. I try really hard to not get flustered, but I do. And then it lasts a hell of a lot longer. You'd have been doing better. I'm trying to. Are you back? Are you coming back? I hate that I'll be right back. I'm coming right back. I should never say that. That's like 15 minutes and then an hour and 15 minutes later I'm like... I want to rage text and I'm just like, just put the phone down. I do. I want to, but I don't.

52:59 I've been working very hard at that. I try not to do that. Okay. Before we start to nose this plane down, I want to take a second on video here to show you guys around the room. Okay. We built a new podcast. She may not be back for a couple of weeks. I don't know how comfortable she's going to be. Not sure what it's gonna look like if you're gonna be able to take your brace off at least long enough to do a show Or anything like that. I know you have I know you have to wear the brace for two weeks solid, but I'm not sure I don't know if after that it's okay for you to be off of it So I'm gonna have to get some more information. He's gonna be the Yes And whatever he says go So go with the camera you doing yours or mine. I'll do mine. All right, so here we go guys He did he worked really hard on this guys, I mean he he worked very hard on this Yeah So Place the sound panel strategically he did he did a good job I just glued them to the poster board so we can take them off when we need to So got everything and a TV and our little table over here a little We call that floating shelf a Barn door he did felt did the

54:32 barn door did a good job Little frustrated him a little bit, but he got it on there. He was yeah He was not okay with that. So he did work very hard. He worked really hard guys. Y 'all have no idea how much he worked really hard for that. Yeah. I spent, I spent, uh, besides the weekend that we took to empty the shell, to empty the room and things like that. That was the hardest part. I spent 14 hours by myself pretty much a dad pitched in a couple of times. He helped me tear down the old studio and He helped me when I needed that extra hand, hold up something or whatever, but I spent 14 hours building this room, putting things together, that floating shelf behind here. Obviously you can't see it on camera, but there's also room for potential changes, right? Like right now we do everything on phones and things like that. We'd like to expand it to better. We've had a little bit of battles on this room, but hey, battles were good.

55:29 We got over them and we worked through them. They were the silly ones, but it was, it's, it's been, it's been a good thing. I mean, cause we, uh, mind y 'all the first podcast room that we had, I am going to lie to you. We had curtains. So you had to go in and out of these curtains. So here, so it was suspended from the ceiling. Yeah. So it was clutter, clutter, clutter in there. And then when we moved into the studio at Jason's house, It was like a whole new world man. It was like we were it was it felt most the most legit we had felt and then you know circumstances changed and nothing negative toward anybody just didn't work out and so We had to come up with something different and this is what we have I've been a little bit out of sorts because I've been so used to things being where they were for a year and a half while I was at the other studio I'm so used to you know the soundboard was at a certain level and Everything was a little little little stuff over there over here This is I don't turn it on but there's a little sign over here and all our equipment that plugs in and charges and the floating shelf has Our Bible open to a certain page. This one has the one about controlling the tongue. I think that's a perfect page And Terry had to add the female touch and put some little figurines The corner over on this side that had the floating

57:00 shelf with the shirts on it, I plan to use that as a kind of a separate area of recording where I can do some commercial or promo type stuff for new shirts that we do and things like that. If we have a guest, we still have space at the end of the table for that. We haven't figured out the cameras for that yet, but we will. So there's still opportunity for growth here and that's what the goal was. You have a joke It wasn't terrible it's always bad about delivery Okay, where does snowman keep his money Snowbank You're not supposed to know my jokes. Mind you, I get these on Facebook so he probably sees them before I do. I've never seen that. Okay, answer first. Okay. Let it fall. Let it fall. How do you make a lemon drop? You let it fall you let it fall. That's perfect. Yeah That one's funny

58:32 Doesn't mean anything to what we're doing right now Just because we brought up if God were to sit before us and give us the plan that he had like exactly actually explained the plan Epictetus There is no peace for the man who has seen what he could become Because if you actually knew How much effort would you give exactly right? How much harder would you work if you actually knew because you already know it's gonna be there You're you know what's coming right? You already know there's success in this why wouldn't I chase it harder harder harder harder? No, you know, that's what it's gonna be No rest for that so anyway, man As always, we thank you guys for being here. We are not going anywhere. We're gonna continue to do this as long as the world will allow it. We'd love to have you on or with us in whatever way, whatever capacity. If you have a contrary view or vision, that's okay.

59:38 We don't rebuke that. It's cool to have a discussion as long as you're willing to have a discussion, not just make a hateful comment. What the hell was that that hurt my ear I know it's Yeah, that hurt Thank you, sorry But we would love to generate and create community a place where people are willing and unafraid to come and have Conversation if they have question or if they have you know what? I think you're not seeing that properly look at it this way Love to hear that. But most important, we'd love to love on you. We'd love to pray with you, to come into agreement with you on things in your life. Man, we know that this thing works. Prayer works. The tongue has the power of life and death. God's not dead.

1:00:31 He's listening. He's just waiting for us. So Father, thank you. We love you. I'm John. I'm Terri.