Have you ever wondered why some people find unwavering peace amidst life's chaos while others lose their faith? Our latest episode invites you on a transformative journey, where we discuss the profound peace that comes from recognizing God's sovereignty even in the face of modern Christianity's many challenges. We delve into the importance of putting on the armor of God and engaging in spiritual warfare, especially for those feeling disillusioned or disconnected from their faith. Through heartfelt personal anecdotes and reflections, we underscore the need for true believers to seek meaningful fellowship and strive beyond the bare minimum in their spiritual journey.
Faith is not just a belief; it's a transformative force that changes lives. We unpack the multifaceted nature of faith, likening it to a diamond with many facets, and tackle the complex questions of why demons, despite believing in God, lack true faith. This episode delves deep into the essence of faith as described in Hebrews 11:1, exploring how it serves as the tangible evidence of things hoped for and the unseen realities that shape our spiritual lives. Through personal stories of overcoming struggles like addiction through surrender and faith, we illustrate how true faith leads to profound changes in daily life and habits.
Finally, we confront the serious nature of preaching the gospel in an age where commercializing Christianity has become a trend. We dissect theological debates on free will and predestination, emphasizing the sovereignty of God in the salvation process. Through the lens of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, we explore why Jesus Christ, rather than any other figure, is the object of our faith. This episode is a call to stay connected and supportive within the Christian community, urging listeners to remain provoked and persuaded in their faith journey. Join us as we journey through stories of spiritual transformation, the strength of Christian fellowship, and the profound impact of Christ's love and sacrifice.
Have you ever wondered why some people find unwavering peace amidst life's chaos while others lose their faith? Our latest episode invites you on a transformative journey, where we discuss the profound peace that comes from recognizing God's sovereignty even in the face of modern Christianity's many challenges. We delve into the importance of putting on the armor of God and engaging in spiritual warfare, especially for those feeling disillusioned or disconnected from their faith. Through heartfelt personal anecdotes and reflections, we underscore the need for true believers to seek meaningful fellowship and strive beyond the bare minimum in their spiritual journey.
Faith is not just a belief; it's a transformative force that changes lives. We unpack the multifaceted nature of faith, likening it to a diamond with many facets, and tackle the complex questions of why demons, despite believing in God, lack true faith. This episode delves deep into the essence of faith as described in Hebrews 11:1, exploring how it serves as the tangible evidence of things hoped for and the unseen realities that shape our spiritual lives. Through personal stories of overcoming struggles like addiction through surrender and faith, we illustrate how true faith leads to profound changes in daily life and habits.
Finally, we confront the serious nature of preaching the gospel in an age where commercializing Christianity has become a trend. We dissect theological debates on free will and predestination, emphasizing the sovereignty of God in the salvation process. Through the lens of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, we explore why Jesus Christ, rather than any other figure, is the object of our faith. This episode is a call to stay connected and supportive within the Christian community, urging listeners to remain provoked and persuaded in their faith journey. Join us as we journey through stories of spiritual transformation, the strength of Christian fellowship, and the profound impact of Christ's love and sacrifice.
me. I'm so grateful to you and a couple other brothers and sisters in Christ who have been so supportive, and I am the things that I'm sure of I am sure, and that is that I belong to the Lord and he died for me. There's nothing I could have done. He chose me from before the foundations of the earth. You know, just keep it going. People will argue with me. He is sovereign. If we see wicked things happen, it is because he's allowing it or he's ordained it himself. Our God is sovereign and I'm just. That's where I'm finding my peace right now is that's that's.
Speaker 2:Listen, lisa, that is where all of the peace that a Christian has comes from knowing that God is absolutely sovereign. Oh amen, you know? That's that's it. It because if he not, then your hope is useless because it is wavering and it has no foundation. If God is not sovereign, then the faith that we have in him is on sand. What makes him a rock is that he is sovereign and he's unmovable. That's that. This is it.
Speaker 2:But the problem that the world has today, the Christianity is my beef right now, might be right now. Today is not so much about, is not so much about the world, as much as it is about those who profess to be Christian, yes, and yet have no idea the God, who the God is that they claim and profess to worship. So you end up with people like a couple of these buffoons that I know that you may have seen. They come out there and say that they used to be preachers for 40 years, yet churches, they were minist, they were ministries, and now they come and say I've seen the light and I decided that God is not the way, christ is not the savior, and that the world is where everything is at Now. I don't know what is more. I don't know what can be more foolish than for a man to look to his creator and go. You know what I've realized? That looking to you is not the light Going back to darkness. That's my light. This is what they say.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You see what I mean. But Christians have got to put on the armor of God because right now, more than ever in my lifetime, in my life which I'm sure is yours too, our lifetime Yep, we need to be at war, at war, spiritual war. We are at war and the thing about it is so many of us have no idea we're like, well, you know, we don't need to really be doing anything, we don't need to go to church, it's okay to do this, we don't need to have fellowship, that's not required. People look for trying to do whatever. The minimum is to get by. You know what I mean. But a true Christian should be seeking to do as much as they can, not enough to get by, oh absolutely but that.
Speaker 1:But this is, this is the mentality that people have today, blazing rose, I see you there today.
Speaker 2:I'm glad I've been reading your comments, but this is the mentality that people have today. Blazing Rose, I see you there today. I've been reading your comments, sister, and I'm glad you're here, and I know that you see this. You've had the same problems that you said that I told you that I have about, you know, being a loose cannon. You know, god knows who he picks. For a reason. I love that.
Speaker 2:Here's what I wanted to talk about tonight, because normally I have like a basic outline, but I have never had a script ever, you know, unless I've been in a pulpit. I don't have a script, and that's why I love this format so much, because I can just have a basic outline and try to like communicate to people things that I think that they ought to know, things they may build them up in the faith, and that's what I'm about. And challenging people, that's what I'm about. Yeah, so, vicki, I see you there. My sister Vicki's there at least. I told you about Vicki. We got a place, we got to pray for my sister because I love this lady and and you know, I just you know, I mean her spoke a while on a phone the other day for a while and I just loved it. Her spirit is like she's the kind of person that you don't have to see, right, you can just hear her voice and you go. That's my sister, that's my girl, you know, yeah, but anyway, I think Kenneth is here too, Kenneth.
Speaker 2:Who Kenneth?
Speaker 1:Kenneth, remember last time you had a yeah, oh, he changed his logo, I think.
Speaker 2:Hey, kenneth, how you doing, brother? So here's the thing I told you. Tonight is the first time I'm doing a format like this and really the subject that I want to talk about tonight is faith. The different, all the so if you look at, if you look at faith as a diamond, it has a multiplicity of facets. So what I want to do is sort of talk about some of the facets of faith, the facets of faith. So the first, thing I want to do is ask you and everyone else what is faith?
Speaker 2:To start, the first question is and I got about five or six questions for this discussion what is faith? What is it? And so to Lisa, because here, look, here's the thing Most Christians know what they believe, right, very few know why they believe it. If you ask them why something is true, they know they believe it, but they couldn't tell you how to make sense of it.
Speaker 1:Right. For me it's trusting. That's an easy answer. Like the short answer, I should say Not easy answer, short answer Right Faith in something is trusting it.
Speaker 2:It's trusting. Let me ask you this question If you take faith and you're saying that it's trusting, because let's face it there are many people that you trust. So now the question is how do you trust, how do you express trust? How do you trust in a faithful way? Oh, boy, that is good Because, listen, people can trust their friends, right. They can trust their family member, they can trust their husband or their wife. So how is that different than the faith that we're supposed to have as Christians?
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, it's action. It's the action that you um. Oh boy, I'm not articulate, jonathan, I'm um no no, no, listen, it's. It's like the it's peter getting out of that boat. You know um right um, I'm trying to look at like in my life, what would, what would be in comparison? I mean, I I've encountered him, so I I know he exists.
Speaker 2:1 million time percent what I want you to do and Lisa this right here is exactly what I want to have happen, because there's no question that you're a woman of faith, no question at all. I have no desire, I mean I have no doubt about that, no doubt at all. I have no desire, I mean I have no doubt about that, no doubt at all. I know you do. But what we, as believers, need to be able to do is give an answer you understand To give an answer to anyone who would ask us, and when I come on?
Speaker 2:and when I come on and put my post up here or go live, whatever, my whole, my whole program in my mind is to is to start something. I want to start something.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I want to motivate people, I want to stir things up, because so many people don't know why they believe what they believe.
Speaker 1:Well, I was. I was completely different than I am now. Before I, I was one way, I wasa. I was one way, I was a. I was awful, yeah, and I have. I hadn't even realized it and I'm just completely different now. And in reading his word, the words that I'm reading are true. It's just completely different now, right. And in reading his word, the words that I'm reading are true. I have found nothing. What he says is true, right.
Speaker 2:But how do you know? It's true.
Speaker 1:I see it in my own life. I know he hears me, I know he answers. He answers questions, whether it be through people, whether it be turning to a scripture that you have a question on, and all of a sudden you open the scripture to whatever you're asking about. It's a real thing, it's just not. I mean, so many people think that it's just fairy tale and it's. It's not. I've always believed so. I, I, I don't know what it's like not to believe it's. It almost seems ridiculous to not believe Now whether I was always a follower, whether I was always obedient. It's different, and having an encounter with him is once you encounter him. You're not the same, right?
Speaker 2:Right, that's true. So, but so? So here here. So here's what I'm going to do again. I'm going to go back Because I want to make it hard for you, but only because I want to build you up and I want to be built up by this conversation myself. So there's a selfish element here. But you have faith, I have faith. All true believers have faith. Now I come to you as an unbeliever and tell you that I'm struggling in my life with things, and I'm struggling with why I can't change this way or change that way or become a different person, or control my anger or control my this and control my that. You tell me I need to have faith in Jesus Christ. Well, my question to you is again what is faith? Now, you already said faith is trust. How do I practice that? What is the action of faith? When it comes to trust, what is it you I'm a no, I have to surrender.
Speaker 1:There's some when I surrender, truly surrendered, when I surrendered, truly surrendered. I was delivered from alcoholism Three times. I went and I will tell you I believed the whole time but I was wanting to do it on my own strength. I think we have to surrender, we have to acknowledge a higher power, a God who is a creator of things. If you seek him, he says, if you seek him, he can be found be found.
Speaker 2:And so what about? What is it about him that makes you believe he?
Speaker 1:can do for you what you couldn't do for yourself. Because I sit here today having this conversation with you, having I read the Bible every day. I get in the word every day. I've turned off television. I no longer listen to secular music. My life is completely. I sit here and my, my children, I mean they, just, we have a TV for no reason in our home. Now, well, my husband will watch TV, but I mean just, I am different. I am when he says that he begins a work in you and he, those things that used to worry me, the things that used to plague me, don't any longer. When I surrendered and said, you know, lord, I mean, as I said, I've always believed. So if you're, if I was speaking to someone who had no faith in anything, that might be a little bit more difficult, but I could just just tell you my testimony, just in the end. The people that know me will tell you the same. I mean some still, you know.
Speaker 2:I know, and I haven't seen you in person yet, but that's going to come soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hope so.
Speaker 2:It's going to happen soon. It's going to happen very soon. But what I want to do and I'm not picking on you- Okay.
Speaker 2:But what I'm trying to do because, listen, what I'm trying to do is strengthen you, not just you, but anyone who cares, listens to this kind of thing, because we, as believers, it is not our role as Christians to be pacifist. We're not supposed to be pacifist. We're not supposed to be when Christ said that the gates of hell should not prevail against his church. The imagery that he is laying out is that we, as the Christian body, are on the offensive and that the devil and his kingdom are on the defense. That's why he said that the gates of hell won't prevail. In other words, the whole idea is like is like Jericho, surrounded by all these big walls right, surrounded by, you know, the, the walls, and then the people. You know the people. The Israelites were circling around it and notice that they did this for seven days, remember you? Remember that?
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:They circled Jericho for seven days and then on the last day they circled the city. How many times? Seven times right. Then they hollered, and then they blew those trumpets and they hollered. But guess what? Do you think it was that they didn't do? What did they not do? Remember, the walls came down, Right.
Speaker 1:The walls came down Right.
Speaker 2:But tell me what's unique about that situation than any other type of a war situation?
Speaker 1:They? Well, they didn't. There were no physical. It was not a physical. The walls didn't come down.
Speaker 2:Yes, they didn't touch the walls. They didn't touch the walls. They didn't touch them. They didn't fire a weapon. They didn't. There was no battering ram, there were no arrows, there were no slings. None of the weapons of traditional warfare at the time were used, none of it right they circle.
Speaker 1:They obeyed the lord what he said my sister, vicky, just said it.
Speaker 2:They did it by faith. This is what we're talking about Now. Here's the thing they did what they were told to do. They were told that there would be a result. They believed it and they believed it. They believed it. You see what I mean. Could you imagine how silly they would have looked had they went?
Speaker 2:around this building you see what I mean. Yes, seven days in a row making this big show running around, and then on the seventh day, seven times they blow the trumpet and nothing happens. The people in Jericho, they would have came out laughing at them Right. You see, what.
Speaker 2:I mean. But they were probably inside, looking out over these walls, going like what is wrong with these crazy people? What do they think? What is this? They're just walking around the building. What is that going to do? What do they think? What is this? They're just walking around the building. What is that gonna do? Where are their weapons? You see what I mean they have.
Speaker 2:I look down there and I'm seeing sheep. I'm seeing old people, young people, children, women. They're wearing like ruddy clothes, nothing special Do they call? What are they? What is this? Right? But see, when you read the Old Testament, you got to put yourself there. You know, think about it. You really got to put yourself there to understand what faith is all about, because if you do that, it will make sense. See, it gets me excited thinking about it. But Jericho was an amazing situation. It was amazing Because if you are in Jericho, standing at the top of the wall looking down, you're going. These people are nuts. You know what I mean. These people are psycho. What do they think they're going to do by just walking around? And they were waiting. They were thinking probably maybe they got something out there that we don't see coming, maybe there's something out there that we don't know. Let's be cautious. Maybe this is a trick.
Speaker 1:But it wasn't there were no weapons.
Speaker 2:There were no soldiers. There was no archers, no slingshot throwers, no phalanxes, no shields. Shields, no bucklers, no, none of this, right, right all they had what, what, what was the one thing that they had? This is this is one of the messages where I wish some more people would jump on. So if you're listening, you want to get on. Come on in, but go ahead, go ahead. Lisa.
Speaker 1:No, I was just the one thing. They believed that it was what the Lord said was going to happen. They had faith.
Speaker 2:Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing God never told him what was going to happen. No, he never told him what was going to happen.
Speaker 1:Oh, he never told him. Well, they obeyed him and believed that something you know.
Speaker 2:You just said it and as my sister Kelly said it obedience. They obeyed Now. So the thing is, they obeyed now. Here's the next question why did they obey they?
Speaker 1:trusted. Yeah, they trusted and they obeyed. Why? Because he had provided for them.
Speaker 2:he, they I mean some of them had seen. Well, don't, lisa, don't read, don't think too hard. It's not hard. Why did they believe? Why did they obey? It's very simple.
Speaker 1:They're his, they're his kid, they're his kids.
Speaker 2:They're his children. What is the most essential attribute for a Christian to exercise when it comes to being in this relationship with the Lord? What is our number one key attribute? We've already talked about it. Yes Leibus Faithus, faith, faith, faith. I'm not trying to trick anybody, no tricks.
Speaker 1:You understand.
Speaker 2:But what I'm trying to do is get us to think about these things. They walked around that building seven times for six days. On the seventh day they went around seven times and all they did was walk around. If you put yourself on either side of that wall, either way, it looks ridiculous. See what I mean. If you're on the Israelite side, on the outside of the wall, you're going like, all right, well, we're walking around, what's going to happen? What are we doing this for? But a lot of them they were like well, we're doing it because we were told to do it and, like Kelly just said, they just obeyed, disobeyed.
Speaker 2:So now, when I go back and I start asking the question what is faith, what is it? What is faith, what really is faith? And I want to say something about faith for a second, because faith is not a noun, faith is a verb. Faith is a verb. And keep in mind, lisa, my sister, I'm not trying to trick you or anyone else. I'm not trying to trick anybody. What I want to do is encourage certainty in what it is we have in Christ. So now, faith, if it is a verb, that means faith is an actionable attribute. It is an attribute, that is, action. So what does the action of faith do make us do? What does it cause us to do? Not a trick question, just keep it simple. Keep it simple, what is it? And it's more than one thing.
Speaker 1:It causes us to obey To obey.
Speaker 2:Obey is number one, what else?
Speaker 1:Vicky says something too. It's on the screen, if you can still see it.
Speaker 2:Oh trust him, trust, trusting and obey. And there's one more word I'm looking for Trust is one, obedience is another. What's the third one I'm looking for?
Speaker 1:What's the?
Speaker 2:third one I'm looking for Trust obey. What else? One?
Speaker 1:more thing I'm looking for. Our faith causes us to share the good news, to share the gospel.
Speaker 2:That's what it causes us to do. But I'm getting at. What is it? What is the? What is the action? Well, I take that back. You're right, it does cause us to do those kind of things, but you and I both know there are lots of Christians who don't go do that, and they're still Christians, you know. But I'm looking for one other word. There's trust, there's obedient, there's trusting, there's obeying and there's what? One more thing Simple, real simple. The most basic element to Christianity. What is it? It's the most anybody. It's the most basic element to christianity. If trusting is one, if obeying is one, there's another one. What is it?
Speaker 2:oh dear believing right, yes, okay. Well, I would think that goes with trusting him. If he says it, you know Right.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay. Well, I would think that goes with trusting him if he says it, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, here's the thing that doesn't go. Let me tell you the reason why.
Speaker 1:We're told that the devils believe. Oh yeah, okay, gotcha Right, yes, the devils believe.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, okay, got it Right. Yes, devils believe.
Speaker 1:And the devils believe, and let me ask you a question.
Speaker 2:So we know the devils believe. But do the devils trust God? And they don't obey him?
Speaker 1:for sure they definitely don't obey him. But do they trust him? No, well, maybe they do. They certainly believe him. He's a man of his word, isn't he?
Speaker 2:Well, they have no, the demons, devils, they have no doubt. They have no doubt whatsoever that god live, that god is okay. But the issue, so I'm asking you so they believe god. They may not believe in god the way that we do, but they believe, they know who. They know who god is. So let me ask you a question Do devils have faith in him?
Speaker 1:No, no, they're not loyal. No, no, They've got faith in themselves and they yeah things of.
Speaker 2:But let me ask you a question. This is so, so this is heavy, okay. So let me ask you a question. Why do demons give me a whatever, however many reasons you can think of why they do not have faith in god? And the way and the only way to answer why demons don't have faith in God is to understand the nature, is to understand what faith is. Now let me read something for you Out of Hebrews 11. You're thinking, lisa? You're thinking I didn't sign up for this tonight? No, it's good. I mean, it makes me think. Somebody said I don't know, I don't know if she's, if it's a lady or a guy, but he says getting deep, dear Potatoes with my meat. I believe that we live in a time where understanding the word of God has. All I get is civil. Is life, is civil All right? So here's the thing, lisa.
Speaker 1:I see that no one's coming to your to your aid right now.
Speaker 2:You are stuck. I'm on the hot seat. You're stuck with hot seat. You're stuck with me you're stuck with me but come up here. Come up here you're. You're special to me. That's why we're doing this oh, thank you now.
Speaker 2:Now here's the thing in in hebrews 11, chapter 1. It says this now, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. That being said, if faith is the substance of things that are hoped for and if faith is the evidence of things that are not seen, then tell me why you might believe that devils either have faith or do not, based on that verse in Hebrews 11, verse 1.
Speaker 1:Things hoped for.
Speaker 2:Faith is the substance of things that are hoped for Right Things hoped for and the evidence of things that are not seen. So if that is what faith is, then tell me what perspective, what relationship do demons have with faith? Do they have faith or not? And either way, why?
Speaker 1:No, they don't have faith or not, and either way, why no? They don't have faith.
Speaker 2:Why.
Speaker 1:They don't hope for anything.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Sybil just said the same thing, and Vicki said the same thing, and you just said it. So, first of all, they have no hope. And if you are a living being which they are and you have no hope, that means you have no hope for salvation. And that means if you have no salvation and there's no expectation that you're ever going to get it, that means you are reprobate, rejected by God. Reprobate, rejected by God.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, demons don't have faith, first off, because they have no hope Now. So if that's true, when the scripture says that faith is the evidence of the things that are not seen, give me another reason why demons don't have faith Evidence, I don't know faith is. It is true, vicki, they are dead spiritually, but I'm looking for something more that is more in tune with that passage that I just read. If faith is the evidence of unseen things, then how can we surmise that the demons don't have faith from that statement, anybody? Well, let me tell you, notice that it says here so got, everybody got it right the first part demons have no faith because they have no hope. And it also says that faith is the evidence of things that are not seen. Well, the devils, demons sat. They've seen God, they know who he is. You follow me.
Speaker 1:Okay, right, okay.
Speaker 2:They know him, they were there with him, they were there amongst the other angels before they were thrown, before they were kicked out of heaven. You follow me.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, they were thrown before they were kicked out of heaven. You follow me, right, okay? No one who has seen god, who has seen god can, has has to have faith because they've seen him. We have faith and we live by faith and we are justified by faith. So being justified by faith means that we see God. Even though we don't see him, we see him through the eyes of faith.
Speaker 1:That's good.
Speaker 2:You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Yes yes.
Speaker 2:Now then it says that that faith is the substance of things hoped for. So now let me ask you a question. Anybody listening what is substance? What does substance mean? What is substance? What does substance mean? What is substance? Because it says that faith is the is the substance of things we hope for. So what is meant by substance?
Speaker 1:what? What makes it up like what?
Speaker 2:go ahead. It's how do you put that? Kelly just said it, right, she. What she said was tangible evidence. All right, now the reality is. I know what she means. Because it's intangible, because it's spiritual, but it is. It is tangible from spiritual, from one spiritual reality to the other. So let me put it, to put it to you this way. Let me here's the best way for me to explain it.
Speaker 2:I have, I have debated with different denomination people for years and one thing that always comes up, one question that always comes up by not only Christians that I've debated against, but also people who call themselves atheists or agnostics or science-minded people, and you know what they say and you all have heard this. They will say. They will say show me proof that what you're saying is true, show me the evidence that what you're saying in the Bible, about the Bible and what's in it is true. And it's unbelievable to me. How many Christians are always trying to find something in the natural world to ratify the truth of the spiritual world? You can't do it. It is a fool's errand to try to prove to anyone in the natural world with natural reasoning that the things that we are saying in the Bible is true. And yet the Bible tells us right here faith is the substance of the things we hope for. Another word for the substance is the evidence, evidence Faith, the faith of God's people, believe it or not? The faith that we have, that is the evidence, the only evidence that God has provided. That's it, the fact that people here's what you have to understand when you look at it from the standpoint that we are dead sinners, dead in sin and trespasses, and we love sin and we treat sin like the delicacies that they are Before we knew Christ. All the sin that we did, we loved it. Beautiful Sex, we loved it. Right Beautiful Sex. Alcohol, drugs, stealing, lying, bearing false witness, disrespectful to parents, uncontrollable anger all these things.
Speaker 2:Sin is the lack of conformity to and the transgression of God's holy law. That's what sin is, and we consumed it like water, like it was necessary for our existence, could not get enough. The appetite for sin is, and then we become. We hear somewhere about this beautiful truth. Like my sister, sybil said, we hear this beautiful truth for the guilt-ridden sinner who has no idea why they can't stop doing what they don't like doing. They don't know why they like what they continue to do, because they know how bad it is for them, yet they continue to do. Because they know how bad it is for them, yet they continue to do it. They consume sin like delicious delicacies. They consume it and they love it.
Speaker 2:And then one day, at the right moment, they either hear in a song, or they hear in a sermon at somebody's church, or they hear somebody talking about it, or they hear, or somebody knocks on their door and starts to share with them the gospel, which is about a Jewish man, a carpenter, born poor, who is preaching this gospel about his own death and how, by his death, he would save the guilt-ridden sinner and would take it away. And all it required was to look to him in faith and then they would be saved. Now we look at that and we go wait a minute. That's too good to be true, too good to be true. Look to Jesus with faith and I will be saved. Trust him and I will be saved. He doesn't look like Elon Musk to me and I will be saved. He doesn't look like Elon Musk to me. He doesn't look like Jeff Bezos. He doesn't look like Joel Osteen.
Speaker 2:Oh boy, what can this dead guy who people talked about, who died and rose again off a cross. What can he do for me? Who people talked about, who died and rose again off a cross. What can he do for me? So there's no compelling reason.
Speaker 2:When you look at the cross from a carnal perspective, there's nothing compelling about what he did. So the only way that it can be it becomes compelling is if there's something that God does to us at a particular point in time, at a particular point in time that enables us to see the value in what he did and we juxtapose the value of what of his work, and we understand what the nature of his work is. And then we look to it and go wait a minute. He to say, uh-oh, to save Sarah. From what it sounds like, that's what I am, from what it sounds like, that's what I am. So now we start to think can he save me? Will he save me? Will he save me? Will he save me? Will he save me? And the answer demands an emphatic yes. He will save me. And he did save me. He did. He saved you, he saved Vicky, he saved Sybil, he saved Shauna, he saved us.
Speaker 2:But what he did he gave us, and Kelly too, and Blaise Rose he gave us the faith that saves, and that faith, remember, there were three things that we said was involved with faith. What were they See if you're listening? Huh, what you said was involved with faith. What were they See if you're listening? Trust?
Speaker 1:Huh, what you said.
Speaker 2:What were those three things that we talked about that go along with faith Belief?
Speaker 1:Obedience, yes, and trust, trust.
Speaker 2:Trust, faith, obedience, trust, belief, trust, trust, belief, trust, obedience, faith. Now we know what faith is. Now we know what that is and we know what it encompasses. So now the issue that we want to talk about next is what. What is, or who is and this is gonna be an easy one the object of our faith the lord jesus christ lord jesus christ, and when you say that next time somebody asks you that question, you say it with confidence and assurance.
Speaker 1:The Lord.
Speaker 2:He is the object of our faith. But now here's where it gets difficult. Why him, why him? Why not Moses? Why not Abraham? Why Jesus, why him? Why not Moses? Why not Abraham? Why Jesus, why him?
Speaker 1:Jesus is God, he's God. He came in the flesh, and how do you know that?
Speaker 2:Remember the theme of our conversation. How do you know?
Speaker 1:Well, I believe he would. I believe and I trust in the word of God.
Speaker 2:So you believe. So that Shauna said it right Faith. Listen, no trick questions here. No trick questions. We have been given faith. Faith is the very gift that we've been given. That's what we see in Ephesians, chapter two. Right, we've been given the gift of faith and that came by way of God's grace.
Speaker 1:Right, yes, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Okay, so it's faith. Now remember I promise you nothing that I'm going to be asking is a trick question. The theme is faith. Remember that Christ is the object of our faith. He's the object of our faith, but we need to understand why he is the object of our faith. We need to understand why he is the object of our faith. Again, at the top of the conversation, the question I asked was we know what we believe, but do we know why we believe it? So we should be able to say without hesitation why we believe Christ is the worthy object of our faith. Why is he the worthy object of our faith? Anybody I'm surprised nobody's clamoring to get in here.
Speaker 1:They normally do yes, please clamor, you're like take this off of me, right?
Speaker 2:I'm surprised the white's clamoring to get in here. They normally do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, please, clamber you're like take this off of me, right? He was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life okay there's one right there send us life, a sinless life. Why does that matter? Because there needed to be. There needs to be atonement for our sins.
Speaker 2:Look at you, go ahead, keep going.
Speaker 1:There needs to be atonement for our sins. And if he was going to come, he needed to be perfect, he needed to be sinless, and he fulfilled those things. He fulfilled those things and took upon himself the punishment, our punishment, the wrath of God that we would have, that we were due. There you go.
Speaker 2:See no trick questions. That's right. Donald says he was a spotless lamb. Sybil said he was an example for us. Vicky said God drew us to have faith in Jesus Christ. This is true. This is all true. This is all true. This is why we have faith in him Because, in a nutshell, he satisfied the requirement by his father that we owed his father if we would have reconciliation with him, but Christ first of all. He didn't have to do it, he was under no obligation to do it. He was under no obligation to do it and had he not taken it upon himself to do it, all of mankind would be condemned. All of mankind would be condemned. Damned All of us. I would, so would I and every true Christian. I don't care how much disagreement that I may have with another Christian who may be a true Christian and vice versa. The fact of the matter is we are all going to make the same claim when it's all over with I did not deserve the salvation that I have.
Speaker 1:I did not earn the salvation that I have.
Speaker 2:I did not earn the salvation that I have. He did it. He did it. It was by his grace and his mercy and his compassion. That is how we were saved. He drew us to him with the cords of divine love. He loved us. It's inestimable, it's immeasurable, like my father used to say before he died. He said my father used to always say this everything about Christ, he would always say it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:And it's unimaginable. It's unimaginable, it's unbelievable that the Son of God would put on human flesh and subject himself to the horrors, the weight and the burden of my sin alone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let alone.
Speaker 2:All of us Listen. My sin for the last hour is worth 20 eternities of hell, just my sins in the last hour, in the last 10 minutes. Now you multiply this by the sin of every single person that has ever lived on earth, from adam until now, and you take a god who is of pure eyes and cannot look upon sin. He is under no obligation to save any, and this is the foundation. This is the foundation of what it means to understand God. The way to understand God and what he has done in the best possible light is to know how much darkness we were under right.
Speaker 1:What is that verse, jonathan, that says? What is that verse that says there is no greater love? I don't know how it goes verbatim, but there is no greater love. A man hath no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.
Speaker 2:That is, let me see.
Speaker 1:Is it John?
Speaker 2:No, it's oh man, let me see. Is it John? No, it's oh man, let me see, it's John. 15, verse 13.
Speaker 1:I think of that and it's.
Speaker 2:Greater love has no man than this.
Speaker 1:Than to.
Speaker 2:Then that a man lay down his life for his friends. You know what I mean. Now think about this for a second. So Christ is the object of our faith. We talked about what is faith. We talked about the object of our faith, which is Christ. Right, I don't think anybody would argue that he is the object of our faith. He is. Now let me tell you something. Let me tell you guys something that I had. I had an exchange this past week with this guy. He goes by the name Duck Page.
Speaker 1:Don't ask.
Speaker 2:I don't know Duck Page, and we were going back and forth and he was pretty uptight and one of the things he told me like many people have told me, I'm teaching lies and falsehood and all this kind of stuff. I'll tell you something I go through great pains to prove what I'm saying. There's very little things. There's very few things that I'm ever going to say, if any at all, that I don't support and back up with biblical support and truth, and I think that's to be a practice of every Christian. Does it mean we always get it right? No, it doesn't. We can interpret something incorrectly. That's possible and it happens often. But I respect anybody me personally. I respect anyone who can make a case for their position rather than just saying you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, which is what so many people on social media they do. They don't tell you why, they just say you're wrong. So this guy I forgot what he was arguing me about, but he told me that I got the process of salvation wrong. I got the order salutis wrong, the order of salvation wrong. This is.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you what he actually wrote. He actually said that if you have faith in Jesus Christ and that's it, then you're going to be cast out into all the darkness, into the lake of fire, for having faith in Jesus. And that's it he said. And I said what are you talking about? And he goes because you didn't complete the cycle. I'm like what do you mean? Complete the cycle? You know what he said. He says you first have to have faith in Christ and then you have to transfer that faith to the Holy Spirit. And I was like wait, a, let me get this straight. What do you mean? Transfer your faith? So you mean you can have a person can have faith in Christ alone, faith in Christ alone for the rest of your life, and you can perish in your sins because of because you haven't transferred your faith to christ.
Speaker 2:Like we're transferring, taking money out of the checking account, putting into the savings account let's see now and and I'm like, and then he goes on to say he goes on on my profile, I let it stay there to tell people in my profile cause I don't care, I'll let them stay there as long as they want and talk all this nonsense. But he goes, he telling people I'm leading people astray, lying to people because I'm leading people astray, lying to people because I'm not telling them that they must transfer their faith in Jesus to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:Can I ask you like is that a doctrine of a certain like? I don't? You know me. I'm kind of I was raised Catholic so and I wasn't a good Catholic, so I'm grateful for that, because I didn't know a whole lot of you probably know more about it than I do.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But what worries me is stuff like that, like for somebody who, like I've been in the Bible, so I can't quote it, but I know what I know and there's nothing that's going to shake me. But a new person, boy, that's scary.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you this much. He was talking about transferring your faith in Jesus to the Holy Spirit and I have to be honest with you, I have never heard, in 42 years of being a Christian, I have never heard this. In 42 years of being a Christian, I have never heard this in my entire life. And if there's anyone who is listening, anyone who's listening, who has ever heard of a doctrine of taking your faith from Jesus Christ and transferring it to the Holy Spirit and that completes your cycle of salvation, please let me know. Because I asked the guy, I said listen, I said I said I have to ask you what is your denomination? I I, because I? That's the question. I never ask anybody because I never care about denominations, because I know what denominations and non-denominational, I know what they think and and, generally speaking, when somebody tells me they, they belong to a non-denominational church, my takeaway is always like that means you don't know what you believe in, you can't explain why you believe what you believe. There's no creed. You know what I mean. There's no systematic belief system, belief system, and so it's a way to hide. It's a way to hide, and so people will come to me and say you're a Baptist or you're a Calvinist or you're this and any other. And I don't run from a denomination. I know what my roots are, but what he was talking about I never heard of. And he also told me that I should get prepared to be going to hell in October, because he said that the rapture is going to take place in October this year. And I said and I asked the guy so do you really want to stand on that, you know? And then he writes back and he says, well, I'll tell you this much, if it doesn't happen this October, it's going to happen next October. And I was like, well, I figured something like that would be coming soon, you know, but but but here's my thing, here's, you know, I asked the guy about his church and he started telling me well, I don't go to church, I don't think I need to go to church.
Speaker 2:He goes, everybody's wrong and people today don't understand what the Bible actually teaches. So he decides to sit at home and just absorb from the Holy Spirit and the scriptures. And I tell Christians, whenever you hear people talk about they don't need to go to church, they don't have a denomination, that they just learn from the Holy Spirit, and that's it. I tell people to run, because God told us to study, to learn, to study, to learn To learn of him.
Speaker 2:For he is meek and lowly in heart and, like Sybil says, where two or more are gathered in his name, there he is in the midst of them. So if you don't get around other people, then you are not experiencing that is that special favor that the lord god provides when christ joins in in that fellowship. You're sitting in a room somewhere by yourself, thinking that you're spiritual and you're not, that you're spiritual and you're not. So the purpose of faith is to not only keep us inclined to the things of Christ, to keep us inclined to making use of the means of his grace and, like you said earlier, lisa, it is also to motivate us to take what we have learned, what we have been given, and to share that with others.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And we do it because we want to be obedient. We do it because we believe, we do it because we trust him and we do it because he told us to. Yes, he said obedient already, but he told and here's the thing he never said. He never said anything like I'm going to tell you how I'm going to tell you when this or that he just says do what I say, do what I say and everything else will fall in place. Just do what I say. And when somebody says do what I say, without telling you what they're going to do, if you do what they say, what is that? What do we call that trusting? It's called trusting, it's called believing. Christ tells us to do this and things will work out. And we go well, how, what are you going?
Speaker 1:to do. You know, when I was new and I think I've said this to you before I was terrified that I was going to say something wrong or that I was going to. You know, you know how you hear so many people, a lot of people, like to say it now and I know it's just a cop out oh, christians, you know, there's nothing. You know what is it? What do they say? Christians, you know there's nothing. You know what is it? What do they say? There's no love like Christian hate, or do they say there's no hate like Christian love or something? How do they say it? I saw that last week Somebody posted it on. Know, I have to. I've had to say it to my own family because you know, like my kids will be, like you know, mom, you just need to chill out. And I said, you know, I just want people to know the truth. I mean, wouldn't you want to know the truth?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I mean I do.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right, right, right, right. You know we talk about like back in Hebrews 11, it says faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things that are not seen. So that takes me to my next question what is the end of salvation? In other words, I mean a faith which is salvation. What is the result? What is the outcome, what is the whole reason for us having faith?
Speaker 1:To spend eternity with our King. He brought us from death to life.
Speaker 2:He brought us from death to life.
Speaker 1:He brought us from death to life, Be with my King. I just I want to eternally to be with him forever.
Speaker 2:Right. Forever, but in Hebrews 11, right, so listen to what he says here again what the author says 11.1,.
Speaker 2:He says faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things that are not seen. So my question again is this so my question again is this If faith is the substance of things hoped for and if faith is the evidence of things that are not seen, what is the result of our faith? Again, not a trick question. Look at the passage. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things seen. So the end result of faith is in this verse. What is the end result? We'll see him Exactly.
Speaker 1:We'll see the things that have been unseen.
Speaker 2:Right, and it also means that we will realize that which we hope for, and that hope has to do and is tied intricately to salvation itself. It is salvation, it is it, it it is to see him and to have that final blow against sin and death being dealt. We see christ and we have eternal life. That's the result, that's what faith does, that's what it we the the hope, hope that is realized, in other words, now it's here, we the hope, what we hope for, we have now attained. So guess what happens when that hope has been fulfilled, when that substance has been written, been realized, and what happens when the evidence that hope is seeing, I mean that faith is seeing. What happens when those things have been realized, what happens to faith?
Speaker 1:Well, it's just sheer belief. Now We'll just be like. You will know, It'll be.
Speaker 2:No, what I'm asking is this what happens to faith? My sister, vicki, said it grows. Do we agree with that, vicki? Think about that. Answer for a second. Remember faith is a substance of what we hope for. It's the evidence of things that are not seen. So if we see, and if the hope has been achieved and realized, what happens to faith? What?
Speaker 1:happens to faith. It's weird to say there's no need for faith.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. It's not a trick question.
Speaker 1:It's not. It's weird to say that, though you know in the state that we're in now, I just maybe.
Speaker 2:No, you know, look, let me tell you. Let me let me tell it to you straight when we die as believers and we're in the presence of Christ and going into eternal life, there is no longer any need for faith. The hope has been realized, the hope is there. We got what we hope for. We got. Yeah, we got it Right.
Speaker 2:The evidence of, if faith is the evidence of what is not seen, and what is that seen is Christ, and now we see him, there's no longer any need for faith well, I hadn't even thought about that.
Speaker 2:Think about it, it's like there's nothing left except for eternal bliss. Oh, eternal bliss and joy without end, a life with no sin. I have no idea what that must be like to live in a world where sin no longer exists no temptation, no evil concupiscence, meaning that the tendency to sin is even gone. There's no root, there's no seed, there's no deep-rooted weed of sin that can crop up any time. No sin.
Speaker 1:Right, Well, that's unimaginable too, just right now. It's unimaginable, it's exciting.
Speaker 2:I have no idea what that's like.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:But I long for it, yes, and I long to be there and enjoying that eternal party with all of my Christian believers, even the ones that I have disagreed with.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Because we're going to go there and be like now I get it, you were here for this, you were there for that reason, I was here, for that reason, you were here, for that reason. You know we don't know, but I do know it's going to make sense to us all when we get there. The end of faith is realizing that hope. The end of faith is seeing what faith sees that we can't see ourselves. But the faith that we have sees all these things that we know are far off. And the Bible tells us that when people, like when people tell us, ask the question what is the evidence for all this stuff you're talking about in this Bible? That evidence is my faith, that evidence is your faith. I can't make you. I can't dig up any part of the earth and do scientific analysis and tell you this is why you need to believe in God, although that should be enough. But it's not. Because how can you take somebody who is yet in their sin and are possessed with a carnal mind which is against God, and make them understand spiritual things? It can't be done. It's an absolute impossibility. And yet so many Christians exhaust themselves on a daily basis trying to rationalize spiritual matters through natural means? Yes, cannot be done.
Speaker 2:The evidence of the truth of God and Christ is the fact that his people trust him, that we have faith. That is the only evidence that there is. It will never be the creation that will convert a soul. It'll be the gospel preached by God's people that converts the souls, because preaching the gospel is the only means through which God communicates his blessing of salvation, grace and mercy to the lost soul, and he does that in his time and in the time that he has allocated for that soul to believe. Now I'm almost done. I'm almost done. One last point that I want to make. One last point that I want to make Because one thing that comes up a lot and I got to say on my profile, on my profile, two things that I hear a lot I hear a lot about this seven-year tribulation. A lot of people love that subject.
Speaker 2:And the other thing is and I hear equally as much, maybe more, about man's free will. So let me now. I am an adamant, vehement opposer of the idea of free will of man. I believe that the free will of man is the modern, is the modern God of this society. It is an idol, yes, and free will is an idol Period. All stop, free will of man is an idol Period. All stop, free will of man is an idol.
Speaker 2:And it's funny because so many people and I'm going to tie this to faith in a second but so many people think that choices laid before you implies freedom of will, where freedom of will and choices are two different things. Choices are everywhere, but the issue is why do I choose what I choose? Why how? Man has a nature and every man either has the Spirit of God in him or he doesn't. If anyone who does not have the Spirit of God dwelling in him, he is left to make choices that spring forth from a sinful nature which is dead in sin and trespasses, meaning his will is in bondage, based on the fact that he is dead, he's dead. So if I go to a cemetery, any cemetery, and you go to a gravestone and you go to that tomb and you ask the person who's in that grave a question, or you offer them choices what are they going to do? What are they going to do? What are they going to do? What choices do dead people have? None, right None. So the will of man is in bondage. When Adam sinned, he died. And when he died, guess what else died? His will, his will to do what was right Done.
Speaker 2:Now, let me tie this into faith.
Speaker 2:Now, let me tie this into faith, because understanding this is essential to understanding how salvation works.
Speaker 2:And even though I know that there are a lot of Christian people who are the staunch advocates of free will and free choice and decision making, even though I know so many of them believe this I believe that many of them are Christian people they just because I know that, when it comes down to it, we're going to be on the same page, which is that man does not have a free will.
Speaker 2:Man's will is in bondage to sin. So the freedom of his choices or not, the freedom of his choice, the freedom of his choices or not the freedom of his choice, the freedom of his will, the choices he makes with his will, are free, within the boundaries of his nature. And if his nature is sinful, his choices will always be sinful, because you can't make God accept your choice of anything. And if God has requirements for what a soul must do to be saved, all he will accept is what he requires. And what does God require for a person to be saved to do today? Very simple does God require for a person to be saved to do today?
Speaker 1:Very simple.
Speaker 2:Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Savior. You have many other choices you can make, but if you do not make this one, you will not be saved. Am I right? If you don't choose Christ, it is an absolute impossibility to be saved. And yet you cannot choose Christ unless the Father draws you to him. Cannot be done. Cannot be done. It's an absolute impossibility. Jesus says without me you can do nothing can I?
Speaker 1:can I just say something really quick too, that along those lines well, it's, it's not on the subject of faith, but when you I'm looking at it that when you think that you have free will, it takes, and they're saying, the people that want to say they have free will are the ones that will say that God is so loving and he wishes no one to perish. And if that is so, then that takes the sovereignty away from our God, that makes our God looks like he's just wishes he could have everybody believe in him and some just are not gonna, and it and it weakens our Lord when they're. I mean it. He is, he is big, he is God, and to say that he doesn't get what he wants is an absolute, it's ridiculousness.
Speaker 2:It's ridiculous. So what you're saying, lisa, not only is it true, but it is consistent with what we're talking about when it comes to faith, because let me let me tell you the reason why Everything that we know about what it takes to be a Christian and everything that we know of what it takes to be an enduring Christian is all based on faith we all need to have. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. That's what the scripture makes plain. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. An absolute impossibility, impossible. So that right there tells you that man's will can't be free, because anything that God says is impossible means that man can't do it. Amen, amen. If there's anything that's impossible, that God says is impossible, that means man can't do it, which means that man can't. His will is not free. No matter what your degree of freeness of will is, you have to say that it is not free. All right, all right. So let's start with that for a second.
Speaker 2:So now we come to this issue of faith again, and this is where I'm going to finish. Where I'm going to finish, if you and let me get. Let me make sure I get this right, because I don't write these things down, like I should sometimes, but let me, let me bear with. If we are required to have faith in order to be saved and that faith is in Christ, the faith of which gives us access and reconciliation and peace with his father, okay, if that is true, and if the faith that we are given, the faith that we need in order to do that, is given to us, given Okay. Then we have to take a second look at this whole idea of the free will of man, because let me tell you what the free will of man as a doctrine must mean, because you have advocates of this idea of free will, many of them, and all Christian, mostly Christian people. They love to argue this right, right, and here's what they say Well, it is your free will to come to Christ, and if you don't exercise your free will to come to Christ, then you're not going to be saved. However, god wants you to be saved, and people make the argument in a verse you brought up and they'll say God wants all men to be saved, even though that verse doesn't teach that.
Speaker 2:But here's what I want to say about faith. If the free will of man is the true doctrine of the Bible, which it is not. But if it were, it means really this that God is the one in need of faith. God is the one in need of faith. God is the one that needs faith. If man truly has a free will, like these people say, then God is the one who needs faith. If you're going to be saved, he needs to have faith in each one of us as individuals.
Speaker 2:Oh boy, think about it. Yes, if the choice is yours and he's done everything that he can do, right, he's done it all. So now it's just up to you to exercise your free will, which the Bible doesn't teach anywhere. No one has ever taught that a free will in the Bible. No one, no apostle, no prophet, no priest, no one in the scriptures has ever taught free will in any capacity. So now you have Christians that go on campaigns promoting this idea that man's free will is what saves him. Now they'll say, no, christ will save me. But no, it's not Christ that saves you, because you say that Christ died for every single person without exception.
Speaker 1:That was true, nobody would be in hell.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. But they say that it's your free will. So the point is this If that is true, then that means that God is the one who needs to have faith In each individual.
Speaker 1:Because the way people present it.
Speaker 2:Oh, god wants you to come to him, he wants you to be saved. They go to you and tell you he has a wonderful plan for your life. Where is this in the Bible, this whole wonderful plan for your life and God wants you to be saved? You know what I mean? Yes, it's like so, really. So what they're saying is this this is what they're saying Okay, god has done all that he could do. Number one. Number two God doesn't actually save anyone.
Speaker 1:Number three we save ourselves.
Speaker 2:We save ourselves. We save ourselves Free will. The teaching of free will means that you save yourself. God has done it. He's laid out the, the, the accoutrement. If I said that right, he laid it all out. Now you, all you have to do is grab it and get it. So that's what that means, and the reality is there's no way around that. If you're going to say that man has a free will and that they need to choose Christ for salvation, then that means that God is the one in need of faith. He's the one exercising faith, hoping you will come to him. That's not the version of the scriptures that I read Me either.
Speaker 1:The scriptures that I read.
Speaker 2:Me either. The scripture I read talks about us being lost sheep. It talks about us being dead in our sin and trespasses. You know it talks about us like when you look at Lazarus, right, you look at Lazarus, right, you look at Lazarus in the book of John, jesus came to Lazarus. He was dead. We all know the story, right? Lazarus asked Mary and Martha, take me to his body, take me to where Lazarus is. And they were going like no, no, no, we don't need to go over there, lord, because he's already starting to stink. It's been four days now. Rigor mortis is beginning to set in. The stench of death is starting to emit from the tomb. He's dead. There's nothing else you can do, nothing else the Lord can do. So Christ says take me to the tomb. So they take him and he goes. And what does he say? He goes to the tomb of this dead man, dead. And then he says Lazarus, come forth Now. Let me ask you this what choice did Lazarus have?
Speaker 1:He didn't have any choice. He is dead.
Speaker 2:He's dead. What will did he have to come to life? What choices was he aware of?
Speaker 2:This is what I ask all my silly friends who talk about free will? Because Jesus said that our spiritual condition is exactly the same as Lazarus's physical condition, but except spiritual death is worse. But Jesus went to him and he said Lazarus, come forth. And Jesus didn't ask anything. There was no question mark on Lazarus. He didn't say Lazarus, come forth, come on, please, please, do you want to? I know you can do it. Just exercise your will, just use your free will, just your free will. Just use it and you will have life If you use it. I've already given you life. So if you just use it. But here's the problem. There was one fundamental problem. What was it?
Speaker 1:He's dead, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead.
Speaker 2:Paul in Ephesians goes through great pains to tell us. In fact, paul, in all of his epistles he goes through great pains to remind us, to let us know that before we came to Christ, we were dead. Jesus went to Lazarus's tomb and he didn't ask a question, he gave a command Come forth, come forth, sybil. I see your question. You said you wish you could just record it. I'm going to post this whole thing tomorrow, the whole thing. So he was dead. Jesus didn't ask Lazarus if he wanted to live. Lazarus, do you want to be alive? Would you like to come back? Would you? You know, do you mind? So I don't get embarrassed with these people. I mean, I'd like to perform this miracle, but I need your permission, I need you to give me right see, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1:It's crazy and it says it so clearly over and over in scripture. What's the one that just jesus says I, you did not choose me, I chose you, you right.
Speaker 2:You know what else he said? The john tells us that we love him. Why? Because he first loved us yes, yes, but he and what he and what he is saying is that? Now think about what he's saying he loved.
Speaker 1:He picked us.
Speaker 2:That's right he's saying that my love for you is what made you love me. In other words, if I didn't love you, you couldn't and wouldn't and will never, never love me. So jesus goes to, he starts explaining what happens at judgment. And what does he say to those who don't know him, to those who weren't saved? He says depart from me. What does he say after that?
Speaker 1:I never knew you.
Speaker 2:I never knew you. I don't know how people get around this Right, because how do you love somebody? You?
Speaker 1:died for everybody. You got to know. Oh, my goodness, even more and more. It's so clear.
Speaker 2:It's painfully clear it hurts.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:It's so clear. He says to people on Judgment Day and see now, on Judgment Day, he's telling you something. He's telling you from the sovereign perspective. He's giving you something from God's perspective, not man's perspective. He's giving you from his perspective, the reality. When Jesus says I never know, listen to this, he's not being hyperbolic. He's telling people I never knew you, who are you, I don't know you and never did so. How does Jesus Christ, how does he love every single person and then, on a day of judgment, says I tell them I never knew you. Is he bipolar him? I never knew you. Is he bipolar? Right, like what Sybil says, we need to see things from his eyes. Seeing things from God's eyes is where Christians, it should be the ultimate ambition for a Christian. Yes, seeing things from God's perspective should be the ultimate ambition for every single Christian on earth. Number one not business, not your successful marriage, not the raising of your kids. The number one ambition of a Christian is to understand how God sees things.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's fire, Fire. If I was typing right now, I'd be fire, fire. You know, hearts fighting fire.
Speaker 2:But you see what saying. So, getting back to Lazarus cuz, cuz, cuz, let. The story with Lazarus to me is the greatest living Parable, basically Metaphor, analogy For the gospel experience. You know, for what the gospel does when he goes to that grave. He looked to everyone else like a fool. What are you going to do? He's already dead. We know you could have stopped it while he was alive, but it never occurred to them. It never occurred to them that he could raise the dead.
Speaker 1:And there were still people probably saying, oh, he must have not been really dead.
Speaker 2:Oh no, they knew after that one. There was no doubt about it. There was no doubt about it at that point, None. Raising Lazarus from the dead was the seminal achievement of Christ in the eyes of man.
Speaker 1:No, but I mean for the Pharisees who were against him in the first place.
Speaker 2:Oh no, oh, they knew it. They knew. There was no doubt about it. After that, no doubt, but what the Pharisees did? They were like all right. They were like we got to put a stop to this guy, Because even we can't, even we can't deal with this.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:OK, no, no, they know, they witness. Everyone knew Lazarus was dead. Everyone knew Lazarus was dead. But my point in this message about faith is that, when it comes to our salvation, we, before we came to know Christ, we were like Lazarus we were dead, condemned, it was over. So every sinner on this earth right now that talks about you know your God is harsh, your God is mean. They'll tell you you're harsh. I hear it all the time. I'm proud, I'm arrogant. Look, there is no, whenever you. If you tell somebody in this way, Right, you go to somebody, you go.
Speaker 1:You know what that's stupid, that's ridiculous, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:That's stupid, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous, that's stupid. You know, the funny thing is I usually say these kind of things, mostly to people who claim to be Christian, because it's embarrassing the things that they say. Yeah, it's embarrassing things that they say, yeah, it's embarrassing. And I don't assume anyone's a Christian. I don't care how much they tell me they are a Christian. I don't assume anyone is a Christian, you know, and they shouldn't assume I am. But I do know this.
Speaker 2:When you are around, when you a christian, and you're around like-minded people and I don't mean you that you agree on everything, I don't mean like that, all right, you know your people, you know what I mean. Like I know you're my people, I know vicky, yeah, I know, I know. And but when I get these people that openly contradict the word of God, or when they try to tell me things that are in the Bible that are not in the Bible, when they manufacture ideology and try to insert it into the scriptures because I'm the kind of person who's going to say show me where that is, and you'd be surprised how few people actually even attempt. All they do is say you're wrong or they make these dumb jokes, or they make these dumb little like. I'm not. I'm not a fan of all these Christians that like to go and make these little stupid skits and comedy things. It's not funny to me, it's stupid, it's ignorant.
Speaker 2:Right, the bible says to tell, tells us to put away foolish jesting. You know, and you have guys that are, are amassing, um, you know, lots of people following them, because that's their goal is getting followers, not to make followers of people of Christ to people of Christ, but to get followers for themselves. Yes, so they want to entertain. I personally don't do entertainment and never will Not with the gospel, not for the gospel, not with the gospel. I want to get down to the nuts and bolts of the biblical principles and understand who my Lord is. And like somebody said earlier I think it was Sybil Somebody said earlier about seeing things from God's perspective. That is what we are supposed to do. Seeing things from God's perspective, that is what we are supposed to do. All these clowns that want to make these stupid little skits and little joke sequences and all these little play acting things and all this stuff is it's not preaching the gospel.
Speaker 1:No, and it comes across as like carnal stuff. It's not yeah, it does Just, it does just um.
Speaker 2:yeah, I know what you're talking about yeah, it's crazy, I don't have time for that nonsense. And so many people, that's all they want to do, because they think well, and then they start. Their rationale is like well, you know, god made, made this person to do this way and made you to do things this way. No, there's only one way to preach the gospel with seriousness and sobriety, so that people take it seriously. They need to understand that. You know, like, like there's a, there's somebody who I know on here on, who I've known from TikTok, who I've known, met in person, right, and I'm going to do a post on this, and it was about talking about, you know, thinking that, asking the questions like does Jesus Christ, did he laugh? I'm sure he laughed a lot and was goofing around and what? No, he wasn't.
Speaker 2:This is a man who is stricken, smitten, a man of sorrows. You don't mean a man who, everywhere he looked, all he saw was sin. There was nothing. There was nothing to be happy about and celebrate about. You know what I mean A man who, everywhere he looked, all he saw was sin. There was nothing to be happy about and celebrate about. I'm not saying he didn't laugh, but there's a reason why the scripture doesn't tell us that he ever did. There's a reason why the scriptures doesn't mention at all any scenario where he's being humorous or being humored.
Speaker 1:Well, it's certainly not a subject that he was. That was to be joked about, you know.
Speaker 2:He's looking what he's. You gotta imagine. Christ came down here. Christ came down here to bear the sin of man, all of sins, all sin. He came to carry on him the burden of the sin of the world. He was a man who gave up his prerogatives as God in order to bear the sin of man and he carried that around with that expectation. And think about this Always knowing he's going to the cross. Yeah, always knowing.
Speaker 2:And these people think it's funny. They want to make jokes about the gospel because they think that humor is going to draw people to Christ. It's not, it's stupid and I hate it and you know, but they do it all the time. They think that somehow that's the way in because Hollywood says that's the way it is. Let's follow after Hollywood. Let's make Christian. Let's do Christian you know golf? Let's do Christian rap. Let's do Christian comedy. Let's do Christian arts and crafts. Let's do Christian, this Christian, that Christian, that. What we're supposed to do is to preach the gospel, the simple gospel. We're supposed to do is to preach the gospel, the simple gospel, and to make people understand. This is serious business. And the Lord Jesus Christ, at 12 years old, he tells his mother don't you know that I must be about my father's business. My favorite verse in the Bible Luke 2, 49.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He was 12 years old and he says don't you know, I must be about my father's business. I'm not the one that's lost, you are.
Speaker 1:People think. People think he never. He never said anything like you, just did like tough. They think he was some pushover, he was strong and he was confident.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness he had to be Listen when he went into that temple, oh my goodness, when he went into that temple, oh my goodness, when he went into that temple and overturned those tables and told them that they made the God of house, they made God's house a den of thieves. And he turned over those tables and then people were running out of it like it was crazy, because Jesus wasn't a tiny man, he wasn't a small man. He wasn't like that. He wasn't like that wimpy looking guy that they always put in these movies. No, he was a big man. He wasn't like that. He wasn't like that wimpy looking guy that they always put in these movies. No, he was a big man. And if you know anything about the, if you know anything about it, about the history of the burial, they would put in your, in your, uh, in your tomb, uh, all the, you know the, the, um, the spices and all the stuff that they put in there. It was equal to half your weight, and so they put in his tomb 100 pounds.
Speaker 1:Oh, I did not know that.
Speaker 2:He was somewhere around 200 pounds.
Speaker 1:Oh, I did not know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was around 200 pounds. So he was not a small man, he was a big man, and so either he was tall and big or he was short and portly. But he was big, he was a 200-pound man and he was a carpenter, so it wasn't like you know that he had some kind of a frail office job right?
Speaker 1:well, this is how they portray him today.
Speaker 2:Oh let me tell you something I don't watch any of these jesus movies and tv shows. I just don't. I just don't. I don't like to deal with anything that deals with with making images of jesus christ. To me it goes contrary to the very first commandment. I just don't do it. You know I don't tell people they're going to hell if they do, but I don't do it.
Speaker 1:Christ hadn't even thought about that scripture makes it clear.
Speaker 2:He says make no graven images of God. None, jesus is God in the flesh. We should not be making any images of him, period, period. And now you got people running around. Jesus was black, jesus was white, jesus blue eyes, jesus was this, he was that, and it's like. This is why he knew this, he knew this. I don't care if Jesus was black, I don't care if he was white or if he was Chinese.
Speaker 1:Right, he's our Lord.
Speaker 2:He's our Lord. I don't care if he was dark, I don't care if he was light, I don't care if his hair was nappy, I don't care if his hair was straight, I don't care if he was you know, because it doesn't matter no.
Speaker 1:We all missed the whole point of what he was about. That's what that is. Is the carnal like what we're looking on the outside, what we're trying to picture. That's right, I've done that. I do that myself, like what you know, trying to picture what it would be like you know I I don't, I never.
Speaker 2:I I honestly god I can tell you as a god is my witness I do not, I don't want like that movie, the passion of christ, and all these movies. I don't go see him. I don't want to see nothing. I don't want to deal with anything that has to do with making images of of christ. I just don't go see him. I don't want to see nothing. I don't want to deal with anything that has to do with making images of Christ. I just don't. I don't think is good at all. You know, I just think because look at it.
Speaker 2:So now you've got people today literally arguing about you know, there were people that would tell you that if, if Christ, that you're crazy, if you don't think Christ is white or if you don't think he's black. You got black people saying he's black. You got white people saying he's black. You got white people saying he's white. You got black people saying he's white. You go to people's houses. You got the white jesus with the blue eyes and the skinny, fragile, vivid looking guy and and and it's just, but it's see this, I'll tell you, this is why I'm so glad. See the Lord. The wisdom of our God is so transcendent that it can't be measured, because there's a reason why Christ came when he did. There was no TVs and video cameras, none of that. There was none of that, so there's no way for anybody to know anything about how he actually looked. We don't know where Moses was buried. We don't know where Jacob was buried. We don't know where Jesus was. We know where he was, but he's gone. He left.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. So the whole point is we are supposed to worship God in spirit and in truth. What he looked like when he was here doesn't matter. What matters is what he's going to look like when we leave here and when we go there. We ain't going to see what we think we're going to see.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think so. Even think about john, how he responded when he saw what he saw, and he knew jesus personally. It wasn't what he remembered, you know, when he, in his glorified state I've known there's a question, jonathan. That says where did you? Well, it says where in the Bible does it say they put a hundred pounds of incense in the tomb?
Speaker 2:I have to find that. I have to find that. You know what I'll do it. I'll find that and do a post on it Because it's more, because it's generally when you look at the history of the practice when they put people in the tomb then, and I'll dig it up and find it. Somebody asked that question. I think I saw that, but Dixon's account, so I will find that and address that.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Um yeah, because you know, you know how they put the, the, the myrrh and the, all the stuff in there, uh, all the stuff that they use to sort of cover the smell and all that kind of stuff like that. Well, they would use half your weight and that was the practice of the day. And I've got to find somewhere back here, where, where, where it is where it's talked about.
Speaker 2:But I'll answer that that's a good. That's a good question. So, dickson's account, I'll try to remember to do that and if you write to me I will remember for sure. So I'll do that. But but anyway, you know, the last thing I was getting at and we went on a little bit longer was this whole thing about the free will of man, that if that was true, then it means God needs to have. God is the one that needs faith if any man is going to be saved.
Speaker 2:if that holds true and it's not- absolutely not, that no we need Christ from beginning to end and he is the one that saves us and he is the one and he is the one that gives us the ability to come to him. You know, god draws us to Christ. God draws us to Christ and when he does that, we begin to see how we begin to see ourselves, when we come into his presence spiritually and we see ourselves as the sinners that we really are, and then we have nowhere else we can go but to ask him to cleanse us from our iniquities, to save us from our sins. Amen, and and and that's it, and so that. This is why I'm saying, even those people that go around touting their free will, like I have never been a proponent of this whole thing about you, you know, you need to make a decision for Christ. You need to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior.
Speaker 2:How, how was Lazarus gonna come from the tomb Right? How Accept Jesus? How do I do that? How does a sinner who loves their sin decide suddenly? Is it because they're intelligent?
Speaker 1:So here's a question.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:This is an honest because I have like I don't get on and do. I don't speak online and there's a lot of posts that might say just what you said. You know it's time to pick a side. Choose Jesus, you know, before call him. You know, call on him while he may be found.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Now, that being said, what you just said is obviously they don't have the ability unless the Father's drawing them.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So is the only way that the Father will draw them is to hear the actual gospel being preached, or just Jesus spoken of in general. I mean again, I've always believed, even from childhood. So I don't, even, I can't recall anything, I think.
Speaker 2:First of all, I think that's a great question, but here's what I'll say to that. It's different for every person because, like for me, when I was young, I was definitely devil's child, definitely. But growing up I had always heard about Christ. Somebody was always trying to save me. You know, this was always going on. So I heard and I knew enough about what was said. So I think what ends up happening is that gradually, over a period of time, these things, this sticks with you, but you don't really know it, you don't really realize it until that one time where the final straw breaks the camel's back. You know what I mean. Yes, I do. How many Christians think about it? Like Blazing Rose said, seeds are planted. So seeds were planted, they started to grow and then one day it just hits you.
Speaker 2:Now, when it hit me, when it finally got me, I was sitting in my barracks in the Navy in boot camp and I just started reading the Bible. Now there's a whole long story that's another story, but I think we talked about it. But I'm sitting here reading the bible that I did not want to read, but the problem was everybody else was occupied because this was the first time that we got mail. This is the first time we got mail in like four to six weeks. So you got to imagine all these little 18 year old boys that left their homes to go join the navy they've never been away from. So now they take you into bootcamp and separate you from your family and you got no contact with the outside world for like four weeks. So when the first mail comes, oh my gosh, it's like it's crazy, cause people are crying and everybody's crying and like babies, right. But I wasn't cause I was glad to, wasn't because I was glad to be gone. I was glad to be gone and my godparents had gave me this Bible that I had no intention of reading. No intention of reading, but because I loved them and respected them so much, I kept it. And the first two Bibles I ever got they gave to me. So I'm sitting in my barracks behind my bunk. They handed out the mail. I had two or three letters, read the cards, whatever, put them back. Then I took out the Bible because I was bored, because I didn't have anything else to do and everybody else was occupied, so I couldn't go hang out.
Speaker 2:I started reading Matthew and it was a red-letter edition of the New Testament, I got to Matthew 10, where Jesus says do not fear him who can destroy the body and do no more, but rather fear him who can destroy both the body and soul in hell. And at that very moment I became a Christian. No altar calls, no preachers, no witnesses, no, nothing. It was just me reading his word.
Speaker 2:Now, keep in mind, I've been hearing things throughout my life and it all came up to this moment where it all accumulated. And when I read those words, it was a missing puzzle piece for me, because I had never heard that Jesus talked like this before. No one ever told me that he said things like that. No one ever told me that he said things like that. All I heard was he has a wonderful plan for your life, he loves you, he wants you to come to him. Just, he's pleading with you. And I was always thinking what kind of a guy does that? Because even before I became a Christian, formerly and officially to me- my idea was that, if God is God.
Speaker 2:he must be this way. Nobody ever told me Right.
Speaker 2:So I'm a person that firmly believes and now understands that God, if he be God, he must do God things. Oh, yes, he must do God things. Death and life are in his hands, not mine. Now you can have all these Christians. They can run around and say all they want to that they're in control. Because if the free will of man is how people are saved, then that's what the gospel should be. That should be in every sermon. Think about it. If your free will is what is necessary to save you, that should be the key component of every single gospel message. Choose you, choose your free will. Your free will you choose.
Speaker 1:Well, don't you agree that it's sort of like that in some churches that the altar call?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it is. I hate the altar call. It's the worst invention man has ever made. Ever. The altar call, in my opinion, has destroyed more souls than any other thing in Christian circles outside of the Catholic baptism.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:The altar call is one of the worst, most heinous, most egregious things ever introduced into the church, because it has the same effect as that infant baptism. In Catholic churches they believe that because they went up to the front and said this little prayer after them, eyes closed, heads bowed, hands up in the air. Candles lit up, lights turned down, soft music playing. It's all marketing. It's all marketing. It's church marketing.
Speaker 1:Do you want to know what's worse about? When my children were little, I actually believed and was taught in my church that it was necessary to get your baby baptized as soon as possible. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because if something happened, they would go to a place that is it's not heaven. They would be stuck there in limbo and maybe not make it to heaven at all. And when I think about it now, how cruel is that? I mean that's cruel first of all. It's totally about it. Now, how cruel is that. I mean that's cruel first. It's totally cruel it's cruel.
Speaker 1:I ran around trying to find well, that's in my sin. I got. I got pregnant as a teenager and there were issues there baptizing my children because of that, um, um and I. I was desperate and just trying to do the right thing and to learn all along, um and now the problem is is my family still thinks, even if they? I know they believe, I know they believe in in the death barrel and resurrection of the Lord for their salvation?
Speaker 1:But, I don't think they feel the need. They don't feel the need, They'll tell you I've been baptized. I was baptized Right. They believe that Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are so many people who believe these things. But, you know, and because man believes that there needs to be something he can lay hold of as a totem, you know they need trinkets, they need something visible and tangible they can touch. And I think and the thing about it is I can't explain, when I read that, Matthew, chapter 10, what changed. I changed in a moment and, like I said, there was nobody there. No one, there wasn't. So I really know what it feels like to step out of the world into the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2:I know there was no. You know there wasn't no fence I had to jump over. There was no, you know, there wasn't no fence I had to jump over. There wasn't no key that I needed, there wasn't any kind of a password or a secret handshake or a back room that I had to go into or walk to the front of some aisle in the church so that their members can see it and so that the pastor can get all this praise, because 10,000 people walk up to the front, like Billy Graham used to do. You know, it wasn't that at all. It was just me sitting there and this voice speaking to my heart.
Speaker 2:I know what you mean. Yeah, I know. It's like. It was sort of like you're done now, you're mine now. Yes, and I was like I heard the voice. Yeah, and I can't explain it. It's not like, it's not like I'm wearing headphones, it's not like that at all. It's something inside that, it's a thought like a thought, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:And you might even look around like that's not what's going on here, but I remember that overwhelming feeling and you're right, donna, it's not physical, but I remember how overwhelming it was. So, because I was like the first thing I thought was nobody ever told me this. I have never. And see, the thing about it is, I'm reading, I'm just reading the scriptures. I'm just reading the scriptures and somehow I became seized.
Speaker 1:I was seized upon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, I became his at that moment, and so this is why I can tell people that you don't need all the gadgetry that modern Christianity is offering you. You don't need it. All you need is a open heart. My heart was open. I started reading the scriptures. That's the gateway, because when you read the scriptures, that's God talking to you. Yes, he's talking to you and he will say something. It's just like when you have a conversation with somebody that you respect, somebody that you think is smart or intellectual or whatever, and they're always saying these profound things and you just wait. You love to hear them talk, because you wait for these pearls to just fall out, fall off the tongue. You can pick them up. But that day for me was something different, because I can't explain and I'm sure you don't talk about, I can't explain how so much came together in a moment, oh yes, how so much came together in a moment, oh, yes, in a moment. And I knew that my God was talking to me and he woke me up from my drunken, sinful stupor.
Speaker 1:You feel like he says okay, we're done here, Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Don't you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's what I felt, like he was sort of just going okay, your shenanigans need to stop now.
Speaker 2:They do. Yeah, that was it, that was it. And I'm like, oh my gosh, gosh. You know what am I gonna do now? You know right, and I and I picked up the bible and never looked back, never looked back me too.
Speaker 1:Me too, it's beautiful nor should you oh, never, and I'm grateful to you. I mean, you were, you were so pivotal. Um, yeah, thank you for for everything, yeah, and all of you blazing Rose I've seen you on all these and Vicki, oh, I love y'all. I love y'all very much.
Speaker 2:Listen, blazing Rose, vicky you, michelle White, miss D. There's the guy, cam, that you introduced me to Cam. There's just been so many. There's been just so many, cam that you introduced me to Cam. There's just been so many people that I've met here and see, one thing that I understand is that Christians at large are missing out on using these social media platforms, and I have talked to many pastors who sort of still have a sort of blasé perspective on this and I'm like you're missing it. You're missing it Because I have been truly encouraged by so many people on these platforms on this platform, especially, in ways that I never have in person with people, and I'm making it a goal of mine to not only reach out daily to people on these platforms and try to spread the gospel of Christ, but also to meet as many people as I can in person oh, you wait to wait till you meet me yeah, I'm coming out there because there's you and somebody else out there I need to meet in colorado.
Speaker 2:I'm coming out there and, uh, I want to say sometime between july and and september, so sometime in that time frame I'm coming out there.
Speaker 1:Oh, I would, oh, I'm excited, I would.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'd love that. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. So so, so, uh and I want to try to make it to where I can go, when I can go visit your church with you know as well, and you know, just have fellowship with you or whatever. So it's a good thing and a friend of mine, he, he, um, he's a guy that I, that uh has still one of the last good christian bookstores, and so he's out in colorado as well. The fact that you I said I had him send to you.
Speaker 1:Oh, where is he located then?
Speaker 2:It's on my phone, but I'll look at my phone and I'll text you and tell you where.
Speaker 1:Okay, perfect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I forgot the name of the city, but I'll tell you where it is. But he's a good guy too, he's a good brother. But, yeah, all these sisters and brothers, brothers that I meet on here, you know, you know, and and it's crazy thing, because only christianity can give you that connection, that connection that you have with each other, even with people that you never see, but you, but you, you, you know it, you you feel that brotherly connection, that sisterly you, you sense that civil, I'm in, I'm in illinois, I'm in illinois, so, um, and I'm always looking forward to to meeting christians and and uh and um, and talking to everybody and even doing these lives.
Speaker 2:He's asking me about doing lives. My goal with the lives has been to. I've been wanting to do one every night around. This time that's my goal. Oh, in michigan, you're close. Wow, lazy rose in texas, oh, yeah, she got a lot of fire in her. You see these texas people. You know you don't mess around with them, but, um, but anyway, so we'll. You know I'll be making the rounds on that, but I don't want to keep you guys. But you know, and I wanted to thank you for your kind attention and I know, you know, lisa, that you know I was picking on you only because I love you so much.
Speaker 1:I love you too, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I mean, because I think that all of us need to do what we can to build each other up. And I can tell you, I really believe that the time we live in right now because everybody always says this is the time, this is the time but especially looking at the way things are in America right now, especially looking at the way things are in America right now the discord, the vitriol, the angst. Everybody's so quick-tempered and angry about everything and you got all these.
Speaker 2:It's just crazy, but the thing that's happening the most is we're seeing massive defections from the faith yes, massive defections and and people when, when they see this, they're going to think that christianity and christians are going to get weaker. But they don't understand. Because when you start beating up on Christians which is what always happens it goes in cycles. When it happens, you find out that you can't beat them, you can't beat Christians, you can't beat us. And what happens? When you take a rose and crush it? The aroma goes everywhere.
Speaker 2:When you crush a rose, the scent of it permeates the air. So when you crush Christians, that's what's going to happen. The effect of what we have spreads. Like my sister said, you sort of mean so we thrive in persecution, we thrive in tribulation. And there's not just seven years of tribulation. There's been decades, centuries of tribulations for the Christian church, and it's not going to stop. No no, I'm seeing it more.
Speaker 1:It's. People are just so awful sometimes.
Speaker 2:It's not seven years so far, it's been 7,000 years and so. And so that's where we are, and we are always engaged in tribulation. The only difference is in different eras in history, the degrees of it are worse. If you were living in the dark ages, when the Catholic church killed 50 million Christians, how could you not call that tribulation, right? You see what I mean. When the Christians got completely vanquished in AD 70, how do you not call that tribulation? You see to me? So tribulation is happening to the church always, always in varying degrees, and so we need to be on our guard at all times and be ready to go to war against sin, the world and death.
Speaker 1:Amen, I'm in.
Speaker 2:All right, sister. God bless you all. Sybil, text me or DM me. We'll stay in touch and I'll let you know when I'm going live. And everybody else be provoked and be persuaded. Yes, and everybody else be provoked.
Speaker 1:And be persuaded.
Speaker 2:Yes, god bless you all. Have a good night God bless you guys, good night. We'll talk soon. Look forward to it, Sybil.