Speaker 1: 0:01

Yo, yo yo. What's up everybody. It's your boy, anthony. Welcome to another edition of Spade the Podcast. What's going on, y'all? Happy New Year, welcome to 2025. And I finally got an episode out with a panel. So I know y'all have not seen a panel from me since 2024. It's been a good bit of months, but I'm back and I finally got some peeps with me. I've got two brand new people and I'm just going to go ahead and introduce everybody. So one of the guys that's on here y'all know him and I'm just going to go ahead and introduce everybody. One of the guys that's on here y'all know him. He's a reoccurring guest, xavier. What's going on, bro? How are you?

Speaker 2: 0:57

What's going on, man? Everything is everything. How about yourself, man?

Speaker 1: 1:04

Everything is good. Y'all all know him. He's been on a lot of episodes. So I got my boy back. Um, I've got two new people with me. I've got jayden and I've got john both these guys, we all go to the same uh church, city of praise, family Ministries. What's up y'all? So, jaden, john, what's up y'all? How are y'all doing?

Speaker 3: 1:33

Oh, I'm blessed, favored and fortunate.

Speaker 1: 1:40

Say that again, jaden, sorry.

Speaker 4: 1:41

Okay.

Speaker 1: 1:56

You are cutting in and out. Hold on, I think he is. He is buffering at the moment. So, john, while Jaden is getting himself together, john, what's?

Speaker 3: 2:13

going on with you. Nothing much, just enjoying the life they got ahead for me.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Yes, yes, definitely.

Speaker 3: 2:25

So tell everybody who you are and what do you do. How's everybody doing tonight? My name is Brother John John Ashley. I work in the United States Army. I'm a sergeant. The church, actually. I go to my church home in City of Praise the same way as Anthony and I'm glad that you actually invited me to this panel.

Speaker 1: 2:46

Well, welcome. Welcome, bro, I am glad that you are on and I'm glad to have you and Jaden. He'll be back momentarily. But for those of y'all that didn't know, Also, me and Xavier we went to church together as well. We grew up together at Mount Sinai World Outreach. Yes, we did Good times. Yes, we did. We went to church together as well. We grew up together at Mount Sinai World Outreach. So I basically got my church fam with me. There, you go, I got my church fam with me. So, jaden, what's?

Speaker 3: 3:25

going on with you. You good with your sound. Hey, how you doing, son.

Speaker 4: 3:27

I believe so. Can y'all hear me? We can hear you. Hey, then we locked in we good man, man but look, I'm blessed. Every day is a great day when you're serving. So being able to be on this podcast man, it's a great opportunity. To be on this podcast man, it's a great opportunity to be able to spread the gospel, but also to encourage hope, you know, and pour back into other people that need just need the encouragement, you know, and something to look forward to. So, yeah, man, this is a blessing.

Speaker 1: 4:04

It's a blessing. I definitely feel that. I definitely feel that so tell everybody who are you and what do you do.

Speaker 4: 4:11

Well, I'm, I'm Jaden Wingard and, look, I'm a humble servant of God, but I go to the city of praise with Anthony and his good brother, john. I work at the courthouse in Upper Marlboro, been working there for probably a year a year now and when I came back from college went to St Augustine's University in North Carolina, and when I came back, that's when I started working at the courthouse, and also before I, even well after I came back from school. That's when I came to the City of Praise and started serving.

Speaker 4: 4:57

It was when Next Fest happened you know, when Next Fest happened, it solidified what I've seen. It solidified me just coming there every Sunday, which led to every Wednesday. So it's been a consistent action of showing up, talking to people, talking to other believers that will help you just be able to build that belief and be able to build your belief in the word.

Speaker 1: 5:26

So yes, sir, I like that.

Speaker 1: 5:49

This was really, really needed, um, especially with the, the day and age that we're in, with so many events, that's going on in the title, of course, is fitting going on and the title of course is fitting because I just feel like that we are all just experiencing a storm, you know, with so many tragedies that are happening.

Speaker 1: 6:18

I feel like that with this episode I just wanted to just spread a little hope, because I know that people are just dealing with so much depression and dealing with the anxiety and dealing with that, you know that, the struggles of not knowing how they're going to survive, not knowing their occupation as far as their jobs, security.

Speaker 1: 6:49

So I definitely wanted to just spread some hope and I definitely want to just go ahead and dive right on in. But before we go ahead and get started, throughout our topics and everything, I do want to acknowledge the growing concerns of fears and frustrations and uncertainties that people are dealing with, are dealing with and you know, we can look at with all of the current events, from the different, from both the plane crashes with the Philadelphia and the wild, the fires in LA and now, of course, with our new president and the different acts of policies that he is passing. I just feel like that people are struggling. So what are your thoughts? As far as with, as far as if we can go into the realm of politics, as far as with this, the Trump administration and everything that he is doing. As far as with especially with DEI, with that sector.

Speaker 1: 8:41

How do you guys feel about that.

Speaker 3: 8:46

So I'll go ahead and go first. I can't really go into depth into the conversation because I am a soldier in the military Right. But I will say this so it's a lot of policies, bills that have been pushed that that's not aligned with my faith, with my belief and the fact that it kind of disadvantaged people, americans, citizens, not just that even foreigners that come into the country, and I don't agree with everything that has been finalized, pushed out. So that's just my piece of it.

Speaker 4: 9:23

Right, right, so I'll piggyback piece of it, right, right, so, um, I'll, I'll piggyback over john, right, um. But also attached on what you said, anthony, is that, um, and these times right here, they are tough, right, and they, they are only tough when you don't have a firm foundation, right, and it's no, it's no, it's no diss or it's no, okay, heavy weight to put on people when I say this. But when you, when you have a firm foundation and and you have the fear of the Lord first, before any man-made thing, before anything that comes into the world, before anything that happens in the world, when you fear the Lord first, then you'll be able to see the things that has already came to pass, already happened in the Bible, in the Bible, but you also, when you see these things happen in the Bible, you see the evidence that people was able to make a way and people was able to go through and to be able to triumph from and to be able to gain revelation from and see that the Lord would never forsake you, right, different disciples, different apostles have been able to, and even Paul, because he's one of my favorite man, one of my favorite because even from all the things that he went through through the shipwrecks from people just demoralizing him or just being able to look at him as like why are you spreading the gospel? Look at him as like why are you spreading the gospel? How are you this person persecuting Christians now coming over to somebody who wants to save them? Right? But once he was able to be converted, he became a God-fearing man. He became a person to where, as though, I will live and not die. I will be able to fight, I will be able to fight, I will be able to be able to stand my God and be able to let the Holy Spirit use me through any situation I've been through right and through these politics.

Speaker 4: 11:37

I look at the kingdom. I look at the kingdom of God as my president. If you want to say I look at the kingdom of God as my president, if you want to say Right, I look at the kingdom of God that controls everything that happens in heaven and earth. So everything that's going on, I consider it pure joy, everything that happens, because everything that happens, if we continue to look at it negatively, we won't consider it pure joy, we won't see the goodness of the Lord. That's that hand is all over everything Right. So now we will fear. We will fear man rather than fearing God. Right, we will fear everything that's happening rather than fearing God and what he's doing. Right, we will fear everything that's happening rather than fearing God and what he's doing Right.

Speaker 4: 12:30

So so the important thing of, of just everything that I said is that we, we need, we need more love, we need more, we need more OK prayers, we need more sacrificing ourself. We, we need more dying to ourself. Right, because we, a lot of, a lot of us, are filled with pride, ego, a lot of us are filled with things that are not from god, but things that are filled with the earth. So, just being able to being able to, when I, when I speak about politics, I, okay, I see what's going on, I see the DEI, I see our president, I see what's going on, but, lord, I know the righteous will never be forsaken. But, lord, I know you will make a way. Lord, I just know I've seen it, I've read it, I've read it, I've heard about it Prayer time, relationship. So I mean, just on politics, and anybody can piggyback off me, but just, I look at it as I would trust in the Lord. I would trust in the Lord.

Speaker 1: 13:42

I like that. I definitely wholeheartedly agree with that, xavier, what you think.

Speaker 2: 13:50

To piggyback off Brother Jaden, I think. In Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 1, it says since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, we have to lay aside every weight that causes us to sin. And I think what we often miss is those witnesses. As he said, the examples that we have in the apostles, the examples that we have in Moses and Abraham. As tough as we have it, you know we're not being burned at the stake quite yet. It's going to happen according to Revelation. You know talking about the New Testament Christians at some point, but we're not facing the things that they face.

Speaker 2: 14:28

It's definitely tough and it'll be not good to dismiss what people are, you know, honestly feeling. But Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world. I think it was when they were asking him about taxes and he was asking whose insignia was on the coin. He said render to Caesar what is his, because his kingdom is not of this world. So when we focused on who our king is, we don't have to worry about what Washington DC has going on. And you know, to kind of get on the political wagon, I think and I just want to preface some of my comments I'm not a Trump supporter at all, I think he is the epitome of what not to be as a leader of any type of organization. But I honestly also, on the flip side, I think media has a way of pitting people against each other.

Speaker 2: 15:23

And I think a lot of misunderstanding, to a lot of things on both sides. So wherever there's confusion, you know that's what Satan is, because the Bible says God is not the author of confusion. So wherever there's confusion, I look at it, as you know, as the called out ones, because that's church comes from the word ecclesia, which means to be called out, to be separated. I think there's a lot of people in the church that tries their best to mix what they want to happen in the world with their praise and worship on Sundays, tuesdays or whatever. So now we're trying to bring in gospel with politics, and I think that's you can be. You can come in error when you're not handling it correctly. And not only can you come in error when handling it correctly, you can take your focus off what it needs to be.

Speaker 2: 16:15

So I think, with everything that's going on, with all the confusion, all of that stuff, I think if we focus more, just as Brother Jaden said, on what the Bible says and what it has said, because, to be completely honest, when you read what happens in the Old excuse me, in the New Testament, toward the end times, it's going to get worse. Our hope is not with. It's going to get better on earth. Our hope is in the one who's undefeated when it came to Abraham, isaac, jacob, all of the prophets. You know, every disciple, every apostle, so our hope needs to be in him that he will be able to bring us through, and you know, whatever that looks like. But you know, as long as Jesus is on the throne, on the throne, I think we don't have too much to worry about.

Speaker 4: 17:01

Yeah, you said it. Yeah, too much to worry about? Yeah, you said it. Yeah, he said it, but just being able to. As long as Jesus, as long as God is on the throne, we don't have too much to worry about. As long as we're saved you know what I'm saying as long as we confess our sins, yes, sir, as long as we accepted. You know what I'm saying. As long as we confessed our sins, as long as we accepted Jesus into our life, he didn't give us a spirit of fear.

Speaker 4: 17:32

But he gave us a spirit of love and a sound mind. So the way we should look at it is that we should not fear what is to come because we read about it Right. That fear what is to come because we read about it Right. That is what is written. You know what I mean. So when it's written now, it's being able to believe what was written. Now it's going back to seeing okay, I trust what was written. You know what I mean. So when you see it in Revelation, also see the promises that he came with Right. Also see why he died on the cross for you. Yeah, his love, his love is everything that we need. The hope for it, just like Xavier says, says it should be put on the throne, should be with God. It should be with Jesus. He came down just so that we can have hope exactly that he did.

Speaker 1: 18:39

That he did had he not shed his blood, we would not be here at all. Exactly.

Speaker 3: 18:46

No choice. I got something to say to that as well Not just that, but even all the other prophets before Jesus. Imagine, like Moses, for example, or Abraham, they didn't do actually what they had to do. Abraham did not obey God and try to sacrifice his son. What would happen If Moses didn't actually free the Israelites? What would happen If Moses didn't actually free the Israelites? What would happen?

Speaker 4: 19:08

And the world.

Speaker 3: 19:09

The world loves to oppress, suppress and depress. Just like y'all. The brother said, we have to keep our eyes on things above. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus, because Jesus is love, jesus is grace, mercy and he's. We need more spiritual leaders than anything than world leaders. Jesus is grace, mercy and we need more spiritual leaders than anything than world leaders. These world leaders, they want to focus on everything of the world. We are not from the world when Israel is the Holy Land. Right Before they even had kings, they was good, they was great, they was a great nation, and then they started a downhill spiral down when they said oh yeah, all these other nations, they have kings, let's go and be like them. We don't need to be like them. We need to be like Jesus. He is our savior, he is our Lord, he is our king. Everything else that is happening around the world, don't worry about it. Focus on what's above Focus on God, he's going to bless us.

Speaker 3: 20:08

He's going to give us hope, faith, and while we display the fruits, be good. Cast all our cares unto Him, because he cares for us. That's it. Don't worry about anything else. Jesus got us that he does.

Speaker 1: 20:24

That he does. That he does. So I want to go ahead and start on our first point, which is the foundation of hope. And so what is hope, the definition of hope, so what does hope mean to you? So, within the Webster's Dictionary, hope is a feeling of expectation and a desire for certain things to happen To you. What is hope?

Speaker 3: 21:18

Why you brothers got it, or y'all want me to go in.

Speaker 2: 21:23

You got it man.

Speaker 1: 21:24

Go ahead I got it, man Jump in.

Speaker 3: 21:26

I got it, so I got to add to you I'm ready for this. God is just feeding me, just spiritually, physically, emotionally, just I'm blessed. But hope is actually believing something is going to happen, no matter what. You could have a bad day, you could just get fired from your job and you put in hope that you're going to have a better job, you're going to have a better situation, no matter what's happening, no matter all these external entities. That is happening. You hope and you believe that something great is going to happen, some type of success.

Speaker 1: 22:07

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 22:07

I definitely agree with that. Nah, that's good, that is good. So what I believe hope is hope is bold, right, hope is another sense of level of faith, right, it's deeply rooted in faith. And you go back to the scripture is you know, faith is something that things hope for, you know, and the evidence of things not seen, right. And so when you think of hope, you think that you kind of trickle down on things that it represents. Right, when I'm hoping, like Brother John was just talking about knowing that it's going to happen, knowing that it is going to be done, right.

Speaker 4: 22:55

And now you look at the scripture, that when he just talks about how what is loosed on earth is also loosed in heaven, whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven. But also he talks about, even in the prayer, that his will will be done on earth, that it is in heaven. So the hope that we need to have is that God is the reigning king. The hope that we need to have is that he will come back for us one day. The hope that we need to have is looking at the Bible and seeing, like a Moses, like an Abraham, like an Isaiah. The Bible is nothing but a book of testimonies and stories that give us hope. There's nothing but a book of looking at it as dang. They made it through how they make it through that.

Speaker 1: 24:06

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 24:08

On both sides of the spectrum, on a man's side, on a female's side. When somebody's going through something, I recommend the Bible. That's what I had to find. I say, dang, you been going through this, you been going through depression. Okay, go, say, dang, you've been going through this. You've been going through depression. Okay, go look at this book. You've been going through just mental disorders.

Speaker 4: 24:32

Okay, I know God went through that, right. But having hope is able to have enough faith to believe in God that he said he was going to do it. So you trust in him, that he said he was going to do it, and just be bold about it. Like Brother John said, no one is going to happen, you know. So you even bold about okay, I know I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning, but you're not always going to know what's going to happen tonight or tomorrow morning. But in your mind you already hope I am going to wake up tomorrow morning. I know it's just another day, right, it's another day that I'm going to be able to wake up and go throughout those experiences throughout the day. But we all know everybody don't wake up every day.

Speaker 1: 25:29

Right. And then also I want to piggyback off of what you were saying is that you had that hope of you wanting to wake up in the morning because you still have a obligation to still fulfill what you were called to do. You still have that hope of, like, I have um a mission that I have to fulfill, which is saving souls. So that is my hope, is to get up in the morning and still carry out my mission, you know, because my time, my time is not up. That's my hope.

Speaker 4: 26:06

That's good.

Speaker 3: 26:08

That's good. You know what you guys want to call that. When you have coveted in God, confidence, confidence, confidence he's going to wake you up. He's going to go ahead and feed you Anything. That's a bother he got you. Just like Brother Jaden said, you got to be bold about it, you got to be confident about it, you got to stay on business about that. It's going to happen. It will manifest.

Speaker 1: 26:33

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 26:36

You just have insurance. You have insurance that, as long as faith is in the forefront, you believe that his rod and his staff comfort you and that even when it talks about in Psalm 23 how just being able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and not fear any evil, because you know that God is your comfort, god is your provider, god is your protector, god is always going to be there. His omnipotent presence is always going to be there. So when we walk through these valleys of the shadow of death, when we're walking out here and we got politics on our, so, when we walk through these valleys of the shadow of death, when we're walking out here and we got politics on our mind, when we're walking around here, we got DEI on our mind and we're walking in fear that can mess a person up, that can hurt somebody, because now they not think about God promises, now they think about what man is doing.

Speaker 1: 27:45

Right, right.

Speaker 3: 27:49

I'd like to double tap on that real quick. So you got brothers all aware that in the Bible do not fear, I should do shows up 365 times, depending on which version you have. God don't want us to fear anything and one of my favorite scriptures is 29 11. He had plans to prosper you, to give you hope in the future oh sorry, oh no, I was gonna hope for brother jayden to get back on hold on, hold on, just for a second you got somebody else.

Speaker 1: 28:39

Hold on Just first. Okay, I'm back. Y'all, jaden, let me remove you a couple more.

Speaker 4: 28:46

Okay. I don't know what that's about, but we good, we good.

Speaker 1: 28:57

Yeah, all right. Okay, xavier, what you, what you feeling?

Speaker 2: 29:06

I think when I, when you first asked the question, first thing that popped in my mind was the old hymn I hope it's built on nothing less but Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I think Romans 5, 2 sums it up the best when it says that through Jesus we have obtained faith or we've attained access by faith into grace and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And the Greek word for hope in this particular one is El Peace, which means to anticipate with pleasure and confident expectations, Anticipate with pleasure and confident expectations. And I think that is of major importance because anticipation usually comes with everything but pleasure. I got three kids and so if you tell them that you're going to do this, that and the third, they're going to be looking for it, and when they first ask you, you know it's excitement. Then if you kind of drag your feet, you know it turns into worry. Then if you really drag your feet, it turns into just sadness, because you said that you were going to do something, so now I'm expecting it, but it hasn't come to pass yet.

Speaker 2: 30:07

So I think a lot of times we get caught up in anxiety and fear and even anger because the desired outcome seems like it's far off. You know I've been praying for this. You know, I think a lot of people in terms of the political arena, they thought, you know, they were going to be able to vote Donald Trump out. So now is this fear you know, I'm seeing it every day, people's conversations but the existing journey can really be tedious. But I think it's imperative that we anticipate with pleasure.

Speaker 2: 30:35

Why? Because, just as the brother said, we have plenty of examples in the Bible of it may not have happened when they wanted it to happen, how they wanted it to happen, and I think I think it was, you know, when God promised that he would make Abraham a father of many nations, he literally died with without seeing that promise, but the promise still came to pass. So I think we get caught up in a lot of times because we want to see it, versus then we just lower it. You may not get I think the Hebrew boy said it that even if he doesn't do it, he's still able. So if he said it and if he promised the people in the Bible you know, the people that we have as an example then we can be sure that we can hope with confidence. We don't have to let fear and anxiety and worry or even anger creep in, because we know that, even if he doesn't do it, even if we don't see it that he's able because he's done it before.

Speaker 1: 31:29

Yeah, that's good, and even with.

Speaker 4: 31:33

Abraham, even when you look at the Israelites, Even with Abraham, even when you look at the Israelites, right, being able to go around and wait for 40 years to be able to go to a promised land that God has already promised. And the crazy thing is that's some of us. It may not be 40 years before we get to something, but it may be three years, four years, five years, and it could just keep going, just keep going. Because why Worriness, doubt, lack of believing in God? We're not seeing something that's tangible. So when we don't see something tangible, then we put our trust in something else Alcohol, marijuana, drugs, we start putting our trust in different things. So when our trust go into something tangible, then it's like okay, man, all right, we're going to wait for some more. Yeah, we're going to wait for some more. Yeah, we're going to wait for some more. So I mean, I think that's where it came to with most people, because when you do put your trust in something else, that hope goes out the window.

Speaker 1: 32:53

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 32:57

My hope is all right. I'm going to go to the liquor store. I know some alcohol is going to be there. My hope is I know some alcohol is going to be there. My hope is I know I can get a provider, my provider is going to be some marijuana, so it's like that's it.

Speaker 1: 33:16

Exactly, exactly, but we just got to be the people. To be sure we let everyone know that. You know, just steadfast, stay strong in your faith. You know, just trusting God, that you know it's going to be okay, that he didn't put you, he didn't forsake you. You know that he didn't leave you, that this crowd, whatever that you're going through, is temporary. He puts you in that situation, whatever it is to build your faith. You know he doesn't put more on you than what you can bear. That's in the word.

Speaker 3: 34:14

I'd like to add something. So for anybody to have any testimony, you have to go through a test, and this is what everybody has to experience. It could be something similar, it could be something completely different, and just like our brother Jaden mentioned, the Bible actually is a very great illustration of all the different testimonies that occur in the past, or something that you actually could go ahead and relate to, or something that you actually could go ahead and relate to Too many times that we do use resources.

Speaker 3: 34:45

I for one, in the past, used to drink. Don't do that anymore. That's old creation. Last time we go ahead and use the old creation drinking, smoking, fornication, whatever the case is, that's standing and going for the source. It's the equivalent of well, I feel it's the equivalent of hey, if you had a choice between Jesus right over here and you could be healed from every single thing that ever injured you, or something like a pill is a temporary fix, but you have to keep running back to it forever and forever. Which one are you going to choose? Are you going to choose Jesus or are you going to choose the resource? Me, I'm always going to choose Jesus.

Speaker 4: 35:29

I'm on your side, absolutely, absolutely, I'm on your side. That's good stuff. We're going to keep running.

Speaker 1: 35:40

Keep running this Good Friday thing, but it's yeah, that's good stuff.

Speaker 4: 35:42

We're going to keep running, keep running this good fighting thing.

Speaker 3: 35:44

Oh, but it's pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty Doing a 40-yard dash. Hey man.

Speaker 4: 35:51

I got to keep my eyes on him Because when you don't, the temptation just keep growing and growing. Once you keep looking to your left, to your right, it's like, oh, my goodness, the world is coming. I'm looking more of reality than what's being promised. I'm looking at more reality than what's already been spoken. Right, I'm getting scared, I'm drowning, I'm falling Because my eyesight is not on God. No more, right. I'm getting scared, I'm drowning, I'm falling Because I'm not looking. My eyesight is not on God. No more, right. Right Now, I'm just, I'm being pressured by what's going on Because I haven't prayed, I haven't read yeah, I didn't forget. I haven't fasted. Hey, that's very important yeah.

Speaker 3: 36:50

I'm glad you guys said that. So I'd like to go ahead and transition to that. So the fact that we may fall because we ain't pray, we ain't fast, we ain't talk to God, but it's great for us to have a community, have brothers, sisters of Christ that be able to lift us up If we go ahead and fall down because we all fall short to the glory of God, right, we all sin, we may fall off about praying, we might go ahead and just go fast. I don't even go to church anymore, no more Bible study or anything. But that's why it's good to be in an environment with God or brothers and sisters of Christ.

Speaker 3: 37:23

When we're actually in these bad environments, these atmospheres that all they do is talk about drugs and violence and steal and stuff like that, just like Brother Xavier mentioned earlier, that's all benefits or tactics of the enemy Confusion. The enemy loves to steal, kill and destroy, the same way how this government is they do all the confusion so we can go ahead and segregate and divide against one another and stand everybody beyond any one nation under God. That used to be in the Pledge of Allegiance. I remember back in elementary, every day I pledged allegiance to the flag to the United States of America. They take that out. So they want us to fight against one another. Because when we fight against one another, guess what If we don't stand for something? And then what are we going to stand for?

Speaker 1: 38:14

Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 4: 38:18

Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1: 38:20

That's true.

Speaker 4: 38:23

That's true.

Speaker 1: 38:24

Yeah, that's true, that's true, amen, yeah, so I want to alluded to this in church are not as active as far as being on the forefront of activism, whereas back in the early in the 60s, in the 70s, they were so like with the civil rights movement and everything like that.

Speaker 1: 39:23

So, yeah, during the civil rights movement, black churches were at the forefront pastors, faith leaders and congregations, you know, they were risking everything for the fight for justice, proving that faith and activism can go hand in hand. Yet we look at today that you know many people. They say that the church needs to stay out of the politics and it needs to be a separation of church and state. And particularly, we can also look at the fact that our evangelical churches I'll give an example as far as like our George, what happened with George Floyd or with Breonna Taylor, or any of those cases I could not. I could count on let me rephrase this I could probably count on one hand where some of my evangelical churches spoke out during those particular incidents that happened. So, with that being said, has the modern church in today's time abandoned the role in its fight for justice? What do you?

Speaker 3: 41:20

think about that. I would say not truly abandoned. I would say more laws in how they actually should lead. Some are scared. Some feel as though that it will be what's the word. I'm looking for Retaliations If they do commit any action. Compared to back then, they wouldn't care. It was life or death. Nowadays, too, I'm scared.

Speaker 3: 41:49

Just like Brother Jaden mentioned, you have more fear of man than fear of God. God could do anything he wants. There's two things that God could do. He could either provide justice or he could do mercy. So it's two things that God could do. He could either provide justice or he could do mercy. So many times that he provide mercy for us and I'm not going to go ahead and put my fear of man above him. He will always be number one priority. I just feel, as though, that we need to go ahead and go back to the basics. We need to go ahead and start to build our foundation, because a house cannot stand without a foundation. It'll be shaky. The moment a wind comes through, it's just going to knock it over. Go ahead and rebuild, have that front base and then build up from it, and then we can go ahead and start leading the younger generation. We start leading once we get right ourself.

Speaker 4: 42:50

I believe the youth plays a big factor in what's to come in the future. The youth in our age younger, because I look at the youth as the root of the foundation as well when it comes to just you know on earth. Because once they're, if we, if people are able to train them up, if people are able to train them up, if people are able to correct them, if people are able to really nurture their mind and to discard or be put away what they see when they're in school, when they're out in the street, right, it's separating who they are and it's separating especially if you've grown up in a church and when you hit 17, 18, 19, life kind of hits and you start separating, right, the youth will build that church. The youth will be able to speak for itself because we can be on fire, we can be, but we got to be able to renew our mind. We have to be able to get those lost souls back to realizing they are the church, get back to the youth realizing their worth and that they don't have to be followers of man but followers of God. And once they be able to realize that and get back to that mindset, or even introduce people to that mindset and introduce people to Christ and who they are as a beautiful and wonderfully made person in the image of God. Once they know that, then we'll be able to, like John said, have a good foundation to keep building up and keep building up.

Speaker 4: 45:05

Good foundation to keep building up and keep building up, because I I feel like we're not going out, man, and speaking this gospel, we're not going out enough and being able to tell enough people about god. I agree with that. Like, like what, we were all excited and we still are excited. But when we first came to crisis, like, we don't know everything that's about to happen, but I just know I feel much better than I did before. Right, don't you want somebody else to feel the exact same way? Don't you want to see that joy in somebody's eyes from what they've just been going through? You come up to people and be like, yeah, my dad died, my baby died, but to give them hope and a future from what you've learned in church, from what you've learned through the Bible. I love seeing that joy and that love in somebody's eyes when they're like I am saved, yeah.

Speaker 4: 46:11

I am healed Right. And once we have a group of people that can be able to do that, then we can be able to go forth and preach the gospel, not worrying about the politics.

Speaker 1: 46:25

Right.

Speaker 4: 46:26

Not worried about what's going on. That's what I will comment on. Just that question. Just continually building. If we have a church, we have to continually build, have different classes, trainings, so people can know how to defend their faith, tell their faith, even tell their testimony.

Speaker 1: 46:50

Because a lot of people they don't like to share their testimony. Again, we talked about this in church. They don't like to share what they've gone through because, I mean, you got to look at the fact that your testimony can save souls. You know people deal with this, we all deal with similar situations and if you never share how God delivered you from X, y and Z, and then another person is dealing with the same thing and they're on a threshold of about to lose it, you know you've lost. You've lost the battle. So it's very important to just continue to just hear that testimony, like I made it through. God did this for me. If I can do, if he did it for me, then he can do it for you. You know, tell it and then, xavier, I'll get to you real quick.

Speaker 1: 47:49

But going real quick back to the youth, it's also important to get the youth into the church, because the youth we've lost the youth within the churches and I think, again, it's very important to get them.

Speaker 1: 48:12

Like you said, I think it needs to be more than one Sunday that the youth are involved. If you get what I'm saying, it's just a one fourth Sunday or something like that, I personally think it will be good for them to be involved more than one Sunday, also be involved a lot more in churches with, you know, just making sure that they feel wanted, because if the youth don't feel that anybody's paying attention to them, they're not going to want to be in the church, you know. Or if they feel that people are judging them by the way they look, by the way they dress or something when they come to the church, it's just initially how they come. We adults have to watch that too, not to judge our youth, because that's a big thing. We definitely just have to get our youth into the church, because they're the ones that's going to continue to carry the legacy, because without the youth there is no church.

Speaker 2: 49:48

There is no church so and while you were talking, I was thinking about thinking back to mount sinai days. They, they had us doing everything. We had step teams, choirs, we were going to different churches, we were doing a whole bunch of stuff. And just thinking about, you know, some of the, you know the main crew that was always there, just thinking about you know where we all are today, like we're not here wilding out, most of us are still in church. So to your point that while we may have, you know, did our own thing once we left and got old enough, I think it's the Bible is true when it says when you train up a child in where they should go, when they grow older they won't depart. They don't mean they won't try to do their own thing. It just means that what you, what foundation you gave them will always reel them back in. So I think that is definitely important. I just think it goes back full circle to your question which man you really made me think on this particular question, and I think to fully answer it we really have to look at.

Speaker 2: 50:56

I don't think the church abandoned their role. I think what happened was we allowed too many people who had the wrong intentions to become leaders, or to become what we call, you know, preachers, the pastors. The Bible says that we test every spirit and a lot of people say test every spirit and we test it by the word of God to see what they're saying, their theology, their, whatever it is that they're bringing before us. The Bible said that they were the Bereans. They didn't just take Paul's and every and other, every other teacher and leader by their word. They went and they had the Bible open to see. Did this match up with what was going on with what we already have written? Did this match up with what was going on with what we already have written?

Speaker 2: 51:43

And so you know, I tell people all the time, when we start talking about racial things in the church and politics, that it's very easy to stand up and take a stand in wartime, but the real revolution starts in peacetime. What are we doing when these things die down? And then we start talking about giving your money so that God will bless, and we start talking about the material things, the wealth and the health that's not guaranteed to us anyway, and while we still have a community of people who are suffering, who are dying, who are addicted to drugs because not because they're bad people they decided to be druggies one day. People were molested, people were raped, people were beaten, people were abused and we and we closed them out because now we want to have the people in here. Who's going to line our pockets with whatever it is that we are preaching to them, making them think, is real. So I think that not so much as the church has abandoned it, I think we just allow people in into the pulpits. Who has led us astray?

Speaker 2: 52:44

And I think also, on the flip side of that, when we talk about the 50s and 60s and the civil rights movement, I think if we go back, you know, to the 20s or you know even before, then our people who look like us, who looked like the four of us black people once slavery was, you know, I think Booker T Washington. His mindset was that you know, if you're not going to give me a job and here it is, 200, some years later, we're still dealing with it when you talk about DEI and stuff but if you're not going to give me a job, I'm going to take my idea and I'm going to materialize it and I'm going to become your competitor. Now, and I think we rely too much on what is the government going to give us. I watched a preacher I'm not going to call his name, very popular preacher, and I think it was the week after Trump got elected and he started tossing out all these executive orders, and I mean literally for hours straight. He used scripture to to berate Donald Trump and berate people who voted for him and do all these weird things that had nothing to do with the gospel over with. He used another verse to make people think that if they didn't tithe or give them money that they may or may not have, then God is somehow disappointed in them.

Speaker 2: 54:07

And so I think, if you put these two situations, if you mirror these two situations, you had people before the civil rights movement who you know. We had the Rosewoods, the Tulsa Oklahomans and the Black Wall Streets who we were our own community. We had hospitals, we had our own grocery stores. It was us like FUBU back in the day for us by us. And then, once they came in and destroyed those communities, now we had liberal people come in and say you know, in order for you to truly get help, now you're going to need government assistance, and I think it was Lyndon B order for you to truly get help now you're going to need government assistance, and I think it was Lyndon B Johnson who said that I'm going to give these people just enough, not for them to makea difference, but I'm going to give them enough programs to keep them distracted so that we can be so caught up in what they're doing. But they didn't give us enough to make a difference. And here it is, 60, 70 years later, and we're still dealing with the same things.

Speaker 2: 55:02

I think this may be a hot take and I don't mean as far as not standing up for what's right, but I think that the church and state should be separated, and the only reason why I say that is because when you look at Acts, the church, the Bible says they had all things in common, which means they brought everything that they had and they made sure that their sector of people didn't want for anything. So I think, until we can get some leaders who can come in and say you know what? We're going to take care of, not just the people in our church, but we're going to go and we're going to take care of our surrounding communities, instead of telling people that if they don't give their money, if they don't give this because they may or may not have it, because the church is comprised most of our church anyway mostly of single mothers. So mothers who may be struggling, mothers especially now with inflation or whatever even regular families with both mother and fathers are struggling. So if we take those things and we tell them, you know, give out of your heart, like the Bible says, not out of compulsion, but God loves a cheerful giver. You know, giving what he may so we can take care of each other as well as take care of the communities, then maybe we can come and say you know, we don't have to even worry about DEI, we don't have to worry about this because we're creating our own jobs. We're doing this and, yes, it may be hard because essentially we're starting over from scratch because of the different things that we've had to endure as a community.

Speaker 2: 56:27

But if these people, who were fresh out of slavery, could do it with all the technology and everything that we have today, you can't tell me that we don't have the brilliance, you can't tell me we don't have the fortitude to be able to do the same things.

Speaker 2: 56:39

It's just now. We have to work and we have to get the community involved and, like my brother said, not just get them involved. You know, it's all about reaching them. No, no, no, we got to reach them and we got to. We got to tell them you know, this and that is happening because of the need of repentance. God's loving kindness, the Bible says, is because he wants to draw you into repentance. So now we have to mirror, we have to confront and love them and confront the issues that they're dealing with. But then once we're able to build that relationship now we got to usher in the spiritual aspect of it and then we can usher in the discipline and, you know, being able to have make jobs and everything of that nature, just as the Booker T Washington's and everybody else did. So I really think that we didn't abandon our role. I think we've allowed people to take the reins over what we're supposed to do and they've totally scattered the flock of God.

Speaker 1: 57:36

I like that.

Speaker 3: 57:40

Alpha right here.

Speaker 1: 57:47

So, speaking of finish the fears, so we've been talking about the uncertainty, with division and fear in the world, etc. Especially within the Black community, and people struggling with stress and anxiety and even hopelessness. How do we protect our mental health without becoming numb to what's happening around us, and how do we balance staying informed without I mean staying informed with maintaining our peace?

Speaker 4: 58:39

I mean, and it's tough, it's tough and mental health is a real thing.

Speaker 4: 58:49

But, man, when you absolutely trust in the Lord and wait on the Lord, and when the scriptures say he shall renew your strength and you were sore like an eagle, it's those promises like that.

Speaker 4: 59:16

But also what helps and this has helped me, I can say it in the sense of this is that the encouraging part, when I hear different testimonies or when I hear what people have been delivered from, it's like man, man, whatever I'm going through, I'm not comparing it to that person's situation, but I'm looking at it as that they've just been delivered through so much. They've been delivered through so much and you'll be complaining about something so small. Or even because sometimes I look at myself like, why are you being so selfish? Because now you're like man, I want this, I want that. I'm going through this in my mind. But what if some of the things that you're going through in your mind is just because you want something so quick? What are some of the things that you're going through in your mind? Is because you couldn't have your way on something. Sometimes you just got to wait.

Speaker 3: 1:00:36

Sometimes you just got to sit.

Speaker 4: 1:00:37

sometimes you just gotta wait, sometimes you just gotta sit. Some people going through anxiety, and I'm not diminishing anxiety, but what I remember in the word is he said don't be anxious about anything, pray about everything. So it's we gotta be filled with the spirit. We gotta be filled with the spirit, we gotta be filled with the word. Cause soon as that quick thought hit your mind. Cause them thoughts, man them thoughts can really get you to a place where you've never been before they will get you to a dark place that you've never gone before right.

Speaker 4: 1:01:17

so if I had something to tell somebody that's going through, just thoughts in general and something that always helps me, you back it up with some scripture, you back it up with a promise and I know sometimes it's tough for people to look at scripture and be like man. That ain't really helping me. Take your eyes off of yourself and cast it on to God. Don't feel like you can carry this burden, because the devil is a spirit and he know how to get you, because he know your trigger points. He know how to attack your side. He know your trigger points. He know how to attack your side. It's tough for you to fight against a spirit where you're just in a body, a mortal body.

Speaker 1: 1:02:09

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:02:09

So what you do, okay, god, I got you. I'm going to give it up to you, I'm going to let you carry this. Even when I'm weak, you are strong. Even when I don't see things coming my way, I know it's coming. I know you're going to deliver me. I know you're going to do this.

Speaker 4: 1:02:33

It all resembles hope and faith. It's just like a cloud, like, okay, if I have hope, if I have faith, okay, now I'm able to trust, resembles hope and faith. It's just like a cloud. Okay, if I have hope, if I have faith. Okay, now I'm able to trust. Now I'm going to keep on believing. Now I've seen the things. I'm just waiting on my turn Once that waiting comes. Because waiting really is that discipline, waiting is really that obedience, because mental health, it can come and it can go. But you got to speak life into yourself Deaf, and life is in the power of the tongue. So what you going to do, how you going to say your words, what you going to do this day? You going to get up in the morning and be like man dang, I got to go to work, or is it? Well, I got to go to work, or is it?

Speaker 1: 1:03:21

well, I get to go to work today, right?

Speaker 4: 1:03:23

What we talking about, what we really talking about Speak life into yourself, speak life of your circumstances, because the circumstances is only for that, for that one thing, for that one time. Then, when you get past it, you're like, dang man, I wish I was happy through that. Yeah, I wish I was joyful through that. I made it out, I made it out. So that's what I say. It's the power of your words, that's what I say, it's the power of your words. And once people realize what they have within them, they'll be able to be functional and be able to be aware of the Holy Spirit. And they'll be functional and know what God can do in their life, because they know the fruits of the Spirit is in them. But they know all they got to do is break out of that bondage, break out of them generational curses, by using a simple act of words and courage. So, yeah, man, that's my take on that question. That's a good question.

Speaker 1: 1:04:32

I like that, john, what you thinking.

Speaker 3: 1:04:37

Oh, I have a lot. So 40 days, 40 nights. Jesus out in the wilderness, right the moment that he left the wilderness or at the end of his 40 days, 40 nights. That's when the devil came through. Only accepting Jesus man of.

Speaker 3: 1:04:56

God like that. He experienced hunger. He experienced frustration, depression, all these things that we as mortals experience. Devil him up with all these different things. Like hey, can you go ahead and change this? Can you change the bread? Or? We didn't want to test him. Imagine if Jesus had the mentality, if he was not emotionally, mentally prepared to go against that, if they didn't want to go ahead and think like a man, like hey, I'm going to just go ahead and do this. Nah, he went ahead and backed up with the word, just like Brother J and his state. The moment that happened, guess what? Now? The devil man? He frustrated. Okay, I'm going to do a number two. Number two he went in and what? I think it was like a castle. And then he was like hey, he put it in that scripture. He was like hey, the angel would go ahead and bless you. Your foot would not hit the stone. That didn't happen. Jesus went ahead and backed up with the word. The last time, the devil was like hey, I can go ahead and bless you with all of these different things, all you have to do is go ahead and bow to me Again. Jesus hit him with just the word.

Speaker 3: 1:06:06

The word alone will get you through so many situations. It's the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is something that's temporary, something that just happened for a moment but easily can be taken away. Compared to joy, that's something that only God can give you. You can never be taken away.

Speaker 3: 1:06:23

One of my favorite songs is Joy in the Morning. No matter what's happening, you can have a family passing. You could just get fired, your girlfriend left you, you got evicted. Whatever the case is, it will be joy in the morning and we have to rejoice in it. One of my other scriptures I like to say. I think of what? 4, 6, I think it's 10, philippians, all situations. You be content because you already have hope, you already have trust, you already have faith in the Lord that he will bless you. The same promises that he gave to Abraham, elijah, moses is the same promises and blessings that he will give to you. So all this about hey, my day is bad or I'm not going to be good curses Brother Jaden mentioned about that it's not just about generational curses, but it's about curses that we actually say A lot of times.

Speaker 3: 1:07:14

We say we can't, we never. Why are we doing this? Already, psychologically, we've taken ourselves't we never. Why are we doing this already? Psychologically, we taking ourselves out the game before we start. So we need to change our mindset and we need to change the way how we believe, not just for ourselves, but for others, because they'll impact others as well. If I'm supposed to be a spiritual leader and I'm telling you guys like, hey, I can't do this because I'm afraid, that's fear as well and that's using a curse. How would that make you guys feel trying to follow me? If I'm supposed to be the leader, moses? Moses kept saying, hey, I can't lead, I got speech impediment, all of this. Hey, get my brother, my brother. Yeah, he could be the one that save everybody. God said no, you the one, I chose you. And Moses realized that he had something inside of him that he never realized. But we have to go through these tests in order to have these testimonies.

Speaker 4: 1:08:23

Hey, man should not live by bread alone.

Speaker 3: 1:08:27

Amen, yes, sir.

Speaker 1: 1:08:33

Xavier, what you thinking?

Speaker 2: 1:08:35

I think Brother John just mentioned the joy in the morning scripture. Weeping man do for a night, but joy comes in the morning. I think a John just mentioned the joy in the morning scripture. We've been doing it for a night, but joy comes in the morning. I think a lot of times what we miss is the morning starts when it's still dark. So we think, just because it's dark or we can't see that it's not morning, we have to. Just all you got to do is just check around you to see you know what, maybe it is morning. And I think all that goes back to the original. Uh, while we're here, it's because of hope.

Speaker 2: 1:09:03

Bible says I hope in you, I hope in him, hope in God. So our hope, our anticipation with with joy, anticipation with knowing that he's able to do it, has to precede everything that we're going through. And I mean it is so much easier said than done when you're going through it. So it seems. But the Bible says we have to cast down every thought that presents itself against what we know about God. What do we know, even if we haven't seen a move in a while in our life, even though we have, because we wake up every day, which means, you know, we still have a purpose to fulfill, like you said earlier, but also what we've seen him do, like we've said many times since we've been here, of what he did for the people that we read about in the word. So I think it's imperative to renew your mind. The Bible says, you know, we have to renew our minds, and it's not something that we just do when we get saved. No, we got to renew this mind every day because we're still in this flesh and our flesh is nothing good. So we're going to have those thoughts, we're going to have those feelings.

Speaker 2: 1:10:07

But also, I think, what is important, the Bible says seat wise counsel. So whether that's a biblical counselor, whether that's a pastor, whether that's my uncle, god rest his soul. Whether that's a pastor, whether that's my uncle, god rest his soul. He for three years he moved from California here and I sat under him, just hearing him. He was in ministry for over 40 years, working as a pastor, prison chaplain, going through so many different things and knowing what I was trying to walk in in my life, just being able to sit under him and gain that knowledge.

Speaker 2: 1:10:38

So we have to also we have to seek that wise counsel because, like my brother said, sometimes it seems like the word is not enough and it is. That's all we need. But also the Bible says how can they hear without a preacher? A preacher is just someone who understands the word but can also understand what you have been through and be able to break it down to you, to where you are and then build you up. So that way, when these things come now, I have the hope and I have the faith to get over it. Because the Bible says from faith to faith, from glory to glory. So there's different places of faith, there's different places of glory, because the glory, all it means, is the weight of who. God is the weight of it. So sometimes in certain places in life, because we're not built up with the word, we may not be able to handle certain glory, certain places of weight. So we have to seek wise counsel that's rooted in the scripture and we have to get into it ourselves so we can hide that word in our heart so that we may not sin against him.

Speaker 2: 1:11:40

So it's all about not what's going on externally. Is everything was going on internally? What do you do? What do we do to build our faith, to build our character and who are we surrounding ourselves with? You can't get over your addictions. You're hanging with the same people who's doing what you're trying to get away from, who you know. It may be entertaining, it may be fun, it may be this, but not some people we have to sever ties with because we may not understand what we're connecting ourselves to, maybe draining the very life out of us, the very spiritual things that we are looking toward. It all sounds easier said than done, but it's really not. We have to rely on the word and rely on the people that God will place in our life. We have to pray and we have to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, the people, people that can properly pour into our lives.

Speaker 1: 1:12:36

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree with that, I definitely agree with that. And not only just praying, but definitely just fasting, fasting and praying, because it goes hand in hand.

Speaker 4: 1:12:49

Yes, sir.

Speaker 1: 1:12:50

Because with fasting, that is starving your flesh, that is starving and almost killing the flesh, and that way that will allow you to be able to connect more so you can hear a better, get a better understanding from God when you pray, because you won't hear that clouded judgment, you won't hear those voices or anything like that, it'll just be. You can hear him clearly. So definitely just goes hand in hand with fasting and praying.

Speaker 4: 1:13:37

Amen, Amen.

Speaker 1: 1:13:39

What Well said Anthony, Well said so that about wraps it up, guys, so I really appreciate y'all for coming on.

Speaker 1: 1:13:57

Appreciate you man, thank you so much y'all. This has been a blessing not only for the audience but me. You guys were amazing and y'all said some things that I needed to hear. Thank, y'all said some things that I needed to hear, so thank y'all for for coming on and and um definitely hope that we all can um get back together on future episodes and, you know, continue to, you know spread this message, you know, um, but uh, thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:14:38

Thank you for having us thank God because we just a service to him. That's it that's it.

Speaker 1: 1:14:49

I definitely agree with that. Final, final words to our to our audience out there that are in the storm and they need, they're looking for hope and for those that have listened to this and they're just like, okay, I hear this religion mumbo jumbo, but I mean, I'm still dealing with X, y and Z. What do you say to that?

Speaker 4: 1:15:27

Surrender. Don't do it by yourself. You do it by yourself, then you're going to look at the storm rather than you looking at God. You surrender your rights over to God. There's a lot going on and it's going to keep going on. So you're either going to flow with the tide or you're just going to be able to let go and let God make his way into your life. It's tough. Do think about this. Everybody got a different situation. Everybody got a problem. Everybody got something going on. But two things that I learned that you can't control is your attitude and your actions and your actions. So what you need to do, what I recommend you doing, is surrendering to God. Let him have his way and you will see. I'm saying this with confidence because you will see it. I'm giving you hope right now. You will see what God is capable of doing. That's it I like that that's right man

Speaker 1: 1:16:48

that's true, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:16:53

I like that. That's it, anybody else?

Speaker 1: 1:16:57

That's it, anybody else?

Speaker 3: 1:17:04

I would say keep your faith, keep your hope, no matter what the fact that you can get knocked down Two times, three times, four times. It's not about how many times you get knocked down, it's about how many times you actually get back up. You gotta keep pushing. If anybody in the past Some right leaders If they just gave up because they was lynched back up, you got to keep pushing. If anybody in the past some right leaders if they just gave up because they was lynched or firehose got shot, anything like that, we would not be in this situation right now. We would not have a civil race If Jesus did not go ahead and crucify us on the cross for us, we would not be here right now.

Speaker 3: 1:17:36

So I gave you a spiritual leader, I gave you a physical, natural leader. All these individuals continue to do what's needed for us to be here. So, no matter what everything could look bleak, keep pushing, because God have a way to prosper you, to bless you, and the only way you would know is having that breakthrough. That breakthrough could a little be on the other side of the door yeah, I like that amen hey, xavier, amen brother john, yes sir, amen, for real.

Speaker 2: 1:18:14

Um, I would say you, you are looking at a guy in myself who's? There's two things that I thought would halt whatever it is that I wanted to do in life. And I was molested as a young man and as a child, as a boy, and my mother passed when I was 17 years old, as a child, as a boy, and my mother passed when I was 17 years old, and both of those things carried major weight that I had to carry through life. You're talking about anger. You're talking about different addictions. You're talking about so many things that I thought man, God can't use me or man, how am I going to make it through this? And here it is Now. I'm 30 years old, be 31 this year, and am I still going through things in life? Absolutely, but those things that I thought would kill me spiritually, mentally and sometimes even physically. I'm over that. I can look at those things now and use it as a testimony.

Speaker 2: 1:19:16

One thing that I love about you said storms. My favorite storm story is when Jesus walked on water with Peter, and one of the accounts I think it's the account in Mark or Luke, I can't remember which one, but one of those accounts said that Jesus meant to pass them by. And when I first saw it I was like man, that's kind of harsh, Jesus. Why would you mean to pass them by? And they're making way painfully in the storm without you there. And then I had to keep reading and he pointed out that I had meant to pass them by because I told them I was going to meet them on the other side.

Speaker 2: 1:19:50

So the Bible says that his word cannot return back to him void. So, yes, you may be going through many situations, but if God promised you something, if he told you something, then you can rest assured that he's going to meet you on the other side of it. The storm is causing the ship to wreck, is causing you to be fearful, but if you can just stay in the boat and trust his word of what he told you, I promise you while we're all here, if you keep that hope on the inside, like my brother said, you will see him. It may not be in the way that you want him to show up, but he will show up in the middle of your storm Because, remember, before he walked through the storm, he calmed one. So we have a God who's perfect, who has a perfect record against storms. So just remember that if you surrender to him and if you submit to the God who's perfect in storms, then I promise you you can make it through yours.

Speaker 3: 1:20:43

Oh, I like to go ahead and answer that as well. Man yes, sir, man, that's great. So you mentioned about the storm, jesus walking on water. So Peter went ahead and walked on water as well, and that's what we need to do we need to go ahead and focus on God. The moment that he focused on Jesus, he was walking on water. He had no issues. The moment he started to look at distractions, look to the left and right or look at the waves, that's when he started to sink. We need to focus on what is above. We need to focus on the hill, nothing else. If we do that, we can do anything. Everything is possible. Through Jesus Christ, who strengthened us, everything is possible. So that's it. Just keep our eyes on him.

Speaker 4: 1:21:25

Everything is possible for those who love God.

Speaker 3: 1:21:29

Man, I'm telling you, God made a way. He's still making a way.

Speaker 1: 1:21:34

Yes, sir, yes, yeah, make a way out of no way. God is just, he's awesome.

Speaker 4: 1:21:44

He's awesome man. For those that.

Speaker 1: 1:21:51

I just pray that, if you don't know God, that you would truly just accept him into your heart and just believe that he died for you and he rose again. That God is. He is magnificent, king of kings, lord of lords, and I just pray that truly surrender, accept him and then just believe and have hope and you will pass through this storm. This is me, Boston.

Speaker 4: 1:22:47

Amen Amen.

Speaker 1: 1:22:50

Amen. Thank you guys for coming on and to my listeners out there, thank you all for listening and I will see you guys next time, because this is going to be a two-part series. Maybe it's because of the time.

Speaker 4: 1:23:18

That's dope right there. Yes sir, we're going to lock in, we're going to lock in, we're going to lock in.

Speaker 3: 1:23:22

Man, this might be a three, like a Trinity, out here. Okay, good.

Speaker 1: 1:23:29

But thank y'all again for listening and my listeners out there. Y'all stay tuned because in the upcoming weeks we will um release my preview for my new show, um, tricky cards, uh at hand, and you will get a a sneak preview of the first. I'll give you the first five minutes of the first episode so y'all can hear what you will expect to hear and that series will be releasing I'm still going to say 2025 this year.

Speaker 4: 1:24:14

So y'all stay tuned.

Speaker 1: 1:24:16

Y'all stay tuned for that. So y'all listen to my outro music. So see you later. Good job.