speaker-1: Thanks for joining our podcast. I pray that this will strengthen you and encourage you to walk into the purpose that God has called you to walk into. Make sure you hit that like and subscribe button. Share it with all your friends. Enjoy the show.
speaker-0: Thank you, Lord. Father, thank you once again for this opportunity to come and share your word. Father, we we just exhort you right now and we invite you in, Holy Spirit, to come and reveal the things that you will have us to know today concerning men stuff. For you are the author and the finish of our faith, Lord, and we just thank you that we are now we now belong to you. Lord Heal those that will have an ear to hear. Minister to those and let them know that they who they are in you, in the provisions that you have made to set us free. We welcome you, Holy Spirit. We acknowledge you. Thank you for the anointing in the grace that will flow as we get into the word. We yield ourselves to you at this moment. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
speaker-1: What's up guys? We're so glad you guys come in and join us today. We're super excited about today, man, because my great friend, Dr. Thaddeus Williams, has come back to see us. Man, Thaddeus, thank you so much for driving back out here, man.
speaker-0: Yeah man, it's good to be here. Good to be here. Couldn't wait.
speaker-1: Traveling all the way back from Florida again. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: It does a it's just an hour and a half trip.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Especially with this mobile traffic, they kinda drive ninety to nothing. You blend right on in there.
speaker-0: yeah.
speaker-1: But yeah, man, we're super glad to have you back. you you said you was in a sermon or service and the Lord spoke to you, man. You said you had a word that the Lord wanted you to share for us today, man, and of course I ain't passing that up.
speaker-0: Amen.
speaker-1: And you man, you did such a phenomenal job. With the last time you was here, man, it just with such grace and such just wisdom, you know, just speaking wisdom. But what I love about it is, man, you keep it simple. Yeah. You you're not diving in deep. You're just speaking the truth that's right here for all of us to grasp. No matter your educational level, no matter your age, I I feel like, man, there is such a anointing on you for you to speak in such a way that no matter like I said, age or education, man, we can all understand. And thank God for that. But yeah. 'Cause we I got the eighth grade education title, man.
speaker-0: I got it. I got it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it was an honor for me to be able to share the word as always. And like you said, I was sitting in in service a couple of weeks after that. and it just in my spirit came up men stuff. Men's stuff. And I said, What?
speaker-1: What do you
speaker-0: I asked you know, I'm like, men stuff, what are you talking about, Lord?
speaker-1: Barbecue later. Motorcycles like
speaker-0: But the stuff the stuff he he he he was referring to were the things that men deal with and have a hard time navigating and thus it end up keeping them dormant, making them feel less than, unvalued, you know, and that they're not enough. Well in Christ we are enough. You know, and so he wants he wants to talk about that today. And I want to allow him to use me to minister to you that might be dealing with stuff. Stuff we shouldn't have to deal. Well, we'll we will encounter things in life, but we have to trust on the Lord to help us navigate those situations.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: That's why it's important that we maintain a good relationship with him.
speaker-1: One hundred percent.
speaker-0: And and it leads me back to the last time I was here, I was talking about the resurrected man. See, when you find out and discover who you are in Christ and that you have a direct relationship with him, and you spend time with him, just drive you can spend time with him even while you're at work, when you're driving, no matter what. This is not a religious thing. It's about just being available to hear from the
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: To cast your cares upon him, and he will direct your path by his spirit. But you have to maintain a connection. He's the vine with the branch. And we can't bear fruit unless we stay connected to the vine. And there are so many things that men go through because of what we were taught as being young. We talked about a little bit yesterday, Nick. Suck it up and
speaker-1: Yeah. Be a man. That's how I don't how I was raised for men to react. Right. I mean, be tough, be calloused. Right. You know, when when life gets hard you grit your teeth, dig in, yeah, keep pushing it. While there's truth to that, yeah. Like you don't give up. Like don't give up, but we compress it in, right? Right. Right. What happens when we mentioned this, like what happens when you can continuously hold it in, compress it in, eventually that vessel 'cause it's yeah you go cooking and and and like we mentioned like unfortunately when you're around your family majority of the time you're gonna explode on your family. Exactly. And they're just an innocent bystander of what could be happening at work. what could happen while you was in Walmart. You know like no matter the case. So yeah, this is a extremely important topic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: So I want to get into it, and my objective is to use stuff as an acronym. T-U-F-A-F-C-F-C-F-
speaker-1: Okay. Other way to be a preacher right there. Yeah.
speaker-0: Use stuff as a acronym. Well what is it what what what does it stand for? Shame, trauma, unworthiness, fear, and frustration. Stuff. Stuff. So I want to identify these things, and and and my objective is to point those things out and and and give you the key to overcome those things.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: So the the the message is men stuff, stuff that easily besets a man. Now the word beset means torment, overwhelmed, harassed, surrounded. We feel closed in at times. You know, and you can't bag you can't bag a cat in a corner unless he's gonna strike out. And that's what we was referring
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: These things will back us in a corner, and then at the end of the end of the day, something can happen and it triggers us, and now our family members or someone become collateral damage to our reaction. It's a reaction. But there's a way we can respond versus react to stuff. And we are to respond the way the word of God instructs us to. Okay? Stuff will speak to us. Grace speaks to us as well.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Men in the scripture went through stuff, but they had a common thread to get over that stuff. And we're going to talk about that. We're going
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: to be quick. I have my notes to try to stay on point. You know, I just want to walk us through it.
speaker-1: You know, when when you mentioned it, just to throw it out there, like when when you mentioned like this topic and what we're going through, ultimately I I thought about Eliza. Mm-hmm. You know, Eliza, he got to a point where he he was going against you know, a ruthless woman and the king and all that. And I think it was Ahab is is the king. But, you know, he he ended up becoming suicidal. Yeah. You know, but it says that the Lord sent angels to attend to him, you know, and but even Eliza who was Probably the greatest prophet of the you know, in the Bible. Man, even he he was at a point to where just man, I'm done. Done. Yeah, I'm done. Yeah. And but the Lord attended to it.
speaker-0: No, it's okay. It's okay. But the thing is, we see them going through that
speaker-1: so I jumped ahead.
speaker-0: Jesus.
speaker-1: Yeah, man. But look at yeah. He went through stuff. he went through everything. he has stuff.
speaker-0: He has stuff. And remember last time I was here, I said Jesus is a rela a revelation of who we are.
speaker-1: We are yeah.
speaker-0: You know, as the resurrected men. He's a revelation of who we are. Yeah. So we can glean from him.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: We can glean from Elijah. We can glean from
speaker-1: From Paul. Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: these are some of the guys that we're going to talk about, talk about later, and the things that they encounter, but yet they persevered by doing one thing. And we'll get to that later. So my my key scriptures here is Psalms chapter 34 verse 19, and it says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And he and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stuff It's the yoke that Satan tries to use to put us in bondage. Okay, the message translation of that same verse says Christ has set us free to live a free life. A free life. Not a not not not not a problem-free life, but a free life. We're gonna encounter things, but we can.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. We got a way out. We got a
speaker-0: way out. She's provided a way out. It's is it's something that you said that I was in the prayer closet yesterday and I asked I said, What what what what you wanna tell me today? He said, I am the way.
speaker-1: The truth and the life.
speaker-0: So I say, okay, I got you. I gotcha. He's the way, he's the truth, and he's the life. So here again, if we look at him as our example, we look at him as a picture of who we are, a revelation of who we are, as born-again men and women of God, then as long as we maintain that relationship and stay open. He can lead and guide us by his spirit. The
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: spirit of truth will come in and lead and guide us and navigate us and remind us. The voice of grace will remind us who we are when stuff begins to talk at us, when stuff begins to weigh on us. That that our confidence is. And our dependence must always remain with the Lord
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: in the Spirit of God. We win. We win. So so so that's the that's the second verse that I have. Philippians chapter three, verses thirteen and fourteen from the voice translation. It reads Brothers and sisters, as I said, I know I have not arrived, but there's one thing I am doing. I'm leaving my old life behind, putting everything on the line for this mission. We have a mission.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And it's it's Satan excuse me. It's Satan MO to get us distracted
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: and to keep us hemmed up in order for us not to fulfill the mission or the call that God has placed upon us.
speaker-1: That's all he can do is distract us. Exactly.
speaker-0: All he got. And we have to remember that the battlefield is the mind.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: So, really and truly, we Satan comes at us with psychological warfare. Psychological.
speaker-1: Absolutely, one hundred percent. It's logical. Yeah.
speaker-0: But but there's a way out. There's a way out. So Paul says to the Philippians, he said, he forget those things which are behind. Forgetting is a choice. We choose to forget. We choose to remember who we are in Christ. We choose to remember the promises of God. We choose to remember that we have a helper, the Holy Ghost,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: who will continue to lead and guide us. It's the light of the Lord that shines upon the path that we walk, the path of righteousness. You get what I'm saying? So so this is the mindset. So we have to renew our minds to this stuff, you know, and and really Take heed and grasp it and believe that it's true because it is true.
speaker-1: That's right. It is one of the one of the scriptures that I had was Romans twelve two. huh. You know, is a re you know, renewing of your mind. Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: And and and then verse 14 of Philippians three, he said, I am sprinting toward the only goal that counts to cross the line, to win the prize, and to hear God's call to resurrection life found exclusively in Jesus the anointed. An exclusive life. He wants us to have a an exclusive life. But we got to overcome, we have to have to yield to the teaching of the spirit and put things into action in our lives, act on what we hear the voice of the Lord say
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: to overcome and experience this this exclusive life,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: free of the stuff.
speaker-1: I was fixed to say, you know, that the what you say using the word exclusive reminds me of what Paul's kinda e reiterating god if I said that right. What Jesus actually said with the the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I've come to give you life. Yeah. Not just life, but a life of abundance. Yeah abundantly.
speaker-0: Yes, and then our last one is Hebrews chapter twelve verses one and two said therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, the weight is the stir, and the sin which so easily be ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, keeping our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, the stuff, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: He despised the shame. He he endured the cross, so he overcame the stuff.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: All right. And he succeeded. Now he's at a place of rest. We can do the same thing. And the good news is we are already in that position because we're seated with him in heavenly places of
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: all principalities and powers. All right. So you can i it track me. Just track me. It's good. If you if you get a hold of this, it's gonna help you.
speaker-1: Yes.
speaker-0: You know, it's it I'm not saying you're not experiencing what you're experiencing, but we can't allow what we experience to hold us in.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: We're free. God paint made a way for us to be free.
speaker-1: Yeah. Amen. That's right.
speaker-0: So men stuff, stuff. Stuff is the internal weights, pressures, wounds, thoughts and experiences that we carry or suppress rather than properly deal with them.
speaker-1: D what's what's a good illustration just to kinda get somebody to relate to it? I mean, what could what could be some good illustrations that you have that that when you when you say stuff that just pops into your head that a man could be
speaker-0: Bad decisions. You may have made bad decisions. You may have done some simple stuff. You may have been in war and have had to kill someone. All right. Just the nature of war.
speaker-1: Put me
speaker-0: You know, people experience they call it PTA.
speaker-1: yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: So you did what you had to do in war, but that's not who you are. You did, you followed your c you followed your your the rules of engagement. You had to do what you had to do, and God is not condemning you because you did that.
speaker-1: That's right. That's right. You see what I'm saying?
speaker-0: So you have to separate that's not who you are. You're not a murderer.
speaker-1: That's right. You see what I'm saying? That's not murder. That's not murder.
speaker-0: That's not
speaker-1: That's not murder. You
speaker-0: you were defending our country.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: You were def I'm talking to some military personnel right now that have gone through Vietnam, even older guys, World War One and Two, they old, but those some of those guys have taken things to the grave.
speaker-1: absolutely. And what they also was told when they got home by citizens. man.
speaker-0: Basically.
speaker-1: You know
speaker-0: You kill women. Here's the thing. I encourage you when those things come in because that's stuffed talking. Don't think that that's you. Especially if you're born again. Your new creation, brand new, not a new improved you, brand new. You're a new creation in Christ. The old, the stuff has passed away. All things have become new in Christ. I'm not saying it's easy, but you have to practice it. You have to meditate on. You have to continually meditate on the word of God. Let it stir in your spirit, in your mind. And and and aga I think I said the last time about the blood of Jesus. You know, the blood of Jesus purges our conscience of every evil word. It's a continuous thing. And we have to be mindful of that, you know, and receive. Receive it by faith. That is cleansing and purging, and that you are not the thing that you have done in the past. You may have cheated on your wife. Now you you you feel bad about it. You you you you you feel remorse about it. You you you're sad that you did it. Now you see yourself in a light that God doesn't see you in. That's shame. You may have had an addiction to pornography. And or you might be dealing with that now. That's not something to be ashamed of. That's something life be life'. You see what I'm saying, Nick? Life be life. And God is not holding you or condemning you because you've you've dealt you you're dealing with those things or have dealt with those things. You're new. I'm trying to explain it the best I can.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: You're new. I can't say it enough. You're new in Christ. You're new in Christ. And you have to continually remind yourself of who you are in him, who he created you to be. Who he made you to be. And let you let that wash, that continual washing of you confessing and believing what you're saying, not trying to get what you're saying to come true, but you're saying it because it is true.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: You're saying it because it is true. And pretty soon we catch up with what is true. See, we as Christians, you know, religion will have you saying you got to do this to do that. You gotta do this or God ain't gonna bless you. You know, you you you it's it's all about work.
speaker-1: Yeah, I was basically it's all about w what is it, credentials or your credits and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. That's what that's what a religion is. That's what they're to explain best way like this is like religions are like a D V. You when you go up to the D V and like you just try and change your address, you never have the right paperwork. There is always a power bill or you know, you don't have your social security car, whatever the case may be. Yeah. There's always something that you don't have that will never make this a success. That's right. Right. And that's what I've heard that said, yeah. Religion is like the DMV. It's like if you ever have
speaker-0: We never need yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. But in Christ we have everything.
speaker-1: yeah, we are we have hit we are.
speaker-0: We have life and you said earlier. We have life and we have it more abundantly. We have an exclusive life
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah.
speaker-0: in Christ. So I hope what I'm saying you're getting it and and in in and it's helping you. And
speaker-1: I I know one of when when you know, 'cause I was asking you what's what's what comes to your mind whenever, you know, you you speak in stuff. And I know when you when you spoke it to me and you told me the topic and everything like that, ultimately what I thought of was, you know, just your everyday life. Everyday life. And so not you know, and w might not even be in the on the sinful side, but like as men, we are providers. You know we're the provider of our family. We're the priest of our home. Right. You know, we Wes is who we are. There's a lot of weight on the shoulder of a man. Exactly. You know, not taken away from women, no, you know, not taking away from that. Yeah, saying that. But if especially if we're talking about a godly home. Yeah. You know, if but Christian values or whatever the case may be, or American value, is you know, how we grew up on. Right. So you are you're supposed to be the provider, the protector, you know, you're all these things. Yeah. And while that is true, but also we get our strengths, our provision, we get you know, all this From Jesus. From Jesus. If we're trying to provide without Jesus, you know, helping us. Yeah. If we're trying to protect without Jesus helping us, we're gonna become overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. It's gonna be too much for us to handle. Yeah. We wasn't made to do it on alone. Exactly. You know what I mean? And so when you're trying to provide and maybe the bills are catching up to you, you know what I mean? Maybe maybe there is like some some spouse arguments and you know, it seems like you can never connect. You're always just eating at each other. You know what I mean? And it's like just piling all on your shoulders one at a time. Yeah. So weighted. Yeah. Coming to Jesus when he says, you know, give me all of your burdens. Yes,
speaker-0: Yoke is easy and my burden is light.
speaker-1: man. And so we are the protectors and we are the providers, but we get our provision and our strength from him who is the provider. Exactly. Who is our shelter, our strength, you know what I mean? Our fortress. Yeah. And so that's and that's what come to my mind. You know people that's like I said, weighted down by bills, weighted down just by life. Yeah. You know, maybe you're not getting the jobs, you know what I mean? Like work is stacked up. Yeah. And that's what came to my mind. Yeah. You know, that kind of everyday stuff. That's part
speaker-0: And that kind of stuff that that's
speaker-1: of it. That's the real stuff. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah, that's real stuff. And and and when we can't meet those things, those those those responsibilities, we turn on ourselves.
speaker-1: That's right. You feel less of value now. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Man, I'm not a good man. I'm a lesser man. Right. And that's the enemy. Jesus
speaker-0: I'm not a good man. I'm a lesser man. Yeah, that's him at all all day.
speaker-1: said he's come to kill, still, and destroy. He's come to kill, still, and destroy.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. So
speaker-1: This is good, Thaddeus. Keep going, but
speaker-0: So stuff is the internal weights, pressures, wounds, thoughts, and experience that we carry are suppressed rather than properly dealing with. The hidden burdens weighs the hidden burdens, slash the weights me and carry, again, is sh is stuff. Shame, trauma, unworthiness, fear, frustration. Shame says, I am hunted by my past. Trauma says, I'm carrying wounds that never healed. Unworthiness is I'll never be enough. I'd never be ignored. Frustration means is no matter how hard I try, nothing seems to be working.
speaker-1: No.
speaker-0: These are the things men deal with. You put it plainly. You said it plainly. These are the things we as men deal with. But that's a way we can deal with.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Versus turning inward, we cast those cares on the Lord. He wants us to. He desires for us to do it. He like with the mid out. Come
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: on, give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. So let me let I want to define each of those words. Shame. Shame is the painful feeling that something is wrong or unacceptable about us. Trauma is the lasting impact of a deeply painful or distressing experience. Unworthiness, the belief that we are not good enough or deserving of love, acceptance or good things. That's bad. That's bad. When unworthiness is Hits a man.
speaker-1: That's bad. That's when you get to a point where like where somebody with Elijah Yeah. Like, I'm done. I'm truth.
speaker-0: done. You don't know your work.
speaker-1: That's right. They'll be better off without me. That's
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: that's a bad place to that's a bad place to be and that's lies, man. Yeah. It's not the truth Jesus spoke over us.
speaker-0: Exactly, exactly. And fear the emotional response to or to a real a perceived threat, danger, rejection or failure. A perceived We can perceive something that's not real.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: We can perceive things about ourselves that's not true. All because of the pressure. That's how the enemy sneaks in. Remember, we said it's a lot of psychological warfare. You know, we get to looking at things, and then because things are not lining up the way we feel they should be lining up, then we turn inward and begin to put all of this weight and pressure on ourselves.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And think less of, and we count our worthiness based upon what we can do, based upon us succeeding. But that's not
speaker-1: True. That's right.
speaker-0: our worth is found in the Lord. You said it. We are valuable. We are valuable. We are valuable. We're of God's interest. He loves us. He cares for us. And there's nothing we can do to cause him not to love us. We are accepted in him, and there's nothing we can do to cause him not to accept us. But this stuff lied to many men have lied to me. Every now and then I hear the voices of did this in the past.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: You did that in the past. And and and and what's what's sad when God delivers one and you begin to confess your testimony, share your testimony, and someone takes your testimony and weaponize it and uses against you when they get mad at you. Then now that's coming at you. Right?
speaker-1: Yeah. All right.
speaker-0: It's the enemy still trying to pull you in. But see, when a person weaponize your testimony, they're downplaying what grace has done.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: They're downplaying what grace. They don't have an understanding of what grace is.
speaker-1: one hundred percent, yeah.
speaker-0: Because if you understood grace, you would know grace doesn't weaponize your testimony. The scripture tells us in Revelation we overcome the enemy by the the blood of the Lamb in the word of our testimony.
speaker-1: That's like the motto of the show.
speaker-0: That's the word about exactly t testifying with me. Yeah. Testimony again, it's the banner of victory. That's your banner of victory saying, say it and look. I'm no longer there.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So to to have your testimony weaponized and used against you to make you feel some kind of way, now you're dealing with distractions that God never intends for you to deal with. You see what I'm saying?
speaker-1: Yeah. yeah. It it kinda reminds me too of and now this is just a little bit of theology 'cause we don't really know a hundred percent sure. But when Paul's praying to Jesus and he's there asking, it's like, Man, can you take this thorn from my flesh? Right. I believe that that thorn in his flesh that he's begging to remove is That you know, he used to be a murderer of Christians. Yeah. And now I can just picture Paul when he's going to sleep at night, man. He's visualizing these people that he murdered, innocent people. Yeah. That he murdered and I can just see that Paul's like, Lord, please take these thoughts, these nightmares out of my head. He's like, No, my grace is sufficient for you. That's what we Yeah. My grace is sufficient. I'm not gonna take that away because that's gonna be a testimony. Yeah. That that right there, that's My grace is sufficient for that. And it's the same thing of what we go through, man. Yeah. It haunts us. There's things that I've done in my past that haunts me at times. Yeah. When I when I put my guard down and then lets the devil in yeah and it come back and haunt me. Yeah. And but and then I gotta remember the grace. Yeah. It's the grace is I gotta remember the grace.
speaker-0: Remember the grace, what grace has provided for us. And grace is a person.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Grace is a person. His name is Jesus. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So we got the whole package.
speaker-1: We have the whole package.
speaker-0: So the last definition I want to give you is frustration, the disappointment or irritation we feel when our efforts or expectations are repeatedly blocked.
speaker-1: Mm.
speaker-0: We're going at it the best we can. Now, every time I go here, I get hit a roadblock. I go there, I hit a roadblock. Something's damned up right here. I can't. No matter what, now frustration sets in. When we get frustrated, that cause us to not think clearly.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: But we have to take those moments when we when we sense ourselves beginning to go toward the the the yield to the frustration and our thinking and our our our clarity is unclear and unsure. That's the time we have to say and be honest with ourselves, I'm pulling back.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: That's when we have to go in the prayer closet and say, you know what, Lord, I've been doing this the wrong, I may be doing this the wrong way. I'm casting the care over on you. Help me. Mm-hmm. That's what he's there for. He's there.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: That's why he's given us his word. That's why he sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us. See, we got we everybody hollering out to Jesus, and I get it. But Jesus is sitting down at the right hand of the Father.
speaker-1: Yeah, interceded. Interceded.
speaker-0: But it's the Holy Spirit that is here with us now, here on earth,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: to lead and guide us and put us in remembrance of what has been said.
speaker-1: In spoken. That's right. Over.
speaker-0: For us. He's there to help us.
speaker-1: I was thinking that ev and it even says that when you know what you should not ought to pray, yeah the Holy Spirit get in the Holy Spirit. Exactly.
speaker-0: The spirit. Exact. Exactly. And you know that leads me to say it's very important that we are filled with the Holy Ghost and and pray in tongues. Because when you pray in the Holy in the in tongues, you're praying the perfect the the scriptures say you pray in the perfect will of God.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I heard yeah, tell me what your thoughts on this. I heard when you pray in tongues, the devil don't know what you're praying. He don't? Yeah.
speaker-0: I I believe
speaker-1: Yeah, okay.
speaker-0: that. Paul told him to say, I thank God I pray in the spirit more than you.
speaker-1: yeah, he I I pray in tongues way better. If I was flexing a little bit.
speaker-0: Black, yeah. I pray more praying in tongues more than you are. But see, what what what we have to realize praying in tongues build us build our spirits up.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Build us up in our most holy faith. And and and and we'll speak in mysteries. See, God only revealed mysteries to those who follow him. So therefore, that negates Satan ever knowing what you're praying.
speaker-1: Gotcha. Gotcha. It's definitely not a far fetched saying. Yeah. He does what you what you pray when you speak in tongues, yeah. Right. And I know speaking in tongues is weird at first. Yeah. It it it seems like you're not really going anywhere with it. Yeah. Maybe I'm just cold. Yeah. Yeah, I
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: got you just babbling. Babbling. But nah, man, it's there's something to it. Get backed off of tongues 'cause I kinda idolize tongues a little bit. I gotcha. or or or even use it in a inappropriate way. Yeah. so to speak. And so but honestly, I feel more relieved since I backed off of it a little bit and made it more of a personal deal. Yeah. It it feels more natural now. Yeah. instead of just getting overwhelmed by the presence of God. You know what it's like to be overwhelmed by the presence of God. Yeah. You just go nuts. Yeah. Yeah. And I've learned to try to control it a little. Yeah. I don't want to get out of order. Yeah. And but
speaker-0: I got you.
speaker-1: no tongues, super important. Yeah. 'cause we ain't speaking English when we get to head.
speaker-0: Not at all. Yeah, not at all. And and and and so, you know, pray you that doesn't mean you have to pray out in tongues out loud in front of everybody. Yeah. You can do it sitting at your di desk driving in your car alone.
speaker-1: It's a person it's a person. It's a personal thing. I mean I had to learn that. Yeah.
speaker-0: It's personal. It's personal. But the gist of what I'm saying is we pray the perfect will of God when we do. We may not know what we do we may not know what to pray for. How to pray. So what's to go to? Pray in tongue. Pray in the spirit.
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speaker-0: So shame deals with what we've done. Trauma deals with what happened to us. Unworthiness deals with how we see ourselves. Fear deals with what we think might happen. Frustration deals with what is not happening the way we expect it. So stuff. Men suppress stuff. What's the why behind the suppression? Why do we press things versus vocalize it or go tell someone or discuss it with a counselor or spiritual counselor, the pastor, you know. I a and and and there's a reason why men suppress that and we touched on it earlier. It's
speaker-1: Because the way we're raised.
speaker-0: the way we raise. That's part of it. Yeah. And and and and once that get ingrained in your soul, then you just
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I'm by myself. Don't nobody want To hear what I gotta say. I don't want to be a problem. Here's another. I can deal with it by myself. Now you're over in the pride. Now you're dealing with pride. Pride comes before.
speaker-1: That's right. Now yeah. Now
speaker-0: It comes before destruction.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So, so now you're saying when when pride steps in, now you're saying you God.
speaker-1: I was so excited. What got k the devil kicked out? Craft. Craft.
speaker-0: Yeah. So, so, but got here again, there are ways we can deal with the stuff,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: the shame, the trauma, the unworthiness, the frustration, the fear. So there's a way to deal with those things. But men off the suppressed, conceal, repressed, hide stuff, e eternalize it. What bothers us because we have learned to carry pain rather than communicate it. We've been taught. to carry pains as me a pain as men.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Carry it. You can deal with it. It'll work yourself out. No, it won't. No it won't.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: So we were taught to be strong. We fear appearing weak or inadequate. We don't always have words for what we feel. This is the reason why we suppress things. Men suppress things. We fear judgment or rejection. We feel it's our responsibility to protect others, our families.
speaker-1: Yeah. It's that's our responsibility. I got a man up.
speaker-0: But man up say it with your chest.
speaker-1: Yeah. And that's what I was gonna say. And you said judgment. Yeah. like one of the things growing up, like say you tell a friend, like, man, dude, I'm feeling the type of way, what are you probably gonna man, quit acting like a woman. Yeah, don't no yeah. Don't be a s just
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Don't be a sissy.
speaker-1: you know, so it's like and there's a time and place for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's a thing. Especially
speaker-0: That's a real thing.
speaker-1: at a young age, yeah, you know, as a teenage, 'cause I mean your hormones are all over the day, I'm just And man you hear stuff like that as a teenager, then you grow up thinking, All right, I ain't supposed to say that. No. I ain't supposed to talk about that. Right. Right. That's how it starts. Right.
speaker-0: We feel responsible for being enough. We gotta be enough
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: to feel responsible. Th these are reason why men suppress things. You know. So we gotta get out of that. Yeah. We gotta get our minds renewed. Men often men often stuff what hurts because subconsciously we believe silence makes us strong. But biblical strength is not pretending that nothing hurts.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah.
speaker-0: Viboclus strengt
speaker-1: That's good.
speaker-0: It's not pretending that nothing hurts. It is knowing where to take the herd. It takes strength to go to the
speaker-1: Lloyd. Absolutely.
speaker-0: it take it would take strength. If I come to you said, Nick, I need you to help me with something if you can. I'm dealing with A, B, C, and D. And vice versa.
speaker-1: That's right. And yeah.
speaker-0: It takes strength to go to someone and and put your business out there.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And that's another thing. There aren't too many people that I would trust with my business. Because it'll lead to those things up top.
speaker-1: No, I would. Top. Yeah.
speaker-0: So that's why we have to be when someone come and confide in us. We shouldn't take what they put tell us about themselves and somewhere down the road weaponize what they told us for whatever reason. Use it against them.
speaker-1: Yeah. That's I got I got three people in my life that are who I call my paws. Yeah. And that I can trust that one, that when I come to them I'm not gonna get a judge. two, when I come to them they're not gonna be yes men. Yeah. They're gonna tell me what it you know. If I'm in the wrong they they're gonna tell me I'm in the wrong. Right. or three is if I'm dealing with some personal things. Right. You know, not necessar necessarily sin. Yeah. But personal things, man, that they can give me a biblical accurate answer and help point me in the right direction and pray for me. Mm-hmm. And live you know lift my name up. And I got I got them three people. No, I mean there's a couple other people that I could tell them, you know, maybe what I'm going through. But those three people is who I'm not only am I telling them like what I'm going through, but I'm listening what they have to say. Yeah. Because I trust that they're giving me biblical, accurate truth. Yes. to that
speaker-0: I I have a close friend that I I that confide in and and h he's not a yes man either.
speaker-1: Yeah, you don't need a thing in your life.
speaker-0: He like, dude, come on, man. You know. So and I grew up with him. That's good. He lives right there in Mobile. Yeah,
speaker-1: Yeah. okay.
speaker-0: and but he he's we don't when we when him and I talk, we don't he it's always well what you doing. When this comes against you, what do you do? How do you handle that? How do you navigate that? True. Well, Maurice, that's my mother name. Maurice is my name. That's wrong. you should have handled this this way. you should have said this. You you no, you know, point blank. And and and he said it in love. It's in love. It's just correction. It's correct. It is. And and and so we have to be open to correction. Mm-hmm. Constructive criticism.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: You know. So so that leads me back to weaponizing someone's testimony. If it's constructive it's if if the t We shouldn't use it to hurt someone, but we can use it to be help them with constructive criticism. Point them in the right direction. Don't use to just say, well, you ain't changed because you still doing this or did that and other. You hadn't changed. Well you you here again, you're downplaying the work of God. Number one, you're not God. So who are you to say that I haven't changed? All right. So at the end of the day. You know, we have to just really just harker down and be led by the Spirit
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: and receive what God has said. Even when your your your testimony is being used against you as a weapon, you still have to remember who you are in Christ. Because that's just the enemy trying to working through that person, trying to get you or convince you that you're not who you say you are in Christ.
speaker-1: That's right. He I should've worn my other shirt. I got a shirt that says, why you bringing up my past? Jesus dropped the charges.
speaker-0: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
speaker-1: I should have worn that shirt. I was going to. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: I was going to. Yeah. So it's it's it's it's these are some serious things that we're talking about and I'm you know, I'm doing my best to stay kind of stay on track. I'll and that's okay. I'll throw you off. No, no but
speaker-1: I'm perfectly fine chasing rabbits. Yeah. Cool. Yeah.
speaker-0: It's okay, we can go down. Yeah. Now I just wanna like to pick up where I left off.
speaker-1: But you're doing great, man. I'm enjoying it.
speaker-0: So so the thing is the dangers of stuffing your stuff. In other words, the danger in suppressing the stuff. It turns to anger. It creates emotion isolation. It damaged relationships. It affects our well being. It leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms. You saw drinking, getting high, drugs, women, pornography, you know, y it is it's unhealthy. Leads to unhealthiness. It distorts how we see ourselves. When we suppress things, it affects our psyche. About our sales. eventually produce an emotional eruption. We talked about that earlier. What we suppress does not necessarily disappear. What we refuse to address internally can eventually express itself externally.
speaker-1: Yeah. It's gonna come out.
speaker-0: is gonna come out. That's why it's very important to find someone that you can trust and discuss these things with.
speaker-1: What what does the Bible say? What goes into a man's heart will come out of
speaker-0: yeah. It's not what goes into that defiles him. It's what comes out of his mouth. That's the shit
speaker-1: Yeah. If you're steadily receiving toxic. Yeah. If you're not if you're steadily receiving toxic, what's gonna come out of your mouth? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. There might have been a I think there's another scripture that actually lines up better with that. That's the one I thought of. Yeah.
speaker-0: So when stuff speaks, remember. Here's what I want people to get. Remember. When shame speaks, remember God has removed our shame. When trauma speaks, remember God has healed our wounds. When unworthiness speaks, our sufficiency is from God, is grace. When fear speaks, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. When frustration speaks, we can trust God even when When we don't understand.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Even if we don't understand it, understand what's going on, understanding what he's doing, we we we still can trust him. Cause he knows. So the voice of grace, the affirmations of salvation, shame. When shame says, I am what I did, grace says, I am who God says I am in Christ. Romans 10, 11. The scripture says. No man who believes in him, who adheres to, relies on, and trust in him will ever be put to shame or be disappointed. So if we believe in God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he said we will never be put to shame, neither will we be will we be disappointed. So when we hear stuff speak, we can respond with what grace said.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So the truth is in Christ we exchange shame for honor. In Christ we exchange shame for honor. When trauma says what happened to me is still controlling me, grace says what happened to me does not determine who I am or where I'm going. It does determine who I am or where you're going. Psalms chapter one hundred forty seven verse three He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wound. The truth here, Christ heals our deepest emotional wounds. Only Christ can do that. When unworthiness says I'll never be enough, grace says my sufficiency in qualification comes from God. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6 says, To pray to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. We are accepted. Our worthiness comes from God. Our worthiness comes from being accepted. That we are sons of God.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Not going back, Nick, we're not servants, we're sons. We're his sons. We are heirs together with Christ.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: We're sons that serve, but we're not servants. So the truth of this is God has qualified us and made us righteous in Christ. When fear says, What if I fail, lose what I have, or get hurt again? Grace says, I do not have to live controlled by fear because God is with me. We are never alone.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: He said, I will never leave nor forsake you. It's a win-win. We're never alone. We might feel alone, but We are never alone. John chapter four verse eighteen. There's no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear because fear involves torment, torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. He who fears has not been made perfect in love.
speaker-1: Would would you say that is more of like you haven't completely understood his love?
speaker-0: That's right. That's right. That's right. You you that that you got you get we have to get a revelation that God's love is unconditional. We have to get a revelation that God himself is love.
speaker-1: Yeah. And that is with you. Like gone nowhere. Yeah.
speaker-0: He's he ain't going nowhere. He's not going anywhere. So perfect love drives, so perfect love drives cast out fear. He drives it out. That's why it's important to maintain communion with him. To be develop your relationship with him. He's your father. Jesus is your big brother. The spoke Holy Spirit is your helper. Develop a relationship with the Trinity. We have to we have to steward their relationship.
speaker-1: Yeah, we we we say it like this to the students. It's like so like just give an example for me in Kansas, if Kansas and I, you know, we have our marriage, if we don't never talk, we don't never communicate, right, what kind of relationship are we gonna have? I won't know who she is. Right. I wouldn't know how she feels about me. Right. I wouldn't know how to make her, you know, love me more, whatever the case may be. That part ain't about God. But yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you. But in the same sense, if we're never t communing with God, if we're never talking to God or trying to hear God, yeah. that's important. Yeah. but if if we're not trying to spend time with God, we're never gonna understand exactly how He feels about us. Right and who we are in him. Right.
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: So what you're saying, dude, that's the first and biggest step we've gotta do. Yeah. Yeah. Biggest step we've got to do. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: To get God you we have to ex get get get this in our mind. God loves us and we can't do nothing about it. Ain't nothing you can do about it.
speaker-1: There ain't nothing you can do about it. Jeremy Wall says that all the time. He Hey, I love you, and ain't nothing you can do about it. You know
speaker-0: Right man so so these are things that I hope you're catching. I hope the guys are catching the ladies are catching it, and and I felt it was very important and something that the Lord wanted me to share and and just put it in the atmosphere. Yeah. And let give people opportunity to hear it, take it and go over the the video over and over again, go back and study it. I like to give scripture as much scripture as possible so People won't be just thinking I'm just talking.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. That's right.
speaker-0: We it's we have scriptures as evidence of God's goodness.
speaker-1: That's right. Yep.
speaker-0: It's evidence, it's proof of his goodness. And it and it's nothing we can do, all the things we but believe that he is a rewarder of those of us who diligently seeks him. We have to seek the Lord, not anything else. Don't be seeking worldly stuff. Seek the Lord, spend time in the word, spend time in prayer. While you're in prayer, spend more time listening than talking.
speaker-1: Yeah. If you doing all the talking and you ain't letting him talk, yeah. That's our youth pastor says that all the time. Yeah. Like that's not that's not communion.
speaker-0: That's yeah no, that's you you you you just see prayer is a dialogue. It's between two people, two or
speaker-1: That's true.
speaker-0: more people. We'll we're conversing. You say something, I respond. I say something. If I say something, you say something. That's how you you bounce things off one another. And that it's the same with God. You know,
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: you we have the right to be in the presence of God. We don't have to go before the father all timid, all nervous. What you doing that for? He already know.
speaker-1: Is that I can boldly approach the
speaker-0: By the blood. Come on. The blood for give us action.
speaker-1: I can boldly approach
speaker-0: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So frustration. Frustration says, No matter how hard I try, nothing seems to be working. Grace says, I don't have to understand everything that is happening. I can trust God to direct my path. Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Frustration comes because we're not taking things to God. We're trying to do life by ourselves when it was never God's intent for us to do life by ourselves.
speaker-1: Sure.
speaker-0: That's why when Jesus ascended, he said, It's expedient that I go. That word expedient means it's better for you. I'm giving you the advantage. If I go, I'm giving you, it's it's to your advantage that I go.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: But I'm gonna send you the comforter. And he's gonna lead you, guide you, and put you in remembrance of everything that I've said. He will not speak of himself, but he will only speak the things that he hears the Father speak.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So we're not alone. There's no need to be frustrated. Cast them cares on the Lord. He cares for us. And then just work out your salvation. Work out your salvation. Don't allow yourself to convince yourself that you're less than because you made mistakes because of past mistakes, past failures, not being successful in the area. We're not defined by here's the thing. We're not defined by our the things that we are unsuccessful at, nor the things that we've been successful for. That doesn't define us.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: The scriptures defines us. Christ defines us. If we can get through all of that, see that's the world way. You know, the world defines you by how much you got, how much how met what kind of car you drive drive, what kind of money you got. You could we can pass people on the road that are home. That don't mean that they are not they're they are unworthy. That
speaker-1: That's my
speaker-0: doesn't mean that they are less than. That has not that doesn't that doesn't determine their value. They're in the position that they're in, maybe because of the stuff they refuse to let go of. You see what I'm saying? They but that doesn't mean that they are not valuable. If if we weren't valuable to God, he wouldn't have sent his son Jesus to
speaker-1: Yeah, one hundred percent.
speaker-0: if we can start thinking that way, you know. I know the scriptures say we shouldn't think highly more highly of ourselves than we should. But we shouldn't think less of ourselves either. No. No. You know, we we can think about ourselves the same way Christ thanks of us. Way
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: God thanks of us. That's the mindset that we have to to to to to allow to in order to work out our salvation. We we have to have the mind of Christ. We have to see things the way he sees it. We have to call things the way he called things out. We have to do things what he say we can do, the way he said we can do it, not live life on our own. We're not bastards.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: We're not bastards. You know, we have a father
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: that loves us and cares for us
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: and desires the best for us. And we just have to walk in the light as he's shining upon our lives, walk in that. And allow his leading and promptness to guide us to where he is taking us.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: We have an expected end. And he's expecting us to fulfill the call and to live the life that he's already provided for us here on earth. And
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: we we can only do that by changing our mind or repenting. That word repent means to change your mind. Change your mind. Only the word of God. So we have to be mindful of what we look at, what we hear, what we watch, what we participate in, the group of people we're around. You know, it's not good to be around you can't be hang with the crowd.
speaker-1: Show me your friends, I'll show you your future.
speaker-0: Yeah, exact. You know, we we can't just hang around anybody.
speaker-1: Yeah, you can witness then you don't that's what people get that wrong all the time, man. It's all like well, Jesus hung out with sinners and all that. He was witnessing and loving on sinners.
speaker-0: Is that
speaker-1: He had his select twelve that he was really close to. Yeah. And teaching them. Yeah. So they twist that so they could feel more comfortable hanging out in bars. Yeah. And going to strip clubs and all this and that. Yeah. And that's what people people twist that a little bit. Exactly.
speaker-0: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I wanna and then claim they going to the strip club to witness to somebody. You're going
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: to the strip club to witness to nobody. Yeah. You going to be a witness.
speaker-1: Yes, you you about to witness something.
speaker-0: So so these are things, man, that are very important. So
speaker-1: When when you speak of value too, a scripture comes to my mind and I want to say it's like maybe maybe Matthew twenty, twenty two, somewhere in that case, maybe. Uh-huh. Jesus tells a parable. G and this is Jesus talking, he said a man walks through a field and discovers treasure in a field. And he said that he covers the treasure back up, goes and buys the field, and then digs up the treasure and claims the treasure. Yeah. Jesus in this parable, and a lot of people Say do this as if Jesus is the treasure and that we need to it it cost everything to follow Jesus. Mm-hmm. But whenever I read the scripture, I see that Jesus is the one who discovered us the treasure. We're the and and it goes on. We're the ruby in the jeweler's eye. I got it. We are the ruby and jewel's eye. Yeah. He paid everything to purchase us. He paid the price for us so that he could. We could be his. So you know what I mean? Yeah. And so dude, that's value. That yeah. He's seen and then he goes on, like I said, with that a jeweler discovered a ruby. Yeah. And seen great value in that ruby. Yeah. And but he paid the ultimate price the field. He bought the field. He paid the ultimate price so that we could be together, so we could be in communion. Yeah. So that's when you were speaking of value, that scripture came to my mind. Mm. And it's like That's good. And that's what yeah. Yeah. J and Jesus is plainly telling us our value. Yeah, exactly. I paid it all, bro. So we could be together. Right.
speaker-0: So we I we can hang out.
speaker-1: Yeah. And then and then you got Luke sixteen, man, where you got the shepherd. Yeah. You know, then you got the widow who discovered the penny. I and yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you got the father who got his son back. You know what I mean? Dude, one after another, Jesus is telling us our value. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? And we got so much value.
speaker-0: Too much. And and and it's it's it saddens me that a lot of pe I'm not saying I'm not saying this because I made it. Yeah. But I I know we
speaker-1: We still got the stuff.
speaker-0: still go through stuff. I'm not perfect. I'm on a journey. I'm in the process just like you are.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: But these are things that the Lord is pointing out to me and I'm beginning to apply these principles And and and take in what he's sharing with me when I'm in my prayer closet or when I'm just driving to work or just sitting around. Or just I can be playing ball or or when I played ball. Yeah. I can be and he can say something, I'm still listening. still
speaker-1: That's right. That's what they call prayer without ceasing. Yeah.
speaker-0: I'm I'm always my ears always in tune to hear from heaven.
speaker-1: There you go.
speaker-0: God can speak to you in so many ways. For while God was speaking through to me through billboards. I was going through something. He was speaking to me through billboards. You know. He like one billboard. I give you one case. He said I was going through something. He said, Your case, your case is not a foul in the power. In other words, it's not I'm not just taking your case and just throwing it in the
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And then I passed by another one that it says, we got you. Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: You know. Then there was another one that said, count it done. Then it said slain. Count it done slain. So I count what I was praying for as done and my enemy has been slain.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: So he can speak to you in many ways. You
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: just have to be looking out and be on the hunt for it. You know, be ready for it. Just always keep you you know when we were out kids, when I was growing up we were out kids and when the sun started going down, it's time to go home.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: But we will be out playing ball or whatever, and at certain things you always, your ear is always in tune to hear your mother's voice or your dad's voice.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: The street lights on, you drop what you're doing and you go home. That's the way we have to do. We should be about hearing God's voice. Always have a ready ear to hear. Mm-hmm. And once we hear, apply it and act on it and obey his word. These are things and principles that I'm learning. Even now, cause I'm not too old to grow. True. You know. And not too old to grow. So God's place no, God's peace replaces frustration as we trust him. Every man deal with stuff, but where then the I can't hardly see my notes because the light glaring on me. Every man deal with stuff, but we were never designed to allow stuff to define who we are. Our identity and sufficiency are found in Christ. Men, we all deal with stuff, but we cannot allow yesterday's stuff to become today's baggage and tomorrow's bondage. Jesus did not come to help us manage the stuff. He came to remove our shame, heal our wounds, establish our true identity, and make us complete in him. He came to make us complete in him. Not deal with or manage.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: He came to take it away. That's it. You know, I I see the you know, you need to go to angry management class. I don't want to manage anger. I don't want to be angry. You see what I'm saying? Yeah,
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. That's right.
speaker-0: I don't want to manage anger. You know, because you can be angry and seeing not. See, that's that's the catch right there. You can be angry and And sin not. So my thing is, it's good to be angry at certain things, about certain things. But that doesn't mean I have to sin. The sin is seeing yourself less than who God said you are. That's a sin in that. Yep. When you don't value your worth, ain't nobody else gonna value. When you see yourself less than, other people gonna treat you less than. So I don't wanna manage anger.
speaker-1: No.
speaker-0: You see what I'm saying? Take it away.
speaker-1: Yeah. 'Cause it it talks about, you know, don't let the sun go down while you were still angry in in in my point of view, that's Jesus basically saying like don't hold on to it. Right. You could get angry in a moment, like what was that, Minnesota that just approved that you could kill a baby up to birth now? Yeah. Yeah. That angers me. Yeah. Yeah. But if I continuously feed off of that man, it's it's gonna eat me alive. Yeah. You know. Yeah. But yeah, that's what but it talks about, you know. Don't don't let the sun go down. Just don't hold on to that. Don't manage it. Yeah well
speaker-0: He got angry. Jesus got angry. He turned them tables over. He c he had some. But he said not. Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah, right. Hit him with whip. Yeah. That's off. Yeah.
speaker-0: You know, so I I I think religion take things to the extreme. You
speaker-1: one hundred percent.
speaker-0: know, you don't supposed to be angry. You don't supposed to be mad. No. Yeah. Those are emotions, God put there, but it's how you navigate Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: How you how you don't sin if you do something. Yeah. You know, if you get angry. Say it not. Mm-hmm. You know. That what that Brady. What would Jesus do?
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Take a moment and think about what would Jesus do, you know, and mimic that.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Do what he would do. So These are you know, I just everybody just because you're going through stuff doesn't mean you're alone. Find someone you can talk to. Preferably, you know, you you there's certain things you can talk to your spouse about. Let them know what you're going through. There's nothing wrong with being being open with your spouse. Let them know how you feel about certain things. But spouses, don't take what your loved ones share with you and use it against them later on down the road. Because now you're being a puppet of the enemy. The enemy is using you. to tear down your spouse over something that he or she confided in you. And really seeking your help to help them to hear what you have to say because they're too close to what they're dealing with.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: God wanna use you to shed some light on some things. So be mindful in how you deal with people's stuff when they share it with.
speaker-1: yeah. You know. You breaking that God, what did you say? Breaking that trust. Yeah. That could really damage a person. And and and this is me saying to all Christians out there, if someone confides in you, don't you dare go run your mouth. Yeah. You know what I mean? Don't dare go run your mouth 'cause what you gonna do is you're gonna be that person that they're not gonna ever trust another church again. Exactly. They ain't gonna trust if that's what Jesus does, then I don't want yeah to do with it. Yeah.
speaker-0: Be and because so many people have went through that
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: that's why a lot of people don't come to church. That's why they don't want to hear no
speaker-1: That's right. If that's what your Jesus says, dude, then I don't want I don't want nothing. That's right. Not nothing. And and I don't blame them for being that way because of Yeah. You know They've lost their trust. Lost they
speaker-0: They launched
speaker-1: trust. Man, the worst thing you could do is go gossip and run your mouth about somebody when they've confided in you to tell you something. Mm-hmm. That's the worst worst dude. I'd rather you judge Yeah. Don't But but yeah, I would rather you judge Yeah. You know, to their face. Yeah. but yeah, man, that's the worst thing you could do. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yep. Earlier we was talking about the examples. The men in the Bible that have stuff.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: Here here are the six. I got six. Elijah, David, Job, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul. They all dealt with stuff. Elijah, from the battlefield to emotional exhaustion. That's what he dealt with. David, the psychological pressure of being hunted. Job, psychological distress through trauma and loss. Jeremiah emotionally overwhelmed by what he witnessed. Jesus, extreme emotional pressure in Goshimite. Paul lived under repeated traumatic circumstances. Here's the scriptures I I'm not gonna read them, but I give you the scripture. First Kings. Chapter 18 verse 19 for Elijah. 1 Samuel chapter 27 verse 1 for David. Job chapter 3 verses 25 and 26. Jeremiah Lamentation chapter 3 verse 17 through 20. Jesus, Matthew chapter 26, verse 37 and 38. Paul 2 Corinthians eleven verses 24 through 20. twenty seven. These are men that experienced and dealt with stuff. They dealt with shame, they dealt with trauma, they dealt with unworthiness, they dealt with fear, they dealt with frustration. These are things they dealt with. But the common thread, though each experienced severe pressure differently. They brought the pressure of their circumstances into the presence of God, where their prospective strength and hope were restored by truth. The common thread is they took it to God. Elijah, God restored him through his presence and provision in word. David. David repeatedly turned his distressed soul toward God. Job Job encountered God in the middle of his suffering. Jesus. Jesus brought his anguish directly, anguish directly to the Father. Paul. Paul learned to depend upon God rather than himself. The pattern. Pressure, emotional distress, turning toward God, encounter with truth and presence, renewed strength and perspective, continued obedience. Elijah was strengthened. David encouraged his soul in God. Job gained a greater revelation of God. Jesus was strengthened and continued in obedience to the Father's will. Paul learned dependence upon God. The common factor in their deliverance from overwhelming emotional and psychological pressure was their encounter with God. We need to have an encounter with God.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Every man, woman that's dealing with stuff, you got you need an encounter with God. And it's my prayer that you have in that you have an encounter with God. That God will show himself in a way in your life that you've yet to experience. And it's gonna set you free. So his presence brought comfort, peace, and reassurance. His word renewed their minds and restored their perspective. His strength enabled them to endure what they could not handle in their own strength. His truth empowered them to overcome fear, confusion, despair, and negative thinking. Moving forward, giving them the strength and courage to continue despite the pressure. Here's my closing scripture. John chapter eight thirty six verse out of the Amplified Version it said Son so if the Son liberates you, makes you free men, then you are really and unquestionably free.
speaker-1: I like that version.
speaker-0: That's the amplified classic. The Mirror Study Bible says mankind's freedom is in discovering their true identity in sonship. This is the truth as it is in God Christ, whom the Son makes free, is free indeed. Whom the Son sets free or makes free is free indeed. So consider that word indeed means consider it as a fact
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: that you're free indeed. Even though you might be dealing with stuff, you're still free.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: And that's what you have to remind yourself with. That I'm free in God. I'm free with God.
speaker-1: Don't forget the last three words Jesus said upon that cross. It
speaker-0: It is vanished.
speaker-1: is finished. Bound and chains, every bit of the pressure, all that it is finished. Not that it ain't there from time to time. Yeah. But we have a place to put it. On the shoulders of Jesus Christ.
speaker-0: Got Amen. He's there to carry it. Cast all your cares on me. I care for you.
speaker-1: Yeah. That yoke, you know, I I don't know if I've explained this last time. We might have even talked about it, but what a yoke is, and farmers don't understand what a yoke is, but it's the it's the wooden saddle that will strap an ox back in the day, or they strap a bull and all this and that, and it would it would pull the plow. That's how it yoked around the neck of of the bull. Well they also had and this is what Jesus is saying here, they also have a dual yoke. And you could train a young bull, partner him up with an older experienced bull. And so what that bull's gonna do is train the younger one. But you can adjust the yoke to where all the weight and pressure is on the big mature bull. Mm-hmm and it's and the little younger bull is just here for the show just for the ride. You know what I mean? Like it's I ain't saying it ain't got some weight on him. Yeah. Cause it's got to learn. Yeah. But all majority of that weight and pressure is on the neck and on the shoulders of the mature bull. And so they're yoked together and he's able to walk with him and show him the road. Wow. So that's what Jesus is saying. Yeah. Take my yoke upon me. Yeah. And so we're we're yoked with Jesus. Yeah. All the weight of where to steer, how to go about this life, plowing the field, you know what I mean? It's all on Jesus. We're yoked with him. That's right.
speaker-0: With him. Amen. Amen. Amen. I I didn't know that about you.
speaker-1: Sorry, I guess.
speaker-0: That's good stuff right there. I got a little knowledge. Hey, hey, hey. Every little bit here, it doesn't matter. Throw it in there. It's in there. It's worth something. It's worth millions. Yeah. So stuff may speak, but it does not have to have the final word. Grace does. Grace always has the final word.
speaker-1: Amen.
speaker-0: Stuff may be. Part of what we've been through, but it does not define who we are or determine where we're going. We belong to Christ, not to stuff. And whom Jesus says free is free indeed. We're free indeed. Now here's some we we talked about weaponizing people's testimony. Here's some principles I want us to get. A person testimony should be treated as evidence of God's grace, not ammunition for another person's judgment.
speaker-1: There you
speaker-0: We should never take the stuff someone trusted us enough to unpack and turn it into something we later use to weigh them down. We should never weaponize a person's testimony. I shouldn't weaponize your testimony and you shouldn't weaponize my testimony. We are to take and celebrate when when we testify something, which I celebrate your victory, you celebrate
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: my victory. If I see where you might be going back toward what you shared you've been delivered from, then I'm to step in and say, I'm not to say where you ain't delivered. I'm to remind you that you are delivered
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: and sh and love on you and encourage you and and and and and and and and encourage you to continue to trust in what God has already done.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: I hope I hope you know I've said a lot. I hope it makes sense. You
speaker-1: yeah, one hundred.
speaker-0: know, and I hope it it it you know people get what I'm saying, but my mind here again, my mind runs everywhere and and so that's why I kind of try to stay with my nose cause my I've I I hit rabbit trails and stuff.
speaker-1: I I do too. So But no, man, this has been really good. And it and it brings me on what you're closing with there, how there's life and death in the power of the tongue. Uh-huh. Or there's power in the tongue, that brings life or death. Yeah. And remembering that when someone talking about testimony. Yeah. Yeah. And but no, man, this is really good. Yeah. This is really good. And it is it's something we gotta get a hold of. Right. Man, it's something we gotta get a hold of. We will never finish this race if we don't understand who we are. Yeah. It's almost like like w wearing a pair of glasses. Yeah. You know, what lens are you looking through? Right. Do you see yourself as a beloved? Yeah. Or I'm gonna just it get in by the cracks. Right. You know what I mean? Right. how are you viewing God? What lens are you viewing God from? And what lens do you see yourself as? Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah, I I couple of weeks ago when I was studying the to to to del getting ready for this, I was watching this some this documentary on the Navy SEALs. I I like to watch yeah. You know, when they interviewed those guys and they they had a couple of guys on there that went in and got Osama.
speaker-1: yeah, that's a good one.
speaker-0: Yeah. And then there was some guys that went in and got Saddam Hussein.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: And but anyway, long story short, they was interviewing this this seal and his whole unit got ambushed. He was said they were set up and they got ambushed. And he said, you know, he saw some of his friends go down, you know, and he would get he said he was having these thoughts and and and and and was losing where he was and you know, getting fearful and didn't and he said this what he said, this what caught me. He said, I remembered I was a Navy SEAL. And he said when that kid, he said everything came into play. He remembered what he was trained to do in those situations.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Everything that he was taught came back to him. And he survived. So even I say that to say this. We're in a war. It's a spiritual battle. We deal with stuff, but we have to remember that we are the righteousness of God. We
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: are resurrected men, and we have to remember all of the training, the words. that the Holy Spirit God is giving us and we'll be able to get through these things on top. We're more than conquered. I'm I'm finished.
speaker-1: That's right. That's right. Amen. Amen. Amen, man. So that's really good, man. It was really good. Yeah. you know, the mental warfare. Yeah. You know, understand who we are and who he is. Yeah. And before we go, I know you brought some looks like devotions with us.
speaker-0: Yeah, well, I have the vortex I wrote this book last year, The Vortex of Pride, Offense and Unforgiveness. A lot of times we don't forgive ourselves. But all of this we talked about pride a little bit. And we talked about unforgiveness and offense. So these things if we not if they're not dealt with, it'll put us in a cycle.
speaker-1: Yeah. yeah.
speaker-0: So this this will empower us, the reader, to understand where they are, get a perspective of where they are and the things to help them overcome those
speaker-1: One of the hardest things you could ever do is forgiving yourself. Yeah. That's a hard thing to do. Yeah. I had to I had to work on that a little. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah. And then the armor, I mean the attire of grace. And that's the armor of God. It's the attire of grace.
speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: We need the helmet of salvation psychological. All right. That's part of our protect. So many people get up and leave the house. I I'm a remind when I s when when I was writing this book, I thought about the American Express card. Don't leave home without it. We leave home undressed. Mm-hmm. But we got to put on the We got to put on the attire of grace. We got to wear grace. Grace is there to help us. And so that's what this book is about. And then the effectual and fervent prayers. I was intending to bring that last time, but my cop had didn't get home, get to me in time. But that's just a book of prayers that you can pray for yourself, your family, your finances, your wife, your marriage, you know, different situations. So I
speaker-1: I remember you talking about that one and we talked about how important it is to know what to pray for. You know what I mean? Yeah. it's super important. Yeah.
speaker-0: I have several things in there. seven prayers. It's it's it's about fifty or six of them in here. So that I I I categorized and cataloged them and put them in a book. So anybody wanna get it is on a all of these are on Amazon along with the ones that I shared last time.
speaker-1: Yeah. So got a lot of books. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: So I think they'll that they'll be helpful to you
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: and at least point you in the right direction and go now.
speaker-1: We appreciate all that you do, man. being the mighty man of God, you know, just sharing what wisdom you get from the Lord and we appreciate all that you do. I appreciate
speaker-0: Appreciate being here.
speaker-1: you coming today. Yeah. Share some good stuff with us, man. Sure, some really good stuff with us.
speaker-0: It was an honor to d be able to do it. Yeah.
speaker-1: So do you mind before we close this out, man, just speak a prayer over to men? Yeah. Man that could be dealing with some stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Man, just all around the table. Yes. Whether it's sinful or whether it's the weight of the world, weight of life. Yeah. You know what I mean? We
speaker-0: I will I'll do that.
speaker-1: appreciate
speaker-0: Thank you, Lord. Again, Father, we thank you for this opportunity to sit around your word and to minister your word. We thank you for ministering to us. And now, Father, I lift up every person that's in the sound of under the sound of my voice and that is dealing with stuff. They might be dealing with things that we spoke about. They might be sitting silently. They might be feeling experiencing shame. They may have gone through trauma or had a tra a traumatic experience. They may feel unworthy. They may feel fearful. Or they may be frustrated. They may be in a state of frustration. Lord, just as those men did that we spoke about toward the end, they came to you. So Father, I I lift every person up to you right now and we'll comment you. And we're casting all that care on you. And I thank you, Father, for the deliverance of their soul. The deliverance of their mind, their will, their emotion. Lord, I thank you that every snare that affected their souls is destroyed by the power of God. I thank you, Lord, that you unlock their understanding, that they are able to understand the scriptures as the scripture speaks. Father, I thank you for their deliverance. I thank you, Father, for the testimonies that will come forth. I declare and decree, as you have already stated, that they are free and free indeed. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that is moving in their lives right now. I thank you, Lord, that that you're saturating them with your love. they are experiencing your love in a greater measure. They are seeing now, Lord, that they are valued, they are valuable. They are they are they are they are worth everything. That you see they are. They are not alone. They are the redeemed, they are righteous, they are holy, they are sanctified, they are blessed, they are wealthy, they are prosperous, they are healed and free indeed. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
speaker-1: Amen. Well, guys, we hope that y'all receive that word, hope you receive that prayer over your life. And remember, man, guys, don't bottle it up. Find you a a spiritual counselor. Yeah. and like you said, whether it's a pastor or it might just be a friend that you can trust that you can confine into. Man, that don't bottle it up. It don't make you weak. It don't make you a chick, a sissy. Yeah, it don't make you all that.
speaker-0: Yeah, exactly.
speaker-1: Man, you gotta get that stuff off your chest. Yeah. You gotta get it off your chest. Yeah. And you know, just be strengthened by the Lord.
speaker-0: Yeah. And if you need to cry, just cry.
speaker-1: yeah. Just cry. Hey man, for there there's a lot of times I'll be trying to preach and I'll start crying while I'm preaching.
speaker-0: Yeah, exactly. That's that's not a sign of weakness, that's that's strength.
speaker-1: Yeah, you gotta let it out, man. Gotta let it out. Yeah. Gotta let it out. But look guys, we love you. Thank you so much for tuning in. appreciate you so much. And we'll see you next time.
speaker-0: Thank you, Lord. Father, thank you once again for this opportunity to come and share your word. Father, we we just exhort you right now and we invite you in, Holy Spirit, to come and reveal the things that you will have us to know today concerning men stuff. For you are the author and the finish of our faith, Lord, and we just thank you that we are now we now belong to you. Lord Heal those that will have an ear to hear. Minister to those and let them know that they who they are in you, in the provisions that you have made to set us free. We welcome you, Holy Spirit. We acknowledge you. Thank you for the anointing in the grace that will flow as we get into the word. We yield ourselves to you at this moment. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
speaker-1: What's up guys? We're so glad you guys come in and join us today. We're super excited about today, man, because my great friend, Dr. Thaddeus Williams, has come back to see us. Man, Thaddeus, thank you so much for driving back out here, man.
speaker-0: Yeah man, it's good to be here. Good to be here. Couldn't wait.
speaker-1: Traveling all the way back from Florida again. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: It does a it's just an hour and a half trip.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Especially with this mobile traffic, they kinda drive ninety to nothing. You blend right on in there.
speaker-0: yeah.
speaker-1: But yeah, man, we're super glad to have you back. you you said you was in a sermon or service and the Lord spoke to you, man. You said you had a word that the Lord wanted you to share for us today, man, and of course I ain't passing that up.
speaker-0: Amen.
speaker-1: And you man, you did such a phenomenal job. With the last time you was here, man, it just with such grace and such just wisdom, you know, just speaking wisdom. But what I love about it is, man, you keep it simple. Yeah. You you're not diving in deep. You're just speaking the truth that's right here for all of us to grasp. No matter your educational level, no matter your age, I I feel like, man, there is such a anointing on you for you to speak in such a way that no matter like I said, age or education, man, we can all understand. And thank God for that. But yeah. 'Cause we I got the eighth grade education title, man.
speaker-0: I got it. I got it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it was an honor for me to be able to share the word as always. And like you said, I was sitting in in service a couple of weeks after that. and it just in my spirit came up men stuff. Men's stuff. And I said, What?
speaker-1: What do you
speaker-0: I asked you know, I'm like, men stuff, what are you talking about, Lord?
speaker-1: Barbecue later. Motorcycles like
speaker-0: But the stuff the stuff he he he he was referring to were the things that men deal with and have a hard time navigating and thus it end up keeping them dormant, making them feel less than, unvalued, you know, and that they're not enough. Well in Christ we are enough. You know, and so he wants he wants to talk about that today. And I want to allow him to use me to minister to you that might be dealing with stuff. Stuff we shouldn't have to deal. Well, we'll we will encounter things in life, but we have to trust on the Lord to help us navigate those situations.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: That's why it's important that we maintain a good relationship with him.
speaker-1: One hundred percent.
speaker-0: And and it leads me back to the last time I was here, I was talking about the resurrected man. See, when you find out and discover who you are in Christ and that you have a direct relationship with him, and you spend time with him, just drive you can spend time with him even while you're at work, when you're driving, no matter what. This is not a religious thing. It's about just being available to hear from the
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: To cast your cares upon him, and he will direct your path by his spirit. But you have to maintain a connection. He's the vine with the branch. And we can't bear fruit unless we stay connected to the vine. And there are so many things that men go through because of what we were taught as being young. We talked about a little bit yesterday, Nick. Suck it up and
speaker-1: Yeah. Be a man. That's how I don't how I was raised for men to react. Right. I mean, be tough, be calloused. Right. You know, when when life gets hard you grit your teeth, dig in, yeah, keep pushing it. While there's truth to that, yeah. Like you don't give up. Like don't give up, but we compress it in, right? Right. Right. What happens when we mentioned this, like what happens when you can continuously hold it in, compress it in, eventually that vessel 'cause it's yeah you go cooking and and and like we mentioned like unfortunately when you're around your family majority of the time you're gonna explode on your family. Exactly. And they're just an innocent bystander of what could be happening at work. what could happen while you was in Walmart. You know like no matter the case. So yeah, this is a extremely important topic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: So I want to get into it, and my objective is to use stuff as an acronym. T-U-F-A-F-C-F-C-F-
speaker-1: Okay. Other way to be a preacher right there. Yeah.
speaker-0: Use stuff as a acronym. Well what is it what what what does it stand for? Shame, trauma, unworthiness, fear, and frustration. Stuff. Stuff. So I want to identify these things, and and and my objective is to point those things out and and and give you the key to overcome those things.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: So the the the message is men stuff, stuff that easily besets a man. Now the word beset means torment, overwhelmed, harassed, surrounded. We feel closed in at times. You know, and you can't bag you can't bag a cat in a corner unless he's gonna strike out. And that's what we was referring
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: These things will back us in a corner, and then at the end of the end of the day, something can happen and it triggers us, and now our family members or someone become collateral damage to our reaction. It's a reaction. But there's a way we can respond versus react to stuff. And we are to respond the way the word of God instructs us to. Okay? Stuff will speak to us. Grace speaks to us as well.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Men in the scripture went through stuff, but they had a common thread to get over that stuff. And we're going to talk about that. We're going
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: to be quick. I have my notes to try to stay on point. You know, I just want to walk us through it.
speaker-1: You know, when when you mentioned it, just to throw it out there, like when when you mentioned like this topic and what we're going through, ultimately I I thought about Eliza. Mm-hmm. You know, Eliza, he got to a point where he he was going against you know, a ruthless woman and the king and all that. And I think it was Ahab is is the king. But, you know, he he ended up becoming suicidal. Yeah. You know, but it says that the Lord sent angels to attend to him, you know, and but even Eliza who was Probably the greatest prophet of the you know, in the Bible. Man, even he he was at a point to where just man, I'm done. Done. Yeah, I'm done. Yeah. And but the Lord attended to it.
speaker-0: No, it's okay. It's okay. But the thing is, we see them going through that
speaker-1: so I jumped ahead.
speaker-0: Jesus.
speaker-1: Yeah, man. But look at yeah. He went through stuff. he went through everything. he has stuff.
speaker-0: He has stuff. And remember last time I was here, I said Jesus is a rela a revelation of who we are.
speaker-1: We are yeah.
speaker-0: You know, as the resurrected men. He's a revelation of who we are. Yeah. So we can glean from him.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: We can glean from Elijah. We can glean from
speaker-1: From Paul. Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: these are some of the guys that we're going to talk about, talk about later, and the things that they encounter, but yet they persevered by doing one thing. And we'll get to that later. So my my key scriptures here is Psalms chapter 34 verse 19, and it says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And he and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stuff It's the yoke that Satan tries to use to put us in bondage. Okay, the message translation of that same verse says Christ has set us free to live a free life. A free life. Not a not not not not a problem-free life, but a free life. We're gonna encounter things, but we can.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. We got a way out. We got a
speaker-0: way out. She's provided a way out. It's is it's something that you said that I was in the prayer closet yesterday and I asked I said, What what what what you wanna tell me today? He said, I am the way.
speaker-1: The truth and the life.
speaker-0: So I say, okay, I got you. I gotcha. He's the way, he's the truth, and he's the life. So here again, if we look at him as our example, we look at him as a picture of who we are, a revelation of who we are, as born-again men and women of God, then as long as we maintain that relationship and stay open. He can lead and guide us by his spirit. The
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: spirit of truth will come in and lead and guide us and navigate us and remind us. The voice of grace will remind us who we are when stuff begins to talk at us, when stuff begins to weigh on us. That that our confidence is. And our dependence must always remain with the Lord
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: in the Spirit of God. We win. We win. So so so that's the that's the second verse that I have. Philippians chapter three, verses thirteen and fourteen from the voice translation. It reads Brothers and sisters, as I said, I know I have not arrived, but there's one thing I am doing. I'm leaving my old life behind, putting everything on the line for this mission. We have a mission.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And it's it's Satan excuse me. It's Satan MO to get us distracted
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: and to keep us hemmed up in order for us not to fulfill the mission or the call that God has placed upon us.
speaker-1: That's all he can do is distract us. Exactly.
speaker-0: All he got. And we have to remember that the battlefield is the mind.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: So, really and truly, we Satan comes at us with psychological warfare. Psychological.
speaker-1: Absolutely, one hundred percent. It's logical. Yeah.
speaker-0: But but there's a way out. There's a way out. So Paul says to the Philippians, he said, he forget those things which are behind. Forgetting is a choice. We choose to forget. We choose to remember who we are in Christ. We choose to remember the promises of God. We choose to remember that we have a helper, the Holy Ghost,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: who will continue to lead and guide us. It's the light of the Lord that shines upon the path that we walk, the path of righteousness. You get what I'm saying? So so this is the mindset. So we have to renew our minds to this stuff, you know, and and really Take heed and grasp it and believe that it's true because it is true.
speaker-1: That's right. It is one of the one of the scriptures that I had was Romans twelve two. huh. You know, is a re you know, renewing of your mind. Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: And and and then verse 14 of Philippians three, he said, I am sprinting toward the only goal that counts to cross the line, to win the prize, and to hear God's call to resurrection life found exclusively in Jesus the anointed. An exclusive life. He wants us to have a an exclusive life. But we got to overcome, we have to have to yield to the teaching of the spirit and put things into action in our lives, act on what we hear the voice of the Lord say
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: to overcome and experience this this exclusive life,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: free of the stuff.
speaker-1: I was fixed to say, you know, that the what you say using the word exclusive reminds me of what Paul's kinda e reiterating god if I said that right. What Jesus actually said with the the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I've come to give you life. Yeah. Not just life, but a life of abundance. Yeah abundantly.
speaker-0: Yes, and then our last one is Hebrews chapter twelve verses one and two said therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, the weight is the stir, and the sin which so easily be ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, keeping our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, the stuff, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: He despised the shame. He he endured the cross, so he overcame the stuff.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: All right. And he succeeded. Now he's at a place of rest. We can do the same thing. And the good news is we are already in that position because we're seated with him in heavenly places of
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: all principalities and powers. All right. So you can i it track me. Just track me. It's good. If you if you get a hold of this, it's gonna help you.
speaker-1: Yes.
speaker-0: You know, it's it I'm not saying you're not experiencing what you're experiencing, but we can't allow what we experience to hold us in.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: We're free. God paint made a way for us to be free.
speaker-1: Yeah. Amen. That's right.
speaker-0: So men stuff, stuff. Stuff is the internal weights, pressures, wounds, thoughts and experiences that we carry or suppress rather than properly deal with them.
speaker-1: D what's what's a good illustration just to kinda get somebody to relate to it? I mean, what could what could be some good illustrations that you have that that when you when you say stuff that just pops into your head that a man could be
speaker-0: Bad decisions. You may have made bad decisions. You may have done some simple stuff. You may have been in war and have had to kill someone. All right. Just the nature of war.
speaker-1: Put me
speaker-0: You know, people experience they call it PTA.
speaker-1: yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: So you did what you had to do in war, but that's not who you are. You did, you followed your c you followed your your the rules of engagement. You had to do what you had to do, and God is not condemning you because you did that.
speaker-1: That's right. That's right. You see what I'm saying?
speaker-0: So you have to separate that's not who you are. You're not a murderer.
speaker-1: That's right. You see what I'm saying? That's not murder. That's not murder.
speaker-0: That's not
speaker-1: That's not murder. You
speaker-0: you were defending our country.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: You were def I'm talking to some military personnel right now that have gone through Vietnam, even older guys, World War One and Two, they old, but those some of those guys have taken things to the grave.
speaker-1: absolutely. And what they also was told when they got home by citizens. man.
speaker-0: Basically.
speaker-1: You know
speaker-0: You kill women. Here's the thing. I encourage you when those things come in because that's stuffed talking. Don't think that that's you. Especially if you're born again. Your new creation, brand new, not a new improved you, brand new. You're a new creation in Christ. The old, the stuff has passed away. All things have become new in Christ. I'm not saying it's easy, but you have to practice it. You have to meditate on. You have to continually meditate on the word of God. Let it stir in your spirit, in your mind. And and and aga I think I said the last time about the blood of Jesus. You know, the blood of Jesus purges our conscience of every evil word. It's a continuous thing. And we have to be mindful of that, you know, and receive. Receive it by faith. That is cleansing and purging, and that you are not the thing that you have done in the past. You may have cheated on your wife. Now you you you feel bad about it. You you you you you feel remorse about it. You you you're sad that you did it. Now you see yourself in a light that God doesn't see you in. That's shame. You may have had an addiction to pornography. And or you might be dealing with that now. That's not something to be ashamed of. That's something life be life'. You see what I'm saying, Nick? Life be life. And God is not holding you or condemning you because you've you've dealt you you're dealing with those things or have dealt with those things. You're new. I'm trying to explain it the best I can.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: You're new. I can't say it enough. You're new in Christ. You're new in Christ. And you have to continually remind yourself of who you are in him, who he created you to be. Who he made you to be. And let you let that wash, that continual washing of you confessing and believing what you're saying, not trying to get what you're saying to come true, but you're saying it because it is true.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: You're saying it because it is true. And pretty soon we catch up with what is true. See, we as Christians, you know, religion will have you saying you got to do this to do that. You gotta do this or God ain't gonna bless you. You know, you you you it's it's all about work.
speaker-1: Yeah, I was basically it's all about w what is it, credentials or your credits and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. That's what that's what a religion is. That's what they're to explain best way like this is like religions are like a D V. You when you go up to the D V and like you just try and change your address, you never have the right paperwork. There is always a power bill or you know, you don't have your social security car, whatever the case may be. Yeah. There's always something that you don't have that will never make this a success. That's right. Right. And that's what I've heard that said, yeah. Religion is like the DMV. It's like if you ever have
speaker-0: We never need yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. But in Christ we have everything.
speaker-1: yeah, we are we have hit we are.
speaker-0: We have life and you said earlier. We have life and we have it more abundantly. We have an exclusive life
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah.
speaker-0: in Christ. So I hope what I'm saying you're getting it and and in in and it's helping you. And
speaker-1: I I know one of when when you know, 'cause I was asking you what's what's what comes to your mind whenever, you know, you you speak in stuff. And I know when you when you spoke it to me and you told me the topic and everything like that, ultimately what I thought of was, you know, just your everyday life. Everyday life. And so not you know, and w might not even be in the on the sinful side, but like as men, we are providers. You know we're the provider of our family. We're the priest of our home. Right. You know, we Wes is who we are. There's a lot of weight on the shoulder of a man. Exactly. You know, not taken away from women, no, you know, not taking away from that. Yeah, saying that. But if especially if we're talking about a godly home. Yeah. You know, if but Christian values or whatever the case may be, or American value, is you know, how we grew up on. Right. So you are you're supposed to be the provider, the protector, you know, you're all these things. Yeah. And while that is true, but also we get our strengths, our provision, we get you know, all this From Jesus. From Jesus. If we're trying to provide without Jesus, you know, helping us. Yeah. If we're trying to protect without Jesus helping us, we're gonna become overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. It's gonna be too much for us to handle. Yeah. We wasn't made to do it on alone. Exactly. You know what I mean? And so when you're trying to provide and maybe the bills are catching up to you, you know what I mean? Maybe maybe there is like some some spouse arguments and you know, it seems like you can never connect. You're always just eating at each other. You know what I mean? And it's like just piling all on your shoulders one at a time. Yeah. So weighted. Yeah. Coming to Jesus when he says, you know, give me all of your burdens. Yes,
speaker-0: Yoke is easy and my burden is light.
speaker-1: man. And so we are the protectors and we are the providers, but we get our provision and our strength from him who is the provider. Exactly. Who is our shelter, our strength, you know what I mean? Our fortress. Yeah. And so that's and that's what come to my mind. You know people that's like I said, weighted down by bills, weighted down just by life. Yeah. You know, maybe you're not getting the jobs, you know what I mean? Like work is stacked up. Yeah. And that's what came to my mind. Yeah. You know, that kind of everyday stuff. That's part
speaker-0: And that kind of stuff that that's
speaker-1: of it. That's the real stuff. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah, that's real stuff. And and and when we can't meet those things, those those those responsibilities, we turn on ourselves.
speaker-1: That's right. You feel less of value now. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Man, I'm not a good man. I'm a lesser man. Right. And that's the enemy. Jesus
speaker-0: I'm not a good man. I'm a lesser man. Yeah, that's him at all all day.
speaker-1: said he's come to kill, still, and destroy. He's come to kill, still, and destroy.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. So
speaker-1: This is good, Thaddeus. Keep going, but
speaker-0: So stuff is the internal weights, pressures, wounds, thoughts, and experience that we carry are suppressed rather than properly dealing with. The hidden burdens weighs the hidden burdens, slash the weights me and carry, again, is sh is stuff. Shame, trauma, unworthiness, fear, frustration. Shame says, I am hunted by my past. Trauma says, I'm carrying wounds that never healed. Unworthiness is I'll never be enough. I'd never be ignored. Frustration means is no matter how hard I try, nothing seems to be working.
speaker-1: No.
speaker-0: These are the things men deal with. You put it plainly. You said it plainly. These are the things we as men deal with. But that's a way we can deal with.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Versus turning inward, we cast those cares on the Lord. He wants us to. He desires for us to do it. He like with the mid out. Come
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: on, give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. So let me let I want to define each of those words. Shame. Shame is the painful feeling that something is wrong or unacceptable about us. Trauma is the lasting impact of a deeply painful or distressing experience. Unworthiness, the belief that we are not good enough or deserving of love, acceptance or good things. That's bad. That's bad. When unworthiness is Hits a man.
speaker-1: That's bad. That's when you get to a point where like where somebody with Elijah Yeah. Like, I'm done. I'm truth.
speaker-0: done. You don't know your work.
speaker-1: That's right. They'll be better off without me. That's
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: that's a bad place to that's a bad place to be and that's lies, man. Yeah. It's not the truth Jesus spoke over us.
speaker-0: Exactly, exactly. And fear the emotional response to or to a real a perceived threat, danger, rejection or failure. A perceived We can perceive something that's not real.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: We can perceive things about ourselves that's not true. All because of the pressure. That's how the enemy sneaks in. Remember, we said it's a lot of psychological warfare. You know, we get to looking at things, and then because things are not lining up the way we feel they should be lining up, then we turn inward and begin to put all of this weight and pressure on ourselves.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And think less of, and we count our worthiness based upon what we can do, based upon us succeeding. But that's not
speaker-1: True. That's right.
speaker-0: our worth is found in the Lord. You said it. We are valuable. We are valuable. We are valuable. We're of God's interest. He loves us. He cares for us. And there's nothing we can do to cause him not to love us. We are accepted in him, and there's nothing we can do to cause him not to accept us. But this stuff lied to many men have lied to me. Every now and then I hear the voices of did this in the past.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: You did that in the past. And and and and what's what's sad when God delivers one and you begin to confess your testimony, share your testimony, and someone takes your testimony and weaponize it and uses against you when they get mad at you. Then now that's coming at you. Right?
speaker-1: Yeah. All right.
speaker-0: It's the enemy still trying to pull you in. But see, when a person weaponize your testimony, they're downplaying what grace has done.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: They're downplaying what grace. They don't have an understanding of what grace is.
speaker-1: one hundred percent, yeah.
speaker-0: Because if you understood grace, you would know grace doesn't weaponize your testimony. The scripture tells us in Revelation we overcome the enemy by the the blood of the Lamb in the word of our testimony.
speaker-1: That's like the motto of the show.
speaker-0: That's the word about exactly t testifying with me. Yeah. Testimony again, it's the banner of victory. That's your banner of victory saying, say it and look. I'm no longer there.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So to to have your testimony weaponized and used against you to make you feel some kind of way, now you're dealing with distractions that God never intends for you to deal with. You see what I'm saying?
speaker-1: Yeah. yeah. It it kinda reminds me too of and now this is just a little bit of theology 'cause we don't really know a hundred percent sure. But when Paul's praying to Jesus and he's there asking, it's like, Man, can you take this thorn from my flesh? Right. I believe that that thorn in his flesh that he's begging to remove is That you know, he used to be a murderer of Christians. Yeah. And now I can just picture Paul when he's going to sleep at night, man. He's visualizing these people that he murdered, innocent people. Yeah. That he murdered and I can just see that Paul's like, Lord, please take these thoughts, these nightmares out of my head. He's like, No, my grace is sufficient for you. That's what we Yeah. My grace is sufficient. I'm not gonna take that away because that's gonna be a testimony. Yeah. That that right there, that's My grace is sufficient for that. And it's the same thing of what we go through, man. Yeah. It haunts us. There's things that I've done in my past that haunts me at times. Yeah. When I when I put my guard down and then lets the devil in yeah and it come back and haunt me. Yeah. And but and then I gotta remember the grace. Yeah. It's the grace is I gotta remember the grace.
speaker-0: Remember the grace, what grace has provided for us. And grace is a person.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Grace is a person. His name is Jesus. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So we got the whole package.
speaker-1: We have the whole package.
speaker-0: So the last definition I want to give you is frustration, the disappointment or irritation we feel when our efforts or expectations are repeatedly blocked.
speaker-1: Mm.
speaker-0: We're going at it the best we can. Now, every time I go here, I get hit a roadblock. I go there, I hit a roadblock. Something's damned up right here. I can't. No matter what, now frustration sets in. When we get frustrated, that cause us to not think clearly.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: But we have to take those moments when we when we sense ourselves beginning to go toward the the the yield to the frustration and our thinking and our our our clarity is unclear and unsure. That's the time we have to say and be honest with ourselves, I'm pulling back.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: That's when we have to go in the prayer closet and say, you know what, Lord, I've been doing this the wrong, I may be doing this the wrong way. I'm casting the care over on you. Help me. Mm-hmm. That's what he's there for. He's there.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: That's why he's given us his word. That's why he sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us. See, we got we everybody hollering out to Jesus, and I get it. But Jesus is sitting down at the right hand of the Father.
speaker-1: Yeah, interceded. Interceded.
speaker-0: But it's the Holy Spirit that is here with us now, here on earth,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: to lead and guide us and put us in remembrance of what has been said.
speaker-1: In spoken. That's right. Over.
speaker-0: For us. He's there to help us.
speaker-1: I was thinking that ev and it even says that when you know what you should not ought to pray, yeah the Holy Spirit get in the Holy Spirit. Exactly.
speaker-0: The spirit. Exact. Exactly. And you know that leads me to say it's very important that we are filled with the Holy Ghost and and pray in tongues. Because when you pray in the Holy in the in tongues, you're praying the perfect the the scriptures say you pray in the perfect will of God.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I heard yeah, tell me what your thoughts on this. I heard when you pray in tongues, the devil don't know what you're praying. He don't? Yeah.
speaker-0: I I believe
speaker-1: Yeah, okay.
speaker-0: that. Paul told him to say, I thank God I pray in the spirit more than you.
speaker-1: yeah, he I I pray in tongues way better. If I was flexing a little bit.
speaker-0: Black, yeah. I pray more praying in tongues more than you are. But see, what what what we have to realize praying in tongues build us build our spirits up.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Build us up in our most holy faith. And and and and we'll speak in mysteries. See, God only revealed mysteries to those who follow him. So therefore, that negates Satan ever knowing what you're praying.
speaker-1: Gotcha. Gotcha. It's definitely not a far fetched saying. Yeah. He does what you what you pray when you speak in tongues, yeah. Right. And I know speaking in tongues is weird at first. Yeah. It it it seems like you're not really going anywhere with it. Yeah. Maybe I'm just cold. Yeah. Yeah, I
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: got you just babbling. Babbling. But nah, man, it's there's something to it. Get backed off of tongues 'cause I kinda idolize tongues a little bit. I gotcha. or or or even use it in a inappropriate way. Yeah. so to speak. And so but honestly, I feel more relieved since I backed off of it a little bit and made it more of a personal deal. Yeah. It it feels more natural now. Yeah. instead of just getting overwhelmed by the presence of God. You know what it's like to be overwhelmed by the presence of God. Yeah. You just go nuts. Yeah. Yeah. And I've learned to try to control it a little. Yeah. I don't want to get out of order. Yeah. And but
speaker-0: I got you.
speaker-1: no tongues, super important. Yeah. 'cause we ain't speaking English when we get to head.
speaker-0: Not at all. Yeah, not at all. And and and and so, you know, pray you that doesn't mean you have to pray out in tongues out loud in front of everybody. Yeah. You can do it sitting at your di desk driving in your car alone.
speaker-1: It's a person it's a person. It's a personal thing. I mean I had to learn that. Yeah.
speaker-0: It's personal. It's personal. But the gist of what I'm saying is we pray the perfect will of God when we do. We may not know what we do we may not know what to pray for. How to pray. So what's to go to? Pray in tongue. Pray in the spirit.
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speaker-0: So shame deals with what we've done. Trauma deals with what happened to us. Unworthiness deals with how we see ourselves. Fear deals with what we think might happen. Frustration deals with what is not happening the way we expect it. So stuff. Men suppress stuff. What's the why behind the suppression? Why do we press things versus vocalize it or go tell someone or discuss it with a counselor or spiritual counselor, the pastor, you know. I a and and and there's a reason why men suppress that and we touched on it earlier. It's
speaker-1: Because the way we're raised.
speaker-0: the way we raise. That's part of it. Yeah. And and and and once that get ingrained in your soul, then you just
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I'm by myself. Don't nobody want To hear what I gotta say. I don't want to be a problem. Here's another. I can deal with it by myself. Now you're over in the pride. Now you're dealing with pride. Pride comes before.
speaker-1: That's right. Now yeah. Now
speaker-0: It comes before destruction.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So, so now you're saying when when pride steps in, now you're saying you God.
speaker-1: I was so excited. What got k the devil kicked out? Craft. Craft.
speaker-0: Yeah. So, so, but got here again, there are ways we can deal with the stuff,
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: the shame, the trauma, the unworthiness, the frustration, the fear. So there's a way to deal with those things. But men off the suppressed, conceal, repressed, hide stuff, e eternalize it. What bothers us because we have learned to carry pain rather than communicate it. We've been taught. to carry pains as me a pain as men.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Carry it. You can deal with it. It'll work yourself out. No, it won't. No it won't.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: So we were taught to be strong. We fear appearing weak or inadequate. We don't always have words for what we feel. This is the reason why we suppress things. Men suppress things. We fear judgment or rejection. We feel it's our responsibility to protect others, our families.
speaker-1: Yeah. It's that's our responsibility. I got a man up.
speaker-0: But man up say it with your chest.
speaker-1: Yeah. And that's what I was gonna say. And you said judgment. Yeah. like one of the things growing up, like say you tell a friend, like, man, dude, I'm feeling the type of way, what are you probably gonna man, quit acting like a woman. Yeah, don't no yeah. Don't be a s just
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Don't be a sissy.
speaker-1: you know, so it's like and there's a time and place for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's a thing. Especially
speaker-0: That's a real thing.
speaker-1: at a young age, yeah, you know, as a teenage, 'cause I mean your hormones are all over the day, I'm just And man you hear stuff like that as a teenager, then you grow up thinking, All right, I ain't supposed to say that. No. I ain't supposed to talk about that. Right. Right. That's how it starts. Right.
speaker-0: We feel responsible for being enough. We gotta be enough
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: to feel responsible. Th these are reason why men suppress things. You know. So we gotta get out of that. Yeah. We gotta get our minds renewed. Men often men often stuff what hurts because subconsciously we believe silence makes us strong. But biblical strength is not pretending that nothing hurts.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah.
speaker-0: Viboclus strengt
speaker-1: That's good.
speaker-0: It's not pretending that nothing hurts. It is knowing where to take the herd. It takes strength to go to the
speaker-1: Lloyd. Absolutely.
speaker-0: it take it would take strength. If I come to you said, Nick, I need you to help me with something if you can. I'm dealing with A, B, C, and D. And vice versa.
speaker-1: That's right. And yeah.
speaker-0: It takes strength to go to someone and and put your business out there.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And that's another thing. There aren't too many people that I would trust with my business. Because it'll lead to those things up top.
speaker-1: No, I would. Top. Yeah.
speaker-0: So that's why we have to be when someone come and confide in us. We shouldn't take what they put tell us about themselves and somewhere down the road weaponize what they told us for whatever reason. Use it against them.
speaker-1: Yeah. That's I got I got three people in my life that are who I call my paws. Yeah. And that I can trust that one, that when I come to them I'm not gonna get a judge. two, when I come to them they're not gonna be yes men. Yeah. They're gonna tell me what it you know. If I'm in the wrong they they're gonna tell me I'm in the wrong. Right. or three is if I'm dealing with some personal things. Right. You know, not necessar necessarily sin. Yeah. But personal things, man, that they can give me a biblical accurate answer and help point me in the right direction and pray for me. Mm-hmm. And live you know lift my name up. And I got I got them three people. No, I mean there's a couple other people that I could tell them, you know, maybe what I'm going through. But those three people is who I'm not only am I telling them like what I'm going through, but I'm listening what they have to say. Yeah. Because I trust that they're giving me biblical, accurate truth. Yes. to that
speaker-0: I I have a close friend that I I that confide in and and h he's not a yes man either.
speaker-1: Yeah, you don't need a thing in your life.
speaker-0: He like, dude, come on, man. You know. So and I grew up with him. That's good. He lives right there in Mobile. Yeah,
speaker-1: Yeah. okay.
speaker-0: and but he he's we don't when we when him and I talk, we don't he it's always well what you doing. When this comes against you, what do you do? How do you handle that? How do you navigate that? True. Well, Maurice, that's my mother name. Maurice is my name. That's wrong. you should have handled this this way. you should have said this. You you no, you know, point blank. And and and he said it in love. It's in love. It's just correction. It's correct. It is. And and and so we have to be open to correction. Mm-hmm. Constructive criticism.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: You know. So so that leads me back to weaponizing someone's testimony. If it's constructive it's if if the t We shouldn't use it to hurt someone, but we can use it to be help them with constructive criticism. Point them in the right direction. Don't use to just say, well, you ain't changed because you still doing this or did that and other. You hadn't changed. Well you you here again, you're downplaying the work of God. Number one, you're not God. So who are you to say that I haven't changed? All right. So at the end of the day. You know, we have to just really just harker down and be led by the Spirit
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: and receive what God has said. Even when your your your testimony is being used against you as a weapon, you still have to remember who you are in Christ. Because that's just the enemy trying to working through that person, trying to get you or convince you that you're not who you say you are in Christ.
speaker-1: That's right. He I should've worn my other shirt. I got a shirt that says, why you bringing up my past? Jesus dropped the charges.
speaker-0: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
speaker-1: I should have worn that shirt. I was going to. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: I was going to. Yeah. So it's it's it's it's these are some serious things that we're talking about and I'm you know, I'm doing my best to stay kind of stay on track. I'll and that's okay. I'll throw you off. No, no but
speaker-1: I'm perfectly fine chasing rabbits. Yeah. Cool. Yeah.
speaker-0: It's okay, we can go down. Yeah. Now I just wanna like to pick up where I left off.
speaker-1: But you're doing great, man. I'm enjoying it.
speaker-0: So so the thing is the dangers of stuffing your stuff. In other words, the danger in suppressing the stuff. It turns to anger. It creates emotion isolation. It damaged relationships. It affects our well being. It leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms. You saw drinking, getting high, drugs, women, pornography, you know, y it is it's unhealthy. Leads to unhealthiness. It distorts how we see ourselves. When we suppress things, it affects our psyche. About our sales. eventually produce an emotional eruption. We talked about that earlier. What we suppress does not necessarily disappear. What we refuse to address internally can eventually express itself externally.
speaker-1: Yeah. It's gonna come out.
speaker-0: is gonna come out. That's why it's very important to find someone that you can trust and discuss these things with.
speaker-1: What what does the Bible say? What goes into a man's heart will come out of
speaker-0: yeah. It's not what goes into that defiles him. It's what comes out of his mouth. That's the shit
speaker-1: Yeah. If you're steadily receiving toxic. Yeah. If you're not if you're steadily receiving toxic, what's gonna come out of your mouth? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. There might have been a I think there's another scripture that actually lines up better with that. That's the one I thought of. Yeah.
speaker-0: So when stuff speaks, remember. Here's what I want people to get. Remember. When shame speaks, remember God has removed our shame. When trauma speaks, remember God has healed our wounds. When unworthiness speaks, our sufficiency is from God, is grace. When fear speaks, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. When frustration speaks, we can trust God even when When we don't understand.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Even if we don't understand it, understand what's going on, understanding what he's doing, we we we still can trust him. Cause he knows. So the voice of grace, the affirmations of salvation, shame. When shame says, I am what I did, grace says, I am who God says I am in Christ. Romans 10, 11. The scripture says. No man who believes in him, who adheres to, relies on, and trust in him will ever be put to shame or be disappointed. So if we believe in God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he said we will never be put to shame, neither will we be will we be disappointed. So when we hear stuff speak, we can respond with what grace said.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So the truth is in Christ we exchange shame for honor. In Christ we exchange shame for honor. When trauma says what happened to me is still controlling me, grace says what happened to me does not determine who I am or where I'm going. It does determine who I am or where you're going. Psalms chapter one hundred forty seven verse three He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wound. The truth here, Christ heals our deepest emotional wounds. Only Christ can do that. When unworthiness says I'll never be enough, grace says my sufficiency in qualification comes from God. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6 says, To pray to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. We are accepted. Our worthiness comes from God. Our worthiness comes from being accepted. That we are sons of God.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Not going back, Nick, we're not servants, we're sons. We're his sons. We are heirs together with Christ.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: We're sons that serve, but we're not servants. So the truth of this is God has qualified us and made us righteous in Christ. When fear says, What if I fail, lose what I have, or get hurt again? Grace says, I do not have to live controlled by fear because God is with me. We are never alone.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: He said, I will never leave nor forsake you. It's a win-win. We're never alone. We might feel alone, but We are never alone. John chapter four verse eighteen. There's no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear because fear involves torment, torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. He who fears has not been made perfect in love.
speaker-1: Would would you say that is more of like you haven't completely understood his love?
speaker-0: That's right. That's right. That's right. You you that that you got you get we have to get a revelation that God's love is unconditional. We have to get a revelation that God himself is love.
speaker-1: Yeah. And that is with you. Like gone nowhere. Yeah.
speaker-0: He's he ain't going nowhere. He's not going anywhere. So perfect love drives, so perfect love drives cast out fear. He drives it out. That's why it's important to maintain communion with him. To be develop your relationship with him. He's your father. Jesus is your big brother. The spoke Holy Spirit is your helper. Develop a relationship with the Trinity. We have to we have to steward their relationship.
speaker-1: Yeah, we we we say it like this to the students. It's like so like just give an example for me in Kansas, if Kansas and I, you know, we have our marriage, if we don't never talk, we don't never communicate, right, what kind of relationship are we gonna have? I won't know who she is. Right. I wouldn't know how she feels about me. Right. I wouldn't know how to make her, you know, love me more, whatever the case may be. That part ain't about God. But yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you. But in the same sense, if we're never t communing with God, if we're never talking to God or trying to hear God, yeah. that's important. Yeah. but if if we're not trying to spend time with God, we're never gonna understand exactly how He feels about us. Right and who we are in him. Right.
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: So what you're saying, dude, that's the first and biggest step we've gotta do. Yeah. Yeah. Biggest step we've got to do. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: To get God you we have to ex get get get this in our mind. God loves us and we can't do nothing about it. Ain't nothing you can do about it.
speaker-1: There ain't nothing you can do about it. Jeremy Wall says that all the time. He Hey, I love you, and ain't nothing you can do about it. You know
speaker-0: Right man so so these are things that I hope you're catching. I hope the guys are catching the ladies are catching it, and and I felt it was very important and something that the Lord wanted me to share and and just put it in the atmosphere. Yeah. And let give people opportunity to hear it, take it and go over the the video over and over again, go back and study it. I like to give scripture as much scripture as possible so People won't be just thinking I'm just talking.
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. That's right.
speaker-0: We it's we have scriptures as evidence of God's goodness.
speaker-1: That's right. Yep.
speaker-0: It's evidence, it's proof of his goodness. And it and it's nothing we can do, all the things we but believe that he is a rewarder of those of us who diligently seeks him. We have to seek the Lord, not anything else. Don't be seeking worldly stuff. Seek the Lord, spend time in the word, spend time in prayer. While you're in prayer, spend more time listening than talking.
speaker-1: Yeah. If you doing all the talking and you ain't letting him talk, yeah. That's our youth pastor says that all the time. Yeah. Like that's not that's not communion.
speaker-0: That's yeah no, that's you you you you just see prayer is a dialogue. It's between two people, two or
speaker-1: That's true.
speaker-0: more people. We'll we're conversing. You say something, I respond. I say something. If I say something, you say something. That's how you you bounce things off one another. And that it's the same with God. You know,
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: you we have the right to be in the presence of God. We don't have to go before the father all timid, all nervous. What you doing that for? He already know.
speaker-1: Is that I can boldly approach the
speaker-0: By the blood. Come on. The blood for give us action.
speaker-1: I can boldly approach
speaker-0: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So frustration. Frustration says, No matter how hard I try, nothing seems to be working. Grace says, I don't have to understand everything that is happening. I can trust God to direct my path. Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Frustration comes because we're not taking things to God. We're trying to do life by ourselves when it was never God's intent for us to do life by ourselves.
speaker-1: Sure.
speaker-0: That's why when Jesus ascended, he said, It's expedient that I go. That word expedient means it's better for you. I'm giving you the advantage. If I go, I'm giving you, it's it's to your advantage that I go.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: But I'm gonna send you the comforter. And he's gonna lead you, guide you, and put you in remembrance of everything that I've said. He will not speak of himself, but he will only speak the things that he hears the Father speak.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: So we're not alone. There's no need to be frustrated. Cast them cares on the Lord. He cares for us. And then just work out your salvation. Work out your salvation. Don't allow yourself to convince yourself that you're less than because you made mistakes because of past mistakes, past failures, not being successful in the area. We're not defined by here's the thing. We're not defined by our the things that we are unsuccessful at, nor the things that we've been successful for. That doesn't define us.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: The scriptures defines us. Christ defines us. If we can get through all of that, see that's the world way. You know, the world defines you by how much you got, how much how met what kind of car you drive drive, what kind of money you got. You could we can pass people on the road that are home. That don't mean that they are not they're they are unworthy. That
speaker-1: That's my
speaker-0: doesn't mean that they are less than. That has not that doesn't that doesn't determine their value. They're in the position that they're in, maybe because of the stuff they refuse to let go of. You see what I'm saying? They but that doesn't mean that they are not valuable. If if we weren't valuable to God, he wouldn't have sent his son Jesus to
speaker-1: Yeah, one hundred percent.
speaker-0: if we can start thinking that way, you know. I know the scriptures say we shouldn't think highly more highly of ourselves than we should. But we shouldn't think less of ourselves either. No. No. You know, we we can think about ourselves the same way Christ thanks of us. Way
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: God thanks of us. That's the mindset that we have to to to to to allow to in order to work out our salvation. We we have to have the mind of Christ. We have to see things the way he sees it. We have to call things the way he called things out. We have to do things what he say we can do, the way he said we can do it, not live life on our own. We're not bastards.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: We're not bastards. You know, we have a father
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: that loves us and cares for us
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: and desires the best for us. And we just have to walk in the light as he's shining upon our lives, walk in that. And allow his leading and promptness to guide us to where he is taking us.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: We have an expected end. And he's expecting us to fulfill the call and to live the life that he's already provided for us here on earth. And
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: we we can only do that by changing our mind or repenting. That word repent means to change your mind. Change your mind. Only the word of God. So we have to be mindful of what we look at, what we hear, what we watch, what we participate in, the group of people we're around. You know, it's not good to be around you can't be hang with the crowd.
speaker-1: Show me your friends, I'll show you your future.
speaker-0: Yeah, exact. You know, we we can't just hang around anybody.
speaker-1: Yeah, you can witness then you don't that's what people get that wrong all the time, man. It's all like well, Jesus hung out with sinners and all that. He was witnessing and loving on sinners.
speaker-0: Is that
speaker-1: He had his select twelve that he was really close to. Yeah. And teaching them. Yeah. So they twist that so they could feel more comfortable hanging out in bars. Yeah. And going to strip clubs and all this and that. Yeah. And that's what people people twist that a little bit. Exactly.
speaker-0: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I wanna and then claim they going to the strip club to witness to somebody. You're going
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: to the strip club to witness to nobody. Yeah. You going to be a witness.
speaker-1: Yes, you you about to witness something.
speaker-0: So so these are things, man, that are very important. So
speaker-1: When when you speak of value too, a scripture comes to my mind and I want to say it's like maybe maybe Matthew twenty, twenty two, somewhere in that case, maybe. Uh-huh. Jesus tells a parable. G and this is Jesus talking, he said a man walks through a field and discovers treasure in a field. And he said that he covers the treasure back up, goes and buys the field, and then digs up the treasure and claims the treasure. Yeah. Jesus in this parable, and a lot of people Say do this as if Jesus is the treasure and that we need to it it cost everything to follow Jesus. Mm-hmm. But whenever I read the scripture, I see that Jesus is the one who discovered us the treasure. We're the and and it goes on. We're the ruby in the jeweler's eye. I got it. We are the ruby and jewel's eye. Yeah. He paid everything to purchase us. He paid the price for us so that he could. We could be his. So you know what I mean? Yeah. And so dude, that's value. That yeah. He's seen and then he goes on, like I said, with that a jeweler discovered a ruby. Yeah. And seen great value in that ruby. Yeah. And but he paid the ultimate price the field. He bought the field. He paid the ultimate price so that we could be together, so we could be in communion. Yeah. So that's when you were speaking of value, that scripture came to my mind. Mm. And it's like That's good. And that's what yeah. Yeah. J and Jesus is plainly telling us our value. Yeah, exactly. I paid it all, bro. So we could be together. Right.
speaker-0: So we I we can hang out.
speaker-1: Yeah. And then and then you got Luke sixteen, man, where you got the shepherd. Yeah. You know, then you got the widow who discovered the penny. I and yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you got the father who got his son back. You know what I mean? Dude, one after another, Jesus is telling us our value. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? And we got so much value.
speaker-0: Too much. And and and it's it's it saddens me that a lot of pe I'm not saying I'm not saying this because I made it. Yeah. But I I know we
speaker-1: We still got the stuff.
speaker-0: still go through stuff. I'm not perfect. I'm on a journey. I'm in the process just like you are.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: But these are things that the Lord is pointing out to me and I'm beginning to apply these principles And and and take in what he's sharing with me when I'm in my prayer closet or when I'm just driving to work or just sitting around. Or just I can be playing ball or or when I played ball. Yeah. I can be and he can say something, I'm still listening. still
speaker-1: That's right. That's what they call prayer without ceasing. Yeah.
speaker-0: I'm I'm always my ears always in tune to hear from heaven.
speaker-1: There you go.
speaker-0: God can speak to you in so many ways. For while God was speaking through to me through billboards. I was going through something. He was speaking to me through billboards. You know. He like one billboard. I give you one case. He said I was going through something. He said, Your case, your case is not a foul in the power. In other words, it's not I'm not just taking your case and just throwing it in the
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: And then I passed by another one that it says, we got you. Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: You know. Then there was another one that said, count it done. Then it said slain. Count it done slain. So I count what I was praying for as done and my enemy has been slain.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: So he can speak to you in many ways. You
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: just have to be looking out and be on the hunt for it. You know, be ready for it. Just always keep you you know when we were out kids, when I was growing up we were out kids and when the sun started going down, it's time to go home.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: But we will be out playing ball or whatever, and at certain things you always, your ear is always in tune to hear your mother's voice or your dad's voice.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: The street lights on, you drop what you're doing and you go home. That's the way we have to do. We should be about hearing God's voice. Always have a ready ear to hear. Mm-hmm. And once we hear, apply it and act on it and obey his word. These are things and principles that I'm learning. Even now, cause I'm not too old to grow. True. You know. And not too old to grow. So God's place no, God's peace replaces frustration as we trust him. Every man deal with stuff, but where then the I can't hardly see my notes because the light glaring on me. Every man deal with stuff, but we were never designed to allow stuff to define who we are. Our identity and sufficiency are found in Christ. Men, we all deal with stuff, but we cannot allow yesterday's stuff to become today's baggage and tomorrow's bondage. Jesus did not come to help us manage the stuff. He came to remove our shame, heal our wounds, establish our true identity, and make us complete in him. He came to make us complete in him. Not deal with or manage.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: He came to take it away. That's it. You know, I I see the you know, you need to go to angry management class. I don't want to manage anger. I don't want to be angry. You see what I'm saying? Yeah,
speaker-1: That's right. Yeah. That's right.
speaker-0: I don't want to manage anger. You know, because you can be angry and seeing not. See, that's that's the catch right there. You can be angry and And sin not. So my thing is, it's good to be angry at certain things, about certain things. But that doesn't mean I have to sin. The sin is seeing yourself less than who God said you are. That's a sin in that. Yep. When you don't value your worth, ain't nobody else gonna value. When you see yourself less than, other people gonna treat you less than. So I don't wanna manage anger.
speaker-1: No.
speaker-0: You see what I'm saying? Take it away.
speaker-1: Yeah. 'Cause it it talks about, you know, don't let the sun go down while you were still angry in in in my point of view, that's Jesus basically saying like don't hold on to it. Right. You could get angry in a moment, like what was that, Minnesota that just approved that you could kill a baby up to birth now? Yeah. Yeah. That angers me. Yeah. Yeah. But if I continuously feed off of that man, it's it's gonna eat me alive. Yeah. You know. Yeah. But yeah, that's what but it talks about, you know. Don't don't let the sun go down. Just don't hold on to that. Don't manage it. Yeah well
speaker-0: He got angry. Jesus got angry. He turned them tables over. He c he had some. But he said not. Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah, right. Hit him with whip. Yeah. That's off. Yeah.
speaker-0: You know, so I I I think religion take things to the extreme. You
speaker-1: one hundred percent.
speaker-0: know, you don't supposed to be angry. You don't supposed to be mad. No. Yeah. Those are emotions, God put there, but it's how you navigate Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: How you how you don't sin if you do something. Yeah. You know, if you get angry. Say it not. Mm-hmm. You know. That what that Brady. What would Jesus do?
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Take a moment and think about what would Jesus do, you know, and mimic that.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Do what he would do. So These are you know, I just everybody just because you're going through stuff doesn't mean you're alone. Find someone you can talk to. Preferably, you know, you you there's certain things you can talk to your spouse about. Let them know what you're going through. There's nothing wrong with being being open with your spouse. Let them know how you feel about certain things. But spouses, don't take what your loved ones share with you and use it against them later on down the road. Because now you're being a puppet of the enemy. The enemy is using you. to tear down your spouse over something that he or she confided in you. And really seeking your help to help them to hear what you have to say because they're too close to what they're dealing with.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: God wanna use you to shed some light on some things. So be mindful in how you deal with people's stuff when they share it with.
speaker-1: yeah. You know. You breaking that God, what did you say? Breaking that trust. Yeah. That could really damage a person. And and and this is me saying to all Christians out there, if someone confides in you, don't you dare go run your mouth. Yeah. You know what I mean? Don't dare go run your mouth 'cause what you gonna do is you're gonna be that person that they're not gonna ever trust another church again. Exactly. They ain't gonna trust if that's what Jesus does, then I don't want yeah to do with it. Yeah.
speaker-0: Be and because so many people have went through that
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: that's why a lot of people don't come to church. That's why they don't want to hear no
speaker-1: That's right. If that's what your Jesus says, dude, then I don't want I don't want nothing. That's right. Not nothing. And and I don't blame them for being that way because of Yeah. You know They've lost their trust. Lost they
speaker-0: They launched
speaker-1: trust. Man, the worst thing you could do is go gossip and run your mouth about somebody when they've confided in you to tell you something. Mm-hmm. That's the worst worst dude. I'd rather you judge Yeah. Don't But but yeah, I would rather you judge Yeah. You know, to their face. Yeah. but yeah, man, that's the worst thing you could do. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yep. Earlier we was talking about the examples. The men in the Bible that have stuff.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: Here here are the six. I got six. Elijah, David, Job, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul. They all dealt with stuff. Elijah, from the battlefield to emotional exhaustion. That's what he dealt with. David, the psychological pressure of being hunted. Job, psychological distress through trauma and loss. Jeremiah emotionally overwhelmed by what he witnessed. Jesus, extreme emotional pressure in Goshimite. Paul lived under repeated traumatic circumstances. Here's the scriptures I I'm not gonna read them, but I give you the scripture. First Kings. Chapter 18 verse 19 for Elijah. 1 Samuel chapter 27 verse 1 for David. Job chapter 3 verses 25 and 26. Jeremiah Lamentation chapter 3 verse 17 through 20. Jesus, Matthew chapter 26, verse 37 and 38. Paul 2 Corinthians eleven verses 24 through 20. twenty seven. These are men that experienced and dealt with stuff. They dealt with shame, they dealt with trauma, they dealt with unworthiness, they dealt with fear, they dealt with frustration. These are things they dealt with. But the common thread, though each experienced severe pressure differently. They brought the pressure of their circumstances into the presence of God, where their prospective strength and hope were restored by truth. The common thread is they took it to God. Elijah, God restored him through his presence and provision in word. David. David repeatedly turned his distressed soul toward God. Job Job encountered God in the middle of his suffering. Jesus. Jesus brought his anguish directly, anguish directly to the Father. Paul. Paul learned to depend upon God rather than himself. The pattern. Pressure, emotional distress, turning toward God, encounter with truth and presence, renewed strength and perspective, continued obedience. Elijah was strengthened. David encouraged his soul in God. Job gained a greater revelation of God. Jesus was strengthened and continued in obedience to the Father's will. Paul learned dependence upon God. The common factor in their deliverance from overwhelming emotional and psychological pressure was their encounter with God. We need to have an encounter with God.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: Every man, woman that's dealing with stuff, you got you need an encounter with God. And it's my prayer that you have in that you have an encounter with God. That God will show himself in a way in your life that you've yet to experience. And it's gonna set you free. So his presence brought comfort, peace, and reassurance. His word renewed their minds and restored their perspective. His strength enabled them to endure what they could not handle in their own strength. His truth empowered them to overcome fear, confusion, despair, and negative thinking. Moving forward, giving them the strength and courage to continue despite the pressure. Here's my closing scripture. John chapter eight thirty six verse out of the Amplified Version it said Son so if the Son liberates you, makes you free men, then you are really and unquestionably free.
speaker-1: I like that version.
speaker-0: That's the amplified classic. The Mirror Study Bible says mankind's freedom is in discovering their true identity in sonship. This is the truth as it is in God Christ, whom the Son makes free, is free indeed. Whom the Son sets free or makes free is free indeed. So consider that word indeed means consider it as a fact
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: that you're free indeed. Even though you might be dealing with stuff, you're still free.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: And that's what you have to remind yourself with. That I'm free in God. I'm free with God.
speaker-1: Don't forget the last three words Jesus said upon that cross. It
speaker-0: It is vanished.
speaker-1: is finished. Bound and chains, every bit of the pressure, all that it is finished. Not that it ain't there from time to time. Yeah. But we have a place to put it. On the shoulders of Jesus Christ.
speaker-0: Got Amen. He's there to carry it. Cast all your cares on me. I care for you.
speaker-1: Yeah. That yoke, you know, I I don't know if I've explained this last time. We might have even talked about it, but what a yoke is, and farmers don't understand what a yoke is, but it's the it's the wooden saddle that will strap an ox back in the day, or they strap a bull and all this and that, and it would it would pull the plow. That's how it yoked around the neck of of the bull. Well they also had and this is what Jesus is saying here, they also have a dual yoke. And you could train a young bull, partner him up with an older experienced bull. And so what that bull's gonna do is train the younger one. But you can adjust the yoke to where all the weight and pressure is on the big mature bull. Mm-hmm and it's and the little younger bull is just here for the show just for the ride. You know what I mean? Like it's I ain't saying it ain't got some weight on him. Yeah. Cause it's got to learn. Yeah. But all majority of that weight and pressure is on the neck and on the shoulders of the mature bull. And so they're yoked together and he's able to walk with him and show him the road. Wow. So that's what Jesus is saying. Yeah. Take my yoke upon me. Yeah. And so we're we're yoked with Jesus. Yeah. All the weight of where to steer, how to go about this life, plowing the field, you know what I mean? It's all on Jesus. We're yoked with him. That's right.
speaker-0: With him. Amen. Amen. Amen. I I didn't know that about you.
speaker-1: Sorry, I guess.
speaker-0: That's good stuff right there. I got a little knowledge. Hey, hey, hey. Every little bit here, it doesn't matter. Throw it in there. It's in there. It's worth something. It's worth millions. Yeah. So stuff may speak, but it does not have to have the final word. Grace does. Grace always has the final word.
speaker-1: Amen.
speaker-0: Stuff may be. Part of what we've been through, but it does not define who we are or determine where we're going. We belong to Christ, not to stuff. And whom Jesus says free is free indeed. We're free indeed. Now here's some we we talked about weaponizing people's testimony. Here's some principles I want us to get. A person testimony should be treated as evidence of God's grace, not ammunition for another person's judgment.
speaker-1: There you
speaker-0: We should never take the stuff someone trusted us enough to unpack and turn it into something we later use to weigh them down. We should never weaponize a person's testimony. I shouldn't weaponize your testimony and you shouldn't weaponize my testimony. We are to take and celebrate when when we testify something, which I celebrate your victory, you celebrate
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: my victory. If I see where you might be going back toward what you shared you've been delivered from, then I'm to step in and say, I'm not to say where you ain't delivered. I'm to remind you that you are delivered
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: and sh and love on you and encourage you and and and and and and and and encourage you to continue to trust in what God has already done.
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: I hope I hope you know I've said a lot. I hope it makes sense. You
speaker-1: yeah, one hundred.
speaker-0: know, and I hope it it it you know people get what I'm saying, but my mind here again, my mind runs everywhere and and so that's why I kind of try to stay with my nose cause my I've I I hit rabbit trails and stuff.
speaker-1: I I do too. So But no, man, this has been really good. And it and it brings me on what you're closing with there, how there's life and death in the power of the tongue. Uh-huh. Or there's power in the tongue, that brings life or death. Yeah. And remembering that when someone talking about testimony. Yeah. Yeah. And but no, man, this is really good. Yeah. This is really good. And it is it's something we gotta get a hold of. Right. Man, it's something we gotta get a hold of. We will never finish this race if we don't understand who we are. Yeah. It's almost like like w wearing a pair of glasses. Yeah. You know, what lens are you looking through? Right. Do you see yourself as a beloved? Yeah. Or I'm gonna just it get in by the cracks. Right. You know what I mean? Right. how are you viewing God? What lens are you viewing God from? And what lens do you see yourself as? Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah, I I couple of weeks ago when I was studying the to to to del getting ready for this, I was watching this some this documentary on the Navy SEALs. I I like to watch yeah. You know, when they interviewed those guys and they they had a couple of guys on there that went in and got Osama.
speaker-1: yeah, that's a good one.
speaker-0: Yeah. And then there was some guys that went in and got Saddam Hussein.
speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
speaker-0: And but anyway, long story short, they was interviewing this this seal and his whole unit got ambushed. He was said they were set up and they got ambushed. And he said, you know, he saw some of his friends go down, you know, and he would get he said he was having these thoughts and and and and and was losing where he was and you know, getting fearful and didn't and he said this what he said, this what caught me. He said, I remembered I was a Navy SEAL. And he said when that kid, he said everything came into play. He remembered what he was trained to do in those situations.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Everything that he was taught came back to him. And he survived. So even I say that to say this. We're in a war. It's a spiritual battle. We deal with stuff, but we have to remember that we are the righteousness of God. We
speaker-1: That's right.
speaker-0: are resurrected men, and we have to remember all of the training, the words. that the Holy Spirit God is giving us and we'll be able to get through these things on top. We're more than conquered. I'm I'm finished.
speaker-1: That's right. That's right. Amen. Amen. Amen, man. So that's really good, man. It was really good. Yeah. you know, the mental warfare. Yeah. You know, understand who we are and who he is. Yeah. And before we go, I know you brought some looks like devotions with us.
speaker-0: Yeah, well, I have the vortex I wrote this book last year, The Vortex of Pride, Offense and Unforgiveness. A lot of times we don't forgive ourselves. But all of this we talked about pride a little bit. And we talked about unforgiveness and offense. So these things if we not if they're not dealt with, it'll put us in a cycle.
speaker-1: Yeah. yeah.
speaker-0: So this this will empower us, the reader, to understand where they are, get a perspective of where they are and the things to help them overcome those
speaker-1: One of the hardest things you could ever do is forgiving yourself. Yeah. That's a hard thing to do. Yeah. I had to I had to work on that a little. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: Yeah. And then the armor, I mean the attire of grace. And that's the armor of God. It's the attire of grace.
speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: We need the helmet of salvation psychological. All right. That's part of our protect. So many people get up and leave the house. I I'm a remind when I s when when I was writing this book, I thought about the American Express card. Don't leave home without it. We leave home undressed. Mm-hmm. But we got to put on the We got to put on the attire of grace. We got to wear grace. Grace is there to help us. And so that's what this book is about. And then the effectual and fervent prayers. I was intending to bring that last time, but my cop had didn't get home, get to me in time. But that's just a book of prayers that you can pray for yourself, your family, your finances, your wife, your marriage, you know, different situations. So I
speaker-1: I remember you talking about that one and we talked about how important it is to know what to pray for. You know what I mean? Yeah. it's super important. Yeah.
speaker-0: I have several things in there. seven prayers. It's it's it's about fifty or six of them in here. So that I I I categorized and cataloged them and put them in a book. So anybody wanna get it is on a all of these are on Amazon along with the ones that I shared last time.
speaker-1: Yeah. So got a lot of books. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: So I think they'll that they'll be helpful to you
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: and at least point you in the right direction and go now.
speaker-1: We appreciate all that you do, man. being the mighty man of God, you know, just sharing what wisdom you get from the Lord and we appreciate all that you do. I appreciate
speaker-0: Appreciate being here.
speaker-1: you coming today. Yeah. Share some good stuff with us, man. Sure, some really good stuff with us.
speaker-0: It was an honor to d be able to do it. Yeah.
speaker-1: So do you mind before we close this out, man, just speak a prayer over to men? Yeah. Man that could be dealing with some stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Man, just all around the table. Yes. Whether it's sinful or whether it's the weight of the world, weight of life. Yeah. You know what I mean? We
speaker-0: I will I'll do that.
speaker-1: appreciate
speaker-0: Thank you, Lord. Again, Father, we thank you for this opportunity to sit around your word and to minister your word. We thank you for ministering to us. And now, Father, I lift up every person that's in the sound of under the sound of my voice and that is dealing with stuff. They might be dealing with things that we spoke about. They might be sitting silently. They might be feeling experiencing shame. They may have gone through trauma or had a tra a traumatic experience. They may feel unworthy. They may feel fearful. Or they may be frustrated. They may be in a state of frustration. Lord, just as those men did that we spoke about toward the end, they came to you. So Father, I I lift every person up to you right now and we'll comment you. And we're casting all that care on you. And I thank you, Father, for the deliverance of their soul. The deliverance of their mind, their will, their emotion. Lord, I thank you that every snare that affected their souls is destroyed by the power of God. I thank you, Lord, that you unlock their understanding, that they are able to understand the scriptures as the scripture speaks. Father, I thank you for their deliverance. I thank you, Father, for the testimonies that will come forth. I declare and decree, as you have already stated, that they are free and free indeed. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that is moving in their lives right now. I thank you, Lord, that that you're saturating them with your love. they are experiencing your love in a greater measure. They are seeing now, Lord, that they are valued, they are valuable. They are they are they are they are worth everything. That you see they are. They are not alone. They are the redeemed, they are righteous, they are holy, they are sanctified, they are blessed, they are wealthy, they are prosperous, they are healed and free indeed. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
speaker-1: Amen. Well, guys, we hope that y'all receive that word, hope you receive that prayer over your life. And remember, man, guys, don't bottle it up. Find you a a spiritual counselor. Yeah. and like you said, whether it's a pastor or it might just be a friend that you can trust that you can confine into. Man, that don't bottle it up. It don't make you weak. It don't make you a chick, a sissy. Yeah, it don't make you all that.
speaker-0: Yeah, exactly.
speaker-1: Man, you gotta get that stuff off your chest. Yeah. You gotta get it off your chest. Yeah. And you know, just be strengthened by the Lord.
speaker-0: Yeah. And if you need to cry, just cry.
speaker-1: yeah. Just cry. Hey man, for there there's a lot of times I'll be trying to preach and I'll start crying while I'm preaching.
speaker-0: Yeah, exactly. That's that's not a sign of weakness, that's that's strength.
speaker-1: Yeah, you gotta let it out, man. Gotta let it out. Yeah. Gotta let it out. But look guys, we love you. Thank you so much for tuning in. appreciate you so much. And we'll see you next time.
