August 18, 2023 • 59 mins
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This week on Relentless Hope, we dive into the remarkable life of Obed Martinez, a life transformed from the shadows of gang violence and despair to the radiant light of faith and purpose. His journey took him down paths no young soul should tread, but it was during those moments of darkness that a glimmer of hope began to flicker. Through harrowing encounters and near-death experiences, Obed's life took unexpected turns, leading him to the precipice of transformation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. Jesus answered and said, unto them, this
is the work of God that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent John six twenty nine. My eyes
were blinded from the truth, Lord, and my heart was
set against you. I followed my own ways and wasn't
interested in following yours. It wasn't until the consequences of
(00:24):
my wrong choices caught up with me that I realized
my need for you. In my despair, you touched me
with your love. Your presence opened my eyes to see
and my heart to feel again. You caused me to
understand the reality of your love. I could not have
(00:44):
found my way to you without your divine intervention. This
was your doing. You caused me to believe in Jesus,
the Son of God, who was sent to save me
and give me eternal life. Thank you, Thank you for
joining us in prayer. Now for the Relentless Hope Podcast,
(01:06):
where we bring you true stories and personal testimonies that
will help you love your life, lead with purpose, and
leave a legacy of helping others.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Along the paths of life. We inevitably encounter moments of
profound despair, a solitude that seems unyielding and a sensation
of being trapped within the confines of our circumstances. It
is precisely within these junctures that the yearning for the
divine embrace becomes essential, an unwavering quest for the benevolent
(01:45):
presence of God, whose love remains steadfast and eternal, transcending
every trial and tribulation with infinite compassion, He awaits us
arms outstretched, a beacon of hope amid the darkest hours,
a reminder that we are never truly alone, and there
exists a boundless refuge in his unwavering love. Picture this
(02:10):
a life caught in the grips of darkness, a path
marked by fear, tragedy, and despair. But from these depths
emerges a story of unwavering hope and a miraculous power
of change. It's a story that reminds us that no
matter where we are, no matter our past, there's always
a chance for a new beginning. This week on Relentless Hope,
(02:33):
we dive into the remarkable life of Obed Martinez, a
life transformed from the shadows of gang violence in despair
to the radiant light of faith and purpose. His journey
took him down paths no young soul should tread. But
it was during those moments of darkness that a glimmer
of hope began to flicker. Through harrowing encounters and near
death experiences, Obed's life took unexpected turns, leading him to
(02:56):
the precipice of transformation. As we listen to Obed's journey,
let's reflect on our own lives, our own struggles, and
our own dreams. Let's find inspiration in his story to
embrace the chapters of our past, knowing that they can
pave the way for an extraordinary future. Through trials and triumphs,
heartache and healing, we were reminded that our stories are
(03:18):
still being written, and the author of our lives is
painting a masterpiece of hope. Even at an early age,
Obed found himself grappling with the tumultuous currents of extraordinary
challenges to find the conventional bounds of his tender years.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
About thirty minutes later, I hear a car pull up,
and you could imagine that was tremendous fear in me.
So I looked over the fence and I saw one
of my friends run up to the car.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
His name was oh Ridge. That was his nickname.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
And they pulled out a sought off twelve gage and
they shot him, and I remember him flying, literally it
was taken off from his feet like kind of hit
the curve and then fell face forward and the car
sped off, and I remember jumping the fence, took off
my shirt on my jacket, and it was like the
(04:11):
size of a baseball. The hole was in his back
and I was covering it, and I was holding his
head and I was telling him, and you're gonna make it,
You're gonna make it, to make it, and I was screaming,
calling nine one one.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
On Part one of this three part series, we follow
Obed's powerful journey through life's harrowing challenges and miraculous redemption
from a turbulent youth in a gang ridden neighborhood to
a life changing encounter with God. Obed's story demonstrates the
unyielding power of faith, perseverance, and a profound impact of
(04:46):
a mother's love. Join us as we witnessed the transformation
from tragedy to triumph, revealing the beauty in every chapter
of life.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I'm really excited about telling you my story because I
truly believe that when you begin to tell your story,
people begin to look into their own story as well.
Matter of fact, the one reason why I love the
Bible is because the Bible is full of stories.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
And Jesus, to me, was one of.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
The greatest storytellers and really came across very strong by
telling you the highs.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
But also the lows.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And I think that's what attracts us to people. And
I think that's what attracts us to faith, and that
is our story. Well, I'm a fourth generation pastor. I
was raised in a Christian home and had tremendous parents.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
My dad was a.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Youth pastor when he met my mother, and they got
married very quick and had five children.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
And Dad realized that.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
His life in some sense wouldn't be as significant to him,
at least if he stood in ministry. So he decided
to go into a career of becoming a firefighter and
also making it a point that he would serve the
pastor and serve the church and be the greatest volunteer.
And so that's where I get really this whole concept
(06:17):
of growing up we always in some.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Since served God's house, serve the church.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Though Dad really had a spirit of entrepreneurship on his life.
Mom and dad were happily married, and all of a
sudden they started experiencing some hiccups. And when I was
a young boy, my father decided to leave the house
and he started to leave the decided to leave the home,
and my mom and dad separated, and I'll never forget
an incident that I would probably say was probably the
(06:47):
most cataclysmic change of my life. And where I can
see this was when my life started spiraling downward. Obviously,
being the oldest point in the house, I had to
take on some duties that were left behind by my
father and picking up his responsibility while he was out
there exploring the world. And one day I was at
(07:08):
the mall with a couple of friends of mine and
we were just being young teenagers and we're walking, you know,
we're going up the escalator on our way to the
foot locker, and one of my friends taps me and
he says, man, is that your dad coming down the escalator?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And I look up and sure enough it was my
father with his arm wrapped around another woman.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
And I'll never forget, you know, the look on my
dad's face as we crossed each other.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It was almost as if we both went silent.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
It was like one of those moments in which life
just stood still. And I remember thinking, my dad is
going to turn around and kind of run up the
escalator and maybe explain what I just saw. But contrary,
my dad just kept on going as if he never
saw me. And I remember my friends kind of, you know, saying, oh,
(07:59):
look at your dad.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
You know he's a player. You know, look at your dad,
you know he's a g I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
All these crazy things, but deep down inside it literally
fractured my heart. This was the hero of my life
and that in one minute was taken away from that.
And that's when I was twelve years old. And soon
later I started ditching school and started to explore with
(08:29):
drugs and alcohol and next thing, you know, found a
different group of people that would that I would call family,
and that was my neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
And that was or a neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I joined in a gang, and from the ages of
twelve to sixteen, I was in and out of prison,
kicked out of eight schools, and it was all due
to the fact that in some sense I was fatherless.
I'll never forget a moment in my life I was
(09:02):
out on the streets. It was up four o'clock in
the morning, and I was, you know, I had a
couple of drugs left in my pocket to sell, and
knew that an early morning rush would come. People would
want to get high before they go to work. And
so I was out on the streets and a car
pulled up. And at that time, we were in real conflict
with a rival neighborhood and one of their people got
(09:26):
killed by one of ours, and the tension was really high,
and I'll never forget them pulling up, and at this
time I thought it was a drug transaction. So I
actually moved from under the staircase and I ran up
to the car, asking them what they need. And next
thing you know, there was a nine millimeter shot fire
a gun oozy excuse me.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
That he pulled out, yelled out the neighborhood and.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
He pulled the trigger and all I heard was click, click, click,
and in the passenger seat, the guy you know, yells out,
you forgot to put the clip inside.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
He forgot to put the clip inside.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
And I remember running and my As I was running,
I was looking for the fence to jump over, and
I could hear the bullets kind of literally ricocheting off
the wall and missing me for whatever reason, they all
missed me, and climbing the wall I got to. Next thing,
(10:17):
you know, the cars sped off, and I remember just
sitting there and I was I had drugs in my pocket.
I was kind of a little bit coming off from
a high, and all I was coming out of my
mouth was, you know, I just plead the blood of
Jesus over my life.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I plead the blood of Jesus.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And I looked back, and it always baffles me because
I was not even involved in church.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I was far from church, wanting none to do a church.
I hated the church.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
And yet it was like this seed that was planning
to me as a young child that my mom and
dad would always take us to church. It almost came
out at the right time. And I was even sitting
there wondering where it's this coming from. And I'll never
forget sitting there, and I was just in this state
of shock, like, okay, you almost died.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
And next thing, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
About thirty minutes later, I hear a car pull up,
and you could imagine there was tremendous fear in me.
So I looked over the fence and I saw one
of my friends run up to the car's name was
O Ridge, that was his nickname, and they pulled out
a sawt off twelve gage and they shot him and
I remember him flying, literally it was taken off from
(11:27):
his feet and like kind of hit the curb and
then fell face forward and the car sped off, and
I remember jumping the fence, took off my shirt, my jacket,
and it was like the size of a baseball. The
hole was in his back and I was covering it
and I was holding his head and.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
I was telling him, man, you're gonna make it. You're
gonna make it, and make it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
And I was screaming, calling nine one one, and one
of the neighbors heard the twelve games. They called it,
and my friend died literally in my arms. And I
remember that morning, you know, the sun was coming up.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
I went home and.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Just wanted to take a shower. I felt so dirty
and so lost in the shower that I would take
would always be in my mom's room. And so when
I walked into my mom's room, surprisingly she was up
and she looked at me and she said these words
that changed my life. She said, you know, they almost
got you today, and I said, what are you talking about?
(12:28):
And she goes, they almost got you today, and I'm like,
I don't understand what you're saying. And she was like,
the Lord woke me up at four o'clock in the
morning and said start praying for your son. And right
then and there, I knew why those bullets missed. And
that was because I had a mother who was willing
to stand in the gap. You would think after a very,
(12:50):
very life changing experience, you would change, but matter of fact,
I didn't. It just grew worse, her heart got harder.
I think at this point I had no fear of
death anymore. And I kept on selling drugs, kept on
getting in trouble, and about two months later, I'm gonna
(13:11):
make one of the biggest, you know, drug tr transactions,
and really felt like, okay, this was my time.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
I'm going to make it. You know, I'm no longer
going to be on the streets no more.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I can really just sell to those on the streets,
and this one transaction was going to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And I was in the.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Passenger seat of a car and we were in the
parking lot of a junior college where there was a
bunch of traffic going on, so we realized we can.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Disguise it there.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
And my it was night in school at night, and
one of the guys that was there, you know, obviously
had a gun and and you know, just kind of
put the gun to my head, almost like calling out
your neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Are you down with your neighborhood? And I kind of
understood what he was doing.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
He was basically saying, Hey, if we're going to come
into this deal, I need to make sure you're not
afraid of death. I need to make sure you're going
to stand in for what you somewhat believe in. And
sure enough, I was like, yeah, man, I'm down from
my neighborhood. And so you know, I took the gun
off my head and showed me the drugs, and he
wanted to see the money, and he was like, I
want you to count it, and so I was counting it,
(14:16):
and while I was counting, his other friend went to
my friend that was in the driver's seat and had
him roll down the window and put the gun to
his head too, And so next thing, you know, I'm
counting it, and I land up getting so sidetracked by
what his friend was doing. And then this guy had
a gun. I'm thinking, in or are they just going
to take everything from us? And in my nervousness, I
(14:38):
dropped the money. When I dropped the money, I bent
over to get it. And when I bent over, his
friend accidentally pulled the trigger and it kind of blew
off half of my friend's mouth and my window shattered,
and I remember we were so startling. My friend started
the car and he put it in and go and
(14:59):
we that off and his face was bleeding, and I was,
you know, he was driving while I was trying to
you know, hold his face on one and kind of holding
his mouth together because it got ricocheted from a from
from from the glass and then also from I mean
from exeeing me from the bullet, and and so then
my glass was all shattered and we land up getting
(15:20):
in the hospital. And I can't tell the story to
the paramedics. I'm just telling that we were playing with
the gun and next thing, you know, this is what happened.
And and and so the doctors, after I was done
and the police was there and explain it to them,
they were like, you know, if you would have had
if you would have been sitting up, you would have
(15:41):
had your head blown off. And again it was one
of those moments in my life that was like God
was getting my attention, like, oh, bed, this is not
my destination. And then you know, about about six to
six months later, I landed up getting caught in a
drug rate and I go to prison. And when I
go to prison, I'm there and you know, you're thinking
(16:02):
your friends are going to be there, They're going to
write you, not one letter, not one visit. The person
that visited me every weekend was my mom. And the
crazy about it was that my mom never drove on
the interstate or the freeway, so she had to take
the bus. And I knew it was always a struggle
every week for her to do it, but she was
always relentless to go see her son, and she would
always tell me, I'm praying for you. And so I
(16:23):
spent six months in jail and served my time, and
I came out and never forget on a Monday, and
my mom and dad both picked me up, and I
remember all I wanted to do was go to McDonald's, Like,
just take me to McDonald's. So I go to McDonald's
and we land up eating and you know, my dad's
asking me, are you going to change?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
And has this changed you?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And you know, I'm looking at him and I want
to ask him the same question, like have you changed?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
And I'll never forget us kind of get into this
argument like you started all this, you know, And it's
so easy to blame other people when you don't want
to take responsibility for you herself. And so, you know,
my mom, you know, told me, she was like, hey,
look at Wednesday's church's youth group.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It'd be great for you to go.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
And I'm like, no, Mom, I don't want to go,
you know, just a bunch of hypocrites there. And my
mom was being a little sarcastic, and she says, well,
you would fit perfectly in, you know, and I'm like, wow,
that's that's a jab, you know. And anyways, she told
me there's gonna be some pretty girls there, and I thought, well,
six months all you see is guys, I think, you know, hey,
(17:28):
this this this, this, this may be the deal.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
And so I did land up going and I was
in the.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Back and met the youth pastor and they were leaving
the camp that Friday, and he had just mentioned that
it was sold out, and you know, they're really excited.
They were going to pray and you know, they were
gonna have a great youth camp. And then part of
me I was like, man, I you know I don't
want to go. I don't I don't want to go.
I really don't want to go. So I'm kind of
glad it's sold out so that my mom doesn't bother
me to go. Well, the next day, throughout ten in
(17:56):
the morning, we get this phone call. My mom says
it's a youth pastor and I was telling her, Mom,
I promise you I didn't do anything wrong, and she
was like, no, no, no, he wants to talk to
you about something. And he landed up telling me. He said, hey,
O beed great to see you last night and I
said yeah great. He goes, hey, you know we have
camp coming up leaving tomorrow and I said, oh fantastic.
He goes, yeah, you know it's eight hours of basketball,
(18:17):
three hours of church. I think you're really to love it.
And I'm like, oh, well, it's sold out. He goes, oh, no, no, no,
there's one spot available. And I'm like, how did one
spot open up? He goes, well, there was just one
spot available and your mom paid for it. I'm like,
there's no way my mom could pay for it, you know,
it's too expensive and stuff like. He goes, no, no, your
mom gave her last sixty dollars and so you get
(18:37):
to go, and I'm like, wow, eight hours of basketball,
three hours of church, you know, I think I can
dig this. And so I landed up going and when
I found out that it was the opposite, it was
eight hours of church and three hours of basketball really
got me upset. And I told the youth pastor, you lied,
and he was like, well, hey, you know, I'm sorry,
(18:57):
but at the end of the day, it got you here.
And I'm like, wow, you know, I can't trust you.
And I remember going up higher a little bit on
the mountain. I brought some stuff and I landed up
smoking a joint and I was kind of high and
stuff like that. And I remember coming into church and
I did, and you know, it was on July eighth,
(19:20):
nineteen eighty nine, and the pastor had a seat for
me up front, and I said, no, no, I just want
to send the back because no, no, no, you need
to go up front. And I did, and I just remember, honestly,
the only reason why I lifted my hand, you know,
when the worship leader did it was because you know.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I'm in the front row.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
I didn't want to look like I was out of place,
and out of that pressure of doing that, I lifted
my hand and it was like water, like a bucket
of water over Heaven opened up and just showered me.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
And I just remember kind of.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Hitting my knees to the ground and it was like
I fell asleep and I woke up two hours later.
And when I woke up, it was like I was
this new person. I couldn't even explain it. I couldn't
explain what happened to me. I couldn't explain. It was unexplainable.
And I had an encounter with God, and I believe
(20:18):
when I look back now, it was probably going to
be the only way I could get saved and rededicate
my life because He had to at that time do
it himself because I was so disappointed by so many others.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
And next thing, you know, my.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Mom picked me up, and you know, I told her
and she just cried inside the car. And you know,
from that point on, I got involved in student ministry,
you know, because I was kicked out of so many schools.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I had to go.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
To a continuation school and I finished it in record time.
And the only school district that would let me in
was the Long Beach Unified School District my senior year,
and it just so happened to be the same.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
School that my rival gang was from.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
And I remember trying out playing basketball, and in doing that,
I'm sitting down on a bench and the guy sits
right behind me. His back's rubbing literally against mine, and
he whispers to me and he goes, I know who
you are. And I said, well, you know who I was.
I'm not that person no more. And he goes, okay, well,
(21:20):
you know, I just want to let you know I
got your back. And he was from that neighborhood. And
it was just began an interesting journey. And my first
period was actually working in the counseling office, and so
I started working in that counseling office, and I remember
hearing about all these clubs that were going on, and
so I asked my counselor, can I share my story
(21:43):
with you and give her my testimony. And by the
time I was done, she was in tears and she says, oh, Bed,
you got to do something, and I said, I, for
whatever reason, I feel like I want to start this
Bible club and the name I want to call it
is Lost and Found. And she was like, oh my god,
I love it.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And I said, well, can you work that out? And well,
the next week later she comes to me. She says,
the only room that's available is the wrestling room. Well
that's a smelly room, but hey, it was worth it.
So I started putting up signs all over the campus
and we started with seven people in that wrestling room
called Lost and Vound at lunchtime every Thursday. And we
(22:26):
were just faithful and faithful and faithful. And to make
a long story short, we ended my senior year not
having it in the wrestling room, but actually having it
in the gymnasium and we had two hundred and seventy
four people. And that ministry today continues on that campus.
I get the privilege go speak at it twice every year.
(22:47):
But here's ironic, and here's just the testimony of God
that when Lisette and I got into ministry, and I
met my beautiful wife, and we dated for nine years
and got married, and I traveled the world ministering, and
then we started Destiny Church fourteen years ago and here
in the desert, our first meeting in a living room
(23:09):
and rancham mirage was seven people. The crazy thing about
it was that on March seventh, two thousand and four
was our grand opening and guess what we had two
hundred and seventy four people. I mean, you can't put
that story together. Only God can do something like that.
But here we are now, fourteen years later, we have
two beautiful children. And the miracle and even now was
(23:33):
that the doctors told us that we would never be
able to have children, and that God, in his miraculous way,
gave us our first child.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
And then she's our miracle child.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
And then our second child is in Oops, we didn't
plan him, but we're so glad we do have him.
But it's just been this journey in life that today
now just ministering to young people and you know, giving
them the hope that somebody gave me and having and
giving them the investment of what my mom invests in
my life and all those years and today my relationship
(24:02):
with my father is probably closer than ever has before.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
My dad loves the Lord.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And my mom had gone home to be with Jesus
but at the end of the day, she paid her dues,
and today she's smiling. Every weekend, every day, all our
children are serving the Lord. And it has been an
incredible journey. And I pray that my testimony in some
sense would be a blessing to yours. And the one
thing I would say about my story and every story
that I tell people, is that the Bible says in
(24:28):
Second Samuel chapter twenty.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
It's in the Message translation, it says this.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
It says that God is the God who puts all
the pieces back together, and he's the God that will
take the pen out of your hand to rewrite the
story of your life. And I'm going to tell you
it's almost a life first for me, because at the
end of the day, how many times do we try
to take the pin out of the author and the
finisher of our fate to try to write our own
story and it lands up messing it up. You know,
(24:55):
you give him back the pen, and where the devil
may have put a period, God would turn it into
a And you know, I tell people about their story.
I said, you know what makes a great book is
that it's the tragedy that turns into the triumph. It's
the mistakes that turns into the miracles. It's the brokenness
that turns into the blessings. So I just want to
encourage you that if you listen to this podcast, listen
(25:16):
be encouraged that God's not done writing your story. Going
to the good is on its way, but enjoy every chapter.
If people ask me all the time, would you change
anything in your past, and I would say absolutely not,
because at the end of the day, it played a
part in my story today that God has wonderfully blessed
me with, and I'm just excited about what the next
(25:37):
chapters are going to look like. In Jesus' name, all
throughout the Bible, you can see those who lived purposeful lives,
and that was simple because they were in proximity to
somebody who was willing to invest in their lives. And
so when I went on this whole journey of wanting
to be a leader, I realized that it was very
(25:59):
important for me to find people in my life that
I commit that I can commit to learning from.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On part two of this three part series, we explore
the transformative power of mentorship and lifelong learning. Join us
as we delve into the profound impact of surrounding oneself
with mentors and committing to personal growth. As we draw
insights from the Bible and contemporary wisdom, will uncover the
importance of intentionality, personal awareness, consistency, pain tolerance, modeling, mentors,
(26:36):
and contributing to growth mindsets.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Hey, welcome to today's podcast. My name is Obeed Martinez,
and I'm so glad that you joined us today. One
of the commitments I've made in life by wanting to
be a leader was really not making the commitment to
becoming a leader more than making a commitment to being
a life long learner. I truly believe that that leaders
(27:03):
are learners, and the more you learn, you are in
some sense equipped to lead. One of my favorite passages
when it comes to leadership is in two Timothy, chapter
three in the New Living Translation, beginning in verse ten,
and Paul's writing to young Timothy, and here's what he
says he's doing. But you, Timothy, certainly know what I
(27:25):
teach and how I live, and what my purpose is
in life. You know my faith, my patience, my love,
and my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering
I've endured. You know all about how I was persecuting
antioch Is, Sonyum and Listra. But the Lord rescued me
from all of it. Yes, and everyone who wants to
(27:45):
live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others,
and will will they themselves be deceived. But you just
remained faithful in the things you have been taught. You
know they are true, for you know you.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Can trust those who taught you.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
One of the significant parts of this particular passage of
Scripture is how many times the discipler who is Paul,
is telling the disciple Timothy.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
The words you know, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
And I believe that we have a generation today because
they're lacking the discipler and they're longing to be discipled.
They actually don't know. I've never met a young person
that has never wanted to be a leader. They just
don't know how. I've never met a person a father
that doesn't want to be a great father. The reality
(28:42):
is that they just don't know. I've never met a
wife that wants to be a great mother and be
a great spouse. No, they really aspire to do that.
The problem is is that they just don't know. And
so at the end of the day, I think what
we are and what we're becoming is fully determined on
(29:06):
who's willing to pour that into our lives and really,
in some sense rub in that association of somebody who's
already doing it. I love what aw Tozer says. He says,
when you're in proximity with Christ, you start living for Christ.
(29:26):
In other words, proximity magnifies purpose. Why while distance brings distortion.
I'll say that one more time, proximity magnifies purpose while
distance creates distortion. And all throughout the Bible, you can
see those who lived purposeful lives. And that was simple
(29:48):
because they were in proximity to somebody who was willing
to invest in their lives. And so when I went
on this whole journey of wanting to be a leader,
rea that it was very important for me to find
people in my life that I commit that I can
commit to learning from. And I knew that it would
(30:09):
be a sacrifice of my own life. I knew it
would be a sacrifice of my time, it would be
a sacrifice of my treasures. Till this day, there's a
large portion of my financial life today that is committed
to getting around people that I want to learn from.
There are conferences I go to not to speak, but
just to hear and learn. There are multiple times I'll
(30:32):
get on an airplane just to go sit two hours
in an office of a pastor that is way ahead
of me in certain areas in ministry, just to sit
at their feet and learn from. Matter of fact, there's
an old Jewish tradition, and it says that when the
learners are following the rabbi or the students are following
(30:52):
the rabbi, how the Rabbi will know by the end
of the day who was the closest was that afterwards,
when they would say down and the journey was over with,
he would look to see how much dust was on
that one person, and the person that had the most
dust from the sandals of the rabbi that was flapping
(31:13):
would be the one that he knew was closest to him.
And that's what I want in my life. I want
the dust of others to be on my life today
because it shows the proximity and how I'm willing to
be so close to that discipler that I have chosen
and given permission to disciple me. I think one of
(31:36):
the greatest tragedies today is that we have a generation
that's being raised today that in some sense has the
longing to go further in life than they want to,
yet they've never found anybody that's willing to pour their
life into. I don't think we have a relationship issue today.
I just really feel that we don't have relational coaching
today that's available to people. I don't believe we have
(31:58):
in some sense a financial epidydemic of people that don't
know how to handle their finances. I just truly believe
we don't have financial coaches willing to invest in some
sense or in some sense people to really seek it out.
Financial coaches for their life often tell my church, show
me the areas you've been coached in. I can tell
you those are the areas you're succeeding in. But it
also goes the opposite way. Show me the areas you're
(32:21):
not succeeding in, and I can show you the areas
you're not being coached in. And so it's amazing how
we have business coaches, we have life coaches. But the
two main areas people fail and often is finances and relationships.
And it's because in those two areas we haven't found mentorship,
no discipleship, nor coaches to learn from. And I truly
(32:42):
believe that in order for you to be a leader,
and you're striving to be a leader, is that you
really got to make the commitment of really being a
lifelong learner. And as you're making that commitment of being
a lifelong learner, find somebody. Find somebody that you can
attach your life to. Find somebody that would be willing
(33:04):
to dedicate some time to invest in your life and
come into proximity with them, Come close to them, see
what they do, sit in their meetings, or go home
and sit at their dinner table, and see how they
interact with their children and their spouse. I think one
of the greatest things List and I did when we
first started dating, because we wanted to really succeed in
(33:24):
our dating, was that we found three couples in three
different stages of their marriage to attach ourselves to and
make ourselves accountable to, and we often took them out.
We seldomly took out our friends. I couldn't even tell
you how many times in our ninety years of our
relationship did we do double dates with our friends. I mean,
we always had our friends there, but Lisetta and I
(33:45):
were very we were very we wanted to make sure
that we got around people that were in areas in
our life that we desire to have already there, and
so that's where we committed to.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Spend our life. We were very intentional.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
And getting around people that we can learn from, and
we would always come with a list of questions because
we saw something in them that we desired in our life,
which leads me to what I call the developmental stage
of discipleship or in some sense, becoming that leader by
determining to be a lifelong learner, and stage one always
(34:24):
begins by learning and observing. In other words, look for somebody,
look to attach yourself. That's what Timothy did to Paul.
That's what Elisha did to Elijah. That's what Joshua did
to Moses. That's what Peter did to Jesus. I mean,
notice it was Peter who preached the first sermon. Wasn't
(34:45):
it wasn't a Bartholomew, or it wasn't Thomas. Because at
the end of the day, it was the inner circle
of Jesus that really had closer proximity to the nine
of the rest. It was Elisha who was willing to
go with Elijah to the fore location before he was
taken up.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
It was proximity. It was Joshua who was willing.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
To go everywhere Moses went because at the end of
the day, it was proximity. And so at the end
of the day, find somebody that you can be close
to and you can learn from. The second is assisting
in questioning. Stage two is assisting in questioning, help them out,
get involved in what they're involved in, see the way
they do things. And while you're assisting, at the same
(35:29):
time you can be observing. And then stage three is
releasing and teaching. In other words, let them release things
into your life that eventually you can use one day
to teach others. I think the obligation of being discipled
is making a commitment that you will go out and
be discipled. It's the same commitment Jesus made when he
(35:51):
went in when he said in Matthew chapter four to
the disciples, he says, come and follow me, and I
will make you fishers of men. Notice he said, hey,
if you're willing to follow me, my commitment is to
make you and then I'm going to give you the outcome,
and that's fishers of men well at the end of
the day. That was the commission he gave to his
disciples in Matthew twenty eight where he says, go out
(36:14):
and make disciples. And so, in other words, if I'm
going to spend three and a half years making you,
and you're going to have proximity to my teaching, to
my life and to everything I do, well, I would
want you to have that commitment for someone else so
that you go out and make somebody the same way
I made you. And then lastly, Stage four is delegating
(36:35):
and reproducing. And that's what I just got done talking about,
because I really believe that in order for you to
be a lifelong learner to be a great leader is
when you become that great leader. As you're still being
a lifelong learner, you're looking for those who want to
be lifelong learners, who at the end of the day,
want to be leaders themselves. I love this quote that
says discipleship is gained by association before it understood by explanation.
(37:02):
Let me say that one more time, Discipleship is gained
by association before it's understood by explanation. In other words,
the power of association and the closeness of proximity will
get you a better picture of what it's like to
be a greater learner. I got some great mentors in
my life. You know, the Bible says sound surround yourself
(37:24):
with the multitude of counselors, and so I have a
financial coach in my life, Li said, and I have
made a commitment to certain couples that we feel our
relational coaches. And obviously being a pastor, being a leader
of leaders I got some people in my life that
serve on my board that serve as those And you know,
because at the end of the day, I really believe
it's important that you're constantly infused with leadership and you're
(37:49):
constantly being developed. You never want to ever sit there
and realize I've made it, you know, But at the
end of the day, you got to continue to push yourself,
to push yourself to go further, push yourself to go
to go that distance to becoming everything you desire to be.
(38:12):
Because at the end of the day, the distance the
disciple goes is determined by the trust they have in
their disciple.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
So I understand.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
If I want to go further, I gotta trust more
if I got to go If I want to go further,
I gotta trust more people. And so the distance of
a discipler a disciple goes is determined by the trust
they have in their disciple.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
And so at the end of the.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Day, a lifelong learner has these things in their life.
Number One, they have intentionality. In other words, growth just
doesn't happen. You've got to be intentional about growth. You've
got to be intentional about becoming that leader. Because it's
one thing to surround yourself with great mentors. It's one
thing to surround yourself with around great leaders, But you
are you intentional on wanting to grow the next? To
(38:56):
be a lifelong learners, you have to have personal awareness.
In other words, you must know yourself to grow yourself.
What are the areas in your life that are weak
and what are the areas in your life that are strong.
You've got to come to that personal awareness. I love
to say this all the time. You'll never conquer what
you're unable to confront. Part of just confronting an issue,
seventy five percent of that conquering is just by realizing
(39:17):
that you have it. And so if you realize you
have it and you confront it, well, then you can
easily conquer it. The third is consistency. In other words,
motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you going. And
so to be this lifelong learner, you've got to be intentional.
You got to have personal awareness, You've got to have
some consistency. Number four, it's going to require pain tolerance.
(39:37):
In other words, good management of bad experiences leads to
great growth. I'm going to say that one more time,
good management of bad experiences lead to great growth, because
here's the deal. God is in the business of turning
mistakes into miracles. He's in the business of taking brokenness
into blessedness, and he's in the business of turning your
(39:58):
setbacks into comebacks.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
You can't ponder on the bad decisions.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
You've got to move on to greater things because at
the end of the day, those will sometimes be your
greatest growth seasons in your life. The next is modeling
your mentors. In other words, it's hard to improve if
you only have yourself to follow. I love the fact
that I got other people around my life that I
can literally look at them and model. That's what Paul said.
A timoth is follow me as I follow Christ. I
(40:25):
don't see that happening today, and a lot of people
there's not a lot of leaders that can actually say that.
But find a leader that's confident to say, follow me,
and you become exactly what you're looking at. And then, lastly,
to be a lifelong learner, you have to have a
contribution to your mindset.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
In other words, growing yourself helps you grow others. Growing
yourself helps you grow others.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
And as I close, I want to give you a
quote by Alvin Toffler that says this, The illiterate of
the future are not those who cannot read or write,
but it's those who cannot learn, unlearn or reader. This
is Obed Martinez on today's podcast. I hope you were
blessed by this. Well, God always did. He always looked
at at what was going on, and he looks at
(41:10):
even at our lives, and he's never moved by our
present circumstances because at the end of the day, he
has this outcome for our life. He has what our
lives should look like, and so he's never moved by
the temporal because he has the goal in mind, and
I think that's what helps you live that life of legacy.
And when you begin to live that life of legacy,
(41:32):
you begin to realize that my life is no longer
driven by the temporal, but my life is driven by eternity.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
On Part three of this three part series, we conclude
with an insightful exploration led by Pastor Obed Martinez. As
he delves into the essence of legacy. Pastor Obed reflects
on the significance and living with an eternity in mind.
Through personal antidotes and biblical references. He emphasizes the value
of intentional giving, purposeful service, and sharing the message of
(42:08):
Christ to leave a lasting impact that transcends the temporal.
Join us for a profound journey towards understanding and embracing
the power of legacy.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
I want to talk to you really quick about legacy,
and I truly believe that there's so many different definitions
out there when it comes to legacy. But really a
simple definition of legacy means this. It means where my
life lives on. It just simply means where my life
lives on. I love this verse in Psalms one hundred
(42:43):
and twelve vers. Five through say it says good will
come to him who is generous and lends freely, who
conducts his affairs with justice, Surely he will never be shaken,
and a righteous man will be remembered forever. Think about that.
A generous who lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice,
(43:06):
is a person who would be remembered forever. I think
often we always lead in the moment, and we don't
often look at what, in some sense the outcome of
some of the decisions we make will affect us in
the future. I think if we can always lead our
(43:27):
life with legacy in mind, then at the end of
the day, we will not be so moved by temporary
situations to make irrational decisions, rather than us looking down
the years and seeing how is that going to affect
what we are trying to accomplish and leave behind.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
You know, one of the goals.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
In my life is to leave buildings for the next
pastor of this church without any dead, because at the
end of the day they can go further than maybe
I could have and take the legacy of destiny church
(44:11):
to heights. In some sense I would have never accomplished,
but at the end of the day, It begins with
you living with this attitude of knowing that living is
all about my life outliving it.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
In other words, living so my life outlives me.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
When I think of legacy, I think about my life.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
That it outlives me.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
And so everything I'm trying to do today is really
trying to prepare for who's next.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
The one thing that I love about God is that
God always has the now in the next. In mind,
when you think about Moses, who was now, there was
a next named Joshua. When Elijah was now, there was
a next called Elisha. When you think about Jesus, in
some sense, the next was Peter and the disciples. When
(45:06):
the now was Paul, the next was Peter. God always
has the now in the next. Matter of fact, when
God would even introduce himself in scripture, he would often
introduce himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In other words, he would introduce himself as a generational God,
a god that's just beyond you know, the now, but
(45:26):
also the you know, but looks throughout generations. And so
I think, in some sense, if we're going to live
a life of legacy, we got to determine in our
life that that legacy in some sense is my life
that outlives me. The second thing that we got to
learn about legacy is when it comes to giving. That's
what Psalms one twelve says. It says the generous lends freely,
(45:50):
and who conducts himself with great affairs and justice, in
other words, giving to something that will outlive me. So,
if I'm going to live this life of legacy, I
want to give to something.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
I want to give my time, I want to give
my talent.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
I want to give my treasures to the very things
that I know are going to outlive me. You know,
at the end of the day, I think everybody thinks
at a certain time in their life when they want
to be remembered. Oftentimes, when they really begin to think
like that, it's too late. I truly believe that where
you're at today, whether you're starting a business, or you're
(46:26):
starting in ministry or maybe starting a relationship, wherever you're
at in life, start leading your life with legacy in mind.
Speaker 4 (46:33):
What do you want to leave behind? Ask those questions,
how do you want to be remembered?
Speaker 3 (46:38):
You know, one of the things that I always tell
myself that one day I will physically be gone, but
my footprint will be where I serve the most. In
other words, what I'm saying is is that I want
to give myself to something that in some sense.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Is going to outlive me.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
So when you think about legacy, meaning where my life
lives on, you think about it, it's living so my
life outlives me, and then giving to something that will
outlive me. Then all of a sudden you encompass those
three things, and the goal isn't to live on earth forever,
but the goal really becomes really to leave something that does.
(47:20):
In other words, the goal isn't to live on earth forever.
That's not my goal, But my goal is to leave
something that does.
Speaker 4 (47:28):
It brings so much meaning to why you exist. It
brings so much.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Meaning to the things that you are putting your time
and your talent and your treasure in that. In other words,
I'm giving to something my time. I'm intentionally giving all
of my attention to the things that I know one
day is going to outlive me. One of the things
that I believe is kind of the thief of legacy
(47:56):
is that when we only begin to live for the moment,
and that's what the.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
Enemy wants to do.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
The enemy just wants you to be so captured by
today's problems, by today's situations, in today's dilemmas that you're
going through that in some sense you stop thinking past
today and your mind is so stuck on what's just
going on, and then now that you will make a decision.
(48:21):
You know, often I think about when I go to
the store sometimes and you know, you go to Target
or if you go to Macy's or something like that,
and you know, you go with the mindset of, hey,
this is how much money I have. I'm going to
buy this one gift or I'm going to buy this
thing for someone, and it never fails, and they do
it because that's what they're told to do. But they'll
sit there and say, hey, by the way, do you
(48:43):
have a Macie's account? And my responses always know and
they're like, well, today you can save fifteen percent on
what you just bought. And then in my mind I
always want to respond back by saying, yeah, but then
now I'm stuck to what I'm just buying today to
last much longer than what it should have, just because
I wanted to save fifteen percent. At the end of
(49:06):
the day. I'm always thinking long term with my finances,
and I'm thinking, well, you know, to some people, they'll
land ap biting it. Oh, I can say fifteen percent
today because I can take what I'm saving today and
use it for something else. But how many know that
was a decision that was made in the moment. Nobody
ever walked up to that counter. I've never met anybody
(49:27):
that's in line talking about, Wow, I can save twenty percent.
When I get up to the counter, now, they're not
talking about that. They're talking about they want to get
out of here real quick. They hope the line goes faster.
But when they get up to pay for what they're getting,
they are presented with a decision that, if they're not careful,
(49:48):
they can bite. That will have a long term effect
than on something that never should have. And I think
oftentimes how life is. We get slammed with something that
you know, just all of a sudden, we get confronted
with and we get slammed with it, and it causes
us to make a temporal decision that in some sense
(50:09):
the consequence has become longer than what they should That's
what you can do, because.
Speaker 4 (50:15):
At the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
You cannot stop what situations come your way, cannot stop
what type of storms or what type of wilderness you're
gonna you're gonna go through. But what you can decide
is keeping your eyes focused on what's long term, on
what's legacy. And in other words, it's this decision that
I'm gonna make right now, is it long term? Is
it gonna is it gonna be such an impact that
(50:38):
it's going to outlive me? And I really believe that's
what what God always did. He always looked at at
what was going on, and he looks at even at
our lives, and he's never moved by our present circumstances
because at the end.
Speaker 4 (50:50):
Of the day, he has this outcome for our life.
Speaker 3 (50:53):
He has he has what our lives should look like,
and so he's never moved by the temporal because he
has the goal in mind. And I think that's what
helps you live that life of legacy. And when you
begin to live that life of legacy, you begin to
realize that my life is no longer driven by the temporal,
(51:14):
but my life is driven by eternity. I'm gonna say
that one more time. When you really begin to live
a life of legacy. Your life is no longer driven
by the temporal, but it's driven by eternity. In other words,
I'm thinking, what is gonna How am I going to
affect eternity like that? Are my decisions going to day?
(51:34):
Are my decisions going to day hinder some of the
eternal things that I'm really trying to accomplish? According to scripture?
And when I'm driven by eternity, I begin to focus
on things and not allow myself to be distracted by
the things that will come my way. I love what
Ecclesiastics chapter three says. It says He's made everything beautiful
(51:55):
in his time, and he also has set eternity in
the human heart. So it's not by accident that God
left a void in every one of our hearts that
can only be feeled by becoming intentional about being driven
in eternity. And I believe this is why we buy
things so irrational, and this is why we land up
(52:17):
continually spending and spending and spending, thinking that's gonna kind
of fill the void that's in our heart. And so
we'll go by a new car and realize, man, that
rush is gone, and now I'm stuck with the larger payment.
Speaker 4 (52:28):
Now we'll go move into a bigger house. Man.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
It served the temporal, but now we're stuck with the
larger payment. And you still have that void in your
heart because the Bible describes that God placed that in
your heart that only eternity can fill that up. And
so when you're driven by eternal things, all of a sudden,
you will start seeing that void in your heart being
fulfilled because at the end of the day, you stop
(52:51):
living for the temporal and you start living for legacy. So,
Pastor bet, how do I live a life that's driven
by eternity. Number One, I will intentionally give what I have.
I want to be intentional by giving.
Speaker 4 (53:09):
What I have.
Speaker 3 (53:10):
In other words, I don't want to be somebody who's
just blessed to go bless myself, but I want to
be a blessing to bless others. I realize that my
life is a conduit. I realize that I'm not the
person that makes the money. I'm the person that has
walked into the inheritance that God already promised for my life.
I realize that I have no ownership. I have to
(53:31):
live by the principles of stewardship, and so Therefore, if
I can decide that I'm going to intentionally give what
I have because I understand that that is going to
cause me to live a life driven by eternity, and
what I give to is.
Speaker 4 (53:45):
Going to outlive me. How many you know you're going
to begin.
Speaker 3 (53:48):
To live a life of fulfillment. I love giving to
new buildings. I love giving to worthy causes. I love
giving to to different campaigns because at the end of
the day, when I see that building built, or I
see that children's facility fully developed, and all of a
sudden I see all those kids kids going in there,
(54:08):
I realize what I gave to, all my hard work,
is going to outlive me. How many you know that
is legacy. The second thing is I want to intentionally
serve others. I want to intentionally serve others. You know,
when you realize you're living for eternity and you're driven
by ettornity, not the Temple, you begin to live with
(54:30):
the attitude of not wanting to be served, but actually
to serve.
Speaker 4 (54:35):
In other words, I want to.
Speaker 3 (54:37):
Make an eternal investment in people's lives. I want to
take that person who's striving to own a business and
take them under my wing because I own a business today,
I want to make that eternal investment in their life.
Speaker 4 (54:50):
I'm looking for.
Speaker 3 (54:51):
Somebody today to pour my life into because at the
end of the day, I'm looking with intentionality to serve others.
I truly believe that there is a great responsibility to
those who have kind of made it in some sense
or have kind of come to the place of success,
that at the end of the day they start looking
for others to serve. I believe that was Jesus's greatest
(55:12):
statement he ever made. Here was the son of God
that sat in an office that nobody else did. When
people try to categorize him by asking them the question
whom do men say that I am, they all put
him in the category of somebody else, or you're a
prophet like Jeremiah. But it was Simon who said, no,
you're the Messiah. In other words, here's the man that
sat in an office that nobody else sat in. But
(55:35):
yet he did something nobody else did. He didn't come
to be served, but he came to serve. In other words,
he was extremely intentional on wanting to make an eternal
investment in the lives of others. A matter of fact,
one of his last acts of service was not serving
the wine or breaking the bread. It was actually grabbing
(55:56):
the towel, wrapping it around his waist, taking the water
of the base of Water, and washing the disciples feet.
It wrecked them so much that even Peter was so
taken by it that he kept on saying, you just
can't do this to me.
Speaker 4 (56:10):
And he wasn't saying that out of pride.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
He was saying to it at a out of this
unexpectedness that at this moment Jesus was portraying one of
the greatest attributes of why he came, and that was
I'm gonna be intentional on serving you. And so they
always say, you'll always remember some of the last things
someone's done for you. And so it stopped by accident
(56:33):
that Jesus wanted them to remember that I'm about to
face my darkest hour, but at the end of the day,
I've done something for you that's going to outlive me.
And I really believe that if you want to live
a life a legacy, friends, you got to intentionally give
what you have. Number two, you got to intentionally serve others,
(56:53):
and then number three, you got to intentionally share Christ
the Bible says and said in Corinthians five there were
Christ Luke fourteen twenty three says, go into the country
and urge anyone you find to come in so that
my house will be full. Mark sixteen fifteen says Jesus
said to us followers, go everywhere in the world and
tell them about the good News, to every single person.
(57:16):
I want to share the legacy of my Savior with
so many people, because it's going to identify the legacy
that I want to live. I want to live a
legacy the same way Christ left. I want to live
that legacy of being a giver, want to be I
want to be that. I want to live that legacy
(57:38):
of serving others, and I want to live that legacy
of constantly impacting people for eternity. The best way to live,
to start living a life of legacy is to get
past the short term, get past the temporal, and start
(58:00):
focusing on things that are going to outlive you. I
hope you enjoy today's podcast. This is Obed Martinez. Thank
you so much.
Speaker 4 (58:08):
Be blessed.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
Obed Martinez's journey is a powerful testament to the resilience
of the human spirit and the transformative power of faith.
His story is filled with highs and lows, the triumphs
and trials serves as an inspiration to us. All through
the darkest moments, Obed found his way back, fueled by
unwavering love of his mother and the unshakable belief that
(58:34):
his life could be rewritten by a higher purpose. Today,
he stands as a beacon of hope, leading a life
dedicated to sharing the message of redemption, love, and the
incredible change that faith can bring. Remember, your story is
still being written, and as Obed reminds us, it is
in the brokenness that blessings emerge. In the mistakes that
(58:56):
miracles can happen. As we embrace the legacy of authenticity
and compassion, let's strive to make a positive impact on
the world, just as Obed has done. If you are
inspired by Obed's journey, take a moment to reflect on
your own path and the legacy you will leave behind.
Embrace the hope that transformation is possible even in the
(59:17):
face of the most challenging circumstances. I'm your host, Matthew Potter,
and I want you to remember to give hope a
voice
Let us pray. Jesus answered and said, unto them, this
is the work of God that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent John six twenty nine. My eyes
were blinded from the truth, Lord, and my heart was
set against you. I followed my own ways and wasn't
interested in following yours. It wasn't until the consequences of
(00:24):
my wrong choices caught up with me that I realized
my need for you. In my despair, you touched me
with your love. Your presence opened my eyes to see
and my heart to feel again. You caused me to
understand the reality of your love. I could not have
(00:44):
found my way to you without your divine intervention. This
was your doing. You caused me to believe in Jesus,
the Son of God, who was sent to save me
and give me eternal life. Thank you, Thank you for
joining us in prayer. Now for the Relentless Hope Podcast,
(01:06):
where we bring you true stories and personal testimonies that
will help you love your life, lead with purpose, and
leave a legacy of helping others.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Along the paths of life. We inevitably encounter moments of
profound despair, a solitude that seems unyielding and a sensation
of being trapped within the confines of our circumstances. It
is precisely within these junctures that the yearning for the
divine embrace becomes essential, an unwavering quest for the benevolent
(01:45):
presence of God, whose love remains steadfast and eternal, transcending
every trial and tribulation with infinite compassion, He awaits us
arms outstretched, a beacon of hope amid the darkest hours,
a reminder that we are never truly alone, and there
exists a boundless refuge in his unwavering love. Picture this
(02:10):
a life caught in the grips of darkness, a path
marked by fear, tragedy, and despair. But from these depths
emerges a story of unwavering hope and a miraculous power
of change. It's a story that reminds us that no
matter where we are, no matter our past, there's always
a chance for a new beginning. This week on Relentless Hope,
(02:33):
we dive into the remarkable life of Obed Martinez, a
life transformed from the shadows of gang violence in despair
to the radiant light of faith and purpose. His journey
took him down paths no young soul should tread. But
it was during those moments of darkness that a glimmer
of hope began to flicker. Through harrowing encounters and near
death experiences, Obed's life took unexpected turns, leading him to
(02:56):
the precipice of transformation. As we listen to Obed's journey,
let's reflect on our own lives, our own struggles, and
our own dreams. Let's find inspiration in his story to
embrace the chapters of our past, knowing that they can
pave the way for an extraordinary future. Through trials and triumphs,
heartache and healing, we were reminded that our stories are
(03:18):
still being written, and the author of our lives is
painting a masterpiece of hope. Even at an early age,
Obed found himself grappling with the tumultuous currents of extraordinary
challenges to find the conventional bounds of his tender years.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
About thirty minutes later, I hear a car pull up,
and you could imagine that was tremendous fear in me.
So I looked over the fence and I saw one
of my friends run up to the car.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
His name was oh Ridge. That was his nickname.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
And they pulled out a sought off twelve gage and
they shot him, and I remember him flying, literally it
was taken off from his feet like kind of hit
the curve and then fell face forward and the car
sped off, and I remember jumping the fence, took off
my shirt on my jacket, and it was like the
(04:11):
size of a baseball. The hole was in his back
and I was covering it, and I was holding his
head and I was telling him, and you're gonna make it,
You're gonna make it, to make it, and I was screaming,
calling nine one one.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
On Part one of this three part series, we follow
Obed's powerful journey through life's harrowing challenges and miraculous redemption
from a turbulent youth in a gang ridden neighborhood to
a life changing encounter with God. Obed's story demonstrates the
unyielding power of faith, perseverance, and a profound impact of
(04:46):
a mother's love. Join us as we witnessed the transformation
from tragedy to triumph, revealing the beauty in every chapter
of life.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I'm really excited about telling you my story because I
truly believe that when you begin to tell your story,
people begin to look into their own story as well.
Matter of fact, the one reason why I love the
Bible is because the Bible is full of stories.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
And Jesus, to me, was one of.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
The greatest storytellers and really came across very strong by
telling you the highs.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
But also the lows.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And I think that's what attracts us to people. And
I think that's what attracts us to faith, and that
is our story. Well, I'm a fourth generation pastor. I
was raised in a Christian home and had tremendous parents.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
My dad was a.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Youth pastor when he met my mother, and they got
married very quick and had five children.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
And Dad realized that.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
His life in some sense wouldn't be as significant to him,
at least if he stood in ministry. So he decided
to go into a career of becoming a firefighter and
also making it a point that he would serve the
pastor and serve the church and be the greatest volunteer.
And so that's where I get really this whole concept
(06:17):
of growing up we always in some.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Since served God's house, serve the church.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Though Dad really had a spirit of entrepreneurship on his life.
Mom and dad were happily married, and all of a
sudden they started experiencing some hiccups. And when I was
a young boy, my father decided to leave the house
and he started to leave the decided to leave the home,
and my mom and dad separated, and I'll never forget
an incident that I would probably say was probably the
(06:47):
most cataclysmic change of my life. And where I can
see this was when my life started spiraling downward. Obviously,
being the oldest point in the house, I had to
take on some duties that were left behind by my
father and picking up his responsibility while he was out
there exploring the world. And one day I was at
(07:08):
the mall with a couple of friends of mine and
we were just being young teenagers and we're walking, you know,
we're going up the escalator on our way to the
foot locker, and one of my friends taps me and
he says, man, is that your dad coming down the escalator?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And I look up and sure enough it was my
father with his arm wrapped around another woman.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
And I'll never forget, you know, the look on my
dad's face as we crossed each other.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It was almost as if we both went silent.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
It was like one of those moments in which life
just stood still. And I remember thinking, my dad is
going to turn around and kind of run up the
escalator and maybe explain what I just saw. But contrary,
my dad just kept on going as if he never
saw me. And I remember my friends kind of, you know, saying, oh,
(07:59):
look at your dad.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
You know he's a player. You know, look at your dad,
you know he's a g I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
All these crazy things, but deep down inside it literally
fractured my heart. This was the hero of my life
and that in one minute was taken away from that.
And that's when I was twelve years old. And soon
later I started ditching school and started to explore with
(08:29):
drugs and alcohol and next thing, you know, found a
different group of people that would that I would call family,
and that was my neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
And that was or a neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I joined in a gang, and from the ages of
twelve to sixteen, I was in and out of prison,
kicked out of eight schools, and it was all due
to the fact that in some sense I was fatherless.
I'll never forget a moment in my life I was
(09:02):
out on the streets. It was up four o'clock in
the morning, and I was, you know, I had a
couple of drugs left in my pocket to sell, and
knew that an early morning rush would come. People would
want to get high before they go to work. And
so I was out on the streets and a car
pulled up. And at that time, we were in real conflict
with a rival neighborhood and one of their people got
(09:26):
killed by one of ours, and the tension was really high,
and I'll never forget them pulling up, and at this
time I thought it was a drug transaction. So I
actually moved from under the staircase and I ran up
to the car, asking them what they need. And next
thing you know, there was a nine millimeter shot fire
a gun oozy excuse me.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
That he pulled out, yelled out the neighborhood and.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
He pulled the trigger and all I heard was click, click, click,
and in the passenger seat, the guy you know, yells out,
you forgot to put the clip inside.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
He forgot to put the clip inside.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
And I remember running and my As I was running,
I was looking for the fence to jump over, and
I could hear the bullets kind of literally ricocheting off
the wall and missing me for whatever reason, they all
missed me, and climbing the wall I got to. Next thing,
(10:17):
you know, the cars sped off, and I remember just
sitting there and I was I had drugs in my pocket.
I was kind of a little bit coming off from
a high, and all I was coming out of my
mouth was, you know, I just plead the blood of
Jesus over my life.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I plead the blood of Jesus.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And I looked back, and it always baffles me because
I was not even involved in church.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I was far from church, wanting none to do a church.
I hated the church.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
And yet it was like this seed that was planning
to me as a young child that my mom and
dad would always take us to church. It almost came
out at the right time. And I was even sitting
there wondering where it's this coming from. And I'll never
forget sitting there, and I was just in this state
of shock, like, okay, you almost died.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
And next thing, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
About thirty minutes later, I hear a car pull up,
and you could imagine there was tremendous fear in me.
So I looked over the fence and I saw one
of my friends run up to the car's name was
O Ridge, that was his nickname, and they pulled out
a sawt off twelve gage and they shot him and
I remember him flying, literally it was taken off from
(11:27):
his feet and like kind of hit the curb and
then fell face forward and the car sped off, and
I remember jumping the fence, took off my shirt, my jacket,
and it was like the size of a baseball. The
hole was in his back and I was covering it
and I was holding his head and.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
I was telling him, man, you're gonna make it. You're
gonna make it, and make it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
And I was screaming, calling nine one one, and one
of the neighbors heard the twelve games. They called it,
and my friend died literally in my arms. And I
remember that morning, you know, the sun was coming up.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
I went home and.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Just wanted to take a shower. I felt so dirty
and so lost in the shower that I would take
would always be in my mom's room. And so when
I walked into my mom's room, surprisingly she was up
and she looked at me and she said these words
that changed my life. She said, you know, they almost
got you today, and I said, what are you talking about?
(12:28):
And she goes, they almost got you today, and I'm like,
I don't understand what you're saying. And she was like,
the Lord woke me up at four o'clock in the
morning and said start praying for your son. And right
then and there, I knew why those bullets missed. And
that was because I had a mother who was willing
to stand in the gap. You would think after a very,
(12:50):
very life changing experience, you would change, but matter of fact,
I didn't. It just grew worse, her heart got harder.
I think at this point I had no fear of
death anymore. And I kept on selling drugs, kept on
getting in trouble, and about two months later, I'm gonna
(13:11):
make one of the biggest, you know, drug tr transactions,
and really felt like, okay, this was my time.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
I'm going to make it. You know, I'm no longer
going to be on the streets no more.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I can really just sell to those on the streets,
and this one transaction was going to do it.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And I was in the.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Passenger seat of a car and we were in the
parking lot of a junior college where there was a
bunch of traffic going on, so we realized we can.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Disguise it there.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
And my it was night in school at night, and
one of the guys that was there, you know, obviously
had a gun and and you know, just kind of
put the gun to my head, almost like calling out
your neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Are you down with your neighborhood? And I kind of
understood what he was doing.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
He was basically saying, Hey, if we're going to come
into this deal, I need to make sure you're not
afraid of death. I need to make sure you're going
to stand in for what you somewhat believe in. And
sure enough, I was like, yeah, man, I'm down from
my neighborhood. And so you know, I took the gun
off my head and showed me the drugs, and he
wanted to see the money, and he was like, I
want you to count it, and so I was counting it,
(14:16):
and while I was counting, his other friend went to
my friend that was in the driver's seat and had
him roll down the window and put the gun to
his head too, And so next thing, you know, I'm
counting it, and I land up getting so sidetracked by
what his friend was doing. And then this guy had
a gun. I'm thinking, in or are they just going
to take everything from us? And in my nervousness, I
(14:38):
dropped the money. When I dropped the money, I bent
over to get it. And when I bent over, his
friend accidentally pulled the trigger and it kind of blew
off half of my friend's mouth and my window shattered,
and I remember we were so startling. My friend started
the car and he put it in and go and
(14:59):
we that off and his face was bleeding, and I was,
you know, he was driving while I was trying to
you know, hold his face on one and kind of holding
his mouth together because it got ricocheted from a from
from from the glass and then also from I mean
from exeeing me from the bullet, and and so then
my glass was all shattered and we land up getting
(15:20):
in the hospital. And I can't tell the story to
the paramedics. I'm just telling that we were playing with
the gun and next thing, you know, this is what happened.
And and and so the doctors, after I was done
and the police was there and explain it to them,
they were like, you know, if you would have had
if you would have been sitting up, you would have
(15:41):
had your head blown off. And again it was one
of those moments in my life that was like God
was getting my attention, like, oh, bed, this is not
my destination. And then you know, about about six to
six months later, I landed up getting caught in a
drug rate and I go to prison. And when I
go to prison, I'm there and you know, you're thinking
(16:02):
your friends are going to be there, They're going to
write you, not one letter, not one visit. The person
that visited me every weekend was my mom. And the
crazy about it was that my mom never drove on
the interstate or the freeway, so she had to take
the bus. And I knew it was always a struggle
every week for her to do it, but she was
always relentless to go see her son, and she would
always tell me, I'm praying for you. And so I
(16:23):
spent six months in jail and served my time, and
I came out and never forget on a Monday, and
my mom and dad both picked me up, and I
remember all I wanted to do was go to McDonald's, Like,
just take me to McDonald's. So I go to McDonald's
and we land up eating and you know, my dad's
asking me, are you going to change?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
And has this changed you?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And you know, I'm looking at him and I want
to ask him the same question, like have you changed?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
And I'll never forget us kind of get into this
argument like you started all this, you know, And it's
so easy to blame other people when you don't want
to take responsibility for you herself. And so, you know,
my mom, you know, told me, she was like, hey,
look at Wednesday's church's youth group.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
It'd be great for you to go.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
And I'm like, no, Mom, I don't want to go,
you know, just a bunch of hypocrites there. And my
mom was being a little sarcastic, and she says, well,
you would fit perfectly in, you know, and I'm like, wow,
that's that's a jab, you know. And anyways, she told
me there's gonna be some pretty girls there, and I thought, well,
six months all you see is guys, I think, you know, hey,
(17:28):
this this this, this, this may be the deal.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
And so I did land up going and I was
in the.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Back and met the youth pastor and they were leaving
the camp that Friday, and he had just mentioned that
it was sold out, and you know, they're really excited.
They were going to pray and you know, they were
gonna have a great youth camp. And then part of
me I was like, man, I you know I don't
want to go. I don't I don't want to go.
I really don't want to go. So I'm kind of
glad it's sold out so that my mom doesn't bother
me to go. Well, the next day, throughout ten in
(17:56):
the morning, we get this phone call. My mom says
it's a youth pastor and I was telling her, Mom,
I promise you I didn't do anything wrong, and she
was like, no, no, no, he wants to talk to
you about something. And he landed up telling me. He said, hey,
O beed great to see you last night and I
said yeah great. He goes, hey, you know we have
camp coming up leaving tomorrow and I said, oh fantastic.
He goes, yeah, you know it's eight hours of basketball,
(18:17):
three hours of church. I think you're really to love it.
And I'm like, oh, well, it's sold out. He goes, oh, no, no, no,
there's one spot available. And I'm like, how did one
spot open up? He goes, well, there was just one
spot available and your mom paid for it. I'm like,
there's no way my mom could pay for it, you know,
it's too expensive and stuff like. He goes, no, no, your
mom gave her last sixty dollars and so you get
(18:37):
to go, and I'm like, wow, eight hours of basketball,
three hours of church, you know, I think I can
dig this. And so I landed up going and when
I found out that it was the opposite, it was
eight hours of church and three hours of basketball really
got me upset. And I told the youth pastor, you lied,
and he was like, well, hey, you know, I'm sorry,
(18:57):
but at the end of the day, it got you here.
And I'm like, wow, you know, I can't trust you.
And I remember going up higher a little bit on
the mountain. I brought some stuff and I landed up
smoking a joint and I was kind of high and
stuff like that. And I remember coming into church and
I did, and you know, it was on July eighth,
(19:20):
nineteen eighty nine, and the pastor had a seat for
me up front, and I said, no, no, I just want
to send the back because no, no, no, you need
to go up front. And I did, and I just remember, honestly,
the only reason why I lifted my hand, you know,
when the worship leader did it was because you know.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I'm in the front row.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
I didn't want to look like I was out of place,
and out of that pressure of doing that, I lifted
my hand and it was like water, like a bucket
of water over Heaven opened up and just showered me.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
And I just remember kind of.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Hitting my knees to the ground and it was like
I fell asleep and I woke up two hours later.
And when I woke up, it was like I was
this new person. I couldn't even explain it. I couldn't
explain what happened to me. I couldn't explain. It was unexplainable.
And I had an encounter with God, and I believe
(20:18):
when I look back now, it was probably going to
be the only way I could get saved and rededicate
my life because He had to at that time do
it himself because I was so disappointed by so many others.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
And next thing, you know, my.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Mom picked me up, and you know, I told her
and she just cried inside the car. And you know,
from that point on, I got involved in student ministry,
you know, because I was kicked out of so many schools.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I had to go.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
To a continuation school and I finished it in record time.
And the only school district that would let me in
was the Long Beach Unified School District my senior year,
and it just so happened to be the same.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
School that my rival gang was from.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
And I remember trying out playing basketball, and in doing that,
I'm sitting down on a bench and the guy sits
right behind me. His back's rubbing literally against mine, and
he whispers to me and he goes, I know who
you are. And I said, well, you know who I was.
I'm not that person no more. And he goes, okay, well,
(21:20):
you know, I just want to let you know I
got your back. And he was from that neighborhood. And
it was just began an interesting journey. And my first
period was actually working in the counseling office, and so
I started working in that counseling office, and I remember
hearing about all these clubs that were going on, and
so I asked my counselor, can I share my story
(21:43):
with you and give her my testimony. And by the
time I was done, she was in tears and she says, oh, Bed,
you got to do something, and I said, I, for
whatever reason, I feel like I want to start this
Bible club and the name I want to call it
is Lost and Found. And she was like, oh my god,
I love it.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And I said, well, can you work that out? And well,
the next week later she comes to me. She says,
the only room that's available is the wrestling room. Well
that's a smelly room, but hey, it was worth it.
So I started putting up signs all over the campus
and we started with seven people in that wrestling room
called Lost and Vound at lunchtime every Thursday. And we
(22:26):
were just faithful and faithful and faithful. And to make
a long story short, we ended my senior year not
having it in the wrestling room, but actually having it
in the gymnasium and we had two hundred and seventy
four people. And that ministry today continues on that campus.
I get the privilege go speak at it twice every year.
(22:47):
But here's ironic, and here's just the testimony of God
that when Lisette and I got into ministry, and I
met my beautiful wife, and we dated for nine years
and got married, and I traveled the world ministering, and
then we started Destiny Church fourteen years ago and here
in the desert, our first meeting in a living room
(23:09):
and rancham mirage was seven people. The crazy thing about
it was that on March seventh, two thousand and four
was our grand opening and guess what we had two
hundred and seventy four people. I mean, you can't put
that story together. Only God can do something like that.
But here we are now, fourteen years later, we have
two beautiful children. And the miracle and even now was
(23:33):
that the doctors told us that we would never be
able to have children, and that God, in his miraculous way,
gave us our first child.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
And then she's our miracle child.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
And then our second child is in Oops, we didn't
plan him, but we're so glad we do have him.
But it's just been this journey in life that today
now just ministering to young people and you know, giving
them the hope that somebody gave me and having and
giving them the investment of what my mom invests in
my life and all those years and today my relationship
(24:02):
with my father is probably closer than ever has before.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
My dad loves the Lord.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
And my mom had gone home to be with Jesus
but at the end of the day, she paid her dues,
and today she's smiling. Every weekend, every day, all our
children are serving the Lord. And it has been an
incredible journey. And I pray that my testimony in some
sense would be a blessing to yours. And the one
thing I would say about my story and every story
that I tell people, is that the Bible says in
(24:28):
Second Samuel chapter twenty.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
It's in the Message translation, it says this.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
It says that God is the God who puts all
the pieces back together, and he's the God that will
take the pen out of your hand to rewrite the
story of your life. And I'm going to tell you
it's almost a life first for me, because at the
end of the day, how many times do we try
to take the pin out of the author and the
finisher of our fate to try to write our own
story and it lands up messing it up. You know,
(24:55):
you give him back the pen, and where the devil
may have put a period, God would turn it into
a And you know, I tell people about their story.
I said, you know what makes a great book is
that it's the tragedy that turns into the triumph. It's
the mistakes that turns into the miracles. It's the brokenness
that turns into the blessings. So I just want to
encourage you that if you listen to this podcast, listen
(25:16):
be encouraged that God's not done writing your story. Going
to the good is on its way, but enjoy every chapter.
If people ask me all the time, would you change
anything in your past, and I would say absolutely not,
because at the end of the day, it played a
part in my story today that God has wonderfully blessed
me with, and I'm just excited about what the next
(25:37):
chapters are going to look like. In Jesus' name, all
throughout the Bible, you can see those who lived purposeful lives,
and that was simple because they were in proximity to
somebody who was willing to invest in their lives. And
so when I went on this whole journey of wanting
to be a leader, I realized that it was very
(25:59):
important for me to find people in my life that
I commit that I can commit to learning from.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On part two of this three part series, we explore
the transformative power of mentorship and lifelong learning. Join us
as we delve into the profound impact of surrounding oneself
with mentors and committing to personal growth. As we draw
insights from the Bible and contemporary wisdom, will uncover the
importance of intentionality, personal awareness, consistency, pain tolerance, modeling, mentors,
(26:36):
and contributing to growth mindsets.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Hey, welcome to today's podcast. My name is Obeed Martinez,
and I'm so glad that you joined us today. One
of the commitments I've made in life by wanting to
be a leader was really not making the commitment to
becoming a leader more than making a commitment to being
a life long learner. I truly believe that that leaders
(27:03):
are learners, and the more you learn, you are in
some sense equipped to lead. One of my favorite passages
when it comes to leadership is in two Timothy, chapter
three in the New Living Translation, beginning in verse ten,
and Paul's writing to young Timothy, and here's what he
says he's doing. But you, Timothy, certainly know what I
(27:25):
teach and how I live, and what my purpose is
in life. You know my faith, my patience, my love,
and my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering
I've endured. You know all about how I was persecuting
antioch Is, Sonyum and Listra. But the Lord rescued me
from all of it. Yes, and everyone who wants to
(27:45):
live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others,
and will will they themselves be deceived. But you just
remained faithful in the things you have been taught. You
know they are true, for you know you.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Can trust those who taught you.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
One of the significant parts of this particular passage of
Scripture is how many times the discipler who is Paul,
is telling the disciple Timothy.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
The words you know, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
And I believe that we have a generation today because
they're lacking the discipler and they're longing to be discipled.
They actually don't know. I've never met a young person
that has never wanted to be a leader. They just
don't know how. I've never met a person a father
that doesn't want to be a great father. The reality
(28:42):
is that they just don't know. I've never met a
wife that wants to be a great mother and be
a great spouse. No, they really aspire to do that.
The problem is is that they just don't know. And
so at the end of the day, I think what
we are and what we're becoming is fully determined on
(29:06):
who's willing to pour that into our lives and really,
in some sense rub in that association of somebody who's
already doing it. I love what aw Tozer says. He says,
when you're in proximity with Christ, you start living for Christ.
(29:26):
In other words, proximity magnifies purpose. Why while distance brings distortion.
I'll say that one more time, proximity magnifies purpose while
distance creates distortion. And all throughout the Bible, you can
see those who lived purposeful lives. And that was simple
(29:48):
because they were in proximity to somebody who was willing
to invest in their lives. And so when I went
on this whole journey of wanting to be a leader,
rea that it was very important for me to find
people in my life that I commit that I can
commit to learning from. And I knew that it would
(30:09):
be a sacrifice of my own life. I knew it
would be a sacrifice of my time, it would be
a sacrifice of my treasures. Till this day, there's a
large portion of my financial life today that is committed
to getting around people that I want to learn from.
There are conferences I go to not to speak, but
just to hear and learn. There are multiple times I'll
(30:32):
get on an airplane just to go sit two hours
in an office of a pastor that is way ahead
of me in certain areas in ministry, just to sit
at their feet and learn from. Matter of fact, there's
an old Jewish tradition, and it says that when the
learners are following the rabbi or the students are following
(30:52):
the rabbi, how the Rabbi will know by the end
of the day who was the closest was that afterwards,
when they would say down and the journey was over with,
he would look to see how much dust was on
that one person, and the person that had the most
dust from the sandals of the rabbi that was flapping
(31:13):
would be the one that he knew was closest to him.
And that's what I want in my life. I want
the dust of others to be on my life today
because it shows the proximity and how I'm willing to
be so close to that discipler that I have chosen
and given permission to disciple me. I think one of
(31:36):
the greatest tragedies today is that we have a generation
that's being raised today that in some sense has the
longing to go further in life than they want to,
yet they've never found anybody that's willing to pour their
life into. I don't think we have a relationship issue today.
I just really feel that we don't have relational coaching
today that's available to people. I don't believe we have
(31:58):
in some sense a financial epidydemic of people that don't
know how to handle their finances. I just truly believe
we don't have financial coaches willing to invest in some
sense or in some sense people to really seek it out.
Financial coaches for their life often tell my church, show
me the areas you've been coached in. I can tell
you those are the areas you're succeeding in. But it
also goes the opposite way. Show me the areas you're
(32:21):
not succeeding in, and I can show you the areas
you're not being coached in. And so it's amazing how
we have business coaches, we have life coaches. But the
two main areas people fail and often is finances and relationships.
And it's because in those two areas we haven't found mentorship,
no discipleship, nor coaches to learn from. And I truly
(32:42):
believe that in order for you to be a leader,
and you're striving to be a leader, is that you
really got to make the commitment of really being a
lifelong learner. And as you're making that commitment of being
a lifelong learner, find somebody. Find somebody that you can
attach your life to. Find somebody that would be willing
(33:04):
to dedicate some time to invest in your life and
come into proximity with them, Come close to them, see
what they do, sit in their meetings, or go home
and sit at their dinner table, and see how they
interact with their children and their spouse. I think one
of the greatest things List and I did when we
first started dating, because we wanted to really succeed in
(33:24):
our dating, was that we found three couples in three
different stages of their marriage to attach ourselves to and
make ourselves accountable to, and we often took them out.
We seldomly took out our friends. I couldn't even tell
you how many times in our ninety years of our
relationship did we do double dates with our friends. I mean,
we always had our friends there, but Lisetta and I
(33:45):
were very we were very we wanted to make sure
that we got around people that were in areas in
our life that we desire to have already there, and
so that's where we committed to.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Spend our life. We were very intentional.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
And getting around people that we can learn from, and
we would always come with a list of questions because
we saw something in them that we desired in our life,
which leads me to what I call the developmental stage
of discipleship or in some sense, becoming that leader by
determining to be a lifelong learner, and stage one always
(34:24):
begins by learning and observing. In other words, look for somebody,
look to attach yourself. That's what Timothy did to Paul.
That's what Elisha did to Elijah. That's what Joshua did
to Moses. That's what Peter did to Jesus. I mean,
notice it was Peter who preached the first sermon. Wasn't
(34:45):
it wasn't a Bartholomew, or it wasn't Thomas. Because at
the end of the day, it was the inner circle
of Jesus that really had closer proximity to the nine
of the rest. It was Elisha who was willing to
go with Elijah to the fore location before he was
taken up.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
It was proximity. It was Joshua who was willing.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
To go everywhere Moses went because at the end of
the day, it was proximity. And so at the end
of the day, find somebody that you can be close
to and you can learn from. The second is assisting
in questioning. Stage two is assisting in questioning, help them out,
get involved in what they're involved in, see the way
they do things. And while you're assisting, at the same
(35:29):
time you can be observing. And then stage three is
releasing and teaching. In other words, let them release things
into your life that eventually you can use one day
to teach others. I think the obligation of being discipled
is making a commitment that you will go out and
be discipled. It's the same commitment Jesus made when he
(35:51):
went in when he said in Matthew chapter four to
the disciples, he says, come and follow me, and I
will make you fishers of men. Notice he said, hey,
if you're willing to follow me, my commitment is to
make you and then I'm going to give you the outcome,
and that's fishers of men well at the end of
the day. That was the commission he gave to his
disciples in Matthew twenty eight where he says, go out
(36:14):
and make disciples. And so, in other words, if I'm
going to spend three and a half years making you,
and you're going to have proximity to my teaching, to
my life and to everything I do, well, I would
want you to have that commitment for someone else so
that you go out and make somebody the same way
I made you. And then lastly, Stage four is delegating
(36:35):
and reproducing. And that's what I just got done talking about,
because I really believe that in order for you to
be a lifelong learner to be a great leader is
when you become that great leader. As you're still being
a lifelong learner, you're looking for those who want to
be lifelong learners, who at the end of the day,
want to be leaders themselves. I love this quote that
says discipleship is gained by association before it understood by explanation.
(37:02):
Let me say that one more time, Discipleship is gained
by association before it's understood by explanation. In other words,
the power of association and the closeness of proximity will
get you a better picture of what it's like to
be a greater learner. I got some great mentors in
my life. You know, the Bible says sound surround yourself
(37:24):
with the multitude of counselors, and so I have a
financial coach in my life, Li said, and I have
made a commitment to certain couples that we feel our
relational coaches. And obviously being a pastor, being a leader
of leaders I got some people in my life that
serve on my board that serve as those And you know,
because at the end of the day, I really believe
it's important that you're constantly infused with leadership and you're
(37:49):
constantly being developed. You never want to ever sit there
and realize I've made it, you know, But at the
end of the day, you got to continue to push yourself,
to push yourself to go further, push yourself to go
to go that distance to becoming everything you desire to be.
(38:12):
Because at the end of the day, the distance the
disciple goes is determined by the trust they have in
their disciple.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
So I understand.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
If I want to go further, I gotta trust more
if I got to go If I want to go further,
I gotta trust more people. And so the distance of
a discipler a disciple goes is determined by the trust
they have in their disciple.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
And so at the end of the.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Day, a lifelong learner has these things in their life.
Number One, they have intentionality. In other words, growth just
doesn't happen. You've got to be intentional about growth. You've
got to be intentional about becoming that leader. Because it's
one thing to surround yourself with great mentors. It's one
thing to surround yourself with around great leaders, But you
are you intentional on wanting to grow the next? To
(38:56):
be a lifelong learners, you have to have personal awareness.
In other words, you must know yourself to grow yourself.
What are the areas in your life that are weak
and what are the areas in your life that are strong.
You've got to come to that personal awareness. I love
to say this all the time. You'll never conquer what
you're unable to confront. Part of just confronting an issue,
seventy five percent of that conquering is just by realizing
(39:17):
that you have it. And so if you realize you
have it and you confront it, well, then you can
easily conquer it. The third is consistency. In other words,
motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you going. And
so to be this lifelong learner, you've got to be intentional.
You got to have personal awareness, You've got to have
some consistency. Number four, it's going to require pain tolerance.
(39:37):
In other words, good management of bad experiences leads to
great growth. I'm going to say that one more time,
good management of bad experiences lead to great growth, because
here's the deal. God is in the business of turning
mistakes into miracles. He's in the business of taking brokenness
into blessedness, and he's in the business of turning your
(39:58):
setbacks into comebacks.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
You can't ponder on the bad decisions.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
You've got to move on to greater things because at
the end of the day, those will sometimes be your
greatest growth seasons in your life. The next is modeling
your mentors. In other words, it's hard to improve if
you only have yourself to follow. I love the fact
that I got other people around my life that I
can literally look at them and model. That's what Paul said.
A timoth is follow me as I follow Christ. I
(40:25):
don't see that happening today, and a lot of people
there's not a lot of leaders that can actually say that.
But find a leader that's confident to say, follow me,
and you become exactly what you're looking at. And then, lastly,
to be a lifelong learner, you have to have a
contribution to your mindset.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
In other words, growing yourself helps you grow others. Growing
yourself helps you grow others.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
And as I close, I want to give you a
quote by Alvin Toffler that says this, The illiterate of
the future are not those who cannot read or write,
but it's those who cannot learn, unlearn or reader. This
is Obed Martinez on today's podcast. I hope you were
blessed by this. Well, God always did. He always looked
at at what was going on, and he looks at
(41:10):
even at our lives, and he's never moved by our
present circumstances because at the end of the day, he
has this outcome for our life. He has what our
lives should look like, and so he's never moved by
the temporal because he has the goal in mind, and
I think that's what helps you live that life of legacy.
And when you begin to live that life of legacy,
(41:32):
you begin to realize that my life is no longer
driven by the temporal, but my life is driven by eternity.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
On Part three of this three part series, we conclude
with an insightful exploration led by Pastor Obed Martinez. As
he delves into the essence of legacy. Pastor Obed reflects
on the significance and living with an eternity in mind.
Through personal antidotes and biblical references. He emphasizes the value
of intentional giving, purposeful service, and sharing the message of
(42:08):
Christ to leave a lasting impact that transcends the temporal.
Join us for a profound journey towards understanding and embracing
the power of legacy.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
I want to talk to you really quick about legacy,
and I truly believe that there's so many different definitions
out there when it comes to legacy. But really a
simple definition of legacy means this. It means where my
life lives on. It just simply means where my life
lives on. I love this verse in Psalms one hundred
(42:43):
and twelve vers. Five through say it says good will
come to him who is generous and lends freely, who
conducts his affairs with justice, Surely he will never be shaken,
and a righteous man will be remembered forever. Think about that.
A generous who lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice,
(43:06):
is a person who would be remembered forever. I think
often we always lead in the moment, and we don't
often look at what, in some sense the outcome of
some of the decisions we make will affect us in
the future. I think if we can always lead our
(43:27):
life with legacy in mind, then at the end of
the day, we will not be so moved by temporary
situations to make irrational decisions, rather than us looking down
the years and seeing how is that going to affect
what we are trying to accomplish and leave behind.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
You know, one of the goals.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
In my life is to leave buildings for the next
pastor of this church without any dead, because at the
end of the day they can go further than maybe
I could have and take the legacy of destiny church
(44:11):
to heights. In some sense I would have never accomplished,
but at the end of the day, It begins with
you living with this attitude of knowing that living is
all about my life outliving it.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
In other words, living so my life outlives me.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
When I think of legacy, I think about my life.
Speaker 4 (44:37):
That it outlives me.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
And so everything I'm trying to do today is really
trying to prepare for who's next.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
The one thing that I love about God is that
God always has the now in the next. In mind,
when you think about Moses, who was now, there was
a next named Joshua. When Elijah was now, there was
a next called Elisha. When you think about Jesus, in
some sense, the next was Peter and the disciples. When
(45:06):
the now was Paul, the next was Peter. God always
has the now in the next. Matter of fact, when
God would even introduce himself in scripture, he would often
introduce himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In other words, he would introduce himself as a generational God,
a god that's just beyond you know, the now, but
(45:26):
also the you know, but looks throughout generations. And so
I think, in some sense, if we're going to live
a life of legacy, we got to determine in our
life that that legacy in some sense is my life
that outlives me. The second thing that we got to
learn about legacy is when it comes to giving. That's
what Psalms one twelve says. It says the generous lends freely,
(45:50):
and who conducts himself with great affairs and justice, in
other words, giving to something that will outlive me. So,
if I'm going to live this life of legacy, I
want to give to something.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
I want to give my time, I want to give
my talent.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
I want to give my treasures to the very things
that I know are going to outlive me. You know,
at the end of the day, I think everybody thinks
at a certain time in their life when they want
to be remembered. Oftentimes, when they really begin to think
like that, it's too late. I truly believe that where
you're at today, whether you're starting a business, or you're
(46:26):
starting in ministry or maybe starting a relationship, wherever you're
at in life, start leading your life with legacy in mind.
Speaker 4 (46:33):
What do you want to leave behind? Ask those questions,
how do you want to be remembered?
Speaker 3 (46:38):
You know, one of the things that I always tell
myself that one day I will physically be gone, but
my footprint will be where I serve the most. In
other words, what I'm saying is is that I want
to give myself to something that in some sense.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Is going to outlive me.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
So when you think about legacy, meaning where my life
lives on, you think about it, it's living so my
life outlives me, and then giving to something that will
outlive me. Then all of a sudden you encompass those
three things, and the goal isn't to live on earth forever,
but the goal really becomes really to leave something that does.
(47:20):
In other words, the goal isn't to live on earth forever.
That's not my goal, But my goal is to leave
something that does.
Speaker 4 (47:28):
It brings so much meaning to why you exist. It
brings so much.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Meaning to the things that you are putting your time
and your talent and your treasure in that. In other words,
I'm giving to something my time. I'm intentionally giving all
of my attention to the things that I know one
day is going to outlive me. One of the things
that I believe is kind of the thief of legacy
(47:56):
is that when we only begin to live for the moment,
and that's what the.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
Enemy wants to do.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
The enemy just wants you to be so captured by
today's problems, by today's situations, in today's dilemmas that you're
going through that in some sense you stop thinking past
today and your mind is so stuck on what's just
going on, and then now that you will make a decision.
(48:21):
You know, often I think about when I go to
the store sometimes and you know, you go to Target
or if you go to Macy's or something like that,
and you know, you go with the mindset of, hey,
this is how much money I have. I'm going to
buy this one gift or I'm going to buy this
thing for someone, and it never fails, and they do
it because that's what they're told to do. But they'll
sit there and say, hey, by the way, do you
(48:43):
have a Macie's account? And my responses always know and
they're like, well, today you can save fifteen percent on
what you just bought. And then in my mind I
always want to respond back by saying, yeah, but then
now I'm stuck to what I'm just buying today to
last much longer than what it should have, just because
I wanted to save fifteen percent. At the end of
(49:06):
the day. I'm always thinking long term with my finances,
and I'm thinking, well, you know, to some people, they'll
land ap biting it. Oh, I can say fifteen percent
today because I can take what I'm saving today and
use it for something else. But how many know that
was a decision that was made in the moment. Nobody
ever walked up to that counter. I've never met anybody
(49:27):
that's in line talking about, Wow, I can save twenty percent.
When I get up to the counter, now, they're not
talking about that. They're talking about they want to get
out of here real quick. They hope the line goes faster.
But when they get up to pay for what they're getting,
they are presented with a decision that, if they're not careful,
(49:48):
they can bite. That will have a long term effect
than on something that never should have. And I think
oftentimes how life is. We get slammed with something that
you know, just all of a sudden, we get confronted
with and we get slammed with it, and it causes
us to make a temporal decision that in some sense
(50:09):
the consequence has become longer than what they should That's
what you can do, because.
Speaker 4 (50:15):
At the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
You cannot stop what situations come your way, cannot stop
what type of storms or what type of wilderness you're
gonna you're gonna go through. But what you can decide
is keeping your eyes focused on what's long term, on
what's legacy. And in other words, it's this decision that
I'm gonna make right now, is it long term? Is
it gonna is it gonna be such an impact that
(50:38):
it's going to outlive me? And I really believe that's
what what God always did. He always looked at at
what was going on, and he looks at even at
our lives, and he's never moved by our present circumstances
because at the end.
Speaker 4 (50:50):
Of the day, he has this outcome for our life.
Speaker 3 (50:53):
He has he has what our lives should look like,
and so he's never moved by the temporal because he
has the goal in mind. And I think that's what
helps you live that life of legacy. And when you
begin to live that life of legacy, you begin to
realize that my life is no longer driven by the temporal,
(51:14):
but my life is driven by eternity. I'm gonna say
that one more time. When you really begin to live
a life of legacy. Your life is no longer driven
by the temporal, but it's driven by eternity. In other words,
I'm thinking, what is gonna How am I going to
affect eternity like that? Are my decisions going to day?
(51:34):
Are my decisions going to day hinder some of the
eternal things that I'm really trying to accomplish? According to scripture?
And when I'm driven by eternity, I begin to focus
on things and not allow myself to be distracted by
the things that will come my way. I love what
Ecclesiastics chapter three says. It says He's made everything beautiful
(51:55):
in his time, and he also has set eternity in
the human heart. So it's not by accident that God
left a void in every one of our hearts that
can only be feeled by becoming intentional about being driven
in eternity. And I believe this is why we buy
things so irrational, and this is why we land up
(52:17):
continually spending and spending and spending, thinking that's gonna kind
of fill the void that's in our heart. And so
we'll go by a new car and realize, man, that
rush is gone, and now I'm stuck with the larger payment.
Speaker 4 (52:28):
Now we'll go move into a bigger house. Man.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
It served the temporal, but now we're stuck with the
larger payment. And you still have that void in your
heart because the Bible describes that God placed that in
your heart that only eternity can fill that up. And
so when you're driven by eternal things, all of a sudden,
you will start seeing that void in your heart being
fulfilled because at the end of the day, you stop
(52:51):
living for the temporal and you start living for legacy. So,
Pastor bet, how do I live a life that's driven
by eternity. Number One, I will intentionally give what I have.
I want to be intentional by giving.
Speaker 4 (53:09):
What I have.
Speaker 3 (53:10):
In other words, I don't want to be somebody who's
just blessed to go bless myself, but I want to
be a blessing to bless others. I realize that my
life is a conduit. I realize that I'm not the
person that makes the money. I'm the person that has
walked into the inheritance that God already promised for my life.
I realize that I have no ownership. I have to
(53:31):
live by the principles of stewardship, and so Therefore, if
I can decide that I'm going to intentionally give what
I have because I understand that that is going to
cause me to live a life driven by eternity, and
what I give to is.
Speaker 4 (53:45):
Going to outlive me. How many you know you're going
to begin.
Speaker 3 (53:48):
To live a life of fulfillment. I love giving to
new buildings. I love giving to worthy causes. I love
giving to to different campaigns because at the end of
the day, when I see that building built, or I
see that children's facility fully developed, and all of a
sudden I see all those kids kids going in there,
(54:08):
I realize what I gave to, all my hard work,
is going to outlive me. How many you know that
is legacy. The second thing is I want to intentionally
serve others. I want to intentionally serve others. You know,
when you realize you're living for eternity and you're driven
by ettornity, not the Temple, you begin to live with
(54:30):
the attitude of not wanting to be served, but actually
to serve.
Speaker 4 (54:35):
In other words, I want to.
Speaker 3 (54:37):
Make an eternal investment in people's lives. I want to
take that person who's striving to own a business and
take them under my wing because I own a business today,
I want to make that eternal investment in their life.
Speaker 4 (54:50):
I'm looking for.
Speaker 3 (54:51):
Somebody today to pour my life into because at the
end of the day, I'm looking with intentionality to serve others.
I truly believe that there is a great responsibility to
those who have kind of made it in some sense
or have kind of come to the place of success,
that at the end of the day they start looking
for others to serve. I believe that was Jesus's greatest
(55:12):
statement he ever made. Here was the son of God
that sat in an office that nobody else did. When
people try to categorize him by asking them the question
whom do men say that I am, they all put
him in the category of somebody else, or you're a
prophet like Jeremiah. But it was Simon who said, no,
you're the Messiah. In other words, here's the man that
sat in an office that nobody else sat in. But
(55:35):
yet he did something nobody else did. He didn't come
to be served, but he came to serve. In other words,
he was extremely intentional on wanting to make an eternal
investment in the lives of others. A matter of fact,
one of his last acts of service was not serving
the wine or breaking the bread. It was actually grabbing
(55:56):
the towel, wrapping it around his waist, taking the water
of the base of Water, and washing the disciples feet.
It wrecked them so much that even Peter was so
taken by it that he kept on saying, you just
can't do this to me.
Speaker 4 (56:10):
And he wasn't saying that out of pride.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
He was saying to it at a out of this
unexpectedness that at this moment Jesus was portraying one of
the greatest attributes of why he came, and that was
I'm gonna be intentional on serving you. And so they
always say, you'll always remember some of the last things
someone's done for you. And so it stopped by accident
(56:33):
that Jesus wanted them to remember that I'm about to
face my darkest hour, but at the end of the day,
I've done something for you that's going to outlive me.
And I really believe that if you want to live
a life a legacy, friends, you got to intentionally give
what you have. Number two, you got to intentionally serve others,
(56:53):
and then number three, you got to intentionally share Christ
the Bible says and said in Corinthians five there were
Christ Luke fourteen twenty three says, go into the country
and urge anyone you find to come in so that
my house will be full. Mark sixteen fifteen says Jesus
said to us followers, go everywhere in the world and
tell them about the good News, to every single person.
(57:16):
I want to share the legacy of my Savior with
so many people, because it's going to identify the legacy
that I want to live. I want to live a
legacy the same way Christ left. I want to live
that legacy of being a giver, want to be I
want to be that. I want to live that legacy
(57:38):
of serving others, and I want to live that legacy
of constantly impacting people for eternity. The best way to live,
to start living a life of legacy is to get
past the short term, get past the temporal, and start
(58:00):
focusing on things that are going to outlive you. I
hope you enjoy today's podcast. This is Obed Martinez. Thank
you so much.
Speaker 4 (58:08):
Be blessed.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
Obed Martinez's journey is a powerful testament to the resilience
of the human spirit and the transformative power of faith.
His story is filled with highs and lows, the triumphs
and trials serves as an inspiration to us. All through
the darkest moments, Obed found his way back, fueled by
unwavering love of his mother and the unshakable belief that
(58:34):
his life could be rewritten by a higher purpose. Today,
he stands as a beacon of hope, leading a life
dedicated to sharing the message of redemption, love, and the
incredible change that faith can bring. Remember, your story is
still being written, and as Obed reminds us, it is
in the brokenness that blessings emerge. In the mistakes that
(58:56):
miracles can happen. As we embrace the legacy of authenticity
and compassion, let's strive to make a positive impact on
the world, just as Obed has done. If you are
inspired by Obed's journey, take a moment to reflect on
your own path and the legacy you will leave behind.
Embrace the hope that transformation is possible even in the
(59:17):
face of the most challenging circumstances. I'm your host, Matthew Potter,
and I want you to remember to give hope a
voice
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