Finding Hope Through The Storm: Part One

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What if finding hope amidst life's chaos could transform your entire outlook? Together with guests Xavier, Jaden, and John, we explore the power of faith in navigating turbulent times. Through personal stories and spiritual insights, we tackle the pressing challenges facing the world today, from political upheaval to natural disasters, and how a strong spiritual foundation can help us face these adversities with courage and resilience. Surrender your fears and embrace the hope we discussed, knowing God has a plan for you.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yo, yo yo.
What's up everybody.
It's your boy, anthony.
Welcome to another edition ofSpade the Podcast.
What's going on, y'all?
Happy New Year, welcome to 2025.
And I finally got an episodeout with a panel.

(00:24):
So I know y'all have not seen apanel from me since 2024.
It's been a good bit of months,but I'm back and I finally got
some peeps with me.
I've got two brand new peopleand I'm just going to go ahead
and introduce everybody.
So one of the guys that's onhere y'all know him and I'm just

(00:49):
going to go ahead and introduceeverybody.
One of the guys that's on herey'all know him.
He's a reoccurring guest,xavier.
What's going on, bro?
How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
What's going on, man?
Everything is everything.
How about yourself, man?

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Everything is good.
Y'all all know him.
He's been on a lot of episodes.
So I got my boy back.
Um, I've got two new peoplewith me.
I've got jayden and I've gotjohn both these guys, we all go
to the same uh church, city ofpraise, family Ministries.

(01:24):
What's up y'all?
So, jaden, john, what's upy'all?
How are y'all doing?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Oh, I'm blessed, favored and fortunate.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Say that again, jaden , sorry.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
You are cutting in and out.
Hold on, I think he is.
He is buffering at the moment.
So, john, while Jaden isgetting himself together, john,
what's?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
going on with you.
Nothing much, just enjoying thelife they got ahead for me.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yes, yes, definitely.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
So tell everybody who you are and what do you do.
How's everybody doing tonight?
My name is Brother John JohnAshley.
I work in the United StatesArmy.
I'm a sergeant.
The church, actually.
I go to my church home in Cityof Praise the same way as
Anthony and I'm glad that youactually invited me to this

(02:45):
panel.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Well, welcome.
Welcome, bro, I am glad thatyou are on and I'm glad to have
you and Jaden.
He'll be back momentarily.
But for those of y'all thatdidn't know, Also, me and Xavier
we went to church together aswell.
We grew up together at MountSinai World Outreach.
Yes, we did Good times.
Yes, we did.
We went to church together aswell.

(03:07):
We grew up together at MountSinai World Outreach.
So I basically got my churchfam with me.
There, you go, I got my churchfam with me.
So, jaden, what's?

Speaker 3 (03:25):
going on with you.
You good with your sound.
Hey, how you doing, son.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
I believe so.
Can y'all hear me?
We can hear you.
Hey, then we locked in we goodman, man but look, I'm blessed.
Every day is a great day whenyou're serving.
So being able to be on thispodcast man, it's a great
opportunity.
To be on this podcast man, it'sa great opportunity to be able

(03:48):
to spread the gospel, but alsoto encourage hope, you know, and
pour back into other peoplethat need just need the
encouragement, you know, andsomething to look forward to.
So, yeah, man, this is ablessing.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
It's a blessing.
I definitely feel that.
I definitely feel that so telleverybody who are you and what
do you do.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
Well, I'm, I'm Jaden Wingard and, look, I'm a humble
servant of God, but I go to thecity of praise with Anthony and
his good brother, john.
I work at the courthouse inUpper Marlboro, been working

(04:37):
there for probably a year a yearnow and when I came back from
college went to St Augustine'sUniversity in North Carolina,
and when I came back, that'swhen I started working at the
courthouse, and also before I,even well after I came back from
school.
That's when I came to the Cityof Praise and started serving.
It was when Next Fest happenedyou know, when Next Fest

(05:01):
happened, it solidified whatI've seen.
It solidified me just comingthere every Sunday, which led to
every Wednesday.
So it's been a consistentaction of showing up, talking to
people, talking to otherbelievers that will help you
just be able to build thatbelief and be able to build your

(05:24):
belief in the word.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
So yes, sir, I like that.

(05:49):
This was really, really needed,um, especially with the, the day
and age that we're in, with somany events, that's going on in
the title, of course, is fittinggoing on and the title of
course is fitting because I justfeel like that we are all just

(06:10):
experiencing a storm, you know,with so many tragedies that are
happening.
I feel like that with thisepisode I just wanted to just
spread a little hope, because Iknow that people are just
dealing with so much depressionand dealing with the anxiety and

(06:32):
dealing with that, you knowthat, the struggles of not
knowing how they're going tosurvive, not knowing their
occupation as far as their jobs,security.
So I definitely wanted to justspread some hope and I

(06:56):
definitely want to just go aheadand dive right on in.
But before we go ahead and getstarted, throughout our topics
and everything, I do want toacknowledge the growing concerns
of fears and frustrations anduncertainties that people are

(07:21):
dealing with, are dealing withand you know, we can look at
with all of the current events,from the different, from both
the plane crashes with thePhiladelphia and the wild, the

(07:43):
fires in LA and now, of course,with our new president and the
different acts of policies thathe is passing.

(08:05):
I just feel like that peopleare struggling.
So what are your thoughts?
As far as with, as far as if wecan go into the realm of

(08:27):
politics, as far as with this,the Trump administration and
everything that he is doing.
As far as with especially withDEI, with that sector.
How do you guys feel about that.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
So I'll go ahead and go first.
I can't really go into depthinto the conversation because I
am a soldier in the militaryRight.
But I will say this so it's alot of policies, bills that have
been pushed that that's notaligned with my faith, with my
belief and the fact that it kindof disadvantaged people,

(09:09):
americans, citizens, not justthat even foreigners that come
into the country, and I don'tagree with everything that has
been finalized, pushed out.
So that's just my piece of it.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
Right, right, so I'll piggyback piece of it, right,
right, so, um, I'll, I'llpiggyback over john, right, um.
But also attached on what yousaid, anthony, is that, um, and
these times right here, they aretough, right, and they, they
are only tough when you don'thave a firm foundation, right,

(09:46):
and it's no, it's no, it's nodiss or it's no, okay, heavy
weight to put on people when Isay this.
But when you, when you have afirm foundation and and you have
the fear of the Lord first,before any man-made thing,
before anything that comes intothe world, before anything that

(10:09):
happens in the world, when youfear the Lord first, then you'll
be able to see the things thathas already came to pass,
already happened in the Bible,in the Bible, but you also, when
you see these things happen inthe Bible, you see the evidence
that people was able to make away and people was able to go

(10:30):
through and to be able totriumph from and to be able to
gain revelation from and seethat the Lord would never
forsake you, right, differentdisciples, different apostles
have been able to, and even Paul, because he's one of my
favorite man, one of my favoritebecause even from all the
things that he went throughthrough the shipwrecks from

(10:54):
people just demoralizing him orjust being able to look at him
as like why are you spreadingthe gospel?
Look at him as like why are youspreading the gospel?
How are you this personpersecuting Christians now
coming over to somebody whowants to save them?
Right?
But once he was able to beconverted, he became a

(11:17):
God-fearing man.
He became a person to where, asthough, I will live and not die
.
I will be able to fight, I willbe able to fight, I will be
able to be able to stand my Godand be able to let the Holy
Spirit use me through anysituation I've been through
right and through these politics.
I look at the kingdom.

(11:39):
I look at the kingdom of God asmy president.
If you want to say I look atthe kingdom of God as my
president, if you want to sayRight, I look at the kingdom of
God that controls everythingthat happens in heaven and earth
.
So everything that's going on,I consider it pure joy,

(12:01):
everything that happens, becauseeverything that happens, if we
continue to look at itnegatively, we won't consider it
pure joy, we won't see thegoodness of the Lord.
That's that hand is all overeverything Right.
So now we will fear.
We will fear man rather thanfearing God.
Right, we will fear everythingthat's happening rather than

(12:25):
fearing God and what he's doing.
Right, we will fear everythingthat's happening rather than
fearing God and what he's doingRight.
So so the important thing of, ofjust everything that I said is
that we, we need, we need morelove, we need more, we need more

(12:49):
OK prayers, we need moresacrificing ourself.
We, we need more dying toourself.
Right, because we, a lot of, alot of us, are filled with pride
, ego, a lot of us are filledwith things that are not from
god, but things that are filledwith the earth.
So, just being able to beingable to, when I, when I speak
about politics, I, okay, I seewhat's going on, I see the DEI,

(13:10):
I see our president, I seewhat's going on, but, lord, I
know the righteous will never beforsaken.
But, lord, I know you will makea way.
Lord, I just know I've seen it,I've read it, I've read it,
I've heard about it Prayer time,relationship.
So I mean, just on politics,and anybody can piggyback off me

(13:35):
, but just, I look at it as Iwould trust in the Lord.
I would trust in the Lord.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
I like that.
I definitely wholeheartedlyagree with that, xavier, what
you think.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
To piggyback off Brother Jaden, I think.
In Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 1, it says since we are
surrounded by a great cloud ofwitnesses, we have to lay aside
every weight that causes us tosin.
And I think what we often missis those witnesses.
As he said, the examples thatwe have in the apostles, the

(14:10):
examples that we have in Mosesand Abraham.
As tough as we have it, youknow we're not being burned at
the stake quite yet.
It's going to happen accordingto Revelation.
You know talking about the NewTestament Christians at some
point, but we're not facing thethings that they face.
It's definitely tough and it'llbe not good to dismiss what

(14:34):
people are, you know, honestlyfeeling.
But Jesus said my kingdom isnot of this world.
I think it was when they wereasking him about taxes and he
was asking whose insignia was onthe coin.
He said render to Caesar whatis his, because his kingdom is
not of this world.
So when we focused on who ourking is, we don't have to worry

(14:55):
about what Washington DC hasgoing on.
And you know, to kind of get onthe political wagon, I think
and I just want to preface someof my comments I'm not a Trump
supporter at all, I think he isthe epitome of what not to be as
a leader of any type oforganization.

(15:16):
But I honestly also, on theflip side, I think media has a
way of pitting people againsteach other.
And I think a lot ofmisunderstanding, to a lot of
things on both sides.
So wherever there's confusion,you know that's what Satan is,
because the Bible says God isnot the author of confusion.

(15:37):
So wherever there's confusion,I look at it, as you know, as
the called out ones, becausethat's church comes from the
word ecclesia, which means to becalled out, to be separated.
I think there's a lot of peoplein the church that tries their
best to mix what they want tohappen in the world with their
praise and worship on Sundays,tuesdays or whatever.

(15:59):
So now we're trying to bring ingospel with politics, and I
think that's you can be.
You can come in error whenyou're not handling it correctly
.
And not only can you come inerror when handling it correctly
, you can take your focus offwhat it needs to be.
So I think, with everythingthat's going on, with all the
confusion, all of that stuff, Ithink if we focus more, just as

(16:22):
Brother Jaden said, on what theBible says and what it has said,
because, to be completelyhonest, when you read what
happens in the Old excuse me, inthe New Testament, toward the
end times, it's going to getworse.
Our hope is not with.
It's going to get better onearth.
Our hope is in the one who'sundefeated when it came to

(16:43):
Abraham, isaac, jacob, all ofthe prophets.
You know, every disciple, everyapostle, so our hope needs to
be in him that he will be ableto bring us through, and you
know, whatever that looks like.
But you know, as long as Jesusis on the throne, on the throne,
I think we don't have too muchto worry about.

Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah, you said it.
Yeah, too much to worry about?
Yeah, you said it.
Yeah, he said it, but justbeing able to.
As long as Jesus, as long asGod is on the throne, we don't
have too much to worry about.
As long as we're saved you knowwhat I'm saying as long as we

(17:23):
confess our sins, yes, sir, aslong as we accepted.
You know what I'm saying.
As long as we confessed oursins, as long as we accepted
Jesus into our life, he didn'tgive us a spirit of fear.
But he gave us a spirit of loveand a sound mind.
So the way we should look at itis that we should not fear what
is to come because we readabout it Right.

(17:44):
That fear what is to comebecause we read about it Right.
That is what is written.
You know what I mean.
So when it's written now, it'sbeing able to believe what was
written.
Now it's going back to seeingokay, I trust what was written.
You know what I mean.
So when you see it inRevelation, also see the

(18:06):
promises that he came with Right.
Also see why he died on thecross for you.
Yeah, his love, his love iseverything that we need.
The hope for it, just likeXavier says, says it should be

(18:26):
put on the throne, should bewith God.
It should be with Jesus.
He came down just so that wecan have hope exactly that he
did.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
That he did had he not shed his blood, we would not
be here at all.
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
No choice.
I got something to say to thatas well Not just that, but even
all the other prophets beforeJesus.
Imagine, like Moses, forexample, or Abraham, they didn't
do actually what they had to do.
Abraham did not obey God andtry to sacrifice his son.
What would happen If Mosesdidn't actually free the
Israelites?
What would happen If Mosesdidn't actually free the
Israelites?
What would happen?

Speaker 4 (19:08):
And the world.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
The world loves to oppress, suppress and depress.
Just like y'all.
The brother said, we have tokeep our eyes on things above.
We have to keep our eyes onJesus, because Jesus is love,
jesus is grace, mercy and he's.
We need more spiritual leadersthan anything than world leaders
.
Jesus is grace, mercy and weneed more spiritual leaders than
anything than world leaders.
These world leaders, they wantto focus on everything of the

(19:32):
world.
We are not from the world whenIsrael is the Holy Land.
Right Before they even hadkings, they was good, they was
great, they was a great nation,and then they started a downhill
spiral down when they said ohyeah, all these other nations,
they have kings, let's go and belike them.

(19:52):
We don't need to be like them.
We need to be like Jesus.
He is our savior, he is ourLord, he is our king.
Everything else that ishappening around the world,
don't worry about it.
Focus on what's above Focus onGod, he's going to bless us.
He's going to give us hope,faith, and while we display the

(20:13):
fruits, be good.
Cast all our cares unto Him,because he cares for us.
That's it.
Don't worry about anything else.
Jesus got us that he does.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
That he does.
That he does.
So I want to go ahead and starton our first point, which is
the foundation of hope.
And so what is hope, thedefinition of hope, so what does

(20:54):
hope mean to you?
So, within the Webster'sDictionary, hope is a feeling of
expectation and a desire forcertain things to happen To you.
What is hope?

Speaker 3 (21:18):
Why you brothers got it, or y'all want me to go in.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
You got it man.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Go ahead I got it, man Jump in.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
I got it, so I got to add to you I'm ready for this.
God is just feeding me, justspiritually, physically,
emotionally, just I'm blessed.
But hope is actually believingsomething is going to happen, no
matter what.
You could have a bad day, youcould just get fired from your
job and you put in hope thatyou're going to have a better

(21:49):
job, you're going to have abetter situation, no matter
what's happening, no matter allthese external entities.
That is happening.
You hope and you believe thatsomething great is going to
happen, some type of success.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
I definitely agree with that.
Nah, that's good, that is good.
So what I believe hope is hopeis bold, right, hope is another
sense of level of faith, right,it's deeply rooted in faith.
And you go back to thescripture is you know, faith is

(22:30):
something that things hope for,you know, and the evidence of
things not seen, right.
And so when you think of hope,you think that you kind of
trickle down on things that itrepresents.
Right, when I'm hoping, likeBrother John was just talking
about knowing that it's going tohappen, knowing that it is

(22:52):
going to be done, right.
And now you look at thescripture, that when he just
talks about how what is loosedon earth is also loosed in
heaven, whatever is bound onearth is bound in heaven.

(23:13):
But also he talks about, evenin the prayer, that his will
will be done on earth, that itis in heaven.
So the hope that we need tohave is that God is the reigning
king.
The hope that we need to haveis that he will come back for us
one day.

(23:34):
The hope that we need to haveis looking at the Bible and
seeing, like a Moses, like anAbraham, like an Isaiah.
The Bible is nothing but a bookof testimonies and stories that

(23:54):
give us hope.
There's nothing but a book oflooking at it as dang.
They made it through how theymake it through that.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
On both sides of the spectrum, on a man's side, on a
female's side.
When somebody's going throughsomething, I recommend the Bible
.
That's what I had to find.
I say, dang, you been goingthrough this, you been going
through depression.
Okay, go, say, dang, you'vebeen going through this.
You've been going throughdepression.
Okay, go look at this book.
You've been going through justmental disorders.

(24:32):
Okay, I know God went throughthat, right.
But having hope is able to haveenough faith to believe in God
that he said he was going to doit.
So you trust in him, that hesaid he was going to do it, and
just be bold about it.
Like Brother John said, no oneis going to happen, you know.

(24:55):
So you even bold about okay, Iknow I'm going to wake up
tomorrow morning, but you're notalways going to know what's
going to happen tonight ortomorrow morning.
But in your mind you alreadyhope I am going to wake up
tomorrow morning.
I know it's just another day,right, it's another day that I'm

(25:17):
going to be able to wake up andgo throughout those experiences
throughout the day.
But we all know everybody don'twake up every day.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Right.
And then also I want topiggyback off of what you were
saying is that you had that hopeof you wanting to wake up in
the morning because you stillhave a obligation to still
fulfill what you were called todo.
You still have that hope of,like, I have um a mission that I
have to fulfill, which issaving souls.

(25:51):
So that is my hope, is to getup in the morning and still
carry out my mission, you know,because my time, my time is not
up.
That's my hope.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
That's good.
You know what you guys want tocall that.
When you have coveted in God,confidence, confidence,
confidence he's going to wakeyou up.
He's going to go ahead and feedyou Anything.
That's a bother he got you.
Just like Brother Jaden said,you got to be bold about it, you
got to be confident about it,you got to stay on business

(26:30):
about that.
It's going to happen.
It will manifest.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
You just have insurance.
You have insurance that, aslong as faith is in the
forefront, you believe that hisrod and his staff comfort you
and that even when it talksabout in Psalm 23 how just being

(26:59):
able to walk through the valleyof the shadow of death and not
fear any evil, because you knowthat God is your comfort, god is
your provider, god is yourprotector, god is always going
to be there.
His omnipotent presence isalways going to be there.

(27:20):
So when we walk through thesevalleys of the shadow of death,
when we're walking out here andwe got politics on our, so, when
we walk through these valleysof the shadow of death, when
we're walking out here and wegot politics on our mind, when
we're walking around here, wegot DEI on our mind and we're
walking in fear that can mess aperson up, that can hurt
somebody, because now they notthink about God promises, now

(27:42):
they think about what man isdoing.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Right, right.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
I'd like to double tap on that real quick.
So you got brothers all awarethat in the Bible do not fear, I
should do shows up 365 times,depending on which version you
have.
God don't want us to fearanything and one of my favorite
scriptures is 29 11.

(28:09):
He had plans to prosper you, togive you hope in the future oh
sorry, oh no, I was gonna hopefor brother jayden to get back
on hold on, hold on, just for asecond you got somebody else.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Hold on Just first.
Okay, I'm back.
Y'all, jaden, let me remove youa couple more.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Okay.
I don't know what that's about,but we good, we good.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Yeah, all right.
Okay, xavier, what you, whatyou feeling?

Speaker 2 (29:06):
I think when I, when you first asked the question,
first thing that popped in mymind was the old hymn I hope
it's built on nothing less butJesus' blood and righteousness.
And I think Romans 5, 2 sums itup the best when it says that
through Jesus we have obtainedfaith or we've attained access
by faith into grace and werejoice in the hope of the glory

(29:29):
of God.
And the Greek word for hope inthis particular one is El Peace,
which means to anticipate withpleasure and confident
expectations, Anticipate withpleasure and confident
expectations.
And I think that is of majorimportance because anticipation
usually comes with everythingbut pleasure.
I got three kids and so if youtell them that you're going to

(29:50):
do this, that and the third,they're going to be looking for
it, and when they first ask you,you know it's excitement.
Then if you kind of drag yourfeet, you know it turns into
worry.
Then if you really drag yourfeet, it turns into just sadness
, because you said that you weregoing to do something, so now
I'm expecting it, but it hasn'tcome to pass yet.
So I think a lot of times we getcaught up in anxiety and fear

(30:10):
and even anger because thedesired outcome seems like it's
far off.
You know I've been praying forthis.
You know, I think a lot ofpeople in terms of the political
arena, they thought, you know,they were going to be able to
vote Donald Trump out.
So now is this fear you know,I'm seeing it every day,
people's conversations but theexisting journey can really be

(30:31):
tedious.
But I think it's imperativethat we anticipate with pleasure
.
Why?
Because, just as the brothersaid, we have plenty of examples
in the Bible of it may not havehappened when they wanted it to
happen, how they wanted it tohappen, and I think I think it
was, you know, when God promisedthat he would make Abraham a
father of many nations, heliterally died with without

(30:55):
seeing that promise, but thepromise still came to pass.
So I think we get caught up ina lot of times because we want
to see it, versus then we justlower it.
You may not get I think theHebrew boy said it that even if
he doesn't do it, he's stillable.
So if he said it and if hepromised the people in the Bible
you know, the people that wehave as an example then we can

(31:16):
be sure that we can hope withconfidence.
We don't have to let fear andanxiety and worry or even anger
creep in, because we know that,even if he doesn't do it, even
if we don't see it that he'sable because he's done it before
.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah, that's good, and even with.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
Abraham, even when you look at the Israelites, Even
with Abraham, even when youlook at the Israelites, right,
being able to go around and waitfor 40 years to be able to go
to a promised land that God hasalready promised.
And the crazy thing is that'ssome of us.

(31:56):
It may not be 40 years beforewe get to something, but it may
be three years, four years, fiveyears, and it could just keep
going, just keep going.
Because why Worriness, doubt,lack of believing in God?
We're not seeing somethingthat's tangible.

(32:17):
So when we don't see somethingtangible, then we put our trust
in something else Alcohol,marijuana, drugs, we start
putting our trust in differentthings.
So when our trust go intosomething tangible, then it's
like okay, man, all right, we'regoing to wait for some more.

(32:37):
Yeah, we're going to wait forsome more.
Yeah, we're going to wait forsome more.
So I mean, I think that's whereit came to with most people,
because when you do put yourtrust in something else, that
hope goes out the window.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
My hope is all right.
I'm going to go to the liquorstore.
I know some alcohol is going tobe there.
My hope is I know some alcoholis going to be there.
My hope is I know I can get aprovider, my provider is going
to be some marijuana, so it'slike that's it.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
Exactly, exactly, but we just got to be the people.
To be sure we let everyone knowthat.
You know, just steadfast, staystrong in your faith.
You know, just trusting God,that you know it's going to be

(33:38):
okay, that he didn't put you, hedidn't forsake you.
You know that he didn't leaveyou, that this crowd, whatever
that you're going through, istemporary.
He puts you in that situation,whatever it is to build your

(34:02):
faith.
You know he doesn't put more onyou than what you can bear.
That's in the word.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
I'd like to add something.
So for anybody to have anytestimony, you have to go
through a test, and this is whateverybody has to experience.
It could be something similar,it could be something completely
different, and just like ourbrother Jaden mentioned, the
Bible actually is a very greatillustration of all the
different testimonies that occurin the past, or something that

(34:37):
you actually could go ahead andrelate to, or something that you
actually could go ahead andrelate to Too many times that we
do use resources.
I for one, in the past, used todrink.
Don't do that anymore.
That's old creation.
Last time we go ahead and usethe old creation drinking,
smoking, fornication, whateverthe case is, that's standing and

(35:00):
going for the source.
It's the equivalent of well, Ifeel it's the equivalent of hey,
if you had a choice betweenJesus right over here and you
could be healed from everysingle thing that ever injured
you, or something like a pill isa temporary fix, but you have
to keep running back to itforever and forever.
Which one are you going tochoose?
Are you going to choose Jesusor are you going to choose the

(35:22):
resource?
Me, I'm always going to chooseJesus.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
I'm on your side, absolutely, absolutely, I'm on
your side.
That's good stuff.
We're going to keep running.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Keep running this Good Friday thing, but it's yeah
, that's good stuff.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
We're going to keep running, keep running this good
fighting thing.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Oh, but it's pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty, it's
pretty Doing a 40-yard dash.
Hey man.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
I got to keep my eyes on him Because when you don't,
the temptation just keep growingand growing.
Once you keep looking to yourleft, to your right, it's like,
oh, my goodness, the world iscoming.
I'm looking more of realitythan what's being promised.

(36:11):
I'm looking at more realitythan what's already been spoken.
Right, I'm getting scared, I'mdrowning, I'm falling Because my
eyesight is not on God.
No more, right.
I'm getting scared, I'mdrowning, I'm falling Because
I'm not looking.
My eyesight is not on God.
No more, right.
Right Now, I'm just, I'm beingpressured by what's going on

(36:33):
Because I haven't prayed, Ihaven't read yeah, I didn't
forget.
I haven't fasted.
Hey, that's very important yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
I'm glad you guys said that.
So I'd like to go ahead andtransition to that.
So the fact that we may fallbecause we ain't pray, we ain't
fast, we ain't talk to God, butit's great for us to have a
community, have brothers,sisters of Christ that be able
to lift us up If we go ahead andfall down because we all fall
short to the glory of God, right, we all sin, we may fall off

(37:11):
about praying, we might go aheadand just go fast.
I don't even go to churchanymore, no more Bible study or
anything.
But that's why it's good to bein an environment with God or
brothers and sisters of Christ.
When we're actually in these badenvironments, these atmospheres
that all they do is talk aboutdrugs and violence and steal and
stuff like that, just likeBrother Xavier mentioned earlier

(37:34):
, that's all benefits or tacticsof the enemy Confusion.
The enemy loves to steal, killand destroy, the same way how
this government is they do allthe confusion so we can go ahead
and segregate and divideagainst one another and stand
everybody beyond any one nationunder God.
That used to be in the Pledgeof Allegiance.

(37:54):
I remember back in elementary,every day I pledged allegiance
to the flag to the United Statesof America.
They take that out.
So they want us to fightagainst one another.
Because when we fight againstone another, guess what If we
don't stand for something?
And then what are we going tostand for?

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
Yeah, that's true, that's true, amen, yeah, so I

(38:56):
want to alluded to this inchurch are not as active as far
as being on the forefront ofactivism, whereas back in the
early in the 60s, in the 70s,they were so like with the civil

(39:20):
rights movement and everythinglike that.
So, yeah, during the civilrights movement, black churches
were at the forefront pastors,faith leaders and congregations,
you know, they were riskingeverything for the fight for
justice, proving that faith andactivism can go hand in hand.
Yet we look at today that youknow many people.

(39:48):
They say that the church needsto stay out of the politics and
it needs to be a separation ofchurch and state.
And particularly, we can alsolook at the fact that our

(40:11):
evangelical churches I'll givean example as far as like our
George, what happened withGeorge Floyd or with Breonna
Taylor, or any of those cases Icould not.

(40:32):
I could count on let merephrase this I could probably
count on one hand where some ofmy evangelical churches spoke
out during those particularincidents that happened.

(40:56):
So, with that being said, hasthe modern church in today's
time abandoned the role in itsfight for justice?
What do you?

Speaker 3 (41:20):
think about that.
I would say not truly abandoned.
I would say more laws in howthey actually should lead.
Some are scared.
Some feel as though that itwill be what's the word.
I'm looking for Retaliations Ifthey do commit any action.

(41:40):
Compared to back then, theywouldn't care.
It was life or death.
Nowadays, too, I'm scared.
Just like Brother Jadenmentioned, you have more fear of
man than fear of God.
God could do anything he wants.
There's two things that Godcould do.
He could either provide justiceor he could do mercy.

(42:01):
So it's two things that Godcould do.
He could either provide justiceor he could do mercy.
So many times that he providemercy for us and I'm not going
to go ahead and put my fear ofman above him.
He will always be number onepriority.
I just feel, as though, that weneed to go ahead and go back to
the basics.
We need to go ahead and startto build our foundation, because

(42:22):
a house cannot stand without afoundation.
It'll be shaky.
The moment a wind comes through, it's just going to knock it
over.
Go ahead and rebuild, have thatfront base and then build up
from it, and then we can goahead and start leading the
younger generation.
We start leading once we getright ourself.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
I believe the youth plays a big factor in what's to
come in the future.
The youth in our age younger,because I look at the youth as
the root of the foundation aswell when it comes to just you

(43:13):
know on earth.
Because once they're, if we, ifpeople are able to train them
up, if people are able to trainthem up, if people are able to
correct them, if people are ableto really nurture their mind
and to discard or be put awaywhat they see when they're in

(43:36):
school, when they're out in thestreet, right, it's separating
who they are and it's separatingespecially if you've grown up
in a church and when you hit 17,18, 19, life kind of hits and
you start separating, right, theyouth will build that church.

(43:57):
The youth will be able to speakfor itself because we can be on
fire, we can be, but we got tobe able to renew our mind.
We have to be able to get thoselost souls back to realizing
they are the church, get back tothe youth realizing their worth

(44:25):
and that they don't have to befollowers of man but followers
of God.
And once they be able torealize that and get back to
that mindset, or even introducepeople to that mindset and
introduce people to Christ andwho they are as a beautiful and

(44:47):
wonderfully made person in theimage of God.
Once they know that, then we'llbe able to, like John said,
have a good foundation to keepbuilding up and keep building up
.
Good foundation to keep buildingup and keep building up,
because I I feel like we're notgoing out, man, and speaking

(45:09):
this gospel, we're not going outenough and being able to tell
enough people about god.
I agree with that.
Like, like what, we were allexcited and we still are excited
.
But when we first came tocrisis, like, we don't know
everything that's about tohappen, but I just know I feel
much better than I did before.
Right, don't you want somebodyelse to feel the exact same way?

(45:34):
Don't you want to see that joyin somebody's eyes from what
they've just been going through?
You come up to people and belike, yeah, my dad died, my baby
died, but to give them hope anda future from what you've

(45:55):
learned in church, from whatyou've learned through the Bible
.
I love seeing that joy and thatlove in somebody's eyes when
they're like I am saved, yeah.
I am healed Right.
And once we have a group ofpeople that can be able to do

(46:17):
that, then we can be able to goforth and preach the gospel, not
worrying about the politics.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Right.

Speaker 4 (46:26):
Not worried about what's going on.
That's what I will comment on.
Just that question.
Just continually building.
If we have a church, we have tocontinually build, have
different classes, trainings, sopeople can know how to defend
their faith, tell their faith,even tell their testimony.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Because a lot of people they don't like to share
their testimony.
Again, we talked about this inchurch.
They don't like to share whatthey've gone through because, I
mean, you got to look at thefact that your testimony can
save souls.
You know people deal with this,we all deal with similar

(47:11):
situations and if you nevershare how God delivered you from
X, y and Z, and then anotherperson is dealing with the same
thing and they're on a thresholdof about to lose it, you know
you've lost.
You've lost the battle.
So it's very important to justcontinue to just hear that

(47:33):
testimony, like I made itthrough.
God did this for me.
If I can do, if he did it forme, then he can do it for you.
You know, tell it and then,xavier, I'll get to you real
quick.
But going real quick back to theyouth, it's also important to

(47:54):
get the youth into the church,because the youth we've lost the
youth within the churches and Ithink, again, it's very
important to get them.
Like you said, I think it needsto be more than one Sunday that

(48:19):
the youth are involved.
If you get what I'm saying,it's just a one fourth Sunday or
something like that, Ipersonally think it will be good

(48:39):
for them to be involved morethan one Sunday, also be
involved a lot more in churcheswith, you know, just making sure
that they feel wanted, becauseif the youth don't feel that
anybody's paying attention tothem, they're not going to want

(49:00):
to be in the church, you know.
Or if they feel that people arejudging them by the way they
look, by the way they dress orsomething when they come to the
church, it's just initially howthey come.
We adults have to watch thattoo, not to judge our youth,

(49:31):
because that's a big thing.
We definitely just have to getour youth into the church,
because they're the ones that'sgoing to continue to carry the
legacy, because without theyouth there is no church.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
There is no church so and while you were talking, I
was thinking about thinking backto mount sinai days.
They, they had us doingeverything.
We had step teams, choirs, wewere going to different churches
, we were doing a whole bunch ofstuff.
And just thinking about, youknow, some of the, you know the

(50:11):
main crew that was always there,just thinking about you know
where we all are today, likewe're not here wilding out, most
of us are still in church.
So to your point that while wemay have, you know, did our own
thing once we left and got oldenough, I think it's the Bible
is true when it says when youtrain up a child in where they

(50:32):
should go, when they grow olderthey won't depart.
They don't mean they won't tryto do their own thing.
It just means that what you,what foundation you gave them
will always reel them back in.
So I think that is definitelyimportant.
I just think it goes back fullcircle to your question which
man you really made me think onthis particular question, and I

(50:53):
think to fully answer it wereally have to look at.
I don't think the churchabandoned their role.
I think what happened was weallowed too many people who had
the wrong intentions to becomeleaders, or to become what we
call, you know, preachers, thepastors.
The Bible says that we testevery spirit and a lot of people

(51:16):
say test every spirit and wetest it by the word of God to
see what they're saying, theirtheology, their, whatever it is
that they're bringing before us.
The Bible said that they werethe Bereans.
They didn't just take Paul'sand every and other, every other
teacher and leader by theirword.
They went and they had theBible open to see.
Did this match up with what wasgoing on with what we already

(51:39):
have written?
Did this match up with what wasgoing on with what we already
have written?
And so you know, I tell peopleall the time, when we start
talking about racial things inthe church and politics, that
it's very easy to stand up andtake a stand in wartime, but the
real revolution starts inpeacetime.
What are we doing when thesethings die down?
And then we start talking aboutgiving your money so that God

(52:01):
will bless, and we start talkingabout the material things, the
wealth and the health that's notguaranteed to us anyway, and
while we still have a communityof people who are suffering, who
are dying, who are addicted todrugs because not because
they're bad people they decidedto be druggies one day.
People were molested, peoplewere raped, people were beaten,

(52:22):
people were abused and we and weclosed them out because now we
want to have the people in here.
Who's going to line our pocketswith whatever it is that we are
preaching to them, making themthink, is real.
So I think that not so much asthe church has abandoned it, I
think we just allow people ininto the pulpits.
Who has led us astray?

(52:44):
And I think also, on the flipside of that, when we talk about
the 50s and 60s and the civilrights movement, I think if we
go back, you know, to the 20s oryou know even before, then our
people who look like us, wholooked like the four of us black
people once slavery was, youknow, I think Booker T

(53:04):
Washington.
His mindset was that you know,if you're not going to give me a
job and here it is, 200, someyears later, we're still dealing
with it when you talk about DEIand stuff but if you're not
going to give me a job, I'mgoing to take my idea and I'm
going to materialize it and I'mgoing to become your competitor.

(53:24):
Now, and I think we rely toomuch on what is the government
going to give us.
I watched a preacher I'm notgoing to call his name, very
popular preacher, and I think itwas the week after Trump got
elected and he started tossingout all these executive orders,
and I mean literally for hoursstraight.
He used scripture to to berateDonald Trump and berate people

(53:48):
who voted for him and do allthese weird things that had
nothing to do with the gospelover with.
He used another verse to makepeople think that if they didn't
tithe or give them money thatthey may or may not have, then
God is somehow disappointed inthem.
And so I think, if you put thesetwo situations, if you mirror

(54:11):
these two situations, you hadpeople before the civil rights
movement who you know.
We had the Rosewoods, the TulsaOklahomans and the Black Wall
Streets who we were our owncommunity.
We had hospitals, we had ourown grocery stores.
It was us like FUBU back in theday for us by us.
And then, once they came in anddestroyed those communities,

(54:32):
now we had liberal people comein and say you know, in order
for you to truly get help, nowyou're going to need government
assistance, and I think it wasLyndon B order for you to truly
get help now you're going toneed government assistance, and
I think it was Lyndon B Johnsonwho said that I'm going to give
these people just enough, notfor them to makea difference,
but I'm going to give themenough programs to keep them
distracted so that we can be socaught up in what they're doing.

(54:54):
But they didn't give us enoughto make a difference.
And here it is, 60, 70 yearslater, and we're still dealing
with the same things.
I think this may be a hot takeand I don't mean as far as not
standing up for what's right,but I think that the church and
state should be separated, andthe only reason why I say that
is because when you look at Acts, the church, the Bible says

(55:18):
they had all things in common,which means they brought
everything that they had andthey made sure that their sector
of people didn't want foranything.
So I think, until we can getsome leaders who can come in and
say you know what?
We're going to take care of,not just the people in our
church, but we're going to goand we're going to take care of
our surrounding communities,instead of telling people that

(55:42):
if they don't give their money,if they don't give this because
they may or may not have it,because the church is comprised
most of our church anyway mostlyof single mothers.
So mothers who may bestruggling, mothers especially
now with inflation or whatevereven regular families with both
mother and fathers arestruggling.
So if we take those things andwe tell them, you know, give out
of your heart, like the Biblesays, not out of compulsion, but

(56:04):
God loves a cheerful giver.
You know, giving what he may sowe can take care of each other
as well as take care of thecommunities, then maybe we can
come and say you know, we don'thave to even worry about DEI, we
don't have to worry about thisbecause we're creating our own
jobs.
We're doing this and, yes, itmay be hard because essentially
we're starting over from scratchbecause of the different things

(56:24):
that we've had to endure as acommunity.
But if these people, who werefresh out of slavery, could do
it with all the technology andeverything that we have today,
you can't tell me that we don'thave the brilliance, you can't
tell me we don't have thefortitude to be able to do the
same things.
It's just now.
We have to work and we have toget the community involved and,
like my brother said, not justget them involved.

(56:45):
You know, it's all aboutreaching them.
No, no, no, we got to reachthem and we got to.
We got to tell them you know,this and that is happening
because of the need ofrepentance.
God's loving kindness, theBible says, is because he wants
to draw you into repentance.
So now we have to mirror, wehave to confront and love them
and confront the issues thatthey're dealing with.
But then once we're able tobuild that relationship now we

(57:08):
got to usher in the spiritualaspect of it and then we can
usher in the discipline and, youknow, being able to have make
jobs and everything of thatnature, just as the Booker T
Washington's and everybody elsedid.
So I really think that wedidn't abandon our role.
I think we've allowed people totake the reins over what we're

(57:28):
supposed to do and they'vetotally scattered the flock of
God.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Alpha right here.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
So, speaking of finish the fears, so we've been
talking about the uncertainty,with division and fear in the
world, etc.
Especially within the Blackcommunity, and people struggling

(58:11):
with stress and anxiety andeven hopelessness.
How do we protect our mentalhealth without becoming numb to
what's happening around us, andhow do we balance staying
informed without I mean stayinginformed with maintaining our

(58:33):
peace?

Speaker 4 (58:39):
I mean, and it's tough, it's tough and mental
health is a real thing.
But, man, when you absolutelytrust in the Lord and wait on

(59:01):
the Lord, and when thescriptures say he shall renew
your strength and you were sorelike an eagle, it's those
promises like that.
But also what helps and this hashelped me, I can say it in the
sense of this is that theencouraging part, when I hear

(59:25):
different testimonies or when Ihear what people have been
delivered from, it's like man,man, whatever I'm going through,
I'm not comparing it to thatperson's situation, but I'm

(59:45):
looking at it as that they'vejust been delivered through so
much.
They've been delivered throughso much and you'll be
complaining about something sosmall.
Or even because sometimes Ilook at myself like, why are you

(01:00:06):
being so selfish?
Because now you're like man, Iwant this, I want that.
I'm going through this in mymind.
But what if some of the thingsthat you're going through in
your mind is just because youwant something so quick?
What are some of the thingsthat you're going through in

(01:00:28):
your mind?
Is because you couldn't haveyour way on something.
Sometimes you just got to wait.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Sometimes you just got to sit.

Speaker 4 (01:00:37):
sometimes you just gotta wait, sometimes you just
gotta sit.
Some people going throughanxiety, and I'm not diminishing
anxiety, but what I remember inthe word is he said don't be
anxious about anything, prayabout everything.
So it's we gotta be filled withthe spirit.

(01:00:59):
We gotta be filled with thespirit, we gotta be filled with
the word.
Cause soon as that quickthought hit your mind.
Cause them thoughts, man themthoughts can really get you to a
place where you've never beenbefore they will get you to a
dark place that you've nevergone before right.
so if I had something to tellsomebody that's going through,

(01:01:20):
just thoughts in general andsomething that always helps me,
you back it up with somescripture, you back it up with a
promise and I know sometimesit's tough for people to look at
scripture and be like man.
That ain't really helping me.
Take your eyes off of yourselfand cast it on to God.

(01:01:43):
Don't feel like you can carrythis burden, because the devil
is a spirit and he know how toget you, because he know your
trigger points.
He know how to attack your side.
He know your trigger points.
He know how to attack your side.
It's tough for you to fightagainst a spirit where you're

(01:02:05):
just in a body, a mortal body.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:02:09):
So what you do, okay, god, I got you.
I'm going to give it up to you,I'm going to let you carry this
.
Even when I'm weak, you arestrong.
Even when I don't see thingscoming my way, I know it's
coming.
I know you're going to deliverme.

(01:02:31):
I know you're going to do this.
It all resembles hope and faith.
It's just like a cloud, like,okay, if I have hope, if I have
faith, okay, now I'm able totrust, resembles hope and faith.
It's just like a cloud.
Okay, if I have hope, if I havefaith.
Okay, now I'm able to trust.
Now I'm going to keep onbelieving.
Now I've seen the things.
I'm just waiting on my turnOnce that waiting comes.

(01:02:52):
Because waiting really is thatdiscipline, waiting is really
that obedience, because mentalhealth, it can come and it can
go.
But you got to speak life intoyourself Deaf, and life is in
the power of the tongue.
So what you going to do, howyou going to say your words,
what you going to do this day?
You going to get up in themorning and be like man dang, I

(01:03:16):
got to go to work, or is it?
Well, I got to go to work, oris it?

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
well, I get to go to work today, right?

Speaker 4 (01:03:23):
What we talking about , what we really talking about
Speak life into yourself, speaklife of your circumstances,
because the circumstances isonly for that, for that one
thing, for that one time.
Then, when you get past it,you're like, dang man, I wish I
was happy through that.

(01:03:44):
Yeah, I wish I was joyfulthrough that.
I made it out, I made it out.
So that's what I say.
It's the power of your words,that's what I say, it's the
power of your words.
And once people realize whatthey have within them, they'll
be able to be functional and beable to be aware of the Holy

(01:04:07):
Spirit.
And they'll be functional andknow what God can do in their
life, because they know thefruits of the Spirit is in them.
But they know all they got todo is break out of that bondage,
break out of them generationalcurses, by using a simple act of
words and courage.
So, yeah, man, that's my takeon that question.

(01:04:28):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
I like that, john, what you thinking.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
Oh, I have a lot.
So 40 days, 40 nights.
Jesus out in the wilderness,right the moment that he left
the wilderness or at the end ofhis 40 days, 40 nights.
That's when the devil camethrough.
Only accepting Jesus man of.
God like that.

(01:04:57):
He experienced hunger.
He experienced frustration,depression, all these things
that we as mortals experience.
Devil him up with all thesedifferent things.
Like hey, can you go ahead andchange this?
Can you change the bread?
Or?
We didn't want to test him.
Imagine if Jesus had thementality, if he was not
emotionally, mentally preparedto go against that, if they

(01:05:22):
didn't want to go ahead andthink like a man, like hey, I'm
going to just go ahead and dothis.
Nah, he went ahead and backedup with the word, just like
Brother J and his state.
The moment that happened, guesswhat?
Now?
The devil man?
He frustrated.
Okay, I'm going to do a numbertwo.
Number two he went in and what?
I think it was like a castle.
And then he was like hey, heput it in that scripture.

(01:05:45):
He was like hey, the angelwould go ahead and bless you.
Your foot would not hit thestone.
That didn't happen.
Jesus went ahead and backed upwith the word.
The last time, the devil waslike hey, I can go ahead and
bless you with all of thesedifferent things, all you have
to do is go ahead and bow to meAgain.
Jesus hit him with just theword.

(01:06:06):
The word alone will get youthrough so many situations.
It's the difference betweenhappiness and joy.
Happiness is something that'stemporary, something that just
happened for a moment but easilycan be taken away.
Compared to joy, that'ssomething that only God can give
you.
You can never be taken away.
One of my favorite songs is Joyin the Morning.
No matter what's happening, youcan have a family passing.

(01:06:30):
You could just get fired, yourgirlfriend left you, you got
evicted.
Whatever the case is, it willbe joy in the morning and we
have to rejoice in it.
One of my other scriptures Ilike to say.
I think of what?
4, 6, I think it's 10,philippians, all situations.
You be content because youalready have hope, you already

(01:06:51):
have trust, you already havefaith in the Lord that he will
bless you.
The same promises that he gaveto Abraham, elijah, moses is the
same promises and blessingsthat he will give to you.
So all this about hey, my dayis bad or I'm not going to be
good curses Brother Jadenmentioned about that it's not
just about generational curses,but it's about curses that we

(01:07:13):
actually say A lot of times.
We say we can't, we never.
Why are we doing this?
Already, psychologically, we'vetaken ourselves't we never.
Why are we doing this already?
Psychologically, we takingourselves out the game before we
start.
So we need to change ourmindset and we need to change
the way how we believe, not justfor ourselves, but for others,
because they'll impact others aswell.
If I'm supposed to be aspiritual leader and I'm telling

(01:07:38):
you guys like, hey, I can't dothis because I'm afraid, that's
fear as well and that's using acurse.
How would that make you guysfeel trying to follow me?
If I'm supposed to be theleader, moses?
Moses kept saying, hey, I can'tlead, I got speech impediment,

(01:08:01):
all of this.
Hey, get my brother, my brother.
Yeah, he could be the one thatsave everybody.
God said no, you the one, Ichose you.
And Moses realized that he hadsomething inside of him that he
never realized.
But we have to go through thesetests in order to have these
testimonies.

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
Hey, man should not live by bread alone.

Speaker 3 (01:08:27):
Amen, yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Xavier, what you thinking?

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
I think Brother John just mentioned the joy in the
morning scripture.
Weeping man do for a night, butjoy comes in the morning.
I think a John just mentionedthe joy in the morning scripture
.
We've been doing it for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
I think a lot of times what wemiss is the morning starts when
it's still dark.
So we think, just because it'sdark or we can't see that it's
not morning, we have to.
Just all you got to do is justcheck around you to see you know

(01:08:55):
what, maybe it is morning.
And I think all that goes backto the original.
Uh, while we're here, it'sbecause of hope.
Bible says I hope in you, I hopein him, hope in God.
So our hope, our anticipationwith with joy, anticipation with
knowing that he's able to do it, has to precede everything that

(01:09:18):
we're going through.
And I mean it is so much easiersaid than done when you're
going through it.
So it seems.
But the Bible says we have tocast down every thought that
presents itself against what weknow about God.
What do we know, even if wehaven't seen a move in a while
in our life, even though we have, because we wake up every day,
which means, you know, we stillhave a purpose to fulfill, like

(01:09:39):
you said earlier, but also whatwe've seen him do, like we've
said many times since we've beenhere, of what he did for the
people that we read about in theword.
So I think it's imperative torenew your mind.
The Bible says, you know, wehave to renew our minds, and
it's not something that we justdo when we get saved.

(01:09:59):
No, we got to renew this mindevery day because we're still in
this flesh and our flesh isnothing good.
So we're going to have thosethoughts, we're going to have
those feelings.
But also, I think, what isimportant, the Bible says seat
wise counsel.
So whether that's a biblicalcounselor, whether that's a
pastor, whether that's my uncle,god rest his soul.
Whether that's a pastor,whether that's my uncle, god

(01:10:21):
rest his soul.
He for three years he movedfrom California here and I sat
under him, just hearing him.
He was in ministry for over 40years, working as a pastor,
prison chaplain, going throughso many different things and
knowing what I was trying towalk in in my life, just being
able to sit under him and gainthat knowledge.
So we have to also we have toseek that wise counsel because,

(01:10:43):
like my brother said, sometimesit seems like the word is not
enough and it is.
That's all we need.
But also the Bible says how canthey hear without a preacher?
A preacher is just someone whounderstands the word but can
also understand what you havebeen through and be able to
break it down to you, to whereyou are and then build you up.
So that way, when these thingscome now, I have the hope and I

(01:11:04):
have the faith to get over it.
Because the Bible says fromfaith to faith, from glory to
glory.
So there's different places offaith, there's different places
of glory, because the glory, allit means, is the weight of who.
God is the weight of it.
So sometimes in certain placesin life, because we're not built
up with the word, we may not beable to handle certain glory,

(01:11:28):
certain places of weight.
So we have to seek wise counselthat's rooted in the scripture
and we have to get into itourselves so we can hide that
word in our heart so that we maynot sin against him.
So it's all about not what'sgoing on externally.
Is everything was going oninternally?
What do you do?
What do we do to build ourfaith, to build our character

(01:11:51):
and who are we surroundingourselves with?
You can't get over youraddictions.
You're hanging with the samepeople who's doing what you're
trying to get away from, who youknow.
It may be entertaining, it maybe fun, it may be this, but not
some people we have to severties with because we may not
understand what we're connectingourselves to, maybe draining

(01:12:12):
the very life out of us, thevery spiritual things that we
are looking toward.
It all sounds easier said thandone, but it's really not.
We have to rely on the word andrely on the people that God
will place in our life.
We have to pray and we have toallow the Holy Spirit to lead us
, the people, people that canproperly pour into our lives.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah, I agree with that, Idefinitely agree with that.
And not only just praying, butdefinitely just fasting, fasting
and praying, because it goeshand in hand.

Speaker 4 (01:12:49):
Yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
Because with fasting, that is starving your flesh,
that is starving and almostkilling the flesh, and that way
that will allow you to be ableto connect more so you can hear

(01:13:12):
a better, get a betterunderstanding from God when you
pray, because you won't hearthat clouded judgment, you won't
hear those voices or anythinglike that, it'll just be.
You can hear him clearly.
So definitely just goes hand inhand with fasting and praying.

Speaker 4 (01:13:37):
Amen, Amen.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
What Well said Anthony, Well said so that about
wraps it up, guys, so I reallyappreciate y'all for coming on.
Appreciate you man, thank you somuch y'all.

(01:14:00):
This has been a blessing notonly for the audience but me.
You guys were amazing and y'allsaid some things that I needed
to hear.
Thank, y'all said some thingsthat I needed to hear, so thank

(01:14:21):
y'all for for coming on and andum definitely hope that we all
can um get back together onfuture episodes and, you know,
continue to, you know spreadthis message, you know, um, but
uh, thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
Thank you for having us thank God because we just a
service to him.
That's it that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
I definitely agree with that.
Final, final words to our toour audience out there that are
in the storm and they need,they're looking for hope and for
those that have listened tothis and they're just like, okay

(01:15:12):
, I hear this religion mumbojumbo, but I mean, I'm still
dealing with X, y and Z.
What do you say to that?

Speaker 4 (01:15:27):
Surrender.
Don't do it by yourself.
You do it by yourself, thenyou're going to look at the
storm rather than you looking atGod.
You surrender your rights overto God.
There's a lot going on and it'sgoing to keep going on.

(01:15:50):
So you're either going to flowwith the tide or you're just
going to be able to let go andlet God make his way into your
life.
It's tough.
Do think about this.
Everybody got a differentsituation.
Everybody got a problem.
Everybody got something goingon.
But two things that I learnedthat you can't control is your

(01:16:13):
attitude and your actions andyour actions.
So what you need to do, what Irecommend you doing, is
surrendering to God.
Let him have his way and youwill see.
I'm saying this with confidencebecause you will see it.

(01:16:34):
I'm giving you hope right now.
You will see what God iscapable of doing.
That's it I like that that'sright man

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
that's true, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:16:53):
I like that.
That's it, anybody else?

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
That's it, anybody else?

Speaker 3 (01:17:04):
I would say keep your faith, keep your hope, no
matter what the fact that youcan get knocked down Two times,
three times, four times.
It's not about how many timesyou get knocked down, it's about
how many times you actually getback up.
You gotta keep pushing.
If anybody in the past Someright leaders If they just gave
up because they was lynched backup, you got to keep pushing.
If anybody in the past someright leaders if they just gave
up because they was lynched orfirehose got shot, anything like

(01:17:26):
that, we would not be in thissituation right now.
We would not have a civil raceIf Jesus did not go ahead and
crucify us on the cross for us,we would not be here right now.
So I gave you a spiritual leader, I gave you a physical, natural
leader.
All these individuals continueto do what's needed for us to be

(01:17:47):
here.
So, no matter what everythingcould look bleak, keep pushing,
because God have a way toprosper you, to bless you, and
the only way you would know ishaving that breakthrough.
That breakthrough could alittle be on the other side of
the door yeah, I like that amenhey, xavier, amen brother john,

(01:18:10):
yes sir, amen, for real.

Speaker 2 (01:18:14):
Um, I would say you, you are looking at a guy in
myself who's?
There's two things that Ithought would halt whatever it
is that I wanted to do in life.
And I was molested as a youngman and as a child, as a boy,

(01:18:36):
and my mother passed when I was17 years old, as a child, as a
boy, and my mother passed when Iwas 17 years old, and both of
those things carried majorweight that I had to carry
through life.
You're talking about anger.
You're talking about differentaddictions.
You're talking about so manythings that I thought man, God
can't use me or man, how am Igoing to make it through this?

(01:18:57):
And here it is Now.
I'm 30 years old, be 31 thisyear, and am I still going
through things in life?
Absolutely, but those thingsthat I thought would kill me
spiritually, mentally andsometimes even physically.
I'm over that.
I can look at those things nowand use it as a testimony.
One thing that I love about yousaid storms.

(01:19:18):
My favorite storm story is whenJesus walked on water with
Peter, and one of the accounts Ithink it's the account in Mark
or Luke, I can't remember whichone, but one of those accounts
said that Jesus meant to passthem by.
And when I first saw it I waslike man, that's kind of harsh,
Jesus.
Why would you mean to pass themby?

(01:19:39):
And they're making waypainfully in the storm without
you there.
And then I had to keep readingand he pointed out that I had
meant to pass them by because Itold them I was going to meet
them on the other side.
So the Bible says that his wordcannot return back to him void.
So, yes, you may be goingthrough many situations, but if
God promised you something, ifhe told you something, then you

(01:20:01):
can rest assured that he's goingto meet you on the other side
of it.
The storm is causing the shipto wreck, is causing you to be
fearful, but if you can juststay in the boat and trust his
word of what he told you, Ipromise you while we're all here
, if you keep that hope on theinside, like my brother said,
you will see him.
It may not be in the way thatyou want him to show up, but he

(01:20:24):
will show up in the middle ofyour storm Because, remember,
before he walked through thestorm, he calmed one.
So we have a God who's perfect,who has a perfect record
against storms.
So just remember that if yousurrender to him and if you
submit to the God who's perfectin storms, then I promise you
you can make it through yours.

Speaker 3 (01:20:43):
Oh, I like to go ahead and answer that as well.
Man yes, sir, man, that's great.
So you mentioned about thestorm, jesus walking on water.
So Peter went ahead and walkedon water as well, and that's
what we need to do we need to goahead and focus on God.
The moment that he focused onJesus, he was walking on water.
He had no issues.
The moment he started to lookat distractions, look to the

(01:21:04):
left and right or look at thewaves, that's when he started to
sink.
We need to focus on what isabove.
We need to focus on the hill,nothing else.
If we do that, we can doanything.
Everything is possible.
Through Jesus Christ, whostrengthened us, everything is
possible.
So that's it.
Just keep our eyes on him.

Speaker 4 (01:21:25):
Everything is possible for those who love God.

Speaker 3 (01:21:29):
Man, I'm telling you, God made a way.
He's still making a way.

Speaker 1 (01:21:34):
Yes, sir, yes, yeah, make a way out of no way.
God is just, he's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:21:44):
He's awesome man.
For those that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
I just pray that, if you don't know God, that you
would truly just accept him intoyour heart and just believe
that he died for you and he roseagain.
That God is.

(01:22:21):
He is magnificent, king ofkings, lord of lords, and I just
pray that truly surrender,accept him and then just believe
and have hope and you will passthrough this storm.

(01:22:43):
This is me, Boston.

Speaker 4 (01:22:47):
Amen Amen.

Speaker 1 (01:22:50):
Amen.
Thank you guys for coming onand to my listeners out there,
thank you all for listening andI will see you guys next time,
because this is going to be atwo-part series.
Maybe it's because of the time.

Speaker 4 (01:23:18):
That's dope right there.
Yes sir, we're going to lock in, we're going to lock in, we're
going to lock in.

Speaker 3 (01:23:22):
Man, this might be a three, like a Trinity, out here.
Okay, good.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
But thank y'all again for listening and my listeners
out there.
Y'all stay tuned because in theupcoming weeks we will um
release my preview for my newshow, um, tricky cards, uh at
hand, and you will get a a sneakpreview of the first.

(01:23:52):
I'll give you the first fiveminutes of the first episode so
y'all can hear what you willexpect to hear and that series
will be releasing I'm stillgoing to say 2025 this year.

Speaker 4 (01:24:14):
So y'all stay tuned.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
Y'all stay tuned for that.
So y'all listen to my outromusic.
So see you later.
Good job.