December 3, 2025 • 20 mins
Scripture:
Luke 15:11-32: Prodigal Son.
Bible scriptures that emphasize the call to repentance:
- 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
- Acts 3:19: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
- Matthew 4:17: “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
- Isaiah 55:7: “Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”
- Luke 15:7: “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
We explore repentance as a visible pivot in daily life, sparked by a jolt of conviction during a trip to Turkey. We challenge shame-based views of repentance and offer practical ways to wear our “Christian uniform” through behavior.
• conviction sparked by public devotion in Turkey and Manhattan
• repentance defined as turning back to God through behavior
• repentance contrasted with guilt, shame, and punishment
• Isaiah’s relevance to today’s upside-down values
• forgiveness as the hardest first practice
• public prayer over meals as a bold habit
• praying immediately for people who ask
• conflict diffused through quick prayer and trust
• road rage, restraint, and growth as daily reps
• a weekly “Jesus gym” assignment for gratitude and prayer
• obedience as the path, not a magic button
If you're on Apple or Spotify, can you hit the follow or subscribe button? And can you also forward this podcast to one person?
This is the Buddy For Junior Show — where faith, truth, and courage come together. Join us as we explore life’s deeper purpose and carry the torch of conviction. The show begins now.
Follow Buddy @BuddyFoyJr
This is the Buddy For Junior Show — where faith, truth, and courage come together. Join us as we explore life’s deeper purpose and carry the torch of conviction. The show begins now.
Follow Buddy @BuddyFoyJr
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
Welcome.
Welcome to the Buddy for YouJunior Show.
I appreciate everyone joiningme.
Quick favor out of the gate.
If you're on Apple or Spotify,can you hit the follow or
subscribe button?
I really appreciate it.
It helps with the algorithms.
And can you also forward thispodcast to one person?
Quick reminder before we dive inhere, folks, I'm not a biblical
expert.
I don't have a master's intheology.
(00:45):
I'm a guy learning Jesus.
I'm working out in the Jesusgym.
Like the rest of us, I'm justsharing what I'm going through
and what I've been working onfor the last five years.
So please read on your own.
Verify everything I say.
Today we're going to talk aboutrepentance, what it is, what it
isn't, what it looks like.
And when faith pivots backtowards God, what happens?
(01:08):
Now, I've got a lot of DMs aboutspiritual warfare, Islam,
politics.
We'll hit those in futureepisodes, but today we're going
to stay focused on a pivot,repentance.
A quick recap for anyone who'snew.
My wife and I took an emptynesters tour through Europe, and
(01:28):
then we hit Turkey.
Walking into a mosque, somethinghit me like a spiritual
sledgehammer.
It was conviction, it was alittle bit of guilt and a little
bit of embarrassment.
Not because I doubted Jesus, butbecause I realized how often
I've been hiding him compared tohow bold I am about everything
else in my life.
(01:49):
So what challenged me in Turkeywas seeing this outward devotion
in public.
And I've noticed this before,folks.
Years ago, my Jewish cloud, myJewish clients in Manhattan
would pause work, ask us toleave a meeting, and then a
rabbi would come in, and I wouldsee this devotion of their
(02:12):
belief system in themarketplace.
And that sparked my wife and Ito get back to church, just
witnessing that.
So this Turkey trip did the samething.
Different faiths don't change mytheology, but their devotion
exposed how quiet my faith hadbecome.
Both back 20 years ago, when hethen was going back to church,
(02:37):
and then recently last month inTurkey.
What I realized is this we don'thave uniforms, folks, as
Christians to announce who weare to the world.
Our uniform is our behavior, andthat's really what the Lord put
on me in Turkey.
(02:58):
And that's where repentance gotreal for me.
Now, before I unpack repentance,here's a quick did you know
about the Bible that surprisedme this week.
I'm gonna try to add these inhere during the episodes.
I learned the Old Testamentisn't arranged in strict time
order.
I was reading Ezra, for example,this week, and Ezra mentions
(03:23):
Jeremiah, but it appears beforeJeremiah in the Bible.
So that sparked me to figure outwhat's going on here.
And I learned that the Bible'sorganized in themes, not
timeline.
Pretty cool, right?
A little biblical trivia.
And I'll definitely change theway I read the Bible going
forward.
Okay, now back to repentance.
(03:46):
Isaiah hit me harder than almostanything I've ever read in the
Bible.
I think it, you know, and I'vetalked about this in prior
podcasts, and I believe it'sbecause I feel like I'm in a
time machine.
When you read Isaiah, I feellike we're living in those
times, or Isaiah's living inours and preaching to us today.
(04:09):
In particular, 520 to 22, I'llput it below.
It's just an upside-down world.
Right?
And that kind of put me downthis foxhole over the years of
being constantly confronted andresearching this topic of
repentance.
So here's what I've learned fromscripture or in scripture.
(04:34):
Repentance is God calling peopleto turn back.
So I want to be clear here.
God's talking to his people tocome back.
He's talking to the Jewishpeople, get rid of your idols,
come back to me.
He's not talking to theinstitutions or the celebrities
of the time or the influencers,not the politicians, but to you
(04:59):
and me.
And I believe it's very relevanttoday.
Repentance is this.
Repentance starts in our heartand it shows up in our behavior.
I said this before with ouruniform, our behaviors are
Christian uniform.
(05:20):
And if we start changing certainbehaviors, and this is difficult
because the enemy, the devil,constantly rips us back that
we're not good enough.
And I've personally gone throughthis, but there's a few things
I've been sticking to that Ihope are making me appear to be
a changed person.
(05:40):
Pivot back to God, it becomesvisible in a way we live.
Hopefully, it creates thisdomino effect around us, from
our families to our friends, toour community.
However, in my repentancejourney, and I'm still on it,
(06:04):
I've learned what repentance isnot.
Because I was wrong for so manyyears.
I think it's important to unpackwhat it is not, to understand
what it is.
Repentance, I've learned in theBible, is not guilt.
It is not punishment, it is notshame.
It's quite the opposite.
It's not shame on you, it'sshame off of you.
(06:26):
Jesus took our shame, but theenemy tries to put it back on us
over and over by putting us inthese stressful situations.
And when we're out of thepractice of repentance, we take
debate, or I take debate.
Then we turn into repentancethinking of embarrassment when
we should be thinking ofrepentance as enlightenment.
(06:49):
God opening our eyes andinviting us back home.
Think of the prodigal son.
I'll put that below as well.
Where the prodigal son spendsall the dad's money, comes home,
the father sees him in adistance, and the father gives a
big celebration, and theybutcher the fattest calf.
(07:11):
The son was coming homeembarrassed, ready to work the
fields.
And the father opened him withlove, open arms, and
celebration.
That's a great example, and Ithink the greatest illustration
that Jesus gives us of how theTrinity, God, Jesus, and Holy
Spirit will receive us in thisrepentance journey.
(07:32):
So I'll definitely read thatagain, folks, and I'll put it
below.
Repentance is not punishment.
It'll be reinforced by the storyI just mentioned.
God does not crush you.
And then say repent.
He calls us to repent over andover again in the Bible.
He calls the Jews to repent overand over again and stop living
(07:56):
under what's crushing them.
The idol worship of their time.
And he warns, repent orpunishment.
Not, I'm going to punish you,you're going to learn, and then
I'm going to make you repent.
It's not how it works.
So, what does it look like inreal life?
I'll give you some practicesthat I've learned from pastors
(08:19):
from reading.
And these aren't easy, folks.
We haven't been brought up inthis.
This is not easy.
This is not an easy pivot.
The repentance is a little moredifficult than those that grow
up or have grown up in the Wordon a daily basis.
The hardest thing I'm finding isforgiveness, right?
(08:44):
To forgive is to change the wayyou're thinking about someone.
And that is a what is it, aheavenly spirit to turn back to
God, because you're saying, I'mnot going to hate.
That's the devil march.
That's destination devil.
That's the devil trained,express train to hate people and
(09:04):
not forgive.
So just by the mere changing ofa heart of hatred or
non-forgiveness to forgiving,not forgetting, but forgiving
puts you on the other tracktowards God.
That's a hard one.
Just practicing forgiving peoplewho have hurt you.
Doesn't mean you're back in arelationship with them.
(09:25):
Just means in your heart, you'restarting this path of
forgiveness and learning whatthat means.
Versus the pride train, right?
Pride loves being right.
Repentance is stopping thenon-forgiving heart and pivoting
towards forgiveness.
Even if trust takes time, evenif the relationship isn't the
(09:50):
same, forgiveness is a Jesustrain.
It's a Jesus behavior.
And if our nation as a whole,the Bible tells us this, started
practicing this, we start seeinga more spiritual revival or more
spiritual influence in ourcountry.
That's just one.
Now let's talk about some easierones.
(10:14):
These might sound hard at first,but these get easier to practice
for sure.
Public prayer.
Praying over your food.
My family and I started doingthis after a few families were
doing it in our restaurants, inparticular in Florida.
And we saw the reaction of ourstaff in the back room being
(10:36):
very inspired, going, whoa, man,our staff is really reacting to
that in a very positive way.
Let's start praying over ourfood.
So that was very uncomfortablein the beginning, especially up
north, where it's not like theSouth, as far as the outward
expression being more southerlywhen it comes to Christ than the
(10:57):
northern states.
So we sort of praying in publicup in New Jersey and New York.
And that was uncomfortable atfirst, but now it's just
autopilot for my daughters andmy wife and I.
Wasn't easy, folks.
Now here's another one, anotherprayer.
So prayer in public over food.
Praying for someone.
(11:18):
I have to give credit to uhPastor Mark for this one.
I'll have him on as well.
Man, he he called us out a hugechallenge one day.
And folks, I'm not there yet.
He said, stop telling peopleyou'll pray for them.
Instead, stop and pray for themright then and there.
If someone says, hey, pray forme, I'm having knee surgery.
(11:39):
Stop, turn, pray for them rightthere.
Can I pray for you right now?
They just asked you to pray forthem.
So that should be easy, right?
Someone, hey, pray for mymother.
She has cancer.
Okay, I'll put her on my prayerlist.
That's great.
But Pastor Mark's point is howabout you turn?
Hey, David, come here.
What's your mother's name?
(12:00):
Let's pray for her right now.
Boy, can you imagine a nationthat did that?
The type of favor the Lord wouldjust rain on top of that nation.
That one act of public prayeralone.
unknown (12:17):
Man.
SPEAKER_00 (12:21):
Folks, this works.
I'm gonna give you a real-timeexample of my daughter.
My daughter called me asking foradvice about an interview she
was having for a promotion.
And I immediately, and thisshocked me that I did this,
folks.
But this is what practice does.
(12:42):
It's amazing how much it's likethe gym.
All of a sudden you're liftingheavier weight.
All of a sudden you're not assore.
All of a sudden you're not aswinded.
It's the same thing biblically,and it blows my mind how it
plays out.
My daughter called, Dad, youknow, can we can you help me?
I need some advice on thisinterview that's happening for
my promotion.
(13:02):
I said, I'll tell you what,let's stop, let's pray.
Lord, favor her.
Whether she gets this promotionor not, Lord, trust, we trust
your will and your timing.
Folks, that's a huge pivot formy family.
It's a pivot from control totrust.
(13:22):
She ended up getting apromotion, by the way.
But she received that.
And I kind of, after afterphone, I was like, thank you,
Jesus, because that wasn't me.
That was the Holy Spirit.
That's not my behavior bydefault.
Conflict.
Another thing that happened tome, I always wish when you were
sitting down with Christians anddeeply spiritual people that
grew up with the Bible, or youmight, you know, I know former
(13:46):
monks that just spent anenormous amount of time studying
the word.
Their default is always, well,what does the Lord say?
Or, oh, the Lord told me to dothis.
And I remember leaving aconversation one time, I get in
the car with my wife going, Boy,I'd love to be in a situation
where I'm asking the Lord bydefault what to do about
something, and be in a situationwhere I'm receiving him talking
(14:10):
to me.
And then years later, ithappened.
Someone was approaching me inthis walk, and I felt
aggressiveness.
And I just immediately prayed.
I said, Lord, if this person isapproaching me for conflict,
please change their mind.
And if you can't change theirmind, please change the way I
will I receive this conflict, ifthat's what's unfolding right
(14:31):
now.
And I got approached, folks, itwas zero conflict, it was a
great conversation, and arelationship started to unfold.
I have no idea if that was Jesusor if that was what was intended
from the first place, but Iaccept it.
Okay.
Traffic.
It's another common conversationI have with other Christians.
(14:53):
Being in traffic, comingunglued, getting cut off.
I have a really hard time withthis one.
And I put a cross on my car.
And that still only works halfthe time.
So I'm gonna have to go get apriest and put him in my
passenger seat every time Idrive down the street.
Of course I'm joking, but justremembering when we get in those
situations, we are trying toexhibit a behavior of change, if
(15:18):
anything, to get our family backon the right track, to get our
nation back on the right track.
And the change starts with us.
So what do we do to have ourJesus uniform on, to show people
how to behave and how to givegrace in a situation where
they're cutting us off andflipping us off in the car?
If you figure that one out, DMme.
(15:39):
I want to figure that one outmyself.
I have my cross on my dashboard,I have the Bible in my truck,
and that has helped me becomebetter at handling being boxed
in situations in my car.
I'm not perfect, but I'mdefinitely a lot less angrier
than I was a year ago.
That's a pivot.
Now, I want to zoom out.
(16:02):
What if we did this as people?
Forgiveness instead of grudges,prayer instead of silence,
scripture instead of drift,gratitude instead of greed,
obedience instead of hiding.
Obedience meaning living ourfaith openly.
What would happen in our homes,our churches, and our country?
(16:25):
Folks, repentance is not a magicbutton.
It's obedience.
I'm gonna say that again.
Repentance is not a magicbutton, it's obedience.
And obedience brings us back inalignment with our creator, with
God.
So here's your Jesus, Jesus Gymassignment for the week.
(16:48):
Okay.
Let's all set our alarm for noonon our iPhones, on our Google,
Androids.
Just stop, say, Lord, thank you.
I just want to thank you thatI'm breathing today.
Thank you for my family.
Thank you for my job.
If you don't have a job, thankyou for getting me a job.
(17:09):
This is gonna happen, Lord.
Thank you.
Lord, I pray for my sister.
Lord, I pray for my brother.
I pray for X, Y, and Z.
Two, pray over your meal.
Quietly, naturally, but don'thide.
(17:31):
Don't hide your thankfulness forthe meal you're about to
receive.
Let people see it.
Four, I gotta work on this one,folks.
This will be my assignment forthe week.
When someone asks for prayer,pray for them right there.
This is gonna be a hard one forme.
It's happened to me.
Had a woman walk up to me in abagel store when I was on a very
stressful day with her son, andI looked anxious apparently.
(17:52):
And she goes, Can I pray foryou?
I didn't even ask for it.
And I needed it.
Did I need that prayer?
And she did.
And man, I remember leavinggoing, first of all, thank you,
Jesus.
I needed that.
Second of all, can you I can'timagine being at a place where I
could do that and ask someone todo that for them.
I've done it twice.
(18:14):
And I was very uncomfortable.
Anyhow, that's something I'mgonna work on.
Try it for a week.
Let's watch what happensspiritually.
Folks, let's wrap this up.
The Bible calls us to repent asnations, not as historical
(18:34):
figures, not as politicalleaders, but as people of God.
The repentance is a change inour behavior and it's shame off
of us, not shame on us.
It is not embarrassment, it'senlightenment.
It is not punishment, it's aninvitation back to grace.
And it doesn't start again inWashington, it starts in our
homes.
(18:54):
It starts with me and you, onepivot at a time.
Let's give this a shot, andmaybe the Lord will restore our
nation.
We'll change what the kids callthe vibe of America to be more
heavenly spiritual versus thedemonic spirit that we're in.
(19:15):
Don't take the bait.
Have a great week.
God bless.
We'll talk next week.
Welcome.
Welcome to the Buddy for YouJunior Show.
I appreciate everyone joiningme.
Quick favor out of the gate.
If you're on Apple or Spotify,can you hit the follow or
subscribe button?
I really appreciate it.
It helps with the algorithms.
And can you also forward thispodcast to one person?
Quick reminder before we dive inhere, folks, I'm not a biblical
expert.
I don't have a master's intheology.
(00:45):
I'm a guy learning Jesus.
I'm working out in the Jesusgym.
Like the rest of us, I'm justsharing what I'm going through
and what I've been working onfor the last five years.
So please read on your own.
Verify everything I say.
Today we're going to talk aboutrepentance, what it is, what it
isn't, what it looks like.
And when faith pivots backtowards God, what happens?
(01:08):
Now, I've got a lot of DMs aboutspiritual warfare, Islam,
politics.
We'll hit those in futureepisodes, but today we're going
to stay focused on a pivot,repentance.
A quick recap for anyone who'snew.
My wife and I took an emptynesters tour through Europe, and
(01:28):
then we hit Turkey.
Walking into a mosque, somethinghit me like a spiritual
sledgehammer.
It was conviction, it was alittle bit of guilt and a little
bit of embarrassment.
Not because I doubted Jesus, butbecause I realized how often
I've been hiding him compared tohow bold I am about everything
else in my life.
(01:49):
So what challenged me in Turkeywas seeing this outward devotion
in public.
And I've noticed this before,folks.
Years ago, my Jewish cloud, myJewish clients in Manhattan
would pause work, ask us toleave a meeting, and then a
rabbi would come in, and I wouldsee this devotion of their
(02:12):
belief system in themarketplace.
And that sparked my wife and Ito get back to church, just
witnessing that.
So this Turkey trip did the samething.
Different faiths don't change mytheology, but their devotion
exposed how quiet my faith hadbecome.
Both back 20 years ago, when hethen was going back to church,
(02:37):
and then recently last month inTurkey.
What I realized is this we don'thave uniforms, folks, as
Christians to announce who weare to the world.
Our uniform is our behavior, andthat's really what the Lord put
on me in Turkey.
(02:58):
And that's where repentance gotreal for me.
Now, before I unpack repentance,here's a quick did you know
about the Bible that surprisedme this week.
I'm gonna try to add these inhere during the episodes.
I learned the Old Testamentisn't arranged in strict time
order.
I was reading Ezra, for example,this week, and Ezra mentions
(03:23):
Jeremiah, but it appears beforeJeremiah in the Bible.
So that sparked me to figure outwhat's going on here.
And I learned that the Bible'sorganized in themes, not
timeline.
Pretty cool, right?
A little biblical trivia.
And I'll definitely change theway I read the Bible going
forward.
Okay, now back to repentance.
(03:46):
Isaiah hit me harder than almostanything I've ever read in the
Bible.
I think it, you know, and I'vetalked about this in prior
podcasts, and I believe it'sbecause I feel like I'm in a
time machine.
When you read Isaiah, I feellike we're living in those
times, or Isaiah's living inours and preaching to us today.
(04:09):
In particular, 520 to 22, I'llput it below.
It's just an upside-down world.
Right?
And that kind of put me downthis foxhole over the years of
being constantly confronted andresearching this topic of
repentance.
So here's what I've learned fromscripture or in scripture.
(04:34):
Repentance is God calling peopleto turn back.
So I want to be clear here.
God's talking to his people tocome back.
He's talking to the Jewishpeople, get rid of your idols,
come back to me.
He's not talking to theinstitutions or the celebrities
of the time or the influencers,not the politicians, but to you
(04:59):
and me.
And I believe it's very relevanttoday.
Repentance is this.
Repentance starts in our heartand it shows up in our behavior.
I said this before with ouruniform, our behaviors are
Christian uniform.
(05:20):
And if we start changing certainbehaviors, and this is difficult
because the enemy, the devil,constantly rips us back that
we're not good enough.
And I've personally gone throughthis, but there's a few things
I've been sticking to that Ihope are making me appear to be
a changed person.
(05:40):
Pivot back to God, it becomesvisible in a way we live.
Hopefully, it creates thisdomino effect around us, from
our families to our friends, toour community.
However, in my repentancejourney, and I'm still on it,
(06:04):
I've learned what repentance isnot.
Because I was wrong for so manyyears.
I think it's important to unpackwhat it is not, to understand
what it is.
Repentance, I've learned in theBible, is not guilt.
It is not punishment, it is notshame.
It's quite the opposite.
It's not shame on you, it'sshame off of you.
(06:26):
Jesus took our shame, but theenemy tries to put it back on us
over and over by putting us inthese stressful situations.
And when we're out of thepractice of repentance, we take
debate, or I take debate.
Then we turn into repentancethinking of embarrassment when
we should be thinking ofrepentance as enlightenment.
(06:49):
God opening our eyes andinviting us back home.
Think of the prodigal son.
I'll put that below as well.
Where the prodigal son spendsall the dad's money, comes home,
the father sees him in adistance, and the father gives a
big celebration, and theybutcher the fattest calf.
(07:11):
The son was coming homeembarrassed, ready to work the
fields.
And the father opened him withlove, open arms, and
celebration.
That's a great example, and Ithink the greatest illustration
that Jesus gives us of how theTrinity, God, Jesus, and Holy
Spirit will receive us in thisrepentance journey.
(07:32):
So I'll definitely read thatagain, folks, and I'll put it
below.
Repentance is not punishment.
It'll be reinforced by the storyI just mentioned.
God does not crush you.
And then say repent.
He calls us to repent over andover again in the Bible.
He calls the Jews to repent overand over again and stop living
(07:56):
under what's crushing them.
The idol worship of their time.
And he warns, repent orpunishment.
Not, I'm going to punish you,you're going to learn, and then
I'm going to make you repent.
It's not how it works.
So, what does it look like inreal life?
I'll give you some practicesthat I've learned from pastors
(08:19):
from reading.
And these aren't easy, folks.
We haven't been brought up inthis.
This is not easy.
This is not an easy pivot.
The repentance is a little moredifficult than those that grow
up or have grown up in the Wordon a daily basis.
The hardest thing I'm finding isforgiveness, right?
(08:44):
To forgive is to change the wayyou're thinking about someone.
And that is a what is it, aheavenly spirit to turn back to
God, because you're saying, I'mnot going to hate.
That's the devil march.
That's destination devil.
That's the devil trained,express train to hate people and
(09:04):
not forgive.
So just by the mere changing ofa heart of hatred or
non-forgiveness to forgiving,not forgetting, but forgiving
puts you on the other tracktowards God.
That's a hard one.
Just practicing forgiving peoplewho have hurt you.
Doesn't mean you're back in arelationship with them.
(09:25):
Just means in your heart, you'restarting this path of
forgiveness and learning whatthat means.
Versus the pride train, right?
Pride loves being right.
Repentance is stopping thenon-forgiving heart and pivoting
towards forgiveness.
Even if trust takes time, evenif the relationship isn't the
(09:50):
same, forgiveness is a Jesustrain.
It's a Jesus behavior.
And if our nation as a whole,the Bible tells us this, started
practicing this, we start seeinga more spiritual revival or more
spiritual influence in ourcountry.
That's just one.
Now let's talk about some easierones.
(10:14):
These might sound hard at first,but these get easier to practice
for sure.
Public prayer.
Praying over your food.
My family and I started doingthis after a few families were
doing it in our restaurants, inparticular in Florida.
And we saw the reaction of ourstaff in the back room being
(10:36):
very inspired, going, whoa, man,our staff is really reacting to
that in a very positive way.
Let's start praying over ourfood.
So that was very uncomfortablein the beginning, especially up
north, where it's not like theSouth, as far as the outward
expression being more southerlywhen it comes to Christ than the
(10:57):
northern states.
So we sort of praying in publicup in New Jersey and New York.
And that was uncomfortable atfirst, but now it's just
autopilot for my daughters andmy wife and I.
Wasn't easy, folks.
Now here's another one, anotherprayer.
So prayer in public over food.
Praying for someone.
(11:18):
I have to give credit to uhPastor Mark for this one.
I'll have him on as well.
Man, he he called us out a hugechallenge one day.
And folks, I'm not there yet.
He said, stop telling peopleyou'll pray for them.
Instead, stop and pray for themright then and there.
If someone says, hey, pray forme, I'm having knee surgery.
(11:39):
Stop, turn, pray for them rightthere.
Can I pray for you right now?
They just asked you to pray forthem.
So that should be easy, right?
Someone, hey, pray for mymother.
She has cancer.
Okay, I'll put her on my prayerlist.
That's great.
But Pastor Mark's point is howabout you turn?
Hey, David, come here.
What's your mother's name?
(12:00):
Let's pray for her right now.
Boy, can you imagine a nationthat did that?
The type of favor the Lord wouldjust rain on top of that nation.
That one act of public prayeralone.
unknown (12:17):
Man.
SPEAKER_00 (12:21):
Folks, this works.
I'm gonna give you a real-timeexample of my daughter.
My daughter called me asking foradvice about an interview she
was having for a promotion.
And I immediately, and thisshocked me that I did this,
folks.
But this is what practice does.
(12:42):
It's amazing how much it's likethe gym.
All of a sudden you're liftingheavier weight.
All of a sudden you're not assore.
All of a sudden you're not aswinded.
It's the same thing biblically,and it blows my mind how it
plays out.
My daughter called, Dad, youknow, can we can you help me?
I need some advice on thisinterview that's happening for
my promotion.
(13:02):
I said, I'll tell you what,let's stop, let's pray.
Lord, favor her.
Whether she gets this promotionor not, Lord, trust, we trust
your will and your timing.
Folks, that's a huge pivot formy family.
It's a pivot from control totrust.
(13:22):
She ended up getting apromotion, by the way.
But she received that.
And I kind of, after afterphone, I was like, thank you,
Jesus, because that wasn't me.
That was the Holy Spirit.
That's not my behavior bydefault.
Conflict.
Another thing that happened tome, I always wish when you were
sitting down with Christians anddeeply spiritual people that
grew up with the Bible, or youmight, you know, I know former
(13:46):
monks that just spent anenormous amount of time studying
the word.
Their default is always, well,what does the Lord say?
Or, oh, the Lord told me to dothis.
And I remember leaving aconversation one time, I get in
the car with my wife going, Boy,I'd love to be in a situation
where I'm asking the Lord bydefault what to do about
something, and be in a situationwhere I'm receiving him talking
(14:10):
to me.
And then years later, ithappened.
Someone was approaching me inthis walk, and I felt
aggressiveness.
And I just immediately prayed.
I said, Lord, if this person isapproaching me for conflict,
please change their mind.
And if you can't change theirmind, please change the way I
will I receive this conflict, ifthat's what's unfolding right
(14:31):
now.
And I got approached, folks, itwas zero conflict, it was a
great conversation, and arelationship started to unfold.
I have no idea if that was Jesusor if that was what was intended
from the first place, but Iaccept it.
Okay.
Traffic.
It's another common conversationI have with other Christians.
(14:53):
Being in traffic, comingunglued, getting cut off.
I have a really hard time withthis one.
And I put a cross on my car.
And that still only works halfthe time.
So I'm gonna have to go get apriest and put him in my
passenger seat every time Idrive down the street.
Of course I'm joking, but justremembering when we get in those
situations, we are trying toexhibit a behavior of change, if
(15:18):
anything, to get our family backon the right track, to get our
nation back on the right track.
And the change starts with us.
So what do we do to have ourJesus uniform on, to show people
how to behave and how to givegrace in a situation where
they're cutting us off andflipping us off in the car?
If you figure that one out, DMme.
(15:39):
I want to figure that one outmyself.
I have my cross on my dashboard,I have the Bible in my truck,
and that has helped me becomebetter at handling being boxed
in situations in my car.
I'm not perfect, but I'mdefinitely a lot less angrier
than I was a year ago.
That's a pivot.
Now, I want to zoom out.
(16:02):
What if we did this as people?
Forgiveness instead of grudges,prayer instead of silence,
scripture instead of drift,gratitude instead of greed,
obedience instead of hiding.
Obedience meaning living ourfaith openly.
What would happen in our homes,our churches, and our country?
(16:25):
Folks, repentance is not a magicbutton.
It's obedience.
I'm gonna say that again.
Repentance is not a magicbutton, it's obedience.
And obedience brings us back inalignment with our creator, with
God.
So here's your Jesus, Jesus Gymassignment for the week.
(16:48):
Okay.
Let's all set our alarm for noonon our iPhones, on our Google,
Androids.
Just stop, say, Lord, thank you.
I just want to thank you thatI'm breathing today.
Thank you for my family.
Thank you for my job.
If you don't have a job, thankyou for getting me a job.
(17:09):
This is gonna happen, Lord.
Thank you.
Lord, I pray for my sister.
Lord, I pray for my brother.
I pray for X, Y, and Z.
Two, pray over your meal.
Quietly, naturally, but don'thide.
(17:31):
Don't hide your thankfulness forthe meal you're about to
receive.
Let people see it.
Four, I gotta work on this one,folks.
This will be my assignment forthe week.
When someone asks for prayer,pray for them right there.
This is gonna be a hard one forme.
It's happened to me.
Had a woman walk up to me in abagel store when I was on a very
stressful day with her son, andI looked anxious apparently.
(17:52):
And she goes, Can I pray foryou?
I didn't even ask for it.
And I needed it.
Did I need that prayer?
And she did.
And man, I remember leavinggoing, first of all, thank you,
Jesus.
I needed that.
Second of all, can you I can'timagine being at a place where I
could do that and ask someone todo that for them.
I've done it twice.
(18:14):
And I was very uncomfortable.
Anyhow, that's something I'mgonna work on.
Try it for a week.
Let's watch what happensspiritually.
Folks, let's wrap this up.
The Bible calls us to repent asnations, not as historical
(18:34):
figures, not as politicalleaders, but as people of God.
The repentance is a change inour behavior and it's shame off
of us, not shame on us.
It is not embarrassment, it'senlightenment.
It is not punishment, it's aninvitation back to grace.
And it doesn't start again inWashington, it starts in our
homes.
(18:54):
It starts with me and you, onepivot at a time.
Let's give this a shot, andmaybe the Lord will restore our
nation.
We'll change what the kids callthe vibe of America to be more
heavenly spiritual versus thedemonic spirit that we're in.
(19:15):
Don't take the bait.
Have a great week.
God bless.
We'll talk next week.
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