April 9, 2024 • 44 mins
Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads, wrestling with the decision to follow your faith into uncharted territory? That's where my co-host Sean Sloggett and I have been, and it's the heart of our latest podcast. We're pulling back the curtain on our lives, sharing stories that illuminate the daily grind of a Christian's journey. From my leap into youth pastoring to Sean's business endeavors, we celebrate the blend of hard work, determination, and divine favor that has marked our paths.
We discuss effort and how it plays an important part to receiving a blessing and help from God! We expect God to do EVERYTHING for us..... But that's not what true faith looks like!
To wrap things up, Sean and I tackle the complexities of ministry, spotlighting the importance of authenticity in our service. We share stories that reveal the impact of humble acts on our communities and discuss the temptations of seeking glory in our endeavors. Our hope is that our conversation sparks reflection and conversation in your own life. So tune in, share a laugh, and maybe—just maybe—you'll find a nugget of inspiration to carry with you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You say you want God to bless you here, but you're
not willing to do anything aboutit.
You say that you want God toopen a door, but you're not
putting forth effort and provingto Him that you actually want
Him to open that door.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back to the Everyday Christian Podcast where
we apply scriptural principlesto everyday Christian lives.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I'm Sean Sloggett and I'm John Rich, and today,
brother Sean, we are actuallygoing to do a different episode
for you all, something we'vedone a little bit before, not
really very often.
I think we did it once likeyear one of the podcast and you
weren't even on that podcast.
So what we're going to do todayis we're just going to kind of
I don't know if spitball is theright word, but share some
(00:54):
testimony, share some differentstories that we've got going on
different things on our mind andheart More of an informal
podcast in this episode.
You guys know where to find us.
You can find us on TikTok,instagram, facebook, by
searching at podcast the numberfor him, that's at podcast for
him.
You can also find us on apodcast platform of your choice
(01:17):
by searching the everydayChristian podcast.
It's the every day, twoseparate words Christian Podcast
.
It is really fun to do this.
Last episode, we did a liveepisode.
It was definitely unusual, sothis one's going to be unusual
as well.
You're going to see probably alighter side of our episode.
In fact, when I do these littlespills of our social media,
(01:40):
sean is mocking me.
You guys can't see that, butit's hilarious.
Do you think we should do abloopers reel?
Yeah, we should absolutely do.
I've actually thought of that,but most of the content that
we've had it's already beendeleted.
It made it to the cutting roomfloor, but that was it.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Coming soon to a screen near you, bloopers of the
Everyday Christian podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, that would be really good.
Most of our bloopers start offwith our intro.
Um, even when gabe and I did it, it was always the intro.
I don't know why.
It's just some of the stufflike where we apply scriptural
principles every.
It's kind of a tongue twisteranyway.
So, yeah, it is kind of hard todo so this episode's different.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I literally tried four times before I got a ride.
That's why he's saying this.
He's making fun of me.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Maybe at the end of this episode we can just put
that little blooper in there atthe end we'll see.
Only if it's not at my expense,though, um.
So yeah, this episode, like Iwas saying, this episode is
going to be different.
You know it's going to besomething that is opposite.
I mean mean, a lot of podcastsdo this, obviously, but opposite
sort of what we do.
You know, we're usually studiedup and ready to speak on a
(02:49):
specific subject, but we justhad a lot, a lot going on, a lot
of different things that youknow work, wise, family life,
personal life but a lot of goodtestimonies and things that have
come out of the differentthings we've been doing, and so
we're excited to share that withyou.
If you like this episode, youknow, give us a like, leave us a
review.
You know I love reviews, loveseeing people's feedback, things
(03:13):
that we can improve on,obviously, there.
So, yeah, you know, startingoff this episode, I know Brother
Sean's got a couple things tosay.
Really cool, last night we hadyouth and I had some of the kids
.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I'm not trying to steal his testimony here, but a
lot of people don't know thingsthat go on in our everyday lives
and that's kind of what alittle bit of this is is just us
, you know.
I guess a Get to Know yousomewhat podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
The everyday, Everyday Christians.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
When Brother Jonathan and I met, we were actually
both working at a furniturestore.
I think I met you at church onetime, at Bethany once.
I think, but we kind of startedbecoming friends working at the
same store together.
But that has since.
We've both since moved on toother things.
(04:08):
Brother John has a new job.
He's now a youth pastor.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And that's where he's going, with this Included, with
that new job Included, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That's another new job.
With a new job, it's wild.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Man of many talents over here yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So Go ahead a lot of people don't know this either.
So like we were both sort ofaffiliated with hma, I mean
obviously the podcast is yourdad started it, president of it,
you know, and I'm somewhataffiliated, he's somewhat
affiliated.
You know he's only traveledmiles and miles and miles all
over the us for hma, uh, but I'mstill obviously connected with
(04:46):
that, still helping with that,um, you know, quite, quite often
as well.
So there's just there's tons ofthings going on.
Something that really excitedme last night so, um, we had our
youth service and, just likeany other service, it all kind
of like it felt different likeall day.
It just felt different Like Iprepare, you know, I try to, I
(05:07):
try to think of things days inadvance to to give to the kids.
And well, sunday I just feltjust compelled to to talk about,
like, I guess, the Easter storyor whatever I get it.
We don't use the word Easter,the resurrection story, you know
, and open up a can of wormsright there, and we're not even
(05:27):
trying to, but we're talkingabout the resurrection of Christ
Sunday.
And so it just really compelledme to want to do that for our
youth because, you know, I talkabout, you know, jesus dying and
I talk about those differentthings.
But I really wanted to sharethis in more detail with them,
share this in more detail withthem, and so, like all
throughout the last few days,I've just felt like just sort of
(05:48):
a you know we say stirring inour spirit, but just that
feeling in the pit of yourstomach like God's going to do
something, and like all dayWednesday I had just been
praying off and on and just likeseeking God and just asking him
to just, you know, to just opendoors, et cetera, the usual
prayers and I actually weaveraged between like 15 and 20
(06:08):
kids, and I set out 30 chairs.
I was like I just want to like,even if we don't have 30 kids,
come in, I just wanted that tobe the environment, like there's
empty seats, like we can fillthat.
You know, that void, that gap.
And so I was thinking, well,you know, we'll have a good
(06:29):
crowd.
And then we had, like I think,four brand new visitors that
have never been there before toour youth, which is cool.
And then we had probably sevenor eight that had been there
like once months ago or yearsago, that had just decided to
come back, which was really cooltoo.
And so we ended up with, likeoverall, like 26 people or
(06:52):
something like that.
It was wild, like between mywife and me, you know, it was
probably like 24 youth, you know.
So it kind of was above ouraverage, but it was cool because
I was like if I just set out 15or 20 chairs, you know anyway.
So I'm given this message.
I'm trying not to take too long, but I'm just given this
message you know about, you knowhow Jesus died, why he died,
(07:12):
the purpose you know of himcoming to the earth, him
bleeding out, him being raisedagain, how history actually
proves that, even aside from theBible, just all these things.
And you know, at the very end Ijust felt just compelled again
to just say you know, if youwant to get saved, step forward
right now.
And there's this kid that hasbeen coming for quite a while
(07:38):
and I've asked him to praybefore, you know, and he never
has never really showed like alot of, not effort, but just a
lot of drive to want to do that.
And he was the first person tostep up there.
Quiet kid, never really did alot of that and when he did it
was just like floodgates opened.
And so I had seven people comeup that wanted to accept Jesus
(08:02):
as their savior genuine.
And I'm like thinking, you know, maybe some of them are doing
it just because their friend'sdoing it, whatever, but four of
those people out of that, sevenwere brand new, never had been
to our church before came in.
You know, they accept.
You know I kind of explainedthem what to do and they prayed
(08:22):
with me.
I prayed with them and they alllet them do what said?
oh no, you let them, I let them,I allowed them to pray um, but
we, anyways, we prayed, prayedfor them, and they all just were
like, very genuinely, umchanged, like you could tell god
was helping them, saving them.
And afterwards they were likeasking me for a Bible.
(08:45):
They were asking me about allthese different things and it
was just really I don't know.
It was very it's a great thingthat's happened in our life,
like we're working and we'retrying to do all these things
and we're getting these peopleand these kids to come, and
that's great.
It's just it's hard when yousee them come and play
basketball but you don't reallysee the fruit of the messages
(09:06):
you've been preaching.
You're not doing it for thefruit.
I get that, but when you seethat you know seven of them came
forth to get saved, I genuinelyfeel like a majority of them
did and they confessed theirlife to Christ that night.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Do they stick with it ?
I don't know, but I'm going totry my best to help them with
that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That's awesome that I left the furniture store to go
do other things.
I started another job.
Through a series of unfortunateevents, that job only lasted
(09:55):
right at two months and I'vebeen starting a side business
I've been doing a little overtwo years now.
So at that point I just decidedwell, I'm just going to go in
on it.
Um, so we went ahead and gotstarted on it in December of
last year and it was very, veryslow.
We had, of course, we had somemoney saved up, different things
(10:18):
, but it was just one of thosethings that man, I don't know, I
don't know if I messed up doingthis or not.
We kept praying about it andactively trying, and that right,
there is the key.
I'm not taking any glory, maybea little bit, it's not.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I told you we're not cutting anything out of this,
it's all right, it's all right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
No, I mean, we're not cutting anything out of this,
it's all right, it's all right.
No, I mean we just got out, wehustled, we kept trying, but we
kept praying about it as well.
And since then I actually toldJonathan this earlier since I
started full-time in December Ihave not had a full, solid week
(11:08):
worth of work all in a row.
I've had some that were reallyclose to it but just hadn't yet,
and I understand you know a lotof those things just come with
time.
It takes time to build acompany.
But this week I've had anoverwhelming thankfulness.
(11:37):
Monday morning when I got up, Ihad Monday through Thursday
morning, thursday late morning,completely booked up and since
that morning when I woke up, Iadded, I think, three more jobs
this week.
So for the first time I have hada solid week's worth of work
(12:02):
and we're recording this on aThursday, by the way, which a
lot of you guys hear this onMonday or Tuesday when we
release it.
But I have a solid week's worthof work and I've got a couple
days or not a couple days, but acouple jobs into next week
already booked up.
That's awesome and I just man,I've been so thankful, so happy
and it's easy.
I know it's easy to be happyand all those things when times
(12:23):
are going good, but I've justhad this thankfulness because I
have people in my church thathave come up to me and asked me
hey, how's Slog Code doing?
And not lying, being as honestas I can be I've told every one
of them it's doing okay or we'redoing pretty good, we're making
(12:45):
it.
But I'm telling you I can'twait for somebody to ask me
right now how Slotko's doing.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Somebody's going to ask you Sunday.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I hope they do.
I hope they do Because it'skind of a small thing.
Yeah, you know, as some peoplemay see it and not think much of
it, but to me, I mean that's,that's huge.
Yeah, I'm trying to do this tosupport my family, to further
the kingdom.
I've got things that I do andwe all do things like this, but,
(13:17):
you know, pay our tithes andoffering stuff, but I have
things that I want to dospecifically, but I have things
that I want to do specifically.
I've always wanted to have myown business, to run my own
business, for different reasons.
And some of the reasons are tohelp others.
(13:39):
So when I tell you that thisweek was booked full, I mean
that's another step closer.
I've shared with you some ofthe things that I've wanted to
do travel around with others anddifferent things.
This is just man, it's justgetting me close and it's just,
(14:01):
I guess, lit another fire in meand I'm like man, I'm ready to
do this, let's go.
But a key to this and I wasactually talking to a gentleman
this afternoon about it iseffort.
I've actually talked to twopeople about it.
I've prayed and I've prayed andI've prayed about this.
(14:22):
My wife has prayed about it.
I love my wife.
She's a very prayerful woman.
I have others in my church,like I mentioned, have come up
and asked about it and have toldme we're praying for you guys,
we're praying for your businessto prosper.
But one of the keys that wemiss a lot of times is we don't
(14:42):
act upon it.
Man, something, god do it forme and then that's it.
Yeah, like we look around forthem and they're over in the
corner twiddling their thumbsRight, and I understand there's
different seasons for differentthings.
(15:03):
I'm not saying you have to bejust gung-ho running at it the
whole time, but there are.
I mean my question to a lot ofpeople is what's up?
If you really want God to dosomething, go for it Right.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It takes a lot of, you know, thinking about, like
the, the determination, but,like God, bless his effort.
And it takes a lot of grit andyou can say what you want, Like
you can.
You know people can think theway they want to.
Well, I'm just going to havefull faith in God, Um, but
(15:46):
you're not going to find thatvery much or very often in the
Bible.
You know.
It's like the Israelites walkedaround Jericho, the walls of
Jericho.
How many times?
Six times.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
And then on the seventh one.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
God made the walls fall.
You know, david went to gofight Goliath and before he did
that he went and gathered fivesmooth stones.
You know, and put forth theeffort for God to bless him and
you think about the thousands ofpeople, the 3,000 plus people,
(16:22):
that Jesus needed to feed.
And it took a boy's lunch, youknow five loaves of bread and
two fish.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Which, by the way, somebody needs to look into that
.
That's a lot of food for a boy,anyway.
What?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
would have happened if he never would have got up
and brought his lunch.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Jesus could have done a miracle.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I'm not saying that he could have.
But that's the exact point thatI'm making is that God can do
anything and he can interferewith our free will, but he
chooses not to.
He desires us to put fortheffort.
I mean, paul said it best.
He said I've planted, apolloshas watered, but God gives the
increase.
Like that is the exact thingthat we're talking about.
(17:03):
You know, it ties into the youththat I just mentioned.
You know, like we've been doingdifferent things and trying out
different things.
Some of them have worked, someof them haven't.
A lot of them haven't.
I've failed in a lot of areas.
I haven't done things correctly, but I've tried.
But you've continued, andthat's the thing.
Yeah, it's the continuance, andsome of you listening to this
(17:27):
episode it's different.
It's the.
It's the continuance, and someof you listening to this, to
this episode, it's different.
You know it's a testimonyepisode, but some of you
listening to this are arestruggling, like you're.
You're trying to figure out.
You know why God doesn't helpme right here in this area.
I've been praying for this foryears and the thing is, god can
and will help you, but it'salmost as if there's a door
(17:49):
that's open that you're notwilling to walk through and
prayer is the key.
Prayer is the key that opensthat door.
But you've also got to walkthrough it.
You've also got to go forwardand let God give the increase.
There's doors open all aroundyou.
A lot of times we're afraidthat we'll pick the wrong door,
(18:10):
but the beauty of it is, god'sgrace is enough and his mercy is
sufficient in those situations.
Have I went through the wrongdoor?
Absolutely.
Does that mean that all theother doors shut?
Not necessarily.
Sometimes.
The good thing about God issometimes he allows me to go
back and pick another door.
(18:31):
People, you know we are preachedthis sort of preached and
taught this sort of mentalitythat you know, if I pick the
wrong, will that all of a suddeneverything else just closes for
me, or that God's just notgoing to bless me as much as he
could have, or that you knowthat I'm just not going to have
as extra of an anointing as Icould have, and that's just not
(18:54):
in Scripture.
It's not true.
I've found it to be false.
Actually, there's been timeswhere I haven't, I guess, what I
would consider fully obeyingGod's will.
There's times where I've messedup, for sure.
But God's grace is always thereand he blesses effort, he
(19:18):
blesses someone who wants to dosomething for him.
He blesses that work, brotherSean.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Isaiah 40 and 31,.
We've all I mean we can allquote this scripture, I'm pretty
sure.
But they that wait upon theLord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with them.
But I've always looked at thatword wait a lot different than
most people we say.
(19:48):
But they that wait upon theLord, and we and I don't think
it's necessarily wrong, I'llthrow this out there I don't
think that they're wrong.
Be patient, be patient, wait onthe Lord.
Yeah, you know in his timing,and I understand all those
things.
But when I read that verse, allthose things, but when I read
(20:11):
that verse, I think about whathappens when you go in a
restaurant.
Who's there to take care of you?
We call them a waiter or awaitress.
Right, they're not sitting overin the corner.
(20:33):
Yeah, they are at your tableevery.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I mean they all differ, I understand, but yeah,
some of them are terrible, someof them are there every 30
seconds, which is way too much.
Some of them every 30 minutes,which is not enough.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
But no, I'm kidding, but they're there at your beck
and call.
Do you need a refill?
Let me get you something elseto drink.
Here's your appetizer.
Your food will be ready in fiveminutes.
Hey, here's your food.
Let me get that appetizer outof the way.
Man, they're clicking, and whenI read that scripture, but they
that wait on the Lord, I'm likeGod.
(21:11):
What can I do for you?
Yeah, right, I don't like sweettea, but, god, would you like
some more unsweet tea?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, yeah, let me refill that for you.
Is there anything else that youneed right now, lord, right,
right, what can I do for youtoday?
Absolutely, I'm waiting on youto do this for me and, let's be
honest, that's what waiters aredoing.
Yeah, they're doing a serviceso they can get something in
(21:39):
return.
Right, they're hoping there's agood tip at the end of it.
Yeah, god, while I'm waiting onyou to pay me more you guys
understand, we're not on abargaining system with God but,
god, while I'm waiting on this,what else can I be doing?
And that has completely changedmy life when I started looking
(22:03):
at it that way.
There are times where you justneed to sit back and wait, but
I'm like man, what's next?
What can I do?
for you, lord, at it that waythere are times where you just
need to sit back and wait.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Right, but I'm like man.
What's next?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
What can I do for you , lord?
I can set out 30 chairs.
Let's set out 30 chairs tonight.
Yeah, I hope you set 35 out.
Next week I probably will, andyou have 30 instead of 26.
Yeah, yeah, god, while I'mwaiting on you to bless my
business, let me go make someflyers and pass them out.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Get up and do something.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Get up and go Go, man .
Yeah, there's again.
I understand there's times forboth of them, but this is where
I've been this week.
Guys, you just have to love itor leave it I guess I don't know
or hate it and bear through it.
Just something Put your all init.
(22:59):
Yeah, if you're sitting overthere twiddling your thumbs, I
find it hard to believe thatGod's going to bless that.
I understand.
There again, I'm correctingevery statement I make.
I'm getting tired of doing thismyself.
(23:21):
To be honest, there are peoplewho can't do a lot of these
things and there's times whereit's not necessary.
But God blesses effort, justlike you said.
How many times they marcharound the wall?
Right when Moses walked up tothe sea, he said stand still and
(23:46):
see the salvation of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And then he went and did something else.
The people had to wait.
Literally they had to juststand there and more or less
twiddle their thumbs.
But Moses took it a stepfurther and he went and did
something about it.
There are both sides of it thatwe have to do, but more often
(24:13):
than not I think we get stuck inthe children of Israel side of
it, where we're all.
Everybody's heard the sayingtoo many chiefs, not enough
Indians.
I think the church as a whole alot of times has too many
Indians and not enough.
It's not.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
PC.
It's not politically correctanymore, but yeah, that's true,
that's true.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
We're all sitting around waiting on somebody to
make the next move.
Yeah, man, I'd really like tohave a youth ministry.
Who's going to do it?
Who can we get to start theyouth ministry for us?
You, you.
I'd love to have a bus ministry.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, go Right.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Right, I wonder when we're going to get somebody who
finally knows how to play thedrums.
Yeah, get started, get started.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Exactly.
It sort of reminds me of HMA.
We work with a lot of justindividuals of all walks of life
.
We deal with addicts, we dealwith ministers that call in or
need information about how todeal with whatever ministry or
how to start whatever ministry.
(25:22):
And you know rule of thumb thatyou know from the moment that I
got here, probably day one.
It's been almost three yearsnow that we started, but since
day one it's always been youknow, whoever puts forth the
effort, that's who we're goingto help Like.
That's always been our motto,because if you put forth the
(25:44):
effort, then it shows that youactually want to do something or
want something.
You know we've had people comeall the time and I'm kind of
letting the cat out of the baghere.
You know we're letting out ourlittle tips and tricks here, but
you know we've had ministersthat have called and said I
really want to start peanutbutter and Jesus ministry.
(26:05):
How do I go about doing that?
And the very next thing that wesay is we've got a book on it.
It is the pattern for how youstart PB&J.
Order it on our website.
We'll send it to you.
When you read it, give us acall back.
We'll talk to you about it.
And I would probably say nineout of 10 of those ministers
(26:26):
never order it.
I would probably say nine outof 10 of those ministers never
order it.
And then when they do order iteight to 10, somewhere around
there don't even call back orthey don't put forth any extra
effort after that.
Same thing with addicts.
You know, when an addict says Ineed whatever X, y, z or I'm
hungry, yeah, you say come on,let's Z or I'm hungry.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
You say, come on, let's go grab a bite to eat.
And they say, no, there'sprobably ulterior motives If an
addict is like you know,obviously, brother Todd, your
dad deals a lot more with themand knows a lot more about the
do's and don'ts of what they, ofhow they are.
But you know, when a homelessperson says I need X Y Z but
(27:11):
they're not willing to dowhatever it takes to get X Y Z,
they want you to do it for them.
That's not how that works.
If you want X Y Z and you wantit bad enough, you're going to
do something about it.
And that's exactly how it iswith God.
Believe it or not, that isexactly how God is.
You say you want God to blessyou here, but you're not willing
(27:35):
to do anything about it.
You say that you want God toopen a door, but you're not
putting forth effort and provingto him that you actually want
him to open that door.
And that's what this all boilsdown to.
You know, this episode turnedinto an episode about effort and
an episode about God blessingus.
(27:56):
Not quite, but you know, herewe are and I think that this is
great because there's so muchtruth to that.
You know, we expect God to justbe.
You know well, and we say itall the time.
Well, god's not a magic fairy,or God's not someone with a wand
that just does whatever.
You know, we've got to pray forit.
(28:17):
Here's the thing.
Prayer is powerful, Prayer isgood Prayer.
I hate to say it this way andyou're probably going to
disagree with this, brother Sean, and you're probably going to
disagree with us that arelistening.
I'm saying it again Prayer ispowerful, but prayer is not the
only effort that you need to bedoing.
(28:38):
So many times I get it.
We have moments where we needto be patient.
We have moments where we needto fast and pray.
That's all good, that's allfine, that's great, it's
wonderful.
But there is a time to pray andthere's a time to take action.
And oftentimes we say, well,I'm praying about it.
Well, I've been praying aboutit.
(28:58):
Well, I've been praying aboutit.
And God's saying put fortheffort, do something about it,
don't just pray about it.
Do you think that the peoplesitting in the upper room, when
the Holy Ghost fell on them andthey spoke with other tongues,
just stayed in the upper roomand said God, you move in this
situation?
No, they got down out of theupper room and they went and
(29:18):
they witnessed to thousands ofpeople and thousands of people
were saved in that same day.
You cannot expect your prayers.
It's not that God can't answerprayers.
God is all powerful.
Don't take clips of thismessage and episode and say, oh
well, they don't think thatprayer is powerful, that God can
do anything.
God can do anything he wants todo.
(29:39):
But my question is why doesn'the?
It's because you're not puttingforth effort.
It's because you're not puttingyour work into it, because
you're not doing anything aboutit yourself.
Brother Sean, you better takeit over for me, because I'm
about to preach to these people.
Preach.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Sounds like you've got it, here we go.
No, I mean, you're absolutelyright.
It takes effort puttingyourself out there.
You mentioned the homelesspeople.
It's very easy to tell yeah,and as church people, this is
(30:19):
something that we, brother Johnand I, have somewhat studied, so
it's a little easier for us, Iwould say, to tell when we look
at different people, not justhomeless people, but you can
tell most of us if we're honest,we can tell when somebody is
genuine or not, and it comesdown to just one or two simple
(30:41):
questions.
Man, I'm starving.
There's a McDonald's caddycorner from us.
Let's go in there.
I'll buy you a burger.
Yeah, man, I got $5.
I just need two more.
No, you keep your five.
Come on, let's go.
No, no, I've.
I've done this before and andcall.
You know they'll sit there andargue, so I'll.
(31:03):
I'll call them out on it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, and well, you're right, man, I just need
some drugs or I need my alcoholor whatever it is.
And if we're not careful aschurch people, we get that way.
God, I need a blessing.
Okay, we'll go walk around thealtar or go speak this word, go
(31:29):
tell somebody you know, givesomebody a word of encouragement
.
Or while you're pumping gas,just look over to that gentleman
across from you and say it's awonderful day God created.
That's too much, God.
You think you could just, nexttime we're in service, just let
the Holy Ghost fall and let mefeel it just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I'll run around for you.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
We do that.
Yeah, if we're honest withourselves, we do those things.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
And this is not a condemnation to us.
This is just trying to help usunderstand.
I'm guilty of these things.
I'm guilty of going into churchand, just like man it's been
such a long week already it'sWednesday night I don't want to
stand up for the song service,but I'll go ahead and do it
(32:25):
because it's what I'm supposedto do.
God, I'm just ready to go home.
Can you let the preacher hurryup and say something that will
touch my heart, so I can getdown and say my little thank you
, jesus, for today and for thischurch service and go home and
get it?
I'm guilty.
I'm 100% guilty of these things, but we can be better, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
We can do it.
I thought about that.
We'll cut this out, this partwe will cut out if we have to.
I'm just going to let you guysknow.
Of course, if we cut it outyou'll never know.
So I guess that's kind of awin-win for me.
You know, when I think about youknow we're talking about, like
the homeless.
It's a very it's a differentexample, but it's the same.
(33:16):
You know, obviously you'retalking, you're saying that.
You know.
Well, hey, I want a few bucksfor food, and it's like what do
you really want?
You know, that's sort of thementality that we have.
Sometimes they're honest.
Like there was a homeless guythe other day.
I was in Panda Express and Isaid I was like can I buy you a
meal?
You know he's asking for money.
I said, well, I'll buy you ameal.
(33:36):
Yeah, that'd be great.
You know it's like cool.
You know I could talk tobelievers and churchgoers.
We have such ulterior motivesand a lot of times the ulterior
motives are not drugs, but it'swhatever feeds our pride.
(33:58):
It's a spiritual high, yeah, itis a spirit.
Well, that's exactly what I'msaying.
It's whatever feeds our pride.
It's like, well, god, I want todo more for you what it sounds
like when I hear that is oh man,they want to get out and they
want to witness, and they wantto get out and they want to, you
(34:19):
know, do a feeding program or adrug rehab ministry, whatever.
But really, when they say, god,I want to do something for you,
it's God, why can't I lead songservice or why can't I preach,
or why can't I teach Sundayschool?
You know, that is thatspiritual high.
You know that you're talkingabout and there is something to
that.
You know, someday we'll have to, we'll have to talk about that,
(34:40):
but it's something that feedsour pride, and so God's looking
at that, like, oh God, I want todo something for you.
Okay, go talk to your neighborabout me.
Well, god, that's not what Imeant, you know.
I meant like, like, start me meoff, like speaking to a nursing
home about you, or, you know,start me off in the jail
ministry, or start me and thoseare great ministries, by the way
(35:03):
Start me off.
You know I want to lead servicein church.
You know it's things that feedour pride, that we want to do,
and God's just like man, likeyou're, you know, going back to
the effort, your effort.
You want me to bless you in allthese areas of your life.
You want me to open doors soyou can go preach revivals, but
(35:24):
you're not willing to doanything for me.
That's not in front of otherChristians.
Mic drop.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Now you were saying that and I had several things
come to mind.
That is a ministry.
We have a young man in ourchurch that he's a teenager.
He's been very quiet andbackwards pretty much ever since
I've ever had any type ofcontact with him Very, very
(35:56):
quiet type of contact with him.
Very, very quiet.
These last year, last year ortwo he started to open up a
little more, probably becausehe's in my class so he feels a
little more comfortable with me.
But for for months now, sundayevening when you pull in, that
(36:18):
dude is standing by the frontdoor.
Everybody that walks up therehe sticks his hand out to shake
your hand and he'll open thedoor for you.
That's a ministry Like thatministers to me when I see that
(36:40):
that he's willing.
I've seen it when it's 100degrees and I've seen it when
it's freezing, below freezing.
He is standing outside right bythe door.
If he's not there, there havebeen times where you'll walk up
and he's standing there with hishands up over the glass
watching for it and man, he getsthe door open, that's awesome.
(37:05):
Cleaning the sanctuary yeah,somebody has to do it, right,
that's a ministry.
Don't clean the sanctuary for amonth and then come back and
we'll talk more about this.
If you think it's not aministry Because it is I am
thankful that whenever I go in,I don't have to worry about who
(37:26):
blew their Kleenexes and left mein my seat.
It's not that bad.
But there are things.
I mean, there's several thingsthat we can do.
But there are things.
I mean there's several thingsthat we can do, and a lot of
times I think it gets overlooked.
And when we're asking God, canI do something for you?
(37:48):
No, it's not the bass player.
We need somebody to hold thedoor open for the elders.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, well, something else that is a ministry.
We mentioned this a little bit,but you know your home is a
ministry and I think that wesort of treat we treat home life
and church life differently.
(38:14):
You know, we I can't it might'vebeen your dad actually the day
I was talking to you, but wewere talking about like how we
are very comfortable around someof the groups that we minister
to and we were talking aboutlike one of the funerals we went
to of this particular group andit was just like and they wore
whatever they wanted, they actedhowever they wanted, and it
(38:36):
sort of was like a culturalshock for me, because I, you
know, when you go to a funeralyou're like everything's formal,
respectful, you know you'requiet, you know it's not like
this with that group and thereason I like it is because that
group and the people andindividuals in that group, even
outside of like church andfunerals and you know different
(38:57):
gatherings, they've all been thesame Across the board.
They've been the same.
They're the same way at home asthey are in a church house and
that, I think, says a lot aboutyour effort and God wanting to
bless you too.
You know we sort of hide behinda facade, you know, or a mask.
(39:17):
When it comes to going tochurch and being around other
church people, it's like thatSunday morning drive you're
running late, the kids aregetting on your nerves, you're
yelling at them because they didX Y Z and you're tired of it.
X Y Z is my favorite wordingtonight apparently too, hey quit
.
Quit, yeah, yeah, stop, stop.
(39:39):
No, I'm telling you to quit.
Oh me, why.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Maybe because you're rebuking me.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I was like you're dead serious, you wanted me to
quit.
Well, no, I'm the same way,dude.
That's what I'm saying, though,like we get that way and then,
like the moment the car door isopen, it's like how are you
doing?
Like, how's it going, you know,and I, like I look at my wife
and I like beforehand, you know,there's been times I've been in
church and I just look at herand I'm like I'm sorry, like we
(40:09):
shouldn't have been that way, weshouldn't have acted that way,
and it's good.
But that's exactly what I'mtalking about, you know, you,
you, I struggle with that too.
Like don't, don't freak out onme.
I didn't mean to like step onyour toes, I'm stepping on my
own toes, really Like hey, shutup, yeah, stop it.
Thank you Lord.
With the same hand that I justbeat my kids with.
(40:32):
I'm raising it to God.
No, but there is a lot to that.
You know, we sort of want Godto bless us when we are in front
of other people and it's likeGod wants you to put forth
effort outside of the churchwalls.
He wants you to put fortheffort at home.
That's a ministry in itself.
Don't say you want to ministerto other people and not do
(41:01):
everything you can to have yourhouse in order.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Sorry for stepping on your toes there, bro.
You curbs don't mean it, noit's.
I mean it's true, we all.
We all need corrected at times,even if it hurts.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Absolutely no, we, we , we hope this helps someone.
You know we were kind of goingall over the the place with our
topics but it it's sort of allblended together in a weird way,
um, which is really cool, uh,but we hopefully will do an
episode like this someday againsoon.
Um, you, of course, know whereto find us.
I'm not going to mention itagain because I already talked
(41:33):
about sean making fun of me fordoing that.
Um, but podcast for him you'llfind it at the bottom of the
screen there, number four.
Number four him and theEveryday Christian Podcast.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Every and day are two separate words.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yes, but God bless everybody for listening.
We hope this helped you in someway.
Leave us a comment concernwhatever you want to do, but
yeah, if you liked this episode,let us know we.
We would love to do it again.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Absolutely.
God bless, thank y'all.
God bless you, thank you, thankyou.
You say you want God to bless you here, but you're
not willing to do anything aboutit.
You say that you want God toopen a door, but you're not
putting forth effort and provingto Him that you actually want
Him to open that door.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back to the Everyday Christian Podcast where
we apply scriptural principlesto everyday Christian lives.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I'm Sean Sloggett and I'm John Rich, and today,
brother Sean, we are actuallygoing to do a different episode
for you all, something we'vedone a little bit before, not
really very often.
I think we did it once likeyear one of the podcast and you
weren't even on that podcast.
So what we're going to do todayis we're just going to kind of
I don't know if spitball is theright word, but share some
(00:54):
testimony, share some differentstories that we've got going on
different things on our mind andheart More of an informal
podcast in this episode.
You guys know where to find us.
You can find us on TikTok,instagram, facebook, by
searching at podcast the numberfor him, that's at podcast for
him.
You can also find us on apodcast platform of your choice
(01:17):
by searching the everydayChristian podcast.
It's the every day, twoseparate words Christian Podcast
.
It is really fun to do this.
Last episode, we did a liveepisode.
It was definitely unusual, sothis one's going to be unusual
as well.
You're going to see probably alighter side of our episode.
In fact, when I do these littlespills of our social media,
(01:40):
sean is mocking me.
You guys can't see that, butit's hilarious.
Do you think we should do abloopers reel?
Yeah, we should absolutely do.
I've actually thought of that,but most of the content that
we've had it's already beendeleted.
It made it to the cutting roomfloor, but that was it.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Coming soon to a screen near you, bloopers of the
Everyday Christian podcast.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, that would be really good.
Most of our bloopers start offwith our intro.
Um, even when gabe and I did it, it was always the intro.
I don't know why.
It's just some of the stufflike where we apply scriptural
principles every.
It's kind of a tongue twisteranyway.
So, yeah, it is kind of hard todo so this episode's different.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I literally tried four times before I got a ride.
That's why he's saying this.
He's making fun of me.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Maybe at the end of this episode we can just put
that little blooper in there atthe end we'll see.
Only if it's not at my expense,though, um.
So yeah, this episode, like Iwas saying, this episode is
going to be different.
You know it's going to besomething that is opposite.
I mean mean, a lot of podcastsdo this, obviously, but opposite
sort of what we do.
You know, we're usually studiedup and ready to speak on a
(02:49):
specific subject, but we justhad a lot, a lot going on, a lot
of different things that youknow work, wise, family life,
personal life but a lot of goodtestimonies and things that have
come out of the differentthings we've been doing, and so
we're excited to share that withyou.
If you like this episode, youknow, give us a like, leave us a
review.
You know I love reviews, loveseeing people's feedback, things
(03:13):
that we can improve on,obviously, there.
So, yeah, you know, startingoff this episode, I know Brother
Sean's got a couple things tosay.
Really cool, last night we hadyouth and I had some of the kids
.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I'm not trying to steal his testimony here, but a
lot of people don't know thingsthat go on in our everyday lives
and that's kind of what alittle bit of this is is just us
, you know.
I guess a Get to Know yousomewhat podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
The everyday, Everyday Christians.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
When Brother Jonathan and I met, we were actually
both working at a furniturestore.
I think I met you at church onetime, at Bethany once.
I think, but we kind of startedbecoming friends working at the
same store together.
But that has since.
We've both since moved on toother things.
(04:08):
Brother John has a new job.
He's now a youth pastor.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And that's where he's going, with this Included, with
that new job Included, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That's another new job.
With a new job, it's wild.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Man of many talents over here yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So Go ahead a lot of people don't know this either.
So like we were both sort ofaffiliated with hma, I mean
obviously the podcast is yourdad started it, president of it,
you know, and I'm somewhataffiliated, he's somewhat
affiliated.
You know he's only traveledmiles and miles and miles all
over the us for hma, uh, but I'mstill obviously connected with
(04:46):
that, still helping with that,um, you know, quite, quite often
as well.
So there's just there's tons ofthings going on.
Something that really excitedme last night so, um, we had our
youth service and, just likeany other service, it all kind
of like it felt different likeall day.
It just felt different Like Iprepare, you know, I try to, I
(05:07):
try to think of things days inadvance to to give to the kids.
And well, sunday I just feltjust compelled to to talk about,
like, I guess, the Easter storyor whatever I get it.
We don't use the word Easter,the resurrection story, you know
, and open up a can of wormsright there, and we're not even
(05:27):
trying to, but we're talkingabout the resurrection of Christ
Sunday.
And so it just really compelledme to want to do that for our
youth because, you know, I talkabout, you know, jesus dying and
I talk about those differentthings.
But I really wanted to sharethis in more detail with them,
share this in more detail withthem, and so, like all
throughout the last few days,I've just felt like just sort of
(05:48):
a you know we say stirring inour spirit, but just that
feeling in the pit of yourstomach like God's going to do
something, and like all dayWednesday I had just been
praying off and on and just likeseeking God and just asking him
to just, you know, to just opendoors, et cetera, the usual
prayers and I actually weaveraged between like 15 and 20
(06:08):
kids, and I set out 30 chairs.
I was like I just want to like,even if we don't have 30 kids,
come in, I just wanted that tobe the environment, like there's
empty seats, like we can fillthat.
You know, that void, that gap.
And so I was thinking, well,you know, we'll have a good
(06:29):
crowd.
And then we had, like I think,four brand new visitors that
have never been there before toour youth, which is cool.
And then we had probably sevenor eight that had been there
like once months ago or yearsago, that had just decided to
come back, which was really cooltoo.
And so we ended up with, likeoverall, like 26 people or
(06:52):
something like that.
It was wild, like between mywife and me, you know, it was
probably like 24 youth, you know.
So it kind of was above ouraverage, but it was cool because
I was like if I just set out 15or 20 chairs, you know anyway.
So I'm given this message.
I'm trying not to take too long, but I'm just given this
message you know about, you knowhow Jesus died, why he died,
(07:12):
the purpose you know of himcoming to the earth, him
bleeding out, him being raisedagain, how history actually
proves that, even aside from theBible, just all these things.
And you know, at the very end Ijust felt just compelled again
to just say you know, if youwant to get saved, step forward
right now.
And there's this kid that hasbeen coming for quite a while
(07:38):
and I've asked him to praybefore, you know, and he never
has never really showed like alot of, not effort, but just a
lot of drive to want to do that.
And he was the first person tostep up there.
Quiet kid, never really did alot of that and when he did it
was just like floodgates opened.
And so I had seven people comeup that wanted to accept Jesus
(08:02):
as their savior genuine.
And I'm like thinking, you know, maybe some of them are doing
it just because their friend'sdoing it, whatever, but four of
those people out of that, sevenwere brand new, never had been
to our church before came in.
You know, they accept.
You know I kind of explainedthem what to do and they prayed
(08:22):
with me.
I prayed with them and they alllet them do what said?
oh no, you let them, I let them,I allowed them to pray um, but
we, anyways, we prayed, prayedfor them, and they all just were
like, very genuinely, umchanged, like you could tell god
was helping them, saving them.
And afterwards they were likeasking me for a Bible.
(08:45):
They were asking me about allthese different things and it
was just really I don't know.
It was very it's a great thingthat's happened in our life,
like we're working and we'retrying to do all these things
and we're getting these peopleand these kids to come, and
that's great.
It's just it's hard when yousee them come and play
basketball but you don't reallysee the fruit of the messages
(09:06):
you've been preaching.
You're not doing it for thefruit.
I get that, but when you seethat you know seven of them came
forth to get saved, I genuinelyfeel like a majority of them
did and they confessed theirlife to Christ that night.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Do they stick with it ?
I don't know, but I'm going totry my best to help them with
that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
That's awesome that I left the furniture store to go
do other things.
I started another job.
Through a series of unfortunateevents, that job only lasted
(09:55):
right at two months and I'vebeen starting a side business
I've been doing a little overtwo years now.
So at that point I just decidedwell, I'm just going to go in
on it.
Um, so we went ahead and gotstarted on it in December of
last year and it was very, veryslow.
We had, of course, we had somemoney saved up, different things
(10:18):
, but it was just one of thosethings that man, I don't know, I
don't know if I messed up doingthis or not.
We kept praying about it andactively trying, and that right,
there is the key.
I'm not taking any glory, maybea little bit, it's not.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I told you we're not cutting anything out of this,
it's all right, it's all right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
No, I mean, we're not cutting anything out of this,
it's all right, it's all right.
No, I mean we just got out, wehustled, we kept trying, but we
kept praying about it as well.
And since then I actually toldJonathan this earlier since I
started full-time in December Ihave not had a full, solid week
(11:08):
worth of work all in a row.
I've had some that were reallyclose to it but just hadn't yet,
and I understand you know a lotof those things just come with
time.
It takes time to build acompany.
But this week I've had anoverwhelming thankfulness.
(11:37):
Monday morning when I got up, Ihad Monday through Thursday
morning, thursday late morning,completely booked up and since
that morning when I woke up, Iadded, I think, three more jobs
this week.
So for the first time I have hada solid week's worth of work
(12:02):
and we're recording this on aThursday, by the way, which a
lot of you guys hear this onMonday or Tuesday when we
release it.
But I have a solid week's worthof work and I've got a couple
days or not a couple days, but acouple jobs into next week
already booked up.
That's awesome and I just man,I've been so thankful, so happy
and it's easy.
I know it's easy to be happyand all those things when times
(12:23):
are going good, but I've justhad this thankfulness because I
have people in my church thathave come up to me and asked me
hey, how's Slog Code doing?
And not lying, being as honestas I can be I've told every one
of them it's doing okay or we'redoing pretty good, we're making
(12:45):
it.
But I'm telling you I can'twait for somebody to ask me
right now how Slotko's doing.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Somebody's going to ask you Sunday.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I hope they do.
I hope they do Because it'skind of a small thing.
Yeah, you know, as some peoplemay see it and not think much of
it, but to me, I mean that's,that's huge.
Yeah, I'm trying to do this tosupport my family, to further
the kingdom.
I've got things that I do andwe all do things like this, but,
(13:17):
you know, pay our tithes andoffering stuff, but I have
things that I want to dospecifically, but I have things
that I want to do specifically.
I've always wanted to have myown business, to run my own
business, for different reasons.
And some of the reasons are tohelp others.
(13:39):
So when I tell you that thisweek was booked full, I mean
that's another step closer.
I've shared with you some ofthe things that I've wanted to
do travel around with others anddifferent things.
This is just man, it's justgetting me close and it's just,
(14:01):
I guess, lit another fire in meand I'm like man, I'm ready to
do this, let's go.
But a key to this and I wasactually talking to a gentleman
this afternoon about it iseffort.
I've actually talked to twopeople about it.
I've prayed and I've prayed andI've prayed about this.
(14:22):
My wife has prayed about it.
I love my wife.
She's a very prayerful woman.
I have others in my church,like I mentioned, have come up
and asked about it and have toldme we're praying for you guys,
we're praying for your businessto prosper.
But one of the keys that wemiss a lot of times is we don't
(14:42):
act upon it.
Man, something, god do it forme and then that's it.
Yeah, like we look around forthem and they're over in the
corner twiddling their thumbsRight, and I understand there's
different seasons for differentthings.
(15:03):
I'm not saying you have to bejust gung-ho running at it the
whole time, but there are.
I mean my question to a lot ofpeople is what's up?
If you really want God to dosomething, go for it Right.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It takes a lot of, you know, thinking about, like
the, the determination, but,like God, bless his effort.
And it takes a lot of grit andyou can say what you want, Like
you can.
You know people can think theway they want to.
Well, I'm just going to havefull faith in God, Um, but
(15:46):
you're not going to find thatvery much or very often in the
Bible.
You know.
It's like the Israelites walkedaround Jericho, the walls of
Jericho.
How many times?
Six times.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
And then on the seventh one.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
God made the walls fall.
You know, david went to gofight Goliath and before he did
that he went and gathered fivesmooth stones.
You know, and put forth theeffort for God to bless him and
you think about the thousands ofpeople, the 3,000 plus people,
(16:22):
that Jesus needed to feed.
And it took a boy's lunch, youknow five loaves of bread and
two fish.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Which, by the way, somebody needs to look into that
.
That's a lot of food for a boy,anyway.
What?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
would have happened if he never would have got up
and brought his lunch.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Jesus could have done a miracle.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I'm not saying that he could have.
But that's the exact point thatI'm making is that God can do
anything and he can interferewith our free will, but he
chooses not to.
He desires us to put fortheffort.
I mean, paul said it best.
He said I've planted, apolloshas watered, but God gives the
increase.
Like that is the exact thingthat we're talking about.
(17:03):
You know, it ties into the youththat I just mentioned.
You know, like we've been doingdifferent things and trying out
different things.
Some of them have worked, someof them haven't.
A lot of them haven't.
I've failed in a lot of areas.
I haven't done things correctly, but I've tried.
But you've continued, andthat's the thing.
Yeah, it's the continuance, andsome of you listening to this
(17:27):
episode it's different.
It's the.
It's the continuance, and someof you listening to this, to
this episode, it's different.
You know it's a testimonyepisode, but some of you
listening to this are arestruggling, like you're.
You're trying to figure out.
You know why God doesn't helpme right here in this area.
I've been praying for this foryears and the thing is, god can
and will help you, but it'salmost as if there's a door
(17:49):
that's open that you're notwilling to walk through and
prayer is the key.
Prayer is the key that opensthat door.
But you've also got to walkthrough it.
You've also got to go forwardand let God give the increase.
There's doors open all aroundyou.
A lot of times we're afraidthat we'll pick the wrong door,
(18:10):
but the beauty of it is, god'sgrace is enough and his mercy is
sufficient in those situations.
Have I went through the wrongdoor?
Absolutely.
Does that mean that all theother doors shut?
Not necessarily.
Sometimes.
The good thing about God issometimes he allows me to go
back and pick another door.
(18:31):
People, you know we are preachedthis sort of preached and
taught this sort of mentalitythat you know, if I pick the
wrong, will that all of a suddeneverything else just closes for
me, or that God's just notgoing to bless me as much as he
could have, or that you knowthat I'm just not going to have
as extra of an anointing as Icould have, and that's just not
(18:54):
in Scripture.
It's not true.
I've found it to be false.
Actually, there's been timeswhere I haven't, I guess, what I
would consider fully obeyingGod's will.
There's times where I've messedup, for sure.
But God's grace is always thereand he blesses effort, he
(19:18):
blesses someone who wants to dosomething for him.
He blesses that work, brotherSean.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Isaiah 40 and 31,.
We've all I mean we can allquote this scripture, I'm pretty
sure.
But they that wait upon theLord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with them.
But I've always looked at thatword wait a lot different than
most people we say.
(19:48):
But they that wait upon theLord, and we and I don't think
it's necessarily wrong, I'llthrow this out there I don't
think that they're wrong.
Be patient, be patient, wait onthe Lord.
Yeah, you know in his timing,and I understand all those
things.
But when I read that verse, allthose things, but when I read
(20:11):
that verse, I think about whathappens when you go in a
restaurant.
Who's there to take care of you?
We call them a waiter or awaitress.
Right, they're not sitting overin the corner.
(20:33):
Yeah, they are at your tableevery.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I mean they all differ, I understand, but yeah,
some of them are terrible, someof them are there every 30
seconds, which is way too much.
Some of them every 30 minutes,which is not enough.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
But no, I'm kidding, but they're there at your beck
and call.
Do you need a refill?
Let me get you something elseto drink.
Here's your appetizer.
Your food will be ready in fiveminutes.
Hey, here's your food.
Let me get that appetizer outof the way.
Man, they're clicking, and whenI read that scripture, but they
that wait on the Lord, I'm likeGod.
(21:11):
What can I do for you?
Yeah, right, I don't like sweettea, but, god, would you like
some more unsweet tea?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, yeah, let me refill that for you.
Is there anything else that youneed right now, lord, right,
right, what can I do for youtoday?
Absolutely, I'm waiting on youto do this for me and, let's be
honest, that's what waiters aredoing.
Yeah, they're doing a serviceso they can get something in
(21:39):
return.
Right, they're hoping there's agood tip at the end of it.
Yeah, god, while I'm waiting onyou to pay me more you guys
understand, we're not on abargaining system with God but,
god, while I'm waiting on this,what else can I be doing?
And that has completely changedmy life when I started looking
(22:03):
at it that way.
There are times where you justneed to sit back and wait, but
I'm like man, what's next?
What can I do?
for you, lord, at it that waythere are times where you just
need to sit back and wait.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Right, but I'm like man.
What's next?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
What can I do for you , lord?
I can set out 30 chairs.
Let's set out 30 chairs tonight.
Yeah, I hope you set 35 out.
Next week I probably will, andyou have 30 instead of 26.
Yeah, yeah, god, while I'mwaiting on you to bless my
business, let me go make someflyers and pass them out.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Get up and do something.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Get up and go Go, man .
Yeah, there's again.
I understand there's times forboth of them, but this is where
I've been this week.
Guys, you just have to love itor leave it I guess I don't know
or hate it and bear through it.
Just something Put your all init.
(22:59):
Yeah, if you're sitting overthere twiddling your thumbs, I
find it hard to believe thatGod's going to bless that.
I understand.
There again, I'm correctingevery statement I make.
I'm getting tired of doing thismyself.
(23:21):
To be honest, there are peoplewho can't do a lot of these
things and there's times whereit's not necessary.
But God blesses effort, justlike you said.
How many times they marcharound the wall?
Right when Moses walked up tothe sea, he said stand still and
(23:46):
see the salvation of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And then he went and did something else.
The people had to wait.
Literally they had to juststand there and more or less
twiddle their thumbs.
But Moses took it a stepfurther and he went and did
something about it.
There are both sides of it thatwe have to do, but more often
(24:13):
than not I think we get stuck inthe children of Israel side of
it, where we're all.
Everybody's heard the sayingtoo many chiefs, not enough
Indians.
I think the church as a whole alot of times has too many
Indians and not enough.
It's not.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
PC.
It's not politically correctanymore, but yeah, that's true,
that's true.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
We're all sitting around waiting on somebody to
make the next move.
Yeah, man, I'd really like tohave a youth ministry.
Who's going to do it?
Who can we get to start theyouth ministry for us?
You, you.
I'd love to have a bus ministry.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, go Right.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Right, I wonder when we're going to get somebody who
finally knows how to play thedrums.
Yeah, get started, get started.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Exactly.
It sort of reminds me of HMA.
We work with a lot of justindividuals of all walks of life
.
We deal with addicts, we dealwith ministers that call in or
need information about how todeal with whatever ministry or
how to start whatever ministry.
(25:22):
And you know rule of thumb thatyou know from the moment that I
got here, probably day one.
It's been almost three yearsnow that we started, but since
day one it's always been youknow, whoever puts forth the
effort, that's who we're goingto help Like.
That's always been our motto,because if you put forth the
(25:44):
effort, then it shows that youactually want to do something or
want something.
You know we've had people comeall the time and I'm kind of
letting the cat out of the baghere.
You know we're letting out ourlittle tips and tricks here, but
you know we've had ministersthat have called and said I
really want to start peanutbutter and Jesus ministry.
(26:05):
How do I go about doing that?
And the very next thing that wesay is we've got a book on it.
It is the pattern for how youstart PB&J.
Order it on our website.
We'll send it to you.
When you read it, give us acall back.
We'll talk to you about it.
And I would probably say nineout of 10 of those ministers
(26:26):
never order it.
I would probably say nine outof 10 of those ministers never
order it.
And then when they do order iteight to 10, somewhere around
there don't even call back orthey don't put forth any extra
effort after that.
Same thing with addicts.
You know, when an addict says Ineed whatever X, y, z or I'm
hungry, yeah, you say come on,let's Z or I'm hungry.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
You say, come on, let's go grab a bite to eat.
And they say, no, there'sprobably ulterior motives If an
addict is like you know,obviously, brother Todd, your
dad deals a lot more with themand knows a lot more about the
do's and don'ts of what they, ofhow they are.
But you know, when a homelessperson says I need X Y Z but
(27:11):
they're not willing to dowhatever it takes to get X Y Z,
they want you to do it for them.
That's not how that works.
If you want X Y Z and you wantit bad enough, you're going to
do something about it.
And that's exactly how it iswith God.
Believe it or not, that isexactly how God is.
You say you want God to blessyou here, but you're not willing
(27:35):
to do anything about it.
You say that you want God toopen a door, but you're not
putting forth effort and provingto him that you actually want
him to open that door.
And that's what this all boilsdown to.
You know, this episode turnedinto an episode about effort and
an episode about God blessingus.
(27:56):
Not quite, but you know, herewe are and I think that this is
great because there's so muchtruth to that.
You know, we expect God to justbe.
You know well, and we say itall the time.
Well, god's not a magic fairy,or God's not someone with a wand
that just does whatever.
You know, we've got to pray forit.
(28:17):
Here's the thing.
Prayer is powerful, Prayer isgood Prayer.
I hate to say it this way andyou're probably going to
disagree with this, brother Sean, and you're probably going to
disagree with us that arelistening.
I'm saying it again Prayer ispowerful, but prayer is not the
only effort that you need to bedoing.
(28:38):
So many times I get it.
We have moments where we needto be patient.
We have moments where we needto fast and pray.
That's all good, that's allfine, that's great, it's
wonderful.
But there is a time to pray andthere's a time to take action.
And oftentimes we say, well,I'm praying about it.
Well, I've been praying aboutit.
(28:58):
Well, I've been praying aboutit.
And God's saying put fortheffort, do something about it,
don't just pray about it.
Do you think that the peoplesitting in the upper room, when
the Holy Ghost fell on them andthey spoke with other tongues,
just stayed in the upper roomand said God, you move in this
situation?
No, they got down out of theupper room and they went and
(29:18):
they witnessed to thousands ofpeople and thousands of people
were saved in that same day.
You cannot expect your prayers.
It's not that God can't answerprayers.
God is all powerful.
Don't take clips of thismessage and episode and say, oh
well, they don't think thatprayer is powerful, that God can
do anything.
God can do anything he wants todo.
(29:39):
But my question is why doesn'the?
It's because you're not puttingforth effort.
It's because you're not puttingyour work into it, because
you're not doing anything aboutit yourself.
Brother Sean, you better takeit over for me, because I'm
about to preach to these people.
Preach.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Sounds like you've got it, here we go.
No, I mean, you're absolutelyright.
It takes effort puttingyourself out there.
You mentioned the homelesspeople.
It's very easy to tell yeah,and as church people, this is
(30:19):
something that we, brother Johnand I, have somewhat studied, so
it's a little easier for us, Iwould say, to tell when we look
at different people, not justhomeless people, but you can
tell most of us if we're honest,we can tell when somebody is
genuine or not, and it comesdown to just one or two simple
(30:41):
questions.
Man, I'm starving.
There's a McDonald's caddycorner from us.
Let's go in there.
I'll buy you a burger.
Yeah, man, I got $5.
I just need two more.
No, you keep your five.
Come on, let's go.
No, no, I've.
I've done this before and andcall.
You know they'll sit there andargue, so I'll.
(31:03):
I'll call them out on it.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, and well, you're right, man, I just need
some drugs or I need my alcoholor whatever it is.
And if we're not careful aschurch people, we get that way.
God, I need a blessing.
Okay, we'll go walk around thealtar or go speak this word, go
(31:29):
tell somebody you know, givesomebody a word of encouragement
.
Or while you're pumping gas,just look over to that gentleman
across from you and say it's awonderful day God created.
That's too much, God.
You think you could just, nexttime we're in service, just let
the Holy Ghost fall and let mefeel it just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I'll run around for you.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
We do that.
Yeah, if we're honest withourselves, we do those things.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
And this is not a condemnation to us.
This is just trying to help usunderstand.
I'm guilty of these things.
I'm guilty of going into churchand, just like man it's been
such a long week already it'sWednesday night I don't want to
stand up for the song service,but I'll go ahead and do it
(32:25):
because it's what I'm supposedto do.
God, I'm just ready to go home.
Can you let the preacher hurryup and say something that will
touch my heart, so I can getdown and say my little thank you
, jesus, for today and for thischurch service and go home and
get it?
I'm guilty.
I'm 100% guilty of these things, but we can be better, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
We can do it.
I thought about that.
We'll cut this out, this partwe will cut out if we have to.
I'm just going to let you guysknow.
Of course, if we cut it outyou'll never know.
So I guess that's kind of awin-win for me.
You know, when I think about youknow we're talking about, like
the homeless.
It's a very it's a differentexample, but it's the same.
(33:16):
You know, obviously you'retalking, you're saying that.
You know.
Well, hey, I want a few bucksfor food, and it's like what do
you really want?
You know, that's sort of thementality that we have.
Sometimes they're honest.
Like there was a homeless guythe other day.
I was in Panda Express and Isaid I was like can I buy you a
meal?
You know he's asking for money.
I said, well, I'll buy you ameal.
(33:36):
Yeah, that'd be great.
You know it's like cool.
You know I could talk tobelievers and churchgoers.
We have such ulterior motivesand a lot of times the ulterior
motives are not drugs, but it'swhatever feeds our pride.
(33:58):
It's a spiritual high, yeah, itis a spirit.
Well, that's exactly what I'msaying.
It's whatever feeds our pride.
It's like, well, god, I want todo more for you what it sounds
like when I hear that is oh man,they want to get out and they
want to witness, and they wantto get out and they want to, you
(34:19):
know, do a feeding program or adrug rehab ministry, whatever.
But really, when they say, god,I want to do something for you,
it's God, why can't I lead songservice or why can't I preach,
or why can't I teach Sundayschool?
You know, that is thatspiritual high.
You know that you're talkingabout and there is something to
that.
You know, someday we'll have to, we'll have to talk about that,
(34:40):
but it's something that feedsour pride, and so God's looking
at that, like, oh God, I want todo something for you.
Okay, go talk to your neighborabout me.
Well, god, that's not what Imeant, you know.
I meant like, like, start me meoff, like speaking to a nursing
home about you, or, you know,start me off in the jail
ministry, or start me and thoseare great ministries, by the way
(35:03):
Start me off.
You know I want to lead servicein church.
You know it's things that feedour pride, that we want to do,
and God's just like man, likeyou're, you know, going back to
the effort, your effort.
You want me to bless you in allthese areas of your life.
You want me to open doors soyou can go preach revivals, but
(35:24):
you're not willing to doanything for me.
That's not in front of otherChristians.
Mic drop.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Now you were saying that and I had several things
come to mind.
That is a ministry.
We have a young man in ourchurch that he's a teenager.
He's been very quiet andbackwards pretty much ever since
I've ever had any type ofcontact with him Very, very
(35:56):
quiet type of contact with him.
Very, very quiet.
These last year, last year ortwo he started to open up a
little more, probably becausehe's in my class so he feels a
little more comfortable with me.
But for for months now, sundayevening when you pull in, that
(36:18):
dude is standing by the frontdoor.
Everybody that walks up therehe sticks his hand out to shake
your hand and he'll open thedoor for you.
That's a ministry Like thatministers to me when I see that
(36:40):
that he's willing.
I've seen it when it's 100degrees and I've seen it when
it's freezing, below freezing.
He is standing outside right bythe door.
If he's not there, there havebeen times where you'll walk up
and he's standing there with hishands up over the glass
watching for it and man, he getsthe door open, that's awesome.
(37:05):
Cleaning the sanctuary yeah,somebody has to do it, right,
that's a ministry.
Don't clean the sanctuary for amonth and then come back and
we'll talk more about this.
If you think it's not aministry Because it is I am
thankful that whenever I go in,I don't have to worry about who
(37:26):
blew their Kleenexes and left mein my seat.
It's not that bad.
But there are things.
I mean, there's several thingsthat we can do.
But there are things.
I mean there's several thingsthat we can do, and a lot of
times I think it gets overlooked.
And when we're asking God, canI do something for you?
(37:48):
No, it's not the bass player.
We need somebody to hold thedoor open for the elders.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, well, something else that is a ministry.
We mentioned this a little bit,but you know your home is a
ministry and I think that wesort of treat we treat home life
and church life differently.
(38:14):
You know, we I can't it might'vebeen your dad actually the day
I was talking to you, but wewere talking about like how we
are very comfortable around someof the groups that we minister
to and we were talking aboutlike one of the funerals we went
to of this particular group andit was just like and they wore
whatever they wanted, they actedhowever they wanted, and it
(38:36):
sort of was like a culturalshock for me, because I, you
know, when you go to a funeralyou're like everything's formal,
respectful, you know you'requiet, you know it's not like
this with that group and thereason I like it is because that
group and the people andindividuals in that group, even
outside of like church andfunerals and you know different
(38:57):
gatherings, they've all been thesame Across the board.
They've been the same.
They're the same way at home asthey are in a church house and
that, I think, says a lot aboutyour effort and God wanting to
bless you too.
You know we sort of hide behinda facade, you know, or a mask.
(39:17):
When it comes to going tochurch and being around other
church people, it's like thatSunday morning drive you're
running late, the kids aregetting on your nerves, you're
yelling at them because they didX Y Z and you're tired of it.
X Y Z is my favorite wordingtonight apparently too, hey quit
.
Quit, yeah, yeah, stop, stop.
(39:39):
No, I'm telling you to quit.
Oh me, why.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Maybe because you're rebuking me.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
I was like you're dead serious, you wanted me to
quit.
Well, no, I'm the same way,dude.
That's what I'm saying, though,like we get that way and then,
like the moment the car door isopen, it's like how are you
doing?
Like, how's it going, you know,and I, like I look at my wife
and I like beforehand, you know,there's been times I've been in
church and I just look at herand I'm like I'm sorry, like we
(40:09):
shouldn't have been that way, weshouldn't have acted that way,
and it's good.
But that's exactly what I'mtalking about, you know, you,
you, I struggle with that too.
Like don't, don't freak out onme.
I didn't mean to like step onyour toes, I'm stepping on my
own toes, really Like hey, shutup, yeah, stop it.
Thank you Lord.
With the same hand that I justbeat my kids with.
(40:32):
I'm raising it to God.
No, but there is a lot to that.
You know, we sort of want Godto bless us when we are in front
of other people and it's likeGod wants you to put forth
effort outside of the churchwalls.
He wants you to put fortheffort at home.
That's a ministry in itself.
Don't say you want to ministerto other people and not do
(41:01):
everything you can to have yourhouse in order.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Sorry for stepping on your toes there, bro.
You curbs don't mean it, noit's.
I mean it's true, we all.
We all need corrected at times,even if it hurts.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Absolutely no, we, we , we hope this helps someone.
You know we were kind of goingall over the the place with our
topics but it it's sort of allblended together in a weird way,
um, which is really cool, uh,but we hopefully will do an
episode like this someday againsoon.
Um, you, of course, know whereto find us.
I'm not going to mention itagain because I already talked
(41:33):
about sean making fun of me fordoing that.
Um, but podcast for him you'llfind it at the bottom of the
screen there, number four.
Number four him and theEveryday Christian Podcast.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Every and day are two separate words.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yes, but God bless everybody for listening.
We hope this helped you in someway.
Leave us a comment concernwhatever you want to do, but
yeah, if you liked this episode,let us know we.
We would love to do it again.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Absolutely.
God bless, thank y'all.
God bless you, thank you, thankyou.
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