April 3, 2025 • 37 mins
Host Dr. Teresa A. Smith, Dr. TAS welcomes author and motivational speaker Dennis Perkins to discuss igniting passion, purpose, and God’s vision.
Follow Dennis Perkins
Connect with Dr. TAS at Linktree Bio
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/talk-with-tas-show--6128538/support
Follow Dennis Perkins
Connect with Dr. TAS at Linktree Bio
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/talk-with-tas-show--6128538/support
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to this edition of Talk of Tons. Today, I
have with me, as I said earlier, I have my
friend Dennis Perkins with me, and Dennis is just a
wonderful person. Oh, I'm gonna let the Lord use me Dennis,
so I understand he's gonna use me today. So I'm
just gonna blow Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You know, he's the.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Person that somebody may think they should overlook, but you shouldn't.
He's a powerhouse. He's a person that's dialed into God.
He's a person that God uses to spill out his
wisdom and to try to teach his people and bring
his people forward. Dennis is a person that, yes he's
got the education, he's worked from business administration to the
(00:43):
community college. But he's a person, like I said, who
walks the walk. He's endured at diversities, but he doesn't
call it adversity. He lost his wife, but he took
care of his wife and to God welcomed her home,
so he didn't really lose. He had the opportunity to
serve her and to be what God wou want man
(01:04):
and woman to be to each other. You know, he
is all about uplifting other people. And God will send
Dennis to me when I need uplifting, and he has
been my friend. We've never met in person, but he's
been my friend. And I thank God for putting it
in his mind in his heart that this woman needs
(01:25):
a person like you. Just reach out to it, because
he'll say sometimes, well I just you just cross my
mind and you don't have to call me back. I
just wanted to let you know x y Z or
I'm just thinking about you. That's the way we all
should be. But that's who Dennis Perkins is to me.
So this is gonna be different. I don't know how
this is gonna go. We just gonna let God use
(01:47):
both of us. Because when we get on the phone
and we start talking, it's just like me and my sister,
but we'll talk with Tarzan and Andji or be a
whole lot of good stuff coming. So today we just
gonna let Godd' use this bone. And if we have church,
we're gonna have church. And somebody said, look like preaching it.
I said, you know, I'm trying to hold back that preaching,
but sometimes it comes that. We're gonna you know, So Dennis,
(02:14):
welcome to my show. And like I said, we're doing
this all different some words. We're in the House of
the Lord today, have some words. Someone let you start
with Church.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, it's just it's just, uh, it's a wonderful thing
that you invited me, you know, to come on, and
you know we've been talking back and forth for years,
and it's just this is the right time, you know,
for us to do this. And it's kind of bring
(02:44):
our private comsation into the public realm because we talk
about so many things.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
We talk about.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
What's going on in the world.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Things that go on with us, and we know that
the things that we talk about that go on with
us are the same things.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
That other people are going through.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You know, there there's nobody under the sun that doesn't
go through something in.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Life, and that's a challenge to them.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
And so, you know, it's it's kind of I don't
see your face, Teresa, but I'm so used to talking
to you without seeing until it doesn't really bother me.
But I'm just letting you know I don't I don't
see you, so I don't see your face either. But
you're right, this is gonna be easy for us because
(03:35):
we so talking to each other on the phone.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
That we're still just gonna flow even though we don't
see each other. And uh, as Mike said that they
can both, they can see us, so I'm sure that
the prophet is you can see us too, So that's.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The important thing.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And uh and so now I'm gonna I'm gonna sort
of kick off with the question. Now go right ahead, Okay,
Now your journey has taken you from business administration to
counseling and ministry. How did you gain clarity about what
your purpose was through these different career paths?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, that was oh man, I could go a lot
of directions with that. But when I look back in
my life, you know, counseling, listening.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
To people has always been a part of my life.
I am number.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Six out of eight children, so you know, everybody could
over talk to everybody. Somebody had to listen to somebody.
So I learned to listen to people at.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
A very early age.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
And all of my friends were all talkative people, and
so I would enjoy the sitting around talking to people
and I would listen to things that they would have
to say. A lot of times they would confide in
me about things, and I found myself listen and there
would be times that they would ask me. They would say,
(05:10):
you're my friend. You always listen to me, you always
seem to understand. And a lot of times I wouldn't
just say, oh, I understand you.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
But it was just the fact that I would sit there.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I wouldn't judge them.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I wouldn't say you need to do this, you don't
need to do that, But it was just being there.
Sometimes I thol it took and so I gained a
great deal of trust on the part of the person
that was being listened to. So and that was I
think one of my strong suits. I never thought that
(05:45):
I was a great communicator. I didn't talk a lot
because people were always talking over me, and people.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
They wouldn't listen, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I would try to raise my voice, and my voice
was just too old, you know. People would always talk more.
And I think I.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Talked about that a little bit in the book, but
not much. But that was when I found out, you know,
you're a listener. You're a listener. So I got into
business because I thought that was.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
My niche I said, that's what I want to do.
And so a lot of.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Times when we picked the things that we think that
we want to do, you know, that's not on God's calendar,
that's not on God's it's not in his book.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
He didn't write that.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
That wasn't a part of what I was supposed to
do and not the path that I was supposed to take.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So I found that.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Out, you know, after I got in school, and that
was the experienience because I didn't really learn the things
that I thought I would learn. I didn't feel as
prepared and ready to go out into the world and
let's now go out and be this great success in
the business world.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And it didn't work that way for me.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Actually took me a whole different path, and it was
the path that God had chosen for me. So I
was disappointed about some things because it didn't work out
the way I wanted it to work out. And so
I would go through life feeling like I'm just really
not a success, you know, I'm really not doing what
(07:24):
I'm comparing myself to other people, and so I'm saying,
I'm really not being the success that I thought I
was supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And the more I got involved.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And engaged in working with little children, I started working
with little children. The more I started working with little children,
I started observing the fact that these little children had
troubled parents, and I was just looking for that and said,
these children, they have problems because their parents have problems,
(07:58):
and they're passing.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
On generation issues to their children.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And so you saw parents that acted out, the children
that acted out, the children acted out.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And so I worked with a lot of these children and.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Worked with some of the parents, and it just came
into my heart.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I believe the Lord just gave me this.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
He said, You're going to be a family counselor, and
I wrote it down. I remember the day I wrote
it down on a piece of paper, I am going
to be a family counselor. And from that I said, okay,
now how do I prepare to be a family counselor.
I know that I can't just go into an interview
(08:39):
and say, well, I want to be a family counselor
and they give me a job. So I went back
to school and I majored in Community and Agency counseling.
So I'm majored in counseling. So I got a degree
in that went right from that into youth court and
so I started working in youth court to steal family
(09:01):
court and so I did that for a number of years.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I did get that for a while.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Then I ended up working for an agency called Catholic Charities.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And the position that they gave.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Me was family counselor, and it let me know, yes,
this is what I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So I ended up working with all kinds of families
with problem I mean various problems.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Going into situations that were sometimes dangerous sometimes you know,
just where a lot of chaos.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
And confusion was going on.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So I had to go in there and try and
help remedy some of the issues that were going on
in families.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It seemed like it just it was so natural to me,
and it didn't shake me.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Didn't.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
And so I went into that state involved in that
for a number of years.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
And upon doing that, I felt the Lord was tugging
on me, tugging.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Me on my heart about ministry and working maybe for
a ministry or working at a church or and I
was by that time I was married to my wife, Deborah,
and so I told her.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
She said, I believe you are supposed.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
To be a part of a ministry, but not me.
And I said, well, you know, okay, I appreciate you
giving me the liberty to make maybe venture and into
doing it, and Pastor asked me, would you consider coming on.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Board working full time in ministry.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And so that's how I got involved in ministry.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
But we were working still with people, still working with children,
still working with the families.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I've never been able to get away with working with
children and family, so and and it went from there
and did that for several years.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Ended up going back into working.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
For the State of Mississippi in youth services and still
working with families through the court system. And so that's
what I ended up doing. I mean, it has always
been it's like always been families, children and the court.
And so lastly, you know, my last job that I
(11:35):
had was with State Supreme Court and I was director
of this program. It was the Youth Court. It was
a youth court program. So I was director of that program.
I worked all over the state and to managed programs
all over the state. So uh, and that's still gonna
(11:57):
dealt with family, but I wasn't dealing directly, but more
with the judges, more with the structure of the courts.
More we're trying to make things work better, smoother for
the court system as they work with families. So that
was the last thing I did then and now now
(12:17):
here I am, you know, writing books and just trying
to just reach people, you know, for the glory of God.
And that's dealing with families, that's dealing with people I
meet on the street, and that's what I'm doing. I'm
trying to do that through the books that I write,
giving a message to the body of Christ. Because God
(12:39):
is really speaking to people. Now who other people are
listening or not, that's one thing. But regardless, I am
commissioned to speak, and I'm commissioned to write. I'm commissioned
to do these things out of obedience to God. So
that's what I'm about doing, right and I'm going to continue.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
To do that. I'll do that for the rest of
my life.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And Dennis, you know, I held up your latest book,
Preparation for Elevation Atcention in God's Kingdom when you were
talking about, you know, your writing. But I want to
I wanted to do what I would do if you
were on the phone. I want to look at a
couple of things here you said to my question for
(13:26):
those who just joined us, I basically asked, Dennis, how
do you gain clarity about your purpose through the different
careers that he's had, and so that's the reason why
he was walking us through that. And that was a
common thing. You realize either by why do you realize
(13:48):
let me be tased now instead of the other person.
You realize that you needed to reflect on what was
happening because the situations that you were involved in there
was a common thing. You weren't really being allowed to speak.
You're six out of eight children, you got friends, everybody's
lived talking you, so you are kind of forced to
(14:08):
hear what everybody else is saying. So you reflected on it. Okay,
so I have I refined this skill that I was
already in the DNA. You are listening. You're listening now
because I know that God tells you what to write,
but that's maybe a little bit later, or maybe another
time you'll come on. So you realize that you had
(14:30):
the ability to listen. And then you heard him say
that you were going to be a family counselor so
you understood that if that was to be, then you
had to go back to get the education that was
needed in order to then do that role, which, of
course what you did. And then you finally got that title,
(14:52):
which then confirms that God is not a man that
he would lie. He said it's gonna be, so that's
what he was.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
But then what it.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Appears to me is that he then took all of
the your upbringing, the friends, the people who over talking you,
the different jobs, and then he positioned you after you
left that role, to then go out like the octopus
or the spiderweb. I don't like spiders, but to go
(15:20):
out and take what you had learned and what he
put in you to then affect the whole state when
you went into that last role government role, you know,
before you moved into total ministry. Now, to me, when
you look at how things were orchestrated, only God could
do that, because every everything fell in place. It doesn't
(15:43):
mean there were some times where you were like, how
am I gonna do this? I'm gonna do that, But
you he really orchestrated everything. Cyrus says, I love that
he talked out that by doing his purpose without thinking
of the outcome, so many get discouraged and stopped.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He loved that.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Then just keep going, and that's it. You were just
doing the work, as Simons was saying, you were doing
the work of your purpose. But you kept being I'm
holding up the book, Dennis and I don't see each other.
You kept being elevated just by doing the work and
listening to what God was saying. Have you thought about
(16:20):
how he just kind of orchestracts all of that.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Dennis, yep.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, of course, you know you think about about it
most of the time.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I had to listen.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, you know, God wants us to listen to his voice.
You know, he says that my sheep hear my voice
and the voice of a stranger, they will now follow.
It's in order to a tune your ear to what
somebody's saying. You know, you're gonna have to shut your mouth.
You're gonna have to be quiet. You're gonna have to
(16:54):
learn to listen. It's more important to listen than it
is to speak.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Anyway, come on, I mean speaking, it's great.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
M I'm sorry, I'm telling them my Jamal Brock. Come
on here, black man. Say it again. For those in
the back, say that part again. I'm sure, say that again.
And for the people in the back that didn't hear it.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, I was saying that it's more important to listen
than it is to speak, you know, that's that that's
God's message to me.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
You know, for my life, and I believe for a
lot of other.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
People because nowadays of what people are not doing a
lot of is they're not listening on a deeper level,
and they hear the things on the surface, and so
no one goes deep, no one spends the time, the
quiet time to really hear what their heart for God's
(17:48):
speaking to their heart. And so that's the thing that
I've you know, grown to to know. You know, of
course I didn't go into all the details about how
I got to the point. It wasn't just through job experiences.
It was through the Holy Spirit coming into my life
and really doing a deeper work in me and causing
(18:12):
my hearing to elevate the way I heard. And because
you can hear people on one level, but the Holy
Spirit will show you something on even a deeper level
and when you really listen intently. And so that's why,
you know, I'm not a big talker. I can talk,
(18:33):
but I'm not a big talker. But I listen, I
pay attention, and I just see what comes from within me.
You know, what am I what am I hearing? What
am I discerning and so all these things that they're
in everybody, and people just don't tend to practice discerning
(18:55):
what's going on around them, discerning what somebody might be
he's saying. You know, they can say something on the surface,
but is there something behind?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
There is something?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Is there something more?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
And a lot of times the spirit of God will
reveal to you the deeper thing. And so you know
there are things that are on the surfaces that are
hidden because you know that you got a surface.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
But when you start to go deeper, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Then things become a little bit you know, you can
you can understand a lot better, you know, the make
up of things of people. And so that's what I
like to practice that. I like to practice being quiet.
I like to practice just listening because.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It never fails.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
It's always on target, you know, because I could That's
why I can't judge things, you know, before the time
is there are a lot of things going on now
where we see things on the surface and we begin
to judge them right away, We began to criticize right away,
We begin to do all these things right away, and
at the same time, there is something deeper behind us.
(20:11):
So and if we learn to discern. Use our discernment,
use use what God is really placed on the inside
of us. If sometimes it's not, E've gonna awaken you know,
first of all, it needs to be awakened. And the
only person that can awaken that is God himself and
the and the vehicle is the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
That's the vehicle.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
That's the only way you're going to get that deeper
knowledge in that deeper walk with God.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Is through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Dennis, So let me let me ask a question here,
and you're answering. I think my question. I agree with you,
and I've been saying this for years, for that many years,
that lots of times people only they only get the
purpose information. It comes to now I'm talking about Christianity
(21:03):
and even reading the Bible, they only get the surface.
And I believe and I heard people say that every
answer that you need is in the Bible. But when
we read the scriptures, when we read the stories, you
have to go deeper. Now, you talked about being quiet,
listening what is and then you talked about discernment, and
(21:24):
then of course you know that comes to the home spirit.
How do people learn to go deeper? Because that's so
important in today's world. And when I say that, I'm
not just talking about biblical stuff, but just go deeper
in everything instead of being surface.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
How would you tell?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
What skills do you use?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
What? What? How do we do that? Well, you know,
it's simple with me.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
I first started just reading the Bible for instance, you know,
and careful just reading the world word of God. And
you know, in Joshua I Believe one eight, it talks about,
you know, how God spoke to him and he told him.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
To meditate on his word day and night.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And so we talk about in I think it's Romans twelve,
how we are to renew our minds, and a lot
of times we fail to do that, you know, but
the mind is just something is so it's just awesome.
It takes in so much information until we just don't
(22:38):
Sometimes we can't even perceive how much information is going
in and what's going out.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
It's so active.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
But we have to get some standard of control over
what comes in, what goes out. We need to be
more in control of what, you know, what we expose
ourselves to, what kind of information we're getting, that kind
of thing, because it's going to determine how you think,
and so that's one thing that the Bible it talks about.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That I'm meditating on God's word. Now, when we talk.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
About God's word, we talk about what truth truth, and
that's what God's word is truth. So if I'm meditating
on truth all the time, you know, I'm not perfect
in this now, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
If I'm if I'm putting my eyes on.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
What is truth, I'm going to start thinking the truth.
I'm gonna associate myself with that truth all the time.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
And so I'm changing.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
You know, what might be out here is a lie
or whatever, maybe a bad opinion of me or whatever
that's gotten in I'm going to start changing the way
I think.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
It's going to change the atmosphere around me.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
It's going to change who I'm around, it's gonna change
where I go, it's gonna affect everything.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
And so it's a power in that.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
And so you think about it. If we came from God,
and if we're created in the image of God, then
that means that he knows more about our makeup than
anybody else. If he created us and his image and likeness,
that means that, Wow, we're really wonderfully made. I mean,
(24:30):
we're greater than the angels are in a sense, because
you know, the angels, they harken to the voice of
God's word.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
But he gives us.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
The ability to make these decisions and to make choices,
to speak words, you know, words. It's a powerful and
he just gave us all these tools to you.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
But if we don't try and enlighten ourselves and find
out what am I?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Who am I supposed to be? You know, what is
the image that I'm supposed to walk in? Then you know,
anybody can come and just give you another identity, you know,
and tell you how you should think, tell you when
you need to get mad, tell you when you need
to be sad.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
You know, because you're so in.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You know, you're so engaged in the system.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And it's a system that's been constructed, and it's a
system of control. It's a system that manipulates, it's a
system that you know, it just determines how you need
to think.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
It's all this group thinking out here, so much group thinking,
you know, and you know, and you know, you're a
black person or you're a white person, you're this, or
you're that, and so people have.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
To they try to where am I going to go
what am I going to be?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Well?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
What is God saying to you as an individual?
Speaker 4 (25:59):
That's what we need to try to find out.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
What is God saying to you? Where is That's where.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Your voice is.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It's coming out of what God is saying about you.
And so you don't have to compete against anybody. You
don't have to compete for who can be the loudest,
who can do this or that? What does God saying
to you you? If it would not have been for
God speaking to Abraham or Abram when he was Abram, yeah,
(26:27):
he could have just gone the way of his father,
gone the way of his friends or his family. But
God called him out individually and said, hey, I want
you to come from from among it. I want you
to come out from among your family. I want you
to just come out of it. I want you to
just leave.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
He said, okay.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
He didn't say where he was going, he just said
come out. So first step of faith in his faith,
because it's unseen. You don't know what you're doing, but
you know that you know God spoke to me, and.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
So then you begin to move.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Out of that old situation and you begin to walk
into something new that's unknown.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
But see the bout.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Says that faith is what pleases God. So you walking
in God's pleasure. When you really hear him and you
begin to do what he's saying, he takes pleasure in that.
So it's setting you up for success. You know, because
going back to Joshua, you know, he wanted him to
(27:39):
meditate on this word day and night because he said,
then you'll have you know, good things will happen to you.
Then you'll have good success because he knew that if
you listen to what I say, I'm gonna lead you properly.
I'm gonna guide you the right way, and you're gonna
have a good success. So that's the way he's created us.
(28:00):
But we have to be in intent on listening, listening
and then doing.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
What he says. Those are the two keys. I mean,
you listen and you do it well.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Dennis, PROPHETI Nikki said meditat no truth, desiring truth, living
in truth, speaking truth, and embracing truth, and that lines
of what you're saying now in your book, Dennis, I'm
gonna break a couple of things down because I just
got too in your book on page a eight, and
(28:38):
don't we're not going to talk about I just want
to read it though. This isation for elevation assentire in
God's kingdoms, that's the one I have in my hare in. Dennis,
you say all transformation require a change of environmental surroundings.
Think about what you just got through telling us how
can change manifest and an individual's life if they frequent
(29:00):
old places to indulge in all their familiar activities. We
must break away from old familiar patterns to fully commit
to change. Now, I pulled that up, and I'm gonna
be honest. I just opened up the book and said,
just take me where you want to take that. And
(29:21):
that's what because I looked at the other page, that's
not it. And then he started to answer the question,
and I knew that was it. I want to go
back because I asked the question, how do we learn
to go deeper? Because I've had this quick conversation with
my mother living all my life about the fact that
y'all don't go deeper, Mama, And I've been saying that
(29:42):
since I was a little girl, because you when I
speak to God and when I read things, I get
more and I'm like and I was talking to her
about it and She's like, well, I never thought about
it that well, I'm like, but y'all, don't go deeper.
You're on the surface with what you're talking about in
Sunday School and Baptist training. You I'm Baptist, guys, You're
on the surface. And even when sometimes the ministers were preaching,
(30:04):
they weren't going deeper enough. And so that's the reason
when you were saying that that's so important because I
see it not just deep as far as spirituality. I
see it for how we survive and operate in the
world that we live in. So you talked about and
I'm gonna swing it from both places, both ends, Okay,
(30:25):
so work with me. You talked about reading the Bible,
meditating on God's word with this which is the truth,
and then the renewing of our mind, renewing of our mind.
And I sometimes fall victim to not renewing my mind
because I can't renew my mind if I don't get
proper rest. As my watch tells me, you got some sleep,
(30:45):
but you didn't rest.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
And it's right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Because I can tell the way my mind functions. Yes,
I got some sleep last night, but I didn't rest,
So that means my mind does not get renewed. So
that means I want to still go to them old
familiar places, and I want to do them say activities,
even though I know they know good for me. Now,
you also talked about having a standard of control what
comes in control of what comes into our ears and
(31:10):
then what comes because when it comes into our ears,
that goes into our mind, which goes into our soul,
which then is all throughout our DNA, and we begin
to act a certain way. But we're trying to be
truthful people because we've been transformed, and when we transformed
by the Word, then we're gonna look and seek the
word and we're gonna do what the word and our
purpose is that we should be doing, understanding that our
purpose is not for us, Our purpose is for somebody else.
(31:33):
You said intention be intentional about our listening and then
doing what he says. But you also talk about when
we when we're not really controlling what's coming in into
our mind, because understand we are the temple of God,
so we really do have to guys protect that because
when we don't protect it, we're not protecting him. So
(31:53):
if that's what you need to look at it from
that perspective, because I have to look at it from
that perspective sometimes so that I do right. Con see,
that means I'm hurting God because I'm his temple. I'm
his vessel that he's flowing through. Now you talked about
what am I or who am I to be? We're
so impressionable. Now I thought about a friend of mine
that's hoping still here. He talks about that shiny object syndrome.
(32:15):
Because I'm not controlling what's coming in, so I get
distracted by that shiny object. It looks good, so it
got to be better than what I got, So I
want to go over there and play in that field
when that field ain't even half as good as what
I've already got. But to see, I'm not controlling what's
coming in because my mind has not been renewed because
I've allowed external things to come become internal internal things
(32:38):
that are preventing me from getting the rest that I need,
so that my mind can be renewed, so that what
I am reading the truth, I understand what the truth
is saying so that I can then hear him and
then act accordingly. And then you talked about that group thinking,
and as you said, well, I wrote impressionable. You didn't
(32:58):
say it that probably that way. But we so engaged
in the system.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Now hear me.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
It is a system. It's always been a system, and
there always will be a system. But we so engaged
in the system. And that's so many systems because everything
is a system. Your family is a system. You are
a system. So we so engaged in the system, or
as I like to say it, sometimes we so connected
(33:25):
in the matrix Keanu region know, Fishborough, We in the
matrix that we can't plug and read the word so
that we get the truth and then meditate on it
so we can be transformed, as I think prophet is
were saying. Also so that we can be transformed, understand
what's really happening, so that we know how to maneuver.
(33:49):
We just kind of stuck. But so therefore we don't
even hear what God is saying. So that means we
think we're in competition with other people, as my friend,
but so you still you can start struck by that
shiny object syndrome because I'm not in control of who
I am and my friend that makes that statement. There's
a lot of things I can say about cyrus Well
(34:09):
that's the brief. Cyrus Web knows who Cyrus Web is.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, he he And.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I'm gonna use this to use him as an example.
He has read the Bible, he has meditated on the truth,
He understands system, He renews his mind, he renews his body,
he hears God speak, he knows his purpose. He has
not altered from his purpose, whether we're talking his professional
(34:38):
purpose or his personal community spiritual purpose. He doesn't alter
from it because he is very secure in his purpose
and where he's going. So the systems that are out
here that throw the rest of us like will being
tossed on that ship, he doesn't let himself be tossed
because he goes being He's not surface, He's deep.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
He's deep. He is deep.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
So therefore, and also you talked about that faith, his faith,
please is God. Because again I'm a study of people,
and that's the reason Dennis and I have so much
fun offline, and we both know Sorrus. So again when
I asked that question, you know we're gonna have to
(35:25):
pick this up another time then, because you know you
and I could be we bel on the phone for
a long time, but we're gonna give one other good
question to here, But do you see how? And the
reason I asked that because your book is about elevation
and people want to talk about their purpose. They want
to walk in it. Whether we're talking about purpose as
it relates to their as it relates you something, Jesus,
(35:48):
come on here, black Man. I looked at the numbers
of the page that I turned to, and the numbers
are eighty eight, Dennis, and eight is one of my numbers.
But people are wanting, they want their dream, they want
their goal, they want to they want their purpose to
be truly manifested. And so that's the reason why I
(36:08):
was asking you about how do you learn to go deeper?
Because in order to do all of that, you have
to go deeper. If I was talking about it from
a career perspective, scidents, but say you got to do
the research, You got to look at your metrics again,
which were of the same thing, but we used in
two different ways to look at you know.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
So then there a scripture that says, you know that
you know those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
So you have to be particular about what you're hungering
and thirsting after.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
And so you have to be particular.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
It didn't say hunger and thirst after righteousness after you know,
and put in a lot of other things, you know,
like entertainment. It didn't put in you know, uh, sex,
It didn't put in all that.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Thank you everybody for doing. And until next time, before
you start trying to take care of somebody's please make
sure you take care of yourself first and renew your
mind and renew your body, because that will help you
to take care of yourself. Take good care now bye,
Welcome to this edition of Talk of Tons. Today, I
have with me, as I said earlier, I have my
friend Dennis Perkins with me, and Dennis is just a
wonderful person. Oh, I'm gonna let the Lord use me Dennis,
so I understand he's gonna use me today. So I'm
just gonna blow Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You know, he's the.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Person that somebody may think they should overlook, but you shouldn't.
He's a powerhouse. He's a person that's dialed into God.
He's a person that God uses to spill out his
wisdom and to try to teach his people and bring
his people forward. Dennis is a person that, yes he's
got the education, he's worked from business administration to the
(00:43):
community college. But he's a person, like I said, who
walks the walk. He's endured at diversities, but he doesn't
call it adversity. He lost his wife, but he took
care of his wife and to God welcomed her home,
so he didn't really lose. He had the opportunity to
serve her and to be what God wou want man
(01:04):
and woman to be to each other. You know, he
is all about uplifting other people. And God will send
Dennis to me when I need uplifting, and he has
been my friend. We've never met in person, but he's
been my friend. And I thank God for putting it
in his mind in his heart that this woman needs
(01:25):
a person like you. Just reach out to it, because
he'll say sometimes, well I just you just cross my
mind and you don't have to call me back. I
just wanted to let you know x y Z or
I'm just thinking about you. That's the way we all
should be. But that's who Dennis Perkins is to me.
So this is gonna be different. I don't know how
this is gonna go. We just gonna let God use
(01:47):
both of us. Because when we get on the phone
and we start talking, it's just like me and my sister,
but we'll talk with Tarzan and Andji or be a
whole lot of good stuff coming. So today we just
gonna let Godd' use this bone. And if we have church,
we're gonna have church. And somebody said, look like preaching it.
I said, you know, I'm trying to hold back that preaching,
but sometimes it comes that. We're gonna you know, So Dennis,
(02:14):
welcome to my show. And like I said, we're doing
this all different some words. We're in the House of
the Lord today, have some words. Someone let you start
with Church.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, it's just it's just, uh, it's a wonderful thing
that you invited me, you know, to come on, and
you know we've been talking back and forth for years,
and it's just this is the right time, you know,
for us to do this. And it's kind of bring
(02:44):
our private comsation into the public realm because we talk
about so many things.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
We talk about.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
What's going on in the world.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Things that go on with us, and we know that
the things that we talk about that go on with
us are the same things.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
That other people are going through.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You know, there there's nobody under the sun that doesn't
go through something in.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Life, and that's a challenge to them.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
And so, you know, it's it's kind of I don't
see your face, Teresa, but I'm so used to talking
to you without seeing until it doesn't really bother me.
But I'm just letting you know I don't I don't
see you, so I don't see your face either. But
you're right, this is gonna be easy for us because
(03:35):
we so talking to each other on the phone.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
That we're still just gonna flow even though we don't
see each other. And uh, as Mike said that they
can both, they can see us, so I'm sure that
the prophet is you can see us too, So that's.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The important thing.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And uh and so now I'm gonna I'm gonna sort
of kick off with the question. Now go right ahead, Okay,
Now your journey has taken you from business administration to
counseling and ministry. How did you gain clarity about what
your purpose was through these different career paths?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, that was oh man, I could go a lot
of directions with that. But when I look back in
my life, you know, counseling, listening.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
To people has always been a part of my life.
I am number.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Six out of eight children, so you know, everybody could
over talk to everybody. Somebody had to listen to somebody.
So I learned to listen to people at.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
A very early age.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
And all of my friends were all talkative people, and
so I would enjoy the sitting around talking to people
and I would listen to things that they would have
to say. A lot of times they would confide in
me about things, and I found myself listen and there
would be times that they would ask me. They would say,
(05:10):
you're my friend. You always listen to me, you always
seem to understand. And a lot of times I wouldn't
just say, oh, I understand you.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
But it was just the fact that I would sit there.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I wouldn't judge them.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I wouldn't say you need to do this, you don't
need to do that, But it was just being there.
Sometimes I thol it took and so I gained a
great deal of trust on the part of the person
that was being listened to. So and that was I
think one of my strong suits. I never thought that
(05:45):
I was a great communicator. I didn't talk a lot
because people were always talking over me, and people.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
They wouldn't listen, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I would try to raise my voice, and my voice
was just too old, you know. People would always talk more.
And I think I.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Talked about that a little bit in the book, but
not much. But that was when I found out, you know,
you're a listener. You're a listener. So I got into
business because I thought that was.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
My niche I said, that's what I want to do.
And so a lot of.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Times when we picked the things that we think that
we want to do, you know, that's not on God's calendar,
that's not on God's it's not in his book.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
He didn't write that.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
That wasn't a part of what I was supposed to
do and not the path that I was supposed to take.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So I found that.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Out, you know, after I got in school, and that
was the experienience because I didn't really learn the things
that I thought I would learn. I didn't feel as
prepared and ready to go out into the world and
let's now go out and be this great success in
the business world.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And it didn't work that way for me.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Actually took me a whole different path, and it was
the path that God had chosen for me. So I
was disappointed about some things because it didn't work out
the way I wanted it to work out. And so
I would go through life feeling like I'm just really
not a success, you know, I'm really not doing what
(07:24):
I'm comparing myself to other people, and so I'm saying,
I'm really not being the success that I thought I
was supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And the more I got involved.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And engaged in working with little children, I started working
with little children. The more I started working with little children,
I started observing the fact that these little children had
troubled parents, and I was just looking for that and said,
these children, they have problems because their parents have problems,
(07:58):
and they're passing.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
On generation issues to their children.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And so you saw parents that acted out, the children
that acted out, the children acted out.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And so I worked with a lot of these children and.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Worked with some of the parents, and it just came
into my heart.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I believe the Lord just gave me this.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
He said, You're going to be a family counselor, and
I wrote it down. I remember the day I wrote
it down on a piece of paper, I am going
to be a family counselor. And from that I said, okay,
now how do I prepare to be a family counselor.
I know that I can't just go into an interview
(08:39):
and say, well, I want to be a family counselor
and they give me a job. So I went back
to school and I majored in Community and Agency counseling.
So I'm majored in counseling. So I got a degree
in that went right from that into youth court and
so I started working in youth court to steal family
(09:01):
court and so I did that for a number of years.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I did get that for a while.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Then I ended up working for an agency called Catholic Charities.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And the position that they gave.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Me was family counselor, and it let me know, yes,
this is what I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So I ended up working with all kinds of families
with problem I mean various problems.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Going into situations that were sometimes dangerous sometimes you know,
just where a lot of chaos.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
And confusion was going on.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So I had to go in there and try and
help remedy some of the issues that were going on
in families.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It seemed like it just it was so natural to me,
and it didn't shake me.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Didn't.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
And so I went into that state involved in that
for a number of years.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
And upon doing that, I felt the Lord was tugging
on me, tugging.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Me on my heart about ministry and working maybe for
a ministry or working at a church or and I
was by that time I was married to my wife, Deborah,
and so I told her.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
She said, I believe you are supposed.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
To be a part of a ministry, but not me.
And I said, well, you know, okay, I appreciate you
giving me the liberty to make maybe venture and into
doing it, and Pastor asked me, would you consider coming on.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Board working full time in ministry.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And so that's how I got involved in ministry.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
But we were working still with people, still working with children,
still working with the families.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I've never been able to get away with working with
children and family, so and and it went from there
and did that for several years.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Ended up going back into working.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
For the State of Mississippi in youth services and still
working with families through the court system. And so that's
what I ended up doing. I mean, it has always
been it's like always been families, children and the court.
And so lastly, you know, my last job that I
(11:35):
had was with State Supreme Court and I was director
of this program. It was the Youth Court. It was
a youth court program. So I was director of that program.
I worked all over the state and to managed programs
all over the state. So uh, and that's still gonna
(11:57):
dealt with family, but I wasn't dealing directly, but more
with the judges, more with the structure of the courts.
More we're trying to make things work better, smoother for
the court system as they work with families. So that
was the last thing I did then and now now
(12:17):
here I am, you know, writing books and just trying
to just reach people, you know, for the glory of God.
And that's dealing with families, that's dealing with people I
meet on the street, and that's what I'm doing. I'm
trying to do that through the books that I write,
giving a message to the body of Christ. Because God
(12:39):
is really speaking to people. Now who other people are
listening or not, that's one thing. But regardless, I am
commissioned to speak, and I'm commissioned to write. I'm commissioned
to do these things out of obedience to God. So
that's what I'm about doing, right and I'm going to continue.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
To do that. I'll do that for the rest of
my life.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And Dennis, you know, I held up your latest book,
Preparation for Elevation Atcention in God's Kingdom when you were
talking about, you know, your writing. But I want to
I wanted to do what I would do if you
were on the phone. I want to look at a
couple of things here you said to my question for
(13:26):
those who just joined us, I basically asked, Dennis, how
do you gain clarity about your purpose through the different
careers that he's had, and so that's the reason why
he was walking us through that. And that was a
common thing. You realize either by why do you realize
(13:48):
let me be tased now instead of the other person.
You realize that you needed to reflect on what was
happening because the situations that you were involved in there
was a common thing. You weren't really being allowed to speak.
You're six out of eight children, you got friends, everybody's
lived talking you, so you are kind of forced to
(14:08):
hear what everybody else is saying. So you reflected on it. Okay,
so I have I refined this skill that I was
already in the DNA. You are listening. You're listening now
because I know that God tells you what to write,
but that's maybe a little bit later, or maybe another
time you'll come on. So you realize that you had
(14:30):
the ability to listen. And then you heard him say
that you were going to be a family counselor so
you understood that if that was to be, then you
had to go back to get the education that was
needed in order to then do that role, which, of
course what you did. And then you finally got that title,
(14:52):
which then confirms that God is not a man that
he would lie. He said it's gonna be, so that's
what he was.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
But then what it.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Appears to me is that he then took all of
the your upbringing, the friends, the people who over talking you,
the different jobs, and then he positioned you after you
left that role, to then go out like the octopus
or the spiderweb. I don't like spiders, but to go
(15:20):
out and take what you had learned and what he
put in you to then affect the whole state when
you went into that last role government role, you know,
before you moved into total ministry. Now, to me, when
you look at how things were orchestrated, only God could
do that, because every everything fell in place. It doesn't
(15:43):
mean there were some times where you were like, how
am I gonna do this? I'm gonna do that, But
you he really orchestrated everything. Cyrus says, I love that
he talked out that by doing his purpose without thinking
of the outcome, so many get discouraged and stopped.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He loved that.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Then just keep going, and that's it. You were just
doing the work, as Simons was saying, you were doing
the work of your purpose. But you kept being I'm
holding up the book, Dennis and I don't see each other.
You kept being elevated just by doing the work and
listening to what God was saying. Have you thought about
(16:20):
how he just kind of orchestracts all of that.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Dennis, yep.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, of course, you know you think about about it
most of the time.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I had to listen.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, you know, God wants us to listen to his voice.
You know, he says that my sheep hear my voice
and the voice of a stranger, they will now follow.
It's in order to a tune your ear to what
somebody's saying. You know, you're gonna have to shut your mouth.
You're gonna have to be quiet. You're gonna have to
(16:54):
learn to listen. It's more important to listen than it
is to speak.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Anyway, come on, I mean speaking, it's great.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
M I'm sorry, I'm telling them my Jamal Brock. Come
on here, black man. Say it again. For those in
the back, say that part again. I'm sure, say that again.
And for the people in the back that didn't hear it.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, I was saying that it's more important to listen
than it is to speak, you know, that's that that's
God's message to me.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
You know, for my life, and I believe for a
lot of other.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
People because nowadays of what people are not doing a
lot of is they're not listening on a deeper level,
and they hear the things on the surface, and so
no one goes deep, no one spends the time, the
quiet time to really hear what their heart for God's
(17:48):
speaking to their heart. And so that's the thing that
I've you know, grown to to know. You know, of
course I didn't go into all the details about how
I got to the point. It wasn't just through job experiences.
It was through the Holy Spirit coming into my life
and really doing a deeper work in me and causing
(18:12):
my hearing to elevate the way I heard. And because
you can hear people on one level, but the Holy
Spirit will show you something on even a deeper level
and when you really listen intently. And so that's why,
you know, I'm not a big talker. I can talk,
(18:33):
but I'm not a big talker. But I listen, I
pay attention, and I just see what comes from within me.
You know, what am I what am I hearing? What
am I discerning and so all these things that they're
in everybody, and people just don't tend to practice discerning
(18:55):
what's going on around them, discerning what somebody might be
he's saying. You know, they can say something on the surface,
but is there something behind?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
There is something?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Is there something more?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
And a lot of times the spirit of God will
reveal to you the deeper thing. And so you know
there are things that are on the surfaces that are
hidden because you know that you got a surface.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
But when you start to go deeper, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Then things become a little bit you know, you can
you can understand a lot better, you know, the make
up of things of people. And so that's what I
like to practice that. I like to practice being quiet.
I like to practice just listening because.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It never fails.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
It's always on target, you know, because I could That's
why I can't judge things, you know, before the time
is there are a lot of things going on now
where we see things on the surface and we begin
to judge them right away, We began to criticize right away,
We begin to do all these things right away, and
at the same time, there is something deeper behind us.
(20:11):
So and if we learn to discern. Use our discernment,
use use what God is really placed on the inside
of us. If sometimes it's not, E've gonna awaken you know,
first of all, it needs to be awakened. And the
only person that can awaken that is God himself and
the and the vehicle is the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
That's the vehicle.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
That's the only way you're going to get that deeper
knowledge in that deeper walk with God.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Is through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Dennis, So let me let me ask a question here,
and you're answering. I think my question. I agree with you,
and I've been saying this for years, for that many years,
that lots of times people only they only get the
purpose information. It comes to now I'm talking about Christianity
(21:03):
and even reading the Bible, they only get the surface.
And I believe and I heard people say that every
answer that you need is in the Bible. But when
we read the scriptures, when we read the stories, you
have to go deeper. Now, you talked about being quiet,
listening what is and then you talked about discernment, and
(21:24):
then of course you know that comes to the home spirit.
How do people learn to go deeper? Because that's so
important in today's world. And when I say that, I'm
not just talking about biblical stuff, but just go deeper
in everything instead of being surface.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
How would you tell?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
What skills do you use?
Speaker 2 (21:45):
What? What? How do we do that? Well, you know,
it's simple with me.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
I first started just reading the Bible for instance, you know,
and careful just reading the world word of God. And
you know, in Joshua I Believe one eight, it talks about,
you know, how God spoke to him and he told him.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
To meditate on his word day and night.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And so we talk about in I think it's Romans twelve,
how we are to renew our minds, and a lot
of times we fail to do that, you know, but
the mind is just something is so it's just awesome.
It takes in so much information until we just don't
(22:38):
Sometimes we can't even perceive how much information is going
in and what's going out.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
It's so active.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
But we have to get some standard of control over
what comes in, what goes out. We need to be
more in control of what, you know, what we expose
ourselves to, what kind of information we're getting, that kind
of thing, because it's going to determine how you think,
and so that's one thing that the Bible it talks about.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That I'm meditating on God's word. Now, when we talk.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
About God's word, we talk about what truth truth, and
that's what God's word is truth. So if I'm meditating
on truth all the time, you know, I'm not perfect
in this now, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
If I'm if I'm putting my eyes on.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
What is truth, I'm going to start thinking the truth.
I'm gonna associate myself with that truth all the time.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
And so I'm changing.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
You know, what might be out here is a lie
or whatever, maybe a bad opinion of me or whatever
that's gotten in I'm going to start changing the way
I think.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
It's going to change the atmosphere around me.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
It's going to change who I'm around, it's gonna change
where I go, it's gonna affect everything.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
And so it's a power in that.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
And so you think about it. If we came from God,
and if we're created in the image of God, then
that means that he knows more about our makeup than
anybody else. If he created us and his image and likeness,
that means that, Wow, we're really wonderfully made. I mean,
(24:30):
we're greater than the angels are in a sense, because
you know, the angels, they harken to the voice of
God's word.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
But he gives us.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
The ability to make these decisions and to make choices,
to speak words, you know, words. It's a powerful and
he just gave us all these tools to you.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
But if we don't try and enlighten ourselves and find
out what am I?
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Who am I supposed to be? You know, what is
the image that I'm supposed to walk in? Then you know,
anybody can come and just give you another identity, you know,
and tell you how you should think, tell you when
you need to get mad, tell you when you need
to be sad.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
You know, because you're so in.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You know, you're so engaged in the system.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And it's a system that's been constructed, and it's a
system of control. It's a system that manipulates, it's a
system that you know, it just determines how you need
to think.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
It's all this group thinking out here, so much group thinking,
you know, and you know, and you know, you're a
black person or you're a white person, you're this, or
you're that, and so people have.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
To they try to where am I going to go
what am I going to be?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Well?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
What is God saying to you as an individual?
Speaker 4 (25:59):
That's what we need to try to find out.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
What is God saying to you? Where is That's where.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Your voice is.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
It's coming out of what God is saying about you.
And so you don't have to compete against anybody. You
don't have to compete for who can be the loudest,
who can do this or that? What does God saying
to you you? If it would not have been for
God speaking to Abraham or Abram when he was Abram, yeah,
(26:27):
he could have just gone the way of his father,
gone the way of his friends or his family. But
God called him out individually and said, hey, I want
you to come from from among it. I want you
to come out from among your family. I want you
to just come out of it. I want you to
just leave.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
He said, okay.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
He didn't say where he was going, he just said
come out. So first step of faith in his faith,
because it's unseen. You don't know what you're doing, but
you know that you know God spoke to me, and.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
So then you begin to move.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Out of that old situation and you begin to walk
into something new that's unknown.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
But see the bout.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Says that faith is what pleases God. So you walking
in God's pleasure. When you really hear him and you
begin to do what he's saying, he takes pleasure in that.
So it's setting you up for success. You know, because
going back to Joshua, you know, he wanted him to
(27:39):
meditate on this word day and night because he said,
then you'll have you know, good things will happen to you.
Then you'll have good success because he knew that if
you listen to what I say, I'm gonna lead you properly.
I'm gonna guide you the right way, and you're gonna
have a good success. So that's the way he's created us.
(28:00):
But we have to be in intent on listening, listening
and then doing.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
What he says. Those are the two keys. I mean,
you listen and you do it well.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Dennis, PROPHETI Nikki said meditat no truth, desiring truth, living
in truth, speaking truth, and embracing truth, and that lines
of what you're saying now in your book, Dennis, I'm
gonna break a couple of things down because I just
got too in your book on page a eight, and
(28:38):
don't we're not going to talk about I just want
to read it though. This isation for elevation assentire in
God's kingdoms, that's the one I have in my hare in. Dennis,
you say all transformation require a change of environmental surroundings.
Think about what you just got through telling us how
can change manifest and an individual's life if they frequent
(29:00):
old places to indulge in all their familiar activities. We
must break away from old familiar patterns to fully commit
to change. Now, I pulled that up, and I'm gonna
be honest. I just opened up the book and said,
just take me where you want to take that. And
(29:21):
that's what because I looked at the other page, that's
not it. And then he started to answer the question,
and I knew that was it. I want to go
back because I asked the question, how do we learn
to go deeper? Because I've had this quick conversation with
my mother living all my life about the fact that
y'all don't go deeper, Mama, And I've been saying that
(29:42):
since I was a little girl, because you when I
speak to God and when I read things, I get
more and I'm like and I was talking to her
about it and She's like, well, I never thought about
it that well, I'm like, but y'all, don't go deeper.
You're on the surface with what you're talking about in
Sunday School and Baptist training. You I'm Baptist, guys, You're
on the surface. And even when sometimes the ministers were preaching,
(30:04):
they weren't going deeper enough. And so that's the reason
when you were saying that that's so important because I
see it not just deep as far as spirituality. I
see it for how we survive and operate in the
world that we live in. So you talked about and
I'm gonna swing it from both places, both ends, Okay,
(30:25):
so work with me. You talked about reading the Bible,
meditating on God's word with this which is the truth,
and then the renewing of our mind, renewing of our mind.
And I sometimes fall victim to not renewing my mind
because I can't renew my mind if I don't get
proper rest. As my watch tells me, you got some sleep,
(30:45):
but you didn't rest.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
And it's right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Because I can tell the way my mind functions. Yes,
I got some sleep last night, but I didn't rest,
So that means my mind does not get renewed. So
that means I want to still go to them old
familiar places, and I want to do them say activities,
even though I know they know good for me. Now,
you also talked about having a standard of control what
comes in control of what comes into our ears and
(31:10):
then what comes because when it comes into our ears,
that goes into our mind, which goes into our soul,
which then is all throughout our DNA, and we begin
to act a certain way. But we're trying to be
truthful people because we've been transformed, and when we transformed
by the Word, then we're gonna look and seek the
word and we're gonna do what the word and our
purpose is that we should be doing, understanding that our
purpose is not for us, Our purpose is for somebody else.
(31:33):
You said intention be intentional about our listening and then
doing what he says. But you also talk about when
we when we're not really controlling what's coming in into
our mind, because understand we are the temple of God,
so we really do have to guys protect that because
when we don't protect it, we're not protecting him. So
(31:53):
if that's what you need to look at it from
that perspective, because I have to look at it from
that perspective sometimes so that I do right. Con see,
that means I'm hurting God because I'm his temple. I'm
his vessel that he's flowing through. Now you talked about
what am I or who am I to be? We're
so impressionable. Now I thought about a friend of mine
that's hoping still here. He talks about that shiny object syndrome.
(32:15):
Because I'm not controlling what's coming in, so I get
distracted by that shiny object. It looks good, so it
got to be better than what I got, So I
want to go over there and play in that field
when that field ain't even half as good as what
I've already got. But to see, I'm not controlling what's
coming in because my mind has not been renewed because
I've allowed external things to come become internal internal things
(32:38):
that are preventing me from getting the rest that I need,
so that my mind can be renewed, so that what
I am reading the truth, I understand what the truth
is saying so that I can then hear him and
then act accordingly. And then you talked about that group thinking,
and as you said, well, I wrote impressionable. You didn't
(32:58):
say it that probably that way. But we so engaged
in the system.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Now hear me.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
It is a system. It's always been a system, and
there always will be a system. But we so engaged
in the system. And that's so many systems because everything
is a system. Your family is a system. You are
a system. So we so engaged in the system, or
as I like to say it, sometimes we so connected
(33:25):
in the matrix Keanu region know, Fishborough, We in the
matrix that we can't plug and read the word so
that we get the truth and then meditate on it
so we can be transformed, as I think prophet is
were saying. Also so that we can be transformed, understand
what's really happening, so that we know how to maneuver.
(33:49):
We just kind of stuck. But so therefore we don't
even hear what God is saying. So that means we
think we're in competition with other people, as my friend,
but so you still you can start struck by that
shiny object syndrome because I'm not in control of who
I am and my friend that makes that statement. There's
a lot of things I can say about cyrus Well
(34:09):
that's the brief. Cyrus Web knows who Cyrus Web is.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, he he And.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I'm gonna use this to use him as an example.
He has read the Bible, he has meditated on the truth,
He understands system, He renews his mind, he renews his body,
he hears God speak, he knows his purpose. He has
not altered from his purpose, whether we're talking his professional
(34:38):
purpose or his personal community spiritual purpose. He doesn't alter
from it because he is very secure in his purpose
and where he's going. So the systems that are out
here that throw the rest of us like will being
tossed on that ship, he doesn't let himself be tossed
because he goes being He's not surface, He's deep.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
He's deep. He is deep.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
So therefore, and also you talked about that faith, his faith,
please is God. Because again I'm a study of people,
and that's the reason Dennis and I have so much
fun offline, and we both know Sorrus. So again when
I asked that question, you know we're gonna have to
(35:25):
pick this up another time then, because you know you
and I could be we bel on the phone for
a long time, but we're gonna give one other good
question to here, But do you see how? And the
reason I asked that because your book is about elevation
and people want to talk about their purpose. They want
to walk in it. Whether we're talking about purpose as
it relates to their as it relates you something, Jesus,
(35:48):
come on here, black Man. I looked at the numbers
of the page that I turned to, and the numbers
are eighty eight, Dennis, and eight is one of my numbers.
But people are wanting, they want their dream, they want
their goal, they want to they want their purpose to
be truly manifested. And so that's the reason why I
(36:08):
was asking you about how do you learn to go deeper?
Because in order to do all of that, you have
to go deeper. If I was talking about it from
a career perspective, scidents, but say you got to do
the research, You got to look at your metrics again,
which were of the same thing, but we used in
two different ways to look at you know.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
So then there a scripture that says, you know that
you know those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
So you have to be particular about what you're hungering
and thirsting after.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
And so you have to be particular.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
It didn't say hunger and thirst after righteousness after you know,
and put in a lot of other things, you know,
like entertainment. It didn't put in you know, uh, sex,
It didn't put in all that.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Thank you everybody for doing. And until next time, before
you start trying to take care of somebody's please make
sure you take care of yourself first and renew your
mind and renew your body, because that will help you
to take care of yourself. Take good care now bye,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.