Why Jesus Christ? | A Journey Through Personal Encounters with Jesus

What does it truly mean to connect with Jesus on a personal level? Join us on this heartfelt journey as we take you through our rediscovery of faith after a four-year hiatus, sharing candid moments that highlight both our humanity and spiritual growth. We recount touching childhood memories and early experiences in church that reignited our understanding of Jesus' significance in our lives. Through personal stories and a bit of humor, we invite both supporters and skeptics to explore the essence of faith with us.

Listen as we open up about spiritual encounters that solidified our beliefs, discussing the powerful distinction between being a mere fan of God and a true follower of Jesus. Growing up in a spirit-filled Christian environment, we share how chapel services and feeling the Holy Spirit shaped our childhood and cemented our faith. Hear about memorable experiences, like participating in community outreach programs and the incredible power of prayer, which have profoundly impacted our journey. We also delve into theological discussions on the deity of Jesus and explore the foundational scriptures that affirm His divinity.

Revisiting impactful movements like WWJD, we reflect on how embodying Christ-like qualities can transform lives, despite societal ridicule. The unconditional love of Jesus is a recurring theme, underscoring how His peace and support have provided strength during challenging times. We end by encouraging listeners to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus, offering a heartfelt invitation to those who haven't yet accepted Him into their lives. From poignant reflections to light-hearted moments, this episode aims to strengthen your faith and understanding of Jesus' enduring love.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Exploring Early Connections With Jesus
• 3:54 Personal Encounters With Jesus
• 8:51 The Deity of Jesus
• 20:33 Revisiting the WWJD Movement
• 29:08 The Unconditional Love of Jesus
• 38:41 Accepting Jesus Into Your Life

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome to let's Dig the Podcast. We already know why you're here. We're going to talk about Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about who he was. We're going to talk about who he is. We want to take an actual moment and tell you why we're here. You guys already know we are here to help you grow a deeper relationship with God, others and yourself. We want to take a moment and just give a shout out to all of our let's Dig crew that's been tracking with us.

Speaker 1: 0:24

That's been watching, that's been listening, that's been commenting. We love you guys. Man, this has been a really cool year. It's been a good journey. It's been what like 10 months, 10 months yeah, Nine months since we've relaunched the podcast. If you haven't heard our story to why we stopped, we stopped for four years.

Speaker 3: 0:42

We went cold.

Speaker 1: 0:42

Turkey no goodbyes, no nothing went to counseling therapy, we had to find jesus all over again. Yep, you know that whole. You know 2020.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Everybody started deconstructing their faith that's for real well, it happened we deconstructed our marriage, we did a full circle to find out that jesus is the reason why we are still here today, yeah, and right now. So we believe that today's conversation is going to bless you. It's going to bless you. We have words that God has given to us. We have stories that we want to share with you.

Speaker 1: 1:10

If you're listening right now and you've been discouraged, you've been stressed out, you've been just worried, I'm here to tell you stick along, stick with us, track with us for the rest of this conversation, write us back, comment back. And if you're listening to this too and you're just here because you just want to debate and you just want to see, like all this thing about who's this Jesus, you're ready to fight us? Stick with us too. We love you, we love you. We're glad that you're here and we do actually pray that this conversation will bless you today. Yeah, absolutely. And also, let me take a moment and say too if you, if you haven't subscribed already, what are you waiting for? Subscribe Statistics have shown that. I mean 80 to 90% of our viewers are not subscribed. Just do it, hit like if you like us and I guess, if you don't like, I guess, tell us how you really feel.

Speaker 3: 1:55

Whoa, you're just going to sneeze. Sorry, I went like as far away from the mic as I could. I'm so sorry. It was the weather's changing. It's my allergies.

Speaker 1: 2:02

You're just going to straight up sneeze right here in front of all the people that's trying to.

Speaker 3: 2:06

I couldn't hold it. It was like one of those ones that had to come out.

Speaker 1: 2:09

You could rub your nose and like rub it out.

Speaker 3: 2:12

And mess up my makeup. Oh, all right, hey, let's Dig crew, I'm sorry, I just sneezed, but you know, we're all human, that happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you act like it, you ain't never sneezed. This guy sneezes more than anyone. When he wakes up in the morning, he will literally sneeze 72 times, and Jordan got that attribute from you Today. Brooklyn was like why does Jordan sneeze so much? And I was like because he's like your dad.

Speaker 1: 2:34

We like to sneeze.

Speaker 3: 2:35

Y'all sneeze a lot when you wake up. Sneezing is getting all the toxins out, so you wanted me to hold my toxins in.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Yes, after we hit, stop on this recording.

Speaker 3: 2:44

Let's talk about Jesus. You ready? All right, let's dig.

Speaker 1: 2:46

Let's dig Okay, what are we talking about?

Speaker 3: 2:47

We're talking about Jesus, okay.

Speaker 1: 2:53

What's your earliest memory of your relationship with Jesus?

Speaker 3: 2:57

So my earliest memory would go back to when I was about five. I remember being at a church service and I remember the room. I remember like one of the you know, kid ministry teachers or whatever, but I remember them giving an invitation to ask Jesus into your heart and I said yes, and I remember that moment. I actually think I did it multiple times because actually what I remember specifically is the teacher telling me hey, you don't have to keep doing it. Once you've asked Jesus to come into your heart and into your life, you're saved.

Speaker 3: 3:38

And so that was like my first and earliest memory. I might've even been a little younger than five, but that's my guess age wise, um, but I remember, I remember that moment. I remember that was very dear to my heart. Um, I had a few moments. I went to a Christian school growing up and it was a school that was spirit filled, um, that believed in moves of the Holy Spirit, and so we would have chapel once a week and I had some real encounters in those services where my mom and dad actually were not there, and those were things that marked me, that I remember thinking like, wow, jesus is real.

Speaker 3: 4:21

Like being in those moments, knowing that it was my own experience. And I think I find myself a lot of times like praying, like before we have a church service, I'll say even things like that, and it wasn't until I was thinking about these experiences as a child. I always pray like God let someone encounter you to where they could never doubt you ever again, because those are those moments that you hold on to right that when you know like that wasn't hype, that wasn't somebody else told me about it, like that was my real experience and no one can take that from me. So a lot of my childhood had like those special moments where I felt the presence of the Lord, I was in a church service and you could feel something was different and those moments really, really impacted me as a young child.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Yeah, it's cool that you said, like making that prayer, god let others experience you, and I do believe it is through the relationship that you had with Christ. You know, I think we live in a world right now where everybody is a fan of God. Everyone is, I would say. Most people believe in God. There are a lot of religions that believe in God, right Right, and there's a lot of people that are fans of Jesus but they're not followers of Jesus.

Speaker 3: 5:43

Well, even there's a lot of religions and people that actually do believe Jesus was a historical feature, that he was a person, that he was maybe a prophet. Like they don't doubt his existence, they do doubt whether he was the son of God.

Speaker 1: 6:01

They doubt and deny his deity.

Speaker 3: 6:03

Yes.

Speaker 1: 6:04

That he was God, that he was God in a human form, and I know we've encountered a lot of people like that and you know what, like I could understand why some people can believe that, especially based off of their upbringing, especially based off of the house that they came out of, and so, like for us, we believe that. But here's the thing Even if my mom never told me about Jesus and someone else told me about Jesus, even if I encountered him at a later stage, I've actually have had moments that I know that, I know that, I know that Jesus exists.

Speaker 3: 6:38

What were those for you?

Speaker 1: 6:40

So you know, you know the story about when I was about nine or 10 and I was a part of this outreach thing that was happening in my neighborhood growing up. There's a bunch of missionaries. They would come to our neighborhood and they would every Saturday they would, or every other Saturday or something like that. They would just gather all the kids in the neighborhood and just tell them about Jesus and tell them about the hope of our world and we don't have to live life alone and we don't have to live life in shame and in guilt, and that there's a father who loves us. And they would talk about and give examples that he loves us so much that he came down on earth to walk with us, full human, fully God at the same time, just so that we can believe that we can walk with him and not have to hold onto our guilt. And I remember being a kid thinking like, okay, this is cool, like, like get to the point.

Speaker 1: 7:30

And then it was candy, there was games, stuff like that. But one day they were like guys, next month we're giving away a free bike, whoever brings the most friends, whoever brings the most friends. And so it was either friends or like a raffle or something like that. I can't, I can't remember. All I saw was bike and I blacked out.

Speaker 1: 7:46

I'm like I'm gonna get a bike, cause you know I grew up in a big house. Eight to 10 people. All the time it was my mom, my dad, my grandma, my two brothers, my two sisters and then plus whoever like, whatever missionaries or cousins or my parents, uncles that was passing through, my mom's cousin, my mom's niece, my grandfather or my dad's godbrother, just like man. This is crazy. Like man, I didn't have a bed till I was 21. I'm playing.

Speaker 3: 8:10

No, that's extreme.

Speaker 1: 8:13

But I blacked out so it could have been a raffle, and so I was like, all right, I started praying, praying for this bike, and I'm a kid, it was your mom who told you that.

Speaker 3: 8:21

right what Like to pray for that bike.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Oh yeah, my mom told me to pray. My mom told me to pray and I'm thinking like, okay, I'm going to pray for this bike, but she taught me how to pray. She taught me, like you don't just pray to God, just by yourself, in your own power. Right, we're not worthy, but it's through our relationship with Christ. We Christ, we pray in Jesus name. And also I'm going to say this right now for those that watched last week's conversation we talked about how do you talk to God, talking to God, prayer, the power of prayer. And Jesus said, like you can't go to the father without going through me. Right, he says anything that you ask the father in my name, the father, he's faithful to fulfill it. Right, we go to God through the power of Jesus Christ. We humbly approach him, while being bold next to Jesus, right? And so I remember being nine or 10 and I'm praying all these prayers. God, I want this bike. God, you know how much I want this bike.

Speaker 1: 9:15

I never had a new bike. I never. I'm a nine year old, I'm a 10 year old, right, but I would pray all these things in Jesus name. And one day, that day, when it came, we showed up to the park and I had this crazy peace with me, like I pulled up to the park. There was no anxiety. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:34

There was no stress, no nerves. There was no nerves. I wasn't nervous, right, I wasn't anxious, wasn't worried. I knew the bike was mine.

Speaker 3: 9:43

That's crazy.

Speaker 1: 9:44

Where did that confidence come from? I remember being a kid and I remember thinking like man, this, this bike is mine, I just like. There was this excitement. It was a joy and I knew what it was. It was the joy of the Lord. Jesus said I would give you my peace, not the peace that this world gives a whole, nother kind of peace. And that was one of the first times. And so I remember when they were counting off the raffles, counting off the numbers, they got to my number. I was so hyped it just it was like wow, God, I knew God exists, I knew and I was walking with, I was walking with Jesus.

Speaker 3: 10:16

Yeah, that's wild.

Speaker 1: 10:17

Like you know what I mean. And even for me now, even as an adult, like you know, recently got a raise and in something, and I remember I wasn't like hyped, I wasn't excited, I wasn't pumped, I wasn't that, I was just steady, I was steadfast, because my relationship with Christ has never wavered. I've learned how to live with a lot. I learned how to live with nothing, like Paul says in the Bible, and even now. So here I am, 20 plus years later, and I still have the same peace, like my nerves. It's not going wild, no-transcript works like to the glory. But some people see those movies and they still just get infatuated by the character of Jesus and this powerful man but still deny his power, that he is God. Wow.

Speaker 1: 11:30

And so here I am as a grown man and I do believe that Jesus exists, he is God. I do believe that he is God in the human flesh. You know we talked about in the book of John. Right In the Bible John was talking about matter of fact. Let's pull out the Bible. Do you guys got your Bibles? I got my big Bible today.

Speaker 3: 11:46

I got my big Bible today because I wanted to study, so just reading it.

Speaker 1: 11:50

So all right, go ahead and read it.

Speaker 3: 11:52

Hold on. I want to change versions real quick. I want to switch from NIV to NLT. And it says in John 1, 1,. In the beginning the word already existed. The word was with God and the word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him and nothing was created except through him. The word gave life to everything that was created and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. But then it goes down in that next verse that we were talking about is verse 14. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:33

So the word became human and made his home among us, and I that is referring to Jesus. So Jesus in these verses is called the word.

Speaker 1: 12:45

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:46

So it says the word was with God and the word was God. So he was with God, but he was also God. And then in verse 14, it says and the word became human. So Jesus became human and made his home among us.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Yeah Well, God became human and the human was Jesus.

Speaker 3: 13:04

Right.

Speaker 1: 13:05

You know, so yeah, so let's break that down.

Speaker 1: 13:07

So in the beginning was the word right. You guys already know in Genesis, right down. So in the beginning was the word right. You guys already know in Genesis, right, Talked about that.

Speaker 1: 13:15

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So when we look at God, we believe in the Trinity right. We believe it's the Godhead right, so it's God and it's made up of the father who sits on the throne, the maker, the creator of all things, who sits on the throne, the maker, the creator of all things, the son, who is Jesus right, but we don't see the name. Jesus, actually, revealed into God, became the actual flesh, which is Jesus, right. And then Jesus, after he ascended and went up, he said I'm going to send you someone else. It's the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that lives in us, that nudges us and guides us.

Speaker 1: 13:50

I think that's a whole nother conversation for a whole nother day. Today we're talking about our relationship with Jesus, right? So, as he's saying, in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word became flesh. Right, the word became flesh and he lived among us, but the world didn't even recognize him. The world didn't even know. You know, Jesus was persecuted. He became flesh and that's really cool to me to even understand that of just like man. So you're telling me in the beginning, when God said let us or he used the word to create light. Right, he used the word to create. So Jesus is the one that was in the beginning, that parallel of Genesis one and.

Speaker 1: 14:33

John one. Jesus was there in the beginning, who created everything, and here we are, thousands, thousands, thousands, thousands of years later, the word actually becomes flesh and walks among us, and what's unfortunate is we live in a world now where people like the thought of Jesus they made Jesus this common thing. There are a lot of religions, like you said earlier, that just believe that. Yeah, he was a great guy Jesus, gandhi, muhammad, buddha. Yeah, but there's a difference, and the one difference is, I tell you, right now is autumn, guys are still in their graves and they're still dead. Jesus is God's promise and his word fulfilled. He came and he lived among us. We have hope in him and it breaks my heart, like when I see people that deal with suicidal thoughts, because the Bible talks about how Satan right, he's looking for those he can devour, eat up, kill, but Jesus said I come to give you life.

Speaker 3: 15:37

Life, and more abundantly.

Speaker 1: 15:38

And more abundantly. There's a big difference. So those that are obsessed with death, those that are obsessed with hurting themselves and feel like killing themselves is demonic and it's influenced by Satan because he wants to destroy God's promise. And so it hurts my heart whenever I hear of someone who committed suicide or those who are dealing with the thoughts of suicide, because it tells me they have nothing else worth living for. Yeah, you know, we live in a world now where people think they're their own gods.

Speaker 1: 16:10

Right People think they're there own gods. Right, it's true. People think they can save themselves. Yeah, it's true. People think that I can get myself out of this. Yeah. Right, we kind of talked about that last week, not that that was your case, right. But you were going through a situation where I had to call you out. Just like you think you can save yourself out of this situation Right Only leads out just like you think you could save yourself out of this situation, right, only leads to stress, yeah, frustration, yeah failure, failure, yeah, and sometimes to the point where you don't even want to live anymore.

Speaker 1: 16:41

And anytime I see people like that, I'm like one of my, like one of our greatest statements that we always say to people that are dealing with that we say, man, they need Jesus.

Speaker 3: 16:52

Because he is the way, the truth and the life. He's the life.

Speaker 1: 16:57

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 16:57

It's crazy. I think you said something earlier, though, too, that we can't skip over, and that is that all of those great people are dead, but that Jesus came and died for us and went into the grave for three days, and we do 100% believe that he rose from the dead. And while we're talking about it, I want to read one of my favorite scriptures. Oh man, I highlighted it and I didn't Hold on, let me find it. But it's in Romans. It's Romans, I think it's 5. Yeah, hold on, let me find it. Yeah, but it um, it's in Romans. It's Romans, I think it's five, eight. And it said yeah, um, yeah, romans, five, eight.

Speaker 3: 17:39

This is my favorite scripture. Yeah, um, it says but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And it just like makes me emotional every time I read that scripture, because, like he didn't die for the best version of Danny Lee. He didn't die for Danny Lee that leads worship or that married you, or that you know serves in the church for 20 years alongside you. Like that's not who he died for. Like he died for the worst version of me.

Speaker 3: 18:16

Like Jesus knew that I was worth dying for, even if I never chose to follow him for the rest of my life. And so I I love. Like just capturing. There's no way to capture how great Jesus's love is for us and how perfect it is. There's no way to use words for it, to capture it. But I think, like even when we were talking about people who struggle with suicidal thoughts, people who deal with rejection, like if they only could comprehend how much Jesus loves them and that he died for them so that they don't have to die, they only could comprehend how much Jesus loves them. It's true, man.

Speaker 3: 18:53

And that he died for them so that they don't have to die and that, if they feel rejected, someone always chose them, and that is Jesus. Like he chose them, he decided that they were good enough, even in all their flaws, even in all their sin.

Speaker 1: 19:09

Yeah, so, that's big man, all their flaws, even in all their sin. Yeah, so that's big man. What? What has your walked with with Christ been like lately? Just like your walk, like your relationship with him.

Speaker 3: 19:25

Yeah, I shared. I shared a little bit of it in the last episode of you know, as you grow more in your thirties you're, we're in our mid thirties and becoming more self-aware I'm realizing that those aspects of my personality actually really influence my relationship with Jesus, and so I'll find myself trying to be a helper and like, oh, I need to do this. That's how we talked about last week, where I just got kind of caught up in doing so many things, thinking that I needed to help Jesus. You know, do whatever, and that's silly, he doesn't need my help in that way.

Speaker 3: 20:01

There was something else that I had to come to terms with of just in my walk with the Lord and what that looks like and how I'm an outward processor, and so we talked also when we talked about prayer, we talked about like talking out loud and and that you know sometimes, like you don't have to take all your concerns, Like you don't have to talk about your concerns over and over, he knows what you need. But also I'm an outward processor and so sometimes I just have to get those thoughts out of my head and just give them to the Lord in that way.

Speaker 1: 20:33

Were you around? Well, you were around cause. I was around and you, older than me, you said mid thirties. I'm like I feel like it's like more like upper mid thirties.

Speaker 3: 20:41

Sure. I mean I'm right in the middle.

Speaker 1: 20:44

Okay, what's what? Right in the middle would be 35.

Speaker 3: 20:49

Oh, I'm in. I'm in the middle of the upper 30s oh.

Speaker 1: 20:53

No, you make it as complicated. Okay, so you remember when the whole WWJD thing was?

Speaker 3: 21:01

big. That thing was huge, like, what, like in the 90s. I guess you could say, yeah, it had to be 90s.

Speaker 1: 21:06

Yeah, I don't think it was early, unless it was early 2000s. No, it wasn't early 2000s.

Speaker 3: 21:12

Okay, you came strong Like nah, it's not.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Go on, think about it. We met each other in the early 2000s.

Speaker 3: 21:19

I guess that's true.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 21:21

Okay, anyways, 90s man, all the celebrities are wearing it.

Speaker 1: 21:26

I've been bringing it back mentally, because what hurts me is I remember when it came out and I remember the pure thought behind what would Jesus do in this situation? Nowadays, when you say what would Jesus do? Oh, wwjd, like all right, relax buddy Relax.

Speaker 3: 21:45

Okay. So you know the letters? Okay, but do you know the thought?

Speaker 1: 21:48

But several years ago, I'd say maybe 10 plus years ago, there was a point in time where WWJD became a thing that was ridiculed. Yeah, made fun of.

Speaker 1: 21:57

Oh, wwjd, oh, mr Goody Tissue, what would Jesus do? Jesus boy these type of things, and that hurts me, because I'm like to live a life like Christ is to live a fulfilled life, a life where it's compassion, love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, a life where nobody owes you anything. Right, jesus talked. Right, someone slaps you, give them the other cheek, right, right. And so we don't live a revengeful life, right, we live a life hoping that others will do well, wishing the best for others. Yeah, true love. And to really understand, to really have love in your heart, it's to walk with God, it's to build a relationship with Christ, because he is love and not the love that this world talks about. It's a love that sometimes this world don't even understand.

Speaker 3: 22:54

Yeah, that's why I said earlier, like the love is so vast and so wide, like our human form actually can't comprehend it and a lot of times most of us don't even have anything to equate it to, because there's so many broken relationships in this culture and in this world between fathers and children, husbands and wives. There's just brokenness everywhere that it's almost hard for us to grapple or conceive what that perfect love actually looks like, because in our world we don't see it that's so true.

Speaker 1: 23:30

One of my favorite stories in the bible with jesus was where, um, all these people brought this woman to him saying like yo, jesus, this woman was caught having sex with the other guy caught up in adultery. Doesn't the law say she should be stoned to death? Which it was a trap. They were trying to trap him because they wanted to catch him walking in a blasphemous life. Yeah, you know, going against the laws and teaching against the laws. They were trying to trap him, which sucks. But what I love what Jesus did was he practiced compassion on the woman. But he tricked them back. He said you know what? You're right. Jesus said you're right. The law does says if someone is caught like this in adultery, they should be stoned to death. Right. So he said let the first one without any sin, the first one without any sin, right? The first one with no dirt, the first one without any sin.

Speaker 1: 24:24

Right, the first one with no dirt. Right, the first one who's never done something like this. Right, I'm just right now, I'm amplifying this. Right, the first one who's never done something like this. You know what I mean. First of all, what y'all doing, watching who caught first of all? Who caught this woman? Who caught her? Which one of y'all caught her? That's disgusting. And how long were you watching until you caught her? Matter of fact, or did you get caught and you worked it out with the other dude that was in this scheme to just throw?

Speaker 3: 24:50

her under the bus? Also, wasn't this where Jesus was riding in the dirt?

Speaker 1: 24:55

Well, you know, some speculate, right? Some speculate because he was down on. He got down on his knees, right. He got down on his knees right. He got down on his knees at her level in the dirt with her right, and he said yeah, guys, you know what you're right, you're right, the law that says this. So here's what I'm gonna say all right, we're gonna, we're gonna cast like, we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna stone her, but here, here's a rock. This is me amplifying, right, this man, here's a rock, the first person that's never done anything. Take, take this rock and kill her.

Speaker 3: 25:23

And people speculate of, like what was he writing in the dirt that made them so?

Speaker 1: 25:29

scared Right. We've heard people say like he's probably just writing.

Speaker 3: 25:32

He's writing their names.

Speaker 1: 25:33

Here's a crazy thing. Here's what I imagine. I imagine I'm going to hold your mug. I imagine Jesus holding the rock and the irony. He said let the first one has never done this, throw the first stone. Guess who's never done this before? That's holding a stone in their hand jesus that guy like. That's what I speculate. I think jesus is holding this rock and saying, yep, she should be stoned to death and he's the only one who actually has any nerve or like righteous willingness to do this woman like girl.

Speaker 1: 26:06

I should bust your face all up in this rock I cannot agree with that.

Speaker 3: 26:11

Save it.

Speaker 1: 26:12

But he practiced compassion and grace, yeah, my whole entire life. My desire is to be more like christ yeah, and we're not perfect, so we don't get it right, but but to aim to be like Christ. It bothers me when someone comes to me and say, like you know what if Jesus doesn't exist, you know? Here's the crazy thing. Let's say none of this was real, none of this exists. What would I have regret, man? I regret living a good life and working towards grace and peace and mercy and compassion, and living for something greater than myself and not being tormented by bills and not be tormented by the weight of this world and having a mindset that is set above this world and telling myself that you know what I'm? Just a missionary passing through this world is not my world. I come from a whole nother kingdom. Yeah, you think I would regret that. No way.

Speaker 1: 27:05

Like to me. The peace that I have, working to be like Christ every single day and having the mindset of what would Jesus do, is priceless. No one can take that away from me. There's nothing you could take so for me, even as a leader. Last night I was having dinner with just someone that I'm discipling and the guy asked me he's like where do you get all your leadership behaviors and characteristics from? I said from the Bible. I literally just read what Jesus did. Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 1: 27:33

Jesus was one of the greatest people that he can come into, a situation he does. He can discover people, he develops them and he empowers them and deploys them and says you know what? You'll do greater than me, you'll do better than me. He said if you want to be the greatest amongst your people, serve them as as if you were their slave, being a servant. And so our goal, my desire as a Christ follower, is to display that, through every situation that I go through, it's to pass, it's to, it's to practice compassion, grace, grace, mercy, forgiveness is the biggest one. We talked about the last week, when it comes to praying to jesus man I.

Speaker 1: 28:08

I could sit here and talk about this all day long, man, because to say what would jesus do in a situation? Yeah it's one of the best ways you could look at any type of encounter you're facing and it's true that we lived through that season where it was really, really cool.

Speaker 3: 28:22

There was so many celebrities doing it. It was everywhere, the bracelets were everywhere, and then it did become this like make fun of tease, mockery type thing. But now to take it back and be like no way in this situation, like how would Jesus treat this? Like. I love the story of Jesus and the woman at the well where she was coming to get water and he knew she was coming to get water and and he knew she was living with someone who was not her husband. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 28:48

And she acted like she kind of lied to him a little bit. She didn't tell him the truth and he called her out and was like well, the husband you're at home with is not your husband either. And like. But then he said like if you drink of this water that I have for you, like you'll never thirst again. Never thirst again. And like. So he did call her out, he knew who she was and I love that aspect of like.

Speaker 3: 29:08

Jesus knows who I am deep down inside, even the parts of me that I'm still learning or I may not see or I am still figuring out. What is that? You know, like it's you know. It's really, really being conscious of who I am. But Jesus knows all those things, he knows every single thing about me.

Speaker 3: 29:25

I can't keep nothing from him, like we used to talk about sometimes when you'd be like you talk to Jesus that way and I'm like he knows I'm already mad. I'm not going to hide it from him that I'm mad. Like now, granted, in maturity, I've grown up and I haven't, like shown that frustration at Jesus. But what am I going to do? Hide my feelings from him? That's silly, that's impossible. But I love that, Like he still said. But like if you turn from that and if you come to me and you give me your life, like I'll give you something where you'll never be thirsty again, like I can fulfill every need you have for the rest of your life. And so I love, like the wholeness that is in Jesus and that there's grace.

Speaker 1: 30:07

It's so cool, you know there's. We can go scriptures all day long. You know, I think about when Jesus said like, like, come to me. Who are weary, yes, who are heavy burdened, yes, I mean, there's times we've gone through so many stressful situations where, at the end of the day, all I can say is Jesus, I just need you today, I just need your strength, and I love how, in the Bible, like Paul talks about how, in our weakness, his grace is sufficient. Matter of fact, his power is even stronger.

Speaker 1: 30:40

It's made perfect. It's perfect In our weakness, in our weakness, and we've seen that in's perfect In our weakness, in our weakness, and we've seen that in our relationship. We've seen that in our life of times of weakness and I could call upon the name of the Lord, I could call on Jesus and my strength can be renewed, I feel it. There's been times where, you know, we were just stacked behind on bills, bills, bills, bills, bills and those times come more often than mostly, I would think and bills, bills, bills, bills, bills, and we could walk into rooms, walk into meetings, walk into gatherings, groups, all types of things, and people could look at us and say, man, you guys just must be doing very well, we're doing okay, but I can tell you right now I'm walking with God and I have relationship with Christ and because of that I have peace.

Speaker 3: 31:24

He's my peace, he's my comforter, he's my provider, he's my healer. Like we talked about earlier of the journey of my pregnancy with our daughter, brooklyn, that at the beginning six weeks I had to go to the ER and they said you could be having a baby and you could be having a miscarriage, go home and be on bedrest for two weeks and find out, um, and that was super scary, um, just because of some family history. That made me really worried. And then a few weeks later we got another phone call and the doctor said this doesn't look good about that baby. And that rattled me because of family history.

Speaker 3: 32:02

And we just leaned on Jesus as our healer, as our provider, as our peace. We had nothing. The doctors couldn't do nothing for us at this point. Those were all things that were just like wait and see, let's do some tests, but like knowing that Jesus is my healer and that he died on the cross for every disease, every sickness. On that cross he took those stripes and we have healing through that. And then Brooklyn still came nine weeks early, was a three pound, three ounce baby, and that child is the biggest miracle.

Speaker 3: 32:38

She has nothing left over from her.

Speaker 1: 32:41

I'll tell you what, too. Like God gave me a lot of strength too. She has nothing left over from her, it's true. I'll tell you what, too. Like God gave me a lot of strength too, Because did I tell you guys a story about that time? Danley was on pelvic rest. They put you on pelvic rest.

Speaker 3: 32:53

It wasn't even bed rest. It was like all the areas of the pelvic area just needs rest I knew how you were starting that, I was like he's going to go somewhere.

Speaker 1: 33:05

But I literally had no idea where you're headed. Yeah, and you know what? I got something for you, babe. I got something for you right here in my pocket.

Speaker 3: 33:08

Look yo, somebody from our church. You can't get him out because your jeans are too tight.

Speaker 1: 33:10

Somebody from my church, someone from my church, gave me like a handful of these the little.

Speaker 3: 33:16

Jesus.

Speaker 1: 33:17

Shout out to Diane at our church. I love her. She's one of our church members, we love her. She's been with us, part of our tribe for a long time. She gave me a handful. It says Jesus love you.

Speaker 1: 33:27

And you know, here's what I love about this. You can look at this and some people can laugh kind of like how we're laughing right now. But when you stop, really pause, think about it and look at it Really, think about it right now, jesus loves you. There is nothing that you can do that can separate you from the love of God. God loved us so much John 3, 16, come on he loved us so much that he came and walked with us. He gave us his son. He loves us. There is nothing that you can do, and I'm here to testify. I can tell you. Let me tell you guys, something I've never been drunk a day in my life. I've never smoked a cigarette, never been high, I've never had drugs. And someone could listen right here and say, like man, pierre, that must be nice.

Speaker 1: 34:15

And you know, for so many years I was frustrated by that testimony. For so many years I was so frustrated by that testimony Because I was like man. I wish I had a cool testimony like that guy. Jesus delivered him from that. Jesus delivered him from that. Jesus pulled her out of that man. God, where's my story? Yeah.

Speaker 1: 34:35

And one day God revealed to me. That is your story he said the same hand that pulled all those people out of dark situations and dark places is the same hand that kept you from it. Wow.

Speaker 1: 34:50

And I will never forget. Oh my gosh, lord, I am so sorry, god, for denying your power and thinking that you did not exist Even to this day. I take it for granted my walk that I have with Christ, because sometimes I wish, man, I wish I'd gone through some dark stuff, I wish I'd gone through some valleys, I wish I'd been on the dark side, so I know what the light looks like. And God says I kept you from it. Wow, which one is much greater? Right? And I realize I'm grateful and I'm honored. Now, yeah, I'm like oh my gosh, I realized that God's saving hand has kept me. So some people say, man, god has saved me. And I sit here and say God has kept me.

Speaker 3: 35:42

It's amazing.

Speaker 1: 35:43

That's the power of Jesus, that's who Jesus is to me, and I'm here to tell y'all right now Jesus loves you. Matter of fact, I got some more too, you have more Bro.

Speaker 3: 35:49

Every time I see Diane she's like here, take some, and she literally puts five Jesuses in my hand.

Speaker 1: 35:54

I got all these Jesuses.

Speaker 3: 35:55

My house is so full of Jesuses everywhere.

Speaker 1: 35:57

I'm here to tell you guys that Jesus loves you. Doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter where you've been, doesn't matter what you've gone through. I hope you guys have to do.

Speaker 1: 36:24

There's nothing that you have to do besides just accept the invitation yeah he came and said anyone who just calls on my name will be saved. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I think we're done. I want to give you guys an invite, like for those of you that are listening to this right now and you're like man. I want that peace, I want that joy. How do I get that? All you have to do is literally just believe and accept it. We're not like these. This is not like these other religions where we're like, oh yeah, we're not accepting converts. I met yeah, have you heard that?

Speaker 1: 36:59

Straight up met a guy a few weeks ago and he was telling me about this ancient religion that he's a part of and they don't accept converts. You have to be born into it.

Speaker 3: 37:08

That's wild. I've never heard of that in my life.

Speaker 1: 37:14

Yeah, to it.

Speaker 3: 37:14

That's wild I've never heard of that in my life.

Speaker 1: 37:16

Yeah, it's crazy. First time I ever heard that that is crazy, and so I'm like man. That is religion and all those laws, those rules. They lead to death, and for us, all we have to do is accept the love of Christ.

Speaker 3: 37:25

And Jesus came to break all those laws, like in the Bible. Those laws were there before Jesus was human flesh and there were these offerings and laws and you had to do this and you had to do that. But when Jesus came and he died and he rose from the grave, he took away all the legality, all of the religion, part of it, and it became an opportunity to have a relationship with him. So, even though you know these little Jesuses may be silly, like I'm going to be straight, honest with you there is nothing silly about Jesus and his love for you.

Speaker 3: 38:02

And that may be somebody sitting out there and they're kind of on the fence of like I don't know if this is real, I don't know how I feel about this. Ask him, ask him to make himself real to you. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have heard people say I wasn't sure, but I just asked him a few times like okay, god, if you're real, can you show me Jesus? If you're real, can you show me and the way that he will show himself to you? Once he has that invitation, you will. You will be able to say, okay, I know he's real and now I believe in him and you can commit your life to him and know that you have a savior that loves you.

Speaker 1: 38:41

Jesus said that. He said Jesus said it best. He said ask and you will receive. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 38:45

He says search and you will find Yep, Knock and the door will be open to you. And so, if you want to receive and accept this invitation today, that's all you have to do. All you have to do is take a moment. I want to encourage anyone who's listening to this right now and you haven't. You haven't accepted Christ of the savior of this world that loves you so much. All you have to do is take a moment today, stop, pause and call out to God. Talk to Jesus. He wants to hear from you. All you have to say God.

Speaker 1: 39:16

I don't know where to start, but I know to start at you. I know you came for me and tell him say Jesus, if you're real, will you reveal yourself to me? Thank you for loving me, someone like me, and right now, in this moment, I give my life back to you. Will you have your way and not my way. Forgive me of anything that I've done against your will, against your power. I receive and I accept your love today. That's all you have to do. And then what you do is, after you do that, the moment you've accepted Jesus into your life, he puts inside of you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is your guide, he's a comforter, he walks with you and you can talk to the Holy Spirit. You can say Holy Spirit, will you activate your powers in my life, which we're going to have a whole another episode, a whole other conversation about our relationship with the spirit, with the Holy Spirit that comes on Jesus's people, god's people, and so we hope this episode has blessed you guys.

Speaker 1: 40:20

If you need more nuggets, if you need more knowledge, if you want to gain more understanding, if you have Christ in your life, all you have to do is call on him and he will fill you up. Right, we could walk alongside you. Send us a comment, send us a message. We'd love to continue walking with you as you walk with God. I love how Paul says in the Bible. He says, follow me as I follow Christ, and so, if you've been liking these conversations, we wanna ask you follow us on this journey as we point you to Christ. This channel is about us. We're here to help you guys grow deeper relationships with God, others and yourself. So we love you guys. Keep on digging and let's do life together Peace.