The Bryce Crawford Podcast - The MTV Jesse Interview (EP 88)

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

In this episode, Bryce talks to MTV Jesse about Christianity and why Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

What's going on, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce, and today, have an awesome guest on today. We have MTV Jesse on. How's going? That's the only thing I really know how I call you by MTV Jesse. What's your last name? Sebastiani.

Sebastiani. Wait, so watch your Instagram handle MTV Jesse. I had a, my first, like, thing I did when I was like 15, I had an MTV show in Canada. And it was like a wannabe jackass type. No way. Just like stunt show. and did that for a year. And I think I literally made my Instagram handle that at the time.

Just like, I was like 15. I was just like, oh, like people will be able to find me because it'll be like, that's the Jesse guy from the show MTV. I was just like, and then I just left it as like kind of became like this kind of nickname. It's like a staple. Yeah. Dang. That's so interesting.

I feel like a lot of people don't know your last name. No. Do you like that? Yeah, I think so. I've thought of that as I got older and was like, oh, should I, change this eventually and it's like maybe it's nice just have a nickname yeah like have a not many people know my well i felt bad because i didn't know your last name but then i was like everyone knows you as ntv jesse jessie not jessie sebastiani now you know now so i kind of felt

but i'm glad that you think it's cool so yeah that makes you feel better well thanks for coming on dude of course i'm pumped i was super stoked when um when you said you would come on the pot i'm just pumped to learn about you and talk about some things. So I think it's going to be good. But I just want to know where you're from, how you grew up, how you were raised, what were some challenges you faced growing up, things like that. Cool. I mean, I was, I'm from Canada originally and grew up like in the sticks, real north of like

Toronto, Ontario. Real small town, like to the point where it was like, I think it was called like a hamlet. It was so small. and loved it. I think it's a great way for people to grow up. But really, since I was a kid, not to just jump right into it, but since I was a kid, I've always kind of had big dreams. I saw like a bigger picture.

I really didn't like the idea of just falling in line of, like, get a job, get married, do this. Like, I just like, and I didn't have many people where I grew up to, like, relate to that, especially when it came to internet. internet shit and uh um and it took a while to like really figure that out but it wasn't until i came out to california and like got it like it just happens so quick when you're out here yeah such a change um that i just like it's funny to have that dream and then you come out here and it's like actually like that yeah and i think it really just came down to like um people having similar uh dreams

You know? Yeah. And just you try to have those conversations back home and they wouldn't really go anywhere. And then when I came out here, I just felt like, dude, it's like you're at a coffee shop. You're at whatever it was. It's just like you can talk about like YouTube or this or like a TV show or that. Like everyone was trying to create something. I don't know if LA kind of lost that a little bit.

But like when I came here, it was like I got a little taste of that. I thought was really cool. That was encouraging for you because that was your passion and not a lot of people in your small town like that. that. Yeah. I was almost in like, I almost just thought, like, you almost felt like an outsider back home. Yeah. You were like, oh, like, like, this isn't cool to think this way or to like, like, think outside of like working for your dad's farm or some shit, you know? Yeah. Dang. So you grew up like on a farm. Yeah, yeah. It was like a 150 year old farmhouse. My mom rented. And, uh, they like would bail hay and do all that shit. And sometimes me or, my brother would help out to pay for rent and then like but it was like the true experience like

we didn't own our own farm or do any of that but like um definitely was around all that you know yeah yeah it was was any sort of like god or anything in the picture when you were younger too or not really you just kind of like we're not really i mean i was i was baptized and um i think i was like born into it on my dad's side like like italy italians and stuff and My parents got divorced at a young age and my mom took took us like up north like just to a small town and we left Like a big city I was in and She was never really religious very spiritual though. Yeah, she's kind of a hippie. Yeah Beautiful woman like my mom's awesome like big heart and like uh but I think she was more like like what really instilled in me when I think of it is like

signs and like things having a meaning and like watching for those things. I don't know if that makes any sense. I know that makes sense. I see what you're saying. I do it to this day and I think like I don't know how that would be connected to religion but like I know that like I'm definitely like aware that things happen for a reason and like I like to I don't even know if I fully believe that but I play into it. Like I want to like it's almost like the lore of it.

is it like literally happened today and I like I will it'll change like my decision making if like a sign something like stands out like why did this why am I seeing that why am I hearing that for sure what it what's that connected to like today because like I had one that was like sorry I don't want to just go on a ramp but like it's like one that happened today at the gym that I was trying to see what it's connected to and it might even be connected to like this podcast and conversation especially around like religion because like I've never been religious my whole life and I think I almost created an identity around not being religious a little bit and in like

the last like year in my life it's been the most I've been like open-minded to it and trying to have more of a clean slate and not like certain things I've just like kept in my head or said that I'm like I'm this way and this is the way I think like I'm trying to really just be like welcoming to anything, you know? Yeah. But like never forcing it, if that makes sense too. Just kind of like following my nose. Yeah.

But I was watching this like Oscars clip today where Conan O'Brien had this whole bit of like not wasting your time. Yeah. And he made a whole song and dance about it and he just kept saying like, I'm not going to waste your time. Don't waste your time. Don't waste your time. He's like,

there's a whole inside joke of it. And then I took my headphones off and I'm like laughing at it. And right as I take my headphones off, this guy that was doing this, like, class, like, literally right as I could off. He said, okay, guys, don't waste your time. And then, like, starts his class. Yeah. And I was just like, like, that's one of those ones where I'm like, what's the, what's the chances of that, you know? And it, whatever it is, is like, it made it so that I, like, really stuck with me.

Like, this guy's singing this song to me. Just keeps repeating those words. And I take it off. And then another guy who's not connected to this at all just says it again. Yeah. How am I not post to take that as like something or someone is trying to say like, yo, don't waste your time. Sure.

Like, and, uh, and I don't know. So it made me think of that. Yeah. Where do you, where do you think those signs come from? For me, that's where it gets like, uh, it gets tricky to understand. Like, uh, I think I'm a very, like, logical, um, person. Like, I, my, my brain works. Like, I think I call bullshit on a lot of stuff.

I think anything that, like, feels, good or sounds good my mind wants to call bullshit on it. Does that make sense? I've said this to other people, but like, and I'm like, and I haven't really got like people to connect on it, but, um, that's kind of like an issue I've had with religion and like letting myself into religion too. It's like if something just feels too good to like help you. I don't know this is going to sound really wrong or like really bad.

But like, it's like, of course that's why people would want to do this or believe this. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's like too good to believe. Yeah. Like, or like once I can understand why this would, people would follow it, I'm almost like that my brain wants to call bullshit on actually believing in it. Yeah. And this goes for like a lot of things in my life. Like that I, I sense like that I do this with.

But yeah. I mean, by the way also, I'm like actually really excited to like talk to you. Like really. Yeah. And because it's like a conversation I haven't had. And I think I think that's what life is like all about. So thanks, man. I'm pumped to talk to you too.

This is all super helpful stuff to understand because I think we have to like be able to set a foundation for like what we think. So you believe in signs. It grew up around your mom was spiritual and things like that. And yeah. You know, we can dive into all that. All that. That's going to be fun. Yeah.

Um, do you feel like, I don't know, I guess I don't know how to worry. Like, do you feel like it may be hard to believe because people have treated you transactionally? Like, I, I was, I was talking to, um, Adam about this. Like, yeah, you know, he was like, yeah, it's just hard for me because, you know, and I feel like you can relate. And I hate throwing these words around, but I'm trying to like paint the picture. Like, yeah, all good. It's, it's evident that, that you. you became famous.

The what I know about you is you, I think you were largely associated with milk and you guys exploded. Then now you have a clothing brand, but you graciously gave me some stuff. Thank you so much. Of course, man. But,

but like feeling like when you have that and you're famous and, you know, you're in the eyes of a lot of people and things like that, then people begin to treat you transactionally. Yeah. Of like they want stuff from you and you give me what I want. And I'm not going to scratch your back unless you scratch mine and this kind of thing.

And so do you think that's why it could be hard for you to believe is because there's something on the table where it's like you don't have to do anything to take it? I can see where you're coming on that. I just, I don't know if that's connected. I think that's a very real thing too. Yeah. That I've like navigated through and I'm and I really actually don't enjoy. Like there's been a lot of times where I've almost, I've wanted to leave L.A. Because it is very transactual here.

It is very like everything is a bad. connections and like climbing the ladder and kind of using each other. And I don't like that. But I think it's like the best way I can describe it is like, I guess that's true. I guess any kind of mindset you have comes from something. Yeah. It comes from your past. Yeah. And why would I not just be able to, I guess it's the fact that I could just go, hey, that makes sense. God created everything or whatever it would be right like it's like i could go yeah that adds up and that feels right and i could just like be like yeah that's what i believe or that makes sense enough to me for like to believe it maybe because it's so easy for me to actually do that yeah that i actually like

question it too yeah does that make any sense no no no that makes sense yeah i think i so something i struggle with is being an overthinker i will sometimes overthink things to the point where i talk myself out of things or believing in something or circumstances and things like that. So, you know, I guess when it comes to like God and Christianity, like I can't fully prove that God is real, but I can look at the evidence. And I think that out of everything, there's more overwhelming evidence that the God of Christianity is the truth than anything else. Yeah. And that's why I believe in the God of Christianity, more so other religions or not believing anything at all because I just think that there's too much evidence that supports it outside of that.

So even when I overthink sometimes, because I'd be lying if I said I don't have doubts. When life gets hard, sometimes I'm like, okay, God, where are you at? It feels like you're not here, things like that. And there's been many famous Christians in the past that have doubted. I mean, there was a guy in the Bible named Thomas. They call him doubting Thomas because he literally doubted that he doubted so much throughout the Bible. You can see it.

And there was even a point where... Like he was a believer and then doubted it? Yeah, he was a disciple. He literally followed Jesus when Jesus was legitimately in front of him. And so when Jesus had raised from the dead in his physical body, it's recorded in the Bible that Jesus appeared to the disciples. And Jesus is standing right in front of him being raised from the dead. And Thomas still doesn't believe.

He has to put his hands in the pierce marks where Jesus was pierced, crucified to you, in order to believe. That's how bad he doubted. He's looking at him in the face. And he's like, I still don't believe. I got to feel it. You know what I mean? So like I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to have doubts.

Sort of cut you off, but is it the, hey, you said, there's lots of evidence. Yeah. For you personally, is it the evidence that makes you believe? Or is it like an actual deeper core just like, just feeling that you're like, no, God is with me and God is real? Like are you, or do you think it's a bit of both? It's definitely both.

So I had, I had, to long story short, I mean, I grew up in Georgia, went to church growing up, we stopped going to church, and then I went to private Christian school. There were a lot of people in these Christian communities that were like telling me how to live my life, but they were living the total opposite. And so I just a bunch of hypocrites. And so I was like, this God guy can't be real if they really don't believe what they say they believe. And had just a bitter taste in my mouth about God and had broken family and all this stuff. And anyways, I developed depression and anxiety.

in like the eighth grade and had this crippling depression and anxiety that was a hidden battle no one knew about for years and then when I was 17 I was going to take my life because I thought it was the only way to get the depression and anxiety to stop yeah and the night I was going to take my life I've never heard that man by the way oh dude well I wouldn't be here today if this never happened I mean yeah this build up of everything and I've never done drugs or alcohol before so I I I say that to set this up like I knew what was what had happened to me wasn't like a trip or like I was drunk. I went to have my last meal at a waffle house and I had a supernatural encounter with Jesus when I was in there that stopped me from taking my life.

And this was the mindset of being your last supper? Yeah, I was going to literally like have my death row meal. It was like my death row meal. Like I'm going to eat at my favorite restaurant one last time before I take my life. You had that thought going there? Yes. And I went there and as I'm eating

I have a supernatural encounter with Jesus. And so basically what that looked like was I was eating with this guy and he had nothing to do with Christianity. He wasn't a Christian. And he was a grown man. I was 17. He was complaining to me about there's like a bar area. I don't know if you've ever been to a Waffle House, but like right next to the cash register, there's this like low table bar area. I'm sitting there and this guy's talking to me complaining about how his wife's divorcing him and he's losing the kids.

You met him there randomly. Yeah, yeah, randomly. And he's like complaining, complaining, and. in my mind I'm thinking like you're dumping your issues on me well I'm coming here for an escape one last time I'm like this guy has no idea what I'm about to do and he I didn't really hear much of what he was saying but this one thing it was like he said I love my wife but she does not feel the same about me there's no growth in a relationship if the love isn't mutual and when he said that statement it was like all of time stopped and all these Bible verses that I had learned in school for my Christian school

that I'd learned in church growing up were flashing in my brain that these things were making sense and kind of clicking. And then I kind of paused and it was almost like maybe I don't know God loves me because I haven't given myself a chance

to love him back because I haven't attempted to love him back because my perception of him as how people have displayed him to me. And it was almost like this understanding of okay, like I can, you know, your friends, family and people that know you can fill in the picture about Jesse

some good things, some bad things, right but if I really want to know Jesse I would hang out with you right now we would talk we'd get meals together maybe you know play basketball whatever and that's when I would get to really know who Jesse is so I was like well maybe I don't really know who God is and so I kind of freaked out because I had this weird supernatural encounter spiritual moment and I kind of ran to my car and I'm crying and I said okay Jesus if you're real take away my anxiety and depression because this is the whole reason why I want to take my life. So if you really care about me, take this away. I haven't had anxiety or depression since that day. Wow. And so that was my entry point into

Christianity. Okay, I didn't ask Buddha. I didn't ask a law. I didn't read a self-help book. I didn't do any of that stuff. I specifically asked Jesus to take it away, and he did. And so that was my entry point. So I think people believe things not only for emotional evidence, like, or experiential evidence, but also for logical evidence. And so through that entry point, I began to look at who's this Jesus guy, not just from like a, oh, I'm trying to pass a quiz or test in my Bible class in my Christian school. Like, I was like, okay, I'm actually looking at this because I want to know if this guy really is who he says he is. And that's when I went into the entry point of like researching the, um, his teachings and his life. And if this guy really was who he says he is.

And like, like nowadays you don't really hear like, I mean, you do kind of hear like, oh, Jesus wasn't a real person, but it's kind of a foolish thing to say because outside of the Bible, there's so much historical evidence that he was a real guy. So the issue wasn't now is, oh, was Jesus real? It's, is he God? Yeah. That's the whole foundational thing about Christianity is, was this man who walked the earth really God? Because if he was really God, then it kind of demolishes everything else and everything. And then it means like, it's the cornerstone of our belief. Like, was Jesus really God? Did he raise from the dead in his physical body? body. If that happened, then he's the truth. If Jesus did nothing but die, then he's no different

than you and me. So it's interesting how, like, you're, for some reason, it's like such a big thing, religion or God. It's like this massive thing, but like the way that you, it seems like you, like, let in and like, you know, asked him for help in that moment. But like, what made you do that was hearing someone you compared it to someone talking about uh i can't say a wife or a girlfriend problem but like like thinking about him as like god as like a person like a relationship with the same way you would fix or right start a relationship with like i've never really thought of it that way of like yeah it's just interesting so let's take your your what you called the sign from today don't waste your time don't waste your time don't waste your time take off the headphones

trainers like hey don't waste your time starts the class okay yeah great well let's just take it from the Christian POV right now because I'm a Christian yeah what if this whole conversation is finding out that you're valuable and that you have a purpose and it's time to stop wasting time yeah what if what if that what is that that is nothing that like no one directly said don't waste your time with Jesus but what if that is directly correlated to that you never know that's why I'm not denying that you know there could be a truth that signs are coming from but then you even acknowledge like i don't even know where these signs are coming from what it could be god can use signs god can use people god can use conversations

god can use creation you can look at a flower and go how does this flower have a system called photosynthesis that keeps it alive and healthy who did that like you can't just look at this house and go oh well it wasn't here yesterday but today it's here you'd be like you're kidding me there was a maker someone intelligently created the plan design for this house and then people came and built it so it's like you can look at everything and go who did all of this and it's so perfect it's everything's so complicated but so many specifics if we were an inch if we were a mile closer to the sun we'd be scorched to death if we were a mile further from the sun we would freeze to death so everything's so perfect and orbit and balance it's like man that conversation is the one that makes me open my eyes a bit

It's wild. I've had a lot of conversations like this, but like it is insane when you look at every moving part and how perfect has to be to not fall apart. Yeah. And it like the world has problems. But like it like it's insane. Yeah. Every like even just like a human body. Like the amount of things that have to be perfect for it to like.

Yeah. And does that just happen? Does like, is that just over time rock, rub against rock? And it like slowly engineered. to like something else or is it or just someone like like what is the uh and i don't want to be offensive at all yeah i just like i haven't had been like i'm a can't be offensive about the stuff if you're curious you know that's what yeah okay there's no way to be offensive about it if you're curious yeah i'm because i am i'm open minded to absolutely everything and the i think what it is is

i've always been a i just fall on my nose with everything in life um projects or like literally everything i just like whatever the interest is that always like guides me and and when it came to religion as I got older and I I've never wanted to force it but I've also never pushed it away so I I think it's like this conversation to me is just as interesting yeah that makes sense like it's like the um yeah I don't know where I was going to go with that but basically no no it is interesting to me And I think that like at the right time, whether I would become religious or have my understanding of it or or become obsessed with it or dive into it. Like you know what I mean? Like I just I know that like that's slowly kind of happening where I'm like it's just it's more interesting than it's ever been because I've like for some reason growing up never had an interest.

And almost to the point where I like did push it away. Like it was almost like repulsed by But I think that became an identity issue Where I think people can do this Where with a lot of things But like you get it in your head like That you're like I'm not a religious person And then you're like

So anytime someone or something tries to open that door You almost like Yeah You're stopping it. You're in your own way a little bit Yeah But I don't know yeah I'll never encourage anyone to follow religion Like when I say like I'm a Christian

I'm like, it's like, there was this one time this guy got angry at me. He's like, man, you're just religious. And I was like, I'm not religious. And he's like, what? And I'm like, and I get what people say when they mean like, oh, religious. Like, I get it. Like, yes, Christianity as a label is a religion. But I love how Jesus takes on this aspect of following him.

Because you have him in this time period in history where there are these guys called the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they're the religious people. So the religious people that are waiting for this Messiah that Jesus claims to be, they thought that this Messiah was going to be a guy who was just like them, who came from this royal rich family, who just despised sinners, who despised people that were awful people, and was kind of be like, you ever seen those street preachers that got like pitchforks and signs that turn or burn?

They just assumed that the Messiah was going to be like that guy. That guy that came from a rich family, had wanted nothing to do. do with sinners and everything like that. Then you got this Jesus guy who was not born in a rich family. He was born in a horse feeding trough. He was born in a horse feeding trough. And he comes from this town Nazareth. And everyone's like, yo, anyone that comes from Nazareth is a fool. And the people from Nazareth are stupid because he was a Jew. So in this Jewish culture, he's like, people are like, anyone that comes from Nazareth is a nobody. And then any time that these religious people would come around, he would almost tell them you've got it wrong. And he's always hanging out

with the sinners. And so they had the tax collectors, which were the rich sinners, were essentially people that took advantage of their own people for more money. So selfish gain. And the regular sinners, which was, there was a law, like a moral code. And if you didn't follow the law, you were a sinner. They called you a Torah defiler. That was the name of the law. It was the Taurus. They were like, you're just a good old-fashioned sinner. And Jesus would spend time with these guys. And the religious people hated it. And Jesus looks at them and says,

the help they don't need a doctor. The sick do. What he's saying is, when's the last time you've been healthy? They called your doctor and go, hey, bro, I'm doing great, man. Yeah, I'm feeling good. I need to come in and see you because I'm feeling great. No one ever does that. Call the doctor where you're in need.

And he's like, the only way these people are going to know to stop doing what they're doing is if I meet them where they're at. So when Jesus is spending time with them, he's not endorsing what they're doing, but he's saying, look, I love you. This is not how I created you to be, like come out of this lifestyle. And so whenever these religious people would come around,

Jesus was never the type of guy to go, oh, shoot, where's the back door? Let me get out of here. I can't be seen with these guys. No, he actually loved spending time with them because he knew, like, the only way to show these people that the way that they were living

and things that they were doing was wrong was if he spent time with them and actually showed them how to live it. So, like, yes, there is a law, there is this moral code, but there's this moment, this is my, like, this is why, like, I think, I, I, I, this is my main reason why I love

Jesus is, like, these religious guys are like, Jesus, what is the greatest law? There were 613 laws that these people had to follow to be considered righteous, good people. And if you didn't follow one, you were unrighteous and you had to sacrifice an animal

to basically pay for the sins. Yeah. And, so people were just in this constant state of having to sacrifice animals because there had to be a payment for wrongdoing it's kind of like the justice system if you murder someone there has to be a punishment for sin and wrongdoing we deserve death but the animal would be the payment for death instead of your own life does that make sense yeah so like these guys challenge Jesus are like which is the greatest law because they knew if they could get him to say one law was greater than the other one that that would be a no-go and they could kill him for it and just and just

Jesus responds to them by saying, you shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then they don't do anything about it because Jesus summarizes all of these laws, 613 laws, 10 commandments under this one truth of, if you love me with your whole heart, you will naturally obey me. So now it goes from the standard of shooting at like an archery target. Like I've got to be this good person. I've got to be this good person.

It's like, no, I'm going to love Jesus. And because I love Jesus, I'm going to naturally obey him the same way I listen to my dad. I don't listen to my dad because he's got a gun to my head. I listen to my dad because I love him and I want to listen to him. And in the same way, I give up certain things and don't do certain things because I love Jesus and I really believe he's the truth. And if I love Jesus, I'm going to not do certain things and I am going to do certain things because I care about him and I think he's beautiful and magnificent.

sin, he's amazing, and he's who I want to be like, and he calls people to be like him. And so, like, that is like, that is why Christianity offers something that's not like a structured religion. It's this relationship. Jesus is like, hey, follow me. What he's saying is like, spend time with me, and when you spend time with me, you will become more like me. So almost like how you look up to an idol or a big brother or like, yeah, like you're just.

even your friends, right? Yeah. Like, who you surround yourself with is often who you become. And so, like, I don't know, you know, if there are times in your life when you were hanging out with the wrong crowd and you were doing wrong things, you can go, okay, well, maybe that had a big part of it. Okay, well, when I spend time with Jesus and I read the Bible, I'm like, oh, okay, I'm more like him.

And sometimes the Bible's intimidating and I'm like, I'm not going to understand this whole thing and things like that. And I feel like that. And then I have to remind myself, like, okay, this Bible is a love letter. God wrote to me to show me how he intended me to live and to show me the knucklehead mistakes other people have made and how to steer away from those mistakes and to show me how to live my life

and it's been a beautiful way to perceive the Bible instead of this rule of cage. It's like, all right, Jesse, if you don't do this stuff, you're a bad human being and that's it. Like, okay, sure, but there's also this aspect of, that's not encouraging at all. No. And Jesus, when Jesus, when Jesus,

it's almost like being on a, a diet and then you eat in and out and then you're like oh well i fuck my whole diet then like yeah yeah yeah if that's kind of what you're saying is like the idea of like you you commit a sin and then you're like well i'm already like now i don't care about any of this kind of thing is is there like a piece like a book or something that if i'm interested in it like that you would be like hey this one really hit me for like opening my eyes to like some stuff like is there something you would recommend. I think in the Bible, the book in the Bible that I love the most is the book of John. So there's four gospels. Like a bunch of people think this Bible is like this spiritual book.

It's like a history book. Like it's stuff written in there is legit history. Oh, so it's just like what happened. There's a lot of that. There's a lot of like, so then you have like Psalms and Proverbs which is like Psalms is a guy named King David where he writes like prayers and songs to God. Proverbs, the wisest guy ever lived, King Solomon, he's writing wisdom. So there's an aspect of that, but there's a lot of Old Testament stuff that's like history of like, okay, like Moses came and did this and Moses got the law and this is where we got the law and commandments. God gave it to Moses and Moses. Like there's history in there. But the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are four POVs of Jesus, his teachings, his life,

what happened on the cross, him rising from the dead. And it's not that they contradict each other, but it's almost like having like CNN, Fox News, CBS and like, you know, whatever, another news station recording the same story. You know, CBS might give an extra detail that CNN didn't know, but it doesn't mean that it's wrong. They just had a different perspective. But I love the book of John because John was like Jesus' best friend.

And he was at the foot of the, like he was right in front of the cross. when Jesus is dying. So I think his perspective is super amazing, easy to understand, things like that. So I think like that in the Bible. And that's just a piece in the Bible? Yeah, so the Bible is like a compilation of books. So it's 66 books in total confined into one leather bound. Wow, I never knew that.

Yeah, yeah. So it's like all like all this, like it's just like a bunch of like history and the Gospels and then so it's like before Jesus came Jesus came and Jesus is coming a second time And so like it's or it's like it's like before Jesus came Jesus came explaining why Jesus came And then he's going to return a second time and it's uh bro the Bible is so helpful so like a lot of people complain they're like me God's not speaking to me but we have the Bible and and it's super helpful so like a lot of people's problems and like issues or like first hand or I need help advice here, I need this and that.

Like the Bible answers a lot of that. Yeah. And there's also stuff that it doesn't cover because, you know, it's not going to cover everything. But it covers everything that we need. But like there's sometimes we go through things where like, well, the Bible's not a super clear cut on like, I'm having this issue, specific issue right now. But there's things in the Bible that can aid to that. And then on top of that, the Bible tells us that as Christians, we have the Holy Spirit,

which is God's spirit that lives in us. and that can actually give us strength to stop doing certain things or to do certain things or to comfort us. And I think even too, like Jesus, they call them the Prince of Peace. And the Bible says that Jesus can give us a peace that surpasses all understanding. So this is helpful because I used to struggle with anxiety. Anxiety is like in your head and you're feeling crazy. Well, Jesus would give me a peace that did not make sense in my brain,

what would make sense in my heart. So I'd be in super high, intense, anxious situations, and I would be super peaceful. And how so? Like, if I had crazy anxiety, what is it that, is it, like, actually the act of, like, God removing that? Or is it something that you're letting go and believing in

that, like, makes you more at peace so you don't have the anxiety? Like, what, if you, how would you pinpoint that? I think it can be both. So like I hate flying. I have bad plane anxiety because I think the planes are going to go down. Yeah. Especially with all the stuff in the news, it was like freaking out.

Yeah, lately it's been kind of crazy. Yeah. So I was freaking out. And I was on the airplane flying back and I was freaking out. We had like turbulence for like an hour straight and it was bad. And I'm like grabbing onto the seat and freaking out. Everyone's pretty cool when I'm freaking out. I'm closing my eyes.

And then all of a sudden I'm like, God, I really need you right now. I really need you. I really need you. I really need you. I really need you. I'm praying. And then all of a sudden I start feeling peaceful.

And as I'm feeling peaceful, So I begin to think. I'm like, okay, I can't control what's happening in this plane. Yeah. But Jesus in the Bible, he's our protector, our comforter, and our peace. And if I really believe that, God, please give me peace right now in the midst of this, it's not making sense in my brain. And then I slowly start calming down.

It's not making sense because I'm still thinking about what's going on. But for some reason, I start calming down because I'm asking God, God, God, help me, God help me. And then I start thinking about the Bible. Scripture also helps me comfort me because we believe that it's the truth. So if the Bible is telling me something that contradicts how I feel, then it's like, what am I going to believe? This feeling? Feelings can be very misleading too.

It's like, oh, you make me anger, I'm going to murder you. Well, that's not a good feeling. I probably shouldn't feel that way. This is how I feel, right? But I shouldn't act on that. In the same way, this truth of scripture, where Jesus has this beautiful passage in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is the words himself.

He says, do not be anxious about anything. What you will eat, what you will drink, what you will wear is not life more than clothing and then he gives these examples where he's like god clothes the lilies of the field and god feeds the birds of the year and they don't have to work for their food so how much more valuable are you and me than the birds of the air and the flowers in the field yeah if god takes care of the birds and the flowers of the field how much more will he take care of me when i think of that and knowing that i'm more valuable than the birds and the flowers of the field and that God's going to take care of me, that gives me peace knowing that no matter what

happens in this situation, God loves me and takes care of me. Whoa. And that just gave me a lot of peace and I stopped freaking out. Wow. Like understanding that truth, Jesus himself said that. And I'm like, whoa, for some reason, that gives me peace. I don't know why, but it really does. Or so with like the, it's less about, um, Jesus like removing the anxiety and more about, giving you the answers to to understand it to understand the anxiety yourself in a way a little bit of both like how can you give up something that you won't let go how can you let jesus take something away from you if you won't give it up yourself and i think not saying that you know if you struggle with anxiety you're like well i do want to get rid of it i'm not saying that you don't want to give up

anxiety but like again it's like one of these things of like anxiety is just a feeling it doesn't mean it's true. And if you believe that, if we believe that Jesus is the truth, then we have to kind of teach ourselves and train ourselves to trust Jesus over our feelings. Because feelings can be good servants, like they can be good indicators, but they're not good masters. Not a good way to live your life. If I lived my life off of feelings and I would have hurt a lot more people, I would have upset a lot more people. I would have made more knucklehead decisions and things like that. And so, you know, it's about trusting. So there's this other story and another gospel's a history. And I historical event, Luke 8, where Jesus is with his followers, and he looks at them, he says,

we are going to the other side of this lake. Yeah. They say, okay, they get on the boat. Jesus falls asleep. Massive storm rises on the sea, talking, making the storm go crazy. The boat's rocking, blowing waves over on them. And the disciples, the followers of Jesus, they think that they're about to die. But Jesus is asleep in the boat.

They're like, how is this guy asleep right now when we're about to die? Yeah. They go and wake him up and they're like, Jesus, do something. He gets up, he calms the storm. So creation obeys Jesus. Why does creation obey Jesus rather than the disciples? Because he created creation. They have to listen to the creator.

That's besides the point. He calms them and he looks at them and he says, why did you have no faith? And when I first read that, I'm like, okay, that's kind of rude. Like, why did he say that to them? They thought that they were going to die. But then I was kind of looking at it. the reason he said, why did you guys not believe me? Was because before they got onto the boat,

he had told them that they were going to the other side. So the truth was they were getting there no matter what. But storms arise, and that's life. We have a purpose. God made us on purpose for a purpose. And sometimes challenges arise, storms arise, trials arise, and we think it's the end all be all. And then the Bible tells us that God is our good shepherd.

And it says, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even though we go through hard times, we don't have to fear evil because he is with us. And so Jesus is saying, the thing that that surpasses you thinking it's the end all, be all thinking that it's, that this is it,

that you're not going to be able to get past this situation. You know, for some people, it's like, I can't get past this breakup, or I'm not going to have enough money for rent, so I'm screwed, or I can't get over this or I can't get over that. It's God. can be with us through the storm

Jesus never promises to take our problems away but he promises to be with us through the storm how cool is it that we have a friend in hard times yeah that's that's super cool and you know what's crazy it's like a lot of times we go through hard times our friends leave us he's like nope I don't want to be around for that yeah but it's like no I want to be there with you in the lowest and in the highest the peak of your life I want to be there

and the lowest lows I want to be there with you yeah unconditional and to go back to the transactional love thing that's it with Jesus no strings attached always loves you no matter who you are no matter what you do he always loves you now he's not going to endorse what you do if it goes in contradiction to him he wants you to stop doing whatever it may be but it's like if if you make a bad decision if you screw up he's not going to go all right done with jesse not it so no i love you i come to me i love you so much but you know it's it's just different it's different than anything else it's different than

what society tells you to do oh you don't benefit me see you oh oh oh you did me wrong so okay like dude we've done jesus wrong so many times that he still offers us his love we've done we've done we've done god wrong just by rebelling against him by living our life our own way ignoring him already off the bat and and he's like nope i still love him and that's how i feel No strings attached. Just he loves you. That's super cool. Yeah, I feel like I'm,

I'm like trying to wait for like, like the right word or thing to happen that like clicks. Does that make sense without being like rude about it? Because I just like honest side is like, yeah. Everything you're saying is like, in thoughts I've had about it is like, I feel like I could practice that.

I could let go of you being control of everything and that someone else has this plan, that God has a plan for you. Yeah. I understand so many aspects of it that kind of like I was saying before, like makes sense and sound great. And I wonder if like that how I'm kind of like, oh, I understand how that would make me feel happy

makes me call bullshit to not actually want to like do it. Sure. And I don't know if that's going to make sense to anyone when I say that, but like it's the only way I can describe it. Yeah. But like, um, I do wonder if I like, like, let go of that sometimes and just actually just practice that if that would be what made it click of just how you felt differently.

Like I mean, I'm just, dude, same shit. I deal with anxiety and I've been through depression. I went through a lot of shit. And like, I'm like, yeah i it's like i'm either gonna like practice it at some point i'm either gonna dive in and research it at some point or like someone will say the right thing that like it's like a lot of things my life like why i do anything yeah it's because the right time the right person the right way said something that goes like it just like like like you get it and i and i and that's where

like i'm at with religion yeah like things are starting to make a lot of sense but like and I'm only saying that because like I think you have to be honest like you can't I don't for me at least like I don't think it would make sense to to fake it like yeah but you wouldn't want to follow it if you faked it yeah like I had a lot of friends that like their parents forced them to like play piano when they were growing up and then when they got out of school they just stopped playing piano yeah because they didn't actually enjoy it yeah and it's like but do you think I could be messing up by like just from your opinion like

if you understand that that would make you feel better, practicing, even if it hasn't clicked for you, do you think like the fact that I'm like not doing it because it hasn't clicked is also the reason that like it won't ever click? I think if you, does that make sense? Yeah, no, it makes sense. I think there's a little bit of aspect to both. Like it's definitely easier to do something when you're motivated by love. So like it's easier now for me to follow Jesus more and more through the challenges of life because I've grown to love him. Yeah.

But I've only been able to grow to love him because I've spent time with him. So there was an aspect where like I have to choose to show up. So that's like where like the definition of love could be flipped, right? So society would say love is the excitement and butterflies and the feeling I get from you. Yeah. So because you make me excited, I'll show up. And then because you make me excited and I show up, then I'll decide if I want to make a promise with you. Whereas reverse now, I'm going to choose to love Jesus.

and because I choose to love Jesus, I'm going to show up for Jesus whether I feel like it or not, whether I feel them or not, whether I'm having a good day or a bad day, whether my life is good or my life is bad. And when I show up, despite the condition of my life,

it stirs my excitement and affections for Jesus. So the day you choose to just love Jesus, it's not like you're, hey, today I'm, I'm religious now. You know, it's like you just like choose to do it. And it actually is. a process like of was but it sounds like yours was kind of like a moment that happened yes some people have moments some people don't everyone's different right and and and like i have to choose to follow jesus every day i could wake up tomorrow and be like all right i'm just going to do a bunch of the stuff

that i used to do yeah but then i would be choosing those things over jesus so i think love is a choice right like yeah like i have a girlfriend i have an amazing girlfriend i choose to love her daily i choose the lover. Yeah. And because I choose to love her, I show up no matter how we're doing, no matter if she's having a good day or a bad day, no matter if we're having a great day or a poor day, no matter if it's raining or sun's out, cloudy, no matter the weather, I show up. And because I show up despite the circumstances, it makes me love her more.

The affections arise. And so I'm not saying that you can't love Jesus in the moment, right? But the more that you choose, I think if you chose to attempt to follow Jesus, if you attempted and you sought it out, I think you would grow respect for God and then you would like, you would slowly fall in love with it. Like, you know, for some people, you know, they have like this, oh man, I'm in love of Jesus. But for me, it took time because I was like, okay, well, I had this moment. So I feel like God expressed that he loved me. So for you, it's like, okay, maybe you're not having a supernatural encounter with Jesus and Waffle House, but how do we know that God loves Jesse?

Yeah. And how can that motivate you to seek him out? And I think that's where I look at what Jesus did on the cross as the ultimate act of love for Jesse. So it's for the world, but Jesus personalizes it for Jesse. Okay. So when you were born, no one taught you to be selfish. No one taught you to be rude or angry. You were just born that way.

And that's what we would call sinful nature. and doing wrong. We're bored to do wrong. We're born to be selfish. We're born to be this. That's how we're born into the world. And because of sin, we deserve death. Death would be considered separation from God.

Now, the Bible tells us that God created everyone in his image. That makes us valuable. Now, you're not valuable in God's eyes because you can do something for him. God's all powerful, all knowing, all loving. He doesn't need Jesse. So he doesn't need Bryce. So because of sin, we deserve to be separated from God. Now imagine this.

God's seeing all these people trying to, you know, fix their sins, fix their issues by sacrificing animals. And it kind of helps. But then when they mess up, they have to, you know, sacrifice more animals. It's kind of this in the cycle of like there's a constant payment. And God's like, okay, no one can be perfect. And God existing outside doesn't need anything from humanity. He says, I'm going to humble myself. And I'm going to become a human.

And I'm going to live in the same conditions as all these other humans are doing, except I'm going to live a perfect life. I'm not going to fall to the wickedness and sin of the world. That's Jesus. He's born in the world. He lives a perfect life. And then he looks at it and he goes, okay, there has to be a payment. There's got to be a blood payment.

These people are sacrificing animals. There's a name that Jesus has called the Lamb of God. They would sacrifice lambs to pay for sins. Jesus is considered the Lamb of God. So think about this. like as I'm telling you this I want you to think of all the crap you've ever done in your life

all the crap that you think is not worth you being loved all the crap that you think is not worth people being friends with you all the wrong you've done friends family people bad decisions you made imagine that I know when I imagine that there's a scroll that that that is endless of the amount of things I've done wrong said done thought felt everything

and Jesus if Jesse was the only person had ever done anything wrong in the world, Jesus would come, live that perfect life, and the ultimate display of love is Jesus dying for you. That's the important thing, is how do we know that God loves Jesse? The value that Jesus puts on Jesse is his own life. He says, I'm willing to die for Jesse

so that we can be friends. Think about that. And then that's like you murdering someone, going on trial, they say, your sentence to life in prison. And then someone randomly walks in the courtroom and goes, I'll do your sentence for you, Jesse. Go and live your life.

That makes absolutely no sense. And it does not make sense. And Jesus says, I'm going to die for Jesse. I'm going to defeat the very thing that separates him from me, sin and death. So he defeats sin by dying on the cross. He kills sin on the cross. And then he defeats death by raising from me.

the dead. He defeats it by conquering it. He raises from the dead. And so knowing that Jesus loved you enough to lay his life down for you is very important because he's God. So when he was on the cross, like, I want you to picture this. Like he's stripped naked in front of everyone. Humiliating. That's why we wear clothes. No one walks around naked because it's somewhat humiliating. He's stripped naked in front of people. He's mocked. They whip him 39 times. And what was it? What was that for? Yeah. Like, why was he? Why was it? Why did you do that? Yes. So, well, the Bible tells us that it, like I said earlier, like there has to be a payment for sin. So yeah, it was in God's will that Jesus died for humanity because there needed to be a payment. But how it led up to that point was, um, the religious people were trying to

catch Jesus for talking bad about God, blasphemy, like saying another law is greater than another law or doing things. And so they were trying to arrest him. Well, anyways, they decided to arrest Jesus. One of Jesus' own close followers handed Jesus over, betrayed him. Okay? Betrayed him, got him arrested. And every year these Jews, Jesus was a Jew, they had a holiday where they would release

one prisoner from Rome. the Roman government reign and they would release one prisoner and the guy in charge at the time Pilate there's like we need to kill this Jesus guy and he's like I don't see anything wrong with him he didn't even do anything wrong so like

I'm not going to kill this guy he's not on my hands so then he goes out to the crowd of people for the tradition he goes all right guys we can release one prisoner you got Jesus who's the son of God claims to be the son of God and all Jesus is done is he's like

like healed people, open blind eyes, open deaf ears, pulled people out of a crazy lifestyle. And then you have this other guy named Barabbas who was arrested because he was a rebel against the Roman government. He was a murderer. Some documents say this guy was a rapist. This guy was the worst of the worst. And crucifixion was like the electric chair. It's like the death penalty. The worst of the worst, get this. If you got crucified, you were the worst. You were the worst of the worst. Oh, so it was like a, like other people got it. Like it was like, yeah, it wasn't just like this randomly happened to Jesus. Yeah, it was like ultimate punishment. And you were put on display in front of every people to be like, look at how bad these people are.

Almost like medieval time beheadings or like, yeah, kind of, yeah, literally kind of like that. Want people to see this. This is what if you do something wrong. Yeah, people would see it happen. I never actually thought about that. Yeah. So this like crucifixion was the ultimate humiliation and was the ultimate punishment for wrongdoing. So if you guys, got crucified, you had to be the worst of the worst. And so Pilots like, all right, who do you guys want to release? And it's basically like, do you want to release this Barabas guy who was a literal thug and a murderer and potential rapist and a rebel? Or do you guys want to release this Jesus guy who really's done nothing wrong? Yeah. Now, a week before this trial happens, these people in the

crowd were literally worshiping Jesus. And a week later, they're in the crowd and they go, kill Jesus kill him we want the rapist the murderer and the rebel guy we want you to release him kill the guy we were just worshipping last week that goes to show

how the opinion of man changes so past people's feelings and opinions change so fast was that because they did believe and they wanted him to be God like because God's plan was that he would be sacrificed well you know people we have free will we can choose two things so the people chose

in that moment that they wanted the the rebel, the murderer, the potential rapist released. They wanted to arrest Jesus. They could have been convinced of different things. You got the religious leader shouting, this guy's blasphemous. He needs to be killed. So you know,

you have a bunch of different factors in, right? But we have to understand, like, there's also this human aspect. God, Jesus is God in the flesh. So if he's really God, he could stop all this from happening. Yeah. But Jesus didn't say silent.

So this is why I think, like, if someone accused you of something wrong, you'd be like, yo, I didn't do that. That's not me. You'd plead your case. I didn't do that. I didn't say that.

I didn't do this. They're accusing Jesus of stuff he never did, and he just doesn't say a word. Because he knew that there had to be a payment. This is deeper than him being accused. To him, this is deeper. He says, I've got to do this for, to make it personal, Jesse. Got to do this for Jesse because I love him. So I'm just not going to say anything because I really love Jesse.

So they take him in the public. They strip him butt naked. They throw him on the ground. and they beat him with a whip 39 times called a cat of nine tails it was a whip that had strings attached to it that had shards of glass and rock and nails so when they would throw the whip down it would kind of wrap around your back and when they pulled it off the nails and stuff would grip your your flesh and it would rip the flesh off your back he got beat 39 times he had no flesh on his back bones muscle tendons showing the bible and historical documents say that jesus

got beat so bad that he looked like an alien. He didn't even look like a human. He was unrecognizable. It was unreal. They called him the king of the Jews. They were mocking him that they created this crown of thorns and they pressed it into his skull to make a skull bleed.

And they made him carry this 300, 400, 500, 500 pound cross up a hill. Made him carry his own electric chair. Yeah, yeah. Now, think about this. Like, if you were, he, he had just gotten arrested. So if you got crucified, you would have been in jail. You would have been preparing your own cross.

So Barabbas, in his instance, he knew he was getting crucified. He would have made his own cross that he was going to get nailed to. Yeah. So whose cross did Jesus take? He took Barabbas' cross. He took the one that Barabbas prepared for himself. And he's basically carrying Barabbas' cross. that's what our sin does for us.

We're preparing our own death punishment with our sin and wrongdoing and Jesus says, I'll take it for you. So he's carrying this cross. They drive nails through his wrists, nails through his feet, and they hang him on this cross. And in this moment,

he's being humiliated, naked, bleeding, mocked, can barely breathe, looks unrecognizable to man. He's not the only one hanging up. There's other thieves hanging up. There's other criminals hanging up next to him. All right? And there's this moment, there's this moment that these thieves have.

There's two, one on his left and one on his right. And one on one shoulder goes, dang, dude, if you're really God, get us down from here. I'm tired of this. This sucks, man. Get us down. If you're really God, do it. And think about that. I mean, that's like Jesus, like, what he could have done.

He could have stopped everything right there, but he's not because he's thinking to Jesse. He's like, I've got to do this for Jesse. This is deeper than that. And then you got the other thief who looks at Jesus and he goes, oh my goodness this guy really is god and he looks at jesus and he has a different response he says jesus i'm sorry i messed up i screwed up it's some really bad stuff obviously because i'm here right now on this cross and he's like i don't deserve anything from you will you just remember me when you

get to heaven he doesn't ask for a favor he doesn't ask it down doesn't ask for him now he goes god would you just remember me i'm sorry And Jesus looks at that guy and he says, today you will be with me. Now, there's just pause here because it's like, oh man, what is going on? Like Jesus, why does Jesus need to die? He needs to die because there has to be a payment for a wrongdoing. Someone has to pay for what's been done wrong. And because Jesus is perfect, he can cover the payment for everyone.

There's this Bible verse that says we look to Jesus Christ as the perfector of our faith. Who, it says, for the joy set before him, he endured the suffering of the cross. So Jesus suffered this brutal punishment in his flesh because there was a joy that was greater to him than his own needs. There was something that was keeping him on the cross

to go through this punishment that was greater than him getting down for himself. There was something that Jesus was thinking about, imagining, feeling in his heart that was greater than this, guy on his right that's like, yo, get us down from here. You can do it. Your God. What kept him from biting into that? It was picturing friendship with Jesse. It was picturing friendship with Bryce. And when I think about that, that Jesus was willing to suffer so bad just because he wanted to love

me. Unreal. Like, come on. Like all these other religions, oh, work your way, work your way up. God will like you if you do enough of this. Or you'll achieve ultimate enlightenment if you. if you do enough good, but if you do enough bad, karma's going to come against you, and it's a bad, bad day for you if karma comes after you. Yeah. Where Jesus is like, uh-uh, done with that baloney. I'll pay the price.

He didn't have to suffer, be the sacrifice, but he chose to for everyone else. He didn't have to, he chose to. Loves a choice. And that's why like the love, and you're saying, sorry to carry off of it. No, no, keep going. But like, be like Jesus.

Like, just like in that. Yeah. If Jesus forced you to, love him, it wouldn't be genuine. That's like a dictator. Yeah. Like in North Korea, they, everyone, Kim Jong-un forces everyone to love Kim Jong-un. Yeah.

Whether they feel like it or not. That's not love. That's a dictator shit. Yeah. It's not, uh, it's not love. No. And yeah, I mean, that's just it. It's really like love motivates everything and makes it genuine and God just respects the choice

that we make. Yeah, the I'm trying to just be very aware of like whatever does stick out to me. I think it's always like my like what what what do you get out of it and like uh yeah be like Jesus is definitely like the thing that's uh yeah the most interesting or the most like it's like it's connecting to me for sure it's like a less about believing in my mind right now and more about like I live a lot of my life on like based on

who I look up to or what inspires me and all these things and that's like an interesting way for me to like go about it. Yeah, you know? Just like learn about that man and then like try to be like that man sounds like a cool way to enter that door.

You know? Yeah, absolutely. Like the fate, if you really believed in Jesus, like if you tried to be like Jesus, yeah, you would have faith. that he really is who he says he is.

Yeah. So why would you listen to Jesus over Mother Teresa? Or why would you listen to Jesus over Gandhi? Or why would you listen to Jesus over this guy or this guy or this guy or your own feelings? Yeah. Because there's some part of you that kind of has faith that he really was God. Yeah. And that his way is better.

Pretty wild. Yeah. Yeah. You see what I'm saying? I think it's a really good way to view it. Yeah. And, and I mean, like, well, do you think anyone that listens to your stuff is like not religious or would get anything? That's why I'm trying to be actually like as like transparent as I can be about this.

Yes. I'm sure. I would want to watch that. I would be like, oh, like, yeah, that's how my brain works too when I hear that. Or that's how, you know what I mean? So like literally I'm just trying to spit out anything that like is coming to my mind. Yeah. when you're saying these things and learning about this.

But the main thing too is just also like, like I said about like interest is like, I think that's what lacked before in my life. And you just know a lot about it obviously. And I just think like that's where also like at some point I think for me that I'll like, I just have to like be interested. And then like and it might even be helpful like friends I have. I mean, you, anyone that can kind of also, like, recommend what things were like, hey, I would check this out. Hey, I'd watch this film.

Hey, I would, you know, do this, this prayer, do this, you know, like, whatever it would be to, to, it's the only way you're going to kind of open the door, you know. Absolutely. What do you think happens when we die? Like, zoom out from like, like, like, no bias. What have you believed? What do you think happens when we're not going to like it? You don't like it? Do you think it just goes all black?

Yeah, I always, I mean, dude, I'm not stuck in anything, like any belief, but yeah, I've just like, I've thought about it as like, again, just like my mind goes like so logical where I'm just like, I'm a, I'm a fucking machine that when the, when the battery runs out or though whatever, it's just like it turns off. But, like, what do you think when I say that? that it goes all black. A lot of people believe that. It's called nihilism.

That's the fancy word for it. But it's just like it all goes black. And like again, I have so many friends that aren't Christian. It doesn't offend me when people have different perspectives. But all my friends that are like, yeah, it just goes all black. I'm like, well then life has no ultimate purpose if it goes black. So if that is true, right? If life goes all black, then it doesn't matter if you murder someone or rob a bang.

or whatever because then it's like where did morals come from if it just goes all black? Yeah. Who sets the moral standard? And then, you know, some people could say, oh, well, I'm a good person. And, you know, people have their own truth. Everyone's truth is true. Well, it's like, well, you know, if we're getting really intense, like, some people think it's okay to go to Taiwan and have a nine-year-old prostitute.

And they think it's cool. And other people would be like, heck, no, that's not cool. Well, if everyone's got their own morals, you can't tell anyone that they're wrong. You see what I'm saying? So it's like, where does morality come from? Where do these things? These are the questions that I asked when I first became a Christian. What do I think happens when I die?

Well, would we have just been, would it have just been the Wild West? Like, would it just have been if there was never a real reason to like, why you shouldn't sin? Yeah. It's a great way to put it. I never thought of that. There has to be a standard for morality. And if it goes all black, then you have this thing called the fertilizer pit where everyone goes under the ground. that means that Mother Teresa and Hitler are in the same place right now.

That's weird to think about. Yeah. Because we're like, yo, Hitler was a bad dude. Wait, this is another belief of what happens. No, no. If you stay consistent, like if everything goes all black, then Hitler and Mother Teresa are in the same place. Yeah.

Hitler and Abe Lincoln are in the same place. Ted Bundy, murderers, the worst, the worst, are in the same place as, Abe Lincoln, Mother Teresa, all these things. So then it's like, then that also makes people kind of feel weird. Because then when you think of a guy like Hitler, you're like, well, that dude obviously needs to be held accountable for mass genocide and killing a bunch of people and being wicked. And it's like, okay, all right. So that's, it's like, sometimes we have to take things to the extreme of understanding like what we believe, like when we get down to it.

Because some people are like, oh, you know, like, oh, like, I think. everyone's good. And it's like, what do you think murder's wrong? Do you think rape's wrong? Do you think theft is wrong? Okay, there's people that don't think it's wrong. So it's like, where do we get all this from? And so like with God, he's like,

God is both a loving God and he's a just God. So God is loving where he sends Jesus to pay the price. But he's a just God in the sense that heaven and hell are a justice system and a choice. Yeah. So as Christ, Christians, we are justified by going to heaven because Christ made the payment for all of our wrongdoing so it wipes our slate clean as if we've never done it. Jesus makes us righteous, not our own works.

Bryce can't work his way to heaven. Jesus makes me righteous. Now, for the people that say like, I don't want to believe in God, nothing to do with it, blah, blah, blah. It breaks God's heart, but he respects the choice in the sense that you chose not to be with me. So hell is separation from God. So it's like, you chose not to be with me. It breaks my heart, but I respect your decision.

I'm not going to force you to follow me. It's there. But hell is also a justice system. It's for those that need to be held accountable. So one day, the Bible tells us, and I believe, that we're all going to stand before God. Yeah. And there's no words that I can say, there's nothing that I can hide from God. My actions, my words, my thoughts are going to testify against me.

Yeah. Everything I've ever done. And in that moment, it's like, why should I let you in, basically? Why should you be in heaven? Why shouldn't be? But Jesus did everything for me. I believe that he's the way, the truth in life. And I believe that Jesus Christ has wiped my slate clean.

I have faith and trust that Jesus Christ is really God. Praise God. And heaven is just being with God for an eternity in infinite amount of time. And when I chose to live for Jesus now in this earth, I stopped living for myself. I live for Jesus. That's the number one thing that's... Yeah, keep going, keep going. That, like, the idea of stop living for yourself

is the most interesting thing to do with God for me. Yeah. But the... Back to how this conversation started, and I'm just trying to be, like, again, just transplant. I think that people will, like... Someone out there will be able to maybe relate to it. But, like...

And because I'm also just figuring it out. But, like, that's another thing that, like... It's like, I don't know why I'm calling it the bullshit. meter, whatever it is. The thing that makes me, like, stops me from is, like, the idea of what you just explained to me. If I was creating, like, a business model or a marketing scheme or of, like, whatever, it's like, what better way than to create this thing that also, like, without having to even enforce, it creates a great community and people to not break laws and to do all these things or else you're going to go to this awful place or this, like,

in my head that's also like it's funny because then it's like that also just makes a beautiful place so i understand that but then again it's like because it makes so much sense to just be good like it like creates good people in a great environment and polices things and all that i could think of why someone outside of god or something would create this to like create a a good world. Yeah, yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah, I understand what you're saying.

If you don't, if you're not thinking about God and it being real and you didn't like grow up in that or like you haven't clicked for you on that. Like if like I'm like on the fence of it like that's like another thing in my mind that goes like oh like it would make sense that this is like I guess like it is manmade but like you know like someone would create this to to. There's like so many things that it gets out of it. Yeah. Does that make any sense? No, no, no, it does. I think like, let's take God out of the picture and let's talk about being a good person. At some point, it gets really draining. Because the only thing that's making you be a good person is your own willpower. And that's awful. That's hard. That's draining. Because then you're going to wake up some days and be like, dang, I don't really feel like being a good person. Because it's out of your own strength. And that's where like the whole be like Jesus comes from then he becomes your strength. But where if you're being a good person to not just knock.

get go to hell yeah so so like is that a so then that's that's like every religion's pov of eternal life so like is be as good as you can and maybe be as good as you can and maybe it'll be enough so when i talk to my Muslim friends or my Hindu friends or my Buddhist friends that are working to enlightenment or working to please a law they never know if they're doing enough they never know and that's the ultimate goal You can never do enough. So I will never do enough that's going to make God love me. That's why it's like, our good works, the Bible says, are like filthy rags to God.

Meaning you can't make me love you more just by doing good stuff. You do things for me because you love me. Yeah. And so then it's- So in a way you're not like not going to do these things because they're worthless, but you're going to like continue to do as much as you can to try to be useful like and are worthy in a way yeah like like Jesus himself he makes us worthy it's such a hard thing comprehend like it's not like it's like don't like I have a hard time comprehend it sometimes because

we live in a life where everything is a mathematics equation like we live in this constant state of worthiness where it's like I'm only worthy if I do X, Y and Z and if I don't do these things I'm not valuable yeah so that's that. is transactional whereas God offers this new thing called grace grace is a gift that isn't deserved so it's like Jesus is offering this lifestyle where he's like okay I'm going to give you something that you don't deserve my own love you don't deserve it I'm perfect you're not you don't deserve my perfect love but I'm going to give it to you because I love you yeah and now I do good things not because I'm trying to make God love me more I do things because I already

love him and that's my motivating factor so then Jesus becomes my strength. And so becoming more like Jesus is because, oh, well, he did it. And man, I love Jesus. So I want to do what Jesus is because I love him. It's like people that look up to you, Jesse. Like people don't do things because they think that, oh, if I do the things that Jesse does, then Jesse's going to love me more.

It's like, you love people when they're their self and they do the things that they love. But the reason that someone would be like you is because they actually love what you do and they share the same passions as you. So they would maybe do things differently. or they would look up to you or maybe kind of chase a similar dream because they're doing what they love. They're motivated by love.

Do you love doing your clothing brand? Yeah, of course. Okay, you do it because you love it. Exactly. Like it's the same reason why you show up to work every day, while you wake up and why you get fired up about your clothing brand, it's because you love it.

And you love the work environment and you're actually doing something you love. Right? And I mean all the time on college campuses and a lot of my friends that go to college, like I'll go and see some of our friends. I'll be like, man, dude, I wish I was doing what you were doing. Like, where are you studying?

Man, I'm studying business. I mean, it's cool, but like, you know, I wish I was doing what you were doing. Yeah. And I'm like, dang, like, that's hard. Like to know, and even from a broad standpoint, it's like, okay, I'm motivated by love. But how can I be motivated by love? Well, I know that God loves me because he died for me. I don't know anyone that's ever died for me.

I've never been in a position where someone's laid their life down for me. So I'm trying to wrap my mind around this thing. but God has displayed to me that he loves me. So that's a truth. So now I can be motivated by love knowing that he loved me first. And now that I love him, I'm going to seek him and follow him and do those things. And for you, you strongly are like, I know that God died for me. And I love God.

Yes. Because you're logical. It's a historical fact. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what is the, like we're two humans sitting here. And it's like, like, why, what am I like kind of missing? Or is the like, why do you feel that way?

And I don't feel that way. I guess I don't want to say I don't feel that way. But I don't understand it. Yeah. Like, what is the difference? Why are you here? What is your purpose? What gives you satisfaction?

significance and security in your identity. Where is your identity? So right now you could say, well, maybe my identity is in my work, my friendships, my family, things like that. Okay. Well, all those things, no matter how much your family, friends love you, they're going to let you down at some point. Yeah. God forbid you could wake up tomorrow and your clothing brand doesn't exist anymore. That could fail.

Okay. Well, those foundations are going to be hard. things to put your identity in. Then you're never going to be satisfied unless those things are doing good in your life. Does that make sense? That's then, yeah, if you measure your life that way, your life can fall off or can. Yes. Yes.

So then it's like where, where is our satisfaction, significance, and security? Well, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, today, and tomorrow and forever. So he's not going to change. What his Bible says, what the word says is not going to change. so that's a foundation I can build off of. So then it's like, okay, Jesse, if you didn't have the clothing brand, you had no friends,

you had no family, it was just you, would you be okay if we're being honest? Dude, that is like, yeah, that's a very real thoughts that have been happening the last late while for me.

That is like, yeah, it's, it's, I had to make a list of like, what my, I had to figure out what my values were. That was a big thing for me. And then operate off of like those values only. So that like, because I had a moment of that where like I've been doing this stuff for a long time. Yeah.

And to get to where I was, I had to push like family and friends and like things that are important to me that I found out were my values away. And then they're hard to rebuild back. Yeah. And like I had a little scary moment there where it was like you're sitting in your home and your everything you work for. everything you wanted but like there was it was the first time my life i felt like um it got it was it was so it was terrifying that like i've always been filled with purpose and i had a moment of like uh like zero purpose yeah and it was like very scary it was you said you had everything like life was going great and yeah yeah and realized that it was like i had nothing and uh and it's like the

second time that's happened in my life for two different reasons but the um it was it for me i guess it wasn't in my after the conversation like there's more of relation to um god but it really was the a very simple list of values that brought me back out of it yeah like and they're not crazy things there there are things that you to a degree you can control or at least uh Yeah, like I had to like literally just make my my like screensaver on my phone just say like Like my dad my dog my home my like just whatever and so I could just see that every day and be like Like I don't know I've definitely been a person that like my purposes came from my projects yeah and And and letting go of like that I have to accomplish these great things yeah in order to fill this like thing right

right it's like it's almost like the same way that I can like stop myself from religion by calling bullshit on it I can do that with myself in purpose and projects and all these I can also step out and be like you're making it all up in your head that these things matter and that these you know what I mean and like so it's weird I know it's like you said like if it goes all black then like what is this all for what was your purpose but like my mind can also go to like is that wrong either to not have like like and this sounds bad because like I do believe the purpose is like super important

but like outside of everything it's like maybe it is just existing and that's okay like and maybe it is about playing the game and just going along with like the the system that you're creating and we've all created Yeah. Maybe it is also, even if you don't fully have it click or understand religion or God,

maybe it is like, well, like my experience either way by living this way will make me a better person and live a better life and have less anxiety and all these. But then it still is coming from a place of like you. Yeah. I'm like making these decisions based on like how it'll benefit me. Right. Which is weird. And again, I don't know if any of this really makes sense. I'm just trying to like spit ball on like. us how I just think it's so wild that someone can believe something so in my right there your life is like around this yeah and then I can believe something and like my life can wrap around this yeah and like what what is the difference is it a higher power that's actually doing it or is it because I'm also a big believer that like we are all

just we are all just our past um in a way that like the next word I'm about to say it in my mouth is because of every second of those 31 years that I've been on this earth that has like led to a response sure there there can be some truth to that but then you have studies where it's like people that come from alcoholic families and backgrounds they either choose alcohol or they don't yeah and so it's like well you could say well that's a product of their environment well what about the person that grew up in an alcoholic family that didn't choose alcohol, then those moments didn't lead to that decision in the sense of they followed in those footsteps. You know what I mean? Yeah. See, my mind would go to like that's like your chances

of what, like that would be part of your like, hey, you might be an alcoholic. It runs your genetics and all this, right? But like, but that person also got into this sport that led to him being a fan of this person that said the right things that made them go, I'm going to be different and I want to work on the like it's like I feel I really think it's just like this pattern of things like every little second matters everything you see here feel creates the next moment is like it's like the thing I'm like I'd say it of everything like that is like unsure of and kind of like along for the ride a bit like it's like the one thing that I do believe is like logically makes the most sense but I don't know what that is yeah you know and I think that in a way

some people could say like that's like God's plan or it's like life's plan or it's like it's just your experience here sure it's just I like it like it like it's like it I like it also it uh if I think that way in the same way that religion could create a better world not just your world but a better world for everyone I think when I think that way it makes me put a lot more um equity in what I do in inspiring or even not like so this 100,000 view video could it, you know, change people's lives. More like why I would like go out of my way to like answer this DM to this kid or like to

this guy in a coffee shop that's having a hard time and just like talk to him. It's like it makes me actually care about all of those moments because I know that like the butter, like I don't know like the butterfly effects. another thing. I mean, it's really the first tattoo I got on me. Like, that movie I was, like, obsessed with is the idea of, like, you can, that everything makes everything that's going to happen in that, like, one little thing that if you changed it could change the outcome of so many things.

Sure. But I think that that also adds so much power to, like, why, like, why you should do it, too. Yeah. That you can affect. Yeah. But then also is affecting other people's lives for a positive is. is that good or is it like does everyone have a plan anyways you know like if there is no god it does not matter what we do morals go out the window yeah and then like ultimately like like to make

a personal living for your dad your dog your business it does not matter yeah it just does not if there is no god it's just for your experience yeah so it does not matter like if there is no god yeah I can go rob a bank right now. I can go kill someone. I can go do whatever. And sure, like some people, the U.S. justice system would say that's wrong. This isn't that. But it's like, oh, well, in my eyes, it's not wrong.

I got no purpose. I can do whatever I want because there's no repercussions at the end of this life. So I'm just going to take every chance I get and do what I want and live how I want. And, you know, selfish, selfish this. And so like when we zoom. But it will affect your experience in this life. Sure, sure. But then when this life's over, right?

There's no, yeah. It doesn't matter. it doesn't matter that I killed people it doesn't matter that I did this or did that so then it goes Okay If there is a God Why am I here? Why do I do the things that I do? And like look like work is important Like family is important your dog is very important But like if you didn't have those things and your satisfaction your significance in life your security in life is in those things

All of those things that you just mentioned will all disappear at some point. Business, like family, think, whatever. Like, all those things are perishable things. Yeah. So then it's like, what can sustain me that does not waver, does not change, that is imperishable? The only thing I can think of is a supernatural God that created me that does not change, that does not waver, that is sustainable.

So a supernatural God, unwavering, unchangeable, can sustain me and sustain my life. And from that moment, now my work becomes important because, oh, well, the Bible does not encourage people to be lazy. Teach people to put their hand to the plow. Okay, I'm going to work. This is a joyous life. God has given me a body and he's woken me up this morning. There's a breath inside my lungs. The son's out, I'm going to work.

I'm going to do things with my hands. Oh, my family's important. The Bible says that it's that if you're a believer that neglects your family, you're worse than someone who does not believe in. God. Whoa, so family is important. So I'm going to love my mother and my father. I'm going to honor my father and mother. I'm going to love them and I'm going to treat them well. I'm going to listen to them. I'm going to listen to them. I'm going to respect them. Okay. My dog. My dog's a beautiful thing. I can enjoy things in life. Movies are enjoyable. Work can be enjoyable. God doesn't want us to be miserable. There's things in this life that we can enjoy. Right. But then if these

things become more than things that we enjoy and things that we steward, they become the thing that sits on the throne of our heart, then when that thing lets us down, then our head's going crazy. And then we're not going crazy and our life's going crazy. And that's when like, when I say like these things are perishable, that's the storms of life. When the business isn't doing good, when family's not doing good, when my dog's sick, when this isn't that, when all the storms are erupted and the waves are going crazy, like Jesus, I can sleep in the middle of that storm is I have peace, knowing that at the end of the day,

I can't always control these things or something I can control there's some things I can't but the fact that God loves me he sees me, he's for me he created me in his image those are the things that sustained me and it's also like if there is no God why is your family valuable

and then okay well you can say well you know they made me and they created me and that's why they're valuable and they're my parents okay then why's the homeless guy valuable why is he valuable that's someone's kid too but society teaches people to stay away from the homeless guy and not get the homeless guy five bucks and all he's lesser than yeah well that's not true

well what makes him valuable just like me why would the homeless guy be valuable and i'm valuable and there's this interesting passage in matthew 25 where jesus says he gives this example he says for i was hungry and you fed me i was thirsty and you gave me drink i was naked and you clothed me and basically the the the pharisees in them are at the time they're like when did you when did we ever see you in this position jesus And then he basically says what you do to the least of these, you do unto me. They're made in my image. So the way you treat them is the way you would treat me because they're just as valuable as you are.

Whoa. Okay, hold on. Like, I am valuable because I'm made in his image. Not because I've done anything, but because I'm made in his image. And I'm serious. Like, I, you know, I haven't lived as much life as you have, but I can confidently say, like, when I've lived, for myself versus living for Jesus and letting Jesus be my strength. I've lived a more joyful, richer, fuller life living for Jesus than I have living for myself.

Yeah. And it's just like so shaky, so rocky, not consistent, like all of these things when I live for myself. That's a bummer, dude, like living like that. And so hard because things change and things are hard. Is it interesting to look back at those times and think about how many like, maybe problems or things you were trying to figure out and you were like, if I had to just like had this mindset, I would have navigated that.

Yeah, I sometimes think about that. Yeah, like open to it all is that like I wonder if one day I'll look back and be like, um, damn a lot of that would have made more. I mean, and I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. But like I do wonder that sometimes. Yeah. Um, I think that's why I'm trying to have like the most, um,

I try to do with everything in my life is just be opened because like I think it's like the worst thing you can do is to be like stuck in identities I had a crazy

experience when I was younger that is like I don't really have an explanation for I think I like kind of made it like closer to like more my mom and stuff like the spirituality and just signs some kind of higher power

but uh um I remember I was like like I was young and we used to always go drink and go hang out at like some guy's garage or a little party or something like that and I remember my friends came over in this little like Honda Civic coop and we were drinking and stuff and then we heard about this like kegger party which is like I don't even know what a keger is it's like like a keg of beer like keg stands and stuff just meant some guy's farm has a keg and we're all going to go drink there and in no other world would I not go to this I'd be like yeah I'm with my two friends I'm like we'd always go. We're all drinking buddies. And I'm at my house. And so we all get in the car. I always go in the back seat because it's like, I'm not the one driving. And then the other guy always gets a passenger seat. So I would be in this middle seat. And I remember we're about to head out. And for some reason,

I got out of the car. And I like ran out to a cornfield. It's like dark out. The ground's like wet. like it's like nothing points towards why you would want to do this. Strangest thing I've ever done. Yeah. And I went out to this cornfield and I like, and they're like, I don't even know where I went. They're like looking for me and stuff. And I'm laying on this cornfield. And I think at the time I looked at it as like, oh, it's like drunk or something.

But I remember just like crying, like crying so much and like staring up at the sky. And, uh, and they just left without me. and they ended up rolling the car like three times in the backseat crushed down to the floor that I would have been in. And like I remember that was always like this like I had no reason to why I got out. I have no reason to why I cried and I have no reason to like I wasn't going through something that I was I remembered. And that was like I get like fucking like my hairs come up whenever I talk about that.

But it was like this like that's like the only thing in my life that I was ever. like I have no explanation to what that was. Yeah. But like, do you think that that stuff is like, is there a possibility that that's like coincidence and just like these crazy things? Or do you, if you hear that, are you like, that is like a higher power of some sorts? Do you think something is pulling you out of those situations? I don't think it's wrong to think that God wasn't protecting you.

I don't think it's wrong to think that he was protecting you. I don't think it is. but I think it just goes to show how valuable you are. Okay, why wasn't I in the car that day? So does that mean I have a purpose? Does that mean God could have a plan for my life? Does that mean that I'm here for something greater than myself? Yeah.

What is that? Like, absolutely. Even think about like, let's go even back further to what we just talked about about looking back on the past. Like, I think something I, the only other thing I know about you is that you're recently sober. Yeah. What all are you sober from? Is it okay if we talk about this briefly?

Yeah, yeah. What all are you sober from? Just drinking. Okay. Yeah. When did you have your first drink? Really young, like 12. Okay.

The reason I ask is everyone remembers when they were introduced. Yeah. To what they were thinking to. Okay, now imagine this. You could look back on all that life that you spent drinking and that you got sober from and you could feel shame and guilty about it. Or you could look at it now. Submitting to Christ, faith in Jesus.

God has redeemed you from your past. don't have to feel shame and guilty. He wipes the slate clean. And then the next time, you meet a 12-year-old version of yourself next week. Man, I'm thinking about going to a party, but for some reason,

I feel like talking about you before you do it. Look, I totally understand the appeal. A bunch of people are doing it at your age, but I made the same decision when I was 12. And it led to this long period of time where I made a bunch of mistakes. Okay, let's pause for a second. Now you became someone's Conan.

You became someone's son. Why is that? Was all that put to shame? The Bible says that God works all things for the good for those who are in Christ Jesus. God could use your awful past or whatever in any regard, not just with, you know, struggles with alcohol. God can use any of our awful pasts, redeem it, and then use us to stop people from doing what we're doing, to encourage people in another direction so it's not in vain.

So that's when I go back to this moment of you in a car. Like there is a reason that happened. I don't exactly know the full reason. Maybe we won't know until one day we meet God. We say, all right, what went down? Why did that happen? Or maybe you'll find out later in life. You wouldn't be doing what you're doing 20 years from now if it wasn't for that moment.

You wouldn't be here now. You wouldn't be able to talk to young kids or young adults or or whoever it may be going through what they're going through. Wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation if we did it. We wouldn't be able to pull someone out of a pit with Jesus that has the same questions that you have that are too nervous to ask them, but you had the boldness to come down, sit in a chair with cameras on, talk about the struggles you're going through.

They just so happen to think of the same thoughts, emotions, and feelings that you have, except the things that we're talking about are answering all the questions that they had that they were just too nervous to ask anyone. Crazy. Why are we here? What's the purpose? So I don't think it's coincidence. that you weren't in that car. The events that led you there, whatever, whatever it may be, your reaction to whatever, you know, whatever.

God can use anything. The fact of the matter is that you're here and I just don't believe you were made randomly. And, you know, some people were like, someone came up to me one time. It was like, man, Bryce. The way I'm thinking is that it's all just random. Yeah. I kind of hear what you're saying. Not all random.

Yeah. A kid came up to me one time and said, I was just a Valentine's Day accident. My parents had a first. Frisky night on Valentine's Day. And then that's the whole reason why I popped out. And I said, well, hold on now. Like, just because we think that our parents made a oopsie or didn't mean to have us, doesn't mean that we're a mistake just because our parents didn't plan on having us.

Yeah. There's someone outside of our parents. Yeah. The Bible says that God knew us when we were in our mother's womb. So God had a plan for me and Jesse before we ever came out of her mom. and dad. Whoa. That's so cool to think about.

If God really is real, and he knew me when I was in my mother's womb, before I was in my mother's womb, God knew me, he had a plan for me, he had a purpose for my life. Wild. That's crazy. Yeah.

Pretty wild to think about. The stuff's not random. We're not in some, you know, it's not like, you know, God shook a snow globe and threw it on the ground, and then the universe came. Yeah. Like, the only thing.

Yeah, because what else? in life, sorry I keep cutting you off. No, no, this is good. What else in life is like, that's Snow Globe thing you just said. It's like, what else in life is like that where you just, it just is like, and it's perfect. Yeah. That's like the most mind-blowing one that makes me like really think about it.

Yep. It's kind of crazy. Like, why, like, if I think logical, yep, why do I think that that's logical? Yep. You know? Yeah. It's not, it's not logical. And that's why, that's why you wrestle with it.

Because it's not logical. And that's a good thing to think about. Like man, human beings was the only thing in creation that God decided to make in his image. Not the animals. Can you say that one more time? So God created the ocean, the sun, the moon, the stars, the animals, the plants. The only thing that God made in his image with his imprint on was man. He said, let's make man in our image.

let's put our imprint in mankind so that they're valuable that they're more valuable than the grass than the sun the moon of the stars and those things matter and those things the order the intricacy the detail the specifics they point to an intelligent mind and they worship god in a sense but man was made in his image imprint so there's this analogy of like a clockmaker that's like imagine if you were in the deep forest thousands and thousands and thousands of miles away from anything. No life has ever touched.

You're walking through this force. Then you stumble upon a pocket watch and you flip open the pocket watch and it's functioning, it's working, it's got all the mechanics in it, it's got all the batteries in it, and down to the second is on the exact time

that the earth is rotating at. That just appeared. Someone just put all the mechanics in a box and shook it up and throw it in the force and that, it's like, what? Like that, no way. that's like and that's why I love about you saying like I'm very logical because God's not trying to do mental gymnastics with us he's not trying to make this a super hard thing for us to wrap our minds around he is very logical he's very intentional very specific and that's why I think it's intellectually dishonest for people to say all this stuff came from nothing the only thing that comes from nothing is nothing yeah something has to create something yeah and so so so So it's like, who did it?

And we believe that it's God. And out of everything, and that's enough to believe in God. Yes. To start the train of thought, the snowball effect. Someone created this. Who did this? Because when I've asked people, I do, I'm like, I hear that a lot. And that's, yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm kind of like thinking out loud. But like that sounds good. That is true. It's just like, why can't that just be enough for your mind? to kind of like believe it or to yeah yeah i mean everyone's different it's so simple but it's also so big it's like yeah like it's such a how is that not enough you know yeah kind of thing but i mean people are always asking for more people are never satisfied i mean like even in the bible like you got jesus who was walking on earth that's done tons of miracles already who's done more

than enough to prove that he's god and these people go jesus give us another sign We just want to make sure. Give us another time. After he's done a bunch. And he's like, you guys are crazy. You guys, he calls him a wicked generation. You wicked generation. And he says, the only sign you'll get is the sign of Jonah.

I don't know if you know the story of Jonah, but it's like this guy got swallowed by a whale for three days and then got spit back out. And he's like, just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days. So will the son of man be in the belly of the earth for three days and rise again. So Jesus said, the sign that you'll know that I really am who I say I am is when I rise from the dead. When I die in the rest of the dead, it's what he says, and they don't understand because he uses this unique way of displaying it.

But that's what he says, and it's like, what the heck. But even that's not enough. And that's like today. It's like, well, I'm having a hard time believing in Jesus. And it's like, well, you know, and this is just you. This is a lot of people. A lot of people are this. Well, Jesus revealed himself and claimed to be God, and that's still not enough for people.

And God's not mad at that. He's revealed himself through design, intelligent design, through the, Bible through history, through Jesus, and all of these things. And it's like, okay, like, man, I'll never fully, I can't prove again. I can't prove that God is real, but it's like, where does the evidence lie? Where's the overwhelming evidence? And there's a lot of like non-Christian historical evidence that talks about Jesus. That's just so reliable and so fascinating and so profound and magnificent and to be honest we'll never understand everything about God

it's a supernatural being we're finite limited in our brains we won't be able to fully wrap our minds around everything and so like I honestly think this is kind of like my last thought it's like the the Bible says if you lack wisdom

ask God and he'll give it to you and Jesus says blessed are the pure and heart for they shall see God so I think if we are genuinely our heart is hungry and we're desperate say God I'm lacking wisdom in this area give me wisdom help me understand help me understand help me understand reveal yourself to me help me understand that he will

and if we draw near to Jesus the Bible says he will draw near to us and so the fact that you're curious and have an open heart and an open mind is like the first step that's like the first interest step and even if we fully don't understand there's still things I don't fully understand I don't know everything and that's just like the open mind okay God, I'm going to try this and I'm going to continue to seek you and make it known and things like that. And so I think...

And you'd say that's okay. It's okay to not have everything figured out. Yeah. Like, God will help us. God, that's his whole point. He doesn't leave us to be alone. Yeah. He gives us...

That's just what I'm taking from in a little bit. I think that that might be good people to hear maybe. Like the, I think the idea that you don't have it figured out can also make you repulse or pull away. Yeah. For like anything in life? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, are you really ever going to have anything fully figured out?

I mean, society progresses, adapts. No. So then it's like we have to be kind of comfortable with like not knowing everything, which is okay. And to be honest, that makes God more holy to me. The fact that I don't know every, I can't fully understand everything about him. Yeah. But I can understand enough. That makes me go, okay, you really are you say you are.

You really are the God of the universe. I'm going to love you and trust you, even if I don't fully agree with it. because we're born into a world where we prioritize our own feelings and thoughts and our own beliefs over the truth. And that's where, like, God sets the standard. So, like, I'll give you an example. Like, now society is like, sleep with it, whoever you want, have as much sex as you want, do it. Whereas the Bible would say, hey, sex is a beautiful gift. It's amazing.

It's a beautiful thing. But God designed it for a man and a woman and a marriage covenant. And so it's enjoyable for that. And it's an act of worship when it's in that. And anything outside of that would be disobeying to God. Okay. well, society day would be like, well, you know, you can go sleep with whoever you want. That's fine.

And then it's like, well, God had this original design. And so I think that's like what God is like bringing back to us. God is an original design for creation and mankind. But because of sin, we've strayed away from this original design. So when we're listening to Jesus, we are trying to turn back to how God originally designed us. So where society would say, sleep with whoever you want. And you could have someone who has a sex addict that has sex three. times a day. And then if they put their faith in Christ and they look at the Bible and they see

what this is and they would go, okay, well, if I really believe that Jesus is God, then I'm going to stop having sex three times a day and I'm going to wait to commit myself to someone and then when I marry them, I'm going to save sex for that. Yeah. Like you see what I'm getting like there's like a standard. I just use that as an example because like that is what Jesus will do to you, he'll change what you thought was right to what actually is right because God has a design and an intentional purpose and origin and things like that for his creation. Yeah. Yeah, if that makes sense.

It does, yeah. Yeah. I think, yeah, I have a lot of respect and I think it's very noble that you're willing to like be open and talk about things that you're working through. Yeah, dude, I appreciate you and having this conversation with me, man. Yeah, bro. We can have more not on camera. You got my number and stuff.

so we can chat. Dude, I'm down. Yeah, thanks for coming on, bro. I appreciate you. Of course, man. Guys, thank you so much for watching and tuning into these episodes. Guys, if you love watching and listening to these episodes,

aside from following us along on Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, I want to ask you guys, would you guys consider partnering with our ministry financially? Your guys' radical generosity is actually what continues to fuel and produce these podcast episodes and our evangelism videos. So if you guys feel a burden to support this ministry,

reach lost souls with the guys, gospel through digital and in person ministry, go to Jesus in the street.org, pray and ask God, how should I partner with Bryce and their ministry and Jesus in the street ministry? Should I partner with them in prayer? Should I partner with them in finances? Should I partner with them in support? Whatever it may be, pray and ask God, how should I support Jesus in the street ministry? Love you guys.

See you guys next week for the next episode.