The Hope Hotline - 2 Peter 1:1-5 Recap

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

2 Peter 1:1-5 Recap

I've missed. I've missed you. Real talk. Real talk. I've missed you. Yeah. I'm going to bring out a little bit of my opera. Wow.

Singing voice. beautiful we've missed you guys we have like it was we were off for a week we came back and then we were off for a week i'm just off next week no we're not off next week well who knows there's a lot going on around here no there is multiple reasons why we were off yeah multiple reasons which some of them will be known to everybody hopefully if everything goes through correctly but some of the stuff that I was diligently working on, besides other things. I got a bug or something on my desk. Hopefully, it's good stuff for the church, really great stuff for the church.

So hopefully we'll be able to share all of that with you guys in the next coming weeks, multiple things, and so good, good stuff. Good stuff, you know, not everything was great. But it's all in the perspective in which you look at it. true actually and god comes through every time like i i look at last week and um on so many levels like to see the hand of god move is crazy yeah count it pure joy oh james says what a great but even even like the stuff that like i don't know like for the church and stuff like some of the stuff that is like how it's all falling into place you just sit there and go yeah I don't know

I'm seeing it like I even like from last week we flow into this week which requires more stuff to be done and I'm seeing God's hand even that because there could be some stop gaps on causing things not to come into to fall into place I see even God moving into that and I'm like making sure you know if what's supposed to happen happens then the door just keep not every door open means you go through it right but if you prayerfully say lord this is this is you know what I'm claiming I'm demanding I'm receiving because it's all good stuff and then you see God doing it when really it should never happen you sit there in amaze I I am not amazed I knew it was going to happen but I sit in amazement and of how it falls into

place right right because I knew it was going to happen and there's another thing that I'm standing in faith for that I can't wait for that to happen because then that'll be I don't know it's really good stuff I know it is good so um how would you guys have a fun week off or were you like me busy is a bee so busy I know you know what happens October hits like once we hit July I feel like everything is a blur and the reason I feel like that is because we do the ladies conference right that is huge that's monumental and while the ladies conference is going on i'm getting ready for christmas eve right so all of those things are having to be so july i'm working on finishing up christmas and i move into october and then it just it's like a snowball because getting ready for all of the holiday stuff

so glad that the volunteer dinner is not just so you guys know volunteer dinner is not in november this year it is not it's in February yeah thank you God yeah it's perfect that was that was a hot mess last year that was just way too much it was a lot it's a lot yeah November people don't people don't understand it's just so much there's so many moving parts to everything we're taking it up a notch next year on top of that so um but so you were very very busy I know I kept you super busy I know it's that time of year it's this season you know we're almost done with uh October I know I can't believe it. Heather and I was just talking about it. Next week is the first of November, which that Saturday night going into Sunday.

The first, going into the second. The first, not next, not this weekend, next weekend is fallback, which is my favorite holiday of the whole entire year. It is. My favorite holiday. I will shut a tear, but I will be okay. One hour asleep and it's dark early. We have morning light. Right now I'm waking up and it's pitch black.

Not me. too. My poor chickens. It's not fun. I forgot my ear. You guys wake up too early. That's the problem. But, no, seven o'clock is not too early. Seven o'clock, it's dark. Look at that girls. No more, no more flabby arm. Look at that. Hey. Oh, my gosh. Like the tricep that, I mean, the, yeah, the triceps. Was today upper body? I did not. In all truth and honesty, my back is giving me a run for my money. And I'm like, that's right. Absolutely not.

So in all truth, I've canceled every single day. One, wasn't because of my back. It's because of something else. But Monday and today, I was like, not doing it. Not doing it, which ticks me off because I'm like, where's my faith? Absolutely not. Not going to have it. Nope.

So, but yeah, my back is giving me what for? Well, it looks like you just got a good pump today. I know, right? Look at that. Yeah, woman. Yeah. Well, that's two years of pumping I in. Exactly.

I don't do it. Listen, that thing used to hang like that far down. Hope. My arm, my arm fat was like, you know how you have the wings? I had wings like there's no tomorrow. I call it the Oprah. The Oprah, what is that? Oprah Winfrey?

Yeah. She always had like big arms. Oh, really? She must have had surgery. Maybe. No, I know she's lost a lot of weight recently, but. But when you're as big as she is, you're going to have loose skin. Yes.

I mean, when you lose weight like that. Skin removal surgery is called something. Liposuction is one of the things you can get. Maybe she had lipo on them. But that only sucks the fat out. That's true. It doesn't shrink the skin. Yeah, that's true.

Listen, not that I've looked into it. Oh, my gosh. You don't need to. You don't need to. Are you kidding me? That's before you didn't need to. It's all smoke and mirrors. That's before you didn't need to.

That's funny. But, okay, so you did something special for me because I didn't get it. And my trainer actually put, the last time, Crumble Cookie did this. I wanted some, and I didn't get any. And then my trainer, she put out on her page how horrible this is. Did you see it? And how horrible people should feel about eating it. And I was like, I didn't eat it, even though I wanted to.

I just missed it. But I am today. Sorry. Because Tracy did. We did a thing. Okay. What is that thing? Can somebody bring those over here?

I'm going to show it. Help me out, girl. All right. This is, okay, so Allison's new favorite thing is Dubai chocolate. And I think it's all Emma's fault because Allison doesn't like anything new. So these are the new Dubai crumble cookie, but they're brownies. Oh, my gosh. So it's a brownie with the Dubai chocolate, which is Pessatio, and then the chocolate on top.

And it is milk chocolate, and it's just enough that it all makes sense. It's heavenly goodness. Kellyanne's going to cut them into fours, and then we're all going to try it together. Together. Together. Alone, together, together, alone. Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited.

So, yeah, it's, it's heavenly. Especially if you like Dubai chocolate, which I don't know how you can. I love crunch. I love it. Well, the thing is, is if you don't like pistachio. But I don't think it's that pistachio wheat. I don't either. But some people don't like, I love pistachios.

I do too. Same. So, but my whole family, except for Tommy, I think, my whole family. family. We love pistachios. It's like salty and like, uh, yummy goodness. And then the crunch when you put that stuff in that. Oh my gosh. Yes. Norma has like, it's like her father. Bags. Yeah. Um, yuppie bowls has a Dubai. Ossie bowl. I'm sure out. Wait minute. Wait minute. Wait minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait, minute. What are you saying? Did you try it? Remember I got it for you. No, I did not try it. Talia. Yeah. Wait, so it's the assay. It's assay with, oh my gosh. Alice in love. Okay, we're going. Oh my gosh.

It was so freaking good. I'm drooling right now. With strawberries, it was so good. I'm getting it. I'm bringing it Friday. Ooh, do that. I will. I'll bring it Friday.

And we can judge what's better. God bless you, child. I'm going to wait. Yes, please wait. For all this to eat it together. We have to eat it together. Norma, you want it to, you have to try. Yeah, yes.

There's plenty. We should have like 12. We can split it because I don't want a whole thing. I want my whole piece. Yeah, I want the whole piece. 100%. While she's getting this together, let me just tell you this. Okay, so I'm going to talk about this really quick.

I'm going to talk about my girlfriend, Tracy Lopes. Yes, perfect. Radiant, aesthetics, and permanent makeup. Yes. We all love her very, very much, Lee. Listen, people, Christmas is coming. And if you're a guy and you're watching, and you live in the area, you want to get your wife.

one of the best presents in the world, get her a gift card for a facial. And I'm just telling you, get her like, like even $100. Right. $100, she can pick whatever she wants when she goes in there. And I'm just telling you, you'll get lucky probably for a whole week.

Just by buying this gift card for her. I love it. Oh my gosh. I'm not kidding. it's so like you feel so good oh my gosh with a facial if you've never had one then you don't know and women listen like if you know i'd never had a facial until two years ago i think it was two years ago and i am telling you right now it's my one of my favorite

things that i do every month i know every month it's it for you wouldn't believe how important it is for your skin and your face And so if I'm a mature adult, I'm 58, and there are things that I should have been doing a long time ago. But I can tell you, like, she's reversed some of the things my face has gone through because I didn't take good care of it. Like, I literally see a huge difference in my face just from two years. Your skin looks amazing. But it didn't take two years. What is that?

Your skin looks so good. And it didn't look as good as it does now. And that's the God's understood. But your skin looks great. I had age spots that were really, really bad. And now, like, I do have some, like, you can see some of them. They are not, like, they were really dark. I found an old picture of you where.

I was like, oh, my gosh, she looks older here than she does now. Yeah, skin is important. Wow. Uh-huh. Like, I know that my skin looks a hundred times better. Yeah. And that may sound dramatic. But I'm just telling you, I can see a significant difference in my face

since I've been going to her. How often do you go? Once a month. That's it. But I will say, it didn't take me two years to see a difference. I noticed my skin probably my third month. Probably in my third, after my third treatment, because she did different things. And it doesn't cost $100 to go to her. I'm just saying if you were going to get your wife a gift or if you wanted a gift, $100 could probably take you into two months, depending on what you get. But you'll see a significant, like you'll watch. out of there going holy mackerel my face feels great and she does monthly specials too that's true she does yes good point i totally forgot about that so it'll be discounted um depending on what it is every month like right now like last year she did an october i think was a pumpkin thingy which i haven't gone to her yet so uh but but usually she has some kind everything smells so good everything she does

smell so good and she's so sweet so easy to go because she just smiles and she's quiet if you want to be quiet but she'll talk if you want to talk i sleep the whole time oh my gosh i've snored i couldn't sleep but mine was painful so and that's true i talk i talk a lot but i do fall asleep and snore i do because she's just a great person on top of that because the bed is warm and then she taps on your face it's like a whole thing i love when she does the pressure points on your a massage so you get the massage which is like but that That warm bed. I know.

And if you're not, if you're a hot person, then you don't have to have the warm bed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. But I'm telling you right now, it's warm and snuggy and cozy. Yeah. You want that. Brenda said that she went a couple weeks ago and loved it. So Tracy is great.

Oh, perfect. Yeah. Yes, she is. You're absolutely right. It's the best thing. I'm just telling you, like, it doesn't matter how old you are, you should be taking care of your skin. Yeah. My daughter has been doing it for years.

Like she's 24. And when she was in her teens, she had a, in Brinley right now, who is 10, 9 or 10? I can't remember. No, 9. Is she double digits now or she turns out of those? I think she's 10. She might be 10. She's 9?

She's 9 going to be 10. She hasn't hit double digits. April. Yeah. April 1st. She already has a facial regimen that she does. Shuck her. I know.

But, like, we all should be, like, taking care of our face. Right, right. Especially since we live in Florida. I'm not talking about for cancer. I'm talking about skin care for wrinkles. Also, the products Tracy gives are so good. Oh, so good. Yeah, true.

Like, I can only, like, use her products, like, for my acne and stuff. Like, when I run out, it's like. When I run out, it's like, you don't want to be putting. I know a lot of people use that, what's that stuff? Proactive. That's not good for you guys. No, it's not. It's very harsh.

It's very harsh and it's not safe. And I'm not, if you're a Christian, you can eat anything deadly. I agree with you, but why? Why would you have better things? There's other things you could be consuming. That's a clean thing. Yeah, but you can't get that clean. That's what I mean.

Like, so use your poison for a red ball instead of proactive. Exactly. You can, if you give. up, the proactive, you can drink the Red Bull. Right. Right. All right. Let us dig in to this Dubai brownie. Okay. Ready?

Okay. Are you ready? Yep. Wait, I want to pour the pastas. Holy moly. Mm-hmm. Holy moly. Mm-hmm. Did anybody tell Heather and Trish this is here?

I did. No, maybe I didn't. But Courtney's on and she's coming. Courtney, you can come grab some. Oh, yeah, Courtney. Get Heather and Trish. Bring them in here with you. Holy moly.

The brownie. Why is everyone saying nine? I don't know. This is an absolute 10. Especially, you know, and sometimes you just need, like, chocolate. You just need it. And, like, this is it. Like, this, when I need chocolate, this is where my brain goes.

Oh, my gosh, man. I can't wait for that. I mean I'm not I'm going to dime this person out but you know who makes the best you buy chocolate Emma Tomas she does I think that's where Allison got it oh Bernie's nine yeah I knew she wasn't 10 yet because I would have had like I would have made a big deal of right the double digits I know yeah right and now oh my gosh guys sorry I know but I'm going to take this last bite and then we'll get going me too I'm not doing a I'm not going to do a question today and the reason is

I want to talk about something that I think will specifically make you think about where you're at spiritually and this very thing is one of the things we we talked about a scripture before they said if you do these things you'll never have to worry about about losing your salvation or lessening your walk. I have a scripture that is like you're going to be like, oh, holy mackerel. Like I can do this or it's this simple, but first, let me finish. So yesterday at Abide, right, Tuesday?

Yeah. Two of the verses that I like heavily focused on were what we're talking about, but the first five. what do you mean the first five so second peter you went to second peter one through five interesting you want to touch on that first before we go to that i definitely can let's talk about that first okay all right all right um so about two weeks ago um god kind of put on my heart that a lot of the people that Vanessa and I like have our hands on have stuff that they're still dealing with that they don't want to continue to deal with. So we were talked about like how can

we make room before 2026. You know, we had like two and a half months a couple weeks ago. We had like two and a half months before we got there. So we have like two and a half months to like just get rid of the last bit of junk that's in those rooms. Like get rid of it. Then you open up and you have plenty of room for God's revelation for more peace and patience and gentleness, kind of all the things that you want. So then we started thinking about what are the things that you're magnifying because it's very easy to get distracted. And so we talked about how important it is to magnify God. So it kind of went from 1st Peter, or sorry, second Peter, verse 1. And we started in 2, actually, and it's grace and peace multiply. Let me grab the actual verse. I think I just did a little

breakdown of it. Pause. Coming in. So I skipped the first one because I kind of wanted to explain why we went to one, like who he was actually addressing. So first or second Peter, one, two, is grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord? And so when you go back in 2nd Peter 1-1, he's actually opening up to those who through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours. So he's actually talking to mature believers in this. He's not talking to new believers. He's not talking about new converts. He's talking to mature believers.

And so when he talks to them, then he says... And this is in 2nd Peter? Second Peter verse 1. And then now 1 2 is... Which he was talking to the Jew then. He was talking... Peter was for the Jew. Paul was for the Gentile.

So Peter is specifically talking to mature Jewish people? Is that what you're saying? Yes. Exactly. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Just so I have, because it helps me understand, like, who this is directed to so I can process how he's, why he's saying it and what he's doing. Okay, go ahead.

The Jewish people that converted. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. Yes.

Thank you. Yes. And so, and then he talks about grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God. And so, going back to my, I tried to make these points a little bit because I was like, I wonder if she's going to ask me to do this. So I wanted to make it super. I know, super simple. So the most important thing that we can do is in verses one through or one two is magnifying the grace and peace multiplying by the knowledge.

So it's by knowing him deeper. So when we know God deeper, then all of a sudden grace and peace is multiplied not by changing your situation or fixing all these things, but by knowing him. Correct. Because so many of us are like, well, once I have more money, once this person is gone, once like all these things then I'll all have peace and all this stuff will be multiplied in my life but it actually doesn't say that at all in the Bible and again he's not talking he's talking to us like the mature he's talking to the mature believers so which is seek ye first the kingdom of heaven right and all of his righteousness and all these things will be added to you because that's when that's where the peace and everything comes from seeking him first you don't have to lose your peace you don't have to lose your joy when you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death like because the situations will happen the hard times will happen but you don't have to lose your peace or joy which is a fruit of the spirit which is what dwells inside of you exactly

you just have to use what's already there through the spirit holy spirit exactly okay so go ahead because that's that's like good stuff I had already read all that yeah um in my study time but I think that's so good because I think it does you must have been like what the heck when I know thank you baby you must have been like what the heck when I sent you the email it's so used to this because it's like what Pastor Tom talks about on a Sunday is what we talk it's it's because we all have the same Holy Spirit yeah it's also aligns with what you talked about youth group too yes so right your maturity level right so so I did so two weeks ago we talked about that like making room and then we

talked about how what does that look like for a new believer what does that look like for a cheering Christian and what does that look like as a leader in the church because each person is in a different season when you're a new believer your like your level of you know leveling up and making room isn't going to look exactly the same as somebody that's like laying down sin you know for the first time ever yes truth there's a little hand reaching under my computer a freakishly small carnival like hand carnival like yeah oh my gosh that was so funny so I was telling jare about it and Jared's like, oh, so are you preaching this tonight? And I was like, uh, if you want me to, I definitely can. So then we just, I just kind of made it for the youth kids. And, um, and then

Jair and I kind of went back and forth, which was fun. Um, but yes, exactly. So that's where that came from. And then this kind of opened up. And so yesterday when we were talking about, I was explaining how like, like, like, look at your life as like a house. So the foundation, and I think about my neighbor, which you know, their house went up in like eight weeks. And their foundation was put down. And within 24 hours, they started building the frame on top of the foundation. The foundation didn't have a ton of time to settle and do all the things it needs to do. Yeah.

To cure, exactly. So if our firm foundation is Jesus Christ, which is what it's supposed to be, if you build your life on the firm foundation of faith in Jesus Christ, you're good. Like your foundation is perfect, right? And then we talked about the walls being like the promises of God. Now, if you build your house on walls of your traditions, of your, you know, well, this happened to me one time. and so that's just what I know, your house is going to crumble.

But if you have it built on the promises of God, then you're going to be good. Because even when the storm comes, your house is not going to shake and fall apart. Because it's built on a firm foundation with the promises of God. And you know what? I'm just like listening to this right now. And I'm like, okay, so we have the foundation. We have the framework. We fill the rooms with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness,

brother affection, love. That's what we fill our rooms with. Right. Yes. And the cool part about that is the word add. So now we'll go on to verse 2. May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. And so the word add in verse 2, which mine didn't have add, but when you go back to the actual word,

I don't know how to say it, but it's E P-I-C-H-O-R-E-G-O. And it means to supply richly and to lavishly furnish. So when you do those things, you add to your life, you will have. have supplies richly and you will lavishly furnish your rooms and then now it's not filled we talked about hoarders and how when you like ever gone into a hoarder's house before yeah it's all junk where you have to like step on the stuff and you can like hold the ceiling as you like walk through yeah well jair is a leak detector like he can't even do his job in those homes because you can't even like find the pipes underground because you can't find the ground right exactly and so i said how

like that's your life when you don't when you just keep building up all your junk in your room and you refuse to let it go. God can't do any renovations because he's like, let it go. Like, what am I supposed to, where am I supposed to put all the blessing? You have all this junk in here. Which they think is a treasure. They think it's a, which is literally take note. These people are literally walking every day on and around trash. Most hoarder's homes are not filled with new purchases. Right. Right. No, it's like nostalgia. Right. They'll like have a broken mug. And they're like, but that my, my grandma gave that to me. They see like a stack of papers.

They're like, yeah, but that's the season I got through. Like, it becomes a tradition for them to have their room completely filled with all of this junk, even if it's... And there's bags of trash all over that house to. Exactly. It's disgusting. Because it gets too overwhelming to have to even deal with it. So instead, you ignore it.

Exactly. Which is what we do spiritually. And take more on, more trash on. Exactly. And we can do that spiritually. We ignore the stuff and we make room for it. Because, like, oh, you know, well, my mom's uncle, or my mom's mom had this in her life. And so most likely I'm going to have to deal with it too.

So we'll just start doing all these precaution things. Instead of just not, like, you're in a different, like, you have the bloodline of Christ. Like, what do you mean? Exactly. You know? So, okay, moving right along because we'll keep on. Three, it says, by his divine power, God has given us everything we need for a godly life. So what's cool by this, what's cool about this part is, no, that's actually, I'm going to wait

till verse five. Okay. So I'll just read it. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, which is so cool. The one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. Norma, did you hear that? Precious promises. She's just a precious girl. I just love her. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires. And then so that goes into like verse five. But like there's like like when I was doing it, there was like a blueprint to like building a house of your faith. And so like the blueprint, like it's his promises. And they don't

just like they're not just something like we hold on to. They actually transform and then they change our nature so that we walk like him, which is so cool. And what does God say about like his promises? there are yes and amen. Right. Exactly. You can count on it. Right. You can take that to the bank. Yes.

Yes. Because a promise for God is like a contract. Right. And he never breaks his contract and he never looks for a loophole. Right. Ever. He just stands by his word. Right.

And it reminded me of what you said earlier where you're like, I'm not surprised what came to and came to fruition because I knew it would, but it was great when it did. But that's like, that's the gift of faith. Because like having faith is when you're like, okay, I know the Bible says it. I know the Bible says it, and you can hear the but almost coming. But when people have the gift of faith, they're like, I know the promise is coming. Yes. You know, like, and you speak nothing else but that.

And you know, like, you know, and you're like, I can't wait. Okay, so I encountered this crazy thing where I was experiencing pain in my body. The pain was real. Like I felt the pain, but my spirit was like, you're well. Yeah. You are well. and I fought through it and we got to the end of it. I have zero pain today, praise the Lord.

But I knew it. I was fully convinced. And you have to get to a place where you're just fully convinced. Like you believe every single word in this word, in this Bible. But yeah, that's God's promises. It's almost like a guarantee. Right. Right.

Yes. Yeah. I think of the Shadak, Mishak, Abandegov. Shadrach and Mishak. And I think it's so cool because those boys were in the fire and they looked delusional. Right. Like, what do you mean you're going to go in and then turn it up and you guys are fine? Like, it might look like a level of delusion, you know?

Oh, yeah. Like, Jonah was in the belly of this ginormous fish and then he was spit out and then went on his way. Daniel and the lions then. He was with lions. Lions. That's delusional. But you have to get to that place where you're fully convinced. Yeah.

And some believe that even Jonah perished in the well and was brought back. of life which is which is why jesus used him as an example of passing and then coming back um so that's good you just like even against the odds right like i literally speak to my back like most i i literally speak to my back because i know what the word tells me and i'm i'm in high heels right now. Like I put the high heels on and you, your, your carnal nature is going to be like, should you really wear heels? Yeah. And I'm like, no, I'm wearing my heels. I am. I, like, I've been working out with my back and I, most people would say you shouldn't. So you know what I did? Because I didn't do it this week. Well, there's a couple reasons why I couldn't. I couldn't make some of the

days but but I literally know that I don't have the faith though right now I know I don't have the faith to work out I know I have the faith to wear my heels but I know but but knowing where you're at and not being satisfied right yeah I'm not satisfied that I'm not working out right I'm actually kind of mad about it yeah um but that doesn't mean that first of all I believe I'll never be in this spot again and that my back will never hurt me again but I to be okay with, well, it's okay that you're not working out. You're like using wisdom. I don't subscribe to that.

Right. My face should be that on Monday, my back was well. Right. And that I should be working out right now. Amen. That's how it really should be. Amen. But that's not where I'm at.

So being honest with yourself so that you can get to that place and to that level is how you do get to that level. True. And God can work with that. Absolutely. Well, we're honest and we're authentic and we just come to him. Well, it's like salvation, right? Yeah. If you say that somebody's saved and they're not really saved,

how are they ever going to get saved if you've allowed them to believe, along with yourself, that they are? So true. Healing is the same exactly way. Very true. So true. You don't see the results that you want to get when you justify or you skirt around it. Yeah.

It's never going to happen. Right. So true. Right. It's never going to happen because you've bought into a lie. But that lie makes you feel better. Right. I won't do that because I know.

It's like the brain. And I'll say it like this because there's sometimes that when I talk to people who are not faith people, I reserve myself in saying this. But I'll say it because I'm not debating somebody right now. But if we look at the brain, how much of the brain do we actually use? not very much not very much of it why are we not using very much of it because of us partly because of us partly i think that god won't allow us to use the level because the tower of babble happened true okay and we get too much of ourselves but there everybody's been given a measure of faith and that measure should be able to do the very thing that jesus did correct everybody's

received a measure of faith the same measure that Jesus had and whatever he did he said we would do and more right so the problem is it's just like your brain you don't use the the highest degree that your brain can operate in partly it's because god won't allow you because you'll destroy yourself so there's mercy in that just like he doesn't allow us to live forever because he has mercy when adam and eve sinned the tree of life was blocked off so that we wouldn't have to live for the rest of our lives living amongst sin

he's merciful but faith is faith is still faith and you can do the very thing that Jesus did because he said we could and some so to use the excuse of

that we can't do what he did is not true because he said we could and we all have the measure of faith to be able to do that just like your brain you don't use it to the capacity that we have access to, we don't use faith the same exact way. But we'll justify it all we want to. It's just like a lot of people don't use the capacity of their brain is,

can operate in is because they're lazy and they don't want to. But they could if they applied themselves. There's a lot of people who didn't realize how smart they were in high school and then they go and they go back to college in their 20s and 30s. And they're like getting straight A's. They could have gotten straight A's in high school. They matured and they decided to apply themselves. And now, it's not that they were stupid before and now they're smart now. No, they didn't use the capacity of their brain that they could have been using. The same thing as with faith.

It's no different, except we make excuses and we're lazy and we let more of the world in than we let of the Lord. And the more seek first the kingdom of heaven and the more you seek after him, Ham, the more you will be able to accomplish, the more you'll be able to do, and the more lives you'll effectively change. But that's not the fun part. The fun part is more of the world. And if people really examined how much of the world they take in, they'd understand why they're not seeing the results and quit making excuses for not seeing it.

But it's way easier to make an excuse or to say, I just don't believe that. Well, then don't believe the Bible. But I would question whether I'm going to heaven or not. Because just three things purchased on the cross, and you're for sure of one, but you doubt the other two. Then why aren't you doubting the one? Right. You should doubt the one that you're so secure in because the other two are just as available as that one is. I don't understand that.

How you literally can say, yeah, salvation is for sure. I'm definitely going to heaven. But healing, I don't know. yeah that's wild it's wild when it literally says it in three different places in scripture that it's a guarantee you really should be ashamed of yourself

and be you should be ashamed of yourself because what Jesus did and purchased on the cross to provide that healing for you and you're like I don't know then you should feel like that about salvation sometimes he will and sometimes it's a slap in the face it really is it's a slap in the face so it's like somebody should question whether or not they're saved then because they're both in the same like exactly three sentences right in the same

place in scripture right either his promises are true or they're not it's nuts period it's crazy so this is what i wanted to talk about and i'm really glad that you brought up all that stuff because if we have to, we'll run into Friday with this. Because I think there's a lot of people who don't know what it entails to be saved. Yeah. What do I got to do? And like, am I ever going to stay saved? Could I, well, you can walk away, but there are certain guarantees that if you do them, it's like the four essentials.

If you do them, the odds are you're never going to walk away from God. I mean, it's almost virtually impossible. you're doing them daily well this this scripture i mean gosh man the lord is so sweet to give you a formula and if you stick to that formula you're guaranteed like good dad yeah it's not it's not uh you know you were reading those scriptures um tracy and i literally was thinking to myself like most people think that God's so lucky that I received him a lot of people feel like you know they take it for granted

they allow God to fit in their life as they design it when in all actuality you and I are so blessed and fortunate that he allows us to be in his life that he has opened the door for us to have access to him and yet we think it's the other way around and you were reading those scriptures about like the things that are for us I sit there and go and you use the the um you use that house that's next door to you and i sat there and in my spirit i'm sitting there going like all of us can choose a general contractor to build our lives on yeah our general contractor most of the time is us true we build our lives based on our design right and our ones but we actually can choose and have the best general contractor there

is where the house is the strongest the sturdiest and the biggest fortress known to man right where nothing by any means can harm us right yeah and we choose not that we don't choose to have the best general contractor right right like you have the best of the best and we choose not it blows my mind including me i've i've done this myself so i'm not like bashing people in general i'm just saying like it's amazing to me i know because we think we know like we actually think we're smarter than the god of the universe how to build something yeah to make it sturdy yeah and strong and impossible to be destroyed in a hurricane and a storm right and an earthquake like it doesn't go down or life's trials tribulations right not going down or we have special

revelation okay yeah yeah i love that one like i don't know it's crazy to me i just sit there yeah and think to myself man i'm so lucky i am so blessed i know that i have access right to the greatest thing that has ever come about yes jesus christ Because then left the Holy Spirit. Yeah. And then he makes it easy for us because he literally like has spelled it out for us here in Second Peter. It's not as if we're being blindly led. Right.

No, I love this. I'm reading out of the NLT and we'll probably get there, I'm sure. But it says, do these things and you will never fall away. Do these things. Seems easy to me. cool it's crazy i know it's crazy i know yeah let's read five so we're going to go to first we're going to go to second peter one five through ten and um like when we get to the last 10 minutes let me know because i'm going to break really quick for to sponsor and then get back to it says in view

of all this make every effort to respond to god's promises right do you even know god's promises boom right there you can't do it if you don't know them and then people walk around and and blame god for everything uh blame yourself blame yourself because you have no one to blame but yourself it's your fault that you don't know his promises it's your fault that you don't command and claim and receive god's promises you don't know if you don't know them you can't claim them you can't ask for them you know it's like he it's like uh the scripture that says, if you ask me, I'll give it to you. And I'm abbreviating it for you because it's like knock in the door will be open, you know, all that. But he literally said,

it says, ask, and I will give it to you. If you are a good father and you do that for your own children, how much more will I do for you is basically what the scripture goes on to say. How much better am I, it even says, than you? will do more. And it's so true. But we act like God is lesser than our very own earthly father. And some of you have had real crappy fathers. So your idea or ideal father is not anything like what the Lord is. And your

expectation is far below what is truth. But the reason you have that mindset is because you've never read his word to find out that everything you believe is absolutely wrong and incorrect. Again, you're the general contractor of your life, not God being the general contractor of your life. So you're setting yourself up to fail and potentially not to have a relationship with him if you don't do these things. But it says, in view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence and moral excellence with knowledge. Now, we're going to go, it continues on, but I'm going to

read that first scripture. I'm going to read that in the Amplified Classic real quick. And it says, for this very reason, adding your diligence to the divine promises, employ, what, doesn't mean to be employed it's a job that means you're going to have to take effort you're going to have to work work employ every effort in exercising your faith hmm imagine that this doesn't come just through osmosis this comes through faith and a lot of people think that faith is a wing and a prayer it is not. It is a promise. Exercising your faith to develop virtue, excellence. Virtue is excellence, resolution, Christian energy. I love that. Christian energy. And in exercising virtue, develop knowledge, which is intelligence. I wish, and I think Jeff Tamas talks about

this i think jeff says um oh gosh i wish i'd have brought my bible shoot okay jeff talks about that i think he prays for wisdom every single day that's why he reads a proverb a day along with all of the studies which i highly suggest people do read a proverb a day if you're not in the word reading a proverb a day well completely like it keeps stupidity away it does It does. There is scriptures, and I wish I could remember them, but I literally have the paper cut, so all I have is the scripture.

I don't even know where it's out in the Bible, God forbid. That's not good, but it's a New Testament. But it's this scripture, I talked about it at one of the Dare to Bees. I read it. I try and read it every single day. And basically what those scriptures are, I put me in its place and I read the scripture and I'm basically saying, Lord, give me wisdom. Allow me to understand things.

For me, like, if somebody comes to me with a problem, there are times when people have come to me and they've talked to me about different things. I'm like, I'll, like, just start talking and then things will just start coming out. And I'm literally, while I'm talking, I'm like, dang, that's really smart. Like, holy crap. Yeah. That's, like, really good advice right there. And the whole entire time, I don't even, like, it sounds crazy. It's not as if I don't have control of my tongue or my thoughts.

I'm just telling you, I've never thought about anything that I'm telling that person. I would have never even, I would have never thought of that. That's the Holy Spirit. Giving me wisdom in that moment towards that person and it never would have even come across my mind to give them that kind of advice in a hundred years. I definitely can't take credit for it because it's not me. But I know that because I learned it from Kenneth Hagan, because Kenneth Hagan said he prayed this prayer for six months every single day, sometimes two to three times a day.

And he said after six months, his preaching radically changed. And literally people are like, man, you're smart. And he realized, I've been so stupid. My preaching has stunk up into this point from reading that scripture because everything just changed for him. Like, everything flipped he totally understood things that he never understood before because he had prayed this prayer and the lord was answering it and giving him wisdom that he never that's why i say we don't we don't tap in right we don't tap into even the how far this brain can go because it's really holy spirit driven you are a spiritual being so it's not the carnal man that's operating the brain it's the spirit man spirit man that's operating the brain but we don't operate in it

we don't use it we never use it to the degree in which we could shame on us for that but i'm just saying to you if you use knowledge knowledge is power and i know everybody says it but it's true knowledge is power intelligence is huge girls do you want to add anything to that even that first first before i go into the next thing um the only thing i was going to say and you kind of said it is like At the very beginning, it says, in view of this, make every effort to respond to God's promise. So, again, it's not a, I've never met a mature Christian that got there on accident. Like every mature Christian, it took work. It took trials.

It took overcoming. It took never giving up. And so if you do want to get to that level, like you are going to be tested and it's going to continue to go on and be tested by the fire. So just embrace it. And know your promise, like you just said, know the promises. But understand that you have to make. every effort to respond to God's promises.

Yes. So it's not an accident. I have a note here in my Bible that I wrote in. It says, make every effort implies being disciplined. Like God gave us salvation, and salvation is a gift for us. Yes. But growth is our response to the salvation. Right.

To the gift? Yeah. To the salvation that he gave us. Right. and so as we go into it like these things that's how you exercise they get like that's how you respond to the gift that was given to you is by responding in this way it's by responding in virtue and we'll get into that yeah you know it's so funny because I was talking to somebody today that's walking through some stuff yeah and it's what they're walking through what is that

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603962. And you can't go wrong with him. What I was going to say is, and then we'll close up with this, and then we'll meet up on the rest of it on Friday. What I was going to say is I was talking to somebody today. And faith is like a muscle, right? Like, and I think like the more, the the more you hold things of value, like it's really easy to walk through something that, that might be slightly stressful, but you're like, whatever. If it works out, it works out. If it doesn't, it doesn't. You can, like, have faith that God fixes something when it doesn't really, like,

it doesn't concern you too much, right? But let it be your livelihood. Let it be you paying a bill and your electric's going to get turned off and you have children to feed. Let it be something of substance, right? and then everything starts rising up stress anxiety nothing it how do i say this it's like i said to this person first of all his promises are true and you don't have anything to worry about what you're worried about and what you're concerned about has got so much value to you first of all things

have to be put into perspective. It should never, things that, that stuff should never be of more value than believing what the word of God says. Does that make sense, ladies? Yes. Yes. Because you think that's more like what happens if I lose this. When, if you really valued what the word of God said, then you'd know that this can't be lost.

And if it was lost, you would then know that God has a plan. Yeah. And that plan is far superior than what you were actually holding in your hand. You'll be glad to drop it and pick up the new thing because it's better. But it's like understanding and responding to God's promises, which is what this says. Knowledge, intelligence lets you know. The knowledge of the word allows you to know that faith doesn't. just come about by just coming about. You'll face many trials in this lifetime, but I will deliver

you from them all. That's a promise. So you understand that my faith is not going to come about without the trials, without some kind of, you know, the valley is only, the valley can only go so low depending on how you respond to the valley it's like i always say a pothole can be a pothole or it can be a little bump in the road it'll still look like a pothole but how you respond to it and how you deal with it is how much damage it can do to you and a lot of times in life what i try to do when i am walking through faith or walking through something that requires a great deal of faith as i try and stay, and I'm not perfect, so I'm only going to try and help you with what I do, because I don't deal with a lot of stress and I don't deal with a lot of anxiety.

Part of it is my nature, but another part of it is decision-making. And when I am facing things that are sometimes beyond even what I can withstand, I spend a lot of time, even in moments here or moments there, I will be in prayer. And I'll be praying in the spirit, because the whole, Holy Spirit knows way better things to say than I can for myself. I say it's closely connected and as closely tight-knitted to the word and my walk with the Lord. That will sustain me through this very high-pressured, very high-stress situation. If I am close to him, he provides the peace that passes all understanding.

So his peace that he provides comes on me. The closer I am to him, you know how have you ever ever. walked have you ever been around somebody that like when you're around them you're just happy like they just bring such great life and like you can't wait to see them next because whatever they're emitting is rubbing off on you yeah that's the lord yeah the lord is no different the closer you are with him whatever he is emitting comes on to you it's like um it's like a A fog, if you will. He's, I always, if I think about it, you see, I picture the Lord and then you see this

billowing cloud coming off of him. And the closer you are to him, the more you're in that cloud that he's admitting. So you are a part of whatever he is. And I'm just telling you, if you are walking through something, then you know that it shall come to pass because his promises, they're divine. Now how you, you can't, faith is a muscle. And that muscle does not grow unless it is stretched, unless it is used. People don't like having your stretch and use it.

But how do you grow in it if you don't? It's very easy to use that muscle and stretch that faith when you know what your promises are, You know who he is. You know who you are to him. And you know that victory's on the other side. You just got to get to the other side without quitting. Yeah. And you'll never fail.

You'll never walk away. You'll never feel abandoned. You'll never be like, I'm all alone. And you'll never quit. A lot of people quit on God. And they walk away from him because they think he's failed them. You failed him because you didn't apply this scripture. Yep.

Sure. I mean, you literally just the story. describe perseverance and steadfastness. Right. That's true. Endurance. And that's the definition of that is staying faithful and patient even when life gets hard, even when you're in trials.

It's what James talks about. Count it pure joy. Because what happens is those trials become then endurance. I don't have it in front of me, but if you read it out, like there's a process. Perseverance creates hope. Hope creates whatever. That's it right there. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. But the thing is, is I would also say, I would also say to this too, if you're walking through something very tough. And I would say probably, I personally know me and Tracy and my daughter are walking through things right now where we're like our eyes are heavily focused on the Lord. Like there's no way that we can't not be looking at. at him and being like it's a sonar like or whatever that where it is it's like it is fixated um no one would know it would know it because how you respond to it shows the degree in which you have faith in knowing who he is right so uh all of us are walking through a major faith thing right now and multiple parts of our lives. Okay. And for me, I oftentimes I sit there and go,

if I was doing nothing for the Lord, would I be going through this? Fair. He doesn't waste time on the ones that are doing nothing. Satan goes after the ones that are doing something. And so, So what he wants to do is get you distracted. Because if he can distract you, you're not usable. Then you're not doing things for him. You're not doing things for the Lord because you're so busy about what Satan's trying to distract you on. And so I would say to you, if you're walking through things, count it all joy. Because God knows, like God knows that Satan's going to come against us.

But God also knows, like, how much we believe in him and how much faith we have on him by how much we rely on him as we walk through those things. And you truly show your faith and you truly show who you are in the midst of these trials and tribulations and sometimes suffering. You really show who you are in the midst of those times. And you stay faithful. Right. And he who is faithful will gain much.

so you do have to count it all joy like Vanessa said because it's huge yeah and I'm not saying you'd be thankful for it but you actually can be thankful that you know that you're coming out on the other side nothing's wasted with the Lord nothing nothing and so I'm trying to pull up James because I think goodness where are you James I know you're in here one of my favorite books of the Bible. I love James. I have the NIV version. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Let's read it together. Where are you at? Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed,

you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. Amen. What a great scripture to close out on, because it is truth. It is. And it is hope. And it's the very thing, thank God, we can stand on, because that's the truth right there. Amen. So we will see you on Friday. We'll finish this up, which is good stuff, man. Yeah. It is such hope. There is so much hope in these scriptures that we're going to read, and you will never be the same. You'll never be the same after you adhere them and apply them. See you third. I mean, see you Friday. Bye.