The Hope Hotline - The Hope Hotline | S01-E06 | 02-03-23

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

Question #1What are your thoughts on renewing vows after being saved?Question #2Is there any chance that someone who has taken their own life (suicide) can enter heaven?Question #3Where are all the single men? I am looking for a Godly man that doesn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs. Help us Hope!Question #4Why does it seem like more Christians are hypocrites than not?

Welcome back to the Hope Hotline. It is Friday. Whoop whoop! I actually should be either with you on your ride home, potentially the last two hours or what's three o'clock if you get off at five, the last two hours of work. Maybe you got your earbuds in, you're listening to me, giving you words of wisdom, little pearls that you'll use over the weekend. I can see, I can see myself. This is, listen guys, I gotta be me. That's all I'm gonna say. I almost sang it to you, but I can see myself and like, I think I need neck surgery because my neck is getting a little wrinkly, you know.

You know that lady from Fox News? She was their weatherman, well, weatherwoman. She had neck surgery, guys. It went bad, so I don't think I'm going to do it. But that neck surgery, I'm not kidding. That neck surgery took her out she was gone for like four months it was a botched job not good i'm gonna learn my lesson from janine whatever her name is from fox news not doing the next surgery i'm gonna stick with the wrinkles

i've earned them my face somebody told me that watches the podcast they were like I have to watch you because your face like expresses my girlfriend Kristen she's like your face is like I have to see you because I was like uh Aaron was saying you know you can listen to it on Apple what What is it? Apple Podcasts. You can watch it on Apple Podcasts if you want. And she's like, no, I have to see your face. It's like, yeah, these wrinkles, guys, these wrinkles right up here, those are like, I have to see myself now.

Those I've earned, like I express everything with this thing right here like my forehead is like like I am I gonna tell you I'm gonna tell you the truth like when I was 30 I always had bangs you know like always have bangs now I'm forced to have bangs and the reason I'm forced to have bangs is because I didn't know this. I went bangless. I think it was 35, 36, something like that. So I did away with the bangs and I pulled my hair back. I was stunned. I was shocked at how many wrinkles I have on my forehead.

Now, if any of you guys see me in church or whatever, and you see me, you're going to look straight at this sucker right here. And I'm telling you, it's all my expression is with my like forehead. Like I do all my expressing with my forehead. Like I love these things right here. They're my laugh lines because I laugh a lot. Like my husband is like, like I told you, he wasn't good looking when I started dating him, but he was stinking funny. That's how he won me over. And like,

he makes me laugh. Um, most of my friends, super funny. I laugh with them all the time. My family is hilarious. My son and daughter make me laugh so dang hard. So laugh a lot but um so my face it's taken it's taken a strain okay from the laughing the expressing like you everything happy sad whatever every emotion that I have is on my face you can read it I'm very expressive with my face so I went back to the bangs men and women because I have to because my forehead is very wrinkled so I'm not kidding I was shocked when I saw it and I said to Tom I'm like I'm like what in the world, my forehead's so wrinkled. He's like, yeah, I know. You didn't tell me?

Like, this is an art theory. I'm like, you didn't tell me? He's like, I thought you knew. No, I've had bangs all my life. Like, dang, I didn't have any clue that my forehead looked like it did. So, it does. It's bad. Like, you know, what are you going to do?

I'm not going, like like whatever the woman's name is on fox doing it look at courtney cox like grow old gracefully like there's nothing worse than a woman like i'm 55 there's nothing worse than a woman who doesn't embrace like who she is and is always trying to keep that youth you don't keep it you look ridiculous like my lip my upper lip i'm all about me today my upper lip i have none but i ain't getting that botox in my lips come on i'll stick to nothing right but those women it's it's crazy like they all look the same me and tom say this all the time they're like they all look alike like when you get those jobs and stuff like that's facial surgery y'all they all look alike they're inflating this and blowing up that and whatever

ridiculous all right question number one thank you for my therapy oh darn hold on one second I gotta blow this up real quick so I can see everything nice and good I'm not prepared but I will be in two seconds here it. Question number one. Lucky number one. Can you discuss the ways to speak to God? Does it always have to be through prayer and closed out in the name of Jesus? And can you just talk to him? Does it need to be out loud

or can you speak to him silently? Well, I mean, for me, oh we did this question? They just told me we did this question. Oh, we sure as heck did. Let's go to number two. Let's go straight to number two. Hopefully number two is new. Thank you, Heather.

Because somebody was about to get their answer done twice. Okay. What are your thoughts? Am I, this new, guys, what am I, I'm renewing vows? Okay. God bless. Keep me straight. Especially since I wasted eight minutes talking about me.

Which is like, I hate to say this, but I am one of my favorite topics. I love it. I love me. I mean, I don't hate me. I love me. And listen, for don't hate me. I love me. And listen, for those of you who have self-deprecation, get over it. Love yourself. Crying out loud.

There ain't nobody else better than yourself. Everybody else is second to that, right? Whatever. All right. What are your thoughts on renewing vows after being saved? We were married by a pastor but not in a church and we were not saved at the time our understanding of marriage in each of our roles is much different now honestly i would not use the word obey in my vows because it didn't sit well with me at the time and now i now i see how silly that was oh i love that it's like seriously like to recognize that is like that's

huge um i think i know who this one is i think this one i think this one's one of my friends um because i think yeah i'm pretty sure this is one of my friends but um okay so i don't think it's necessary to renew your vows at all i don don't think that you have to do it. I think you made a commitment before God. It's a covenant. The covenant does not change. Just like in the Bible, a covenant is a covenant. And the covenant stands for, believe it or not, a lot of covenants that the Lord made,

they coexist if you're saved or not saved. So somebody who's not saved saved but they live a biblical principle out they actually will reap that biblical covenant um that's crazy but god is true to his word and it's just like his gifts and callings are irrevocable so like if you are a pastor you walk away and you don't want to be a pastor anymore but god's called you to be a pastor that gift and calling is not taken away from you it'll be something that god's always called you to do and always something he wants you to walk out and um so if you if you did if you were called to do something and you feel like you've walked away from that

because you didn't want to do it, but you're like, I think I want to go back to it. Go back to it because gifts and callings are not taken away. Maybe you didn't. I've had family members who've been in ministry and they've said, you know what? I'm not going to do this for right now. I'm not going to do this anymore. I. I'm not going to do this anymore. I just want to do something else. Guess what?

At some point, that calling that God gave them is still available for them to go back to if they so desired, which is great because God is so good about that. I mean, like as a parent, we would do the same thing with our kid, right? We wouldn't say well you you decided not to do that anymore so we're not gonna let you do that no we would say like no let's revisit this let's see you're more mature now your outlook on things is a little bit different on and how you would do it or your calling so let's try it again so that's how god is with us and and he's so grace gracious in that and merciful so i would say when you made that commitment and you made

that covenant with your husband um whether you're not you were saved at the time it's it's still the same it's not changed it's not better it's not It's nothing. I will say that I have seen plenty of people renew their vows that went from being not saved to saved. And the reason they did it was more for themselves, not really to establish the covenant that was made and make it stronger. It's not going to be stronger. It's like faith. Faith is faith. It doesn't become stronger. We's like faith. Faith is faith. It doesn't become stronger.

We're all given the same measure of faith, right? So we're all given a measure of faith. So it doesn't matter. It's what you use in that measure, right? So your covenant with your spouse is not going to change. What will change is how you respond to that covenant and how you live out that covenant with one another. Now it's God-centered, whereas it before was probably me-centered. So a lot of times people want to renew vows because it's more personal to them. They look at that covenant in a different way and so that um they're just wanting to make

that bond to one another and a more deeper spiritual aspect versus anything else i say and if that's the case i say do it like make it something beautiful and a great memory i've seen literally i've seen people actually when they renew their vows, it was like a real wedding, like white dress, flowers, church, guests, like they had like a guest list. I mean, people, it was like a true experience for them. And then I've seen it really small and intimate where it was just maybe a few of their friends.

We've even done one um here at the church not in this building in our previous building we actually did one where it was um at the very after we worshiped uh they actually renewed their vows in front of the whole entire church because they felt like the church was their family and they wanted to make that commitment in front of everyone our church was smaller then so it wasn't an issue now it'd be we wouldn't be able to do anything like that but it was very precious and sweet and everybody was crying and you know this was a big deal and it was wonderful it was a precious time for them and for all of us. So I say do it. If that's the reason why and live it up and have fun and go as small or as big as you want. I always, you know, I'm the big or go home kind of girl. But I mean, hello, that's expensive. So maybe you just keep it small and intimate. I don't know. Let's see.

I will tell you this. What I love about what you wrote is that your thoughts on the word obey have changed. I will tell you this. When I got married to Tom, I was adamant that the word obey was in my vows. You can't find any vows that have the word obey in them anymore like it like even the traditional ones it's gone i mean every place that we looked and thank god my mother because i kept saying to the pastor just remember put because i had put the word obey in and i wrote it in i kept making sure you knew well up to that day like my mom thank goodness my mom went to him and said now remember she wants the word obey in there and he

was like oh wait a minute oh oh okay like it was brand new news to him so when we went up and had our vows done and I said the word obey in my vows, the room gasped. I'm not kidding you. People like, oh, they did like that. You could hear it. And I'm like, what in the world? This is crazy. Like the word obey is like taboo.

Like you shouldn't have that. As a woman, like if you can't, if you're going to marry somebody and you can't trust them by adding the word obey into your vows, you're not putting it in there. You can't make that commitment because of what you might be afraid that they might ask you to obey. You should not marry that person. Seriously. What are you doing? If you can't put that word in. Like, what are you doing?

If you can't put that word in there, then what are you doing? You should just pick somebody else. Ditch that one and pick somebody else because everybody, as a woman, should pick a man that, no matter what comes your way, that word can be in there.

So, in other words, after about five to ten minutes on the topic i say do it if you want to so let's move to question number three is there any chance that someone who has taken their own life through suicide can enter into heaven now the word is very very clear and this is a very i mean this is a super sensitive topic i think each and every single one of us to some extent have known somebody or known of a friend of someone that has had a family member or someone take their life. I mean, for me personally, I don't have a family member that has, but I have friends who do. And it's a super sensitive topic.

And one that should be dealt with. Well well that was nice. I don't know if anybody heard that music. That's my background music for two seconds. That comes from the very man that tells me to shut my phone off and turn it down every single time there's a podcast. Mine, my husband's. I'm never letting that man ever live that down thank you he said my bad it's okay it's my podcast you can do whatever you want i'm not distracted i am distracted but i'm okay with it because i can handle it. So what I was going to say is,

whenever you, like for me, I want to talk about this subject with great sensitivity and kindness and being concerned with people's feelings, but I will not just deter myself from speaking the truth. Okay, so when I talk about this, just because I haven't had a family member or even a friend, I haven't had to walk this out personally, that doesn't change the fact that the word is the word, and it doesn't change the fact that the truth has to be spoken first corinthians 3 16-17 says do you not know that you are the temple of god and that the

spirit of god dwells in you so your body is his temple okay and we know how he feels about what he makes. Before you were formed in the womb, it says that he knew you. So you are very precious and very important to him. He's the one that created you. And then it goes on to say, if anyone defiles the temple, defiles the temple of God, that would be through misuse of your body, drugs, alcohol, any kind of abuse that you can actually put on your body. This is what it's talking about, including suicide. It says, if anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.

For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. So you are super, super important. Only God can, and he says, your days are numbered. He has numbered them, okay? Throughout the word, it says, if you'll do these things, long life will I give you. So honoring your parents gives you long life it says that in um genesis it says we should live 120 years just like moses so our number days are numbered but really he purposed that we live 120 now there are some places that speak about 75 and things like that but truth truthfully, those numbers are,

those, somebody's calling my phone. Your days are actually, even if it's 120 years that you get to live, in that 120, he decides what day that will be in the 120. Now, a lot of people don't believe that. They don't wanna live that, like me. I don't really wanna live to 120, I'm gonna be honest with you. Not a lot of people don't believe that. They don't wanna live like me. I don't really wanna live to 120, I'm gonna be honest with you. I see no point.

Like my neck, can you imagine my neck at 120? Come on, can you imagine my forehead at 120? Like that's a lot of expression. That's a lot of years of full expression. Like some people, like I'm really grateful like I don't have a big forehead but can you imagine if I did well okay you'll see that coming a mile away holy crap um so um my husband though he does want to live to be 120. But really the only reason he wants to is out of principle and spite. He's going to make a point. Like everybody says you can't do it or whatever.

And Tom's like, baloney, you can. And I'm going to do it. And that's what I told him one time. I'm like, you don't really, like, it's more out of spite for you. And he's like, that's right. It absolutely is. So I'm like, like, it's more out of spite for you. And he's like, that's right. It absolutely is. So I'm like, no, not me. He can marry a younger version, like younger version at 120.

You'll be lucky if it's 90, right? Because ain't nobody in their 60s are going to want nobody in 120s. That's disgusting. I mean, Tom's going to look hot. I mean, yeah, I will tell you. My husband, he will be prosperous. His pension, they ain't making any money off of him, off his pension, if he lives to be 120.

Well, when he lives to be 120. But yeah, he'll probably marry somebody in their 60s who's also hot. I don't know. I won't care. By then, I really won't care. I'll be honest with you. Whatever who's also hot. I don't know. I won't care. By then, I really won't care. I'll be honest with you. Whatever. Live it up.

I don't know. Younger version. I don't care. As long as she ain't 40. If she's 40 and he's 120, I'm going to be ticked. Yeah. I know I'll be dead. I don't care.

Whatever. So, back to the topic at hand. So what I will say is this. No one knows what someone thinks and someone does in their last hours or in their last breath. And that's just the facts. A lot of people like say, and Tom and I have talked about this, like people, sometimes when people kill themselves, it's instantaneous. Okay. But then sometimes when people kill themselves, it's not.

It's not. It's not something that happens very quickly for them. My opinion, because I base it on the Word of God, is God is fighting for us and our soul down to our last breath. He loves us. He wants to spend eternity with us. I believe that no one knows what someone does in their final hours or minutes. No one knows if someone was killed instantaneously, even if a coroner says they died right away. No one knows that. No one knows.

No one knows what happens. And so for me, I truly believe that someone that commits suicide, if in their last final breaths, they said, Lord, forgive me. Forgive me of what I've done. I'm sorry. He's merciful. And there's just, I have no doubt in my heart and in my mind.

It says if we confess our sins and believe that he is just, and he is just to forgive them, then we are saved. And so for me, I sit there and go, if somebody asks for forgiveness, they repented, and it's just like the robber or the thief on the cross. One, when Jesus was on the cross between two thieves one mocked and the other one says Lord I believe in you I want to spend eternity with you and his final moments you know or his final hours Jesus said you will you'll join me in paradise and so I believe the same for someone who's committed suicide and

repents and I believe and has a change of heart on what they did, and I do believe they do go to heaven. So nothing, I know what that scripture says, but I also know that God looks at the heart, and we're all judged on our heart. So if you ask for forgiveness and you repent i believe god honors that so i hope that answers your question i hope that brings you peace but the truth is if you do not ask for forgiveness and you take your own life the word is true the scriptures

are clear um that people who commit suicide, they don't go to heaven. And that's a tough pill to swallow. I think suicide is a very selfish act because no matter what the reason is behind the suicide, and a lot of times people commit suicide because of inner turmoil, maybe it's mental issues, depression, whatever it is,

it doesn't state in the scripture that if it's a good reason, then God looks at that. That's not the truth. But there's lots of reasons why people commit suicide. And I don't know of one reason that it isn't self-motivated. It's a very selfish act because most of the time, or all the time, the person never thinks about the others. In fact, even when they say, I did this for my family, truthfully, the inner core of that, if it was examined and you looked at the person

that says this and you looked at their heart, the odds are it was still self-motivated. So I am clear. I hope I'm clear. I'm not trying to offend anybody. I'm not trying to hurt anybody, but at the end of the day, I'm always going to speak truth. And that's just the way it is. And that is a tough, tough subject and a very tough question. So can you explain what lukewarm means? Is there a deeper meaning than just referencing the temperature of water? Well, I mean, if you look at parables,

if you look at parables, the reason why Jesus used parables, it was based on things that people could feel, taste, smell. It was occupations, ways of life. That's the reason why those things are examples. And in this case, would say i mean yeah there is and i'm going to try and maybe go a little deeper with you but at the fact at the end of the day cold is cold hot is hot lukewarm is lukewarm it is temperature related i mean that's the facts the cold is the person that's not saved.

The hot is somebody who is saved and a believer. And the lukewarm is a person that tries to live both lifestyles. They were there maybe once cold or they're cold as far as they live in the world and they act like the world but then there are times they they you know maybe have moments where they want to be a Christian or it's convenient for them to be a Christian so they kind of dabble in it you know know, whatever the case may be. Now they're hot, right? Or they were very, very saved. You know, I really liken this to, they're like trying to live both lifestyles. They want to be the world.

They want to be saved. So they're trying to mesh the two of them together into a cohesive thing. And it says in the word that a house divided will not stand. It's not going to work. It's just, you can't. You don't mix hot and cold. In fact, lukewarm kind of, when it was talking about this, and I can't remember the town or the place that it was,

but there is a town, I think it was Laodicea, actually. Laodicea, and the reason why this, so it does kind of have a deeper biblical way, but I wish I would have looked it up to what town. In this particular place, and I think it was um hold on revelations 3 i'm going to look this up really it's revelations 3 16 but uh where is laodicea gosh thank you lord so laodicea had a town in this town there was um a stream. There was some means of water that flowed through this town. Okay. And the temperature of the water was lukewarm. Nobody really wanted to drink it because it wasn't cold. And so that was one of the reasons why this example was used because it kind of was like, yuck, who likes

drinking lukewarm water? Okay. Either we want it to be room temperature or we want it to be cold unless you're out in like alaska or something like that and they're warming up the water to drink it in the cabin because they ain't got tea or coffee and they do they actually drink hot water to warm their their body up nobody drinks lukewarm water though and and that was the point um in this town nobody wanted to drink the water it was lukewarm it did not it was not good so nobody did um so i guess there is a deeper i hope i guess that's the deeper meaning but because it was something that was relatable just like um when uh jesus gave the parable of the sower he gave

that to people because they were farmers they were out there you know planting seed and getting crop and harvesting and things like that so in this case that's the reason why lukewarm was used okay so hopefully that helps but the definition of uh lukewarm is lacking conviction and it's half-hearted and that's that's accurate like if you're if you're trying to do uh both you're half-hearted in both you're half-hearted in being uh lost and you're half-hearted in being saved like who wants that like i'm a passionate. Like, I'm not a screamer. Like, Tom, if you watch Tom's podcast, it's a whole lot of screaming.

Like, I'm not a screamer, but he's very, very passionate. And the more passionate he is about the subject, the louder he gets and the more screaming he gets. Like, if you're standing in front of him, in front of the camera, your hair would fly back because his screaming's so loud. Like like he's a loud screamer uh but he's very passionate so

like passion is important you should be like fervent about something like it drives me crazy when i meet uh people who are real passive and like nothing really bothers them. They're like easygoing, like seriously, they just are, there's nothing that they're all in all in to, you know? It's like, whatever. No, like you have to be passionate about things. You have to be like in completely, in or out.

Do it like that. Well, the lukewarm. So Revelation 3.16 says, So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. So God prefers you be passionate about being lost or being saved. Otherwise, he's going to vomit you out of his mouth. I don't know about you, but I hate to vomit. I hate throwing up. I would hate to be the throw up that I'm throwing up.

But I definitely would not want to be the vomit that's coming out of God's mouth. And realistically speaking, if you live a lukewarm lifestyle, you're not going to inherit the kingdom of heaven. So here's the thing. We know that the lost that are cold don't go to heaven. We know that the hot go to heaven. But we also know that God is going to vomit you out of his mouth, being the lukewarm.

So is that some beyond being cold? I don't know. But I wouldn't want to find out. Revelation 3.15 says, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot so he knows your lifestyle and in so much you're not even cold you're not it's not even that you're not saved it's like it's worse and you're not hot and he said i could wish you were cold or hot and that's where he goes on to say but because you're not cold or hot I will vomit you out of my mouth so God feels like it's far superior to be one or the

other you know I think it's hilarious I think it's funny like in a lot of the associated related churches which the abbreviation for that is arc ARC like a lot of these churches are very much like this and they're producing one lukewarm believer out at a time i mean like they're just pumping these guys out because really there's no conviction there's no holiness taught it's a whole lot of motivational speaking it's not like living your best life now how do you live your best life now? You're never told. It's God is great.

God is purposeful. It's all these things and all these things that God's going to do for your life. But the fact of the matter is, is there's no, this is how God does it for you. And what is expected in order to have God do this for you. Like it's super super important that you can't leave holiness out but the thing is is with certain denominations and certain teachings it's that means it's work based and that is not the word the word is the word work um is in in that we as believers are to work is throughout the scriptures but what that what happens is is if you tell somebody that in order to get something you must do something

then what happens is nobody wants to do that so that doesn't fill the pews and it doesn't fill the baskets and so we'll just leave that out because it's all about the numbers and it's all about the money but at the end of the day what happens to the person that you are supposed to be winning to the lord they don't know they don't open their bibles they don't know they're not saved i can't tell you how many times people come to this church that come from these associated or related churches. They walk into our church, and they are hearing the gospel for the first time.

They're hearing that there's expectations of them. They're hearing that you can't lie. Are you kidding me? I didn't know that was like a sin. They don't know that you can't lie? Are you kidding me? I didn't know that was like a sin. They don't know that you can't gossip. I mean, these things are like simple, like things that are in the word. It's very clear.

If you do these things, you'll not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Not taught, not talked about. And these people think, okay, well, I got a fresh start in a new beginning, whatever that means. And so I'm heaven bound. That's just not the case. God has expectations just like a good parent does. You don't meet those expectations, then there's outcomes, cause and effect. We're taught that in

elementary school. And that is not what's taught in the churches today. And there will be many people who are surprised and dismayed. And I'm telling you right now, they are going to be pastors at the top of this list because they don't read their Bible either. What they do is they pull up on sermon.com a whole list of sermons that they're going to teach for the whole entire year. And then they buy all of the graphics and all of the props and stuff that goes with them they don't open their bible they memorize the message that is given that they've bought to plan out the year and they're going to be surprised that what they memorized is not the word of god it's like sermons.com it's what makes sermons.com money like this industry that pumps out these messages that don't preach anything.

You can gain, you know, your growth track will go real great, you know, and your connect groups will be real big. But nobody's saved. And you're going to answer to God for that as pastors. And then you yourself, if you participated in this and you haven't opened the word of god for yourself and examined like what you're being taught whether it's truth or not then you'll answer to god because it'll be two destinations heaven or hell you know and really it's all about that but people forget

about it so matthew 6 24 says no one can serve two masters. So being hot or cold, you can't be both. You can't. You can't be hot or cold. You have to be one or the other. It says, no one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. The mammon is money. So at the end of the day, you have choices to make. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve the world and serve the Lord. The Lord demands and commands that he be your one and only. And I would highly suggest that he be your choice. And if he isn't, at the end of this podcast, we will make sure that I give you the opportunity

to make that commitment. Best decision you'll ever make in your whole entire life. Let us go to the next question which is i this one's funny this is really funny and i love i it's a lady and once i read the question to you you'll know it's a lady too unless it's somebody who lives a homosexual lifestyle and in which case we got to solve that problem first because this ain't gonna work but i love your sense of humor oh my gosh you're so my kind of person it says where are all the single men first of all i have no idea i'm married second i am looking for a godly man that doesn't drink smoke or do drugs i applaud you mm-hmm help us hope i don't know if i can this is where it gets even funnier because they

apparently go to our church which is i might have to have aaron work something out for me can you tell us how many single men are in our church i have no idea or maybe have pastor do an altar altar call for all the single men all a single woman can take a look oh i have to tell you i read this and i laugh so dang hard and the room is laughing really hard too you know what they used to do like when um like you know i thought about saying this but not saying this but i'm gonna say it anyway because i don't really care um i mean we could do what they did back in the slave times, back in biblical slave times. You know, when Joseph was captured, you know, his brother sold him into slavery.

And they would take all the slaves and they'd bring them out one by one. I could do this for you. I don't know how appropriate it will be. We could just march each one out. Now, I'm not going to do this part for you because this is inappropriate. And I draw the line in some places.

They would have to be naked back then. Okay. We're not going to do that for you. And I don't think you really want us to. Lust of the eyes is just as bad as lust of the flesh. But here we go. So I don't know. Like seriously, I don't know how many single men we have in our church.

I know we have some single men in our church that I would never set anybody up with because Lord knows they need Jesus. And they're a little cray-cray. There's a reason why they're single. I wouldn't set them up. In fact, there was one recent, and I don't know if, like, there's one recent that just recently got married. He's a cutie pie.

And his new wife's cute. She's a sweet girl, too. But, I mean, he's pretty much, like, not that he's the only one. I mean, I know of some others. And I don't know how old you are. So, like, we have some really nice, cute, sweet young men. So if you're in your 20s, I might be able to hook you up. Seriously.

Because we have some good 20-something-year-old boys. And they're sweet. I know them because they're my daughter's friends. And they love the Lord. They're really great. They're not desperate. That's a key. You don't want a desperate man, but you don't want to be a desperate woman.

Because that smells. Now, if we go into our 30s, ladies, it's going to get a little tougher. I think this guy was in his 30s. He's cute. He's off the market, though. Like, he just recently got married. And he's not weird. He's actually got a good head on his shoulders um i don't know help me

out girls do you know of anybody that's young or that's not even young in this 30s that we might be able to hook some women up with okay if you're in your 40s it's gonna get a lot sparser a lot sparser um there's any guys watching that one yeah hey listen guys if you go to the church have the this is heather's idea this is not my idea just so you know she said put something in the offering box that you're available i'll find out who this lady is okay i mean we might be able to play the dating game. You never know. But here's the thing. If it goes bad, I want no parts of it.

I don't want any responsibility. I don't want to, like, eat it. It's all you. But, you know, if you're a guy and you're watching this and you're single and you ain't nuts, you got a job, you're not living with your mother in your basement you actually work you don't drink her prerequisite prerequisites which are very good you can't drink you can't smoke and can't do drugs those are those are all good those qualify you put your name oh yeah you, yeah, you got to tithe. That's an Aaron thing.

You got to tithe. Because if you don't tithe, like if you guys get hooked up and married, you're going to take this woman down a swirling toilet. And then we just can't have that. So put your name in the basket. Heather will hook you up. Ladies, you have to tell us who you are. You have to all love Jesus of marrying age very important to be able to be married have to be able to date we'll see what we

can do to help you out but other than that I don't know what to tell you because I don't know like that's a that's a doozy I will tell you this though like it's when you don't look for it like seriously we I know everybody says I'm just telling you seriously like I when I moved down here I moved from Washington DC like plethora right I I didn't I was like Tom I mean I I dated every nationality there is like I I don't care doesn't bother me a bit whatever if you I didn't care if you're ugly I didn't care if you were good looking I didn't care like I wasn't marrying anybody I was just out having fun so um dating is fun so I wasn't I wasn't looking for anything serious but I will tell you when you're not looking is when it actually happens because

I moved down here to Florida and I'm like at the time this was like 20 plus years ago and seriously like this area of I moved to Venice it was pasture land so i was like i've moved to the country like you move from dc like buildings all over the place like it's it's a city there is no pasture land really unless you go out to like the mountains so uh pasture land i I'm like, I've moved to the country. The age at the time, the demographics was like retirement age, like was 80%. Okay. I literally remember saying to my mother, I'm going to be an old maid and I'm going to have to pickle my eggs because there ain't no way I'm finding anybody around here. But, you know, and I'm like, whatever.

Like, I've moved down here. I needed to get my life right with God, and I was fine with, at the time, I was fine. I don't care. But almost a year later, I meet Tom. I wasn't looking at all, and he wasn't much to look at anyway. So, like, it wasn't a big deal I went out with him to be friends and to laugh because like I said he was hilarious and it worked out I will tell you that's what you got to do most people that I know that find their forever mate and they don't find

it in a bar or some ungodly place they literally were just relaxed about it they just if somebody wanted to go out they went out with them they had fun there was no no um like they're not desperate but not like like future wasn't like the future with that person wasn't all in hanging in the balance it was like we're gonna go out tonight we'll see where that takes us um obviously you have to be attracted to the person i would tell you i wasn't attracted to tom so you don't really necessarily have to be i mean they can literally I'm not telling I'm not kidding you like he was not cute he weighed a lot like a lot he and his hair and his clothes were not good

like not good but you can develop the person and then he lost a lot of weight and then instead of him chasing me I was chasing him so it can happen so keep your mind and heart opened if the guy's a great guy he's not weird he's not desperate you might have a package and you just might have to like make it into a better package you might be able to do that I don't know work your magic be open because you know you might think well this person isn't my my kind or my my type if he's not weird but you can make him into something he might be your type you just never know so give it a shot and again there's always heather there is heather put your names in the tithe box and she might be able to work something out for you. I'm leaving this all up to Heather.

Heather's saying, don't come to her directly. Just put it in the box. So you've all got your, you all got your, everybody who's single has your, what do you call those? Your marching orders, your guidelines. Let's see what Heather can do oh i'm pretty excited about this oh oh and also here's another thing so people like this was a really good idea one of my friends uh um she said is are like people gonna tell you like after you give them advice like what's happened I never thought about that so if my advice worked or it helped you in any way please let us know if

you've got if it doesn't help you I don't want to know okay I don't think I can handle that I don't know if my I mean I got big shoulders but if I've thrust you into a depression I don't want to know about it. If you've gone to the bottle, please don't tell me. But if you've gotten saved, I definitely want to know about that. I definitely want to know that. Shut up, Heather. Shut up, Heather.

All Heather can picture is somebody with jack dandles like jack daniels at the kitchen the whole pot line did this to me what oh yeah drinking out of the custom mug i gotta sell these things you can well i don't i was about to say you can pour your jack in there, but I beg to differ. You can't pour anything other than water or soda or maybe a Red Bull in this sucker. And if other people heard me say that, they say no Red Bull. Oh, my goodness.

That was funny. Oh, I got nine minutes. Okay. Hop, hop, hop. We're're gonna get you one more question and then we'll and i hope i can get it done in time okay question number six why does it seem like more christians are hypocrites than not oh that's a good question and i would say because they're an imperfect people and some of them are lukewarm I think it says narrow is the way and there are few that be that find it and so I think that scripture is very true so a lot of people pretend to be a Christian and so you're looking at them and you

believe they're a Christian and in all actuality they're not they just play the part I remember Tom tells this story it's super funny or it's super true actually when he first got saved he came from the Catholic Church and he went to an Assembly of God Church that's down the road and at the time the church was in revival a great church at the time I church was in revival great church at the time um i don't really know anything about it right now so i mean just to speak of it i won't do that but um he said when he got saved that he thought everyone in that church was like on fire for god they lived a holy lifestyle that they were perfect because he looked at himself and he realized how

imperfect he was and he was fresh so like there were so many things that god needed to weed out of his life and uh what eventually happens is is the more you the more you grow in your walk with god the more you realize that christians are an imperfect people. And they really are. I mean, all of us have faults and flaws. It's what we do with them. It's how, what are we like, are we portraying that we're perfect? Are we portraying that we are not perfect, but we're striving for perfection? So what happens a lot of times is like the men in the pulpit, they will never see you be real.

They'll never allow you to know that they have real struggles or they have real experiences like everybody else does, that they have to exercise their faith in ways that others do, that life circumstances come calling to them as well that maybe they didn't respond to a situation biblically or correctly so transparency is huge you don't like you don't want people to give an excuse for their bad behavior. So they're like, okay, well, there's somebody that I look up to, but they're not perfect, so I don't have to be perfect. That's not what God's word says. God says we are to be perfect as he is perfect.

All of us are striving for that. But through that, at times we'll look like hypocrites. It's the heart behind. So what I would tell you to do is know that narrow is the way, and there are few that be that find it. And most people will be hypocritical. But there will be people that are true blue and they will do things that are hypocritical.

They will do things that they will falter and fail. No one has made it yet. It's what your expectation is and what your grace level is for others. And I would say to you, examine yourself. Like, do you think do things that people, if they were watching you, would they say you're a hypocrite? I don't know. You only can answer that question.

Self-examination is super, super important. And a lot of times hypocrisy is at an all-time high is because, super important. And a lot of times, hypocrisy is at an all-time high is because, again, preaching of holiness is not in the church anymore. That is like considered heresy to tell people they are to be holy as God is holy, and that we are to be Christ-like. When we say we're a Christian, that means we are Christ-like.

We are followers of him. We are examples of him. We do what he did. We live as he lived. That's not considered to be what you need to do anymore. It's more of grace, grace, grace. And Paul clearly talks about grace does not give you permission to sin. In fact, he clearly says that it's completely opposite of that.

So in 2 Timothy 3-5 it says, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires. And this sounds like the church of today. But according to their own desires, excuse me, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires,

because they have itching ears, they will heap for themselves teachers, which would be pastors, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. So they don't want to hear the truth. They don't want to hear that you have to be Christ-like. You do have rules that you have to abide by. You have guidelines that God has set for us boundaries that are provided to us for our safety and and and protection um but it says but you be watchful in all things endure inflict afflictions

do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry so what i would say to you is you look at these people and you say they're hypocrites let me ask you are you watchful in all things do you endure afflictions afflictions and are you doing the work of an evangelist because you as a fruit inspector somebody who is bothered by the lifestyles of other people who call themselves believers. You yourself also have things in the word that you're supposed to be doing and looking to. And it says for you to fulfill your ministry. Be very mindful of that. The consequence of sin is not preached. In Matthew 7, 22-24, it says, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name,

cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name and then i will declare to them i never knew you depart from me you are you who practice lawlessness every hypocrite every person that is lukewarm or cold that is if you claim like the lukewarm this is where it'll apply lukewarm they'll say lord lord we did all these things in your name. And he's going to say, depart from me, for I never knew you, you worker of iniquity, which is lawlessness. It's very, very clear that there's a consequence for hypocrisy.

Let that not be us. There are seven types of hypocrites. Ones that say, do as I say and not as I do. And everybody needs to examine themselves as listening to this podcast. Is this you? Because this is a good point. Lots of people are hypocrites. That's a fact.

And we need to examine ourselves and say, are we this? Do as I say, not as I do. The rules apply to others, but they do not apply to me. It is always someone else's fault. Oh my word. I see this all the time. All the time. People have an excuse for every single thing that they do, and it's never them.

Personal responsibility has gone out the window. We have learned it from the government all the way down. People never take responsibility for their actions anymore. There's always an excuse. I can remember I told this to a girl that's wanting to go into ministry. She's a phenomenal young lady. But I told her, when I was young, I was like 21 or 22. I think I was young, I was like 21 or 22. I think it was 22. I worked at a job and I never realized that this was me until I had a boss who, you know, everything that I did, I had an excuse

why it wasn't my fault. And I remember him sitting me down and he said, do you realize that every single thing that I tell you that you do wrong or that you've done wrong, you have an excuse for it, but it's never you? Oh, my gosh, how embarrassing is that? I walked out of that meeting and I had to think to myself, I was like, he is absolutely right. Like every single thing that he probably has told me that needed to be fixed or whatever, I've always had an excuse, but it was never my fault. And then I started examining myself, like in my personal life, outside of my work life. And

I'm like, I do that all the time. Now here's what I'm not telling you. And the people in this room will tell you that I am exactly like this. Listen, I am not going to say it's my fault for something I believe that is not my fault. A lot of times I have to be convinced, but I don't do. When I know it was me, I don't blame somebody else. I take the heat and I eat it and I don't like it, but that's what you do Because that is what's right. So if you don't ever take personal responsibility, you need to. It'll be very freeing for you. But don't become one of these people that everything's now your fault. And you're sorry about everything.

I never say I'm sorry unless I know I was wrong. I don't. Because I don't want to become one of those people that just kowtows to everything. I'm a black and white person, and pretty much everybody knows that. I'm black and white. If it's my fault, I'll say I'm sorry. If I don't believe it's my fault, I'm not. If I'm convinced that it's my fault, I will though.

Anyone who points out my wrongdoing should be punished and there are a lot of people that are like that if you tell them that they are wrong and you can show them they're wrong nobody wants to tell this person because what's going to happen there's consequences for telling somebody that they've done something wrong. They're going to make you pay. We all know people who are like that. The perpetual victim. How many hypocrites do you know that they're the perpetual victim? I can't stand victimization mentality. Isn't that how you say that?

Victimhood. Thank you. That's even easier. Condescending, patronizing, patronizing and superior cannot stand that nobody nobody needs to be talked in a talk to in a condescending patronizing or superior way i have i have been this person I sometimes even have to watch it because I can be very condescending at times. I have to watch it. And it's ugly. It's just not the right way to speak to anyone

or to treat anyone. It's a horrible, horrible way to be. Lies and excuses. Again, not taking responsibility. And time to self-examine. And that is exactly what needs to be done. If you are any of these things things then you're a hypocrite okay that doesn't mean that you live a lifestyle of hypocrisy that means that you have pockets that are hypocritical and you need to fix those and i

would say pretty much everybody has one of those seven things that they need to work on I don't think I know one person at all that doesn't meet one of those things at different times some of us live like that and some of us live pockets of it and struggle with it and there's two different ways it's like sin either you live like that and that's sin and you're going to hell for it. Or you struggle with sin. And you're always working. You're a work in progress and you're always trying to better yourself. You're always, you know, knowing that, oh man, I don't want to be like that.

I'm not going to do that again. God forgive me. Or whatever the case may be. Which will lead us straight to where we're at right now. If you are a person that lives a lifestyle of sin, but you do not want to live that way any longer, or you've walked away from God, and you just know that nothing was better than when you walked with Him,

today's your day. I'm going to give you the opportunity right now to get saved, to dedicate your life or rededicate your life to him. So what I ask you to do right now is to say this prayer with me. And after you're done from this moment on, you live for him. You turn your back and it says to repent is 360 degree turn. That means you turn and go the opposite direction. Isn't 360 degrees going the opposite

direction? Or is 180? It's 180 degree turn, correct? I was thinking 360, that's 180, 180. I'm just doing a complete circle. Okay, we don't want you to do a circle. We want you to do 180. So you're going to repent. You're going to go the opposite direction of where you're headed right now. And I just say, say this prayer with me right now. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you and we pray. And you're going to pray this prayer right now. Heavenly Father, I ask you to come into my life. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. I ask you to forgive me of my sin.

And from this moment on, I live for you. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. If you said that prayer, you are now saved, and I would say to you strongly, get a good Bible, King James, New King James, New King James, perfect. Get an Amplify. Get in that Word, okay? Find a really great holiness-based church,

which is going to be very, very difficult for you to do. And what I would tell you to do is if you're, and for everybody, if your church has a marquee or a bulletin or they post their sermons on their website, go to their sermons, find the title, look it up and see if it's on sermon.com or if it's on the internet. Then you're going to find out if your church is buying

or purchasing associative related churches material. Then you're going to know if you're in a really strong based Christian church. If they are pulling and typing their messages off the internet, I say run the opposite direction. That means if you have to start your own Bible study or find a good Bible study with some friends, move to a good church or watch one online, then you do it. You do not.

It says that we are to take captive of every thought. You do not want thoughts of that we are to take captive of every thought. Okay? You do not want thoughts of bad teaching in your mind. Okay? You're to be very careful what your ears hear. So I would say if your church is doing that stuff, leave it. It's not good. Like leave it yesterday.

Find a good church. Plug in. Get discipled. Let us know that you got saved and we're going to stand with you we're going to pray with you and we're going to believe with you for a good healthy strong christian walk i thank you today's friday tomorrow saturday that means it's the weekend have a great night enjoy yourself and i will see you back here Wednesday at 3. See ya.