The Hope Hotline - The Hope Hotline | S01-E19 | 03-22-23

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

Question #1Are we supposed to claim our tips for taxes?Question #2What to do when your teenage son doesn’t desire a relationship with God. Wants to do the opposite of what we’re telling him? He’s 16. He doesn’t seem to understand God’s love. We’ve tried everything. We stand in prayer together, but this is getting old fast. He’s dealt with so much that we say no Harry Potter, Pokémon, some video games and shows, to now saying no to some book choices. He knows what’s right from wrong but doesn’t care. We did not raise him this way. We’ve disciplined him, love him, in church every week minus a few days. We have 3 other kids who are also watching him act this way.Question #3Where is the coolest place you have traveled to? Would you go back?Question #4I have a question for you to actually ask your guest. My husband and I watch Foundation Church services every week. I have heard Tom say to “pray the spirit”. I believe that is how it’s stated. And I don’t understand what is meant by that. Could he please clarify.Question #5Here’s one for Tom – why or why should we not believe in the Bob Jones Super Bowl prophecy of revival in America? I do believe revival is coming, but why include the wokity wokest of events being included as a dependency in God’s message? Seems to sour it for me. I also don’t know anything about Bob Jones to base anything on. My false prophet radar is up but I do want revival now.

Thank you for joining the Hope Hotline. I am excited about today's questions. I'm always excited about the questions, to be honest with you. And sometimes some of them are way better than others. I do want to address a situation and a problem that we're currently having, but we are working it out. I was listening to the podcast because I evaluate myself, and every time I touch the desk right now because we changed the microphone,

like every time I touch the desk or I do one little thing you can't barely hear that I'm touching it okay but it sounds like a bomb is going off I can't stand that so what we've done in the meantime is we've hired we hired we've bought a new mic, a new mic stand. So this is gonna be solved very shortly because I'm not kidding you, that podcast that I watched, since we got that thing right there, I can't stand it. It's driving me. See, the desk is hollow. Like there's no, you could see my feet.

I'm gonna show you my feet and it's gonna be loud. See my feet are right there. Okay. I got no bottoms. I got nothing underneath here. It's all empty. And now my, my phone, my watch just hit the thing and now it just went. Can't stand it guys. Can't. So Tracy's working on it. God bless her. Might paint that little thing so it matches the Hope Hotline microphone. I'm going to do that.

It's going to be pretty. But in the meantime, you're going to have to listen. You're going to have to deal with a lot of pounding. I mean, I'm barely, like sometimes I'm, that's all I'm doing, and it's really bad for you guys. So in the meantime, I'm not going to watch the Hope Hotline until the problem gets fixed, but I ask that you do. Okay? But, all right, let's do our first question.

This is actually perfect timing for where we're at, tax season. Tax season. Everybody has to pay their taxes. We're all excited about that. I think tax date is April 18th, right? It's due? No, they changed it. It's not actually due. Sometimes if it lands, we're going to look that up right now. Are you guys looking that up for me right now? Tracy's on it. Thank you very much April 18th it used to always be the 15th check Heather is correct about that used to always be the

15th unless it lands on a certain day but then let's see k Then Hurricane changed it for extensions and you're right Norma you don't do your taxes. I do them. Lucky me. So but I have a great accountant if anybody needs a

really good accountant. His price is fair and he is so good. And he's local. So if you need a good, if you live in town and you need a good accountant let me know. I'll send him your way. Because good accountants are hard to

find. But he's phenomenal. Heather, you use him, right? Heather uses him. I think my mama's gonna start using him. He's good. Huh? Yep, good old Englewood boy. Smart. He's a good whippersnapper. He's a, he's a, he's a young whippersnapper. What did you say? Good, I said good whippersnapper. That's not true. It's young whippersnapper. How, is he about your age? You graduated with this brother. You graduated with this brother.

Oh, you know what? Somebody else was telling me they graduated. Oh, Daryl and Melissa. I was just talking about this with Daryl and Melissa. But he's good. So, all righty. For those of you who don't live in the area, I can't help you at all. But I can help you with this question.

So, it's about taxes. And I did call him. I did call my accountant just to make sure that I was giving the appropriate information because I mean I dealt with this issue myself so the question is is are we supposed to claim our tips for taxes so if you're a waitress like when I had my cleaning company you get tipped all the time. And so in some cases, like my kids have been in the, well, I don't think Tommy ever was, but Norma was. Tommy was a valet, so he got tipped all the time.

His tips were included in his check. My daughter's tips were included in her check. So automatically that means that you're going to be paying taxes on that, right? But if you were someone like me, but not all waitresses is that the case. Sometimes you get your tips outside of that as cash. If you had a cleaning business like I did, then how it works is like some people paid me in cash and some people paid me in a check and then they would give me a tip. So let's just say, so if people want to know, so people are asking, I guess, do you have to pay taxes on on your tips 100 yes you absolutely have to pay taxes on your

tips now will the IRS find out no probably not the my accountant said the IRS is never gonna never they're never gonna be able to find out because it's not tracked but as a believer, as a Christian, we are responsible to do what, to be honest. And basically, you pay taxes on your income, on what provisions are brought in. So, you pay tithe, hopefully, on your tips. I would think you do. Anything that you profit, you should pay tithe on. If you sell your house, if somebody gives you a gift, all of that you pay tithes on.

It's income coming into your home. So if you sold your house uh and we've had people like be like i'm not doing that well okay you rob yourself from what god has for you that's fine but it's worked out for us um when we've sold we we've only sold a couple houses um um but one time we i think it was we made forty,000 or something like that on one of the houses we sold. And we paid off the house. And then they give you a check for what your profit is on it. When we pay tithe on that.

And then an offering as well. So I used to, not anymore because I have to pay all the time. But even when I got my taxes, if I got a tax return and I got tax return money, I've already paid tithe on that because I always pay on the gross, not on the net. The gross is the total amount that you got paid. So that's the total income that you received. And then they take out taxes and they take out insurance or whatever I always pay what was all what I would have gotten from the very beginning because that's biblical so um even when I got paid when I got a tax return and I'm not telling people they have to do this but it always paid off it's always paid off for Tom and I we've always been big gi, and we've seen and reaped the rewards of this.

So when I would get my tax return, I would always pay a tithing offering off of that. But my accountant said, you should pay, 100%, you should pay taxes on your tips. He said, will they find out? Probably not. They'll never know know all income is to be reported all income is to be reported

but if you don't they won't know but God does and lines the sin I've known people who've cheated on their taxes and it they do it every single year. It's not by an error. It's not a thing where they were like, they had a moment where they were just a little weak and they just did something they knew better than to do. These people on a regular basis every year cheat on their taxes that is a heaven and hell issue because if you lie and you determine that this is what you're going to do every year and you justify it in your mind as well they take too much of my take too much of my money anyway we can rationalize and we can make up excuses on every level to justify a bad action but at the the end of the day, when you go before God and you stand before him,

do you honestly believe that he's going to say, oh, that makes sense? That lie, that makes sense. I see why you did it. That's a justified reason. No, black and white. Let your yes be yes, your no be no. Anything more than that, it it says is from the evil one so if you are to do it if you are to pay taxes on something you pay the tax that you owe

you don't rationalize and get around cheating cheating never works and you will answer to God for it you cannot struggling with a situation is much different than rationalizing it out living it out and determining that this is what I'm going to do every single year because what they're doing to me is wrong so it's right it's like saying uh it's like justifying um men justifying looking at pornography because they believe their wife, because she's withholding from them, that they have the right to now look at pornography because of whatever their situation is with their wife.

They have rationalized sin because of what someone else is doing to them. It's the same with your taxes. Would you rationalize? Do you, as a woman, does that make sense to you? As a man, it might because you want to do what you want to do. But it's still wrong. You'll still go to the same hell.

And it's still sin. So you can rationalize something out as much as you want to. But when you go before God he doesn't care all he's going to care is did you do what you were supposed to do if you didn't there are consequences for your action that's it period so there's reaping and sowing and uh if you have children they'll see it you may think they'll never know eventually they might um and hypocrisy kills it is it is something that it trickles down into other areas of your life and so if you make concessions for one thing then you may start making compromise and concession in other ways. It's not worth it. Don't do it. Just pay what you owe.

God will get it back for you. He will. And some. Just pay what you owe. The tips, it's not worth it. It's better for you not to get a tip if you're going to lie on your taxes. So pay what's owed.

And people use write-offs that aren't right. Me and Heather talk about this all the time because there are certain write-offs that aren't right. Me and Heather talk about this all the time because there are certain write-offs that we're able to take and things like that. And we always lean or veer to the side of caution. And if it's anything questionable about whether or not it's something that we rightly should do.

And sometimes like my accountant will say, it's a gray issue. and he's super conservative so even for him he's like I wouldn't do it it's gray though so you probably could and for me I always go no I'm not doing it even if it's not gray and it doesn't sit right with me I'm not doing it I don't care I, I will go the other way because I just know God's going to get me the money back. I don't have to worry about that. So if it's supposed to be mine, I'll get it. I never ever hang on to anything tightly because I just do loosely because I know that I'll always get the return. Okay. So next question.

What to do when your teenage son doesn't desire a relationship with God? Wants to do the opposite of what we're telling him. He's 16. He doesn't seem to understand God's love. We've tried everything. We stand in prayer together, but this is getting old fast. He's dealt with so much that we say no Harry Potter, Pokemon, some video games and shows,

to now saying no to some big book choices. He knows what's right from wrong, but doesn't care. We did not raise him this way. We've disciplined him, love him, in church every week minus a few days, and we have three other kids who are also watching him act out this way so um what i would tell you first and foremost is i would say has i'm not gonna justify his bad

behavior but i will tell you between 16 and 20 It is not abnormal for kids to start evaluating their walks with God and saying, do I believe what I believe because my parents have forced it on me and that's what they believe? Or do I believe what I believe because I believe it? It's not abnormal.

It's actually more normal than it's not, which is not good, but that's the way it usually runs its course. And depending on, I won't say how good of a job the parents did, but I would say depending on the amount of hypocrisy in the home, depending on certain circumstances that are in the home, will determine how far a child will go. I will say in my house, there was four of us, three of us. My parents had to deal with it on a broader scale I was probably as far as sowing wild oats goes and questioning my Christianity I'm not the worst in my family but I was probably the second worst I have my older sister I'm not quite sure where she is spiritually speaking if Spiritually speaking, if she's saved. My brother is saved.

He wasn't as bad as me by no means. My older sister wasn't as bad as I am, or I was, excuse me. I went out there and lived, I was wild. My brother's saved, I'm saved. And then my younger sister, she really really never I think when she was about 16 she kind of was trying to figure out her Christian walk and where she was and why she was that way um and she was minor so my parents have a good record three out of four ain't bad and potentially there may be a fourth, I don't know.

But I will tell you that three of us kind of had to figure things out on our own. I would always examine, always examine what part we as parents play and our children doing what they do. Especially since you have three children following suit. So was there do as I say, not as I do kind of thing? Was it that you're allowed to watch certain things as a parent but your children aren't allowed to watch those things? There's hypocrisy.

I mean, it can be what we think is very very small but if and this is a rule that Tom and I always had if they can't watch it we don't watch it if they can't say it we don't say it if they can't read it we don't read it and we don't for example, you don't let them watch SpongeBob, but you watch Seinfeld. And Seinfeld's very old, but what's a newer show? I don't watch TV. What's a newer show? Like Modern Family. Thank you, Tracy. Like you have certain rules that they can't watch certain things, like Rugrats.

That was a huge thing, and it's not even on anymore, right? Rugrats isn't on. But there's certain shows that our children weren't allowed to watch. But at night, we as parents are watching things that are far worse than what we said are the cartoons our kids couldn't watch. And they're seeing us watching them. They're hearing what's going on. They can see it. Those are seeds that you think, well, they't know oh they know and they will come up

because seed a seed planted grows and it'll grow good or it'll grow bad so self-evaluation if there's anything that's been uh that has been shown to be hypocritical to your son and to your other children you just need to confess it you need to your son and to your other children, you just need to confess it. You need to repent of it. You need to say, I was wrong for doing that. I lived and said one thing and I did another. You can go to church all the time.

I mean, I grew up, my parents were in church pretty much every single time the door opened. Three out of four of us did not go well. And I think my mom, my mom is very, I grew up, and I'm not an I'm sorry person. I had to grow, I had, being married to Tom has been very good for me because he has taught me to be an I'm sorry person. My dad never said he was sorry.

I think I heard him say I'm sorry twice my whole entire life. That is not healthy, and that is not good. My mom, she watches this podcast, so what I'm saying won't bother her a bit. Me being transparent about our home, my mom would be transparent as well. But my house that I grew up in was full of hypocrisy. Not so much from my mom, but from my dad. He was a great man, loved God. He's no longer with us.

I would say this if he was still alive. I adored my dad. My was a great great man um but he had some things that he that were very hypocritical that were do as i say not as i do and they caused three of his kids to question their christian christianity to differing degrees and we ultimately have to take responsibility for it because it was our actions that either walked away from God and then came back or whatever the case may be but as a parent you take responsibility for what you have to take responsibility for and maybe those things have hindered and helped that to happen and I'm not saying that that's the case, but a lot of times it is.

So begin with self-evaluation. Take care of and take ownership of the part that you need to play. Saying I'm sorry is not always the easiest for some. Me, I know this. I've had to learn it. I don't like it. I do it.

I don't ever do it though if I don't think, if I don't say I'm sorry, it's not because I'm being stubborn. It's because I don't believe that I've done something wrong. If I have though, I will do it. I don't enjoy it though. I'd be lying to tell you, oh, it doesn't bother me a bit.

Oh, it bothers me. I don't like it. But it's what's right you have to do it um Tom he's a master at saying he's sorry even though he's a master at it and it comes easy to him he still doesn't enjoy it either um but it is something that's very um it's something that has been trained and ingrained in him. And he does it without hesitation. So I'm learning to be like that.

And if you are not like that, learn to be like that because it'll free you, it'll save your family, and it'll save you from a lot of heartache. If it is something that you're very easy at doing and if you have made mistakes that you've played a part in with your child going this way and you have apologized be free be free what I will tell you is to do what my parents did for me and you're already doing it but know that there's hope in it just keep praying for them if you trained them up the word is clear train them up in the way that they should go and when they grow old they will not depart from it. That is what it says in Proverbs. You need to just stand on that word and stand on that promise. None of us are perfect

parents and all of us make mistakes. It's just to the varying degree of how far, right? So I will tell you that just love them through it. Don't condone or allow things to go on that are not. Make sure you are disciplining them because your kids, they will see it. I think one of the reasons my younger sister didn't go bad is because she saw how my parents disciplined each of us um I got it the worst but I deserved it the worst I was I was hellacious I was not a good kid um but that it happened when I was 18 my brother was was when he was 16 and my sister was when she was 17 so you know it happens around this I've known people

it's right like just before they turn 20 it's because they're it's an immaturity thing it depends on how mature you are or how enticed you are at the time to to do certain things and so but make sure that your children see that there are consequences for actions because it will save them from going his way. And be honest with them. Be honest where he's at and help, you know, they probably, not probably, they love him and they don't probably want him to be going through this for any longer

than he wants it to go. So as a family, just keep doing what you're doing. Make sure you do self-reflection huge and then if there's any apology that needs to be made start start saying it start making that happen and that is a healing process when you say you're sorry and you own your part of it that's a healing process and it's very good for children to see kids to see um because what it makes them do is um that most kids want to be like their parents they love their parents and so they will follow in your footsteps so that's all i have to say about that but but i um

let's just pray because i feel like i feel compelled to pray and to pray for your situation. So let's just pray really quick together. Heavenly Father, I just come to you right now. And Lord, I ask that you be with this family. And I ask that you be with this young man, Lord. You love him. You desire him. And you want him back in the fold.

If he isn't already, Lord, give these parents wisdom to know how to handle each and every situation that they come across. Love him through it. Lord, you love him more than they do. So allow him to know how much you love him as well. Pull him in, draw him in, and bring him back with as few scars as possible from the things that he may say and do that he will regret later. And when he does come back, let those things be something that he doesn't even remember. They will be a thing of the past.

But Lord, let it only be a short period of time so that there's little damage done to his spirit. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand with you. We know that we know that we know he'll be back because we stand on the promise that god provided in his word for our family our four parents that train their children up you've done a good job by making sure they stay in church and what they hear and see just make sure that there's no hypocrisy that might he might have seen to make him you know go the direction he's gone

or anything that you feel compelled or convicted about. Confess it, not just to God, but to him. Get it all out on the table and start the healing process. Okay, next question. Where is the coolest place you have traveled to and would you go back? So for me, the coolest place that I've ever been to, which I always said I never wanted to go. I used to tell Tom, I'm like, I would never go there.

And he, never say never. That's what I would tell you. Because every time you say never, that's exactly what happens. I can tell you so many times in life, I said never to things. And that's exactly, I said I would never, ever do children's ministry. I did children's ministry.

I was the children's pastor for the church for five plus years. Some of the best years of my life. I never in a million years thought I would do children's ministry. And some of the best memories, some of the best relationships I cultivated um just the sweetest moments so never say never unless you actually want to end up doing that very thing that you're saying you're never never going to do then say that otherwise you'll end up doing it so um so the coolest place ever went to was israel i never wanted to go there i never i mean just because of the conflict that's over there it's seemed dangerous to me which i don't know why i would be like that because nothing will ever harm me psalm 91 but i was just like

yeah now i have no interest but the more i dug into the word and the more that I wanted to understand what the Middle Eastern mindset and lifestyle so they could understand the word at a greater depth so that it would become more real to me more revelatory to me that's when I was like I think I want to go there so I kept kept for many many years I was like I think think I want to go there. So I kept, for many, many years, I was like, I think I do want to go to Israel. Ends up, I get a job that's an Israeli-based company. So everything, they have companies all over the world, but their main headquarters was in Israel. And this is a sales job.

So my department never really got to go to Israel for some reason. I don't know why they didn't consider us to be worthy to go over there. But the last year that I worked there, which was 2019, crazy, because that's when COVID went cray-cray. Actually, it was in 2019. It was 2020, I believe. 2020 is when COVID hit, right? So 2020, I believe. 2020 is when COVID hit, right? So 2020, yeah, it was 2020.

So in January of 2020, I got paid, and it was paid for for me to go over there. I was over there for probably 10 days. I got to sightsee. I worked for like five days of that and then I got to go out and sightsee and do the rest um on my own and uh with with obviously I one of my best friends even to this day was my boss and I still I she still I mean I talked to her I don't know how much I talked to her I talked to her pretty frequently still but she and I got to

she said it was it's awesome when you get to work with believers so that at that company just so happens the co-worker that I worked with she and I became very very close very good friends still talk to her all the time, solid Christian. And then my boss, solid Christian. So my work environment was pretty sweet because we were this cohesive unit, basically believed, pretty much believed the same way on almost every topic.

And so like you would be working in iron sharpening iron because you're talking about God stuff all day long or even how to handle a situation on your job in a Christlike manner. So she and I got to go over to Israel together. We got to sightsee. She had been there before, so she was a great tour guide. But when you go to Israel, it's like going to Washington, D.C. on steroids, okay?

Because Washington, D.C. has got so much history to it and so much stuff to see. You can't get that done in a week. You can't barely get it done in two weeks. But you go to Israel, and come on. I mean, it's been around for forever so like every everywhere you go I stayed in Tel Aviv there was uh what was it was called Jaffa but it was at the time Jaffa so it's like everywhere you go is history all over the place.

And so you walk out your front door and you're experiencing history and where Jesus walked or his disciples walked or whatever. Or Paul, whatever. You can't do Israel in a short period of time. You have to like weeks and weeks and weeks. So the five days or maybe it wasn't five days it was close to that five days that we got to really see some things on our own whether it would be after work or um um because I was there for like 10 uh so but some days we had to work and so we would go out in the evenings and we do tours and then then when we were done with work, I actually got to take some vacation days and stay.

But I didn't even come close, not even close, to seeing what there is. So I would absolutely, positively go back. But as Tracy reported or put on the podcast the last time, Perry Stone is probably one of the most knowledgeable. If you ever want to go to Israel, you should go with him. In fact, my boss, she did go to one of his tours to Israel, and she said it was off the charts good. So Tracy, will you put his information back up in case anybody wants to go?

And he's actually your tour guide. Sometimes even on his shows, if you've ever watched him he actually has where he'll do one of his uh tv shows or a multitude of them he'll do it while he's over there and then he'll talk about it it's i'm telling you what i did when i before I went there before I even knew I was ever going to go there when I would study something out in the bible I would actually look it up on the internet so that I like the kindred kindred valley I was like what is that where is that like because it talks about so much in the four Gospels. Like, where is the Mount of Olives?

What does that look like? So what I would always do is, in relationship to where they were at, I would look it up so that I understand the distance between maybe how far they walked, where its location was in relationship to Jerusalem, the whole thing, so that I could actually picture what was going on at the time of where I'm reading it so he has so it's only got one coming and Tracy pulled it up and it's November 19th through the 28th I am sure what they're gonna be that, that's not that much time. So he's probably going to be covering a lot of bases or a lot of things in that short period of time.

But so I would tell you, maybe you don't want to go to Israel, but you want the Bible to come to life for you. I would tell you, buy his Bibles. They're kind of expensive, but he's got, if you want the Bible to come alive for you, read. He has, they're King James Version, but he has his Old Testament and his New Testament. The Old Testament's about that thick, and then the New Testament's about that. Heather, you have a Perry Stone.

What do you think about that? She really likes it. Oh, my gosh, gosh so yes good point at the end of each chapter okay hey tell you look at my person see I mean my bag my Keith Spade bag right there do I have my Bible in there huh no that's not my bubble deck I thought I might have brought it I thought I might have brought my Old Testament or my New Testament. All right, I didn't. So after each chapter, what he does is he has, it's called in-depths, where he goes in-depth about certain subjects that you may want to know about and know deeper. Also, he has a study portion at the Bible where he breaks down what was going on at that time.

He breaks that scripture down. It's so phenomenal. It's like no other Bible I've ever read before. And I've read, I've looked at a lot. Pastor Rodney, if you want a really good Bible about giving, what would you say, Tracy, Pastor Rodney's Bible? Because it's all about prosperity, but it's the scriptures of understanding,

reaping and sowing, or sowing the seed and knowing what's coming back. His Bible, he has amplified. He has, but his is king james as well but if you are a person that struggles with um knowing scriptures about healing about the promises of god is more of what i'm trying to get at what are the promises of god um what did jesus do and the promises that were provided when Jesus walked this earth Pastor Rodney's uh bible bar none hands down

and he has 120 of his personal sermon notes in his bible oh my gosh like the wealth of knowledge and those bibles like you can get you can go and buy a generic Bible. Like I just got a new, and it hasn't come in yet, but a Thompson Chain Bible. They're phenomenal, but they're not like a Perry Stone or a Pastor Rodney. They're not, they don't compare. Because. Pastor Rodney. They're not. They don't compare. Because...

Color-coded stewardship scriptures. Tom has two of them, and he will not share them with me. He has a... Yeah. Norm is looking at me like, you're kidding. My husband is not a good sharer at all. Not. He does not share.

Shares nothing. But he'll gladly take what you got. He says the house is a funnel. A funnel. Like the top part is me, Tommy, Norma. Everything funnels right straight down to him. He does not share worth a lick. But we have to share with him. We gladly do, though.

He's sweet. He's cute and sweet and funny. But seriously, those two Bibles, oh, my gosh, they will change your life. They amplify, too, the amplified version that's now come out. My mom was just telling me they've totally changed it. They've gotten rid of more descriptive words, and it's gone woke a little bit itself so if you stick to like really solid teachers see because if you go with a teacher's bible they have their own teachings in them so it's it's more like i like zondervan but he's not really teaching in it he's just

breaking down the scripture for you whereas pastor rodney and perry stone's bible they're they're they're uh geared more towards their gifting whereas pastor rodney is very um called to preach about uh he's evangelistic and he's called to for people to understand their promises and what God God's Word says about their promises Jonathan is the same pastor Jonathan he's geared very much to the prophetic which pastor Rodney is very prophetic geared to the prophetic understanding who you are in Christ and and starting you out on that whereas Tom is understanding who you are in Christ and starting you out on that. Whereas Tom is understanding who you are in Christ

and then the disciple portion of that. Wouldn't you say? He's very geared to discipling you to being who you are. So they're all very different, but they're kind of all the same at the same time. Tom is more of a coach. Pastor Rodney is more of a like a stern disciplinarian parent that has great love for their child i see i not that he's god

but i see pastor rodney very much like how god would be like i mean he's very like he's the closest example in human form to me and I'm not saying please people don't freaking go nuts on me saying I'm saying God that Pastor Rodney's God he is not God but I'm just saying like as a person seeing him in person he's he's not like like he's a flawed human being. I know that. I've seen that. But I'm just saying to you, as far as how he is consistently across the board, who he is with people, how he responds to people on the whole, not every time, but it's just like if discipline is needed, he provides the discipline.

If love is needed, he pours out the love. He's way more he provides the discipline. If love is needed, he pours out the love. He's way more at pouring out the love. To me, he's very much like how I see God being. Jonathan, he's very much an encourager. He's whacked. There's no filter, that's whacked. There's no filter, that's for sure. But he's true blue.

I mean, oh my gosh, you want to talk about somebody who loves people, who cares about people. Oh my gosh. I think people misunderstand him because he can be so callous with what he says. Like, kind of doesn't care. I I mean I'm married to a man who doesn't care Heather's looking at Heather says it's fantastic of course Heather says it's fantastic but like I spent a lot of time with him in Adalas privately and I've never seen people like they really care about people they would give the shirts off their back for anybody and everybody they are some of the biggest givers I've seen

ever like genuine they don't want anything back they don't care I mean those are those two people, I genuinely wish that, because I think they're kind of misunderstood to a certain extent because I think people think that they might be flashy. They're not flashy at all. I mean, I think that they have a point behind like why they do what they do and it's all God driven

and I think people can misunderstand it, but I'm just saying that they are the most real people as far as ministers and Pastor Rodney is too as far as ministers go I've met a lot I've grown up in church I've met a lot I've never seen more real people in all my life what you see is what you get who they are in front of you and who they are behind the scenes same exact

people every single time you would be more you you're i think you're more endeared to them not in front of people just because they're even better and better like they're not fake there's nothing fake about pastor adonica don't get me going on her i love that woman so um back to the question um so i would say listen if you want to make the bible come alive for you um i know this question was asked about where i would go but it all flows if you want the Bible to come alive to you start opening it up don't just read the scriptures start opening up the maps the maps are there for a reason the maps are there so you understand the travel where they were going how would it look like how it was it totally brings the Bible to life and you know I love this book, and I'm going to have Tracy pull it up so you can see it.

I don't, like, I could never watch her show because she drove me nuts. It's not that I can't stand her, but I can't stand her. Not in a bad way. But Kathie Lee Gifford, some people love her. I think she's a real person. I really do do and that's why I can't not not stand her because I think she's a real person but she has this great great book and it's called uh The Rock The Road and The Rabbi and she loves Israel and she has gone there and she has taken these tours that you know we would only dream of because she has lots of money. But we'd only dream of them because she would go there for long periods of time.

And she had rabbis, personal rabbis, take her on these tours and stuff like that. I believe someday I'll be able to do that. I'll be honest with you. And people say you're a big dreamer. But with God, all things are possible. I don't put limits on God. But for her her she'd go there for a very long period of time because she could like whatever um she breaks down so many different locations and then you get the rabbi's explanation of these locations as well and things that nobody even knows that

are just amazing i i think i've read that book twice and it brings the word to life and then when i read about it in the bible i can remember what the rabbi said about this place or what she learned about this place and it's factual truth It's not like she's making it up. No, these are events that happened or things that show something that would confirm, whatever the case may be. That book, if you like to read, it's an easy read. But man, it's so good.

It's such a great book. I strongly encourage you to get it and to read it. And it'll help you with the Bible. But the Bible will never be the same the more you understand the history of it. And I like history, but don't read the Bible because you're a history buff. Read the Bible because you need to know the history in And that's the reason why you understand the history. So faith first, history second. Okay.

Next question. And okay, so listen, my next questions, I'm gonna explain something to you. This is the hope that you have for your future. And I'm gonna explain it to you. So, you know, you're gonna have a lot of faith. You're gonna have a lot of faith. You're gonna have a lot of faith.

You're gonna have a lot of faith. You're gonna have a lot of faith. You're gonna. Okay. Next question. And okay, so listen, my next questions, I'm going to explain something to you. This is the hope hotline. For some people who don't understand that, this is the hope hotline. This is not the Tom, likely hotline. Okay. God bless. When we asked, when we had him on the podcast, or this podcast,

and we asked you to ask him questions, that was meant for that podcast. That was not meant for other podcasts that I have. For you to ask me to ask him questions. I laugh, but I'm serious. I'm like, I have gotten questions from people asking me to ask Tom questions. God bless you. I'm not, I'm only going to do two, okay? And these will be the only two that I ever do unless he comes back on my podcast.

And then you can ask him questions, okay? But don't ask me to ask him questions because this is my podcast, not the Tom Lightly podcast. So last night, after church and after he had taken a nap, oh my gosh, he was sawing some wood. His mouth was wide open. That's what he sounds like ridiculous and the dogs laid right up next to him he's asleep too

so after he was done with his nap he was refreshed and I knew he would actually answer them because he has to be in the mood to answer or do anything like this. I asked him these two questions. So if these are yours, they're from him.

He says, this person says, I have a question for you to actually ask your guest, which at the time, I guess they thought it was going to be Tom. Tom's not on this podcast. And I know people have asked if he would be on it on a regular basis. I'm not insulted, but I'm going to answer you a heck now. Okay? I mean, I loved it when he was here. I thought it was funny.

I mean, the man is stinking funny. He's just hilarious. I told you, I married him for a reason. Or I dated him for a reason or I dated him for a reason he's funny but this is my podcast so he will he'll come back I don't know when when the world is ready when I'm ready he'll be back so it says my husband and I watch foundation church services every week I have heard Tom say to pray the spirit, and that's pray the spirit. I believe that's how it's stated, and I don't understand what is meant by that.

Could he please clarify? We live in Michigan, have visited your church three times. We love it and are faithful listeners. So I don't know who you are, but first of all, that's pretty dang awesome. You've come here three times from Michigan. Tom and I are so honored when people come here and visit or even watch the podcast or watch the service or watch a podcast. You can't take that stuff lightly.

I mean, you can have a podcast all day long or you can have a church service but nobody comes what's the point you have nothing so it takes people in order to make something work and it takes people to make i mean we we have an people who give so much time and energy uh because they believe in what this ministry is doing and so i think if you're one of those people and you're watching right now thank you from the bottom of my heart but thank you so much if you just watch the podcast or if you watch the services and things like that and you support it because it costs money tom's on tv um two different the serve the the service is now on tv um on our local cable it goes from north sarasota all the way down to south fort myers naples area so he's our services are now on

that two times a week but then the podcast is on Saturday night that costs a lot of money that is not free but we have to wake people up we have to win the lost that's the reason why we have the services on the local cable channel and we also have to wake the world up so that they know what's going on it's it's clear it's clear that um if we rebuke the devourer and if we um stand strong as long as we are fighting against the spirits and the principalities and the things that are coming against us then we're going to continue to win and and we're going to hold off what Satan's trying to thwart against us. But it takes money to do that.

So the people who watch and support the church, we greatly thank you for that because lights have to be turned on, and air has to be running, and things need to be fixed, and all of that takes money so and we have lots of things that we still need to do we're trying to get tom on radio um things like that because the world we need to win the loss but we we need to wake up the world to know what's going on and what uh what is trying to be accomplished to get us to a one world order. We need to fight that with everything we have. And that means your funds, your money, right?

We're all supporting it. So I want to thank you for watching and being a faithful follower. He appreciated that as well as I do. And this is what he said. He said, and I'm going to read it verbatim for you so that you know it came from the horse's mouth. He said, speaking in tongues and praying in the Bible is what he means when he says pray the spirit. So when he says pray the spirit, it means speaking in tongues and praying the Bible. He gave me three scriptures to give to you for you to look up okay

so luke 11 13 which validates his pray the spirit okay so when he says pray the spirit he's using these scriptures for that okay luke 11 13 it says ask for the holy spirit first corin 1 Corinthians 14 2 further explains that same scripture. Then John 16 13 is the Spirit speaks the word. Okay so let's go back. I'm going to repeat those scriptures one more time for you. Luke 11 13 ask for the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 14, 2, further explains. And John 16, 13, Spirit speaks the word. Okay? The next one is for Tom.

It says, here's one more for Tom. Why or why should we not believe in the bob jones super bowl prophecy of revival in america i do believe revival is coming but why include the wokety wokest of events being included as the dependency in god's message seems to sour it for me i also don't know anything about bob jones to base anything on. My false prophet radar is up, but I do not, but I do want revival. Okay. So Tom said that he hadn't heard anything about Bob Jones, the Bob Jones prophecy. I mean, we know about Bob Jones because, um, we actually used his curriculum for my daughter from kindergarten to, I believe, second grade. He has great curriculum. Homeschooling curriculum.

So he said he doesn't know anything about the Bob Jones prophecy. He talks to Pastor Ronnie and Jonathan um on a somewhat regular basis neither one of them and they all talk about this stuff all the time they talk about what's going on um in the church world as well as what's going on in the world world and um how it relates to in times things like that or just just in general right so um maybe not in times but like what what how things are going globally i should say which ultimately is is in time stuff revelations but so not he said he told me he's like they never talked to me about any of this stuff either so he's not even sure if they know about it um and normally like if one knows they all know or if one knows it's not been on any social media feeds he said nothing normally that

stuff is um so he's like i he knows nothing on it it and normally he would hear about it so I'm not sure if what you read was accurate if it actually came from him sometimes people will put stuff out that is not true or isn't and is not accurate so he said he can't really comment on it because his basis for commenting would be nothing foundational or strong. So because of that, he's like, he's like, because of that, I'm not going to really comment on something that I don't have a strong foundation to speak on. So, and that, I'm going to do one more before we go I have less than five minutes but all right so the last one is it okay to do yoga and join the masons okay this is a very common question might go longer than five minutes you know what I'm going to do I'm going to save this one I'm going to save this one for my next podcast so I

can go into it more detail because this is going to take a little bit longer. So let's talk about salvation. But first, before we do that, I'm going to talk about giving. I just had, I talk about Kristen all the time. I don't know why, but yesterday when my girlfriend Kristen was leaving church, she said to me, she goes, oh, I love your watch. I love your watch. I don't know if you can see it. I was like, I know, I love my watch too. It's new.

Okay. I give away watches all the time. I give away watches a lot. And I love watches. That's one that I just tapped on the desk. Sorry, that's going to blow somebody's eardrum off or out. We're working on it. That's right, Tracy.

So this watch right here. So I got my very first watch from Pastor Rodney's granddaughter. Super sweet. And then, it's a funny story, but I won't go into detail with it, just because I won't do that for the person who gave it to me. I'm going to tell you who gave me this watch, though. So, I got this watch from my sweet Bia.

And the story is really sweet, but I'll keep it private, but she gave me this watch and, uh, more, because I'm a watch person. And this ring is beautiful, and I would have never, ever paid what it cost. And I got this. This ring was given to me, too. So, but it's called sowing seed, people. If you sow seed, then it comes back and you wonder like well that's because you know you have a big church or like we didn't have a big church and I think I got this before we did my ring before we ever did but that's because your husband's you know a pastor or whatever so obviously no that's not true I got stuff way before I've always given we've always

given I know people in this room they're not pastors or pastor's wives or whatever and they get stuff all the time but there are givers they sow seed all the time so this watch I just got this watch I don't know a while ago no which when she was visiting hasn't been that long when did she visit when did I do the thing in February in last February so it's the beginning of February beginning of February I love this watch and it was given to me and it is gorgeous it's one of the prettiest watches I've ever seen in my life and it's the weirdest watch because like look at how the shape of the but it's big watch and which I love it has diamonds all the way around it and it's got this like I don't know detail on the inside it's a Swiss watch it's gorgeous but I will tell you I give away watches that cost 100, 100 plus,

maybe a couple hundred dollars. This watch is way more than that. But that, hey listen, I'm just saying, I gave what I had. And like, I've given away watches that I absolutely loved. Like, I'm not gonna lie, I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm just saying I gave what I had and like I've given away watches that I absolutely loved

like it would only be because God told me to gave it I've never given a watch away or anything away unless God's told me to do it money whatever I strongly encourage you if you encourage you and I'm not saying it so you see I have a watch on my hand and you say well that's I gave I give so I get a watch I didn't know I was going to get a watch I'll be honest with you I mean when Pastor Rodney's granddaughter gave me her watch I thought it was the sweetest thing and I had never gotten one before and I never expected to get one but I always know that you're planting seed and that it always comes back how it comes back I don't know like could it be like if I'm in uh the McDonald's drive-thru and I think I have

money in my purse and I actually walked out with no wallet do I think that miraculously somehow because I've planted seed that I'm gonna get that seed back and it could come back to me with my meal being purchased 100% I do believe that yes I the righteous will never be seen begging for bread I sow seed because I know that it'll come back to me how it comes back to me is God's business okay but some people hold on to everything like this you You are so tight-fisted. And you will not give anything away because you don't think you can give it away. Because what will happen if you do? Will you need it? Will it be there when you do need it?

And I'm just telling you beyond a shadow of a doubt. It will be there more than you ever thought possible. I promise you. I promise you. I promise you. Pay your tithes give an offering never like every month when we Tom and I sow our tithe we sow a big offering and it has come back to us in my stomach's growling sorry if you heard that my it comes back to me in ways and comes back to us in ways we never dreamt

if you could just get people to understand you're doing this for them you're not doing it for you i don't care i do care about you though i don't care that it doesn't benefit me in any way for you to do biblical principles. It benefits you. But I care about you. I want you to get what I get. Or not what I get, but I want you to see how God works and how our blessings are no different than what he'll bless you with. Don't settle. That's the only thing.

Just don't settle for what you think life has to offer you. Settle for what God has to offer you. And it will super miraculously go beyond your wildest dreams. Just give him a chance with this. That's all I say. It is beyond your wildest dreams what he will do for you and you will call me up thanking me because I pushed you so daggum hard to do something that was so simple and easy but it felt like I'm trying to think of the hardest thing that someone can possibly do outside of giving up your child i think people think

giving up their money is to that level i really do it is it is not going to be that hard it will be far beyond your wildest dreams if if you actually do it and you're gonna kick yourself for not doing it sooner because you will have wasted time and and like the when you give the blessing I mean I know people who are losing things that lose things this world is crazy they're losing just different things in their life because they can't afford them right but they don't pay their tithes and offering and they wonder why this is happening to them there are spiritual promises there are biblical promises if you do these things i will

come through for you and they sit there and go i don't understand why this is happening and you try and solve it the world's way when god is saying trust me in this know that I will pour out the the the it's the rivers of heaven right no it's I'll pour out the something of heaven and he'll give you a blessing that far exceeds anything your mind could conceive so I will just say if you're walking through a financial circumstance right now that's very difficult for you sow sow a seed. Pay your tithes. I'll watch them come through. If you want more than enough, if you want to have things, if God tells you to give something that might be hard for you, give your car away. Give a pair of shoes away. Give, I mean, I give earrings away. I've given clothes away. I've given stuff away when I didn't have it to give it away.

But I knew God wanted it. And guess what? Your closet ends up being full of clothes that you never had to pay a dime for because you got hand-me-downs from somebody who has great taste and they like the nicest of things. I can't tell you how many times that's happened to me. And you just sit there and go, you never, ever, ever let me down, Lord.

So it may not happen the way you think it is, but it'll happen and it'll be better than what you think it is. So if you're not a giver, give. And if you are a giver that's not a joyful giver, it says that you have to be a joyful giver you know somebody's I've read that um and I don't know if it's biblical I mean you're supposed to give with the joy of the Lord but I've also I've also read and I've just listened to teaching where

your giving is also a form of worship. And how do you worship? A lot of times, you know, you can tell somebody how they love the Lord. It's a reflection of who or how good of a relationship they have with the Lord is also by how they worship. If they are just kind of like ho-hum while they're worshiping, you sit there and go, is that how they look at their walk with God, ho-hum? But somebody who's dogmatic and sold out and worshiping the Lord with all their heart, mind, and soul,

you sit there and go, is that how they live for the Lord? A lot of times, it is true, but I don't know if it's biblical. I'll have to look it up. But how you give is a form of your worship. So worship him because he's worthy. So be a giver. Last thing is if you don't know the Lord, I want you to seriously, seriously contemplate

getting in your prayer closet and just praying to him and saying, Lord, I ask you to forgive me of my sins. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. I ask you to forgive me of my sins. I ask you to be my Lord and Savior. I ask you to come into my life and do a 180 degree turn from the life that I was living to a new life with you. And if you do that, first of all, you will go to heaven, which is huge. But the life that you live here on earth will totally be different. I used to live a Lucille Ball crazy life before I came back to him. There was calamity every single day. And then I gave my life back

to him. And guess what happened? Peace, calm, stability. Because that's what the word of God says is for you if you live for him. So we don't necessarily, I'm not necessarily going to say the sinner's prayer with you today. I think if you are watching this right now, I think you can say the words that need to be said and do what needs to be done. Get in that prayer closet. Get things right with God

and start living for him. Get into a great church, a strong faith-based church, one that is holiness-based, and see what he does with your life. Until next time, I will see you. Bye. Real Talk. Real Talk. Real Talk.