The Hope Hotline - The Hope Hotline | S01-E80 | 10-20-23

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

The Hope Hotline | S01-E80 | 10-20-23

Real talk. Real talk. Real talk. Real talk. Hello, it's Friday. Happy, happy Friday. It's a great day. Fantastic day. If it isn't one for you, then hopefully by the end of this podcast, it will be. Maybe you'll laugh. Definitely not going to cry. I can promise you that. There ain't no question on here that can make you cry. Well, maybe not. But for the most part, nothing's going to make you cry. Great day. Tomorrow's the beginning of the weekend. Actually at five o'clock for most of us, the weekend begins and that's pretty dang great. Not that I don't love my job. I do love my job, but I love the weekends. Yeah. You know, I appreciate this job.

Me too. Oh, what am I? I got to take this thingy off. Excuse me. I don't know. I got this little, listen. I don't know if it's like a new style. What? I don't know if it's like a new style or something. It's not a style. Okay, I'm taking this thingy off. And the reason I'm wearing this stupid thing is because I'm an idiot. And when I say I'm an idiot, I mean sincerely.

I'm dumb as a box of rocks sometimes. So I had my living, my, you know, we had our ceilings redone in our house because of the hurricane and everything. So the living room ceiling had to be replaced. Our bedroom ceiling had to be replaced. The guys that came in, they were such great guys. Oh, they were. They were such sweet guys. And they didn't speak English very well.

So I think there was a miscommunication with one another. Okay. They were like, I love them. Like, I thought to myself, I'm gonna be sad when I don't see them anymore. I only had them with me for a week, but I love them. They were great people. Not a lot of exchanges and communication, but just good people. But I told him, it's like they were slipping and sliding all over the plastic when they were bringing it in. I was like, don't do that. Don't worry about it.

I'll clean up the floor. Little did I know what I was saying. Because, like, plaster everywhere on my wood floor. I was on my hands and knees. Now, Bill ended up saying, guys, clean this floor up, which I told him it wasn't their fault. I made sure he knew it wasn't their fault, but he's like, pick up that floor. There's only so much you can do. I was on my wood floor like this and like this on my hands and my knees on my butt with a with a toothbrush and a brush, cleaning my wood floor.

Days. So, needless to say, my massage person, she tortured me yesterday. I bet. Huh? I bet. She's a torturer. She said, there's a muscle here. Yeah.

Like right here. Yeah. Which I thought it was the ball from sitting like this on my hand. She goes, actually it is, but I shortened because it was so many days of sitting there for hours. Like I'd come home or whatever every night I'm coming when I didn't do podcasts or whatever. Every minute that I had extra, I'm sitting with my hand like this. She said, you shorten your muscle. It can happen really fast.

So that muscle has shortened. This hurts. That makes sense has shortened. This hurts. That makes sense. Yeah. Like people, people, if people want to put stuff down on your floor and they're taking your ceiling out, let them do it. I was worried about their safety. Safety first. Don't worry about their safety. Yeah. Don't. They do it all the time. They're not going to hurt them. Like the guys on stilts in my bedroom like yeah like on that plastic i was like no not on my watch dude i'll clean my floor yeah but apparently he's on those things all the time he's on the plastic with it all the time he can

absolutely handle himself but in the meantime like the ball of my hand is so sensitive and yesterday i prayed it off i've been dealing with for several weeks now I prayed it off it was finally gone and then I went and worked out and my faith wasn't enough for me to be able to work out and and be healed all at the same time so needless to say I went to the massage person yesterday and she's like, listen, it'll go away. But you literally, so I have an ice pack that's stuck on my arm and everything. But you just saw

my little hand thingy because my hand feels fantastic in this thing. Like this part of my hand, it's super sensitive. So like if something hits it, like right now, that hurts. But if I had that little black thing on, I wouldn't feel a thing. sensitive yeah so like if something hits it yeah like right now that hurts but if I had that little black thing on I wouldn't feel thing you know what hope

be great you put it on I don't like that like last night even Tom's like what's up with the hand because I don't do that I know I like I haven't even taken aspirin for it right or ibuprofen I've been standing in faith. My faith is dwindling, friends. My hand hurts. But I still keep speaking to it every day. It's on my list of things that I pray over every day. I believe that I receive when I prayed.

And it keeps getting better. Satan's stealing from me, people. Not for long. Nope, not for long. I'm kind of mad about it. Normally I like see my results pretty dang quick. Something's not connecting. I don't like that. Something's not connecting. So, but we'll fix that. So when I, enough about me, let's hear about you. Tell us, what can we do girl? All right. So as always, if if you're on facebook we need you to like and share

you don't have to add anything you can just literally click share and then click yep right now go to my page it's perfect if you have a business page or something else and you want to share to that you can share to a page so many options on facebook oh you know we as much as we have a love-hate, that's where people are at right now. So we'll spread it while we can. You can also subscribe. And so yesterday, and in a replay, we went over how to subscribe and make sure that all your notifications were turned on. So if it's a little confusing, you can take your time and kind of walk through the steps slowly, you can open up a separate browser to and kind of do it that way. Or watch it on your phone and do

it on your computer, then you don't have to worry about it. Once it's set up, kind of do it that way or watch it on your phone and do it on your computer then you don't have to worry about it once it's set up you can do it for the TLP you can do it for foundation church and you'll have everything notifying you whenever we go live or anything like that and obviously commenting Logan loves having the conversations back and forth and I hop on where I can and then we have. You can also comment on YouTube and you can subscribe on YouTube. Rumble, we have a great following over there. We have Sean on right now. Hey, Sean.

And you can follow on there. You can like on there and comment. And of course, always you can share the link of Rumble anywhere you want, an email and a text message on Facebook. Black Robe as well. You can comment and share and do all those things. And you guys all know we have our merch now. We have our mug and it's available at foundationchurchfl.com and you just click shop and you'll find the

other two merch available there too. There's a QR code that brings you directly to the mug. Then we have the UBU. Like I was just telling Hope, I think she should be wearing her shirt today to remind her to be UBU. I almost put it on. But my girlfriend Millie, who's in River, Costa Rica, she got me this shirt. I love that. Look how cute.

And the color is like, it's Hope Hotline. It's Hope Hotline. Such a sweet girl. We're okay with that today. So we have the QR code that will bring you directly there. Or again, you can just go to foundationchurchfl.com and click on shop. And our last but not definitely not least, we have our spoon, multi-purpose. So again, you can scan the QR code.

Again, if you don't know how to do it, you just open up your camera and you point it directly at the QR code. It will pull up a link and then you click on the link and it'll bring you right there. And then Hope coming to you. We've got send in your questions. Ask Hope at thehopehotline.com. We got some new ones today that I'm going to be sending over to Hope. Some good questions. You're sending me over some questions? Well, I have one from a new friend and so she just sent it this morning. So I have to send that to you. Is it a friend that attends the church or up north?

It is not necessarily a personal friend, but I say friend because she comes to Foundation Church. So she's a sister in Christ. Oh, okay. Yeah, so I don't really know her. Oh, you don't know her. No, I don't know her. I probably have seen her face, but she had a couple good questions for you. Oh, cool.

Yeah. I'll gladly take them. So anybody else, send your questions in, and that's it. Oh, I do have one more thing. Oh, cool. Yeah. I'll gladly take them. So anybody else send your questions in and that's it for, Oh, I do have one more thing. Um, share last but not least, we had a special guest yesterday that we forgot to talk about. It wasn't yesterday. It was Wednesday, Wednesday. We had Ross Ross from the friends. from Friends. Put that back on. Ross from Friends.

We had a special guest appearance of Ross Geller from Friends. We didn't even introduce Ross. David Schwimmer was with us, people, on Wednesday. Look at that similarity. He's sitting right there next to Tracy. And Vanessa. I kept all of us on.

I kept the color difference just so we can see. Mild color difference. You can see Hope and then me and even Vanessa, our Puerto Rican. And there's... Listen. Yesterday Chris

said, good morning my little tangerine. And I was like is it that bad? All he could do was laugh. Listen, you're not tangerine. I kid you not. At all. Okay, you're not tangerine. I kid you not. At all.

Okay, so tell them what happened. Logan, tell them what happened. I had a maternity photo shoot yesterday with Miss Laura Sigley, and I thought I wanted to be tan because I've lost a lot of my color since not working outside. Yes. wanted to be tan um because i've lost a lot of my color since not working outside um totally forgetting that most of the almost all the pictures are going to be in black and white too so like the spray tan didn't even matter in the first place are you kidding me nope so i went into zoom tan shout out um you might not want to shout them out okay Okay. Did you just not see Ross Geller?

Don't shout them out. She said, do you want dark, darker or darkest? And I thought I was totally playing it safe, going darker, like level two. And I paid $5.

I could try to get the instant. I did watch Charlie instantly orange. You were not orange, girl. Like, I'm just saying, you and your husband were the same skin color tone. And listen, like I said, black is beautiful, so I'm totally fine with that. You make a hot black girl. But you're fading. You're fading, sister. Thank you, Jesus. What is that I said thank you Jesus I just you know

I told Tracy the power of a shower oh my gosh so let me ask you this like when you get really tan do you get like do you get so tan that you like some people can get so tan that they have that nice well I mean it's it's borderline between being red. Like somebody who's mixed, you know? I will find a picture for you because that, believe it or not, five, six years ago, I would have loved that color on me. I would have thought I was. The bomb. Yes.

Bomb diggity. My peak Jersey Shore days, I wanted to achieve that color. Oh, heck yeah. They all do. The thing is, you literally don't know. Vanessa, you know she's Hispanic, right? You look at her and she goes, it's all of complexion. It's beautiful.

Beautiful brown. You know what I'm saying? You got blackie over there. Like, Logan, holy crap. Like, you were black. It looked great. I mean, you could go either way. Not me.

Like, when I get tan, I burn, I freckle. It's not attractive. You, on the other hand, get that, like, you didn't even look Italian. You just went straight for african-american seriously which hey listen i love the italian skin color too because dang man yeah i'm so pale i you know you always want what you you can't have yeah it's true it's true like blonde and blue eyed and freckled it's okay but man to be have that golden beautiful olive skin like I think it's so I don't know I long for it but I don't have it um do you remember the Seinfeld episode where Kramer was dating a black girl yes he fell asleep

in the tanning bed and then went to go meet the parents and he was black-faced. Yes. That was you, girl. That's a funny one. You can't get away with that nowadays. Not because people are so like, not because like people are of all races. It's not the people that are all races that are so hypersensitive to it. It's the people that are policing you, saying that, do you know what I'm saying? Like, most people don't have a prejudice bone in their body. They really don't care.

Like, they don't care about skin color. They don't even care about, like, there's not really much they care about. It's the people that are trying to make people have a wedge between them, that they are the ones that care. They're propagating it. Because most people really, like, it doesn't really matter.

I mean, back in my, now I live in Whiteyville. Like, this area is Whiteyville, right? It really is. So when I moved here, I thought, dear God, where did I move to? Because I was so, it was like, D.C. is a melting pot. Every nationality, every culture, everything is there. Like it's a little New York, right? I was considered white in New York. Yeah, I would see that. I can see that. Totally. In your neighborhood? 100%. But like you move down here and you don't have a lot of cultures but still i mean back in my day people didn't really care about color they didn't really care about anything like what you said

everybody kind of laughed nobody was wearing their like feelings on their shoulders or like every nothing was so ready to be offended we kind kind of just like, everybody knew that nobody meant it. And it was just funny. It was like not a big deal. Nowadays, even I think people are still that way to a certain extent. But people that are trying to cause problems make it seem like that's not the case. And they're the ones to perpetuate. I just read something from, I can't remember.

It's a comedian. He basically said free speech is free speech. It's not based on what you eliminate and make it be, you know, it's either all or nothing is basically what he was saying. Because comedians can't even joke around anymore. I'm talking about this guy's Italian. He can't even make jokes about white people right come on are you kidding me please please give me a break give me a break if we're so like I know it's crazy but you know what I watch these comedians go in to like do their

shows and stuff like that into just normal genres and everybody's laughing yeah nobody's like like that nobody's all up in arms over it it's just people trying to take our free speech away yeah yep it's crazy so ross is no longer with us, friends. Sorry. Sorry. Did your pictures turn out good? Yeah. Can't wait to see them. I bet you they were beautiful. I never did any of that.

There is a reason. Like, you'll probably have something like that. You'll post it or you'll hang it. No, these will not be posted. Okay. Because, like, didn't Katie do hers? Didn't Katie post hers or something? Hers were beautiful. Yeah, hers were gorgeous.

I mean, the girl had twins. I know. Her stomach was the only thing that got big. And, I mean, even her stomach looked gorgeous. It's disgusting. It was perfect. Now, I, on the other hand, carried my children 35 weeks. I didn't even make it to 40.

And this girl, yeesh, was not being seen naked, not being photographed naked, not even going naked in the shower. I wore, from top to bottom, a head full of clothes and showered above them. So disgusting. I didn't even want to see myself naked. It was not a pretty sight.

So needless to say, I'm sure they'll be beautiful. Thank you. You're a gorgeous girl, which is awesome. You know, like you're just glowing. You're just the happiest little pregnant girl. I love that. And I was a depressed manic. No, I'm just kidding.

I hated being pregnant. Did you like being pregnant, Tracy? I was sick a lot with the twins. And then, I don't know, with Allison. I don't know. No, not really. I'm not like a joyful pregnant girl. I loved it.

You did? I believe that. I looked terrible, but I loved it. Yeah, I looked terrible. I carried it in my face. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I carried it in my face. I carried it all over.

It was not pretty. I was not attractive. You know, you're so little, though, too. You didn't have a lot of, like, space. No, and I was always, like, numb from here down. Your ribs, yeah. Numb. Yeah.

Like, I had no feelings at all. Constipation did not help either. No. That's probably TMI. Sorry. Oh, no, you didn't. Nothing helped. Nothing helped.

Trust me. Oh, that? No. No. No. Hershey Highway? No way. No way.

Not happening. Nope. I'm just Not happening. Nope. I'm just saying I was miserable. Miserable chick. Yeah. So, but I loved giving birth and I love the two I have. Yes. There you go.

So, thank you, Jesus. Thank you. So, does anybody have anything to add before I go straight into a very intense topic? No, that was all I had for today, just Ross just Ross thank you that's funny that was funny that's good on my way here I was teasing yeah I was like oh that's why you that's where you got oh yeah you're so smart taking a run with it Tracy chris said i didn't even know my wife was white that's crazy that's right she hides it well chris she does you're in it just for the record chris you're in an interracial relationship i know you thought you were of one but no you're not

you're with whitey sorry Sorry. She's pretty white. She's very white. She's a hot Whitey. She is. All righty. Let's go. Why do you think divorce rate is so high? It seems like there are as many Christians divorced as nonbelievers.

Is that true? Well, I actually have heard so many times that the statistics are the same. Well, not actually the same it's um like um i think it was like i i the last time i heard it's like um uh non-christians were at like a little over 50 and christians were just below that below the 50 thing, I looked at two different statistical things. One was very sketch, I'll be honest with you. And the one that was sketch said that Christians are not like it. They're at 35% or across the board, the world itself is at 35% divorce rate.

That is not true. I don't hardly know anybody that's not been divorced. Like if I, at least half of the people that I know in my life, I mean, would you agree or disagree about that? Yeah. I think that it's a pretty high statistic. It is, for sure. Yeah.

Even in the Christian world. What. Even in the Christian world. What? Even in the Christian world. Even in the Christian world. Yes. So that one, based on some of the things that this, and it was like one of the bigger ones to pay attention to. I was like, I don't think so.

So I went to Barna. Barna is a big statistical, they do like all different kinds of things. They do Christian, non-Christian. What is the name of it? It's called Barna is a big statistical, they do like all different kinds of things. They do Christian, non-Christian. What is the name of it? It's called Barna Group. Barna Group. If you want to know a good statistic on anything, you go to the Barna Group. But I think it's a Christian-based organization, if I remember correctly.

Because they work a lot with Andrew Womack. And he quotes them a lot because they're with a lot a lot with um andrew wamack and he quotes them a lot because they're such a reliable source so i think uh when after we look at these statistics it's staggering it's staggering and it's very very sad but you know it's not surprising uh because people your yes isn't yes, and your no is not no anymore. And people are, if you look at how people live, let's say this. I'm big on this all the time, and people make fun of me, but we're to do everything in excellence, right?

And your word is your word, and that's what everything is based on. My dad, when I grew up, he used to say to me, your word is all you have at the end of the day. People have lots of money. Some people have no money, right? But if you tell somebody you're going to do something, you absolutely should do it. Your word is your word. Now, one of the great things, like one of the great reasons I think he was very dogmatic about that, I lived in a faith-based home, right?

And one of the reasons I think he was big on that is because words matter. Because, again, we talked about this on Wednesday. The world was formed with words, right? So words definitely matter. So if you tell somebody you're going to do something, you need to do it. Like if I backed out, like if I told somebody I was going to do something with them and I backed out on them, my dad would, oh, it was not pretty. My dad would be not happy with me.

And it better be like I was on death's door because he's like, your word is your word. You told them you were going to do something, then you need to do it. Even if it inconveniences you need to do it. Even if an inconvenience is you, you do it. And that has stuck with me because there have been plenty of times that I have, I've said I wanted to do something, something else either better came along or something like I was tired or whatever, you know, but I didn't back out on it because I gave my word. Now what I tend to do a lot now with maturity, as I always say, I'm not going to promise you, but what I'm going to say is I will try. I don't, unless I give my word.

And here's the thing that a lot of people don't think matters is your word is so important because you believe your words. Whether you believe that or not, your words even matter to you because you know whether you take what you say seriously or not. So when you tell somebody you're going to do something and you know that if something else comes along or you have a pattern of not following through. Like you tell people that you're going to call them and you don't call them, right? That's a big common thing. You're going to call them or you tell them this is another big one.

And I never promise this unless I do. And usually I stop right there and I do it. You're going to pray for them, right? People tell people all the time, I'll be praying. I'll pray for you or I'll pray with you about that or I'll stand in agreement. And then they don't. Don't tell somebody you're going to pray and don't tell somebody you're going to stand in agreement. Don't do any of that unless you do it.

Your words matter. In so much that you will believe what you say because you know your heart. You know if you're lax in things and how you handle things. If your words, if what you, if when you give a commitment, either you are like, and, and, and when I say not that you're an in person, you're like not consistent with follow through. All right. So a pattern begins and you begin to realize, you begin to live a life. And also with that, how do I explain this? Let me, let me explain. Let me see how I want to explain this because this is, this is going to speak very profoundly to people. Okay. When you don't follow through with your words and you say you're going to do

something and you don't do it, eventually at some point, you even believe that, or you know that you're not true to your word. So your words don't hold a lot of value. They do at sometimes, and it's like a way of toss to and fro, right, which is James. In James it says, do not expect to receive anything. What happens when you need healing? Your words are not consistent. And so if you're not consistent in when you say something and you mean it and you have follow through with it, your yes is yes and your no is no.

What happens when you need healing or someone you love needs healing? Your words haven't meant very much because you're not consistent. You're not consistent on follow through. So even you understand the value of your words. Your words are powerful. You believe you or you know that sometimes it's like people who are not honest. You grow a pattern of not being honest and you feel like, well, I'm not going to be honest about that because that might hurt their feelings. Words

mean something. They matter. And so when you finally need to put faith into action and you haven't been consistent with your words, they matter. Because how do you, it's like James says, you're a toss, it's like it says in James, you're like a wave tossed to and fro. You know, you believe it, but you don't believe it. And it tells, that scripture is very clear. It says, do not expect to receive anything. You, when you are double talking, you will eventually train yourself to be like that. Does that make sense at all to people?

Do you understand what I'm saying? Absolutely. 100%. And then people don't understand why when they, when they're standing in faith for something, it doesn't come to pass. It's because your words hold no value. Yeah. At all. Yeah. You tell people you're going to be on time at a place, right? I'm going to be there at 8 o'clock.

But you don't show up at 8 o'clock. You're fashionably late. You're party time late. Okay. Well, if you tell somebody you're going to be there at 8 o'clock, you need to be there at 8 o'clock. And the reason you need to be there at 8 o'clock is so that your word has value. And the other thing is if something starts at a particular time, you need to honor the people that are having that thing at the particular time.

You do everything in excellence unto the Lord. It's like church starting at, our church starts at 10.05. I hate that. For me, start it at 10 o'clock. Tom's like, I think Tom's kind of being funny about it, but he starts it at 10.05 because he believes everybody's going to be late, okay? Because they are. Because their word doesn't mean anything.

If church starts at 10, this is the house of the Lord. Out of all the days of the week, you should start, you should be there at 10.05. That's what time church starts. People can't give God, can't be on time for God. They're like, well, the announcements. Who cares? Unto the Lord. Unto the Lord. You don't leave late and you don't leave early. You leave on time. You arrive on time and you leave when it's done. That's it. Give it to God. I mean, most people don't even give God any

of the other six days of the week. They don't give him their full time. And all you're giving him is a short period of time on Sunday. You can't honor him being on time and then leaving after the service is completely over and not when you deem it that it's over for yourself. I just think words matter. And the reason why we have such a high divorce rate is because words don't matter. Covenants,. I just think words matter. And the reason why we have such a high divorce rate is because words don't matter. Covenants, contracts, they don't matter. If somebody enters into a contract with a company, right?

You hire a company to do something. You find somebody else who'll do it for cheaper. You signed on the dotted line that you're gonna use them. Or this used to happen in real estate. You sign with a realtor and you now are like, that guy will do it for cheaper. But you signed with this realtor. And so what you do is you try and find a loophole to get out of that contract. And so what happens is that's how people, their marital lives are.

They're always looking for a loophole. Always looking for, because the word means nothing. You've entered into a covenant. A covenant is actually a contract. And that contract is with one another. And it's bound together by God himself. And what happens is people don't honor the contract and they don't honor the one that bound them.

And then they wonder why things don't work out. Satan is a great deceiver because he'll make you feel like it's not that big of a deal. Everybody's, you know, people are falling out of love. It happens to everybody. There's probably somebody else better there out there for you. You kind of settled. Okay. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And he will lie. He is the father of lies. And he will make you believe and deceive you into believing that everything you're feeling is accurate and make that person that you're just growing, you know, that's starting to annoy you so much that you should toss them to the curb. But that's not life.

That's not what the Word says, and that's not the covenant that you made before the Lord. Even if you went to the justice of the peace, you still made a covenant. And it is between you and that person and God. Because the contract is marital, and it's God binding people together. So people don't look at it as permanent. They live by how they feel. And I'm just telling you, it's great that Satan's cunning like this because what he's doing is he's making the fabric of the home and the family where it's so strained and so stretched.

And there's a reason why, because fathers are invaluable. They are. And if you can remove the father from the household and make it, the statistics show that fathers are the driving force in homes and the way that the children will go. You have a woman who raises her children. The odds are very high that the young man will have problems in school, potential law enforcement issues, things like that. You have a girl be raised by her mother. There's a high probability of sexual promiscuity, children out of wedlock, things like that. But you put a dad in the home raised by the dad, children out of wedlock, things like that.

But you put a dad in the home raised by the dad, the mother's not there, but the father raises his children, those statistics are like 20% versus 80%. 80% statistics showing that these things will happen with the mother. Like the kids won't even serve God, won't even go to church. You put the dad as the one raising the kids, and the statistics flip. Like 20% go to church. The girls will not become promiscuous. They won't have children out of wedlock.

The son will do well in school, will find a great career. I mean, it's great. It's staggering. So this is all a ploy, as far as I'm concerned, by Satan himself to ruin the family. And if you can destroy the family and the stability of it, then you can really do some major damage on people serving, being saved, the whole nine. So many kids today don't even believe that when they get married, they'll stay married, that they have a high probability of divorce. Some people won't get married because they're afraid of making that commitment and then getting divorced, being hurt. It's just crazy. So let's look at these statistics.

So the Barna Group, among all, so does that make sense though about words meaning something? Absolutely. And it totally and completely matters, not just in marriage, but so many parts of us in our each and every day walks, like from faith to relationships with our spouse to friendships to just acquaintances. It's a fundamental fact, and it is something that I think people are very relaxed in when they're saying or giving their word or giving um we all give our opinions you know we're I'm great at giving my opinion

but follow through on making a commitment seems to be a whole different thing so but that did make sense correct yeah it really did that good. Specifically about the faith though, about believing for something when you say it and you believe it. Yeah. And sometimes that's where doubt and unbelief comes from. Right. Because you know that your words are flimsy. Yeah.

Luke 645 is about the overflow of your heart. So put yourself on and let's read that scripture. It's Luke, correct? What is it? Luke 6.45 in the New King James Version is a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.

For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. Yeah, which is what I use that scripture all the time, but really, I mean, everything's about the heart. And we talk about that all the time. But pretty much that scripture is good, but it's not trying to convey what I'm trying to say, which I should have probably, I didn't think I'd go that route.

So I probably should have found the scripture that goes with it, but that would back me but all i can think about is james yeah we had that one one through our one six through eight i can read that one too we put that in the um put that logan and i both did that um but let him ask in faith with no doubting for he whose double doubts is like the wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. And then seven is King James. Yeah, sorry. Let me go back to Facebook.

Four, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. In all they do. In all they do. So that's the point. That's why that scripture keeps coming to my brain. It's because everything you do it's not consistent. You're not faithful with your word. You're not faithful with what you say you will do. And it's very, very important. Somebody said that to me one time, which I'm grateful that I had the dad that I had. And he really, like, that's one of the reasons I think that I don't quit. Because if I say I'm going to do something, absolutely do it. I will kill myself until I am not doing it.

Or until the Lord releases me. Because your words matter. Your word matters. If you say you're going to do something, you better daggum do it. That's how it is. And again, scripture, let your yes be yes and your no be no. Because the rest of that, nobody ever listens. For anything more than this is from the evil one is what it says.

So let your yes be yes and your no be no. For anything more than this is from the evil one so when you don't do what you say you're going to do or you um like a prayer bothers me i'm gonna just lots of people will say i'm gonna pray for you or i'm gonna they don't pray right they don't pray that bothers me because somebody you've told somebody you're gonna do something and they're counting on you to do it with them. Right. Like, I literally stop when I'm doing.

I'm like, I'll forget. So I'm going to stop right now and in the name of Jesus. And then I pray over it because it matters. It does. What you say matters. Right. And it's, and then when you need your words to come back and them mean something for healing for your body, guess what?

They're not. Right. Doubt and unbelief because you've trained yourself that your word doesn't matter. Right. So let's look at this per Barna Group. And that's one of the reasons, again, I believe we don't have, we have a high level of divorce. But it says among all adults 18 and older, three out of four. This is three out of four, 73% have been married.

So that just goes to show you, that's crazy. So among 18 and older, 3 out of 4 of these people have been married. Half, 51%, are currently married. That does not include the 3% who are presently separated from their marriage partner. Among those who have been married, more than one out of every three, which is 35%, have also been divorced. One out of every five adults, one out of every five adults, 18%, who have ever been divorced has been divorced multiple times. I believe it. And we wonder why our kids are screwed up.

Yeah. Because people make a mistake, get divorced, and make a mistake in picking the right person the first time. And then instead of saying, okay, I'm not going to do this again, either I'll be single for the rest of my life or I'm going to pick wisely the next time. They just go out and marry the same kind of person as they just divorced. And then they wonder, why is this happening? Why am I in this situation all

over again? Because you're a Nimrod. You picked the same person. People over again because you're a nimrod you pick the same person people just don't look at it they get lonely so they're hoping it'll just work out be lonely you can do bad by yourself you don't need to do bad with somebody else oh my gosh not cool um so that 18% that have been married are divorced multiple times. That represents 7% of all Americans who have been married. The average age at which people first dissolve their initial marriage tends to be in the early 30s. So by their early 30s, they're divorced. Almost half of all married boomers. So almost half of all baby boomers, which is 46%, have already undergone a divorce.

46%. Boomers are virtually certain to become the first generation for which a majority experienced a divorce. Before that, it wasn't the majority getting divorced. But the majority now from the baby boomers past, which would be like mine, Vanessa's, Tracy's, Logan, Norma, which Norma is so young, most people aren't getting married at her age, but still, all of them will follow suit. The majority of them will be divorced. This is where it gets interesting. Born-again Christians have the same likelihood of divorce

as non-Christians. Among married born-again Christians, 35% have experienced a divorce, and that figure is identical to the outcome among married adults who are not born again, 35%. So this is, but okay, so you sit there and go, 35%, they're both the same, 35%? That's crazy. There's a reason. Because Barna, George Barna is the name of the person who owns or who has the Barna group. So he says the one reason why the divorce statistics among non-born-again adults is not higher is that a large proportion of that group cohabitates effectively effectively

sidestepping marriage and divorce altogether so they're living together yeah right so if they were married it'd be even higher for them right so that's one of the reasons why we're equal because most christians don't live together i mean i have known some but they aren't christians they're not saved because they're living together so you're not saved well you weren't calling yourself a Christian though at the time were you calling yourself you couldn't have been though you know that now right yeah I know I know whatever I thought I was doing was so far off but you knew that like I believed in Jesus but I did not have a relationship with him. And that's different.

Yeah, which a lot of people, that's the problem. There's a lot of people who believe in Jesus. They believe in God, but they don't have the relationship with him. It's like the scripture says, or not scripture. That's why there's a lot of people who will say on that day, Lord, Lord, because they believed in him, but they never gave their life to him. They never let him be the Lord of their life. That's one of the reasons sometimes when I do the salvation, I try and never do it the same. I always try and think of differently. How do I say this differently? Because if you repetitively say the same sinner's prayer,

it becomes so mundane that people just say it, and it means nothing to them. And I'm like, I don't want it to be mundane. I want people to actually understand what you're confessing, what you're saying. And for me, I've heard the sinner's prayer so often that sometimes I stumble because I'm like, how do I say this differently so that people who have said this before maybe understand the decision they're making this time? Yeah. Because you do. You get to say things over and over again that becomes nothing.

It just becomes words on a page. It really should penetrate the heart. The thing is, is most people, when they get saved, do they understand they're making him Lord of their life? Which means now you don't get to tell yourself what you get to do. That's why I always say, Lord, whatever you say, I will, wherever you tell me to do, I will do. Whatever you say not to do, I won't do because people need to understand. And I probably will never change that in my salvation because people need to understand. You don't get to tell yourself what to do anymore. He tells you what to do. You'll like some things, you won't like other things. You'll love some things and then you'll be bummed on other things.

But the thing is, is once like the things that you'd be bummed on, you'll be like thanking God that you didn't end up doing it because you're like, oh, man, I had no idea. I've lived this life of a sinner that's so long that I feel like I'm doing without. But then you realize, oh, man, life is so much better not doing that thing that I thought I'd be bummed out about. You know? It's crazy. But so let's see. So among born-again adults, 80%. So among saved adults, 80% have been married compared to just 69% among the non-born-again segment.

So that just shows you the difference in the statistics. You go from 80% to 69%. If the non-born-again population were to marry at the same rate as the born-again group, it is likely that their divorce statistics would roughly be at 38%, not at 35%. Marginally higher than that among the born-again group, but still surprisingly similar to the magnitude. So again, it's a little bit more and we're slightly less, probably. But here's what broke my heart. This, I mean, this this really this is not good guys so denominational affiliation catholics were substantially less likely than protestants to

get divorced 25 versus 39 catholics don't even get divorced. Yep. Me too. Among the largest Protestant groups, those most likely to get divorced. So among the Protestant, you know, we're like Protestants, right? Pentecostals have the highest divorce rate. 44%. Pentecostals. Yeah, I believe it. It's because you know why? Yeah, go ahead. Pentecostals live by emotionalism sometimes. They go by their feelings. Woo! Yeah. Yeah.

Woo! Yeah, it becomes a pride issue. They don't understand. That's one of the reasons why, Tom, we're big on experiencing the Holy Spirit, which we weren't up until Pastor Rodney, right? But we're big on experiencing the Holy Spirit, which we weren't up until Pastor Rodney, right? But we're big on experiencing the Holy Spirit. But that's one of the reasons why Tom preaches a practical life application. Because a lot of times, if you go into Pentecostal churches, it's all about the hype.

It's all about getting to your next best thing. Yeah. Okay. How do you get there? Right. No one ever tells you, but they'll just hype you up, hype you up, hype you up. Yeah. And I'm all for hype.

Okay. Right. But at some point, real life sets in and you got to learn how to live that life as a solid sold out believer, one that is not driven by their emotions and their feelings. Paul said he learned to be content in all his ways, in plenty and in want. And in both those ways, he learned to be content. He was stable. We as believers have to learn no matter where we're at in life,

no matter what we're experiencing, at all times, we are balanced. We are not moved. We are not shaken. We are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Whatever you throw at me, God's got it. The victory is mine and you're not going to drop me to my knees and I'm going to be walking through a valley. Okay. The valley is not a valley unless I make it be a valley because all things are possible to those who believe and he can take you right back up to the mountain, but you shouldn't ever be longing for the mountaintops either. Right. Okay. You need to learn to just be like a steady stream.

In the highs and the lows, you love them both, but no matter what comes your way, steady stream. Otherwise, you'll be one of the 44%. Driven by your feelings. Feelings are liars. They are liars. Don't live by your feelings. They will lie to you.

What? They're gas. Poor my husband, they're gas. They're liars, though. They're liars. Amen. We don't live by how we feel. We live by the word of God and what it tells us.

Right. But Presbyterians? Yeah. Presbyterians have us beat. They have only 28%. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody looks down at these denominations.

And I'm not saying they got it all going on. But in this aspect of things, they got us beat by a lot. Yeah. So Hope, what do you think about somebody that went through a divorce but had no choice in it? That happens to a lot of people like if you're like listen cheating is at an all-time high I was just I'm painting my house right so yesterday I actually I actually took a day off which I hadn't done it in a long time not I don't feel like I work I love what I do so I wasn't like but I had to get some stuff done so

I'm like I'm gonna take a day off I'm painting and I'm literally doing some detail and I remember thinking to myself like not that it would ever happen but I was thinking about how Tom said that he could never like commit adultery because he can't handle two relationships. So funny. Which is stinking funny. But I thought to myself, if he did have an affair, I'm not staying. There ain't no way. That would have been his choice to make that decision, which would have caused me to have to make a choice and me have to make a decision. And sometimes what happens is, like I've known,

like I knew a couple, no one what happens is, like I've known, like I knew a couple. No one in this room. I knew a couple that they weren't saved or anything like that. He was having an affair, I think with somebody he worked with. And, man, she was, you might have been around Vanessa at this time because she was coming to our ladies Bible study. It was when Candace did the ladies Bible study and Candace had really made an impact on this woman. And so she would just cry every time she came in because even though he had had an affair and it was still in the midst of the affair she

was trying to become the woman that he so longed for her to be do you remember her it was heart wrenching she wanted to stay married to that guy guess what he divorced her he left her for the other woman you just sit there and go like what do you do with that uh you suck it up because that's what you're gonna have to deal with and this is she had kids and that's one of the reasons why she didn't want to get divorced because she really didn't want another woman in their life i don't blame her for that i'd like pounds pound somebody's face in the old hope would come alive it would not be pretty it would be ugly yeah so i'm just saying in that case tracy like what do you do you like you you're you're now in god's hands and you're gonna have to like really trust and trust him through this whole entire process because there was nothing that

lady could do and which she's not i don't even think she's saved. I don't think she was saved through that. I mean, I think she was trying to find God. I'm looking at Vanessa just so you know. I think she was trying to find God through that whole thing because they weren't saved up to that point. I remember her saying that. I don't know if she ever really got saved, but I know that that group, we as women, were something that she found comfort in because we gave her the word and we gave her hope through the word. Now, whether she took it or not is another thing.

It's just like Jesus healed all that went into the towns and healed so many people, but they didn't get saved. They found comfort in the healing and what his presence brought. And I think that's the same thing with us. I think she found comfort in the presence of the Holy Spirit, but it wasn't anything that she really stuck to. But that's what I think, Tracy. Why did somebody ask that question?

There's some comments about it. You have no choice. That's the bad part. Yeah. But I will tell you this, like Tom and I both have said, you cheat. There's some comments about it. You have no choice. That's the bad part. Yeah. But I will tell you this. Like, Tom and I both have said, you cheat. We gone. I'm not doing it.

Not that we would, but I'm just saying. Like, I'm just putting it out there. Homie, don't play that. I'm not doing it. No. I'm worthy of being faithful to. Right'm not doing it. No. I'm worthy of being faithful too. Right.

Amen. You get me, you get a prize. Oh my gosh. And if that prize ain't good enough for you, well that's okay. We'll move on. Thank God I don't have to worry about that because apparently he can't handle two relationships. What's hilarious

is like he doesn't do anything. I know. Whatever. Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't. No. He really, like he's a simple person.

Because he knows like besides, like not you, but other women, like what they need to fill their cup. And he's like, oh, I can't even imagine. And you're easy. I am very, very. I'm a very independent person. Right, right. And most women aren't. He's a very independent person, too.

We so enjoy each other. We spend a lot of time together. But I'm just saying, in the midst of all that, we're very independent. But he's so simple right he's a simple person like jerry said to me today on the phone hey if you guys want to go out to dinner i'm like i don't think i could get tom to go out to a restaurant he likes just the same old thing every single day all he he has right now i told him i said he has a formula right now yeah and he walks by that

formula and he's seen great success spiritually professionally the whole thing but it's like he's a very simple man how could he meet anybody unless it's out in the woods on a trail oh my gosh on the road because he really doesn't leave the house unless it's for the podcast in church yeah there's no way he would meet somebody it's true he doesn't go anywhere he did say he was going to try and be a better friend yeah i think that was like i think it was a prank yeah i think he was pranking jeff Jeff. Well, Jeff doesn't, Jeff is about as easy as Tom. Like Jeff requires nothing. Right. Exactly. Like the man is about as simple as simple can be. It's true. Yeah. He's not a complicated individual. He just, life is just simple there are some people

that are not simple not that they're complicated but they're vivacious they want to be in the mix I love all of that I'm not married to a guy that's like that at all but I think guys like that

are super awesome too I find them to be, you know. Just need a little more TLC. That's all. They need a little more TLC, but there's something special about that, too. It is. Yeah. No, there is.

For sure. They're the spice. They are. Very spicy. They're a little spicy. I like that. I'm not married to one. He's not spicy at all.

He's about as white bread as it gets. Oh, my gosh. Like, even when he gets sick. He's not spicy at all. He's about as white bread as it gets. Oh my gosh. Like even when he gets sick. Yeah. He is. He's wonder bread like off the charts. He's not wheat. He's wonder.

He doesn't even like he gets sick. He doesn't even, he doesn't even really want anybody around. Not that he's mean. He's like, I'm all right. You can leave me in here to die. I'll be all right.

He's not saying that, but he's like i'm all right you can leave me in here to die i'll be all right no he's not saying that but he's literally like yeah in there with his scripture cards praying right doing his doing his thing so he gets better like he doesn't need it he's not like will you hold my hair while i throw up he's just like i'm fine. He's just like very independent, very low key, low maintenance, simple individual. So aside from an affair, let's say you just get left. Like what about the spouses? That's abandonment. Right. That's the Bible says that you can remarry and that's life. And I feel bad that when that happens to people and it does.

Yeah, it does. It does happen. Like they say they're going to 7-Eleven and they never come back. I mean, hello. Yeah. So what do they do? You got to move on. Yeah.

Move on and find somebody new. Fall in love with Jesus. Well, that, yeah, obviously that. Dig into your relationship because that's the only way you're going to get over it. Right. But I'm just saying, on the whole. Yeah. See, so you know what I think is so tough about divorce that I think people forget? Is that, like, when you lose your spouse, like, I will not name names.

I won't make this relevant to me personally, right? I'll say it like this because I don't want to expose anybody. But the thing is, is when you get, when you are married and you make that commitment to the person right and you're in a lovingly committed relationship and the other person now decides that they don't want the same thing you do right so they either get involved with somebody or they just up and say I'm out of here right that is like someone a spouse passing right because you envisioned and maybe you were with this person for a very very long time years maybe 10 20 30 I've known people 30 plus years and then

getting divorced um the thing is that what makes it different, like it is very much like a death. Like your spouse has passed away. So when my mom, when my dad passed away, my mom didn't really have any say in his passing. Right? He just suddenly was here and then he was gone. And basically how he said he was going to go is exactly how he went. How he proclaimed it. Words matter.

And he got exactly how he wanted it. He did. Gone here one second, gone the next, didn't even feel a thing. Like totally, totally a peaceful passing.

So my mom didn't have, so she had to go through the mourning of the loss, right? Of my dad passing away. Here's the difference between somebody passing away and mourning their loss versus somebody who is married to somebody, still engaged, still wants to be married to that individual, but the other individual says, no, I don't want you. I want somebody else. Or no, I don't even want to be married anymore. They've made the decision. Now you have the loss and you mourn that individual who you thought you spent the rest of your life with. What hurts the worst about that is they've rejected you. See, my dad, when he passed,

he had no say in it. So my dad didn't reject my mom. He was just gone because it was his time that he, you know, he believed, he literally said, I'm ready to go whenever God's ready to take me. So he went, right? When somebody still loves somebody and wants to make that relationship work and the other person is saying, no, I don't want you or no, I don't want to be married. I don't even want to be married to you. Like now you're faced not only with the loss and the mourning of the loss, but the rejection or betrayal and rejection

from that individual. That's a tough pill to swallow. Very tough. Because all of it's a loss. Yeah. Yep. Divorce is worse though, in my opinion. Because people have like you're you can make somebody feel like they're so valuable or you can make them feel like they're this big.

And when you and you better make sure when you get married that you really are ready to be married or this is really the right person or God has told you they're the right person. Because if you later on decide that they're not the right person and you want to divorce them and you don't want to be in that relationship anymore, it's just not for you. You like somebody else. Remember what you're doing to them because you're now going to affect their self-esteem, affect their self-worth. I mean, outside of God himself helping them through that, which he will have to, you are destroying somebody's countenance, their spirit, their soul. And that's a big deal. And people just walk away like it's nothing. Or they flirt and they talk to

somebody else like it's nothing. Like the person that they have committed themselves to for the rest of their life is like, I just don't feel like it anymore. Because they've already grieved it. What is that? They've already grieved that loss, the person that's leaving. So it's like at the point where they finally admit that they're done, like there's no feelings anymore. Well, they don't even like that person anymore.

So they really don't even care about them. Yeah. I don't even know if they've even ever grieved it. To be perfectly honest, I think a lot of people are so selfish and so self-consumed. They never even took consideration of the other person's feelings because really all that matters is what they want, how they feel. That's it. And you're just going to have to pick up the pieces sweetie yeah and deal with it that's because that's just how it is no you pick up the pieces because you know what you're reaping you sow yeah and whatever you do is coming back absolutely i hope it's worth it because it may not

be in this lifetime yeah but it's coming back. And it will come back. Either through a marriage, they get remarried, and then that person treats them just the way they got treated, or they do it again to somebody else. But eventually, you're going to be hurt by somebody that you truly care about and you truly love. And it could be your kids, you know, because you do their parent dirty. Let's say a woman goes out and she has an affair and she treats the father like dog crap and then the kids believe her that he's like this

horrible human being you know how parents pit kids against each other and so the father's having to walk through this whole mess right of rejection nice kids think he's at one thing and then because the mother's justifying her actions and her behaviors what happens is those kids grow up yeah truth is revealed at some point everything comes to the light even when you want to make because it's it is the word is clear anything you want to hide in the dark will be brought to the light even when you want to make because it's it's the word is clear anything you want to hide in the dark will be brought to the light it does it may take a while but it does and so when that does all that you've done and all that you think that you you know this fold and this love that you've created and this bond that you have will be ripped from you. Yeah. Because kids eventually realize, hey, that's not all that mom said.

And now you're going to have to deal with the rejection of your own kids. And that might be more hurtful and more heartbreaking than anything you could have done to their father. It does happen. It happens more with women, though. No, that's not true. It's bad. Because men get cheated on all the time.

They do. Women, it used to be men cheated on women all the time. But now I think it's not that way. I hear stories of men being cheated on almost as much as I hear women being cheated on. Yeah, me too. It's so sad. Me too. Because, you know, I don't know.

Yeah. That's enough of that. I didn't even get to any other questions. Just the one. There was a lot of comments, so that was good. So my apologies for that. We'll start the other questions next week. If you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

today's your day. Or if you've walked away, today's your day. And listen, if you're going through heartbreak and hurt, or you've done some heartbreak and hurt, like God is great. He's a redeemer. He's a restorer. He's a fixer-upper. Let him do that for you today.

So we're going to pray for people who've been through divorce or been rejected or whatever. We'll pray for you, but we're at the end of the day. I'm going to pray for those who need him to be their Lord and Savior. So let's start out with, I'm going to pray for everyone who's walked through the situation. And then the next thing is we're going to go and do the sinner's prayer. Okay. We're going to make it short, sweet, because I'm four minutes over. Is that correct? Yeah. Four minutes over. So let's get rolling on this right now. Not that Jesus needs to be pressed and fast, but I know we got things to do. So Heavenly Father, we just come to you right now. And Lord, I know that this issue is one that is

just based on the statistics. It's very common. It's very normal. It should not be. When Jesus walked this earth, he clearly said in his word, in the word that, which is him, that he did not want people to be divorced or for it to really be an option. But the two options that are there are for people who are abandoned and people who have been caught in adultery. So, Father, I just speak to women and men who have experienced this, that have faced rejection, faced the mourning and the loss of someone who's decided that they no longer want the relationship, the marriage, and they are walking away. I ask that you would heal the hearts.

I ask that you would create a resolve inside of each and every single one of them. Allow them to understand and know who they are in Christ, that their self-esteem, their soul and their spirit would be renewed and redeemed. And Lord, let them know beyond a shadow of a doubt they are a woman or they are a son and daughter of the living God. No one can compare. No one can do anything justice to who you are and who you are to them. And let them walk with their head high and that that rejection is not anything that has to do with them.

It has everything to do with the individual who did the rejecting and the life that they are in the midst of. Their fruit stinks. It's bad. It has nothing to do with them. So let them not carry that weight. Let them carry that shame because through you and in you, they are all that they need to be for someone else. And I ask that all those shackles and all that heaviness be just taken and broken off of them right now in the name of Jesus.

Walk in freedom, walk in peace, and walk in joy. Jesus mighty name. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, just say this prayer with me right now. Heavenly Father, I thank you for what you did on that cross. I thank you for giving up your life for me. God, I thank you. You sent your son, your one and only son, so that I might have life and live it abundantly here on earth, but also for eternity. I give you my life. I ask you to forgive me of my sin. I thank you, Lord, that whatever you say to do, I will do. Wherever you say to go, I will go. You are the Lord of my life from this point forward. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Thank you for saying that

prayer. Have a fantastic weekend. Hopefully we see you on Sunday. If you don't live in the area, please, please, please join us on Sunday. We'd love to see you. Come and meet us. You got Vanessa. You got Logan. You got Tracy. Find one of us.

Say hey. We love you. Thank you for joining in today. Have a great weekend. Bye-bye. we love you thank you for joining in today have a great weekend bye bye hey madeline's job school did not get out on time she's not even going to be home until 4 45 we are open to coming down oh my god real talk real talk Real talk.

Real talk. Real talk. you you you you you