The Hope Hotline - The Hope Hotline | S01-E91 | 12-06-23

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

The Hope Hotline | S01-E91 | 12-01-23

🎵 Thank you. Thank you. අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. so Thank you. Real Talk. real talk real talk real talk real talk Oh, you just caught her dancing. Welcome to the Hope Hotline. I'm sitting next to a person who can't sit still because if there's music, she's dancing. That's right. Today, this is impromptu.

And this all is from Friday. 100%. Yeah, well, it didn't happen today. It was all Tracy's idea, actually You're welcome On Friday, when we did the podcast on what it looked like to be a Christian on a daily basis I'm looking at Tracy Yeah, yeah, okay

Then Tracy was afterwards, she's like, you know what? We should do the four essentials I love the four essentials Which some of you guys have no idea what I'm talking about, the four essentials. I love the four essentials. Which some of you guys have no idea what I'm talking about, the four essentials. But by the time the end of the podcast, you absolutely will understand what the four essentials are. And this chickie right here has taught on it. Yes. And I love the four essentials.

I know. They changed your life forever. They did. And you're going to share that with people. Absolutely. She's taught on them. So who better to teach us? Sean asked if this was a juicer.

By the time it's all done, this is a big deal for Vanessa. It's one thing for her to sit over there and just impromptu say things. It's another. By the time this is done, she'll have no deodorant left under her armpits. I'm sweating so bad.

And her bangs might be a little frayed from the sweat. She might not look the same. This right here might not look as good. I wore my hoops for extra confidence. Yes. We have a question from the audience. What? Sean wants to know if this is another juicer promotion.

Who does? Sean. That's funny. Right on me. That's why Logan's losing it. My goodness. And then your husband. Yeah.

If anybody who can do a juicer commercial this is nothing no you got it your husband's warming the crock pot over here what is he saying he's warming the crock already hey jeff what does the warming the crock pot mean is it really means that he you have something on in the crock pot or he's he the crock pot anybody want to like chime in no go ahead vanessa's the crock pot or he's he the crock pot anybody want to like chime in now go ahead Vanessa's the crock pot oh okay I get it okay so Heather just so Tom and I were gone Sunday Monday Tuesday so we came back we left Monday Sunday we leave we have meetings we get out of here like at 4 o'clock. It's super late. Get over to the other side about 8 o'clock to the West Coast and crash.

And I think we called Heather. I think we called you and Travis, right? So I'm on the phone with Heather, and they're on speaker. And Tom's watching the football game. And Heather tells Tom, hey, how did you say it? What are you guys doing? Oh, she says, what are you guys doing? And I told her we were watching the football game.

She said Tom needs to turn off the football game and turn me on. Whoa. That's a good one. I was like, whoa, check it. You go, girl. So we actually, I'm off. I'm coming off of a nice little, I would say it's a three-dayer,

but it's really not because it wasn't a three-dayer. But I kid you not, we get there at 8 o'clock. We probably went to bed about midnight. Got up. Both of us went our separate ways to go exercise because he prays in the morning and I pray in the morning. So I found, I went walking, and in about 45 minutes to an hour I found a Starbucks

because I couldn't find the dadgum coffee place in the thing. And, yeah, you're right. Why am I exercising with the Starbucks? I understand that. But listen, I'm working off some calories here. That's right. So I can gain some calories. Come on.

And I did. I found that Starbucks. Tom went some way. He was not pleased with his selection and the direction he went walking. I, on the other hand, found the hot spots. It was great walking, great fun. Came back. He kept exercising.

I took a nap. Then I think I got lunch for us. And then I took another nap. Sounds lovely. And then, kid you not, we each, like, all the way way up until i don't even know what time we talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked it was probably like midnight we ended up eating in we totally called room service because we were like you know

what i don't think i want to get out i don't want to go out of the room yeah so that's how we normally vacation back in the day we do it, we maybe went and saw the sites for an hour. Yeah. That's how you do it. And then we'd cry. I slept so much, much needed sleeping. Apparently I loved every minute of it. I slept more when I was born. My mother would have to wake me up. I slept through the night. Wake me up. Me too. I was a great sleeper. Yes, would have to wake me up to feed me. Yeah.

Slept through the night immediately. This girl likes to sleep. Nothing's changed. That's what Tom says. Nothing's changed since you were born. Logan, I bless you and find favor for your baby. Amen. Amen.

I actually prayed that over both my kids. Six weeks, they were sleeping through the night. And pretty much from the beginning, they were like waking up once. It was a piece of cake. It was easy. So we did pray that. They would love to sleep. You hear that, Logan?

So I'm coming off of vacation. I'm talking a little fast because I'm well rested. I like it. I like this version of hope. It's pretty dang great. So Tracy, you want to hook us up with all the stuff that we need to know before we get into it? Please. Absolutely. Okay. So we're going to go right into the merch and I just want you guys up to, I'm muting everybody else. I'm the only one available right now. So we have the Shop Now link at foundationchurchfl.com and you can shop right

now. You can do that while you're multitasking and listening to this great conversation that's going to be had. But before you run to the shop and pick up your Hope Hotline mug, which you can also get in our merch store at church because you should be there on Sunday because you can't miss out. But the spoon and the shirt, I think the shirt's available too. Okay, Heather's gone. I think we have the spoon and the shirt available too. So please, please go do that. And then, but before we do anything else, please like, share, subscribe, comment on

Facebook, Rumble, YouTube, and Blackrobe. And by now you guys know how to do all the good things. And you know, it's Christmas season. I don't know if you noticed, but Hope has a new background because it's Christmas time. So we get Christmas Eve service on Sunday, December 24th. It starts at 7pm. In case you missed the memo, we are having church Sunday morning too. So we expect you to be there both times. Pastor Tom may or may not speak. It's always, you never know. So bring your friends and family because it will be a great time. This year is going to be full of surprises. We have our Grinch breakfast. This is for

Foundation Church kids, families. This is not a drop-off event, so you will be hanging out as well. When you register for that and for the Christmas Eve service, we need you guys to tell us exactly how many people are coming with you so that we can make sure everybody has enough food. And we're going to move on pretty quickly today. We've got Hope's favorite things. If you've been paying attention, you know we have already announced the Longhorn gift card.

We have the famous Gold Bond neck cream, the infamous Hope Hotline mug. And, oh, hold on. Go ahead. Go ahead. I just got a text from Lee, Kristen's husband. Yeah, you gotin's husband yeah you gotta text me a picture yeah himself yeah and he says everything tastes better out of this mug oh that's sweet and it does i can promise you if they want to get that picture if he gets a picture i'm drinking out of that mug i do have a picture of it of him yeah okay we might have to we might have to show

everybody that this is for anybody yeah yeah it's a dude drinking out of a Hope Hotline mug. I love that. Come on. Come on. And he's a cutie pie on top of that. Look at this. Look at this mug. Look at that picture.

What a great photographer. Whoever took that. Oh, my gosh. Brindley goes, Tracy. Hey, listen, low confidence will go a long way. Hey, you know. Brindley goes, Tracy. Hey, listen, low confidence will go a long way. Hey, you know. Okay, so yes, please.

The mug will make your life different. I mean, you can even ask Vanessa. She got hers for being a guest today. So we've got the coconut body butter, which Hope swears by. The coconut is the right one. All the other ones are wrong, so don't even try them. What's the one, Talia, what's the one that you had that smelled good but stunk? She had the lavender.

Oh. Oh, that's the one your mom has. Mom, we need you to chime in right now. You better be watching at all times. Tell us if it stinks or not. Does it stink? Does it stink? Not the smell. Not the smell.

The texture. Yeah, is it like butter? Because this stuff's supposed to be like butter. Thank you. The coconut,. The texture. Yeah. Is it like butter? Because this stuff's supposed to be like butter. Thank you. The coconut, you have to work it. The coconut, you don't work it. Okay. Also, we found out that different people are working at different times.

That is true. And different people make different stuff. Logan did inform us of that. Okay. I was going to name names, but since I was naming names. That is true. Apparently, some of these Buff City body butter makers. I feel bad for people who don't have Buff City.

I do too. I mean, I didn't have Buff City. I don't know what I did without it beforehand. I love it. I love it. It's my jam. They're laundry detergent. So good.

Laundry detergent. Narcissist is the. Commando. Yes. Oh, oh. I'm a commando. I like the commando. I'm a narcissist.

Commando. It's the best goes with that goes without saying i might be a narcissist no there might be reasons for that okay so today's new oh i'm so excited about this i don't even know what it is i know you don't well you you don't. Okay, so her new favorite thing, which I have actually experienced now, is... What is it? The Thrive mascara. Serum hooked me on that. Like, I am hook, line, and sinker.

And Vanessa just got to see it because she was looking at my makeup bag. I was checking her makeup bag. And she's like, oh, this is what makeup bag. I was checking her makeup bag. And she's like, oh, this is what it is. I'm telling you right now, people, you haven't experienced a good mascara until Thrive. And I didn't think that, you know, when Sarum gave me all these things, I was like, oh, this is sweet. Like, she gave me her favorite things.

This is how we came up with this idea. Sarum gave me her favorite things. And all of her favorite things i love and this is probably top of the list besides this stuff that she puts she gave me to put on my um my eyelashes before what's the name of that stuff vanessa because she just gave it to you primer oh yeah it's for your lashes. Doesn't it make them curl? But mine's super curly already. It's like curl boosting primer that you put before and then the mascara on top. Oh, it's so good. Yeah, it's good.

Women and men who are trans, you'll love it. Just saying. Just saying. We're for all people. But we're just going to get you saved at the end of it. That's it. Okay. That that's right that's special so anyways the thrive liquid lash extension mascara is one of hope's favorite things and that will be yours if you listen for the every listen every podcast for the secret word so every single podcast we've've had a secret word from how many days ago now?

Two weeks ago. And we will just continue. And it's going to be a phrase. And it will make you maybe smile. It might make you cry. It might just make you... It might make you repent. Come to Jesus.

You never know. You never know. You know what? I'm going to go back to that Thrive Mascara really quick. Because I'm just going to tell you that but you can only see I want half of my face.

Towards each other. Want me to do this? Is that okay? Oh, half. I was making it so I look like the guy from Batman who like burned half of his face and the other half looks good. Two face. That's what I was trying to be right here. What would that be like? That's good. That's why it's trying to be right here. What would that be like?

That's interesting. That's pretty cool. I can't do lefts and rights. I'm doing better. Oh, yeah. Look at you, Havzi. Do both. You can do it. Just for a second.

Don't move. Oh, crap. I moved. There we go. Smile. smile okay i'll take a picture okay so i'm going to tell you guys the thrive mascara i don't have false eyelashes right like i don't do fake eyelashes i don't i have long eyelashes and i've i think that that stuff makes my eyelashes seem longer than what they really are. And usually I've all my life been asked, do you have fake eyelashes?

And I think they're even longer with this stuff and they're not clumpy. Oh yeah, that's huge. That's huge because usually it's, if you want to have thick eyelashes, it's usually not you're you're having to forsake something to have a decent eyelash right sorry men this is boring for you i'm just saying women there's something to be said for a nice eyelash mascara yeah i agree

what is that yeah buy your wife that mascara for christmas I'm telling you, she'll love it. And with the primer. And the primer. The primer. Just in case you don't win this. You will be like a number one. Yeah. Curl boosting. I think it's made by Lamcom.

Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. Curl boosting. It's white. It's a white container. That's how you're going to know it's the right one. But I'm just saying. And your lashes will be lashing.

And if you do have fake eyelashes, like, Sarum, she does not have fake eyelashes, I don't think. Hers is super long, too. But I'm just saying, if you do have them, they'll be on fleek. Come on. It's giving. It's giving lashes. That's right.

Okay, what are we doing next? Oh, okay, go ahead. Just that so that we'll we'll have a secret word for today it will be said at some point and then you just need to write down because i mean we're trying not to have cheaters win so hope doesn't care but i do and so we just want you to know the times you do time i because this is important this is important. This is important stuff. So every podcast, and I answer the emails. So I'm going to be looking for the timestamp. Tracy's not playing around. That was the most frustrating thing.

I'm going to put myself on real quick. Yeah, you go ahead, girl. Do it. When you were studied really hard, because that was not something I did very often. Heather, you probably understand this. The one time you studied hard for a test, and then the person next, the boy next to you cheated off of you, but you worked so hard that one time and then you're like, forget it. I'm never doing this again. I'm going to be the one that looks. I was always the one that looked. See, that's why you don't care. So if you want to win,

if you want to win all these amazing products, which we haven't even, I don't listen, there's more to come. And some of them are going to be like, I don't remember them all. Okay. I don't either. I have one. Okay. So, um, yeah. So it's going to be really exciting. I'm excited to find out what my favorite things are. I forget. I forgot what my favorite things are. And I helped her come up with the list. This is all Vanessa's idea. Vanessa, this whole thing is vanessa's idea way to go vanessa i know fanny i'm so love it oh somebody's getting acclimated to the podcast into the microphone the sweating has taken over guys that's it the sweating has stopped no the sweating is continuing so um do you have anything else no that's it okay so put everybody on one more one okay go ahead okay i'll put myself on um bobski my mom said that it is like butter so oh yeah i'm sorry so

logan's right yeah so whoever made talia's she got the back like it was like the last one did you get the scrub maybe and no she got she brought it to my house. I was like, this is terrible. It literally is like chalk. No, yeah. Mom said light butter. I said, I'm going to buy that one again. Okay. Interesting. But it goes to prove Logan's point.

It depends on who's making it. That makes sense. It's not good. So over there, peanut gallery. So Vanessa's back, but so is Sarah. We've got a whole group of people here today so sarah is in her workout gear because sarah's working hard yes she is yeah girl and she's a little sore so but she's pink pro so whatever that means that's what her hat says she's a pink pro today god bless it's whatever

you want it to mean that could go a lot of ways We're not going to even try and figure it out Yeah Because we've got 42 minutes to go and we've got a lot to cover We do Do we? We do, whether you want to or not So

I'm ready for you guys to depart Thank you Us too Bring it back to us I never say. No, no, it's good. I love it. Go away.

Never. No, you don't. Normally I'm like, girls, put yourself on. But today, we got things to do. I get it. I will be going back to you guys.

Yeah, for sure. But, okay, so when we talked last Friday, it was about how to walk out your Christian walk on a daily basis. And what is, if you use these four things, we call them the four essentials, they're things that Tom actually created. Well, he didn't create them because once you hear them,

you're going to be like, those aren't created. But he put them together. Yeah, he did. And because if you hear them you're gonna be like those aren't created but he put them together yeah you did and because if you do these four essentials what i talked about on friday is how you walk out a daily daily life yeah like it's simple it's simple but not easy because you have to put in the work and you have to be consistent with it. And consistency is extremely difficult for many. Discipline and consistency are probably the toughest things that I think people across the board have a hard time doing. Because once something becomes a habit and mundane, more so mundane, it's like it sounds great to work out until you've been doing it for about six months,

maybe even less, three months, and then you're like, is this it? Yeah. It don't get any better than this? No, it doesn't get any better. In fact, it gets worse. That's the truth. So you just got to fight through. It's what I call. Well, it's what Tom and I always call the grind. You got to grind. If you want to see success in anything

in life, you got to grind. It's what the word calls enduring. And if you don't endure through the tough times and you don't get to the success or you don't get through the process of whatever you're grinding and enduring through. Absolutely. Absolutely. But what I find fascinating is how and why you implemented the four essentials. Like I know that the four essentials weren't taught to you when you first started coming.

So like, and last and on Friday you talked about, which you were a little bit more, you were vague when you were talking. So you explained it a little bit more detail, but we were talking about words and like words specifically of vulgarity, things like cussing and things like that.

You really, which I thought you were saying you cussed, but you didn't realize that cussing in foul language was wrong. But you said, no, you really didn't. I mean, except for one word really to speak of. You didn't really cuss. Everybody else around you did, but you didn't realize it. So God never spoke to you about it for the most part because it wasn't

a part of your life. It was just a part of everybody else. But I'll let you go and tell your story about, because you're from New York. Yeah. Don't hold that against her. Please don't. For the record. Please don't. I'm from Brooklyn, and if you know anything about New York, like us

Brooklynites are a little different we're a little spicy but the Lord has done a work I went to New York I've only gone to Manhattan Manhattan right? and I was telling you guys this

when I went to New York City everybody gives New York people from New York a bad rap. Oh my gosh, they were the nicest, sweetest. They were super like, if I had to deal with the amount of tourists on a daily basis, having to get to my job, walking to it in the cold and in the rain. And if I had to deal with the amount of tourists that people from New York deal with right like there'd be no one left to endure I went to um college but they're so sweet yeah they are and we are I went to college and on my the street that my college was on um they filmed law and order oh my goodness and so there was constantly like trailers and I would always like walk slowly by the trailers

just in case they needed an extra. Never happened. Well, let's remember what you looked like at the time. I don't think they were looking for extras that look like you. You made up for two. They wouldn't need two. They weren't looking for two extras.

They were only looking for one. Wow. I can't with her.. I can't with her. I really can't with her. But she's not lying, okay? That's the thing. She's not lying. My goodness.

So I feel like before I jump in to the four essentials, I feel like it's important that you kind of know a little bit of my background because I grew up a Christian. I was raised in a Christian home for the most part. My mom raised us in church. I'm actually a product of children's church. So all of you children, volunteers, like what you're doing on a daily basis, you're sowing seeds that will yield a beautiful harvest. Yeah. And by the way, we need more volunteers in that department. Those two departments. We always need more volunteers in those departments.

Always. I'm not kidding. Sign up today. Go ahead. And so every Sunday I was, you know, at my home church, but also every Saturday,

a yellow school bus used to come and pick up all the neighborhood kids. I was one of those neighborhood kids and they would take us to Saturday, Sunday school. They would put a huge, used to come and pick up all the neighborhood kids. I was one of those neighborhood kids. And they would take us to Saturday, Sunday school. They would put a huge permanent marker number on your hand so they knew that you belonged to the right Sunday school bus. So they didn't lose you. I'm like, I think back on that time,

and I have no idea how my mother even allowed that. But here I am, like five years old, climbing into this yellow school bus, going to Saturday, Sunday school every single week. And I was disciples kind of there. And then I grew up and I got too old for the program. So I couldn't attend anymore. And so my way around that was, well, I'm going to start volunteering. And so I started getting on the school bus and picking up the neighborhood kids around my neighborhood that were younger than me. And so I volunteered for a long time. And then they invited me to come on staff. And so I worked for the church for many, many years. And that's how I met Jeff. He was an intern that came to learn about the program. It's called Metro World Childs. And

if you look it up, it's super huge and popular and like known for their children's ministry program. And so people from all around the world would come and learn the program and then implement it at their home church, mainly for inner city ministry. Gotcha. It specialized in inner city ministry. Because you're having to pick up kids. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense.

And so Jeff, he was an intern. And then he was just so good at it that they invited him off of the internship to stay on as staff. And so that's how Jeff and I kind of met. And we got married soon after. And so we did that. We did full-time ministry for a long time. We were children's pastors in California for a couple years at a mega church. And that didn't pan out as well as we thought it would.

Well, I might say nothing. I can can get into that but i probably won't um and that led us to alabama so it's a a smaller scale church in alabama but still pretty large um kind of same thing happened and that's why most people people join the ministry and they don't even make it four years truth the average pastor pastors no more than seven years yeah and then they quit I believe that mm-hmm and so from Alabama a church in Florida kind of invited us to come on. And so we did that. We were children's pastors at a church in Port Charlotte nearby. And then that didn't pan out for a lot of the same reasons why the other churches didn't. And if you know anything about ARC churches and all of that, it was just... But it's so funny because they were all associated related churches, but none of them held that name. They were all denominational churches.

Like names that all of us know well, know very well. Yeah. You can be ARC and still have a different title. It's crazy. Yeah, absolutely. And so by the time we made our way to Foundation Church, I was a little battled, fatigued. I was a little jaded, kind of like I told Jeffrey, I remember when we decided to that Foundation Church was our home. And I knew immediately as soon as I walked in, you actually greeted us at the door and you like showed us around.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I remember you. That's crazy. Um, and we sat down and after that service and we had before that we had, we had like gone to every single church in our area and we knew immediately that they were not our church in the same way that we knew immediately that foundation church was our church. And so I remember on our way back home, I said, Jeff, this is our home church now, but I am not volunteering. I am going to be a nice pew warmer is what I told him. And he was like, yeah, yeah, okay. And that lasted a whole two weeks.

Because here's the thing. If you're, if you, um, have a calling of ministry on your life, it's a fire that's burning in your bones, right? It burns up in your bones and you can't like, you can't not do it. It's a fire that burns you, burns inside of you. You can't not minister. Yeah. And you and Pastor Tom took us out to dinner shortly after. And just hearing your hearts and just seeing just how healthy leadership was. It was so refreshing, especially coming from the background that we had come from. And so it was almost like taking a breath, like, okay. And I think we're celebrating our 10th year now attending, which is like-

At least. Huge. I know. That's 10 years with a church. It's a big deal. I mean- Because people, a lot of people like are very transient. Most churches can't say that they even have a handful of people that have been with them that long or even from the beginning. Yeah.

It's very rare that you even have one couple, maybe two couples that started with you from the beginning. And it's important to note that every single church that we had left in the past, we didn't leave until the Holy Spirit released us. Yeah. Right? We have to. Because you're going to get offended anywhere, right? You're going to get your feelings hurt anywhere. But if you make that clear indication,

I'm not going to leave until the Holy Spirit releases me, then, you know, it's just so, the fact that we've been here for 10 years should show that things are pretty healthy here. And it's such a rarity. It is a rarity to find a church. I mean, I've gone to plenty myself. I'm 56.

So it's a lot of years. I have probably never seen. And I know that's saying something because I'm married to him but I know him well obviously and I've never been under somebody who has been as real has been as transparent and really really goes after being holy and wanting to please God on a daily basis. Whatever that looks like, if you want me to lay that down, I'm laying it down. If you want me to pick that up, I'll pick that up.

Dying to himself, I don't think I've met anybody that's done that. Now, I will tell you this, being under Pastor Rodney and knowing him like I do, it's the only pastor that I can say that is very much close to Tom. Like they're very different, but Pastor Rodney is the same exact way. And he is one of the most selfless individuals I've ever met in my life. Now he's, he's difficult to please because he has a high expectation, which we all should. We're doing things unto the Lord. So you better be doing things in excellence. And if you're not, meeting things at that standard,

then maybe you don't need to be doing that. But as far as being honest and transparent, I don't know if I've ever met anybody outside of Tom, but I can truly say, I feel like Pastor Rodney fits that bill too. But a lot of people are not like that. No, it is rare. And that's why we just, we love being here. We love serving. It's easy to serve here. And I keep showing up. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Because you're actually on the worship team. That would be pretty rough if you were not. So what I loved about the four essentials, so right, this is a series that Pastor Tom did

very early, soon after that, soon after we started attending. And I think it was like a four, I can't remember now, but I think it was like a four week. It's, it was, I believe it was, it might've been five weeks, but he broke each essential down into a sermon. Yes. And like the years, all the years that I had been working in ministry, like I, I was doing all the things right. And so I was, I was working for the Lord and I was, I had my hands in so many things. However, I lacked intimacy with the Lord. It's, it's the, and so because of that, I, I wrestled with anxiety. I wrestled with fear and it's because I was,

I was too much like Martha and not enough Mary. Right. And I think that story is found in Luke 10. If you wanted to go back and read that story. Do you have that Luke 10? No, no. Okay. But if you wanted to go back and read the story of Mary and Martha, like Martha was kind of getting upset at Mary because what Mary was doing was sitting at the feet of Jesus. But what was Jesus' response to Mary? She was doing... She was corrected.

Yeah. And it wasn't necessarily the nicest correction. Yeah. But she was corrected. She chose the best. I can't remember. Well, Martha was sternly corrected. And Mary, he basically said that she was doing what was the best. And that he was there for such a short period of time.

And that she should be doing the same thing. Right. And so I kind of felt leading up to this series, like I was I was kind of like being busy and not enough, like sitting at the feet of Jesus. And so what the four essentials did for me, it was so practical. And I think that's why I loved it so much, because it was like, do these four things. You know what, too? I would say you you talked about you talked about uh to me like when you first came to the church you were burned out i was so burnt out and do you know that believers should never be burned out right you should if you're burned out then you're scripturally not right

i feel like i'm doing more now than i was then and i don't feel burnt out and you know why you're not burned out because i'm doing the four essentials. Because you're doing the four essentials. You cannot, no Christian can do, no Christian should ever be burned out. It's not possible. It is not possible to be burned out when perspectives and priorities are in place. Absolutely. It's not possible. So when people tell me I'm just burned out, I'm like thinking, well, thank you for giving me the inside look at to where you are spiritually speaking, because you're not right. Yeah, you cannot be there. Yep. People get mad at you because they think, no, no, you don't understand.

And I'm like, no, no, you don't understand. Yeah. Biblically, you're out of order. But go ahead, because it's all based on the four essentials. Yeah. Keep going, girl. And so when he started that series, I was like, wait, this sounds way too simple. Like, what?

These four things? And so I started applying those things. And before I started to apply those things, I was kind of wrestling with a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear. And I just thought it was normal. Everybody has anxiety. Everyone struggles with fear, right? Yeah, but they don't. But they don't.

And so when he started this series, I was like, you know what? I'm going to do this. I'm going to commit to this every single day. And I did. And my life and my walk with the Lord is night and day, night and day. And so like whenever like we're meeting together, it's every I mean, my girls are are right here. Like I bring up the four essentials a lot because it was that revolutionary for me.

Mm hmm. So what are the four essentials? We're going to go through them. Yeah. But let's hit all four, and then we'll break them down as you see fit. So prayer, Bible study, worship, and fellowship. I mean. How hard is that? It's so simple.

That's so technical. I think a rocket scientist would need to be able to understand that. Remember that commercial? That was easy, right? Oh, yeah. That button? It's like staples. That was easy.

Yeah. Yeah. It's so easy, but we make it so difficult. Right. Because guess why? We put ourselves in the mix. Mm-hmm. We become carnal.

And when we become carnal, what is simple becomes difficult. Absolutely. And what I love about the four essentials, like it can serve anybody. It can serve me as someone who is a seasoned believer. But it can also serve the new believer who just accepted Jesus as their personal Savior yesterday. Yeah, because if you know to do those four things every single day as a new believer, yeah. And you got it made, right? It's discipleship. It builds a solid foundation for the new believer. And then for the seasoned believer like myself, it propels us to the next

level. I love it. I know it's super important. I feel like I'm on an infomercial. Like, that never tasted so good. Like, bam. I will sell this. What is the thing that starts with the emerald? What did he used to say? Bam. Yeah. Bam.

That's what I feel like you should be going. Prayer. Bam. Yeah. I mean. It's super simple. It is. So let's talk about prayer.

Yeah, let's do it. So let's talk about prayer. Yeah, let's do it. Let's talk about prayer. But like how and let's make it a life applicable thing as far as what you did with it. Yeah. So for prayer for me was I did it whenever I needed something. I prayed when I was kind of in a bind or if I can like if I like thought about it, but it wasn't I didn't have like a lifestyle of prayer. OK, didn't have a lifestyle of prayer. Okay, so what is a lifestyle of prayer? How do you see that?

Okay, so for me, in the way that I apply it to my life, as soon as I wake up, I thank the Lord. One thing that Jeff and I have incorporated is we'll wake up before the sun and sit outside on our porch and watch. That sounds horrible. I know. It's lovely. Oh, my gosh.

What time would that be? Now that the time has changed, it's like 6, 15-ish. Now, I get up at 4 and I pray. Yeah. But I usually allow myself to go back to sleep. Yeah. You're not going back to sleep. No, we're not.

Yeah, no. We're not going back to sleep. No, we're not. Yeah, no. We're up. That's rough. And we sit and we play worship music. And I'm reading the Word. And I have a list. I have a running list on my phone of what I'm praying for and what I'm believing for. Yeah.

That is super wise. Yeah. Everybody should have a list. Yeah. And then super wise. Yeah. Everybody should have a list and then watch God cross them off. That's my favorite part. All the time. And then dating it on when he's done it. Because then you have a faith journey as well. And if you're going about to, when you're going through something that list, you can go back to it and say, well, if he did it then, he'll do it now. It's super important. It's super important. So go ahead. Yeah. So that's what, and then having a lifestyle prayer for me is just having a, and you, you touched on this, I think it was last week, but just having a constant conversation with the Lord.

You have thoughts anyway in your brain, right? Why not just direct them towards God? Well, and make them be less about you. Because a lot of times when we have conversations in our minds, it's conversations that always go back to us, which is not healthy. Implosion is not good. But when it's always outside of yourself, even if it's prayer for someone or about something. For example, if you, I would say, we got business owners in here, like your husband's a business

owner, Tracy's husband's a business owner, Tracy's a business owner, Sarah's a business owner. So we'll put it in this perspective because it makes the most sense to me. You could say that sometimes when somebody is a business owner and things are they're trying to cultivate things or they're trying to increase the business or they're walking through a situation in that business, which you oftentimes can sit there and have conversations in your head with the person you have the problem with or about the problem or whatever. But it goes back to speak to the mountain. Don't speak to God about the mountain. Speak to the mountain. So when you find yourself in those times, if you direct that conversation and you're directing God and telling him, I believe this and I stand on that. What happens is it's less about you and it's more about the proclamation and the speaking life over the situation versus it all coming back to you and you being so angst and so upset and so bothered. Nothing's solved, but most of the time, that's what we do. We have a conversation to ourselves about it versus talking and having a conversation

with the Holy Spirit that says, this is what I believe. This is what I'm standing on. And this is what I know God's word says is true. It's a whole different perspective. One's imploding. One is proclaiming. 100%. And prophetically speaking, because life and death, it's proclaiming 100 and prophetically speaking because life and death it's proclaiming

things so go ahead yeah and when we have a lifestyle prayer we magnify the lord right and we yeah we tend to because a lot of times we tend to magnify other things in our life and it's very self-focused and when we are praying and we have a lifestyle prayer we're we're magnifying god above all all else right and of all, all else. Right. And of all those, whatever you're, whatever you're walking through. Absolutely. Yeah. And the word tells us to pray without ceasing. Right. It's in there for a reason. Oh yeah. And, and so for me, it's just having that lifestyle of just in constant communication. And when we're doing that, we're, we're making ourselves ready in season and out of season, right?

We're not waiting until something happens. We're not waiting until we're sick or someone we love is sick to kind of get serious with our prayers, right? We're in a constant communication with the Lord. So when issues like that do happen and when issues like that do pop up. There's a covering. We're sharp. Yeah. We're ready.

Yeah. You're not taking a backer off guard. I will say that even with prayer, a lot of times people think prayer is self-motivated and self-reflection but i would say if even if you have loved ones that aren't saved yeah you're putting out there a constant covering over them a hedge of protection over you say well god and i believe this like they're not under god's covering they're not being but i've been there where i wasn't under God's covering. And the prayers of the righteous avail much is what the word says. My parents' prayers over my safety and me coming back is why I'm sitting at this seat right now. That's powerful.

So if we just focused on those things, literally all day, pray with self-ceasing. Pray over your kid continuously or your grandbabies or whatever. You say, well, I can't do that the whole entire day. Well, you might not be able to do it the whole entire day, but you can have them constantly in your heart so that when there is that moment, you're speaking to that. And here's the thing. Again, we don't fight against flesh and blood, but of spirits and principalities. So the thing is, is when you are praying over your children, your grandchildren, or whatever the case may be, you're fighting things in the spiritual realm.

Huge, huge, huge importance. Go ahead. So let's go to the next one. So that's prayer. That's what prayer looks like. Prayer is important. The next one is Bible study. People love that.

They love that. See, the thing is, is they rather read a devotional. Oh, that's literally my notes. They rather read a devotional. And they definitely, if they're going to read the Bible, it's going to be maybe a chapter. Let's get through this chapter. How many verses is in this thing?

Oh, my gosh. This one's 44 verses. And then they love the one that's 12. It's like, but the thing is, is it doesn't say to read the word. What does it say? Bible study. Bible study.

That means you have to study the Bible. If we were in Spanish, if we were speaking Spanish, study would come before Bible, correct? Because a lot of times they put little words. Yeah, yeah. So study the Bible. Absolutely, Bible study.

And that was number one on my list. People would much rather read Jesus Calling. Oh, all day long. A devotionable, listen to me, ESL. Okay. A devotion. If I say words that don't make sense, that's probably why. But people find it easier to read

a devotional about God's word than his actual words. Oh yeah. And I was guilty of that. Because they're too afraid that they won't understand it, but they've never even really tried to find a good Bible that they understand. And I'm not talking the NIV. The New Living Translation is phenomenal. If you can't understand the Amplified, we're in big trouble. The Amplified breaks it down. And there's two versions. There's a classic and then the regular version. There's no reason not to. Yeah. And a lot of times people will read their Bible just to check it off of their like, I'm a good Christian list. This is what I did today. And they like do a chapter a day. And so when we move past, when we move from doing that into actually studying God's

word, so many people want a word from the Lord. So many people want, um, to hear God's voice, yet they won't open up their word. They won't study his words and it's his, his words are, are alive and they're, and they're, they're given to us. And so, um, re for like Bible study probably looks different for me than it does for you. Everybody's always like that, right? Yeah. We all have our own ways that we learn. Exactly. For me, I, I kind of do both. I will will right now the Lord has me in Isaiah you hear that Sarah the Lord has me in Isaiah and so um I've been studying through Isaiah but also um as a group and we'll get into fellowship in a little bit but as a group um Tracy and I lead a ladies group um every Tuesday and if you're a lady and you're local and you want to connect, slip into my DMs.

No comment. Yeah. And so as a group, we're studying identity. So the subject of identity and searching the word, the Bible for verses that speak on identity. So I kind of have two different things going on. Studying the book of Isaiah because that's where God wants me. And I'm literally just reading and allowing God to show me. And then as well as studying identity.

Who you are in Christ. Yeah, because so much of what we struggle with as Christians is because we don't know who we are in Christ and our authority as believers. Yeah, and the promises that we can stand on. Yeah. I think that more people don't understand the promises. Yeah. And so that fall goes back on, am i worthy enough to get the promises

yeah you are yeah you are you're the righteousness of god you know i mean and the thing is is like he calls us sons and daughters if you're a son or a daughter come on of the most high like what what good parent holds back from any child? And I'm not saying, I didn't say what parent. I said what good parent. What good parent holds anything back from their children? Yeah. There's no good parent.

Yeah. That does that. But let's elevate it to what great parent because God is the greatest of the great. So what would the greatest, because God is the greatest of the greatest. So what would the greatest, because it even says, if you being evil know how to give good gifts, how much more will your father in heaven? So for me, it's like, we're just good. He's great.

So like, we don't even understand. So it even goes, the promises even go far beyond what we even can comprehend for ourselves. Absolutely. And something that I learned from you, Hope, is that when reading the word, like taking into account the culture, right? The time period. Reading it through more of a Western, no, Eastern mindset instead of a Western mindset. That is huge. Huge. It makes the Bible come alive in like a whole new way. So just even applying that when

you read the word, like, and like when words pop up and, and like things pop up that you don't understand, like looking it up and like, you do a lot to like super important, just to have that visual of what's going on in that time period, um, really helps to like have the word come alive because if you can get into your word and the, and the word is so deep, like I can read something today and read that same scripture a year from now, and it can completely look different for me. And it's so wild. And the word of God is living that way. And so if you're not studying right now, I would encourage you to begin because it's huge.

And the thing is, is you sit there and you think, I won't understand this or I need somebody to help me. Or you'll just only listen to Bible teachers. And listen, I'm big on listening to great men of God teach me things. Phenomenal. But I'll give you a great example is when me and Tom went to visit his dad. We had just prayed or we had months before that, months, six months, had prayed for his healing. He received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, got saved, cancer completely out of his body, confounded the doctors.

We go and see him. Now he's moved to Tennessee. We go and see him. It might be almost a year. And I remember the cancer was back, and he was just devastated. And I remember sitting in his basement and saying to him that he was saved, confirming he was saved. But then I began to break down what was done for him on the cross and that salvation and the stripes that Jesus bore. Now, here's the thing.

I needed no man to tell me that the same thing that was done on Calvary, the three things that were done on Calvary were offered to us. But a lot of times people don't understand those revelations because they never read the word. They never study out the word. So they need a man to tell them that you don't need a man to tell you that like that was not, that was revelation knowledge that came through the word of God that no man needs to teach you because he will teach you. He will teach you all things. So I just sit there and I think back to that one time where it's like, it's so interesting that I've heard so many strong faith teachers teach this. And then I realized like, I needed no faith teacher to teach me that. That's something

I just knew because it's in the word. God will do the same thing for you. You don't need, it's, there's no mystery that you can't unfold. That's in the word. If you study it out, study. Yeah.

Just stay. It's wonderful. It is a wonderful thing for you to receive revelation knowledge through the word that God has revealed to you versus you having to have a man teach you. That's the truth. For me, it's like that's when you know I'm connecting. Me and God, we're on the same page. We're like this.

We're connecting. Yeah. You know? When you don't have to have, because he will. You just got to put the time in. Absolutely. You got to love him enough to put that time in. Yeah.

So go ahead. Tell me. Let's go to the next one. There's prayer. We just touched on Bible study. And then worship. Huge. When I think about worship, my brain always goes back to the story of Paul and Silas.

They had just been flogged. Yeah. Which is like, if you look that up. A big old beating. Yeah. Not good. Yeah. Not good. And then put into prison.

Okay. If anyone had an excuse to complain, it would be Paul and Silas. Okay. Yet their response to that was to worship the Lord. Yeah. And what happens? The prison doors opened and they were, you know, and if you read the story and you can find that story in Acts. We want to read that really quick. 16. Yep. Starting at verse 23, they were severely beaten and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape. So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamps their feet in the stocks. Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundation. All the doors immediately flew open,

and the chains of every prisoner fell off. Not only the chains on Paul and Silas, but every single prisoner that was in that prison. Can you imagine? It says in the scripture, they were listening to them as they worshiped. So what was going on within them? Why did the chains fall off of not only Paul and Silas, but all the prisoners? What was going on in their hearts and what was God working on in them? He was proving who he was as they were worshiping, as they were listening, as they were receiving. What we do matters because it affects everyone around us. And that right there just shows it.

You change the atmosphere of any place that you walk into. Okay? In the happy and the tough times. Absolutely. Yeah. Go ahead. And the jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted

to him, stop, don't kill yourself. We are all here. The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved? They replied, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with Amen. That hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. He brought them into his house and set a meal before them. And he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God. That whole family was transformed. All by worship.

All through worship. After somebody was beaten, flogging was like the worst that could have ever happened. Flogging, like it's 39 lashes. And if anybody's studied flogging, it was horrendous. But then to worship after you've been flogged and anybody who understands like what happened to people, if you were, um, if you were in charge of prisoners and one got away, your life was taken. That's why he was going to take his own life because he knew he would die. Yeah. That's why when Jesus was crucified and he was no longer in that tomb

and all of those soldiers still lived, see, if he really, and they paid. The Sadducees and the Pharisees, they paid those soldiers so they would lie and say that someone came and got him. Everybody should have known. It's like COVID should have known that it's it's not real based on how everything's played out but the same thing with jesus when he came out and like he was resurrection resurrected everybody based on how the soldiers were not killed should have known something's not

right here this smells this stinks this is not This is not how this usually goes down. Yeah. It's powerful. To win the lost in the midst of... This just goes to show you how you respond to a situation.

How you respond to a situation makes or breaks not only yourself but the others around you yeah it's huge yeah you can you can rise to the occasion or you can go straight down to the mully grubs it's it's a big deal huge huge deal and because of that well worship is is like that's your go-to man and that's that I think there's something about music. That's why Satan fell prey to it. And I think it's so sad.

Like I've talked about this before, but we have major artists that are phenomenal singers and great talent. And to not use that talent for the Lord is such a, it's so disheartening because the lives that could be changed simply through their gifts and their talents. And it's why I feel like the enemy attacks it so hard. Oh, yeah. I mean, wasn't he like the ultimate worship pastor in heaven?

Yeah, he was it. He was it. He knows the power of it. So he knows exactly the power behind our worship. Oh, yeah. How it can change lives, how it can save households. I mean, it's powerful stuff. Yeah.

And so. But it also was not just the soldier, but it was the prisoners themselves. Yeah. And they listened to them worship. Yeah. So things were going on within themselves, too. But go ahead.

So we go to worship, and then we go to? Fellowship. Big time. Okay, so fellowship was one of those essentials where I thought, you know what? Fellowship is like extra credit. It's like optional, right? Although it says in the Bible not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but yeah.

Yeah, but because... Because as long as there's a good baseball game or my child has a gymnastic thing and just so you know, the secret word for the day is stupid. Because it's stupid to think that you don't need fellowship. Stupid. Stupid is not a cuss word. Although some people have taught their kids that it is.

Yeah, none of the kids are allowed to say that. No kids are allowed to say it. My nature was kind of to be a loner. Like I didn't require a lot of friendships growing up. I was just kind of like. You're happy. Yeah. I was just content.

Content. So I thought if I do do fellowship, it's like extra credit. But the more I leaned into the other essentials, the more the Lord increased my territory in that area of my life. And so the last couple of years, the Lord had put on my heart heavily for women. And I had no idea he was doing the same for Tracy. If you want to put yourself on. Oh, I'm so honored even and maybe even chime in and um we launched a a woman's uh group that meets every Tuesday um and how many women do you have on

average so on we have an online presence that we kind of like chime in on a daily basis of about like 30 plus women, maybe even 40 at this point. That's, listen, 40 is the average size of most churches. I know. So you have a small church. And then about- You, my friend, have a small church. 20 to 25 women who will attend in person every Tuesday,

and that's not including children. And it's the most life-giving, beautiful, amazing, all the good adjectives. Wouldn't you agree? A hundred percent. Tracy. It's amazing when you can have a group of women come together and not be catty, love each other, and actually want what's best for each other. Because normally that's not women. When they're not... This is not normal, what we have going on. But when you have all women striving for what God has for them and to

be the best them that God's called them to be. That's what you're going to get. And when you're teaching them properly, iron sharpens iron. And I was just going to say, I have a group of 40 women who are never going to let me get dull. Ever. It's true. Heather would put me in my place in a second.

Heather loves putting everybody in their place. What are you talking about? Heather lives for the day. She's just waiting for you to trip up. I'm just kidding. And we have seen like healings. We have seen answered prayers. We have seen so many things.

Like it's unbelievable. And he's just getting started with us. We're just scratching the surface. Well, I love about your group, and lots of women can, everybody doesn't need to join your group. What people need to do is cultivate their own group. True, amen. Because the thing is, is not everybody is going to fit into each mold.

But what happens is if God bursts something in you, like he did you and Tracy, then you find your own people and then you guys do the same and become that unit. But I will say to this is in not just yours, but I've seen in other strong Bible studies, because we have several of them in our church, right? Not like yours just recently became under the church, right? You've asked to be under your group, to be under the church, which is not the easiest. We don't, we don't, we'll have people do Bible studies and they can come to church and they can have their own Bible study.

We're totally fine with that. But for it to be under the church's covering, that just doesn't happen because we're very, very cautious because now we're very responsible for what you guys do. But there's plenty of great Bible studies at our church that are not under Foundation Church. And what they're doing is they're seeing the same thing. What I love about each of these groups, we'll speak specifically to yours, but it would apply to many of these is because of the fellowship, you guys have seen people walk through some extremely difficult times. You've held the hands up of these individuals.

You've been the Aaron for, you know, for the Moses, right? Like you've helped hold up the hand of the weakling and made them become strong again and be able to stand on their own two feet again. And so I just, for me, those are the tougher things because you guys have also been together for some of the most joyful, like people, a lot of these girls have had babies. So you guys have celebrated births, celebrated relationships, all these kinds of great things. Those are easy things and they are fun and they are great. Yeah.

But then there are the times that you got like people have had difficult marriages you guys have to like walk people through getting through to the other side of a difficult marriage where now that marriage is whole and strong and right you know um and telling people biblically speaking okay you don't get to walk out you gotta you gotta stick this out but guess what You got a bunch of girls behind you that are going to help you see you through. Or maybe their kids aren't saved. And you guys are all walking through with people. That's why fellowship is huge. It's not optional.

So Logan is new. They're over here crying. You're over here crying? Oh, dear. Me, oh, my. I feel like Barbara Walters right now. Sarah's not pregnant, but she says she's crying. Like, Logan, you're newly saved.

Would you say you'd be as strong as you are right now in your walk if you didn't have? Okay, I'm going to consider partially that that's baby. Baby talking. We were talking about the Erin and her and Moses. It's just our group has lost children this year. Yeah. But we also have life. So we're grieving with each other and we're lifting each other up.

That's right. In the same breath. Well, yeah, because you have, you've had girlfriends lose and miscarriages and things like that. Those are tough. Listen, coming from somebody who had a miscarriage, that was a rough experience

that you just never think that you'll walk through. But listen, if you have a strong team around you, you can make it through anything. Oh, absolutely. And Sarah, you've been in and out of church pretty much a long time, right?

And you've even said to me, this is the first time ever in your walk with the Lord and out of a walk with God that you've ever had a good strong I mean because people that aren't saved still have a team that they can have around them right that they can enjoy but even that and that can be good because there are good people out there that will that will fellowship and have fun together. It usually involves drinking and stuff like that, but it's still like if they're in need, their team is around them, right?

But you even said this is your first time ever that you can say that's the case for you, correct? And you're a part of Vanessa and Tracy's hub group, and Logan is too, but it makes a difference because you're fighting tooth and nail for your family right now so I think I can project from here yeah oh you're a great great projector she was a director I turned you up too actually truthfully she was a director so she can project um I have even though I've been in and out of church I've always prayed I've always read my bible I've always made worship a priority but it wasn't until I found other women to do what we're saying to hold up my arms to yeah pray with me to believe with me, to believe with me.

We're the body of Christ. We can't operate just as a hand by itself. We need each other. And those connections were missing from my life. And so it's a huge part of just the growth that I've seen in the last year is to have, I could pick up my phone at any hour of the day and text anybody, any of them. Yeah. Yep.

And get a reply. Like, yeah. Right. What's so funny is Sarah and I went to lunch when Sarah first started coming. I don't do this hardly at all. But Sarah,

I don't know what God, God just, God was like like that's gonna be your little project right that's your little girl and not a project in a bad way i don't mean that in a bad way it's more like that's your investment yeah right yeah god makes you invest in people right and i can't invest in everybody but then god will just bring one past you and he'll say that's that's yours right there so i would i i remember me and sarah going to lunch and me saying to sarah now sarah i have a group of women and i really think you need to go to this hub group and i

think that you would really do no i don't want to do that i've done that before kind of thing i've done that before it's not worked out i usually don't want to do that. I've done that before kind of thing. I've done that before. It's not worked out. I usually don't like them. And I'm like, I promise you, you will love them. They're your kind of people. You should just go visit one time. And reluctantly she did. And now you can't keep you out because they are your people. God puts people together and they become your people. And it's been the best thing. But you have to, what you did is

you didn't say no, you said I'll try. Yeah. And if people would just do that, oh my gosh. Just show up. Amen. Oh, I keep banging this.

If they would just try, they would like radically change their life. Put yourself out there. Yeah. And be open-minded. Don't just try and like go there with a toad. You go there and you're like,

okay, I am going to try this. I'm going to be open-minded. I'm going to have a good attitude. And watch and see, because it will change everything. When the Lord is in it, it will change your life. It will.

So fellowship is huge. That's it. Ten will change. It will change your life. It will. So fellowship is huge. That's it. That's it. Ten minutes over. We did pretty dang good. We did good. We did good.

And I'm still sweating. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. So with. I don't smell. No, she does not smell. I don't smell. She smells. I'm sitting here.

She smells fantastic. Great. So you definitely need the palate palette so let me ask you guys really fast yeah four essentials how many of you guys apply them on a daily basis yes it has would you say the four essentials is what really takes your walk with god to the next level on a daily basis 100 i would say the same thing with for myself. I don't know on the days that I don't hit those four things. I know I can feel and see a difference. And then you're like,

Oh, that's not good. Yeah. Yeah. You have to do them. It is. The word is, I think outside of prayer and communion with the Lord,

the word is, I think the, the like top it's praying and the Lord, the Word is, I think, the top. It's praying and the Word are the two biggest things. They're a must. Yeah, 100%. They're a must because you can get on the phone with a friend and take care of that. You can listen to some great worship music.

But I'm just telling you, the Word, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. If you want to make sure that you are completely connected and growing, that's the key. Yeah, 100%. That's it. So do you got anything else to add? I've got, that was it. That was it. That was it. Listen, look at that.

I told you it'd be painless. Maybe I'll do it again. Well, you probably will end up doing it again. It's going to be painless. I'm just do it again. Or you probably will end up doing it again. It's going to be painless. I'm just saying. Peanut Gallery, do you have anything to add? I have one thing to add. Please.

Okay, so I've been in church my whole life. And I know, like, just turn your ears off for a second. Pastors, like, the fact that, like, we have strong pastors that don't allow things to happen in our church, the gossip and the slander, like, even from the pulpit, like, it things to happen in our church, the gossip and the slander, like even from the pulpit, like it's not allowed in our church. So because you don't allow certain stuff like that in our church, you don't bring husband and wives that cultivate that or they don't stay. So it's easy for Vanessa and I to have this group because there's so many like-minded people that you guys attract in this church and repel from this church.

So I sit there with like 25 women and we're all like-minded. It's mind-blowing. I've been in church for a very long time. It's not normal. Every once in a while, I'll find like a unicorn, like, you know,

and it's like, oh. There's always a unicorn. Right, of course. There's, well, in a good way. They'll either adjust and become a godly, spiritually- minded individual and die to their flesh. Right. Yeah.

Logan is saying me. Or they head out the door. Exactly. And it's nice because we have so many unicorns at this point. And it's mind blowing because they're just like ready for it. But I know that they sit under Pastor Tom. So they have to be okay with this word every single Sunday. And so that's why I think it's so important to find a good church. It's huge. You know, I think it's great to, what I feel like is missing so much in churches today

is what I call the Joyce Meyer principle. And I, and I, I'm like, I hope this doesn't offend anybody. I love Joyce Meyer. And then one of the reasons I love Joyce Meyer is life application. She teaches now she's gone a little woke slightly. God bless her. I love her. But the one thing that she doesn't do is enable people to enable their bad behavior. She doesn't allow people to make excuses, and she doesn't allow you to live by your feelings.

And then she expects you to apply the word and daily use it in a life-apical way. That's the key. And Tom Lively is, and people have told me this many times, except he has never gone woke. Tom Lively is the Joyce Meyer of, because everything, it's great to tell you your ship's coming in. If you do this, you're getting that. All of that is great, and all of it is the word,

and I believe every single word of it. How do you do that, though? You got to apply it. How do you apply it if you're never taught it? If you're never taught it, then you're always waiting. That was me. That's the problem with you're always waiting. That was me. That's the problem with churches today, though. That was me.

If they don't teach you that the blessings are coming in, then you're just believing, like Tom said, it'll happen when I go to heaven. God's good when you get to heaven. Yeah. God's good when you get to heaven. That's it. Until you get to heaven. Yeah. God's good when you get to heaven. That's it.

So for me, it's like there's got to be where you know how to live each day out and to receive the promises that are promised. How do you get to that place? Yeah. And that's why I love the four essentials. It's so practical. You can apply it immediately. You can apply it today. 100%.

Why don't we talk about that why don't you leave people to the lord i love it because i make my guests people i'm here for it at the very end because i didn't want to scare the duty out of you but she would have never gotten in that seat but listen if if you were listening whether live or on the replay and your heart is just pounding because you know that what we just spoke about, you want, you want that joy. You want that peace. You don't, you don't want to wrestle with anxiety anymore or with fear. And I just feel like right now that, that the Lord has already been softening your heart. And today was just like the cherry on top. And so if you find yourself in that place

where you're ready, you're ready to accept God as Jesus, as your personal savior, I would love for you to pray this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for dying on the cross for me. I acknowledge that I am a man. I am a woman in need of a savior. I turn my back on sin. I repent of all that I've done to break your heart, all the sin that I've done. And I acknowledge that you are the way, you are the life. And no one can come unto the Father unless through you. And I just choose you. I choose you today in Jesus' name. Amen. And if you prayed that prayer today, I encourage you, get plugged into a local church. Get plugged in. If you're local to Southwest Florida, come meet me at the door. I'm a greeter. Or if you're not local to this place,

find a community, find a church, find a community that you can get plugged into and then watch us online. Yeah, it's a must. You gotta watch us online. And yeah, and practice the four essentials. Starting right now, starting today. It's never, you're never too late to start. It's so true. Never put off today or never put off tomorrow what you can do today. Yeah. It's that important.

Because if you are not saved, you are not promised tomorrow. But once you are saved, that's one of your promises. Long life will I give you, Psalm 91. And so, like, most people are afraid they're going to die young. But you don't have to live in that fear. If you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, that fear is dead and gone. Psalm 91 is yours for the taking. And then you all, all you got to do is take it. So thank you for joining in. Thank you for staying for almost 20 minutes late, but listen, I'm just saying like super, super important. And sometimes you just

got to go along and if people have to get off, then they get off. But otherwise, you can watch hashtag replay. Come on. Hashtag replay. And then you'll get it all, right? Amen. Thank you for joining in. We'll see you on Friday. Oh, and Tom Lively. Why don't you tell him? Tell him what's going on, girl.

Hey. We have a special guest. And let's see. Can you get it? Do I need to stall? No, no, no. I got it. I got it.

All right. Gosh. Look at that. Right to this. Look it. He's coming. His people have confirmed it with my people. And we have him coming on December 22nd.

The last podcast before we go off into holiday heaven. Mark your calendars. Christmas heaven. Christmas heaven. Yes. Christmas week. I got the two little girls doing fists in the air. They're ready.

They're ready for the, well, Brinley calls him Tunkle. So Brinley's ready for her Tunkle to be on the podcast. She'll be in here, I'm sure, cheering him on versus me because that's normally how it goes until she really wants something. And then she comes to me.

So love you guys. See you on Friday. And thanks for joining us. Bye. Bye. Real talk. Real talk. you you you you you you you