The Hope Hotline - When Faith Defies Fear - Part Two

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

When Faith Defies Fear - Part Two

Real talk. And welcome to the freezing Florida. The experience that none of us really wanted. Are you guys your fireplace going? You know it. Oh my gosh. Heat is on. Fireplace is going.

Your heat is on. Always. Oh my gosh. Always. I'm not allowed to turn on my heat. Same. I am. And Cher loves it too.

We are. We are. You're one. We are heat people. You're equally yoked. I don't think the heat has ever been on in my house. And I've lived there for. I think the total of like two times possibly.

What is your house at right now? You've lived in your house for a short period of time, Venice. I've lived in my house over 20 years. True. Wait, wait, wait. But what's the temperature of your house right now? I woke up and the temperature of my house was 68 degrees. Oh, that's, no, we put our temperature to 68 degrees.

Ours was like 50. Oh, wow. I was like, why is it so cold in here? That is what? It was so cold in our house. Okay, because your house is not insulated well. Correct. Oh, my gosh.

It's wood. It's that wood frame. just yeah that makes a difference uh yeah oh my gosh i would have died now the kids have their air condition set at 62 degree right that's yeah it was colder than that i can't either i you need some serious psychological help they do not you no they do they do they do i agree that's just you're whacked man as we used to say back in the day exactly that's whack that's whack that's whack that's whack but oh my gosh yeah it's it's flipping freezing here it's so cold there was frost on the ground basically snowing yeah pretty much pretty much i walked out to go to the gym

this morning i was like i know i felt so bad when kiley left i'm like good luck yeah i started this is pathetic because i used to do this in virginia which is nothing like mass okay massachusetts is a breed all its own okay i know but it's still cold but i yeah it is cold but i went out i'm like get a grip woman But I was like, I don't care. I'm doing it. I went to do, take care of my chickens and I'm like, I'm turning on my car. Smart. Five minutes before I have to leave.

I'm heating my seat. I'm heating my steering wheel. Absolutely. It's cold. Oh, my gosh. Do you remember having to do that when you lived up north? All the time. Always.

You had to always plan ahead. Always. It made the trip that much better. It did. You know? It really did. Oh, yeah. Getting in a freezing car, especially if your car seats are leather.

Yeah. No, Bueno. Or if you didn't have to go very far because it never got warm. And so you're like, this is terrible. I don't care how much gas it was. I guess you used to only be like back in my day when I walked about three miles to school. And the snow. In the snow.

Both ways. Uphill both ways. Uh-huh. Pretty much. Like gas was only like what, 75, 85 cents, something like that. Like what was it in the 80s? Because that's what that's when I grew up, except for when, and Jimmy Carter was in office, and he screwed a lot of the things up.

But, like, I don't know, it might have been a dollar. It was worth every penny. Every penny. It still is to this day, and I'm paying what? Almost $3 again, one? I don't know if it was like this in Massachusetts, but in New York, you couldn't pump your own gas. Yeah, that's a New Jersey. New Jersey is just like that.

It was like almost illegal. Like, you couldn't leave your car. You can't get out. Yeah. Massachusetts, there was like self-service and then there was full service. It just depended where you went. That's how Virginia was. Yeah.

And on the really cold days, I ain't getting out. I know. I love full service. I know. Yeah. I wish it'd come back. I would do it. I would too.

It was extra. Full service was extra than doing it yourself service. I didn't get to do that. I always had to do. I had zero option. I was, I was a, you know, we all like when you're younger you like every dime counts right every penny counts so you're like every single but there were sometimes it's like screw that I ain't getting out it's true

let the man come out yeah where's the man but new jersey is it is I think it still is right oh yeah yeah yeah yeah mm-hmm oh yeah new jersey like when you like I was just there a couple years ago yeah you can't you don't pump your gas I was like where is this I know. Where am I? This is the best thing ever. Yeah. Bring this down.

But yeah, it's cold guys. Yeah. I know that if you're in other places like New York or whatever, like 16 degrees. Okay, you're dealing with the real biz, but. But your blood is thicker than ours. So we're used to it. For us. Like, just feel bad for us.

You're used to it. We're not used to this. This is different type of cold, too. It is. Like we're having to pull out winter clothes and we ain't got much. I know. Exactly. We ain't got much.

I gotta wear socks. Oh my gosh. You don't ever wear socks? Not very many, like not very often. Oh, I wear socks a lot. No. I do. I slept in socks last night.

Oh my gosh. That's a shocker. It is. With my heated blanket. That was Norma has her thing on at 62 degrees with her heated blanket. I'm like, we have a problem here. I know. And that is an electricity problem.

I'm paying a lot of electricity for you to make yourself cold and then make yourself warm. That's pretty wild. Yeah, I like it. She does what she likes. She does, you know. I know what I don't like is that electric pill. I know. Oh, my gosh.

Start praying for her husband. Right. Bring them in. Bring them in. Bring them in. I still have a year, even if, like, she was to meet him today, I would still have a year, potentially, if it's not long. Four seasons. Unless, I mean, and this ain't often, guys.

So don't even try and let it fly with me. The only way that it can be shorter is unless you know that you know that you know, and then God tells you to do it. Otherwise. If God says it, God doesn't. Otherwise, how often does that happen? Right. Not very often. It's like an immaculous conception.

Right. That's the exceptionally. It doesn't happen very often. No. And also like enjoy like I know we're not getting into this, but like enjoy dating. Like it's you can only do it once. You only do it once. It's so much fun.

And then you're only engaged for so long once. And then you're married. And my engagement was not long. Because Tom wouldn't allow it. Right. Of course. I know. Which I get and I'm not big on big long engagements anyway.

I don't like. Norma thinks long engagements are fine. Hopefully Tommy does not. But like, good. There's no reason. Like, why be engaged long? I mean, to prepare wedding? I mean, you can do it pretty fast.

You really can. Huh? Hire this girl. Hold on. What? For preparing a wedding. Well, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Never mind. I mean, if you got, like, for me, I did it in four months and it was Christmas. time. Yeah. And I did it by myself. It can be done. It can be done. It absolutely can be done. Yeah. You can do it. And then, but if you have people who come alongside of you, it can go even faster than that. Absolutely. Yeah. Get your, get your crew together and get it done. There's no point. That's, that's ridiculous. Not to bust anybody's chops that are getting married, that took them a long time for you. Some people have a really hard time making decisions,

though. And if that's your case and you're with somebody who doesn't care, like some people have a really hard time making decisions. That's not me. No. That's not me. Yeah. Like they don't know like if they want this color for the wedding or I mean, I get that. Oh, that stuff. Or like it's a long distance wedding. So you have to like, I get that. But on the whole, usually. I did a long distance wedding and it got done in four months. So I think you just like what also what's more important, the wedding or the marriage? You know what I mean? So if you're spending all this time preparing for. for a wedding. I'm all about having a small wedding and then spending what you were to spend on the wedding. That too. Yeah, but I had a big wedding and it was still an amazing honeymoon.

Yeah, that's true. I had a big wedding and it was less than $10,000 and it was big. Yeah. Yeah. So I had a big-ish wedding and if I can do it all over again, I would I would still have the small wedding like a backyard wedding. That's what I did the second time. It's with people, because I had people at my wedding that I had zero like relationship with. Yeah, everybody there is, was very important to me. Yeah, like I want to handpick everybody that attends my wedding. It was perfect. My side was very small. Tom's side was very huge. Oh, okay. Was it friends that it like made a big? Oh yeah. He knew every well because I know football. He was football right coach right. He was heavily involved in the church. Yeah. Sheriff's office. Everybody that came from the sheriff's office was people he worked with. I mean like

everybody, his family, a lot of connections and everybody that came, like, for the most part, there's hardly anybody that didn't really, like, he didn't know really well. I know. They're still big. That's a great problem to have. When you have that many people that you love and want to, like, go into this next season with you, that's a big deal. I mean, they're not around anymore, but they're gone.

But that does happen, too. That does happen. That does happen, but a lot of them are still around. In that season, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. A lot of them, we still have connections. with but you're but it does happen i mean like even the people in our wedding party i

in my wedding party is i'm i still know and can conversate with but in his there's only a few really that he has that he still talks to yeah it's weird wow whether ministry and everybody goes their separate ways and like it's not necessarily you're mad at each other it's just life has a way of just true like my made of mind owner. Where is she? I don't know where she's at. Maybe you need to look into that. But it's not because you're mad at each other probably, right? Life just took two different directions. Two different directions. And that's not horrible. It's just like the everybody in my wedding party is family but one. And I still see her on Facebook. She still texts, sends me DMs and stuff like that. But we're not

close anymore like that. Life took her to move to her to another state. Yeah. It's pretty hard. Yeah. to keep, but we still like each other. This is just life in general, right? Nothing but love, but yeah. Our paths kind of just went in different directions. Yeah. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

Just very interesting, but not that early matters, and I don't know how that all transpired from weather to wedding to dating. You never know. Dating, whatever. Oh, because Norma freezing everybody or freezing. Then her getting married. praying for her husband and then all of that yes and she'll have a year got it I made the connections in my brain but but I don't want everybody to think too because I've made it so I'm so dogmatic about dating four seasons yes you are I'm dogmatic about dating for at least a year I'll never talk again Norm was like the exception I know my gosh can you the Holy Spirit literally audibly says you need to marry him tomorrow I literally I'll be honest with you it's not because I don't believe that her or

that person we hear the voice of the Lord. And I don't want, I don't really care if she is because I don't really care if people say, you said, I don't care about it. You can't. But yeah, I don't care about that. But there is something very sweet about dating for a while. Like that's what I would be sad for her if she missed it. I know, I know.

Like if it does happen, I mean, oh well, but like the odds are so minute. I know. I don't really worry about it. I know. And it really is nice to like have to do like in the beginning. You're so happy and everything's great. And then you have your first like rocky moment and you have to overcome and they grew up differently and you grew up differently.

So you have to like realize like how to do it. And then you overcome it and you're like, oh, we did it. It's so fun. And it's nice to do that not when you're like figuring out a wedding too. Like that your first argument is going to be over like which napkin color. Like I don't know. Yeah. No boy.

I know. I know. I know. No way. And it's nice to like a. observe too. See how they like manage conflict. See how they they manage when, you know, there's a hurricane. Correction. When they get corrected. Or they get corrected. How do they handle that? How do they handle those situations? It's going to tell you a lot. It's real world. It's real world. But

it's super interesting. It is. Super interesting. But again, I don't want people to think that if you find out that God tells you, and it's less than a year that I'm going to be like, nope. I mean, if God tells you, God tells you. Right. I was engaged within three months. We got married on our one year anniversary. But we kind of knew right away. Yeah, but here's the thing.

Like, yeah. But here's the thing. I asked you, though, did God tell you? And you said yes. Yeah. Okay, God told both of you and both of you like could clearly hear the voice of the Lord. That's the exception to the world.

And it does happen. Yep. And there are two successes. And even so, I will tell people wait four seasons. Even though my situation was the exception, I still think is the most wisest thing. Because it's very rare. Yeah. It goes the other way.

But it does happen. So like if somebody were to, I know people are like, I ain't telling her. You might not want to. But also like, I mean, at the end of the day, like, you're not going to hold Hope's hand in front of your judge. No one. get in front of Jesus and be like, but hope was going to be mad at me. You know what I mean? So like, who cares?

Yeah, exactly. You've got to do what you know you're supposed to do. Yeah. No fear of man. And then. Nope. I mean, I might think you're crazy. She probably will.

She will. Depending on the level of your spiritual fruit. True. I will. I might or might not believe you. And I might or might not tell you. There you go. there you go so you might not want to tell me yeah maybe just don't tell her just invite her the

i mean i literally have told people like i don't think this is a smart thing for you to do not marriage wise just in general if the holy spirit prompts me but that's your job i mean as a pastor yeah that thank god you do do that or sometimes it's friends like i'm like you're too good of a friend no that's a friend too with you like this is probably i don't think this is smart Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. Yep. But people do it to me too, so thank God. I know. Yeah. True friends do that for each other. Like, thank God. And even in those moments, like, you don't have to like receive what is said and then just run with it.

You can go home, pray about it and ask the Lord, but be super open to it. Yeah. And then God, he's a loving dad, so he's going to tell you. Yep, she was right or. That is very true because I had a group of friends who we were so close with. And when I got engaged, one specific friend was like, you're going to ruin your whole life. Oh, wow. And I had to, I had to take it and go before the Lord. And I ask, wait.

Am I missing something? Am I missing something? And he's like, I said what I said. Right. And until this day, I forgave her. And I reached out to her until this day, she holds on to what she said. You know what it reminds me of? 18 years later.

Do you know what reminds me of? Let it go, girl. Let it go. The story of Job. Do you know how hard it is to listen to the story of Job? Yeah. Are you in it right now? I'm done.

Praise the Lord. It is so hard to hear friends tell somebody something when they know what God said. I know. It is painful. I'm like, Lord, I'm sorry. This is a big struggle for me right now to listen to all this because they sound right. Like she sounds Like your friend is like you're crazy

Yeah You're gonna ruin your life I know You know it's funny about You know it's funny about Job And everything Yeah yeah You know what's weird about Job

Is the people who actually believe That wrote the theologians that believe That the person that wrote Job Is actually the last friend that spoke Oh really Yeah Because it's in everybody else is named, right?

This one's like third person. Isn't that amazing? So how bold of that friend to write that story? Good for him. I know. That's pretty wild, isn't it? If that's actually true. Because then if you look back and you read it, you're like,

it sure does sound like it's him writing this. Like what a good friend. Next time I read it, I'm going to read it through that lens. Yes. That's how I always read it now. But like, because I learned that like, I don't know how many years ago, over 10 years ago. So whenever I read Job, I'm like reading it as if it's like I, but I'm like, like, what a good friend to have learned a valuable lesson and then be. Was he like the least harsh to?

I think he was. Yeah, he was. And then he said something. And then he got crazy. Then he got crazy at the end. And pretty wild though. I'm glad you told me that. Because when I was going to get to heaven, I was going to have a conversation with them.

I was going to go talk to them and be like, listen. That was very aggressive. Yeah. Like, the poor guy. He's up, Shorty. Yeah. As if they haven't ever done things. Like, so real.

Satan didn't go after them. Right. He went after Job for a reason. Exactly. They would have failed. He did not. True. True.

If you think about it like that, it's like, hello. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But I do like the beginning and I do like the end. I like when God starts speaking and then I'm like, okay, we made it. We made it through. We made it through. But it is.

Like, there's partial truths to it. And I think that's what made me the most frustrated is like, this sounds good. You know, like it sounds good. Yeah, it's, it's right. Job, like it's almost gaslit. You know, you're like, wait, Job, did you? So that's the heart part. Pretty amazing.

Yeah, pretty funny. Another one that I had to like muscle through too was ecclesiastes. I'm like, Solomon, are you okay? Are you okay? He's like everything's meaningless. It's true. I get bored in that book sometimes. I know.

I had to muscle. That's a grind man. A good listening one. A good listening while you're like. Doing something else. Yeah, cleaning. Totally. Organizing. As you're driving.

Oh yeah. Some of them are like, like nothing personal about Leviticus kills me. True. But there's like that purpose behind it. Like you said, thank God. We don't have to do all that. The details, thank God. Imagine if we woke up in the morning and we had to go through, oh, my goodness.

I hate rules. I would have to sacrifice a lot. That's why it didn't work. Because they were too. But you know what? I literally have been like, this is so repetitive. But that's how great God was because he was making sure that if they did something, like it was because they understood not because he didn't lay out the groundwork.

Yeah. Like, yeah. That's how great of a God and how loving he is to just be like, no, no, no. Yeah. That was you. Right. Because I was trying to protect you. Right.

I tried to make sure you understood. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like a loving father would. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I'm like, dude. Yeah.

You just said that. You just said that. You're saying it again. I'm so charged. because they're dumb. So am I. I know, right? And then I'm like, would I be any better?

No. I definitely would not. For sure. These rules would be tough. Yeah. I think it is it in Leviticus where he, it's all the rules. Oh, there's little bits here and there that are like at least. Even like interesting.

Down to the rashes. Like if your rash looks like this, out. And you can't come back. until it looks like this. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I'm like, what? That's why all those people with leprosy and stuff had to go to see the priest just so they could do their penance and, like, give their sacrifices and enter back in. My favorite, one of my favorite stories. I don't know where it is. I can't remember if it was the litigus or Deuteronomy or whatever, but it was two men fighting and a woman stepped in and grabbed the man's.

What? Genitals. Yes, it's privates. I wanted to see what she said. I'm like, why is this in the Bible? I love it. Because even that's not allowed. Right.

You had to know. You had to know, Vanessa. There's no protecting anything or anyone by means of privates. She had to have gotten stone to death. Yes. Yes. She was done. She was done.

She gone. She gone. The Bible's wild. It really is. It's not boring. If you think the Bible is boring, you're not reading it right. Oh my gosh. Keep going.

Keep going. Hold on one second. Oh, I can't send a text. Dang it. And then there's Rachel and Leah and her weak eyes. That poor girl. Imagine being described in the Bible forever and ever and ever as the woman with weak eyes. I know.

Poor Leah. Poor Leah. Well, they were droopy. They were. but she's fine now she's whole yeah she's completely whole well her eyes still might be droopy because there's nothing like do you really need to be healed if you have droopias I don't oh I don't know listen I mean not glorify body to be it better be like peak body better be tea six pack everything perfect like perfection perfection we're waiting this long for it you got that right

I want that. Got that right, girl? Can I upgrade? Oh my gosh. That's flipping funny. Now that we only have 35 minutes ago. Okay, we're not even going to do your thing. Okay.

We're just going to do my thing really best because of my friends. Let's do it. That are sponsors. Yeah. Let's do it. Real estate appraisal Associates, the Southwest Florida Inc. is owned by Laura Keller. Since 2005, real estate appraisal associates has delivered some of the most accurate certified home appraisals in southwest Florida with clear up front pricing no hidden fees and fast

turnaround times they make the appraisal process simple and stress-free no more waiting for weeks for results your appraisal is typically completed within two to four days why in an appraisal there are several smart reasons to have a certified valuation done selling your home to ensure that you're not underpricing your property inheriting a property you avoid unnecessary estate taxes property tax concerns you will confirm your home is assessed accurately so you're not overpaying. Preparing to list. Prevent overpricing and having your home linger on the market. Over 10,000 completed appraisals, locally owned and operated for more than 30 years.

State certified, highly experienced appraisal team, 100% money-back guarantee on their appraisal services. Providing residential appraisal services in Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, Hillsboro, Pinellas, and Lee. Mentioned that you heard about them from the Hope Hotline and you'll get a $50 discount. Give them a call at 941-7-4-3-3-3-700. 9-4-1-7-4-3-3-3-700. Hanson's automotive services has been serving Southwest Florida since 2017. They're backed by over 20 years of hands-on automotive experience. From routine oil changes and new tires to AC repair, engine work, and full engine replacements,

they handle it all with excellence and integrity. They're not only committed to doing their best, they're automotivated to keep you safely on the road. Hansen's operates. with Proverbs 163 at the core of everything they do, which is commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Give them a call at 941-4-60-3962.

9-1-4-60-3962. We were talking about on Wednesday, which we're going to have Natalie on Friday. Let me just give a reminder. Yes, yeah. Natalie's next, oh, it's Friday, darn. It's, okay, don't look at that one. Just kidding.

Okay, there we go. Friday on the 23rd, I got to switch that. She will be here and send in any questions. If you have any questions at all, if you see something on TikTok or anything that you think is weird or interesting, send it along. And then the following Friday, January 30th, Chris Ann Hall will be here. Which I cannot wait. Yes, that's going to be awesome. She's so good. That's going to be awesome.

And then, Dare to Be is in February. Ooh, boop. Do you remember the date of that? Let's see, foundation church. I can't remember the date of it, but that's coming up. And then Saturday, tomorrow is the 50-plus breakfast club here at the church. So if you're 50 and older, if your spouse is 50 and older and you are not, you're still invited to come. You can come together.

I got invited to go. Oh. Did you get invited to go? I'm not 15. How are you invited? But my spouse is. How did you get invited? I got the email.

Everybody got the email. Oh, never mind. I thought I had. You're not special. I thought I got a special invitation. You're not special. Absolutely not. Stop thinking that.

That was your first mistake. You're invited. I was thinking you're special. That didn't happen. If you are younger than 50, but your spouse is in their 50s, because there's some early 50-year-olds that are married to people in their 40s, you're more than welcome to come. Me. That's you, girl.

That's me. You're more than welcome to come, but it's going to be good. It's always good breakfast. Let me tell you that. Yes. If that's the only reason you come, I don't blame you. Because John makes a mean, mean breakfast. Heck yeah.

So good. What were you going to, are you looking? Yeah, no, I was like, I can't hear anything. But my thing came unplugged. But now I'm good. Good. I'm alive. And we do have baby dedication.

That's coming up in February, too. Oh, those are my favorite. Sundays. That and baptisms. Oh my gosh, yes. What did it say in there? It doesn't. It's not on our events page. No, it's not going to be on the events page. It's in the emails I sent everybody. Yeah, I got to find it. It's I think end of February. Well, I'll find it while we're talking and then I'll come back around. Yeah. All righty, Roo. Okay, so what we were talking about in 30 minutes, which I'm not going to get done. I'm pretty sure of it. But that's okay.

is like everybody has gifts and callings. Everybody has something that God will birth in them. We talk about faith all the time, but like I was telling the girls, I'm like, but we always are very, like, not that we're narrow-minded with it, but we're, we always gear it more towards healing, provision, things like that.

Salvation. There's so much more to faith than those three things. Faith in walking out what God's called you to do. Or faith in being a parent. Like a lot of times, like when we're raising our children and stuff, that's a walk of faith. And a lot of times we just are so, Like we have blinders on with what that actually means.

But I wanted to speak directly to that because I think a lot of times people don't recognize that God has put something before them or birthed something in them. And they don't take the measure of faith that is needed in order to start that process of what he's done in being obedient in that. and they'll look at it and then they'll just like, did I hear you? Is that right? Like, is that me? Is that you, God? You know, they, and they do nothing with it or they wait. A lot of times, waiting's not an option.

And we're going to find that out. But we talked specifically about Moses, how Moses's parents looked at him and realized he was what the Bible says was an unusual child. What if they hadn't have recognized that? And they allowed him to be taken instead of hit him. And that was an act of faith over fear to preserve Moses. And by doing so, he was actually the one that came in his 80th year came and actually was the means to the end.

of them being slaves and getting them to be released and delivered from Egypt. And what if they would have not done what they did? Now, would God have, that's my alarm to make sure my mother did her exercises. Did you hear that? Yeah, we did. I said it every day. The thing is, is a lot of times, like we don't look at,

they looked at him and knew he was an unusual child. How many times do we look at something and we look at it and go, that's unusual? And we do nothing with it. But they looked at Moses and go and go to themselves. Okay, we can't hand him over. We can't allow him to be killed. We have to risk our lives in order to save him

and by doing so, there was a bigger picture. But a lot of times we don't look at, we're not quiet enough, we're not still enough, and we don't do those things because of the distractions that we have going on in our lives. That's what we were talking about. Then we talked about Hannah and Samuel. And like if you make a promise, keep a promise.

Walking out that promise was very difficult because she didn't know. It doesn't say that she had children right after she had Samuel so that there was other children. It only says that she had children. Did she have the other children after she gave Samuel to Eli? She like literally made a promise to the Lord. If you give me a child, I'll give him back to you and I'll dedicate him to you.

that means that she had him anywhere between before he was weaned between two and three years of age she was willing to if she didn't already have children which it doesn't say that she did she was willing to say I'll only have a child for two to three years

and that'll suffice because that's all she knew that she prospectively would have does that make sense? Yep yeah absolutely so in that she made a step of faith to say give me a child and I will give it back to you

knowing full well like you know, Abraham and Isaac like placing Isaac on the altar believing that he would come back and be raised from the dead knowing that the Lord said he's going to be the sacrifice.

Like that's big deals. Like that's a big deal to be that in love with God and making sure you walk in obedience to him. That devoted to him that you are more devoted to him than the very tangible things

that you see taste feel. Like your love for the Lord or for God specifically. In this case, like his love for God was like overpowering for the very child that he was told would be the means of him becoming father of many nations. It's crazy. Like that you would be, it makes no sense. And a lot of times the things that God brings before us that we have to like take steps of faith in make no sense.

True. Like start a business. Like I was literally sitting here thinking of like both of you like or and I've had to like step out and be a private contractor and work on commission and know that, okay, this is the job God told me to do all the while that if I don't have sales, I have no money. So have that makes sense. Start a church with no place to have the church or no building or no funds outside of your own. And then even those are limited. Like it doesn't have to make sense. It's just you have to be obedient.

That's faith. That's a work though because the work is, you know, faith is a work. The work is making, taking the steps forward and whatever it tells you to do. It doesn't have to make sense. You just have to be obedient. And that's where it's a big deal. Like the next story we're going to go to is Samson. And Samson is, I mean, his parents, like, I was telling Tracy and Vanessa,

like his parents, before he was conceived, God spoke to his parents. Okay, they had specific instructions that with do's and don'ts for, Samson. Does the Bible not have do's and don'ts for us when we're raising our children? Plenty. Do we abide by them? Yeah. Hopefully we do. Train up a child in a way that it should go, which is part of, there's a bigger picture to that scripture, but even that, like, do we, are we diligent in making sure that our children hear the word every day from being a very small child that they learned to pray, that they learn to hear his voice, that they go to church every Sunday. Like, Samson's parents were told that there was a divine calling on Samson's life.

And that they were not specifically her, she wasn't allowed to do certain things, which I'm going to read the scripture to you. But what that required is, and if you don't have children yet, you need to understand something. Like you don't have to like change your life. Like if you want to go somewhere, go somewhere. If you want to do things like I didn't like I was not like a person that was like I can't do that because my child naps at that time. Okay. I wasn't like that.

And I know a lot of people are. But I made my children be flexible. I was not because I'm a flexible person. and I think there has to be some flexibility in all of us. But did I make sure my kids did take naps and things like that? Yeah, but like some people are so, and I'm, listen, I'm a type A person. But there are some things that type A's are not, it's not good for you and it's not good for your kids.

That's all I'm going to say. Do your thing, be how you want. But there are some things that are no, they are non-neutral. negotiable before you have a child or if you have children right now, these things are non-negotiable. When you have a child and you call yourself a Christian, there are certain things in your life. If you're doing them now and they're compromised, you might want to stop them. If they're sin, it's not an option. That has to go.

But you're going to have to alter your life to a certain extent when you have a child. And if there's compromise in your life, that's what I'm talking about. That's where you alter. Because what God told Samson's parents is they were going to have to alter big time. And I'll get into like some of the things that, you know, you guys can say how you had to alter your life. But it says in, let me look, judges 13-2-3-7, this is the New Living Translation. It says in those days a man named a Noah from a tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zora. his wife was unable to become pregnant and had and they had no children.

Isn't it funny how Hannah was barren? Sarah was barren. Like all these women that had these mighty men of God were all barren. Because, and I truly believe this, God makes something out of nothing. And he literally wants to make it be that from the beginning of whatever he's creating, it's miraculous from the start. True. So that it can't be said that somebody else.

Yep. It wasn't him. Right. Yeah. I mean, Sarah, being barren. Then all the three other girls after that, barren. The Father of many nations all came from barren women. It's like people, people, will he or won't he?

Like, did he tell you something? Did he give you a promise? if he did, even if it looks like it's not possible, that's where you're like, it has to be him. It's going to happen. The angel the Lord appeared to Manoa's wife and said, even though you have been unable to have children, you'll soon become pregnant and give birth to a son.

So be careful. This is what he told her. This is what the angel told her. And listen, if it was, if this is what set, Samson apart, maybe you might want to think about this for your own children to help set them apart. Keep yourself pure so that they stay pure or have a really good chance of staying pure. So be careful, you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. You will become pregnant and get birth to a son and his hair must never be cut.

For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines. You knows who else wasn't allowed to drink wine. John the Baptist. Like if there are certain things that set you apart, and you want to be set apart, maybe you do the things that biblical people did to set themselves apart.

Like there are smart things to do. One is stay away from my alcohol. Like there's nothing good that comes from it. I mean, I literally, you're talking about a person who used to drink and party. But I will tell you, I will ruin my witness. two seconds flat with having a glass of wine in my hand.

And nobody that I know of that has a really strong relationship with the Lord drinks. I don't know one. So, like, is really diligent in their walk with God. I've never met one yet. Even the one that Tom talks about that only had the one, that's not even. that isn't even a person that I would say is the strongest Christian I've ever met. It's just they were diligent in that.

But they were not somebody that I would say, follow them as they follow Christ. So, says, the woman ran and told her husband, a man of God appeared to me. He looked like one of God's angels terrifying to see. I didn't ask where he came from and he didn't tell me his name. But he told me, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. Your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death. So think about this.

Blessings require life changes. I mean, she was being blessed by having this child, but it required something of her. And that's a change in how she was going to eat and what she was going to drink. But she was giving one of the biggest blessings, which is having a child. I will tell you this. When I had kids, now you guys tell me if it's the same for you, hypocrisy is huge. And actually Jesus talks, like Jesus hated hypocrisy.

I mean, who did he hate more? The Sadducees and the Pharisees. Like, and why did he not stand them? And why did he not call them out? I mean, why did he call them out? It's because of the hypocrisy. Hypocrisy will destroy someone quicker than anything that I know of. And it allows,

people to have a crutch and allows people and enables them to justify their bad actions based on other people's hypocrisy. What is the quickest thing you hear people say, I don't want to go to church. I don't want to be around Christians. Why? Because they're hypocrites. If that's what a Christian looks like, I don't want anything to do with it. Everybody's hypocritical to a point, I will say.

But the thing is, is how, to what. degree? Are we hypocrites? Because if you want to raise children that don't serve the Lord, be a hypocrite in front of them. That is a sure thing. That right there. And I'm sure this is probably the same rule in your households. And if it's not, then don't tell me. But in our house, the thing was is this. If we couldn't watch, if my kids couldn't watch it, If we would say you can't watch that, we didn't watch it. So whatever was playing in the evening TV were things that they could watch in the daytime or at night with us.

We didn't watch anything that they weren't allowed to watch. We didn't say things that they couldn't say. A lot of parents cuss and then they punish their child for doing the very same thing they're doing. It floors me. Yeah. When someone will tell their child, their small child, if they're a person that cusses around their house and they're a Christian, and that child will say and repeat the very same thing that they do,

but that child gets in trouble for it. Why are they in trouble? They didn't do anything wrong. I mean, you think they did. Why would you think they did? You do it. So you must be doing something wrong. If they can't say it, then why are you saying it?

Does that make sense at all? 100%. You know why? It's because if that child steps out and goes to church, which I have seen, just so you know, a child would come to children's church, they would cuss. They would get in trouble with the parent. And that very parent, when they weren't in church, was cussing. They're embarrassed that their kids said the very same thing that they said.

But the thing is, is they say it when no. nobody else is watching and seeing. And that child embarrassed them because they exposed them. Right. I remember when I was at church. I must have been like maybe 2D's age, like 11. And somebody was smoking a cigarette in the parking lot. And I was like, oh, dad, they're smoking a cigarette at church.

And he was like, yeah. And I was like, well, at least we. until you get home and he's like, why? He's like, if they're smoking at church, what's the difference? Like, that's, like, basically that's hypocrisy. Like, they're going to not do it around us, but they didn't do it at home. And I was like, good point. So, like, my parents literally, like, they just, my parents are the furthest thing

from being hypocrites. Were they perfect? Absolutely not. But, like, they, what they did is, like, I never felt like they were hypocrites about anything ever. And that was, like, a really, like, a moment from me where that stuck with me forever. And I'm like, that's true. like why you won't do it at church but you do it the second you get home.

I'm like that's that's like a double life, even down to like smoking a cigarette. Yep. I remember that. And then also I'm in a very unique situation because I do have like a blended family. Now my girls are raised or older and now they're adults. But for a while when they were living in two different homes, they're very, very much two different homes. Things that are permissible at one home were not permissible. at my home. And so it was very obvious which one they preferred. And it was a home that was

absent of a lot of stuff that was in another home. Well, the problem is, is the other home claimed to be Christians as well. Correct. Went to church every Sunday. Yes. Yes. But lived the opposite in their home. Let's make that very clear because even though they were very opposite of another, they were both claiming the same thing. Correct. Very dangerous. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yes, exactly. So for them, it was confusing because they're like, well, we both go to a church. We sing the same songs. And so they were able to, without me saying a whole lot, we're able to distinguish between the two.

And as they get older, they decide, like, well, I don't want to have this type of life. I'd rather have this life. And so they made their own decisions based off of being able to live literally two different lives. And so God, what the enemy meant for evil, God turned for good. and yeah always and it was like not really like a whole lot that I had to do on my end except just be a true Christian yeah be like not a hypocrite you know so yeah it's it's crazy how damaging it is where were you going to say Vanessa because I think oh no no I'm just I'm just taking it all in yeah I could imagine like your little brain yeah when your dad was having that

conversation I was it was like that moment I don't know why, but that one has stood with me forever because it's like everything, everything that I do. I'm like, oh, like somebody, I was told somebody was like cursing in the parking, our parking lot a few months ago and yelling at their kids. And I'm like imagining them like in the sanctuary. Like were you doing that in front of Pastor Tom? You know? Like you wait to get out to the car. You know, so like it, I mean, it happens even to this day. But at the same time, I'm like, well, why like what happens at home? You know, my brain obviously can comprehensive. We had bigger things now.

And I'm like thinking, man, at home, if they'll do it here. Yeah. You know, what happens at home? And so, but yeah, I don't know. It just, that one stuck with me. It was, I think of two stories. One is one year you're just talking about. We had somebody very critical, love to talk, talk, talk, talk to about people behind

their back and would, was very critical, very critical. And like, I think it was. that Sunday or just during that week had just raised some commotion about some stuff and really critical of some people. And it's so funny because what they were critical about, if I remember right, was not sinful at all, right? And so,

but in, But that Sunday, they had made a complete, like, idiot out of themselves. But then that Sunday, they piled on their idiocy because in the hallway of our church, not this building, the old building, in that hallway, standing at the exit door, entry exit door, where you're yelling at their kids and cussing to them, get in the D, call. and all this other. And I'm like, there you go. And there you go. Right. Yeah. And it's just like ridiculousness. But it's, it goes to too. I like, there was, I had an acquaintance that went to a really big, huge church in the area. And one of the things she would,

she led this women's group. And one of the things that the women's group, um, One of the things that the women's group, this woman's group would do is once a year they would go away on this like little retreat. And what she was telling me was she was going to be buying a lot of alcohol for the dackeries that they would be consuming while they were away. And I was telling my friend that was the one drink, you know, one drinker, one cup of drink or one, how do you say that? Would only drink one? I'll say it like that. Yeah. I was saying like, that doesn't seem right to me.

Like, why would you do this? But the philosophy of this person that was leading this women's group is, well, we can do it because nobody will be there and see it. Like, we'll be away from our kids. We'll be away from our husbands. Nobody will see it. And I was saying to this person, that's wrong. Like, how can you honestly believe like this? And she was actually.

siding with this person. Well, there is truth to that. And like, I can see why. And I'm like, see, that's where a little leaven leavens the lump. True. True. It's dangerous. Then I had a worship leader's wife who did the same thing. When they would leave town and meet up with their friends, no one's around. Nobody knows us is what she said. Nobody knows us. Yeah. So we drink while we're. And I'm like, I'm like, I literally said to her, Well, first of all, God sees you. I know. Even if nobody in town sees you.

And let alone the word of God says drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. You're going there with the intent to be drunk. I had no position in this church. Okay. Like, I just went to this church. And this was a friend of mine that was the worship leader's wife. But if you know me, I hold nothing back. I don't care.

But I'm like, you're going there. You know you're going there to get drunk. You don't think God looks at that. I know. Like, that matters. And when you think about it, there's zero benefits to drinking. Like, alcohol in itself is a neurotoxin. It literally makes you dumber.

It kills brain cells. I can't afford that, guys. No. And the thing is, you are born with a very specific amount of brain cells. You can't regenerate brain cells. You can't grow brain cells. And so if you kill them, that's it. Like getting high, guys, you say, well, I don't drink alcohol, but I got a medical marijuana card.

Okay, listen, you know as well as I do, the reason why you're doing that medical marijuana. These are all coping mechanisms. Get to the root on why you need a drink. get to the root on why you need medical marijuana. It's frying your brain just so you know. It's the same people that said, take this vaccination. Just remember that. It's frying your brain.

Along with it's altering anything that alters you and makes you have a buzz, it's still getting drunk. It's just not with alcohol. See if that does. I mean, see if that flies with God. I wouldn't do it. It's just not worth it. It's not worth it.

I think that suck if you were going away, like, one time and you got drunk and then Jesus came back. And then the trumpet sound? I don't think you're going to hell for that. No, no, not hell. You're stuck here. No. You're stuck here.

I don't think the whole tribulation all the way to the end. I don't think that that's the case. Can you imagine? Oh, my gosh. I think you have to be, it's more than a struggle. It has to be a lifestyle. No, like that. Yeah, you choose.

Every year you choose. That's the day, you know. Because they're going away with their friends. Gotcha. I believe. Can you imagine. Yikers. That'd be rough.

That'd be rough. That'd be rough. That'd be rough. But it just floors me. Like people who like say their kids can't. I've known people like literally when I taught children's church, oh the stories. I should write a book. You should.

I think you need to. That's an idea. I remember talking to parents about. like they were watching this they were going to be at night they would watch this these shows and but they were dogmatic about other children's programs that their kids couldn't watch or whatever but their kids couldn't watch this either like Harry Potter yeah which listen I wasn't a big Harry Potter person myself okay but you know let your yes be yes and your no be no so but I remember these people saying that they were going to be waiting to their kids go to bed because they would drink a beer or drink

beer and then they would watch their programs and they'd have to wait to the kids go to bed. And I literally remember saying to them, why are you waiting to your kids go to bed? They were like, well, because they're not allowed to watch it. And I'm like, well, drink the beer in front of them. And they were like, well, no, I don't want to do that either. I'm like, and I said to them, if you have to do it in private, you should. shouldn't be doing it at all because that's just showing that there's something wrong with what you're doing if you and it irritated them yeah but it's like if you have to wait until your kids go

to bed to do something you should seriously think about should you be doing it because your your children's eyes are far less important than God's eyes yeah I'm like if you think it's wrong then how can you be doing it in front of God himself? True. He's awake. He's awake. All the time. When you share this with people like that, do they really consider what you're saying?

Like, did they like change their ways? Well, it confounded the crap out of them because their eyes were like, they had never thought of it before. Right. Because some people are just like, oh, you got a good point. Right. Well, they did think it was a good point to a certain extent, but they were not stopping what they were doing.

Yeah. Lots of people think things are good. and they are like, they're like, you know, that does make sense to a certain extent, but it's not going to change their behavior. True. Because it'll justify that action to be able to continue doing it. Well, as long as I'm not drunk, I'm okay. Well, wait to your son, wakes up in the middle of his sleep, comes out,

sees you watch in whatever you're watching and having a beer with it. How are you going to explain that away? Because they will, because whatever is hidden in the dark, will be brought to the light. That's the word of God. And it never fails. And it's always true. And that's just the way it works.

And it will. And then when your kid is cussing as an adult and walking in with beers and partying, and you're not going to be able to stop it because they're going to say, you did it. And then when you try and say, but I didn't do it like you are, they're going to go, but you did it. You taught me. Right. Or you hit it, but I still saw it.

it. Yeah. Yep. Just like you justified it, they will too. And it's always farther than what you go. Always. Because that's how sin works. Yeah.

True. Yeah. It gets worse. So if you want purity, exemplify purity. Mm-hmm. Right. If you want holiness, be holy. Yeah.

If you want purity, be pure. Yep. That's a word. If you want hypocrisy, compromise, justification for bad behavior, exemplify that. That's what you're going to get and might be on steroids with whoever's watching you. It can be friends, it can be children, it can be family. But it will happen. It always does.

It matters. I love the statements. I saw this statement and I was like, oh my gosh, I absolutely love it. And then we'll close out. But it says, you can't raise what God marked while ignoring what God said. So whatever God's called you to do, whether it's like Samson, the parents were told you're not going to do this and you're going to raise him like that. Well, the same thing could be if God has told you that you're going to take somebody under your wing

and you're going to help them with their Christian walk and disciple them. Remember this. If God has given you a purpose and a calling, whatever he's called you to do, remember this. You can't ignore what he's saying to you and how you're supposed to do it. You don't get to decide how it's going to be done. He decides how it's going to be done. And it's up to you to do what he says.

You do it wrong. You won't get what he's promised. that's just the way it works. You won't get what he said. If Samson's parents decided to still drink wine while she was pregnant and to cut his hair, he wouldn't have been Samson. They would have said, we're going to do what you said, but only to a certain extent.

That's how most people walk in their Christian walks. We'll do what you're telling us to do until it gets uncomfortable and inconvenient. And then we'll do what conveniences. us and makes us comfortable. That's why people go to the churches that they go to. And that's why the people, and that's why people live their lives like they do. Right.

Adalus and Magalas just had a thing at the beginning of the fast and it said, if nothing changes, nothing changes. And that's how it typically is, is most people want change and they say it. And then Jeff says, what does he say? He says that it's just not a priority then. What does he say? Absolutely, it's not. What does he say? Right.

When somebody's like, oh, we just, you know. Oh, I don't have time or I don't, yeah. Just instead of saying that, just be honest with yourself. Just say it's just not a priority. Right. Because when you have to say that out loud. When you have to say, well, church just isn't a priority to me. Oops.

Because that's the truth. People remember what they want to remember and they do what they want to do. You will make time for the things that you want to do. Always. Always. people yeah the things you want to do you'll make time yeah you'll find time in your schedule yes you will you'll adjust your life yes you will that's why i always say whatever you love to do the most goes on the back burner until you do the very thing that is the hardest thing to do which is

prayer taxes oh yeah oh dear what did you say taxes amen to that i know i know i know you knew Because I always end up paying. Oh, yeah, I know. I know. I get sick of paying. I know. Tea party. How about we know?

Another Boston tea party. I'd say that we did. So sick of the government. I know. Same. Same. Sorry, I triggered. Okay, go ahead.

Prayer, Bible study, worship, and fellowship. Do those things. Do those things first. Before you have that couple of calls. Yeah. And you know what? Those four things. I made this connection the other day. Those four things, if you do those four things daily, guess what happens daily? Your mind renews. You can't help but be close to God. It's not possible. Right. You literally, your mind literally is shaped by the word of God. Yep. And then life will start to change because you did things.

And you won't look the same. And you won't look the same. Which is a good thing. It is. Literally. It's a great thing. The Holy Spill will show you. Get rid of that. Yep. Yeah. Knock it off.

And then you got a job to do or a decision to make. Yeah. Or a first step. Yep. Which is a work people. I mean, it's so funny to me how people are like Christianity is not work-based. Last time I checked. Hello.

It is. Yep. That's not what the Bible says. It's not what the Bible says. Not at all. But it's so funny because a lot of people don't want to do anything in their walk with God. Do absolutely nothing. It just happens like oil being poured over somebody's head.

They want to reap all the benefits. And do absolutely nothing. It's like people who want to go to work and there are lots of them out there right now. We all know. They want to show up for work, not do one thing, but earn a paycheck. Yeah. Do it as minimal, the most minimal amount to. to earn that paycheck.

And how dare you ask you, how dare you ask them to do a task? That's how you are with your Christian walk, really. Truth be told. Truth be told. It don't work like that. Never. It don't work like that.

Never. On that happy note. Go to your taxes, no. As Tom would say, we're going to end on a positive. Yeah. No, we're going to end on a negative. No.

Negative no. Every Sunday. Quit being a hypocrite. Yeah, exactly. Hypocrisy smells. It smells bad. We'll finish up. We'll finish up. I think I have, how many more do we have? I have one. I have, oh, I have two more really good ones. Okay, good. Because then, really good.

Natalie will come. Yes. And then we'll have a Wednesday. So we'll finish this out on Wednesday. Yeah, perfect. Okay, perfect. I love that. Thank you for joining us today. We will see you on Sunday. If you are not in town, make sure you watch us live on Rumble or, Are we on YouTube? Yeah, we're YouTube. YouTube's fine.

On YouTube. Yep. And we're no longer the suicide hotline. I know. Somehow, some way. After about the hundredth time of Tracy telling them, I am not. We are not. They finally did it.

They finally did it. What was it? Wednesday. Yeah, it was recent. It was very recent. We're no longer. I'm not. I mean, if you, if you, if you,

reach out to me. I mean, I might be able to help you not kill yourself. But like also, we're not. But after you're done talking to me, you might want to kill yourself. I can't promise you anything. YouTube, don't listen to anything we just said. Disregard, disregard. Oh, that's funny.

Thank you for joining us. We'll see you at church on Sunday or Wednesday of next week. Bye. Real talk.