1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,640 Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast where our mission is to encourage and highlight God's 2 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:17,240 Goodness and modern-day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hankins. Today we have 3 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:22,200 with us a first time for something. Before we get into that, I want to thank you for tuning in. 4 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:27,640 We want to thank our longtime listeners for supporting us and sharing the podcast. We ask 5 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:32,240 that you share it with a friend so it's encouragement for others. And with us today, 6 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:38,120 it's our first time having three guests at once. So we're going to see how the Holy Spirit leads 7 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:43,040 this whole thing. They are in a band called Tri-State Worship. You've heard from two of the 8 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:48,920 members before. We have Ben Akers and we have Anthony Brown, but then we have the third member 9 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:54,360 of their band. We have Carl Jamison with us as well. And we're going to have Carl open us up 10 00:00:54,360 --> 00:01:01,080 with an opening prayer because he hasn't gotten to yet. And then we will get into it. So thank you. 11 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:07,200 Alright, sounds great. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time for us to get together 12 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:17,080 in your name. And we pray that you anoint this podcast and you keep it fun here. And your name, 13 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:23,880 we pray, Amen. Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. So thank you for being with us. And we're just 14 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:29,720 going to have you start it off wherever it makes sense. We're going to be talking about God's 15 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:36,960 goodness, modern day miracles. And how does Tri-State fit into this? Yeah, it is a miracle. It's 16 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:43,840 definitely a miracle that we are formed. That God's all fit to just, you know, just take a couple 17 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:51,160 of three great abosos and put them together and do his work. So that in and of itself is a miracle 18 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:56,720 that we are formed as that band. And all three of us, we have different backgrounds and walks of 19 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:01,640 life, but we do share the same common thread of that we believe in Jesus and that we just want to 20 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:08,160 lift him up wherever God opens the door, we go. So worship is important because it opens the door, 21 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:14,240 it changes the atmosphere and invites the miracles. You know, honestly, I was thinking I was 22 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:20,600 reflecting on it before and worship is important to me because it's easier to sing praise to God 23 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:25,640 than it is for me to say praise to God. Right? When I'm thinking, Oh, praise God, it feels awkward, 24 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:30,760 but when I'm singing it, it feels right. Yeah. And so I don't know if there's something to do with 25 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:35,440 that or God has his plans. And so there may be something he built into us that is for singing 26 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:40,000 praise to him. And worship is a great outlet for that. We're singing in worship is a great outlet 27 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,840 for that. He created us as musical creatures, you know, I feel like and even though the word says, 28 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:51,840 you know, make a joyful noise, just the fact that we we have that kind of built into our DNA, 29 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:57,480 that we like music and we like noises, we like sounds and frequencies and vibrations. And so, 30 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:03,480 yeah, I mean, that is definitely that's a good point for sure. Some people are more musically inclined. 31 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:13,240 Yes, some of us are gongs. That's me. I've always I've always stick to the drums because I 32 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:22,000 could never get any other instrument to work for. Or be going something to say to. I believe she 33 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,600 too likes drums. Right. Yeah. So how did you guys meet? I mean, because we know you know your 34 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:33,120 backgrounds and it seems very interesting how from where you started and the life that you 35 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:39,560 led and the trials that you faced, so uniquely different from each other that how did you guys 36 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:46,080 meet in the center? How did Jesus pull you to that point? So, okay, so Ben and I met on the back 37 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:51,360 of a garbage truck. Yeah. So we we we we and I you know, I worked for the city of Weirton in 38 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,400 West Virginia. I was working there before Ben and then Ben got hired. I don't know who was clean up 39 00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:00,760 or what, but he needed a job. So he applied the you know, getting hired. And I was the guy that 40 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,240 got lost his job because he came to work drunk or something or was drinking a 40. Yeah, there was 41 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:10,520 a guy that lost his job and basically replaced him. Now it wasn't Ben that lost. I took the guy 42 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:15,880 took the place. Yeah. But yeah, that's basically how we met. And then there was a usually like 30 43 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:22,080 to 40 minute ride back with the landfill and him and I do nothing but do talk. So so and our 44 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,720 driver, you know, he just drove. So we just we just talked and I don't know we just came up. I 45 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,280 don't even know how the conversation started, but we just started talking about church and music 46 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:35,400 and the Holy Spirit just took over and I found out that he played guitar and he did what he does. 47 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:40,200 And then he found out that I played drums and at the time I was actually playing drums with my 48 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,680 outcasts. Yeah, it was the outcast ministry. Actually, my mom was the was the lead to play 49 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,440 piano and my dad ran our sound and that was kind of how it fit in that he played with us for a 50 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,280 little bit, you know, and then yeah, then eventually he just got to let him somewhere else. And 51 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:58,120 I don't know, eventually we just it was funny about that. It's after because he got a better job. 52 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,200 He left and I was still in the garbage truck for a little while after he got a better job. Yeah, 53 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:07,240 he got something better and I was stuck where I was at. But I thought him and I would like lose 54 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:11,720 contact. But we yeah, we kept in touch. I had his number. He had my number and we just yeah, 55 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,040 we just kept in touch. We played at churches together. But you know, before obviously before 56 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:21,880 Christ, it was formed fully formed. You know, we played at churches together, worship together. 57 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:26,360 And yeah, I don't know just even when we weren't doing that, we still just remain friends. You 58 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:31,160 know, every once in a while we'd hang out and stuff and just chill. And then yeah, then I don't 59 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:36,120 God, I don't point at us in this direction, you know, he's seen the worst in me. I've seen the 60 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:41,560 worst in him. You know, I was there. I was there with him, you know, there was divorce and it was 61 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,880 just, you know, we just know each other on such I'd say an intimate level almost, you know, 62 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:54,680 because he always asked me for money. And so that's our story. So so where's where's Carl, 63 00:05:54,680 --> 00:06:00,040 how do you fit into this? Like, how did you meet these jokers? Well, I met Ben at a summer job. 64 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:05,160 There's a Christian camp up at the top of the Laurel Highlands up at the top of the mountain, 65 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:12,840 Jamonville. And it's in a small town called Hop, which is outside of Union Town. So we met at 66 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:20,040 this camp. I was working there as for a summer job in I got booked to play. Yes, in Ben got booked 67 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:25,480 to play there for the worship for for about the whole summer. I mean, every once in a while, we 68 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:32,280 would have we would have another guest or something. But for the most part, Ben would be leading worship. 69 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:38,840 And I decided to play alongside him. I originally started off on keys that I brought my base in. 70 00:06:38,840 --> 00:06:44,520 Actually, I think it was when I met Sonny. Yeah, I think so. And that was the only time that he ever 71 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:50,200 played drums there. And I was probably really unfortunately that summer kid thing. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was 72 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,840 remember that. You remember that chapel that's yeah, it's like kind of if you would get covered there. 73 00:06:54,840 --> 00:07:00,920 You know, the acoustics were the acoustics are the acoustics were phenomenal in that building. 74 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:07,800 The biggest drummer problem is everyone complains about it's too loud. Well, too bad. Unfortunately, 75 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:13,320 that's that's what I would say. Yeah, I was I was used to that, honestly. I mean, too bad. You 76 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:18,120 know, that was the first time that I met. That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, if you've been to a concert, 77 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:23,080 then you'll that'll be nothing to you to be honest. Yeah, right. But to get back to the point. Yeah, 78 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:27,640 that's how we met. I started playing on bass and then Ben and I started getting closer. We kept in 79 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:32,120 touch and then I went to his his basement where he had a little studio. We did a little bit of 80 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:38,520 rehearsing and in a little bit of recording, a little jam session. And then we started playing 81 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:44,600 gigs and another together at Jermonville. And then we got other venues that we started playing at 82 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:51,800 and God would open up different doors and who came up with the name? Well, that was I think it was 83 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:58,040 like all of us. All of us. I have a little I have a revelation about that, though. So when it comes 84 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:04,040 to the name, so for the longest time, you know, because I we me and me and Anthony both were 85 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:09,880 signed with LBM. And at the time, it was a season. But then when when God closed that door for me, 86 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:15,240 it was kind of like I was plunged into this not darkness, but this this season of, you know, 87 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:22,280 God wanting me to focus on family and other things. So during that time, God spoke to me, 88 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:27,560 he said, you know, Ben, and I love you. And I guess I've given you a gift. But 89 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:35,400 you're taking that gift and you're almost like you're elevating your elevating yourself, but in my 90 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:40,120 name. And that really shook me to my core because I had to repent. I said, God, I don't want to do 91 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:46,520 that, you know. And so my eyes were opened. And so God said, no more is it going to be Ben Acre's 92 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:52,680 music? But I've given you a drummer and I've given you a bass player and the three of you 93 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:58,520 are going to come together in unison and unity and do my work. And no longer are you going to be 94 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:04,360 Ben Acre's music because he's from Anthony is from West Virginia, you know, I'm from Island, 95 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:11,640 Ohio, and then Carl's and PA. So just fit tri-state worship. And so that was kind of like the end of 96 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:17,560 Ben Acre's music in the beginning of something new that God's doing. And since then, we've played 97 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:23,880 a handful of shows, different churches and things like that. Miracle services, venues. 98 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:29,080 They're on Facebook if anyone wants to see them. The God's Goodness podcast page. 99 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:33,480 If you want to see what they look like and what they sound like too. 100 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:40,200 Yes. You mentioned that God closed the door on that for you. But I remember the interview 101 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:44,760 and it doesn't sound like God closed any doors that you could have still done, Elbe. And it's 102 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,760 said he asked you and the more important thing is you had the courage to be obedient. 103 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:53,480 Yes. And I think that is the more important. And I just wanted to express that to the viewer. 104 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:58,760 It wasn't just that God is closing doors, but he's asking you to close some of them on your own. 105 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:04,280 Right? Because he has better things for you. He has a better plan and not to harm you, not to hurt 106 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:09,800 you, but to give you life and to give you life abundantly. And if you have the courage, like 107 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:15,480 if you give us a spirit of boldness, if you have the courage to step out in obedience, 108 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:20,760 you can seize what he is giving you. Yes. That is so perfect because when the enemy, 109 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:25,800 the enemy doesn't come at you with a spirit of conviction, but the enemy comes at you with a 110 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:31,000 spirit of condemnation. The enemy says, you know, look what you've done. You're a terrible person. 111 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,480 You should just kill yourself. You know, that's the enemy. But when God, when the Holy Spirit 112 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:40,760 opens your eyes to something that's going on that might not be right or it might be leading you down 113 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:46,280 a path that's not in line with what the Holy Spirit wants for you, then it's not out of that out of 114 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:51,320 that spirit of condemnation. It's it's a gentle tug. It's like, it's like, hey, my son or my daughter, 115 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:57,400 you know, I love you, but there's some things that you need to change. You need to repent. 116 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:02,280 This is that it's not the end of the world. You know, just be obedient. I love you. You know, 117 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:07,160 I'm just showing you some things and it's not like it's, you know, oh, you're a hateful, spiteful 118 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:13,160 person. How could God love you? That's the enemy. So I knew, I knew that it wasn't the enemy. I knew 119 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:18,280 it was God because it was that gentle tug. It was that, hey, I'm pulling you away. If you'll let me, 120 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:23,240 if you just be obedient, you let me just like a pulling the reins in a horse. Just a little kind 121 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:27,800 of, he's not like cranking it, you know, like he's trying to stop the horse on a dime. Yeah, 122 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:32,280 a little nut because in the end, he doesn't want to hurt us. He knows that peeling the layers off 123 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:38,120 all at once, although beneficial for us, is not healthy for us because it would break us so 124 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:43,480 completely to be hurt so much so fast. And some things, you know, some things did happen at home 125 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,520 with when I was signed with LBM. So it wasn't necessarily the record label. It was just, 126 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:54,840 I wasn't like, like we talked about in my podcast, it wasn't that I was not, I was not just couldn't 127 00:11:54,840 --> 00:12:00,040 handle it. It was a responsibility. It was temptation. And so that was God. It was not that it was 128 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:06,040 the label and God pulled me away from the label for a time. So I don't necessarily have to sign 129 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:11,240 with a record label on an artist contract. But that doesn't mean that once I get priorities right, 130 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:16,520 that, you know, maybe a distro deal or something in the future couldn't open up. And so right now, 131 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:23,320 like there are talks right now with LBM, not as to go back as an artist, but as to maybe get on some 132 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:30,680 sort of a lower level distro deal, something like that. So God's opening doors, but he's closing the 133 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:36,920 ones that he knows for a fact that should not be open. And so that's where it's very easy to 134 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,680 distinguish like, is this the enemy or is this God? Because if it's the enemy, then you know, 135 00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:45,480 it's coming out of a hateful, spiteful attitude. But if it's God, it's coming out of a gentle 136 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:53,000 nudge. It's like, Hey, you know, I see you. I love you. But, but you know, so very true. What is the 137 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:57,880 the goal for tri-state worship? Is there like something that you like you want to be like 138 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:02,680 the go to band for the tri-state area? Do you want to do you want to have, you know, 139 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:08,360 is there like somewhere in there that you want to be able to bring the word in a larger venue? 140 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:12,840 Like or by through worship? Like, I mean, is there are there songs you're developing that 141 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:18,840 that you think are going to bring praise to God? Like, so I feel like, I mean, and these two guys 142 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:24,760 here to my left and right, I feel like they'd agree. But in my personal goal, what I would like to see 143 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:30,600 is what the Father would like to see. So as long as it's going in a direction that God is above it 144 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:36,680 and in the center of it, then then I'm at peace. But if it ever starts going in a place where, 145 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:42,600 you know, it's starting to look like the other side's coming in, then we need to stop. So wherever 146 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:47,720 God leads, like if it's bigger venues, it's bigger venues. If it's smaller locations, 147 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:53,720 it's smaller locations, because God is going to the people that need to be at each of, you know, 148 00:13:54,440 --> 00:14:01,160 wherever we play, they're there for a reason. And God is going to use us. We're tools in God's toolbox. 149 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:07,320 So God, God has gifted each one of us with different gifts. And so we could use them separately. 150 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:09,800 Right. Because why does God need two 10 millimeter wrenches? 151 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:15,320 Yeah, right. Exactly. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. So why do I need three of these? I need one. 152 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:21,240 And we just need to be obedient and go to the places that He opens the doors. A lot of that falls on 153 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:26,440 us too, because, you know, you can't exactly, you don't know. And so you do some fishing. 154 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:33,800 Just sit in the corner and wait. Yeah. So yes, there is an element of me reaching out to 155 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:39,000 different venues and different churches in different places and trying to secure those places. 156 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:45,400 But if I cast my net, then the fish that are caught are the ones that God says go. The fish 157 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:50,600 that get away or it doesn't, you know what I mean? I like to think that it's not up to me. No, it's 158 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:55,800 not. If that's His glorious burden, it's only up to me to tell you that it's a way for you to talk 159 00:14:55,800 --> 00:15:01,560 to Him. Yes. That you can bring. If you think that He's wrong, tell Him not me. What if I'm wrong? 160 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:05,400 What if I'm the idiot? You talk to Him. This is what I want. I want you to talk to the Father 161 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:10,200 directly because of the blood of Jesus. Yes. And right now what we're praying for is we're praying 162 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:15,800 that we can, you know, get a couple churches that would allow us to come in this year and do, you 163 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:20,600 know, a tour called You're Not a Mistake tour because that, you know, a lot of people, like, 164 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:28,360 they have really messed up lives because they don't know Christ or, you know, for whatever. 165 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:32,920 They do know Christ. They have a hard time reconciling that about themselves. 166 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:39,960 Yes. And the enemy has a nasty way of coming in and feeding us lies. How many times do we need, 167 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,680 do we hear the same lie before we believe it? Right. And so a lot of us, you know, we start to 168 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:49,800 believe that I'm not worthy, that I'm not, you know, that maybe I'm a mistake. The suicidal 169 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,800 thoughts. How could God love me? How could God love me? Look what I did. I did 15 years in prison 170 00:15:53,800 --> 00:16:00,680 for this or for that. So we feed into those lies. But, you know, the truth is, is that you're not 171 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,800 a mistake. The truth is, is that you were wonderfully, fearfully made. And part of these 172 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,520 churches that we're reaching out to, I'm trying to explain that to the staff, you know, saying, 173 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:15,320 you know, hey, this is what we do. We come in, we speak the truth. Our audience is, 174 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:20,920 is the drug addict. Our audience is the captive. Our audience, our audience is the, 175 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:26,040 is the broken, the lost, you know, the healthy don't go to hospitals. Right. That's our audience. 176 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:30,920 And that's who we want. That's who we're trying to attract because, you know, we're trying to show 177 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:36,120 them the love of God, the goodness of God. And so we're not so interested in, you know, perfect 178 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:41,640 religion. I mean, sure, if somebody shows up to one of, you know, the events and, you know, 179 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:48,200 get saved and they're of a kind of a saint background, praise God, you know, any soul is great. 180 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:53,480 Any soul saved is great. But it's that population that tend to feed into the lies, you know, from 181 00:16:53,480 --> 00:17:01,400 the enemy that we're really after because that, yes. Yeah, we're not the broken, you know, the 182 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:07,000 broken places Isaiah, you know, says, you know, the Lord binds up the broken hearted. And so 183 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:11,800 that really is our population that we're targeting. And so ministries like celebrate recovery, 184 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:16,360 you know, things like that, we're trying to, I don't want to use the word partner with because 185 00:17:16,360 --> 00:17:20,840 that's suggestive of like a long term thing. But, you know, we want to worship alongside with 186 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:27,080 those ministries. We want to come alongside and whether it's for a season or if it's just for a 187 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:32,920 Friday night, somebody that's broken, somebody that has been down the road of maybe I'm going to kill 188 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:38,920 myself or has been down the road of let me inject myself with heroin, somebody in that population 189 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:44,360 is almost guaranteed to show up. And then when they hear the word, you know, when they hear the truth 190 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:49,960 and the worship and that's what it's all about for me. I don't want any of the glory. I don't. I 191 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:54,760 want to just be the willing vessel, the humble willing vessel that God is going to use to get 192 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:59,720 those people to the places that God wants them to be to show them that this is this active life 193 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:05,160 of drug use this, this, you know, you did 15 years, this is not your failures are not going to define 194 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:10,440 you. This is not who you are. This is not your identity in Christ, right? And so a lot of times, 195 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:15,080 you know, the old saying, you know, sometimes the word of God is preached better through, 196 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:22,760 through worship, you know, and so worship just does something. It just splits the atmosphere, 197 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:30,360 you know, and so worship is very powerful. And I feel like it's, it's very easy to not easy, but 198 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:36,280 it's just very it's something that when you if you get a room full of drug addicts that are 199 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:42,360 hungry to change, you know, and then worship breaks out. I mean, boom, it's like something. 200 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:47,240 God created us as spiritual creatures created in his image, spiritual creatures needing a 201 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:52,520 relationship. Yes. Right. Because when he created us, you know, as unimportant as you think you are, 202 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:57,480 he could not imagine heaven without you. Right. He's like a kid on Christmas morning waiting 203 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:02,520 for you to come home. Like, can you imagine that the God of the universe, the king of everything, 204 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:07,960 made you with the intent of spending eternity with you could not wait to spend eternity with you. 205 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:12,680 The word says he's jealous for us, you know, like how important you think you are like, 206 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:17,000 I'm faulty and I'm frail as a man, I will never let my son die for another person if it's up to me. 207 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,360 Right. If he decides to sacrifice himself, that's on him, I'll be upset. Right. But that will never 208 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:26,840 be a choice I made. He loved us so much while we were still sinning, he said, his only son for us. 209 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,880 That's something I wouldn't I would be incapable of doing. Right. If he asked me to do it, I'd be 210 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:36,840 like, Oh, God, don't Abraham me, man. This is not cool. Like, I don't know if I could do that. 211 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:41,160 Like, you know, and yeah, and it's tough. And I know God knows what our limitations are. Right. 212 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:45,240 He knew it was going to pass. Abraham just needed to know Abraham was going to pass. 213 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:51,320 Yeah. Right. Yeah. But yeah, that's that's our vision. That's that's where we're at as a band, 214 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:56,600 as as a band for God, you know, for Jesus. That's, you know, we're not we're not trying to 215 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,480 make billboards and things like that. We're trying to make the billboard of Jesus. That's all we're 216 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:07,480 trying to do. We're trying to use our gifts that God's given each of us to come together as one 217 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:12,840 unit to do the Father's will. And so what do you all do for our audiences so they get refreshed? 218 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:17,720 What do you all do for a living outside of worshiping Jesus? Like, what do you do to earn the money? 219 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:24,120 No, I guess I'll go first. I know I I we're going to steal distribution center. So just I cut steel, 220 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:30,840 basically. Perfect. I have my own business where I own a package delivery route. I used to do road 221 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:35,240 side assistance for a little while. That contract fell through. But now I'm pretty steady with 222 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:41,320 package delivery and it's 1099 contract work, but it's fulfilling and it's not as dangerous work 223 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:47,880 outside of the road. Yeah. So yeah. I'm also an independent contractor in a business. I tune, 224 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:54,440 repair pianos and yes, I do technically work with steel. I do pull and push steel and the 225 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:59,320 tension to the tension that it needs to be at. But he does the piano at our church too. Yeah. 226 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:05,000 Yeah. Yeah. That's one that I that's one that that's my that's my monthly. Yeah. So I was gonna 227 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:11,640 say your nemesis is what you're about to say. Yeah. My orchid. Don't strike the key so hard, 228 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:16,760 Barbara. That's like a tune this every week. What is it a 1970 something's done for? 229 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:21,720 Oh, it's a Steinway. It's only the main Steinway. And I'm the only one here that actually has a 230 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:27,080 like a regular nine to five. I need to get on. I need to figure out what I would do. I get my 231 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:33,240 eye. So you know, honestly, I brought up for a reason is to illustrate that not a single one of 232 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:38,920 you is doing anything that somebody would expect that would bring glory and worship to God through 233 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:45,160 song. Right. And so I would encourage people that he doesn't matter where you are. It matters what 234 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:50,120 you do with the calling God is placed on you. Amen. Yeah. That's good. That's it, brother. That's 235 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:55,320 it. I like that. Let me look at Peter. You know, he was a fisherman of all things and Jesus called 236 00:21:55,320 --> 00:22:02,040 him in. Matthew was a tax collector. You know, I mean, Jesus wasn't out here targeting, you know, 237 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:07,240 the religious and the Pharisees. And you know, it was it was the scum of the earth. It was but 238 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:12,520 but I mean, Peter wasn't that smart. And we know this because well, we know this because he didn't 239 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:17,240 stay in school to be to become a rabbi. Right. Right. We know that if he became a fisherman to 240 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:22,040 follow his family's trade, which was again, not the most desirable job to have, that he failed 241 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:25,720 out of school at some point that he did not get the Torah. He didn't get he couldn't memorize. 242 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,920 He couldn't get it. There's something he was kind of a I'm not going to say he's an imbecile, 243 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:34,920 but he's like somebody who didn't study the word. Right. So he wasn't he wasn't chosen by man. Yeah. 244 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,320 But God chose him. Yeah. So even though he wasn't in the word as much as you thought, even though 245 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,000 you're not in the word as much as you think you ought to be, that doesn't mean God is not going 246 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,960 to choose you. Right. And so you better you better get in the word sooner after that so that you 247 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:52,840 could at least discern that that's him. Yeah. Right. That's true. And I liken that to like if 248 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:57,880 Jesus walked the earth now instead of back when he did, he would have chose the HVAC guys. He would 249 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:03,720 have chose the blue collar workers, the, you know, the steel workers and the coal miners and the, 250 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:08,280 you know, the self employed and he would have sat with the politician that you don't that you don't 251 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:12,520 like. Whatever side of the fence you're on there is and whatever side don't care. You sat with that 252 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:17,320 guy or that woman. He wouldn't have been a pastor's, you know, he would not have cared at all that 253 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:21,320 you would have called him names for sitting at the table with the person you vehemently hate. 254 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:26,280 He's looking for that willing heart and you guys are willing and you're going and then you're seeing 255 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:31,880 things. So what kinds of things have you seen in your journeys through these churches, miracle 256 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:37,320 services? Like you've seen God move. I felt God move. Like when they were doing that miracle 257 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:43,000 service with the Dili Se and Justin Buckles, they were episode one in season two. So listen to that 258 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:49,640 and you won't expect that story. But when they were praying over people, I would get the Holy 259 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:54,440 Spirit would fill me up. There was so much Holy Spirit in the room. I would get tears and then 260 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,680 they would go and then the next person would come up and I just get tears each time somebody was 261 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:03,080 getting healed and it was just so powerful. Yes. When the Holy Spirit goes through her, she's like a 262 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:08,120 she's like a Capri Sun. She's like a sleek and like you're squeezing it too hard. It's immediately. 263 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,960 If I look over, she's tearing like, I know. I already know. I don't have to ask. I know. 264 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:16,920 I'm so glad you went there because I'm the same. I feel the same way. Like as somebody who's, you 265 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:23,160 know, single handedly been to that miracle, led worship at that miracle service and revival service, 266 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:29,400 I mean, spiritual chains of darkness are just breaking off of people left and right. And so 267 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:35,160 there was a time where I was even healed because at one of the services, it was in Greensburg. 268 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:41,560 I had an issue with my stomach to where I had bloody stool. And so, you know, he was calling 269 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,640 people for saying, you know, if you need a miracle, come up now. It was after he gave his testimony 270 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:49,720 and preached and so people were lining up and I was on the guitar, you know, just kind of playing 271 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:54,200 lightly in the background and I kept hearing God telling me to go get your healing. So I put the 272 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,920 guitar down and walked up to him. Just he's like, what's up? What do you need, brother? I call if 273 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:04,360 you walk down with it, kept strumming as you did it. I'm not going to take you. I'm just saying. 274 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:07,720 And five was in the audience. I've been like, that guy, that's awesome. And it's kind of 275 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:12,120 embarrassing, right? And it was a little embarrassing, but, you know, I had to be obedient. So I took 276 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:16,600 the guitar off and I walked up to Justin and I told him, you know, I said, yeah, this is what's 277 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:21,320 going on. And he healed and he put his hand on my stomach and you begin to just cast it out. And 278 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:29,000 to this day, I have not had that problem. So I mean, I single handedly have witnessed it. I've 279 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,960 seen it. So it's a privilege. It's an honor to 280 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:38,200 be like a GI bleed. No. Well, here's my thing. If I happen to win tickets to 281 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:44,200 casting crowns or something, which I'm not even like, I don't, I don't want to say I'm not a 282 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:48,200 fan of casting crowns, but like, you know, it's not a band I listen to on the regular. But if I 283 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:53,000 was to win tickets to some big name band like that, but then on the same night, like if I had a 284 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:57,560 decision to make, like if Justin and Delice was preaching and they were doing a miracle service 285 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:03,880 and it was on a Saturday night, but Mercy Me was coming and it was on a Saturday night, 286 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:08,840 I would go with Justin and Delice because the not saying that the spirit of God isn't in those 287 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:13,400 concerts, but I'm saying because of what I've already, it's different. It's different. It's 288 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:22,120 be a part of what I've already witnessed and what I know happens at those services far beyond any 289 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:26,920 comparison outweighs anything that could go on at a Mercy Me concert. Like I would rather be in 290 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:33,560 the, in the direct spiritual presence of God than to be in the nosebleed section around the lawn 291 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:38,760 seats. That's because many are called but fewer chosen. Right. Yeah. Right. Just that's my heart. 292 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:44,200 I would rather be in the physical direct presence of God than in a lawn seat at a Mercy Me concert 293 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:51,560 where, you know, I may or may not get to see anything meaningful going on, you know, so 294 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:57,400 just sing it. Just sing it, you know, and that's just my two sets, my heart. That's where I would 295 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:02,280 rather be. You know what I mean? What about you, Anthony? Where do you see like what's your heart 296 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:06,200 for the band? Like he said, correct him if he's wrong. Yeah, no, no, I mean, I mean, I think, 297 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,440 I think band kind of touched on most, most like all the good, the points because, you know, 298 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:15,480 the one thing I want to say is that we're, you know, we're, you know, we're not religious people, 299 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:19,400 put it to speak, we're just followers of Christ because I mean, there's a big difference in that, 300 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,160 you know what I mean? Because I mean, I go to, I mean, obviously I go to a church that's, you 301 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:28,680 know, denominational, you know, they got their rules and bylaws and stuff, but, but he still 302 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,000 preaches, you know, from the word of God, you know what I mean? Like he doesn't preach church of God, 303 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,960 he preaches, you know, that, hey, I'm, you know, we're disciples, we're not just, hey, we're, 304 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:43,320 we're religious people, you know, but that's why I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to, you know, 305 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:47,000 be a part of it because I'm, because it's, you know, it's kind of like we're one of the same, 306 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,040 you know what I mean? Because I've never really been religious, so to speak. I mean, we have 307 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,360 our like traditions and stuff, but like I have, I don't, I don't really, I don't really care about 308 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:57,800 all that. I care about just following Christ. What, what does it mean? Right, no, obviously, 309 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,360 religion gets in the way of the relationship. That's where I'm going to quote, relationship, 310 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:06,840 right? Religion, I think, is a means to try to control people to believe the way you believe, 311 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:12,520 but relationship is, is God explaining to you that you just have to believe not in any special way. 312 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:16,920 Right, exactly. Exactly. Just know that I am God and that's, that's it. There's no magic to 313 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,840 it. There's no words to it. There's no ceremony you have to do. Yeah. Quite literally, accept my 314 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,920 son and his sacrifice for you. Believe that I raised him further dead. Acknowledge it with your 315 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,920 lips and you will be saved. Be born again. Period. Period. You're done. What do you tell Nicodemus? 316 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:33,720 He said, you must be born again. Right. You know, to believe and know that I am God and that, 317 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:39,160 you know, I'm in control. When God was making a covenant with Abraham and Abraham setting up all 318 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:43,960 the sacrifices to walk through, God put him to sleep and he walked it for the covenant because 319 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:49,560 he knew Abraham would break the covenant. He knew that man would fail. So God did the ceremony 320 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:57,320 because he knew he would never fail us. Right. Yep. That's right. Yeah. I think Ben touched on a lot 321 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:07,000 of things that, that we're looking for. I mean, I would say my viewpoint in this band is let's just 322 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:12,280 see where the Lord takes us. That's about where, that's, I'd say that's about where I would stand. 323 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:18,280 I mean, I would say you're up for the adventure. In your mind, in any aspect of life, I mean, 324 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:25,480 you kind of just, you want to live completely spontaneous, but you want to, you want to just 325 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:34,120 be mindful of where the Lord really wants you. And you want to just live in a way that 326 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:43,080 maybe there's a plan that you weren't aware of and don't anticipate so much. Don't really, 327 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:50,040 don't, I guess, don't worry about it too much. Just see where it takes you. Absolutely. Absolutely. 328 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:54,440 Couldn't agree more. Never worry about it. I got this vision of like, yeah, that's beautiful. 329 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:59,880 I just got this vision of like, God's extending his hand out, you know, and we don't know where 330 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:05,640 he's taking us. We don't know what's behind door number one or door number two, but we know 331 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,280 that wherever he's taking us, we're going to be safe. We're going to be provided for, 332 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,160 you know, so it's kind of like, we just put our hand back in, we just put our hand in his 333 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,480 like children, like children and we say, my children, God, trusting their parent, taking us 334 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:24,360 blindly wherever you're leading up a cliff. I have no idea, but I trust you completely. 335 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:27,880 Yeah. Like my daughter, she's 13. Well, no, she's, wow, she's 14 now. 336 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:34,280 Don't, don't, don't listen to this. Oh, she's 14. But you know what? If I said, honey, get in the 337 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:39,400 car, we got to go somewhere. She knows without a shadow of a doubt that I'm not taking her somewhere 338 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,160 where her life is going to be in danger. Right. You're not, there's no harm in your intense. 339 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:47,720 None of them. She gets ready and she goes. And so, you know, now I don't do that. I tell her, 340 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,360 like, where we're going. But I'm saying, if I know for a fact, like that if I was to be like, hey, 341 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:57,960 honey, like if something happened, like an emergency, you know, we had to leave quick. If I just said, 342 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,000 you know, hey, honey, get in the car, we got to go. She wouldn't question it. She just be like, 343 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:08,680 all right, say that about our son. He needs a 78 age dissertation with references of life. 344 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:12,760 And then he'll tell you if he wants to go or not. And then he'll decide and then he has to debate 345 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:16,840 this for himself with an internal monologue that literally just puts them on pause. That's, 346 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:22,200 that's a little back and forth. That's literally my eight year old. He thinks that he's like, 347 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:27,240 35 or something. It doesn't matter. He's in the car. Nope. 348 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:35,160 You ever go like, I just don't trust you. It was the same way with my dad growing up and my mom and 349 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:41,320 dad. But if I said no, then there was consequences. Right. You know, the difference, I think between 350 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,960 the Christian life with the children and living without it, because my parents were not Christian, 351 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:52,920 is that it was a fear response. I obeyed out of fear. Now I obey out of love. Right. There's such a 352 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:56,440 difference. You know, and that's why I think that I'm sorry, go ahead. I've put you on twice now. 353 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,120 I don't know. You're good. You could not. I was just thinking because the way you said that is 354 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:06,120 actually crazy because so my parents have adopted four girls, you know, and, and they, well, 355 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,120 they're different than raising boys. Obviously, I was the only boy basically growing up. 356 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:16,600 And literally the same thing. Well, what I'm saying is my dad was trying to raise. 357 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:18,680 I know I have daughters. I was just teasing me to make him comfortable. 358 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:24,280 No, no. So my dad was trying to raise them the way that he raised me, but it's like, 359 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:29,320 I'm different because, you know, my dad, I'll yell at me or get up to like, he never hit me or 360 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:34,680 anything physical with me. But I never even the chance to because I was too afraid. I was too afraid. 361 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:41,240 I was too afraid to stop it. See me. I obeyed him out of the field. They get fueled in really. 362 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:48,440 I think there was one time I raised my hand to my mom and I didn't do it again. 363 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:53,960 Wake up a couple of days later looking for your eye in the yard. 364 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,960 Yeah. See, I was too afraid to even attempt that because my dad, if you've met my dad, well, 365 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:06,760 I should say in his younger days, he was very intimidating. You know what I mean? And it was 366 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:09,960 one of those things where I just, I didn't want to know what would happen if I didn't obey him. 367 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,600 You know, the belt was coming out of those hoops really quite. 368 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:18,280 My generation is the find out generation. I learned everything the hard way. 369 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,120 I even invented a yo-yo trick called flirting with death where I stood in the arm of the couch 370 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,320 and my dad slept on it and just zipped it down and tried not to hit him. 371 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,640 Knowing full well if he woke up, I was going to get yeeted far. 372 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:36,440 Yeah. Yeah. I would have been yeeted in the future because that's when I would have woke up. 373 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,320 Yeah, right, right. You were like, I got a beard now. 374 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:46,840 You know, that one part reminded me when you're, you give your hand to the Holy Spirit, those videos, 375 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,920 they were on TikTok and the summoner, they'll lift their hand in the video and then it's like, 376 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:55,560 wait, wait. Okay, now. And then it's like, they go a little crazy that the Holy Spirit's 377 00:33:55,560 --> 00:34:02,280 naked on a wild ride. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. You know, I feel like that's us, you know, 378 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:08,600 God extends the plan. He says, look, you know, here's my plan for you. He may not reveal 379 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:14,680 everything all at once, but we get bits and pieces. Yeah, you have to take that first step 380 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,760 to see the next step. Yes. In the present, not the future, but in the present, we get little bits 381 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:25,720 and pieces, little sneak peeks of what's, what could be to come if you just obey and just be 382 00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:31,000 obedient to what the Father has for us, you know, and it's like, he doesn't give the whole show away, 383 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:34,840 but he might give you a 30 second teaser, you know, and that's our intuition. 384 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:39,720 And it's enough to get you excited. Yes. And when you beat yourself up and when you get discouraged, 385 00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:43,800 you have to remember that God factored that in. Remember, he sees everything 386 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:50,440 right now, yesterday and tomorrow. Yeah. Right. So he knew, he knew. So you're not messing anything 387 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:54,920 up. You're not messing up his plane. You can't. It is that is, that is a sin from the devil to 388 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:59,080 have the pride to think that you can mess up God's plan. Right. You need to get that out of your 389 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,480 head. So, you know, when we're talking about how the metrics of the podcast are a little bit lower 390 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:09,080 this season, that there's like a spiritual attack, like it's, it's part of the ride. This is it. 391 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:14,200 Hey, God factors in, he calls you to do this. Do you think he's going to let it go to zero? Absolutely 392 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:18,920 not. Maybe he's testing your faith to, you know what I mean? Every, every step of the way. And again, 393 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:23,400 he doesn't do it for, for his sake. He already knows we've got an A or B on the test. He already 394 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:27,480 knows. He gives us a test that we know where we stand. Right. Right. And we know where we need 395 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:31,800 to correct and we know where we need to grow. Yep. And when Paul was in the prison, it was like, 396 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:37,000 he's still worshiped, even though he was at the lowest point, you know, shackled up and, you know, 397 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,880 Paul, Paul could have very well said this. He could have said, you know what, God, 398 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:47,160 this is where I do all this in your name. I follow you and this is what you have for me. 399 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:52,360 He could have cursed God, but instead he praised him. What happened? She had to have been sarcastic. 400 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,760 I don't know. Well, at least I wasn't like stoned to death. Like, 401 00:35:55,640 --> 00:36:00,440 guys, I was persecuting. So I guess I got a good. Thanks, Lord. Yeah. Right. Right. I don't know 402 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,920 what vendetta you had against Steven, but thanks for not stoning me. I appreciate you looking out 403 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:10,440 this time. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, it's just that needs to be our attitude and attitude of 404 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:16,120 gratitude at all times because, like I said, Paul was in the prison. He could have chose to curse. 405 00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:24,200 But instead he praised Joe. Job could have chosen to curse. Oh, yeah. If anybody had any reason, 406 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:31,000 any like work, a legitimate gripe. Yeah. Yeah. Because the world perspective. Yeah. From our, 407 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:36,440 from the world's perspective, Joe definitely had every right in the book. He was a textbook 408 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:41,000 definition of if I'm going to be able to, he had that, he had the t-shirt, you know, he could have 409 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:48,840 very well easily. He had a legitimate complaint, you know, in the world's eyes. Right. So instead 410 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:53,160 of saying, God, why did you do this to me? What did he say? Praise God. Praise God. You know, 411 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:57,800 that's what we need to do in all circumstances. Yeah. Because like once you know, you know, you know, 412 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:05,560 like going back, that's not even an option. Going back to the way things were without Jesus and 413 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:10,040 without pursuing him. It's like night and day. It's like, why would I ever go back to that? 414 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:16,440 Yeah. And I've been, just my life, my journey, you know, even when I was homeless, I've been in 415 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:24,040 some pretty dark corners of my life, but I can say that I've never had anything quite as despicable 416 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:29,960 as Joe as what happened to Job. Even on my darkest day, doesn't compare, you know, under the bridge. 417 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:35,640 Yeah. Right. With the tarp. With the tarp. Yeah. Sleep in and whatever, where I could sleep, you 418 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:40,760 know, I mean, that doesn't compare, that pales a comparison to what Job went through. So I have 419 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:46,680 no reason to. Yeah, we weren't covered in poils. No. None of your family was murdered like in the 420 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:52,840 same day. I may have stunk, but that's it. I might have had a bad attitude and stunk, but 421 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:58,680 it blows my mind because if my attitude back then was so bad, imagine what would have been like, 422 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,960 if all that stuff that happened to Job actually happened to me, I couldn't have took it. 423 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:09,480 And that's why I didn't. Right. God knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. Because he made you. 424 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:14,600 Yeah. And he knows what he's going to take to fold you and grow you into what he needs you to be 425 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:19,720 as a spiritually mature Christian. But at no point in the Bible does he ever call us adults of God. 426 00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:26,120 That no point should we ever take the mantle of anything but children of God. Right. It doesn't 427 00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:29,720 mean we don't have authority. It doesn't mean we don't have power in the name of Jesus. But it 428 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:34,120 just means that's the approach that we need to have to our Creator, our Father. Yes. Right. Not 429 00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:38,040 because he gives us things, but because he's our Father. I love you. I want to be with you. 430 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:43,240 And if you give me nice things, that's cool too. But I just want to be with you. Yeah. Yeah. 431 00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:49,480 And he gives us patience, especially with my wife. Like my wife has so much patience. 432 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:57,880 Can't imagine why. All right. So yeah. This has been fun. We figured it out. 433 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:02,760 Always worked it out. Always does. Amen. And I don't even hear the dog barking anymore. 434 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:06,520 They're often on their intermittent, but more loud they're loud than I don't hear. 435 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:10,840 They just want to join in. Right. Like yeah. They're making joyful noises. Right. 436 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:22,120 Right. Right. That's so funny. So predictable. Right. Just has to be heard. Oh goodness. 437 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:28,040 Yeah. This has been a real treat. And it's so interesting the differences between all of your 438 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:34,200 backgrounds, all of your faith journeys. Yeah. Right. And all of the ways that could have stopped 439 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:40,760 you from being in this room right now, but didn't. Right. All the prayers you didn't have to ask 440 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:44,600 because he put you on this path and already taking care of the obstacles that were 441 00:39:45,720 --> 00:39:49,000 going to be distracted, that were going to derail you from being in this moment. 442 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:56,440 And I think it's so amazing that God is so vested in Carl's life, is so vested in Ben's life, is so 443 00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:04,680 vested in Sonny's life that he is able to manipulate everything around you individually 444 00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:12,200 with the six, seven, eight billion people on earth right now without a problem. Right. Right. 445 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:16,920 That if everybody all of a sudden right now decided to declare Jesus his Lord, God said, 446 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:22,040 well, I guess I don't need the rest of this book. Right. Boom. We're all in heaven. This is it for 447 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:27,720 the rest of eternity. He'd be able to have a conversation with every single one of us simultaneously. 448 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:34,520 And that is, that is to my mind. I can't even comprehend it. Right. He's able to be with 449 00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:38,760 all of us individually at the same time. Right. I'm going to go walk with Jesus. Like, well, 450 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:43,640 I got to wait my turn because there's like 753 million people ahead of me. I take my number. 451 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:48,280 It's like when you call customer service, you are a caller number 500 and 74. 452 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:52,360 Well, no wonder I have all of eternity because he's going to take that just to walk with it. 453 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:57,160 Right. And that's not how it's going to be. No. You're going to be blown away with how it's going 454 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:01,960 to be. It's going to be like, it's going to be like you are a part of him for all of eternity, 455 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,760 that he can never leave that part that is, that you're going to be cognizant of for all of eternity. 456 00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:13,000 It's like 740 million phone calls coming in at once, but instead of being met with just your 457 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:18,360 caller number or whatever, it's, hello, this is God. You know, he calls me by name. What's that, 458 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:23,080 Ben? Yeah, exactly. Huh? Yeah. At the same time, he's answering everybody else and it's like, 459 00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:29,880 it's mind blowing. What's really neat is when everybody's getting the same downloads from the 460 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:34,680 Holy Spirit and then the same messages are coming out at the same time from different people who 461 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:38,920 aren't even talking to one another, but the Spirit's talking to them. We've thought like, maybe pastors 462 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,520 went to conventions together and got their material because we go to different churches and visit 463 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,200 with friends and whatnot. I'm like, hey, they just, they're preaching about the book of James in 464 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:50,120 our other church. Oh, they're preaching about this and that. Hey, they're preaching everywhere we go 465 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:54,680 all the time and they're not related except through Holy Spirit where someone says, hey, 466 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,680 this is what I want to teach this week. And God says, I want you to teach all these people. I want 467 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:03,080 this to be a theme amongst my people. Yes. And it's like when somebody speaks a prophetic word over 468 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:09,640 you on a Monday and then Friday of the same week, another person from a completely different church 469 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:13,880 or a completely different environment speaks the same prophetic word over you. It's like, 470 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:21,400 that's confirmation. Yeah. And that's happened to me. So it's, it's the Holy Spirit speaks to his 471 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:28,520 people through his people and through himself too. But I feel like, you know, I've been visited in 472 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:33,080 dreams. I got to spoke to me in dreams. God has been there. He spoke to me through his people. 473 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:38,520 There's things that I'm just like undeniably. Okay, that was from God, you know. So he speaks to us 474 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:42,280 if we talk to him like right now in this environment, not through me, not through a book, right? He'll 475 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:47,480 speak to us directly. Yes. We have to hone that because we're not used to listening. Our problem 476 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:52,520 is we like to talk. Yeah. And they would like to hear an answer that's like an answer you would give 477 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:56,200 me. Yeah, yeah. And when he doesn't do that, we're like, all right, well, I'll keep talking. That 478 00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:59,640 must not have been God. We're not, we're not good with uncomfortable silences. I'm just going to 479 00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:05,240 keep on rambling and just, just go right on full send. And so we have to, he gets says, well, 480 00:43:05,240 --> 00:43:09,640 you're not going to listen to me. I'm going to get Anthony to tell you. Yeah. And he's going to 481 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,360 tell you something. And you're going to mention something to Carl. Carl's going to go, oh my 482 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:16,040 God, I need to hear that. And then you're going to have a revelation that it was from me. 483 00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:22,840 And the more you practice it, we had a guest on that, Caitlin Childs wrote a book and it was 484 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:27,960 all about hearing the voice of God. Seven days to a life of limelice, how to ditch the rules of 485 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:32,280 religion and discover unrestricted freedom. You know, highly recommend you pick it up. 486 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:35,720 Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it's a great read. Okay. Powerful. 487 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:42,120 Your listening ears for the voice of God in a very real and tangible way that everyone can relate to. 488 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:46,440 And once you start getting good at it, like you're flexing your muscles, listening to him, 489 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,680 it gets easier and easier. Just like, you know, the first time you hit a drum set, were you amazing? 490 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:56,840 I mean, you might have been, I don't know, probably not the, right? I could never do it. I have zero 491 00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:02,280 rhythm. And so I'm a zero. I can't even play basketball. And I can't carry a note, even if it 492 00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:07,640 jumped in my arms, right? But I could draw it, right? So we all have a different gift and how 493 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:13,080 we use it. And, you know, when I do medicine and, you know, poorly, I'm like an EMT, so it's like 494 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:18,040 the highest professional medical care you can get from minimum wage. But, you know, it's still there. 495 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,440 The point is, is God has a purpose and a plan for every single one of us. And even if you're good 496 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:26,200 at something, doesn't necessarily mean that's the purpose and plan for you. That's just a bonus 497 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:30,360 gift he's giving you, right? Something you can use to enrich someone's life, your own life, or 498 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:34,840 something else for the glory of God, but not necessarily your purpose or his plan. You just 499 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:41,320 said something that direct, oh, I got spiritual goosebumps like none other, because I don't know 500 00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:47,960 about maybe six to eight months ago, I was on YouTube and I was hit very hard. And I questioned 501 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:52,760 it because I'm like, is this God? But now after what just came out of your mouth, I know for a 502 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:58,280 fact I'll send you the link to it. But I was on YouTube and I was doing a live thing and I said 503 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:03,320 that exact same thing. I said, just because you're good at something doesn't mean that that's what 504 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:11,560 you're, that's wild. I mean, even though that happened six, seven months ago, you see, our timeline 505 00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:17,480 isn't the same as God's. I mean, God just confirmed that now, even though it happened to me six 506 00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:22,120 months, but I worked for word almost how you said it was exactly how I said it. And we didn't even 507 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:28,120 know each other back then. It's not wild. I'll have to show you. It's not wild to me. I expected. 508 00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:31,880 I expected every single time. I don't know why, but something always happens like that where 509 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:36,200 somebody gets something off of something I say. I love every single time. People are getting 510 00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:40,680 revelations this season. I love it. So it doesn't matter if the viewership's going down, slowing 511 00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:44,360 the people that are at this table, I'm getting lifted up in the name of Jesus. I mean, I can't 512 00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:47,480 make this the whole. Because if you are going to bring the kingdom to other people, then why not 513 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:53,160 feed the people that are trying to feed the people? At that time, I was going through a very rough 514 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:57,800 time because there was a lot of things happening at church. I was on staff there as the worship 515 00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:05,240 leader, and it was kind of a weird time because I was being pulled away from that position. 516 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:10,760 And I was thinking and just having these thoughts, and that came out of my mouth. 517 00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:16,760 But now I know God's taking me that direction, and it was God. And then you just said that. 518 00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:23,480 So I'm like, whoa, that's crazy. Yeah, thank you, Jesus. That is amazing. 519 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:28,280 Thanks for setting Ben straight. You're right. And using me to do it. You're right. 520 00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:36,920 That's crazy. Wow, that's great. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. If this episode has been a blessing 521 00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:41,480 to you, we ask that you pass it along to a friend or family member that God laid on your heart. 522 00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:47,560 And if you could do us a solid and rate the podcast in Spotify or iTunes, that would greatly 523 00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:53,240 help the algorithm encourage other people to listen to it and be encouraged as well. And then we 524 00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:59,080 also have a fundraising campaign that helps us pay for this audio expense to make it sound so excellent 525 00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:05,560 by Dima in the Ukraine. And we would greatly appreciate prayers as well. And all those links 526 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:15,560 are in the in the about section. And with that, we will talk to you next time.