1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,240 Welcome to Real Talk Friday with your hosts Rohan Das and Gus Urban. 2 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,400 In this groundbreaking podcast segment, we delve deep into the lives of individuals whose 3 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,680 journey has been profoundly transformed by their faith. 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,200 From the trial of adversity to the triumph of redemption, we explore real stories, real 5 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:29,400 people whose encounter with God has reshaped their existence. 6 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:35,120 Join us as we embark on a candid and enlightening journey where authenticity meets spirituality 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,880 every Friday on Real Talk Friday, part of Logan City Christian Church. 8 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:43,120 Hello and welcome to another episode of Real Talk Friday. 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,200 I'm glad you are here and we're so glad to have all our special viewers on YouTube. 10 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,600 We've seen that you guys are a lot of viewers. 11 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,360 We're so excited for that. 12 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:58,000 But we have a new guest today and we changed it a bit. 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,480 We thought that we would bring in a special guest, not from our church, but has an incredible 14 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:05,840 story so I'll let Gus do the honours. 15 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:07,280 Yes, hello everyone. 16 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:08,280 Welcome. 17 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,240 Today I just want to welcome a good friend of ours, Tosh Sturgis, Pastor Tosh. 18 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:13,240 Welcome. 19 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:14,240 Thank you. 20 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,320 Glad to be with you and welcome everybody who's watching in. 21 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:27,040 So Tosh, you know, I was reading some of your articles that were online and something that 22 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:32,400 really got me was you planted a church at the age of 26. 23 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,640 And you got saved at the age of 23. 24 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:36,640 I was 21. 25 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:37,640 21? 26 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,760 Yeah, I went to Bible college at 23. 27 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:40,880 Okay, that's right. 28 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,480 And then you got set free from addiction, which is quite a big story there. 29 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,200 It was, yeah. 30 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:52,880 So I want to go through your childhood and just talk me through how your childhood was. 31 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,920 Were you growing up in a Christian family? 32 00:01:54,920 --> 00:02:01,440 I grew up in a more traditional Christian family that had some very strong ritual to 33 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,680 it and church was an obligation. 34 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:06,520 It wasn't a joy. 35 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,240 There was not much excitement or any real connection to the services. 36 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:16,600 And so it was a very, very well established mainstream church with schools and that kind 37 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:17,600 of thing. 38 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,360 And grew up, my mum was a teacher at that same school that I was at for my first four 39 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:23,480 years of primary. 40 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:30,560 And I actually, when I was very young, when I was about three or four years old, I suffered 41 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,160 very badly from asthma. 42 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,920 And I had to go to hospital one night and I remember driving into the city and my mum 43 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:41,160 saying to me, just, you're just going to have to pull the air into your lungs and push it 44 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:45,520 out because my airways were constricting so badly. 45 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:50,720 And yeah, when I got to hospital that night, long story short, I had an encounter with 46 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:55,960 God and I woke up the next morning and I just looked around the world and the ward that 47 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,720 I was in at about five or six in the morning when the sunlight was breaking through. 48 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,320 And I just thought to myself, what am I doing here? 49 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,560 Like, I want to be where I was just moments ago. 50 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,920 But then I just knew in my heart that God had put his hand on my life and he'd called 51 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:15,200 me to just know him and to walk with him. 52 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:16,720 I didn't listen to him at that stage. 53 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,320 I went through some series of issues that were extremely traumatic over the next few 54 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,640 years of my childhood. 55 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:31,000 And then a couple of years later when I was in about year four or year three or something, 56 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:37,320 I had an encounter with God at the church where my mum was a teacher for the school 57 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:42,120 and they were having like a charismatic renewal at that church in that time. 58 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,440 So that would have probably been 82 or 83. 59 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:50,840 And I started, I was really frustrated because I was a really good little soccer player when 60 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:52,400 I was little. 61 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:57,560 And I knew that I had to get down to this soccer tryout to make the A team and I was 62 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,920 a shoo-in because I could kick and run with my left foot because at that age no one could 63 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:03,680 do that with their left foot. 64 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,360 And so I knew I had to get down to training and there was no way my mum was going to get 65 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:08,360 me there. 66 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,240 And I just, something inside of me just said, why don't you pray because surely like God's 67 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,340 got to be better than playing soccer. 68 00:04:15,340 --> 00:04:20,160 And so I started praying and as I was praying, I've kind of ran out of things that I wanted 69 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,960 to pray about, but I was so excited about praying. 70 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,600 Honestly, I felt this thing inside of me. 71 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,240 It was like, I'm just going to let you pray through me God because I don't even know what 72 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:30,240 to say anymore. 73 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,760 And I just started speaking in another language. 74 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:35,120 I had no idea what it was. 75 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:41,080 And the past, the priest of that organization, I saw him like the next day and I'm like, 76 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,840 so this thing happened to me and I explained what I shared with you. 77 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:48,200 And he got this stern look on his face and he goes, who told you about that? 78 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,240 I said, no one told me about that. 79 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,640 So I was standing over on those stairs over there at the back of the building and I was 80 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,360 just praying and that's what happened. 81 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:58,960 And he stood up and he walked away from me. 82 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:00,340 He didn't say anything. 83 00:05:00,340 --> 00:05:05,320 And I was like, okay, that was kind of whack. 84 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,480 And so I didn't think anything more of it. 85 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,200 And then I heard the gospel when I was 13. 86 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,800 And I gave my life to the Lord there. 87 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:17,680 And then again, within a year, this church has a church split and really close and dear 88 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:18,680 people to me. 89 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:20,440 They got really hurt. 90 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,440 And so I was like, oh, this God thing's a joke. 91 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,400 If God was real, these people wouldn't be doing what people do. 92 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:31,240 And then some years later, I was 21, I thought I'm going to go and live my life out in the 93 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,780 world and do the fun of the world. 94 00:05:34,780 --> 00:05:38,920 And I just found the deeper and deeper I got into that stuff, the more bondage I was under, 95 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:45,520 the more I hated myself, the more I hated the things that I was doing with my life. 96 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,200 And I was driving home one night and I was thinking, well, what's the point of it all 97 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:50,200 anyway? 98 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:55,520 And I have friends saying to me, because I was saying to me, oh, your life's great. 99 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:56,520 You're doing all this stuff. 100 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,600 Because I was at that young age, I was like 20, 21. 101 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:06,480 I was living, I was working at a pub down in Capella Bar and I was on the track to become 102 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:07,960 manager down there. 103 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,680 So they put me on as a duty manager, so the boss, when the boss wasn't there and they 104 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:16,200 were tracking me toward going further. 105 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,840 And I was just like, what's the point of all this? 106 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:22,480 Everyone thinks that my life is great and I hate myself, I hate what I'm doing. 107 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:24,360 And I thought, I'm going to go back and check that church out. 108 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:31,160 I'm going to go back because what I experienced with God was just revolutionary. 109 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:36,720 I put those encounters together with what I found about God when I was 13 and hearing 110 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:41,040 the gospel for the first time and actually understanding why Christ died to take away 111 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:46,160 our sin so that He can put His peace and His power and His righteousness on us and cleanse 112 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,720 us of our sin and introduce us to His Father and we can have a relationship. 113 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:53,280 So all that was like, it all kind of came together for me. 114 00:06:53,280 --> 00:07:01,640 And I walked into this church at 21 and I was pretty strongly using drugs and I was 115 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,440 on the grog a lot because I was working at this pub. 116 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:10,080 And then I walked into the church and I just felt the presence of God on me. 117 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,920 And then I come back that night and then I gave my heart to the Lord. 118 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:18,680 And when I come forward, I was the only person who responded to the preacher's altar call. 119 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,440 I came forward and I bawled my eyes out. 120 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:26,520 I cried for the first time since I decided I didn't want to follow the Lord anymore. 121 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,560 And then I went home that night and I just knew I was set free. 122 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,600 I just knew I was set free from all the drugs. 123 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,960 I knew I was set free from the alcohol and I went back to the party house where I was 124 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,200 living with a couple of maids. 125 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:41,240 And I said to them, guess what I did tonight? 126 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:45,480 You know, like you did this, you did this, you did this. 127 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:50,720 Thinking of all this stuff that my life had been, you know. 128 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:52,960 And I'm like, no, no, guess again, guess again. 129 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:53,960 And they're like, no. 130 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:55,320 So eventually, what did you do? 131 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:57,040 I said, I became a Christian. 132 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,040 And they're like, you? 133 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:00,840 No way, not you. 134 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:02,160 And I'm like, yep. 135 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,840 And one of my mates goes, I bet you 100 bucks. 136 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:06,240 It doesn't last four months. 137 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:12,160 And like a little piece of my heart was like, oh, should I be betting? 138 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:18,760 So I said to him, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, if in four months I'm turned 139 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:20,080 away, I'll owe you 100 bucks. 140 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,400 But in four months, if I'm still going, you've got to come with me. 141 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:24,400 Yeah, do you? 142 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,960 And he's like, all right, all right. 143 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:28,520 So he did come to church with me one night. 144 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,520 He didn't give his heart to the Lord. 145 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,200 But he'd come to church and he was under conviction the whole time. 146 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,160 You can see the spirit of God there. 147 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:37,960 So that just changed me completely. 148 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,680 And the party house where I was at, the lads that I was living with, it's sort of like 149 00:08:42,680 --> 00:08:46,400 they doubled down inside their habits once I said that to them. 150 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,480 Because they used to nickname me like, go hard. 151 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,480 That was what they... 152 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:59,480 Because I was always the one like, I was always the one who was like more into it than everyone 153 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:01,920 else and kind of pushing the party. 154 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:07,320 And so there's other names that they had for me, but I'm going to get it there. 155 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:14,560 So when I'd turned, it was like a real confrontation because I was the worst of probably the lot. 156 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:21,320 I instituted these rituals and habits amongst our crew and it was dodgy. 157 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:26,880 And they decided to dig in even harder and sort of say, we don't need to listen to you. 158 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,920 And so like I'd be up in the morning and I'd be reading my Bible and they'd get on and 159 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,760 they'd put stuff on the TV because we didn't have internet back then. 160 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:35,760 They'd put stuff on the TV. 161 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,080 I was like, I can't be in the same room as this. 162 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:45,320 And so ended up the manager's flat at the pub where I was working was available. 163 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,280 And I went to the owner and I'm like, can I move into the flat? 164 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:52,440 Because it was better for me to live at the pub than live at the party house with the 165 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:53,440 boys. 166 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:57,920 So I moved in the pub and I would get on my knees and pray every time I go out for a shift 167 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,920 and I'd say, Lord, I don't know what to say. 168 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,000 I don't know what to do, but I know that you're real. 169 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,560 And I just pray, help me to just love one person. 170 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:11,000 Just help me to just be your love to one person. 171 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:12,160 And that always be one person. 172 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:16,320 That always be someone that I could just share God's love to. 173 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:21,960 And then God started moving through me in that place and there was no one coming in 174 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:23,560 to share Christ with them. 175 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:28,960 They're all just workers or laborers or lawyers or whatever. 176 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,600 And so I just take an interest in them and start loving them in Jesus' name. 177 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:38,080 Just try to give them respect and hear their story. 178 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,800 And one thing would lead to another and they're drinking so their inhibitions are going down. 179 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:46,600 And then they start telling me all their life story about their daughter who's having troubles 180 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,120 or their missus who's been cheating on them or the affair that they've been having or 181 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:51,880 they don't know what to do. 182 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,920 And then after a bit they'd be like, gosh, I've just shared everything with this person. 183 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:57,760 Like who are you, mate? 184 00:10:57,760 --> 00:10:58,760 What do you do? 185 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:03,920 And I'm like, it's my opportunity to just tell them about my life. 186 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:08,800 And if it came up organically in the conversation, it started to affect people. 187 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:14,040 And there's one night I prayed for this, there was this guy, he's drinking in this bar. 188 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:20,120 We had to close one bar early in the night and you close one earlier, the private bar, 189 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:21,680 we were closing that. 190 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:26,200 And I said, mate, when time's up and I'm going to have to catch off even if you go to the 191 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:27,480 other bar because you've had enough. 192 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:31,800 He's leaning up against this pole right in the middle of the bar by the end of the night 193 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:33,240 and I've been serving him all night. 194 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:35,200 And I said, that's enough for you, it's time to go home. 195 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:38,160 And he goes, come up the other place with me and come and party up there. 196 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:40,960 And I said, I don't go drinking anymore, mate. 197 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:41,960 He's like, why not? 198 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:42,960 It's Saturday night, what are you doing? 199 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,960 I said, well in the morning, I've got to get up and go to church, mate. 200 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:48,560 I'm not going to miss out on church. 201 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:51,560 And he goes, church, what are you doing at church? 202 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:53,600 I said, well, you know, I used to go partying all the time. 203 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:54,600 He's like, yeah. 204 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:59,320 I said, mate, I'll tell you what, I don't care about religion, but I know that Jesus 205 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,160 touched my life and I haven't been the same since. 206 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:03,160 I'm happy, mate. 207 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:04,320 I'm really happy. 208 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:05,320 I am. 209 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:06,320 I'm actually really happy. 210 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:08,120 I love waking up. 211 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:10,160 I love going out and doing stuff. 212 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:16,200 Like I used to have so much stress and anxiety and I had all these emotional problems and 213 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:21,360 not that they're all gone, but I love being in his presence and he's got so much awesome 214 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:22,360 stuff in the Bible. 215 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,120 And I'm like, oh gosh, I'm starting to preach here. 216 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:29,720 And he's looking at me like, and I'm like, and he goes, he starts crying. 217 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:30,720 This boy just starts crying. 218 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:31,720 He goes, I'm a good person. 219 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:32,720 I'm a good person. 220 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,720 I said, we all think we are. 221 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:39,160 Like I thought I think I am, but I know I still need him. 222 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:40,520 Like I really need him. 223 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:42,000 Like I need his help all the time. 224 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,560 And he goes, well, do you think God could do something for me? 225 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:46,120 I said, I'm sure he could. 226 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:47,120 He's done something for me. 227 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:48,120 You know what I was like? 228 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:49,840 I go, can I pray for you? 229 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:50,840 He goes, yeah. 230 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:55,080 And I say, I put my elbows on the bar and I lean over and I'm like, God, I just pray 231 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:58,040 you touch this black like you touched me. 232 00:12:58,040 --> 00:12:59,040 You're alive. 233 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:01,080 You're powerful. 234 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:06,400 And so he's like, like he looks up at me and he goes, what did you do to me? 235 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:08,400 And I'm like, I didn't do anything, mate. 236 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,200 And he goes, I felt like electricity goes through my body. 237 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:13,920 I said, well, we just pray that God would do something for you. 238 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:15,400 I did think it was God. 239 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:17,000 He goes, I don't know what. 240 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,920 And then he looks at me and he starts looking around and he grabs his wallet and his keys 241 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,200 and he goes, I'm sober. 242 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:24,200 Oh, wow. 243 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:28,960 And he, and he, and he looks at me, you know, he goes, I'll see you later. 244 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,240 And he walked, I never ever saw that guy again. 245 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:35,440 I don't know what the heck happened to him, but that happened right, right there in that 246 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:36,440 place. 247 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:37,440 And I was like, wow. 248 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:38,440 Another thing happened. 249 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:44,800 There was a guy who was a duty manager with me and he was like, with those people who 250 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,320 got that role, you know, you've only got one manager on for the night, you know, you've 251 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,840 got, so you have to fill out their hours in other, you know, shop work. 252 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,600 And I guess I had more of a senior position to him. 253 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:56,360 And he was working the drive through that night. 254 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:00,560 So the bottle store in like old Cleveland road drive through liquor store right there 255 00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:06,040 on Capella, old, old Cleveland road in Capella bar near the old dog track, the old swamp. 256 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:11,460 And yeah, we were standing there and it was before it was all closed off like it is now. 257 00:14:11,460 --> 00:14:14,180 And I was sharing what the Lord had done for me. 258 00:14:14,180 --> 00:14:18,040 And he played rugby in, in high school and he played hooker. 259 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:23,240 So you know, in the scrum, a couple of times the scrum had collapsed on him and he busted 260 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:27,800 his knees playing, playing rugby and another one he'd been spear tackled and he had a pain 261 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:32,640 in the back of his neck from being tipped up and dropped on his head in the tackle. 262 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:40,800 And so I'm just standing there just full of, full of youth and naivety. 263 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,000 Not knowing better, not knowing to trust my own intelligence or try to measure things 264 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:46,560 or be polished or anything. 265 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,560 I said, God can heal your neck. 266 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,800 I'm like, what did I say? 267 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,760 And he goes, do you think you can? 268 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:55,800 And I thought, I better say yes. 269 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,880 Yeah, I'm sure he can man. 270 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,600 And so he goes, pray for me now. 271 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:04,000 And like I'm standing, I thought, what a cool picture this is. 272 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,800 Like right here, there's traffic whizzing by, there's no one in the bottle shop. 273 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,520 I prayed God just because the pastor, you know, the pastor would lay hands. 274 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,520 That's how it works, right? 275 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:15,320 And he'd say, anyone can do it. 276 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,600 So I laid hands on him and I'm like, God heal him in Jesus name. 277 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,760 And he goes, whoa, that felt awesome. 278 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,400 He's like, man, that pain's all out of my neck. 279 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:27,240 And God healed him right there. 280 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,480 And so having those experiences, it became interesting. 281 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:35,080 You know, I learned a lot about church culture when I started bringing people from the pub 282 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:36,080 to church. 283 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:42,640 You know, people who, you know, who'd been drinking or a bit rough into this church that 284 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,120 like is pretty polished and everyone doesn't deal with those kinds of folk. 285 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,040 It was a very interesting journey. 286 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:53,800 And so then the elders of the church, they decided they wanted to disciple all the young 287 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,880 men in the church to make sure that everyone's legit. 288 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:01,000 But it was, there was this guy from down the pub who's bringing people to church. 289 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,600 So they wanted to sit with me to make sure I wasn't like turning up to youth to pray 290 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,040 for the young people with nefarious plans. 291 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,840 You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. 292 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:14,760 So I sat down and they asked me God Bible questions and I did say, man, I got saved. 293 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,720 You know, like I got taken from darkness to light. 294 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:22,400 And so I had no problem asking me whatever question you want. 295 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,840 And I got 39 out of 40 questions right. 296 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,320 So the only one I didn't get right was what was the town that Jesus based his ministry 297 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,400 out of in the north when he was traveling around in that area. 298 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:32,400 And I'm like, I don't know. 299 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:33,400 Now there is. 300 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:34,400 Right. 301 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,000 So it's such a shame, isn't it? 302 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:42,600 I thought they would have gotten excited about seeing a person bringing unsafe people to 303 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:47,320 church and while God's doing something in this person's life and it's reaching out 304 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:48,320 to others. 305 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:55,880 And I guess instead of for them having that, you know, stir their life in a good way, probably 306 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,240 convicted them and go, well, I'm going to have to try and, you know, make myself feel 307 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:01,600 good and do something else. 308 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:03,480 And yeah, it's a bit odd. 309 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:09,360 I think it's indicative sometimes of any community that spends a lot of time amongst itself, 310 00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:14,680 develops its own language and becomes cloistered from the broader community. 311 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,720 And what I didn't want to become a part of a religious club, I didn't want to become 312 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:22,320 a part of a group of people that are really nice to me and become like one of the nice 313 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:23,320 people. 314 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:24,760 I didn't want to learn the rules. 315 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:26,080 I didn't care about any of that. 316 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:28,280 And I probably still don't. 317 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,280 What I've found was when I reached out to God, he answered my prayer. 318 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:32,280 He touched my life. 319 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,360 He changed me and set me free. 320 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:38,640 And you know, it's just true that that's how God is. 321 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:45,800 That's who He is when you read the Scriptures, how personal His promises are, how specific 322 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:47,360 His direction is to people. 323 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:49,440 He's a personal God. 324 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,560 And sometimes it can be, and it can be a great criticism of the church as well. 325 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:54,960 I've been around church life for a long time. 326 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:58,680 Christians think they're elite or they're better than and that kind of thing. 327 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,480 And maybe some of those criticisms, they're accurate. 328 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:05,760 And we need to eat some humble pie. 329 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:11,960 And so we've been called to be servants of people who, as Jesus says, His desire is for 330 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,400 the least of these. 331 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,160 And Paul writes to us, hey, if a rich person comes and sits among you, don't move with 332 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:23,000 his fancy rings and his gold and whatever, don't give him a nice seat up the front and 333 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,320 make a poor person sit up the back. 334 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:30,120 Because in doing so, you're despising the poor person's maker and you're giving preference 335 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:36,200 to someone who just by their wealth, you want to give them say over the community. 336 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,600 And both of those ideas are completely wrong. 337 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,360 The community should be governed by the heart for the least of these. 338 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:47,120 And how much money you should have shouldn't matter in the slightest. 339 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:51,800 But I think practical running of a church and the pressures of life, sometimes those 340 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,200 pressures can just creep into people in leadership. 341 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,840 So we need to just keep a guard on our heart. 342 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,960 I've been preaching at my church recently out of the book of James. 343 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:08,560 And something that's been a constant challenge to me since I started reading these things 344 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:13,040 is in the New Testament, we don't really have so much... 345 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:18,320 We talk about the Old Testament being about law and the New Testament being about grace. 346 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,480 But the Old Testament is about redemption. 347 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,080 And it's about God's forecasting of the coming of the Messiah. 348 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:25,800 It's not about law. 349 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:31,360 It was all about placing laws in place that would forecast the coming of the Messiah, 350 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,160 because that was prophesied from the garden by God Himself. 351 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:41,760 And those laws were set up to show us that we need His mercy, not Christian performance. 352 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:46,560 The most quoted phrase in all of scripture is, for the Lord is good and His mercy endures 353 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:47,560 forever. 354 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,880 And the purpose even of the Ten Commandments is for us to see them as a mirror by which 355 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,640 we would humble ourselves and say, God, these simple things help me. 356 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:54,640 God, I'm broken. 357 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:56,520 I actually can't do this. 358 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,800 And then at that point of humility, that's where we find grace. 359 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:01,800 Exactly. 360 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:06,640 And those Ten Commandments, that same system was set up there as allegory toward the coming 361 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,760 and the fulfillment of Messiah. 362 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:13,480 But the things that I've been preaching recently, I've been really convicted out of the book 363 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,920 of James in chapter two. 364 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:24,560 James says, so speak and so do as those who will be judged according to the law of liberty. 365 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,280 Man, there's only three laws in the Indian Testament. 366 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,320 The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which has made me free from the law of sin 367 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,960 and death, the law of love, and the law of liberty. 368 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:35,960 There's only three laws. 369 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:40,160 Now, I'll tell you what, you want to live a free and an awesome life? 370 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,440 Those are three laws that you can embrace. 371 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:47,480 But as soon as legalism comes in and as soon as judging someone by their wealth or their 372 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,600 poverty, as soon as that comes in, you've got to let go of the law of the spirit of 373 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:52,600 life. 374 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:57,000 You've got to let go of the law of love and you've got to let go of the law of liberty. 375 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,920 You can't stay free when you're thinking in bondage thoughts like that. 376 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:07,240 But the call in Christ is constantly that, like even in John 17, his high priestly prayer, 377 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:12,680 my prayer, Father, is that they would be one with you as I am one with you. 378 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,720 I tell you what, you want to be in connection with the living God? 379 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:17,320 You can't have bondage, man. 380 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,160 You can't live in that heaviness and that judgmentalism. 381 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:27,120 All you can allow your heart to embrace is his love towards you and hope to be a vessel 382 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:31,360 that if you're smart about it, you can pour that love out and everything else just pours 383 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:32,360 out of that. 384 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:36,480 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things are added. 385 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:41,000 But sometimes we get so focused on the other things, we want to add them ourselves and 386 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,480 we cut ourselves off at the knee and forget that it's Christ in us that's the hope of 387 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,000 glory, not Christ who we're attaining to by our works. 388 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:55,240 It's the gift of righteousness that God gives to us that packs the whole kingdom inside 389 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:56,240 of it. 390 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,080 And some of us are trying to sit there and figure out how we can make our wrapping look 391 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:04,000 good instead of pull the wrapping off the thing and let it pour over us. 392 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,160 But the thing is it costs us. 393 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:07,840 It costs us our pride. 394 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,360 It costs us our vanity. 395 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,400 It costs us our agenda when we get deeper into ministry. 396 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:16,040 Oh, I want to see the church go from this number to that number and all we need to do 397 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:17,320 is raise this and do that. 398 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,040 And these agendas get ahold of us. 399 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:24,560 Instead of being crucified to that and letting God's life flow through us and watching the 400 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,800 abundance that God pours out in that place. 401 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:34,440 And so that's what's been a big journey for me has been watching this because I've passed 402 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:39,640 it for five years and in that five years I went from laying hands on the people at the 403 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:44,040 pub and leading people to Christ there and going out and planting this church as a young 404 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,680 man, very insecure, 26 years of age. 405 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:49,400 That's very young. 406 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,480 Got married at 25. 407 00:22:52,480 --> 00:23:02,080 And then 14 months later we had a baby and then 14 months, then two months later went 408 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:03,080 and planted a church. 409 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:04,080 Wow. 410 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:05,080 Oh, wow. 411 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:06,080 That's a... 412 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,040 So we're real young, really inexperienced. 413 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,360 But man, I knew God was with us. 414 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:16,400 I knew God was with us not just for now, but I knew God was with us for the long haul and 415 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:21,520 I knew that this was going to be a season and He put it in my heart to the day, five 416 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,520 years, we'd be there for five years. 417 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:24,520 Oh, really? 418 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:25,520 Wow. 419 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:31,600 And for the first four years and 50 weeks I didn't see it at all. 420 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:32,600 Didn't see it. 421 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:33,600 Didn't see it. 422 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:34,600 Just like that. 423 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:39,320 And a rapid series of events happened and it was evident that that was what the Lord's 424 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:40,320 leading was. 425 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:41,320 Wow. 426 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:42,320 And so I was like, okay. 427 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:48,640 And so the church went from a church, an advertisement in the paper to a home meeting, started public 428 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:49,640 meetings. 429 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,920 In the first meeting we had 12 people there. 430 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:53,640 So that was like praise God. 431 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:54,640 Absolutely. 432 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,640 And then the next meeting we had six. 433 00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,320 The next meeting we had four. 434 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:00,320 Oh no. 435 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,440 Then after that we had five. 436 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:04,160 We were just like, we're in this for the long run. 437 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:05,160 We're in this for the long run. 438 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,360 It doesn't, if it was down to whatever, it didn't matter. 439 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:10,200 But we had a couple of prayers at the beginning. 440 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:11,200 Yeah. 441 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:12,200 We had a couple of prayers. 442 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:13,200 There we go. 443 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:14,840 And it was like, it was going to happen. 444 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,160 And week on week it did. 445 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:24,160 And by the grace of God, by the time we reached four years, we took the church to a local 446 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,960 Baptist church that was up for rent. 447 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,360 They'd sold their property and rebuilt somewhere else. 448 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:32,720 But the old facility was still there in the middle of Wynnum. 449 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:37,120 And so we went there and we remained there for, it was another year. 450 00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:39,800 It was like right on a year we were in that location. 451 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,840 And then that was right on the four years of the church plant. 452 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:48,760 And through a series of circumstances it was evident that, and I just, the Lord said, take 453 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:49,760 a break. 454 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,760 And we'd not done anything wrong, but I was pretty exhausted. 455 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:55,800 And we started with a couple month old child. 456 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,280 And then we had two more babies in that time. 457 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,920 And that was pretty cool, but pretty exhausting as well. 458 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:09,360 And so I took a break and got offered lots of different preaching ministry, but I didn't 459 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:10,880 take any of it. 460 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,040 And then got a job with a bloke who was an evangelist called Bill Newman. 461 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,800 And then through Bill's leading and other friends, I went out and the Lord launched 462 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:20,800 me onto the road to do evangelistic ministry. 463 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:22,120 Wow, that's incredible. 464 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:27,080 And so that happened within the space of about two months, that whole thing just exploded. 465 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:31,000 I was up in Southeast Asia a little bit doing ministry there. 466 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,400 Got straight back from 10 days in Southeast Asia. 467 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:40,320 And a friend of mine from Bible College, this great guy, he says, I'm going to America, 468 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,280 my traveling buddies pulled out on me. 469 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:44,720 My missus doesn't want me traveling alone. 470 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,520 Would you please come with me or she's going to not allow me to go. 471 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,400 And I was like, sure, like I'll go chat to the missus, but I can't see it happening because 472 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,640 I've just arrived back from overseas. 473 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:57,280 My missus has had our fourth baby. 474 00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,560 I got back three days before the baby was born. 475 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:00,560 No way. 476 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,680 Oh, cutting it fine. 477 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,200 But by the grace of God, I was there. 478 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,160 And you want me to leave in a week? 479 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,800 I can't see that happening. 480 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,240 She's a real woman of faith and she's a missionary. 481 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:21,040 She grew up on the mission field and understood that side of ministry life. 482 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:22,040 Yeah. 483 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:23,040 Yep. 484 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,880 So I said to her, haha, guess what this crazy friend wants me to do? 485 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:27,560 And she goes, you should go. 486 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:28,880 And I said, we don't even have the money. 487 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:30,720 She goes, God's going to get the money for you. 488 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:31,720 Yeah. 489 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:32,720 And I'm like, that's pretty cool. 490 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:33,720 Yeah. 491 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:34,720 She got more faith than me. 492 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:35,720 Yeah. 493 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:40,760 So one thing led to another and the Lord provided that money. 494 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:47,280 And I flew out and went to America and went to this little cowboy church in in Bryan College 495 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,760 Station in the heart of Texas. 496 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:55,400 And it was sort of a church plant and they were meeting in a church tent. 497 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,520 Brazos Valley Cowboy Church, you know who you are. 498 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,520 And right out there on the Brazos River. 499 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,240 And yeah, they've got a building now. 500 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,520 Pastor Will Fountain's still there doing a great job. 501 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:13,280 And anyway, my mate, my mate Daniel Jones, he's called in to do, I think it was a week 502 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:15,600 of ministry in this tent. 503 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,320 And the Spirit of God just broke out. 504 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:23,240 The second, second or third night, an 87 year old bloke got healed of an ear that was blown 505 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,280 out in the Second World War. 506 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,360 Some was there to testify about it. 507 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:31,800 And then like the third or the fourth night, these really, really colorful deliverances 508 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:32,800 started happening. 509 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:33,800 Oh, nice. 510 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,920 Like just really loud, people running around and shaking their arms. 511 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:37,920 Yeah, yeah. 512 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:38,920 Like just really loud. 513 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:39,920 Yeah. 514 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:44,520 And all of a sudden, the tent was just packed and miracle upon miracle upon miracle was 515 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:45,520 just awesome. 516 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:46,520 Wow. 517 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:51,600 And there was one one old lady there, older lady, probably in her late 50s, who'd become 518 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,440 so tight, she couldn't move her bones. 519 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,860 And she was just in pain all over her body. 520 00:27:56,860 --> 00:28:01,200 And instead of going to university, her daughter had become her full time carer. 521 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:02,200 Oh, no. 522 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,280 By word of knowledge, she was called out. 523 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,760 Daniel was praying for her and I was down praying with the daughter. 524 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:14,720 And as they were laying hands, she just had the anointing just touch her body and just 525 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:21,320 fully separate all of her, her limbs from the stiffness. 526 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:25,360 And as he says to her to lift her hand, she starts lifting her hands like this, she starts 527 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:29,600 crying and she raises up her hands and she hadn't been able to move her hands past her 528 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,840 shoulders for God only knows how long and then she was like this. 529 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,760 And she turns around and she looks at her daughter. 530 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:41,320 And her daughter was up the back and her daughter doubles over and lets out this this shriek 531 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:42,960 of like, relief. 532 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:43,960 Yeah. 533 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:48,760 And she falls on the ground and she's just like sobbing uncontrollably by the grace of 534 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:49,760 God. 535 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:55,080 And we didn't know the story about her being like mum's carer, but now mum's like able 536 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:57,040 to care for herself. 537 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,120 And she's able to go off to university. 538 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,640 And so she's on the ground just unconsolable in the goodness of God. 539 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:08,120 And it's like that scripture from Romans to like, it's the goodness of God that causes 540 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:09,680 men to change. 541 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:15,120 When you see how good God is and we're built to be in fellowship with his goodness, there's 542 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,600 nothing in this world that you can do that parallels to who he is. 543 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:20,600 Exactly. 544 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:26,040 No depth of depravity or no high that you can get on or no chemical or no relation, 545 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:27,040 nothing compares. 546 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:34,080 Because we're made in his image, we're made to reflect his glory and to be dignified by 547 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,760 his presence and to be re-dignified in the stuff that we've corrupted ourselves in. 548 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:42,200 And when our soul tastes that beauty, nothing like it, man. 549 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:43,200 And it's right. 550 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:44,200 Yeah. 551 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:45,200 Nothing like it. 552 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:46,200 That's who he is. 553 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:47,200 That's what he won on the cross. 554 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,520 He didn't die on the cross to make a bunch of nerds that sit in a club that think they're 555 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,320 better than everybody else. 556 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:57,160 He died to reveal his life to the people of the world. 557 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:59,120 The church isn't the Sunday group. 558 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,760 The church is the Monday group that go out and do what he does. 559 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:02,760 Yeah, there we go. 560 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:03,760 Yeah. 561 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:09,600 The church is the people who've been transformed by him that care to transform others. 562 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:16,240 And we all know as Christians that that's what our best is in Jesus. 563 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,040 There's a lot of conversation like living your best life now. 564 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,440 I don't know if that's come out of that Christian book, Your Best Life Now. 565 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:29,640 But I got to say, your best life comes when you are in fellowship with him and by the 566 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,960 love he plants in you, you serve other people with that because you never know what he's 567 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:34,960 going to do. 568 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:35,960 Absolutely. 569 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:37,400 You can't tell what he's going to do. 570 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:38,400 Absolutely. 571 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:44,720 And that is so exciting and being crucified to our sinful stuff and crucified to our agenda 572 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:50,120 and understanding that he is our treasure, our exceedingly great reward as the Lord proclaimed 573 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:52,880 with himself to Abraham. 574 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:57,080 As we allow our heart to embrace the fact that he's worth it. 575 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:02,360 And if things aren't working out well, that's a call from him back into his throne room. 576 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,040 That's a call to make a sacrifice of praise. 577 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:11,120 That's a call to come back into intimacy with him rather than letting my mood be determined 578 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:12,600 by what I see around me. 579 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:13,600 Yeah. 580 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,680 It's challenging and it's hard, but that's where the best of God comes in life and reveals 581 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:18,680 himself in life. 582 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:19,680 Well, that's right. 583 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:25,480 I mean, what you're describing there is, how would you say it? 584 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:31,000 A lot of us think about the prosperity gospel, so to speak, of it becomes selfish. 585 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,000 Yeah. 586 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:37,320 Whereas the very reason why God created us was for us to be surrendered to him, to worship 587 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:38,320 him, to live with him. 588 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:39,320 Amen. 589 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:40,320 And it's the total opposite. 590 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:44,720 Whereas I guess we as people can corrupt anything, right? 591 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:49,080 And so we look at blessing and it all becomes focused on us. 592 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:50,080 That's right. 593 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,760 Rather than being blessed to be a blessing and that sort of thing. 594 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:53,760 It's so true. 595 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,480 It's fantastic what you're saying there. 596 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,720 And so it's like this verse from Ephesians chapter three in verse 20. 597 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:05,520 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to 598 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:10,480 the power that's at work in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all 599 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,040 generations forever and ever. 600 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:16,560 We cut that verse short in verse 20, but it's paired with verse 21. 601 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,920 And we want to claim the whole thing about exceedingly abundantly above. 602 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:25,120 Oh, you sow into the offering and God's going to bless you exceedingly abundantly above. 603 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:26,720 But that's not what it says. 604 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:32,120 Like what it's saying here is now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above 605 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:36,600 all we can ask or think or imagine according to the power that works within us. 606 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:41,440 So we've got to understand if when it comes to applying the exceedingly abundantly above, 607 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,280 that's a power that works within us. 608 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:44,280 Exactly right. 609 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,160 We've got to be a motivated unit of the kingdom of God. 610 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:52,440 We can't just be one that sits on the outside, gives all the language and expects all the 611 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:53,440 blessing support. 612 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:54,880 It doesn't work that way. 613 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,640 This unit has to be fully engaged. 614 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:02,000 And the purpose of our engagement isn't for the exceedingly abundantly above mansions, 615 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,480 Ferraris and share portfolios. 616 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:06,480 It's this. 617 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:13,200 Verse 21 goes on to says, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations 618 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:14,600 forever and ever. 619 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,360 This is the eternal purpose. 620 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:21,480 God is restoring all of the universe back to himself and we get to be a part of it. 621 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,240 Like that's the best journey ever. 622 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:30,200 And we would sell that so we could have a better car and sit on the sidelines. 623 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,360 Like what is it? 624 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:33,360 What do we want here? 625 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,800 Because if we want to claim that verse, we've got to understand that that verse is for the 626 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,800 activated me, not for the passive me. 627 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,000 And not all of us can be pastors. 628 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,120 Not all of us can be evangelists. 629 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:50,520 All of us can be like a person that's looked to with a title. 630 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:55,120 But the greatest title in all the universe is the title of son. 631 00:33:55,120 --> 00:34:01,440 And when we look at God the Father in all that he created and all that he has headship 632 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,760 over, he has given all of that to Jesus Christ. 633 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:08,800 The Bible tells us that he's, in Ephesians chapter one, it tells us that he is now head 634 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:10,520 over all things to the church. 635 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,560 The Bible tells us in Colossians that all things were made subject under him, principalities 636 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,440 and powers and everything that is in all of creation. 637 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:20,680 Jesus Christ is King over everything. 638 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:25,200 But there's a position in the heavenly realms that's greater than King and that's the position 639 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:26,200 of Father. 640 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:33,560 And so often we think about our increase and the stuff that we want to have in an earthly 641 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:37,920 sense and we forget that the heart of the Father wants to know us and he's divested 642 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:42,640 all of the kingship stuff or the provision stuff or the power stuff into Jesus because 643 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,400 the Father wants our heart as a son. 644 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,680 And to know him and to walk with him as a son, that's what pleases his heart. 645 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:55,200 And that's what John 17, Jesus' high priestly prayer was all about, was about us being sons 646 00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:58,640 to the Father like Jesus was a son of the Father. 647 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:05,160 And if you read through like Colossians, Hebrews chapter two and verse 10, it talks about Jesus' 648 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:16,160 role as the high priest being able to present many as sons to the Father, sons of glory. 649 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:21,280 He wants to show us to be his sons. 650 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,600 If Romans chapter eight and verse 28 for God say, I don't know, what's Romans chapter eight 651 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:26,600 verse 28? 652 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:30,440 It talks about God working all things for good for those who love him who are called 653 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,640 according to his will and his purpose. 654 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:39,200 That passage continues on and it talks about that how he wants to go and present us before 655 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:43,360 the Father in his own image. 656 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:49,600 And we've got this concept that church is this place that we can get blessed. 657 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:55,960 But when we flip it and we realize that we are the church and then being the church is 658 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:01,400 a place where God the Father can be blessed, that everything else takes care of itself. 659 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:06,280 I'll tell you what, I took on this church at the start of the year and I haven't passed 660 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:07,280 it. 661 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:12,760 I've been on the road essentially since then, you know, for 12 or 14 or something years. 662 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,960 And I took on a church at the start of the year and I got to the start of this year and 663 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:19,480 I'm like, Lord, my car's dying on me. 664 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:26,400 I'm living in Cleveland, driving 40 minutes to drop the kids at school at Ormo on the 665 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:27,400 Gold Coast. 666 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:29,480 And I'm pastoring a church on the north side of Brisbane. 667 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,040 But you told me to do this, so I'm doing it. 668 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:35,040 And now my car's dying on me. 669 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,920 And I don't have spare money to go fix the thing because I'd already done that earlier 670 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,400 last year and then the same problem happened again. 671 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:48,200 And I got five kids and I'm solo parenting and the pressure's on. 672 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:51,480 And I just decided, no, I'm just going to come into your presence, Lord, and I'm going 673 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:53,880 to use this as an opportunity to worship you. 674 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,840 I'm just like, I'm not going to be dictated to by this garbage out here. 675 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:00,640 I'm going to minister to you. 676 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:05,200 That's what I'm going to do in the face of the devil's accusations against you. 677 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:06,600 I'm coming into your presence. 678 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,480 I'm going to give you that. 679 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:12,920 Anyway, the Lord tells me to call some friends and send some messages out to see if some 680 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:18,480 of the donors who donated to my ministry over the years would be interested in helping out, 681 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:19,480 get a car for me. 682 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,440 And I got a news back from a few of them, I can't help you. 683 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,960 But one person called me up and essentially they paid for the whole thing. 684 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,600 15 grand like that. 685 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:37,480 And then my daughter totalled her sister's car. 686 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:42,120 And so I'm like, Lord, my daughter doesn't have a car. 687 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:45,680 She wants to do an internship, but I haven't got a car to send her with. 688 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:50,960 And then one thing led to another and bang, the Lord provided a car for cash, completely 689 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,600 cash, don't know anybody a dollar. 690 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:58,440 And it was like, you know, you're with me Lord. 691 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,560 I was flying over Dallas one time, flying in to do a couple of weeks worth of ministry 692 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,360 in the US. 693 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:07,360 And as I was flying over, I didn't have a car to drive. 694 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:08,880 And I've got all these bookings. 695 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,600 And I've got a friend who said to me, you can borrow my car when you come to Texas. 696 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:15,080 But he's told me, mate, I haven't got anything for you to borrow this time. 697 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,240 He's got a business with a handful of cars. 698 00:38:17,240 --> 00:38:18,640 So I'm flying in on that promise. 699 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,000 And he tells me the day before, can't do it. 700 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:23,760 So I land and he comes and picks me up. 701 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:27,120 And I'm like, I'm just thinking to myself, I'm going to go rent a car. 702 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:31,000 But I'm flying in and the Lord goes to me, look down at the houses. 703 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,840 And I'm like, look down at the houses. 704 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:36,960 And he goes, now look at the cars and there's cars everywhere. 705 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:40,120 Just like ants, you know, at the top of an ant nest. 706 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:41,120 They're just everywhere. 707 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,120 And he goes, you know, I own all those, right? 708 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:47,600 I'm like, what am I worrying about? 709 00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:51,080 And he goes, what kind of car do you want? 710 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:52,680 And I'm like, are you serious? 711 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:54,000 And he's like, you're going. 712 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:55,920 And so I said, and it was absurd. 713 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,680 It wasn't like a Maserati, but it was still ridiculous. 714 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,440 It wasn't like, I didn't say, give me anything at all. 715 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:02,400 He's like, what do you want? 716 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:03,720 I would have been like Ferrari. 717 00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:07,320 I didn't have that much faith. 718 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:07,840 Right. 719 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,920 But it was, if it helps, it was important. 720 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:14,680 So I named the car and then I land. 721 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,720 My mate comes and picks me up and he goes, oh, I've got a car for you. 722 00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:18,360 Oh, wow. 723 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:19,440 And I'm like, oh, sweet. 724 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:23,040 He goes, yeah, I had to put someone off and it was part of their agreement. 725 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,560 And so he said, you've got a good car. 726 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,280 I said, OK, thank you. 727 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:29,640 I didn't want to say what it was. 728 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,480 And he goes, do you want to know what it was? 729 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:34,040 And I'm like, yeah. 730 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,520 Because last time I was there, he asked me, what would your dream car be? 731 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:37,560 And I told him. 732 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:40,160 And it just happened to be that one, because that was where it came from, 733 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:41,080 like in my prayer. 734 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:42,480 And he goes, it's that kind of car. 735 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,040 And I'm like, yeah! 736 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:45,000 Thank you, Lord. 737 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,240 But like, I didn't need that. 738 00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:50,080 But like there, I had that car and drove that. 739 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:53,560 But like when you understand that the Earth is the Lord's and everything 740 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,960 in it, the world and all who dwell in it, because he founded it 741 00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:00,600 upon the seas and established it upon the waters, he made the world. 742 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,880 He created the world at Psalm 24. 743 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:04,880 Everything's in it. 744 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:05,680 He owns it all. 745 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:07,480 So what am I freaking out about? 746 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:08,480 It's just stewardship. 747 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,160 And there's no way I'm taking it with me. 748 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,200 There's no way any of us have taken our wealth with us. 749 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:13,200 We're only managing it. 750 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,120 We're only busying ourselves in managing it, 751 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:18,760 because it would be there if we didn't manage it anyway. 752 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:19,840 It would still be there. 753 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:21,480 It's still the Lord's to manage. 754 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:23,600 How good are we at stewarding and whatever? 755 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:25,160 The comforts that come from that, all those things 756 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:26,680 need to be stewarded and managed. 757 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:27,400 That's right. 758 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:30,760 But when it comes to the call of God, I've just found, 759 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,080 like I was sharing with you before the podcast started, 760 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:37,160 God started talking to me about we're going to put a cafe in at this church. 761 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:38,080 Yeah. 762 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:41,560 And I put it to the church after we'd raised some funds earlier in the year. 763 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:44,360 And I could tell people were looking at me like, oh, gosh, OK, 764 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:45,400 we need to raise more money. 765 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,760 Well, the next week, the Lord provided the coffee machine. 766 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:48,280 Bang. 767 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:48,760 Yeah. 768 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,160 And this week, didn't approach the church, 769 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,720 but two people put in three grand, and we picked up about $30,000 770 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:56,520 worth of stuff for the cafe. 771 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:57,120 Incredible. 772 00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:02,520 God just made the way, because I want to just be in that place where 773 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,160 being on my knees is the greatest place in the universe. 774 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,720 We're being behind closed doors, having cleared my schedule out 775 00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:09,600 to come and fellowship with you. 776 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:10,200 That's it, man. 777 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:11,240 That's my goal. 778 00:41:11,240 --> 00:41:14,120 And everything that comes out of that, I've learned his goodness 779 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:18,320 because of his promises and trusting that as I walk, 780 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:19,360 he'll make the way for me. 781 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:24,200 And so that's been what my heart has been to serve him, 782 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:28,720 is to just see him do what he does. 783 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:32,320 All around the US over the years, we used to travel and do ministry 784 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:34,360 over there about three months out of the year. 785 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:34,720 Yeah, wow. 786 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:35,840 Year upon year upon year. 787 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:36,760 Had a car over there. 788 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:41,520 And then cutting a long story short, six-ish years ago, 789 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,600 just over six years ago, kid's mom passes away. 790 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:46,120 What do you do with that? 791 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:47,160 What do you do with that? 792 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:49,440 I've got five grieving kids in the middle of school. 793 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,640 So I've only been to the Pacific a couple of times 794 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:55,240 to do very, very short things for two or three days. 795 00:41:55,240 --> 00:41:57,280 But even so, just being a parent in the home 796 00:41:57,280 --> 00:41:59,760 and caring for the kids, my greatest blessing 797 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,080 is being with the Lord. 798 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:06,400 And if my goal is to spend time with him, 799 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:08,480 everything else is going to fall in place. 800 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:11,520 It's been a hectic journey. 801 00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:15,720 But watching God just be with the kids and develop them, 802 00:42:15,720 --> 00:42:17,000 they're all walking with the Lord. 803 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,040 And the three who've graduated high school, my third one now 804 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,000 is in an internship at church and loving it. 805 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,400 And the previous two have gone through, done the same. 806 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:28,720 And you can have a blessed life. 807 00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:31,480 And you can have whatever the Father tells you. 808 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:36,560 Because Jesus wants to, according to Hebrews chapter 2 809 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,040 and 10, he wants to bring many sons to glory. 810 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,320 He wants to put the glory of God. 811 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:42,600 That's what Jesus's job is. 812 00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:44,760 He wants to put God's glory on us. 813 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:47,280 And that's not defined by circumstances. 814 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:48,960 No. 815 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:51,680 I think it's the condition of our heart. 816 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:54,520 The greatest challenges the enemy brings 817 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:56,760 are always to take the great strength 818 00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:00,080 that God has placed within us, spike us, 819 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:03,040 and then have us fall under our own weight. 820 00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:05,160 That's exactly what he did with Adam and Eve. 821 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:06,680 He just deceived them. 822 00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:10,840 Preach this stuff on the weekend out of James chapter 2. 823 00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:13,040 It starts off in there saying, do not be deceived. 824 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,200 And then later on, it says, don't be deceived. 825 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:16,760 Later on, it says, don't be deceived. 826 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,280 And they're just deceptions that the enemy does 827 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:23,080 to try to take those great strengths that God has given us, 828 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:25,320 all that great power, like the power for faith, 829 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,040 and turn that into negativity. 830 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:31,120 Turn that into presumption of bad, 831 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:33,680 rather than presumption of good, according to God's will. 832 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:35,320 He's given us faith, and we're going to exercise it 833 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:36,520 one way or another. 834 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:40,920 But through deception, the enemy takes our power, 835 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,920 and he turns it so that we destroy ourselves. 836 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,440 Just ends up corrupting every good thing 837 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:49,080 that God's given us. 838 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:52,280 But keeping our heart before the Lord, 839 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:54,200 things can just flourish with him. 840 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:58,320 And he's going to allow testing to happen, 841 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:00,120 because he wants us to see who we are 842 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:03,440 and the shortfalls that we still have, the father. 843 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:07,680 And James, again, tells us that any good father does that. 844 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,280 Any good father allows their son to be tested 845 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:13,600 so that they'll be able to grow from strength to strength. 846 00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:17,640 And the challenge is, 2 Corinthians, 847 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:21,360 that we would keep our eyes on him. 848 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:25,360 Because as we focus on him and keep our eyes on him, 849 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:28,200 that's how we go from glory to glory. 850 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,080 It's only by seeing him in the midst of circumstances 851 00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:33,600 that we don't like is that circumstance 852 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:36,640 going to be turned from a desert into a garden. 853 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:37,960 Exactly right. 854 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:41,480 It's always those situations we don't want to be in 855 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,520 that are ugly in appearance, but creates 856 00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:47,400 such a depth in our lives. 857 00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:48,360 Absolutely. 858 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:51,560 We were talking a couple of weeks back, 859 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:54,160 and we're talking about trials in the ministry, 860 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,240 and in church, and in life. 861 00:44:57,240 --> 00:45:01,240 And I said something that along the lines of, 862 00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:04,880 we've always seen God prosperous in our hardest times. 863 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:08,480 But then you mentioned something about two railroad tracks 864 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:10,160 running parallel. 865 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:12,440 Because that was a major blessing to me. 866 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:14,640 I sort of feel like those who are listening 867 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:16,760 would be truly blessed by this. 868 00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:18,320 So if you could share about those. 869 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:19,680 Yeah, well, it's not mine. 870 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:21,920 I picked it up from a friend who apparently quoted 871 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:23,200 Pastor Brian Houston. 872 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:24,040 Oh, there you go. 873 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,840 So that guy has seen some good times and some bad times. 874 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:27,680 Yeah, yeah, for sure. 875 00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:32,000 But the idea is, we often talk about victories 876 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:33,280 that happen in ministry. 877 00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:34,520 We talk about public stuff. 878 00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:38,640 And if you're watching, pray for your pastors. 879 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:41,120 Really do, because you don't know what they carry. 880 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,000 A lot of the major problems that happen in their lives, 881 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:45,520 you've got no idea about. 882 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:48,800 You can't mention personal, private stuff publicly. 883 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:50,800 And the people that you can go to are very few and far 884 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:51,920 between. 885 00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:55,160 And we were talking about some certain things along that line, 886 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,160 because I've had my fair share of those as well. 887 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:01,280 But this pastor, Gary Swenson, said to me, 888 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:05,240 look, basically, we oftentimes, all we can talk about 889 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:06,320 is the good stuff publicly. 890 00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:08,000 And we want to give God glory for that. 891 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:11,240 Because the bad stuff, it often runs parallel to it. 892 00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:13,600 And God uses both, like a train. 893 00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:17,280 And he runs with part of his work 894 00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:19,280 being done on the inner world of who we are 895 00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:22,320 and part of the work being done on the outer world of who we are. 896 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:23,800 And he uses both. 897 00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:26,640 And often, the good times happen parallel to the bad. 898 00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:31,200 And we shouldn't despise the bad, because the bad stuff, 899 00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:34,360 it's almost like a cliche, and people want to poo poo it. 900 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:36,760 But the reality is, the bad stuff causes us 901 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:38,080 to humble ourselves. 902 00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:40,840 There's nothing wrong with humbling ourselves. 903 00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:42,880 The scriptures tell us when we humble ourselves 904 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:44,960 under the mighty hand of God, in due time, 905 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:45,920 he will raise us up. 906 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:46,520 That's right. 907 00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:50,080 And we make prayers to God, like, whatever 908 00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:52,520 you want to do in me, Lord Jesus, do it in me, Lord. 909 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:57,080 Lord, bless me and let expand my tent. 910 00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:58,760 And then he's trying to expand our tent. 911 00:46:58,760 --> 00:46:59,800 We're like, Lord, it hurts. 912 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:01,240 You're stretching me too much. 913 00:47:01,240 --> 00:47:03,640 And he's like, I can't give you the blessing and the comfort. 914 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:04,880 Which do you want? 915 00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:07,560 If you want to limit yourself to the comfort, have that. 916 00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,000 But if you want to be expanded, come 917 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:11,280 into the place of discomfort. 918 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:14,280 Come and find me in a place like you've never seen me before. 919 00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:20,880 And ascribe to me the honor that I'm going to answer your prayer. 920 00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:23,000 Expect that I'm going to answer your prayer. 921 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:24,000 And I'm going to do it. 922 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:25,800 But it's not going to happen in your routine. 923 00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:27,200 It's not going to happen in your time, 924 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,080 because I want to do something greater in you 925 00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:30,640 than you even realize. 926 00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:34,920 And when we allow ourselves in prayer in times of fasting, 927 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,000 in times of humility and seeking the Lord, 928 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,360 not to be ones who walk around and, oh, I'm 929 00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:42,640 fasting because I want the Lord to see how humble I am. 930 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:44,200 Forget that. 931 00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:48,080 That's like the most arrogant piece of Christian religiosity 932 00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:48,840 you can do. 933 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:50,800 Oh, look at how humble and meek I am. 934 00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:51,760 Like, bleh. 935 00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:53,560 Like, what spirit of man. 936 00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:55,000 And what kind of a disciple are you 937 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:56,360 going to make by being like that? 938 00:47:56,360 --> 00:48:00,720 But when you've met with God and he puts fire in your eyes 939 00:48:00,720 --> 00:48:04,160 and he puts his spirit deep within you, 940 00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:05,440 you can have the debt. 941 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:06,480 You can have cancer. 942 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:07,400 You can have whatever. 943 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:09,320 And if you've met with the Lord, you 944 00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:11,240 can walk out of that room knowing that today I 945 00:48:11,240 --> 00:48:12,200 can walk with the Lord. 946 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:13,080 He's going to carry me. 947 00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:14,040 Yeah, that's good. 948 00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:16,520 And if I'm to die, I don't care. 949 00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:18,000 I'm going to go and be with him. 950 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:19,600 But I'm going to go and be victorious, 951 00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:20,520 because he's with me. 952 00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:22,040 I tell you what, that's, I believe, 953 00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:24,040 the kind of conviction that was on the first century 954 00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:24,760 Christians. 955 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:25,520 Absolutely. 956 00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:28,440 That's the kind of conviction that was on the slaves, 957 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:32,120 that they just became fierce people who loved others. 958 00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:36,000 And you see it throughout history. 959 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,840 The people who are remembered as the greatest 960 00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:40,360 in the Christian faith, they are all 961 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:41,720 people who were great servants. 962 00:48:41,720 --> 00:48:44,800 They were all people who gave greatly, who took steps of faith, 963 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:48,760 who took risks on God, who took risks on God's word. 964 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:51,360 People say that faith is the currency of heaven. 965 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:52,320 Well, I don't know. 966 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,680 There's lots of different things that move God's heart. 967 00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:57,320 But I tell you what, faith always looks like risk. 968 00:48:57,320 --> 00:48:59,200 Yeah, that's right. 969 00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:00,440 It can be craziness sometimes. 970 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:01,520 It always looks like risk. 971 00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:02,280 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 972 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:04,800 And if we can embrace that and dare to sit with that 973 00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:08,560 and not run from it and dare to allow God to frame himself up 974 00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:14,480 inside that risk, nothing is impossible for those who believe. 975 00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:18,440 So that's been my journey and just believing to see God. 976 00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:21,600 Move at different places at different times. 977 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:24,000 And I've had lots of really great people 978 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,360 who have come across my path in my journey. 979 00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:29,520 But the people who I have probably 980 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:35,200 got the most from, great leaders and some who aren't that great, 981 00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:38,520 but people who have a deep, intimate connection with God, 982 00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:39,600 who know God. 983 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:43,840 And when you talk about what God's been saying to you, 984 00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:46,680 like a light goes on inside of them. 985 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:49,440 And they want to share with you what God's been saying to them. 986 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:52,320 Those are the people I find who move mountains. 987 00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:54,160 And some of them aren't very famous, 988 00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,480 but they do great things for God. 989 00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:03,520 And they're the kinds of people, like I think King David said, 990 00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:06,560 the godly in the land, they are my heroes. 991 00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:11,400 And that's, I think, I don't particularly 992 00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,240 think that being around people with position is the thing. 993 00:50:14,240 --> 00:50:18,320 But being around people who really know the Lord, 994 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:19,560 that's a power to me. 995 00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:21,720 Yeah, amen, amen to that. 996 00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:25,040 That's some great story right there. 997 00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:27,720 I only answered one question. 998 00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:31,120 Well, God led you to speak such amazing words. 999 00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:33,320 And while you were speaking, I was just 1000 00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:35,960 thinking about what was I doing at the age of 21? 1001 00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:37,240 Nothing good. 1002 00:50:37,240 --> 00:50:42,280 And I can see God move through you at that age. 1003 00:50:42,280 --> 00:50:45,520 And you are here now traveling evangelist. 1004 00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:47,400 And you've gone through so many experiences. 1005 00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:49,920 God has shown you such great things in your life. 1006 00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:52,840 And you are here because of the great things 1007 00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:54,960 He's done through you. 1008 00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:56,200 And we're grateful. 1009 00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:58,240 We are very grateful to have you in our show. 1010 00:50:58,240 --> 00:51:00,960 Thank you for just coming here and sharing this 1011 00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:05,120 with our church and our audiences, whoever's watching. 1012 00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:07,680 I believe that's really touched them. 1013 00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:13,880 And it just shows that we have this picture, as you said. 1014 00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:18,040 I, for a long time, had a picture that, oh, wow, a pastor. 1015 00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:19,480 He's so established. 1016 00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:21,320 He has the perfect life. 1017 00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:22,720 Oh, you know? 1018 00:51:22,720 --> 00:51:24,880 But it's not true. 1019 00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:26,520 There are, as you said with the track, 1020 00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:29,520 there are downsides to being a pastor. 1021 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:31,880 There are challenges that you come across. 1022 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:35,000 And yeah, that's what shapes you. 1023 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:38,480 And that's what shapes your journey with Christ. 1024 00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:39,360 Thank you for coming. 1025 00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:43,720 And we really appreciate your input into our show. 1026 00:51:43,720 --> 00:51:46,480 We truly loved you here. 1027 00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:51,600 Unfortunately, we don't have enough time. 1028 00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:55,160 But we would love to have you again in another episode, 1029 00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,640 where we can talk more about your book, which you actually 1030 00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:00,280 made. 1031 00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:01,080 Numerous, actually. 1032 00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:01,760 Yeah, yeah. 1033 00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:02,360 Oh, the kids one. 1034 00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:03,240 Yeah, the kids one. 1035 00:52:03,240 --> 00:52:04,560 Yeah. 1036 00:52:04,560 --> 00:52:07,800 But that's for another episode, for sure. 1037 00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:08,480 Thank you again. 1038 00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:10,600 What we like to do as we end the show 1039 00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:14,320 is just pray for our ministry, pray for our church, 1040 00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:17,000 pray for the audiences that are watching. 1041 00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:18,760 And that's how we like to end it. 1042 00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:20,280 So give you the honors. 1043 00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:20,920 Oh, very good. 1044 00:52:20,920 --> 00:52:21,440 Thanks. 1045 00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:22,400 Thanks. 1046 00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:24,640 Heavenly Father, we just come before you 1047 00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:26,080 in the mighty name of Jesus. 1048 00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:28,120 And we thank you, God, that you are 1049 00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,040 in the business of redeeming this earth to be yours 1050 00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:35,440 and to be working in the people who you love so much. 1051 00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:37,760 And Lord, I pray over this awesome ministry, 1052 00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:41,040 over this podcast, Lord, that everyone who's listening 1053 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,920 would just be encouraged to find you in deeper ways 1054 00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:46,520 than ever before, that your word would be crystal clear 1055 00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:49,600 in our hearts and in our ears, that your direction would 1056 00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:52,760 be strong, and that your spirit would just walk with us 1057 00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:55,160 and give us courage to take risks on you 1058 00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:58,480 according to good faith, not presumptuousness. 1059 00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:01,520 And I pray, Lord God, that you would bless this church, 1060 00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,920 make it overflow in Jesus' name in all resources that it needs 1061 00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:06,840 and all personnel that it needs. 1062 00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:09,600 We pray, Lord God, for this city of ours 1063 00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:12,040 in southeast Queensland here in Brisbane City 1064 00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:14,080 that your spirit would move mightily. 1065 00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:17,240 We pray wherever this podcast goes throughout the world 1066 00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:20,840 that your power would ride upon it in Jesus' name. 1067 00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:24,120 And we pray, Father God, that as we move forward 1068 00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:27,880 into the plans that you have in this week and in this month 1069 00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:30,800 and this generation, Lord, that each and every one of us 1070 00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:33,360 would be so moved by your love for us 1071 00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:34,880 that we would never be the same again, 1072 00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:36,840 that we would see the moving of your spirit, 1073 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:39,880 that we would hear your call to each and every one 1074 00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:42,600 of our hearts, and that we would simply please you, 1075 00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:44,520 and that, Lord, you would be our shield 1076 00:53:44,520 --> 00:53:46,200 and our exceedingly great reward, 1077 00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:48,960 that you would be our treasure, and that we would frame 1078 00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:53,240 our world so that you truly do take the prime place in all 1079 00:53:53,240 --> 00:53:54,200 that we do. 1080 00:53:54,200 --> 00:53:56,360 Father, we dedicate this broadcast to you, 1081 00:53:56,360 --> 00:53:58,880 and we dedicate our families and all around, 1082 00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:00,640 and we thank you, God, that you watch over us. 1083 00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:04,440 And until we meet again, we worship you in Jesus' name. 1084 00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:05,280 Amen. 1085 00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:06,320 Amen. 1086 00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:09,240 Thank you all for joining on our beautiful 1087 00:54:09,240 --> 00:54:12,800 and exciting episode of Real Top Friday. 1088 00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:16,880 We have a lot of things going on in terms of our podcast, 1089 00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:20,120 which we'll keep you updated on another episode, 1090 00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:21,400 but thank you again for joining, 1091 00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:23,640 and I hope you have a great, great week. 1092 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:25,440 We'll be back on next Friday. 1093 00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:27,720 Watch the week for the real Top Friday! 1094 00:54:27,720 --> 00:54:29,080 Thanks for watching. 1095 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:30,840 And we'll see you on the next one. 1096 00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:31,880 Bye. 1097 00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:32,720 Bye. 1098 00:54:32,720 --> 00:54:33,560 Bye-bye. 1099 00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:35,120 Bye. 1100 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:43,680 As we conclude our episode of Real Top Friday, 1101 00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:46,480 we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our listeners 1102 00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:49,080 for joining us on this enlightening journey. 1103 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:50,880 But our journey doesn't end here. 1104 00:54:50,880 --> 00:54:53,360 Join us every Friday as we continue to uncover 1105 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:58,500 inspiration and hope in the remarkable narratives shared within the walls of Logan City Christian Church. 1106 00:54:58,500 --> 00:55:05,140 Thank you for tuning in and until next time may your faith journey be filled with grace, understanding and the unwavering presence of God. 1107 00:55:05,140 --> 00:55:23,940 Stay tuned for more Real Talk every Friday on Real Talk Friday.