WEBVTT 00:00:16.060 --> 00:00:18.539 Hey everyone, my name is Austin, and welcome 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:20.440 back to another episode of the Unfiltered Faith 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:22.800 Podcast. If this is your first time tuning in, 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:25.000 I'm so glad you're here. And if you've been here 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.660 before, welcome back. Today I'm sitting with 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:29.559 someone who knows what it means to be completely 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.179 transformed from the inside out. His testimony, 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:34.579 it will change you, inspire you, and remind you 00:00:34.579 --> 00:00:36.939 that freedom is possible. So I'm going to let 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:38.759 him introduce himself, and we're going to get 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:45.119 started. Well, hey everybody, I'm Mike Noland 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.799 and I'm excited to be on here. I'm looking forward 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:50.600 to talking about my story, man. So let's start 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:52.600 from the beginning. Can you take us back from 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:55.000 the start? What led you down to the path of addiction 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.859 at such a young age? Yeah, man. That's a, that's 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:01.899 a good question. Cause I know right when it started, 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:04.700 I was raised in church. My parents were pastors. 00:01:04.859 --> 00:01:07.519 And so I grew up in church and honestly had a 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:10.500 really good childhood for the most part, and 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:13.239 my parents were pretty involved in the Salvation 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:16.219 Army, if you're familiar with it. They were pastors 00:01:16.219 --> 00:01:18.079 for the Salvation Army, but they're called officers. 00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:21.480 And when I was about seven, they decided to go 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:23.439 back into the Salvation Army. They had started 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.219 a church in San Diego, and for whatever reason, 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:28.760 they decided to go back into the Salvation Army, 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:32.159 and that moved us up to Idaho, Twin Falls, Idaho, 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:35.780 which was... different than San Diego, but still 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:37.959 good when we first got there. I just enjoyed 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:41.540 playing sports and just being a kid and my parents 00:01:41.540 --> 00:01:44.620 were God fearing people and all that stuff. But 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:48.359 when I was about nine -ish years old, I went 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:50.540 and hung out with some kids from the church that 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:53.719 my parents told me to stay away from and ended 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:57.060 up at their adult cousin's house and was molested 00:01:57.060 --> 00:01:59.750 at a very young age. And that messed me up pretty 00:01:59.750 --> 00:02:01.469 good. It was the first time I drank. It was the 00:02:01.469 --> 00:02:03.890 first time I was exposed to pornography. And 00:02:03.890 --> 00:02:06.409 from then on, man, about as early as 12 was when 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:08.789 I really started drinking and using drugs on 00:02:08.789 --> 00:02:12.430 a pretty regular basis, typically to just escape. 00:02:12.550 --> 00:02:14.449 If I didn't want to feel something, if I didn't 00:02:14.449 --> 00:02:17.110 like the way just the situation was going, I 00:02:17.110 --> 00:02:20.150 would medicate. And I pulled away from church 00:02:20.150 --> 00:02:22.909 because it happened with somebody whose family 00:02:22.909 --> 00:02:26.069 attended my parents' church. So I really... Kind 00:02:26.069 --> 00:02:28.569 of went the opposite direction after that and 00:02:28.569 --> 00:02:30.789 really started partying a lot and using a lot 00:02:30.789 --> 00:02:33.969 of drugs. It was mostly to just escape stuff 00:02:33.969 --> 00:02:35.210 that I didn't want to deal with, didn't want 00:02:35.210 --> 00:02:38.430 to feel. And never ended up really talking about 00:02:38.430 --> 00:02:41.409 that until I was 38 years old. So that was something 00:02:41.409 --> 00:02:43.650 I buried for a very long time. What were some 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:45.430 of the darkest moments during your battle with 00:02:45.430 --> 00:02:47.409 addiction and what did life look like in that 00:02:47.409 --> 00:02:49.789 season? It's a good question too. There's a lot 00:02:49.789 --> 00:02:53.310 of dark battles, a lot of dark seasons. I'd say 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:55.870 though, for a very significant period of time, 00:02:56.250 --> 00:02:58.629 I didn't think that I had a problem because I 00:02:58.629 --> 00:03:02.030 was always working. I had a good job, owned homes 00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:04.770 and was super successful when it came to work 00:03:04.770 --> 00:03:07.430 stuff. I had an addiction problem that progressively 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:10.189 got worse the older that I got. Marriage didn't 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:13.530 fix it. Having kids didn't fix it. And those 00:03:13.530 --> 00:03:16.330 aren't really dark times though. I didn't feel 00:03:16.330 --> 00:03:18.969 like it had this grip on me that it ended up 00:03:18.969 --> 00:03:20.930 having at a later point in life. I had problems 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:23.509 with it. But I think I was functioning a lot 00:03:23.509 --> 00:03:26.810 better. When it really got bad was when I was 00:03:26.810 --> 00:03:32.129 38, I got divorced from my now ex -wife and had 00:03:32.129 --> 00:03:35.909 legal problems and ended up in treatment for 00:03:35.909 --> 00:03:38.110 the very first time. The first time I went to 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:41.189 rehab, I was 38. I went to the Salvation Army 00:03:41.189 --> 00:03:42.729 because my brother was the intake coordinator. 00:03:43.289 --> 00:03:45.949 But the darkest moments were after I got out 00:03:45.949 --> 00:03:48.590 of that program, I relapsed about six months 00:03:48.590 --> 00:03:52.430 later. So I made it about a year sober. And then, 00:03:52.569 --> 00:03:54.270 oh my God, I do a relationship with the wrong 00:03:54.270 --> 00:03:58.650 one and started using heroin, cocaine, meth pretty 00:03:58.650 --> 00:04:01.870 regularly and intervenously. And those two years 00:04:01.870 --> 00:04:04.330 were the darkest moments during my addiction. 00:04:04.389 --> 00:04:08.169 It got so bad. I OD'd, ended up in jail a lot. 00:04:08.729 --> 00:04:10.090 I thought I was going to die that way. I thought 00:04:10.090 --> 00:04:12.310 I was never going to be sober again. I would 00:04:12.310 --> 00:04:16.470 even beg God to either kill me or free me, one 00:04:16.470 --> 00:04:19.089 of the two. And it got real bad, man. Anything 00:04:19.089 --> 00:04:21.360 you could possibly imagine happening. When you're 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:24.300 using drugs like that, uh, intervenously happened. 00:04:24.819 --> 00:04:26.420 Uh, it was probably the worst two years of my 00:04:26.420 --> 00:04:29.620 life. Those moments sound incredibly heavy, but 00:04:29.620 --> 00:04:31.279 somewhere in the middle of the darkness, something 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:35.139 started to change. Was there a particular turning 00:04:35.139 --> 00:04:37.439 point where everything began to shift for you? 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:43.740 The first time I got clean in 2018 with the Salvation 00:04:43.740 --> 00:04:46.819 Army, I got sober for about a year. That was 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:48.740 when it initially started to change for me I 00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:50.560 finally started to see in that period of time 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.360 that maybe hope was possible that I could live 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:55.040 a life that didn't involve Drinking or at the 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:56.660 time I was drinking and popping prescription 00:04:56.660 --> 00:05:00.899 pills. So that was when it first started to change 00:05:00.899 --> 00:05:03.339 But when it really really really changed was 00:05:03.339 --> 00:05:05.300 after that two -year period I told you about 00:05:05.300 --> 00:05:07.399 that started right around when kovat started 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:13.019 and It got towards the very end of it. I kept 00:05:13.019 --> 00:05:16.680 trying to stay stuck in my addiction and use 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:20.019 drugs. And everything that I tried stopped working. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.579 And at the time that it happened, I thought everything 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:24.579 was falling apart, but I realized now it was 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:26.819 just God actually putting my life back together. 00:05:27.579 --> 00:05:30.680 I lost cars, house, everything that I owned. 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:33.279 Like I'm not talking about just a few things. 00:05:33.339 --> 00:05:35.040 I'm talking everything. I had nothing at the 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:37.959 end of it. No clothes, no place to live, no nothing. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:41.769 But. At the end of it, I almost got arrested 00:05:41.769 --> 00:05:44.069 and could have been charged with multiple felonies, 00:05:44.149 --> 00:05:47.089 but the cops let me go, which was crazy. And 00:05:47.089 --> 00:05:49.209 two weeks later, I wound up in the Los Angeles 00:05:49.209 --> 00:05:52.529 Dream Center and saw the first significant period 00:05:52.529 --> 00:05:55.709 of sobriety after that really two year dark period. 00:05:55.910 --> 00:05:56.949 I never thought I was going to see, I didn't 00:05:56.949 --> 00:05:58.430 think I was ever going to be clean for a day, 00:05:58.689 --> 00:06:01.209 but I made it through about four months in that 00:06:01.209 --> 00:06:03.779 program. Before I left and had some struggles 00:06:03.779 --> 00:06:05.459 after it, but that was really a turning point 00:06:05.459 --> 00:06:07.800 That was when I realized God loved me and that 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:09.560 he had been patient with me And even though I 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:13.279 tried to do everything possible To go the way 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:15.579 that I wanted and God kept pulling me back in 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:18.600 which is pretty cool How did you first encounter 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:21.220 Jesus during your struggle? I mean I was raised 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:23.939 in church. I knew God from a young age I believed 00:06:23.939 --> 00:06:26.920 in Jesus when I was a kid and childhood trauma 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:31.329 kind of led me in another direction so I knew 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:35.430 God kind of the way that my parents told me that 00:06:35.430 --> 00:06:38.350 it was, but when it finally became real for me 00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:42.050 or the first encounter with Jesus, like for real, 00:06:42.050 --> 00:06:44.230 for real, even though I'd had times where I'd 00:06:44.230 --> 00:06:45.910 gone to church and done some other things, but 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:47.750 it never really connected from my head to my 00:06:47.750 --> 00:06:50.370 heart. Through that period of two years when 00:06:50.370 --> 00:06:53.149 I was hooked on heroin and using drugs intervenously 00:06:53.149 --> 00:06:56.230 with needles and all that, about six months before 00:06:56.230 --> 00:06:58.550 I had all ended, I was getting down on my knees 00:06:58.550 --> 00:07:00.990 almost every day, begging God for a miracle, 00:07:01.370 --> 00:07:03.569 like begging God to set me free, just begging 00:07:03.569 --> 00:07:06.829 God to do it. And I wake up or stay up all night 00:07:06.829 --> 00:07:08.230 and the next day I would just do drugs again. 00:07:09.250 --> 00:07:12.589 And then day after day, I just kept using, using, 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:14.990 using, and I would pray and beg God for a miracle. 00:07:15.529 --> 00:07:17.470 And then all this crazy stuff happened. They 00:07:17.470 --> 00:07:19.949 got me out of Seattle and down to LA to the Dream 00:07:19.949 --> 00:07:22.230 Center. I was on a prayer walks. We would do 00:07:22.230 --> 00:07:25.939 prayer walks every morning at six a .m. And I 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:27.959 distinctly heard the voice of God, not audibly, 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.300 but in my head, in my heart. When I'm walking 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:33.120 on this prayer walk, I realized, man, I've been 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:34.959 clean for 30 days. I didn't think I was ever 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:37.399 going to see a day of sobriety again. And God 00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:40.339 said, there's your miracle, right? And so that 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:42.860 was a time where I really encountered God in 00:07:42.860 --> 00:07:45.259 a new way, where I was like, dang, I prayed for 00:07:45.259 --> 00:07:47.339 something, like vehemently pray for something. 00:07:47.379 --> 00:07:52.629 And then I now see it coming to fruition. That 00:07:52.629 --> 00:07:54.290 realization in that moment just made me realize 00:07:54.290 --> 00:07:56.370 how much God loved me. There's something transformative 00:07:56.370 --> 00:07:58.889 about knowing you've been truly set free. Was 00:07:58.889 --> 00:08:01.170 there a moment where you knew that God had broken 00:08:01.170 --> 00:08:04.810 these chains from you? Fast forward past that 00:08:04.810 --> 00:08:07.250 story I told you, I left the Dream Center early 00:08:07.250 --> 00:08:09.290 after four months. I love the program. I love 00:08:09.290 --> 00:08:12.649 the place, but I got this wild hair and decided 00:08:12.649 --> 00:08:15.269 I don't need to be here anymore. I'm good. And 00:08:15.269 --> 00:08:18.550 I left eight months early, which at the time, 00:08:18.810 --> 00:08:21.509 I regretted almost instantaneously. Now I'm happy 00:08:21.509 --> 00:08:23.569 that I did cause things have worked out great. 00:08:23.750 --> 00:08:26.730 But at the time I thought I was good and I left 00:08:26.730 --> 00:08:28.970 and I relapsed two more times after that. One 00:08:28.970 --> 00:08:32.509 time when my dad died and another time five months 00:08:32.509 --> 00:08:35.110 after that. And I made a decision after the second 00:08:35.110 --> 00:08:38.210 relapse to go into a program called team challenge, 00:08:38.330 --> 00:08:40.970 which is a 13 month discipleship program. It's 00:08:40.970 --> 00:08:43.470 not necessarily for teenagers. There's hardly 00:08:43.470 --> 00:08:46.250 actually any team programs for team challenge. 00:08:46.370 --> 00:08:51.169 Most of it's adult. And I kind of walked into 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:52.990 that program with very little hope because I 00:08:52.990 --> 00:08:55.950 tried to get free before and I tried other things, 00:08:56.070 --> 00:08:58.350 but nothing really had worked. And I was kind 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:00.110 of at this point where I was asking God, just 00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:02.009 let it be over. I didn't want to relapse anymore. 00:09:02.149 --> 00:09:04.169 I didn't want to hurt people that I cared about. 00:09:04.309 --> 00:09:07.269 I didn't want to hurt myself anymore. And about 00:09:07.269 --> 00:09:10.690 a month and a half in, I went to a Sunday night 00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:13.860 chapel and there were guest speakers. And they 00:09:13.860 --> 00:09:16.320 spoke a word and it was like the voice of God. 00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:18.440 I felt like everything that I've been praying 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:21.500 about for that entire month and a half, like 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:23.600 they were saying exactly what I was just talking 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.159 about to God, like literally the same day. And 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:29.539 I couldn't stand up. I fell on the floor. I ended 00:09:29.539 --> 00:09:31.879 up on my knees, then face down on the floor in 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:34.259 that chapel. I was on the floor face down for 00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:36.500 about 15 minutes, soaked the floor with tears. 00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:39.820 And I believe in that moment that I was supernaturally 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:41.820 delivered at a radical encounter with Christ. 00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:45.330 like the most incredible encounter where I haven't 00:09:45.330 --> 00:09:47.230 thought about using drugs since. That was almost 00:09:47.230 --> 00:09:50.110 two years ago. So I don't use nicotine anymore. 00:09:50.110 --> 00:09:51.730 I don't use anything, which is crazy because 00:09:51.730 --> 00:09:53.929 I use nicotine for pretty much my entire life. 00:09:54.149 --> 00:09:56.789 Going back to when I was 12, that moment was 00:09:56.789 --> 00:09:58.289 an encounter with Christ that changed my life 00:09:58.289 --> 00:10:02.850 forever. Wow. Praise God. And after that surrender, 00:10:03.250 --> 00:10:06.830 life often takes a new direction, even if it 00:10:06.830 --> 00:10:09.120 doesn't become easy right away. What did your 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:11.259 life look like immediately after surrendering 00:10:11.259 --> 00:10:15.080 to Christ? Free, finally free. I started thinking 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:17.740 different. 2 Corinthians 5 17 says, therefore, 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.059 if anyone is in Christ our new creation, the 00:10:20.059 --> 00:10:22.940 old is gone, the new is here. And that first 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:25.779 now hits different for me. Like the old is gone. 00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:28.820 The new is here. My life has changed. I don't 00:10:28.820 --> 00:10:30.980 think the way that I used to. It was a constant 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:32.919 struggle for me, man, where every night I would 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:37.450 fight like just constant. thoughts of relapse. 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:39.690 If I was getting periods of times of sobriety, 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:41.669 that's all I would think about at night. I would 00:10:41.669 --> 00:10:44.090 sometimes even try to go to bed early just so 00:10:44.090 --> 00:10:48.889 I wouldn't have to think about it. And that stopped, 00:10:49.129 --> 00:10:51.629 man. So immediately after I was in a program, 00:10:51.669 --> 00:10:54.889 a 13 month program that I had committed to, and 00:10:54.889 --> 00:10:57.769 I said I would finish it no matter what. So there 00:10:57.769 --> 00:10:59.610 was a temptation to leave, you know, I'd be like, 00:10:59.730 --> 00:11:02.029 well, I'm good now again. But I was like, nope, 00:11:02.029 --> 00:11:04.830 I'm going to do this. And that was a great choice 00:11:04.830 --> 00:11:07.330 because I spent a lot of time with God, man, 00:11:07.389 --> 00:11:09.409 a lot of time in His Word, and I was able to 00:11:09.409 --> 00:11:11.750 connect at a church that I'm very involved in 00:11:11.750 --> 00:11:14.769 now and be mentored for that entire time, get 00:11:14.769 --> 00:11:17.350 one -to -one mentoring and discipleship. Now 00:11:17.350 --> 00:11:18.929 I actually go back to that church on Tuesday 00:11:18.929 --> 00:11:20.789 nights and do the opposite, and I'm the one mentoring 00:11:20.789 --> 00:11:24.210 people with similar struggles to mine. So I just 00:11:24.210 --> 00:11:26.250 dove in, man, and tried to make the most of that 00:11:26.250 --> 00:11:28.830 time that I was there, spend time in the Word, 00:11:29.049 --> 00:11:31.850 prepare for the next season and all that kind 00:11:31.850 --> 00:11:34.809 of stuff. Now, the discipline of reading the 00:11:34.809 --> 00:11:36.929 Word every day has become complete desire. I 00:11:36.929 --> 00:11:40.110 do it every day. It's not like, oh, wow, I do 00:11:40.110 --> 00:11:41.549 it every day. I do it every day because I just 00:11:41.549 --> 00:11:43.149 love spending time with God. I love being in 00:11:43.149 --> 00:11:45.549 His presence and I love reading this Word. And 00:11:45.549 --> 00:11:48.389 He reveals things to me through His Word. And 00:11:48.389 --> 00:11:51.269 that's what it's been like ever since. I do everything 00:11:51.269 --> 00:11:53.610 I can to spend as much time in the presence of 00:11:53.610 --> 00:11:56.789 God that I can. And my number one goal in life 00:11:56.789 --> 00:12:00.070 now is to tell people what Jesus did for me because 00:12:00.070 --> 00:12:02.679 if He did it for me, He can do it for them. and 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.320 spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know, 00:12:05.980 --> 00:12:08.279 that Jesus died for our sins and raised again 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:09.960 three days later. And that's the glorious news 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:14.039 of the gospel is that he's alive and all you 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:16.220 have to do is believe in your heart, confess 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:18.360 with your mouth and believe in your heart and 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:20.840 you will be saved. And so that's all I want to 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:24.620 talk about is that to whoever will or won't listen. 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:26.200 And that's one of the reasons why I started my 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:28.759 podcast is to share my story and other people's 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:30.990 stories. That's why I like coming on stuff like 00:12:30.990 --> 00:12:32.769 this with people like you as much as possible 00:12:32.769 --> 00:12:36.789 because I just hope it helps somebody. Absolutely. 00:12:36.990 --> 00:12:39.330 And that kind of support is so crucial. But there 00:12:39.330 --> 00:12:41.710 are so many who feel stuck, like their story 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:43.669 is beyond redemption or they feel like their 00:12:43.669 --> 00:12:46.070 story is beyond redemption. But what would you 00:12:46.070 --> 00:12:48.269 say to someone who's listening right now who 00:12:48.269 --> 00:12:51.590 feels like they're too far gone? No such thing 00:12:51.590 --> 00:12:54.830 as too far gone. Salvation is available for all. 00:12:54.850 --> 00:12:56.330 Anybody who calls on the name of the Lord will 00:12:56.330 --> 00:12:58.590 be saved. That's what Romans 10 13 says. All 00:12:58.590 --> 00:13:01.159 who call. on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.100 And it doesn't say if you've done this but not 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:07.799 done this or you've been bad in this way and 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:10.159 not bad. And I am the worst of the worst when 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:13.919 it comes to sinners. I've used drugs. I've been 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:17.679 sexually promiscuous outside of marriage from 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:20.659 a very young age with lots of different. Women 00:13:20.659 --> 00:13:22.740 after I got divorced, I got a girlfriend and 00:13:22.740 --> 00:13:25.379 was promiscuous and we weren't married. We were 00:13:25.379 --> 00:13:28.259 doing crazy stuff, man. And we were doing crazy 00:13:28.259 --> 00:13:31.740 amounts of drugs and stealing things from stores 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:34.320 and arrests. And again, OD and all that crazy 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.919 stuff. Anything that you could possibly imagine. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.519 I feel like in that time, God turned me over 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:41.259 to my flesh. He turned me over to what I desired 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:44.659 more than him. And ultimately it led me to losing 00:13:44.659 --> 00:13:47.100 everything. But repentance just means that you 00:13:47.100 --> 00:13:48.600 turn and go the other way. It means that you 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:50.879 have a change of heart or a change of mind. And 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:55.779 in Acts 2 .38, Peter's first sermon after Pentecost, 00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:59.320 it ended by him saying, repent, be baptized, 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:02.159 receive the Holy Spirit. And that's available 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:04.200 to everyone. It says 3000 were added that day. 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:06.220 So that's all you got to do. You just got to 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:09.960 repent, which means that you confess and forsake 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.620 your sin and turn and go the other way. And then 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:13.960 start trying to figure it out. It doesn't mean 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:15.500 everything's perfect right away. It doesn't mean 00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:17.639 that you aren't going to have struggles. You've 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:20.879 sowed bad seed for a long time. Some of that 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.440 will still come to harvest. And when you start 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:27.220 sowing good seed, eventually through time, that 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:29.000 good seed will start coming to harvest. And you'll 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:31.620 start to see that come around, but you just got 00:14:31.620 --> 00:14:34.159 to keep pushing, man. Psalms 34, four says, I 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:35.519 sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:38.179 me from all my fears. So when you seek the Lord, 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:42.179 His word says, that he will answer you and deliver 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:44.399 you from all your fears. So I would say just 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:47.419 keep seeking God. Nobody's too far gone. And 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:49.799 when you seek him, when you knock, he'll answer. 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:52.120 And when you seek first the kingdom of God, all 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:54.240 those things will be added to you. And that's 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:56.840 everything, man. And it doesn't matter what you've 00:14:56.840 --> 00:14:59.600 done, doesn't matter where you've been, you have 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:02.220 a place at God's table. And the answer to that 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:05.320 and the way that you get a place is through Jesus, 00:15:05.460 --> 00:15:07.320 what he did on the cross. There's so much hope 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:10.440 in your words, and yet we all... wrestle with 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:12.779 lies at some point. What are some lies he once 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:15.000 believed about yourself or about God? How do 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.960 you now see through the lens of truth? I believe 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:20.279 that God didn't love me. I believe that I had 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:22.639 made so many mistakes like we talked about. I 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:26.220 was past the point of forgiveness. I believe 00:15:26.220 --> 00:15:29.639 that no matter what I did or no matter what happened, 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:33.740 ultimately I was going to fail or mess up or 00:15:33.740 --> 00:15:35.460 relapse again. So I'd always be like, if it's 00:15:35.460 --> 00:15:37.259 going to happen, I might as well just do it now. 00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:40.399 And all of that is lies directly from the pit 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:44.919 of hell, man. God does love you. God created 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:47.919 you for relationship. And even back as far as 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:49.480 the Garden of Eden, he walked with Adam and Eve 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:52.419 in the cool of the day. He created them for relationship. 00:15:54.139 --> 00:15:58.379 He freed the Israelites from Egypt in the Exodus 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:01.919 story. And it says in Exodus 19, four that he 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.419 brought them on Eagle's wings to himself. basically 00:16:04.419 --> 00:16:06.759 said, I brought you out of there to myself to 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:09.779 have a relationship with you. And ultimately, 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.899 Jesus paying the price that we couldn't pay puts 00:16:13.899 --> 00:16:15.960 us back in right relationship with the holy God. 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:19.740 It tore the veil and that's what God wants. And 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:22.240 so when you commune with God, when you pray, 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:23.960 when you read your word, when you spend time 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:26.460 with him, those lies will start to fall off and 00:16:26.460 --> 00:16:27.980 the truth of his word and what he thinks about 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:31.740 you will start to permeate through your very 00:16:31.740 --> 00:16:36.340 being. It'll become part of you. So it's difficult 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:38.120 in the beginning to get disciplined, but once 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:39.919 you start to do it after a while, it becomes 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.519 a desire and God's worth is truth and feelings 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:47.059 change. Uh, but the truth doesn't. So I would 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:50.940 say dive into God's word, learn what it really 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:53.799 says about you, who you are in Christ, your identity 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:56.419 in Christ and how he feels about you. And that 00:16:56.419 --> 00:16:59.080 stuff will start to fall off. So when those lies 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:02.080 start to fall away, We begin to stand on what's 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.640 real and lasting. What's one truth about Jesus 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:07.200 that keeps you grounded today? He's the same 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:09.299 yesterday, today and tomorrow. So he doesn't 00:17:09.299 --> 00:17:13.779 change. He's faithful, true to his word. If he 00:17:13.779 --> 00:17:16.700 said it, he does it. So that's the main thing. 00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:19.299 He's the same. He doesn't change, you know, in 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:21.160 a society and the world where people are always 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:25.119 changing and adapting chameleons to just fit 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.960 in or, you know, get what they want or manipulate. 00:17:28.269 --> 00:17:30.369 You don't have to worry about that with Jesus. 00:17:30.410 --> 00:17:33.089 You can believe that what his word says, you 00:17:33.089 --> 00:17:35.309 can believe that it's true and you can know that 00:17:35.309 --> 00:17:38.849 he doesn't change. So consistency, man, God is 00:17:38.849 --> 00:17:42.089 faithful and consistent. And you find that as 00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:44.089 you, as you commune with them on a regular basis. 00:17:44.269 --> 00:17:45.549 I know it's not like a broken record when it 00:17:45.549 --> 00:17:48.410 comes to that, but you'll find that you start 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:50.970 to get to know his character and his character 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:54.009 is constant, true and faithful. So you've come 00:17:54.009 --> 00:17:56.349 such a long way and now you're pouring back into 00:17:56.349 --> 00:17:59.140 others. How are you using your testimony today 00:17:59.140 --> 00:18:02.299 to help others find freedom? Yeah, man, that's 00:18:02.299 --> 00:18:04.579 a good question. A lot of different ways. I have 00:18:04.579 --> 00:18:07.119 a podcast called Redeemed and Restored that I 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.059 just launched literally a little over a week 00:18:09.059 --> 00:18:12.279 ago. And I share my entire story on that. I thought 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:14.460 it would take one episode, man, but it took me 00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:16.759 four, a different episode because of all the 00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:20.539 craziness. I didn't share it to glorify it in 00:18:20.539 --> 00:18:23.539 any way, shape or fashion. I shared it to show 00:18:23.539 --> 00:18:25.720 people how bad it really got so they could see 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:27.980 how much of a miracle it was when Jesus took 00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:30.880 over. And then now I get to hang out with people, 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:32.980 man, and talk to them about their testimonies. 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:35.700 So I just get to share all the time, man. I'm 00:18:35.700 --> 00:18:37.740 constantly reminded of my brokenness, which is 00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:40.920 a good thing. And I get to constantly share my 00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:43.819 story through that. But on Tuesday nights, I 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:45.980 go out to a church that I connected with through 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:48.539 the Teen Challenge program. And I get some mentor 00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:50.500 guys. I do one -to -one mentoring. I was just 00:18:50.500 --> 00:18:52.640 there last night. And I love that. That's my 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.180 favorite night of the week, man. I just get to 00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:55.940 spend time one -on -one with people sitting at 00:18:55.940 --> 00:18:59.140 a table. And I've seen guys give their life to 00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:01.740 the Lord right there, man, just talking. And 00:19:01.740 --> 00:19:05.799 it's just most incredibly humbling thing to be 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:07.920 able to sit there with somebody and just talk 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.180 and then see the light click on and see that 00:19:11.180 --> 00:19:13.960 they want to invite Jesus into their life. They 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:16.480 want to turn their life over. And that's my favorite 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:18.299 night of the week, man. So I love doing that. 00:19:18.339 --> 00:19:20.880 And I do a lot of other stuff too. We have a 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:22.480 recovery meeting at my church that I'm involved 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:24.359 in on Monday nights. And I got the thing on Tuesday 00:19:24.359 --> 00:19:26.319 nights. I was going out to a clean and sober 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.380 house on Wednesdays and doing some more mentoring, 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:32.920 but my wife coaches track. So track season just 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:34.500 ended. So I'll probably get back out to doing 00:19:34.500 --> 00:19:37.000 that on Wednesdays. And then I serve at my church 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:40.619 on Sundays as well. So anytime I can, man, if 00:19:40.619 --> 00:19:42.759 I have an opportunity to share my story, I'm 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:44.819 going to share it because you never know when 00:19:44.819 --> 00:19:47.900 your story might be the catalyst to somebody's 00:19:48.450 --> 00:19:50.710 Miracle which has nothing to do with my story 00:19:50.710 --> 00:19:52.529 except for the fact that it's a testimony of 00:19:52.529 --> 00:19:56.269 Jesus and Revelation 19 10 says that the testimony 00:19:56.269 --> 00:19:58.509 of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy That just 00:19:58.509 --> 00:19:59.910 means if he did it for me he can do it for you 00:19:59.910 --> 00:20:02.990 So if I don't share it shame on me, but I'll 00:20:02.990 --> 00:20:05.950 share it any chance I get That's such a beautiful 00:20:05.950 --> 00:20:08.750 way to reflect God's grace. What is God currently 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:12.329 teaching you in this season of life? Patience, 00:20:12.609 --> 00:20:16.049 you know how to wait waiting is a time that we 00:20:16.049 --> 00:20:19.809 can grow in our relationship with God. I always 00:20:19.809 --> 00:20:22.769 had this vision of this person I could be if 00:20:22.769 --> 00:20:25.670 I would stop drinking, if I would stop using 00:20:25.670 --> 00:20:28.609 drugs, nicotine, all that kind of stuff. And 00:20:28.609 --> 00:20:30.390 I could never do it. But when I'd lay down on 00:20:30.390 --> 00:20:32.329 my bed and think about the future, I'd be like, 00:20:32.470 --> 00:20:35.589 maybe someday I could be that person. And now 00:20:35.589 --> 00:20:38.529 it's like, God has freed me from all these things 00:20:38.529 --> 00:20:43.309 and I can start to see his plan and his purpose 00:20:43.309 --> 00:20:46.839 starting to take shape. but it can get really 00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:50.559 tempting and very easy to jump ahead of God's 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:54.900 plan for your life and try to think that I know 00:20:54.900 --> 00:20:58.640 best. I have proven time and time again, if anybody 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:00.759 ends up going listening to my full story, you'll 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:03.480 hear that I've proved time and time again that 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:10.059 I am not the best pilot of my own life, but God 00:21:10.059 --> 00:21:12.660 is teaching me just how to wave. When you abide 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.359 in Christ, like John 15 says, and you just spend 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:17.539 time with Him and you commune with Him, whatever 00:21:17.539 --> 00:21:20.059 happens, happens, man. Whatever God wants to 00:21:20.059 --> 00:21:22.180 open up, whatever doors He wants to open up and 00:21:22.180 --> 00:21:24.460 good with, whatever doors He wants to shut. All 00:21:24.460 --> 00:21:27.000 right, man, whatever plan I thought was right. 00:21:27.980 --> 00:21:31.339 I'm not going to get too attached to anything. 00:21:31.579 --> 00:21:34.180 Romans 12 .2 says, you're not conformed to this 00:21:34.180 --> 00:21:35.900 world, but be transformed by the renewing of 00:21:35.900 --> 00:21:38.079 your mind. Then you'll be able to test and prove 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:39.859 it, prove what God's will is, is good, pleasing. 00:21:40.710 --> 00:21:45.069 perfect will so when we just let God's Word and 00:21:45.069 --> 00:21:47.309 time with him transform us then we learn what 00:21:47.309 --> 00:21:50.009 God's will is and that'll come when it comes 00:21:50.009 --> 00:21:53.230 so that's the main thing man patience and waiting 00:21:53.230 --> 00:21:56.490 on God and not rushing things and letting letting 00:21:56.490 --> 00:21:58.569 him open up the right doors looking back and 00:21:58.569 --> 00:22:01.589 looking now what does freedom grace and redemption 00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:03.869 mean to you now compared to when you were still 00:22:03.869 --> 00:22:07.309 in your struggle they mean everything because 00:22:07.309 --> 00:22:09.130 I never thought I was going to be free but I 00:22:09.130 --> 00:22:12.309 am and I never thought redemption was possible, 00:22:12.509 --> 00:22:16.049 but I stand here, sit here, redeemed, right? 00:22:16.390 --> 00:22:19.190 And that is all possible because of the grace 00:22:19.190 --> 00:22:24.950 of God, because he sent Jesus to sacrifice and 00:22:24.950 --> 00:22:28.589 be our substitute because we can't be in the 00:22:28.589 --> 00:22:30.769 presence of a holy God when sin is in the picture. 00:22:30.890 --> 00:22:32.710 That happened as far back as the Garden of Eden 00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:35.069 when sin came into the world. From that time 00:22:35.069 --> 00:22:38.579 on, we needed to be rescued. And Jesus, because 00:22:38.579 --> 00:22:42.779 of His grace and His mercy, rescued us. So, it's 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:44.640 everything. Because the only reason why I'm free 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.460 is because of Jesus. The only reason why I'm 00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:49.039 redeemed is because of Jesus. And the only reason 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:51.420 why I didn't get what I deserved is because of 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:54.960 Jesus. And He paid the price, man. By His stripes, 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:57.319 I've been healed and I'm just so thankful and 00:22:57.319 --> 00:22:59.900 grateful. I don't care what else happens now, 00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:02.000 man. I'm on bonus time. And then on top of it, 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:03.740 I've been blessed with an amazing life, with 00:23:03.740 --> 00:23:05.819 an incredible wife, all these things that I don't. 00:23:06.989 --> 00:23:09.490 deserve considering what I've done and what I've 00:23:09.490 --> 00:23:11.509 been through, but God has blessed me in so many 00:23:11.509 --> 00:23:13.829 ways. But all that's just the cherry on top, 00:23:13.970 --> 00:23:16.309 man, because of what he did on the cross. I'm 00:23:16.309 --> 00:23:18.769 free, man. I get to live in eternity with him 00:23:18.769 --> 00:23:22.230 and that's good enough for me. But I'm just so 00:23:22.230 --> 00:23:26.069 thankful for what Jesus did for me. And that's 00:23:26.069 --> 00:23:28.609 the gospel. He's alive and I'm free because of 00:23:28.609 --> 00:23:31.269 him and it's available to anybody. Wow, what 00:23:31.269 --> 00:23:33.950 a powerful testimony of redemption, resilience, 00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:36.950 and the relentless love of Jesus. Guys, please 00:23:36.950 --> 00:23:41.269 go to the link in the description and go to the 00:23:41.269 --> 00:23:43.869 Redeemed and Restored podcast. You have an amazing 00:23:43.869 --> 00:23:48.250 story. Thank you for your vulnerability, your 00:23:48.250 --> 00:23:51.369 honesty, and for allowing us to not only just 00:23:51.369 --> 00:23:54.069 see the pain of your past, but the purpose God 00:23:54.069 --> 00:23:56.500 has made from it. Your story is a reminder that 00:23:56.500 --> 00:23:59.019 no one is too far gone, and that even in the 00:23:59.019 --> 00:24:02.720 darkest seasons can become the soil where freedom 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.599 takes root. To our listeners, if you're struggling, 00:24:05.779 --> 00:24:07.940 if you're walking through addiction, shame, or 00:24:07.940 --> 00:24:10.619 just feel like you're barely holding on, I want 00:24:10.619 --> 00:24:12.759 you to hear this loud and clear. You are not 00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:15.740 alone. There's a savior who sees you, knows you, 00:24:15.880 --> 00:24:18.579 and loves you. And just like that, like you heard 00:24:18.579 --> 00:24:21.960 today, he's still in the business of helping 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:25.420 people and setting them free. If this episode 00:24:25.420 --> 00:24:28.579 stirred something in you, reach out. Until next 00:24:28.579 --> 00:24:30.920 time, keep seeking those fresh perspectives and 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:32.980 keep having those unfiltered conversations with 00:24:32.980 --> 00:24:35.180 others to better understand the world around 00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:35.460 us.