Yo, what's up people? I'm your host Jay Will and I would like to welcome you to inspire guys people where we balance faith and business To guide you to your purpose look tonight is a great episode that ain't I'm saying is great. I'm prophesying I'm joking I'm being deep because I got some pastors on tonight So if I get deep, you know, I'm saying and they bring the church inside of me blame these guys don't blame me This is episode 205 pandemic pastors look I'm excited to be able to welcome to today's show three pastors man These guys are amazing. I'm gonna let them introduce themselves But I know all of these gentlemen from in different ways, but I've known them all for a long time I admire these dudes personally I can I could tell you that these are three people that I personally know are good men Good godly men.
I'm not saying they perfect none of us are perfect You know what I'm saying, but I'm just praying I'm just saying I know these guys are legit. I got your arm Oh, the mic Gay, you know, I let them introduce themselves Don't don't feel you know I'm not disrespecting them if I go in and out of calling them body names And I don't throw the title pastor in there like just know these some guys I know personally and they just became pastors You know I'm saying that's what a lot of this show is gonna be about So I got to get used to calling people pastor and then I kind of don't got to get used to it Because I just you know I just titles don't always matter You know I'm saying character does alright. Anyway, I'm making people mad already Let me just give a quick disclaimer about today's episode I've had this idea of pandemic pastors with these three specific people in mind probably for somewhere between four to six months Don't quote me on the time I don't know but it's been most of this year sometime earlier this year where I wanted to bring them on to talk about some things In the church a because I don't think we all take enough time to like pause and think about what has happened To us over the last three years in this pandemic number one But then also most times when people talk about the church They're either talking about it to tear the church down and you leave people in the place that they like oh like if church is that messed up And church hurting all this why would I even go or people do the opposite? We don't address some of the issues in church We don't you know talk about areas that we need to get better in and develop and grow and hold ourselves accountable And so both of those are kind of bad what we're gonna try to do today is Productively talk about some things in the church specifically during this time that we live in in a world post-pandemic Talk about how the pandemic has impacted us all personally And we're gonna hear from three pastors like these are three wise gentlemen that like I said man These are the kind of people I call on when I have questions or when I have doubts and things like that so if you are a person That's looking for some encouragement and inspiration in Christ Maybe you feeling a little down and out about just the road at church plays in your life You're not feeling it you've done with church all those kind of things or maybe you in church and you looking like I see some things wrong and ain't nobody saying nothing about this is for you again with the goal the goal is Pro-church pro-Christ we are people who love God and want to see people go back to into fellowship So that's our perspective, but we want to be real about that look man I talked enough you ain't listening to this today for me We're gonna jump into the intro and then when I come back I'm gonna have these three pastors with me.
That's hopefully gonna bring some good godly Inspiration and advice to the show and if not, you know, I just I just say I know these guys I kick them off the show, you know, whatever I get whatever I got to do and keep my name clear You know I'm saying they get on here talking crazy. I don't know these guys. It was you know, it is what it is I'm saying what you gonna do to you do what you said That I know you know what you read The promise did not expire be inspired. I can see beyond the tears you cry I saw every you have to clench when you say you ain't afraid to die All right guys people man, you know, I'm saying let's get these guys in here gentlemen welcome welcome to the show how y'all feeling man Less great gave on mute my bad.
I muted you gave I didn't trust that you was gonna come here talking about Great man, man. Welcome to our guys people man pandemic pastors. That's not kind of apocalyptic or something But you know, I promise I mean it in a good way Let's let's first man start off for people that might not know y'all I'm gonna have you know Let's each one of y'all introduce yourself your name your church name and give us just a quick overview What they expect to show church which the church is about what you believe in whatever it is you want to cover in a quick 30 seconds We're gonna start with my man's gate. Let's start with you gate What's up?
Pastor of path of Revelation Church We officially launched in October. We are a Bible believe in church. Oh, we believe in sound doctrine We believe that We believe in community and discipleship and and so I'm excited to be on the show today If you are looking for a church community We gather in the wonderful city of Ferndale 290 Hilton Road, Ferndale, Michigan Sundays from 10 to 12 we have prayer and all that good stuff you can get tapped in But yeah, man, I'm excited about the conversation today And I'm just honored to be in the presence of all the you guys man because I respect every last individual that is on tonight So I'm really looking forward to this conversation. My man.
Okay. Welcome. Welcome. Let's go to Gerard.
Oh pastor Gerard. I don't know if I ever seriously called you that so I got to use that as a driver. Let's introduce yourself Hey, I am pastor Gerard Brooks. I passed the second Timothy missionary Baptist Church on the east side of Detroit a Frilly church in the heart of a friendly community and I've been pastoring It's going on two years and you know, we see hurting people and we're just trying to give them the answer Which is Jesus Christ bless you bless you pastor Mike, you know, I'm saying I still call you older Mike It's just you know, it's just in there.
It's actually Yes, sir, bless you Doc. I am pastor Mike Holloway pastor of walking on water Bible Church We have we launched in November 20th to be exact 2022 so I'm just a month after past the gate and We are a as as we'll say about the other brethren We certainly are a Bible believing Bible preaching Bible teaching church with an apologetic Agenda because we believe in standing on where to true making sure that people are taught you can expect to be biblically educated You know because I think that church which you know in our culture can certainly be Emotional and there's nothing wrong with that but that emotion should be tapered by the information that we're getting and so The information is what makes it important because when you know the truth makes you free So that's what you get it walking on water Bible Church. We're in the city of La Vona 15115 farming to enroll inside of Journey Church So we're sharing a building with a wonderful pastor there inside of Journey Church So I look up a Bible believing church with there come see us well 15 is our services on Sundays Welcome in a God and I appreciate all of y'all shout out to everybody in the comments. We appreciate y'all The village is taking me and say it's not letting him comment So I guess God is doing a work in blocking the enemy already also Neil you say you can't comment on YouTube.
Hey, they're not problem brother Other people coming in spirit is blocking you and I shout out to my brother La Ville So thank you all again for jumping on let's let's start here man This pandemic happened all of y'all became pastors You know what three you know within the last three years so like right in the middle of it And I guess what I'm curious about is the time and for y'all like can y'all can y'all explain like what the timing was it on? Purpose did it just coincidentally happen that all y'all walked into being a pastor? You know during during this specific time we'll start with you pastor Mike Yes, I know it wasn't on purpose I think I got to a place with me, you know This is something that's been on my heart that I believe the Lord have been dealing with me on for years And it just got to the place where I could no longer sleep and I mean that like literally I can no longer sleep And so you know I thought about just as you said all these challenges like Mike You know you might want to wait on a better time and this that in the other but you know God just begin to move us in a certain way But I think that's good in a certain way You know I think God typically does things that are unexpected He takes the things that I foolish to compound the things that I mighty and so I just you know We had to step out and do what God called us to do I feel that I feel that so so gay What was that like for you man the time and of it? I wasn't expecting it.
I know it's not like a broken record because that's exactly what pastor Mike said No, I wasn't looking to start a church during the time that I did at all There was a lot going on with family things Started a new job just bought a new house It was a lot of beginnings and things that I was walked that me and my family were walking into and so Funny thing about it during that time Me and my wife we had felt like the Lord was transitioning us out of our the church that I grew up in my entire life and During that time excuse me during that time, you know, we start visiting other ministries to see you know Where we feel like God is leading us because we didn't know where God was leaving us Um, and then right when we were about to join a particular church of my brother You know I feel like the spirit of God gave me a sturdy note and you know and I was like Maybe that's me and confirmation at the confirmation like no because I had a plan I knew God was calling me the pastor But I'm in my plan. I was like, okay five years from now It'll be the perfect time and then God was like no now and so we made that transition and what's kind of funny is, you know You know, we went to Oakland together and you know, I know we were involved in ministry But some of the people that we had evangelized to in Oakland Years later end up being a part of our church plant and are a part of our quarantine now and How that even came about was crazy, but but God has been faithful man. So yeah, man That's a little snapshot into how things popped off For us that's dope man. Yeah, like me and gay men in college and gay was leading like three campus ministries when I met him So I'm actually not surprised at all that you a pastor My man was the first day we met we were about to fight the second day he was laying hands on me literally It's a true story to imagine imagine being about to fight somebody on Thursday and walking in the prayer on Friday and they leading it About to beat the breaks off the man of God This man was not going to my wife I had my way brother He almost got hands laid on him two days straight Hey, what we say you was gonna lay hands so Ever since then we've been friends so which is which is very ironic It's very humbling to receive a prayer for somebody that just 24 hours ago.
You wanted to break feet off off in So that was a blessing also not surprised that Gay was about to join somebody church like I don't know if I would be offended if it was me Hey, man, I think about joining you church I think I think you're gonna be a pastor. No, that's that's an amazing story But I think what that really speaks to is just the fact that like when you calling you no matter how hard you trying to get away From it is like it was time it was time for that to happen. So Gerard man. Tell us about the time of for you Lord Jesus You know, you know, I'm a worship leader and you know, I and I still need worship in certain areas of certain arenas And so I was cool with that, you know, that's that's what I just wanted to do and you know I sense the calling of God on my life I said I knew at some point, you know, I would pass it But I didn't know what it would look like, you know, and I didn't really like think about it Cuz that's I saw my pastor go through it.
He went through another pastor So I said that's not for me and so I passed to die And I said oh And you know it broke my heart and then It was as if The Lord was just like really like my I was so consumed with just sadness that he died And then I called I talked to the first lady at our church And she was like you remember that conversation that pastor had with you in the conversation was something where it happened to him He would take the church. I didn't take it seriously. I'd like I said I was cool with just going, you know, and then it actually happened so As you know in the Baptist church, they got a vote on stuff and things like that So at the same time they were that you know after we agreed at the same time that you know They were trying to figure out who would be the pastor God is speaking to me and the Deacon calls and he says You know we we need a pastor so we want you to consider being a pastor and I When I tell you that I was in my room pretty much like agonizing like I know these people I know I know them, you know, I'm not the right one to do this because I know them and God just gave me a piece and And he let me know that if he's with me, he's for me, you know, I Remember telling God yes, and I told the Deacon yes, and So I had announced so I finally had announced that but they had had me preach a couple times now This is the church that I grew up in I was born and raised in this church Right, I preached a few times and then one week I said in the one week I said all right, I will pass through the church I will stand and clear it you know whatever how about in the same week the same week that I said that these 20 year olds were Drag race and whatever they were doing ran into the church they died Got messed up and I'm like God you are hilarious. This is one funny movie.
This is just gonna get an Oscar right here This was the week that was the week that you said you would be the pastor Somebody some people ran into the church racing died and messed up the church. That's not I didn't see the pictures on social media So it's crazy like that's that's heavy That's heavy. So here's what I'm when I'm curious about As as y'all kind of talked about the different ways y'all kind of accepted and walked into the car The funny thing about it is what I hear across the board is that there was a pool Like it was like it was like God was pulling gay was trying to join another church The right Gerard they got it you've been this church 30 years. They still need to test drive Sleeced like so it's funny to think about how God is doing all that and anybody jumping everybody don't have to answer this But I'm curious as y'all were going through that What was this transition like for y'all wives because I think sometimes you know people always like yeah I'm called to preach and all it is and it's like man like all right, you know What was the white and you know respectfully?
I want to put nobody in the position to be sleeping and wherever you record at tonight But whatever you want to share about your wife with wisdom if you could just share a little bit You know whoever wants to jump in on that like what her experience was like my wife was like new Let out though, but then she said if this is what God is calling me to do then I'm with you You know and I thank God for that because you know my wife is a straight shooter She don't you know you see she gonna be around the bush, you know sometimes I go around my chin and get to my elbow But she she don't play man like she like I love she had She pulls off something that not many people could pull off a absolute sweetheart in nice person that you're scared of like She is not about to play games What side is she from? Jump in on that and talk about it why yeah, I'll say man And that's such a great question because I think that sometimes people don't understand just how important that spouse is in a move like this Like you know what I remember of course so many years ago when I first went to my past They're telling him I felt the call to preach the first question he asked me was what is your wife thinking? You know, I'm like well, I'm called, you know That's such a powerful question man because if that white not on board Ministry not gonna work period and so my wife her experience, you know, but scary then she you know Everybody know I'm powerful and grace not to quit and win gate man Then I was there plus 30 years my wife has been there 40 something years and so so it become it was somewhat scary So all she knew was power hoping grace, you know And so although I believe the Lord had been dealing with her and she kind of knew that God was dealing with me So I think she expected it one day but when it first when it happened, you know, there was a reality there But I think God, you know that she was in full support, you know, and it's been such a blessing to the ministry already So that's awesome. So so with me She was on board she was like that's what God wants but kind of how it kind of came about was really interesting because One of the reasons why I mentioned Oakland University is because you know Jill and Toya shot off to Jill and Toya who are probably watching now Are gonna watch later Jill and Toya were two young ladies who came to the Lord came to the faith through Our ministry efforts on in college and so during the pandemic while we were in the middle of lockdown They inboxed my wife now.
They didn't even have a relationship with Erica They inboxed my wife and said hey, we we're gonna be doing a Bible study Would you like to join us? And it was just them and probably two other people that would come off and on and my wife was like what you think? I was like cool. That's your Bible study cool.
Go ahead, you know fellowship with Christian women I'm coming in from work every Friday. They were together every Friday on zoom. I'm coming in from work Not realizing hey, this is the beginning of path of Revelation Church. I'm coming in from work like hey That's y'all cool I go down to the man cave and had a boy with me why y'all have Bible study praise God and Out of that, you know when I felt like God said what said now is the time That's when I went to her and was like hey, this is what I believe God is saying What do you think and she was like she was quiet for a second?
She's like well, that's what he's saying Let's go and the rest is history and so she's been like the biggest blessing throughout this process man Like she's been a blessing so yeah That's fireman like shout out to all y'all wives like because I think what people don't realize like you said Oh, Mike, I've had this thought with Tiff where it's like, you know when I got with my wife I was a completely different young man I think sometimes we assume that because we were changing for what we believe to be for the good that the woman She should just be this a blessing because he changed him for the good But a lot of times I'll be having to remind myself like my wife did not get with a businessman rapper Podcaster, you know like she didn't get with that she got what to do from seven mile that was just out here chilling Who liked to listen to Eminem Kanye West that's who she got with and in a lot of ways Even though yes, I'm sure that everybody else is like it seems to be better to be where I am now That's not an easy transition when you're being pulled along at that when you're actually just completely fine with wherever you work And I think that's you know, that's a testament though the ability For godly women to know when and who to follow in their husband like that's a gift man So I just I just want to shout out the wives out there because they're like you said something It was like if the wife ain't on board it ain't gonna work Yeah, do anybody we don't have to stay on this long I'm just I'm just curious to anybody want to unpack any part of that because I think a lot of times we don't talk about marriage from this perspective of like When you're when when a man is being called out to something for God a lot of me and I think and a lot of Man a lot of a lot of pastors I think sometimes find themselves in a position where they really putting the church over God like I almost want to ask like If the white because you said if she ain't on board it ain't gonna work So what can't I just need I need some type of wisdom somebody out there It's a man out there right now that feels like God is calling him to do something and his wife ain't on board And he might only be looking at what's hurt for about it But what can we what can we say to that young man that we're older man? Whoever it is? That's in that position in his wife ain't on board. Well one thing we have to keep in mind and I often heard people say this all the time You know, this is my wife in the church is my mistress You know, that's a while we have to be you have to be careful as as leaders because you know We could sometimes get so caught in the Lord's work that you know We got the wife over here, you know, and I you know one thing that I can say about about my wife Like I said, you know, she's a straight shooter, you know, you need a person like that in your life to just kind of keep you balanced you know and You know There are times that I can get I can you know get get really involved in what God has called me to do But you know, this is the person that that after all the ministry is done This is the person that you got to see each and every evening when you walk through that door You go after service.
That's the person that you got to go home with and so Just as strong as that Trying to make the church strong, you know, you also have to build her up as well You know, and make sure we we're tired. So so I thought that was a very profound statement. You may might So I would say man, just to piggyback on what Pastor Gerard said was first off like marriage is supposed to be a pitcher of Christ and his bride the church The mistake that a lot of pastors make is they give their life for Christ bride while neglecting their own bride Yeah, like I'm married to Erica Parker. I'm not married to the community of path of Revelation Church I'm in covenant with them as an shepherd of the church But the church is Christ bride path of Revelation Church belongs to Jesus I don't know how else simple more simple to place that and so And another thing healthy I believe a healthy church is made up of healthy family and healthy marriages.
Absolutely How can we lead the people of God into biblical prosperity and Yielding much fruit of the spirit if our own house if our own houses are out of order And so what I would suggest to any man Who fills the burden and call the ministry, but his wife isn't on board I would say whatever you need to do to get on one accord in your marriage Because there's a thing to if your wife isn't willing to follow you that may be an indicate indication of a bigger issue Yes, you know I'm saying because one thing I Developed a pattern with my wife through the good and bad that she can trust me and trust my walk with the Lord That no matter how bad things get or have gotten she knows that hey We gonna be all right and that's about a grace of God and so that's that would be my suggestion for sure Yeah, I would add to I mean But it's a person listen ministry starts now, you know, you don't wait until you become past the desired ministry You ministry starts now you can't pass the church until you first passed her at home. That's the first thing That first absolutely and so in first emathy three we know the qualifications are there the man must be this the husband of one wife having his children and or the Bible speaks for itself and I think sadly and again I don't know what this may take it But sadly that has been one of the things that people have used against the church because broken families or things like that happen in the past Just move though, you know, it seemed like and sadly congregation grow when the family fail, you know Because and so that becomes I think a black eye against the church is like and then what happens is people who don't want to submit to the where become More comfortable going to churches back back because they're not holding up the biblical standard And I think that's a problem No, that home got to be right as passage arrived to say the first ministry is your wife You can't master that when it's past the game said you might not be caught to do it Yeah, that's real like and I like that you said it starts now because I'm gonna be honest I think man, we sometimes wrongly put things on pastors that also relate to us as the church Like you said, there are certain qualifications like you need to have an order before you step into that But as a believer some of those things are overarching like there are some things is like, yo as a believer I have to get things in order and the reason I'm specifically pointing this out is because If you only try to point to pastors as like oh, they should be living some type of way because they have pastor Then you a believer and you'll be sloppy and it's like yeah, I've had to grow like one thing about me That sometimes I'm like I get tired of growing because it's always something wrong with me It's always something every stage of my life like something that I'm missing something like oh, I was too immature with this Oh my god Like and I'm constantly having to grow and it can get tiring for real But I have a desire to be better and I think we have to as believers be able to look in the mirror before we get to that step as pastor Like you said I tell people all the time look man Stop and get your crib in order. There's a there's so many passages in the Bible Like one of them is I think it's in Peter somewhere But it's like I know your wife said that your prayers won't be hindered and a lot of times man as me You can be pulled by your ambition and your desire to grow and all your goals to where that becomes like your God That becomes your family like we're talking about and whether you're a pastor or not Just trust me like just just work on that and get that together and it's gonna always be something to grow But I think what everybody is saying is that when you get that together your church is gonna be better off for it You know I'm saying Whatever we go Yes, sir being gifted to do something is not necessarily being called to do something And I think that's where people have made the mistake. Yeah, I Think can I pick you back on that real quick?
I think that and we were talking about this earlier J before earlier today How we live in such a Individualistic society where it's all about the individual. It's all about I all about self, you know Reading the book of Corinthians and how one of the Corinthian church of Corinth's issues were They were divided and one of the first issues that Apostle Paul addresses with the Corinthian churches Hey, y'all have broken up and clicks Some of y'all are say I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas.
I follow Did Paul die for you or did Christ die for you? And so one of the first things that Apostle Paul addresses is like y'all are man focused and this is not what I taught you guys This is not this is nowhere near any of the teachings that I left you guys and where did you guys get this from? And so I think what ends up happening is we have a society that's individualistic and everybody's about me I'm gifted I'm called I I And really it's so funny how people push their fight for callings that's gonna put them before audiences But they neglect the things that are in private that really matter. Yeah, just like we're talking about Having healthy marriages and leading your home.
These are things that you don't always get celebrated for These are they being a good husband and being a good father You don't people don't see most of that you don't have an audience you don't have people patting you on your back And so people would rather appear to have fruit than to actually have fruit in real life And I told I told the church community yesterday. I was like man. I don't want to act like I have peace I want to actually have peace. I don't want to act like I'm have power with God I want actually have power with God.
I actually want to have joy I don't care what people think if I actually have these things in real life Well, and I don't need man's approval when I have those things in real life because my priorities are in order Who else I feel like I feel like I was about to jump in and say something I If you got something to say just jump in and we don't have to they don't have to be super formal So I want to make sure y'all free to kind of comment um that gave you you kind of touched on a couple things that you talk about the stage And I think this is something you know, Gerard you might be able to speak on this, you know You know for a lot of people know if you don't know me and Gerard like I've known Gerard a long time But most notably I'm Gerard was the soul and J&J soul so me and Gerard have been on a lot of stages together Spent a lot of time together. We've traveled together Seeing the ups and the downs and in between some of the best moments in life some of the worst moments in life and The thing that I've learned throughout, you know time is that that stage man It could be a blessing and it could be the most addictive curse and sometimes Gerard like I kind of feel like as a church We don't we don't necessarily deal with the dangers of the stage because the the payoff is so lucrative So yo, I want to be a certain a certain gospel artist because I'm gonna get this award We look at the awards in the notoriety as success and as God blessed But what have you learned just being a worship leader through the years and how have you navigated? Like we're to pull back where to be careful what advice can you give a young believer out there? That wants to be a star in the gospel world in the stage is their life like just all the time and like I just feel like It's a danger.
I think you know gave you can speak to that too But Gerard start with you like what do you feel about just the stage? Should we be worried or is it cool just go after it with your whole heart? How do we navigate that as believers man? If I were to talk to my to my young self, I would tell my young self just keep reading the Bible Singing to the Lord, you know love ministering to the Lord, you know because it can easily become a gig and Even though you love God it still becomes a gig.
I don't care how annoying it will I'll great your Yours whatever it is it can easily become a gig and then you start to want to do it more and more and more One thing that I loved about singing with you guys you guys really love the Lord and you guys were really sincere and It really taught me to to really be sincere in in my approach to Ministry and worship and I think sometimes people They're so busy trying to get to that next level or get to the stage and then they they're not then they become insincere And then their life isn't adding up to what they're actually singing about and for me. That's been that's been my biggest Motivation in in leading worship is that I want to make sure that when I leave the stage I'm living what I'm saying like people can look at what I said and say yes He's living what he said because most people are Looking at and I'm probably talking around in circles, but most people are looking at They see you on the stage, but when you get off the stage, they're looking at your life Yeah, and you got to make sure if you're if you're on that stage, you know It's one thing to see somebody on the stage and they prophesying and preaching and singing the house down and the glory of God Is moving and they floating up across the floor knowing across the stage Taking off the coating throwing that people and knowing is making them fall down. It's a terrible thing to see them You know mistreating their family or you know, just not living with you know, just does not live in what they're saying It's just a huge turn off So I guess yeah for me, you know, don't go after the stage go go after God Come on I've got to and allow God to lead you and let him where you need to be don't rush him God knows what you need and God knows who to put you in front of and I found I'm saying this I'm just talking I found more joy in Ministering to those that are in my congregation on Sunday morning. You know a huge stage Yeah, these are people that I see all the time and they're going through so much and Something and to do something that's going to help them.
That's more gratification than traveling the world I mean I'm here to see a whole bunch of people all over the world But if I get this impact one person by you know what I said or what I'm saying that I see then I'm you know The guy be the boy. Hmm. Yeah, that's the drive to say something so powerful, you know, even preachers and preaching You know, this can become performance based. Yeah, you know, if we're honest, you know All of us want to feel validated in some way, you know, I mean, you know, we we want a couple eight men's when we preach, you know You know, but if we're not careful and this is this this becomes a part of the you know The struggle it can be of can be a struggle for any minister any pastor is that we ought to focus.
Oh, yeah, I was I was trying to show before you started talking I wrote the word validation down I wanted you to talk about validation. So you said you know, you just keep going you just But you know every now and again a prophetic move But you know what I said, there are times where if we're not careful The what God instructed us to preach in context with the text can start to change To be more appropriate to the to finding that that that approval of the people, right? We're not called don't get me wrong. We want to we want people to be happy But we're not called to be men pleasers We call to please God and they're gonna be days they're gonna be days when we preach and we're gonna pass this the greatest They're gonna be days when we preach and in and it won't be we won't have there won't be nobody running up and down the house You know I'm saying there'll be no throwing jackets So I mean at the end of the day we got to fight that temptation to cater to the to the comforts of the people and be more focused With seeing people and passing around here.
I want to see lives changed You know, I'm saying Paul says something powerful in Galatians He said I'm a laboring till Christ be formed in you and that's the goal It don't have to be the big crowd when you see that one person changing when you see that used to act a certain way You can just see how God is dealing with them. Man. That's the gratification. That's the true joy of any true pastor Yeah, I think I think we we don't talk about it enough with the stage You just said something has to make the instant gratification Sometimes we don't realize that the stage can be a drug for people and the reason why what do most people use drugs for to escape reality?
To keep from dealing with reality And just like when a person is Intoxicated or using drugs dopamine is being set off in their head rush that rush People use preaching in the stage singing for the same thing. There's a rush in my in my heyday I'm sounding like oh man, I'm when we were when path of revelation the group was gigging at our highest We were gigging every weekend sometimes twice and three times in one weekend And even the amount of times we were gigging much time we spent on the stage that time wasn't anywhere close to the times We spent living off the stage. Yes, sir And so what happens with a lot of people they put more emphasis on the stage that they may only be on for our hour in a weekend or 15 minutes or or three hours whatever they put more emphasis on that while neglecting the hours of actually living their lives because they're chasing the rush And and they're using really using their gift and the applause is of me and as a drug to keep them from dealing with their felling marriages Their wayward children and this is why we look at pastors and celebrity. This is goes to the individualistic aspect We look at these celebrity pastors these celebrity Christian artists and worship leaders and you look like man They just divorced a white they only second marriage, but they ain't stopped touring they ain't stop selling records They ain't stopping preaching and it's like where's the accountability?
You know I'm saying we've created such a celebrity culture that no one can be checked and and it really doesn't breed Healthy homes and that's why and I think one of the reasons why these churches still grow is because When you look at the dysfunction in the pastors or the singers a lot of times it validates the lifestyles of the people That aren't that don't want to change and don't want discipleship and and one of the things pastor Gerard and pastor Mike is talking about It's not it's no comparison to seeing people grow in in the church community No, no amount of times on the stage or album releases can compare to seeing someone comes to Christ and them growing in the faith This is one of the reasons why I told you Jay Um, this is the outside of giving my life to Christ and meeting my wife and having my children This is the greatest thing I've ever done in my life And seeing disciples being made which is not a microwave process is Process it takes time. Yeah in the pit with people you see people at their best People at their worst and but but it is worth it the toil is worth it making disciples is not glamorous And then really that's what people want. They want the glamour and instant gratification so for a lot of time Y'all all kind of touched on something interesting to me and ask this this thin line between You know whether I'm rapping podcasts and preaching whatever all the different things that we've done and do Yes, you you know You want it to be something that people want to enjoy and want to engage if you're any type of public speaking You know needs to be engaging but then there's there's this interesting thing when you're preaching the word of God That's different than every other thing I can think of especially as a business person And that is you know, I've been a part of you know Some marketing you know mostly sales, but I've been a part of some marketing campaigns and things and at least supporting them And one of the things in marketing is that you are you have a product and you are literally studying people's behavior To position this product because you need them to want it your entire goal It's to position this as something that they desire and when you look at the music industry Even the world of preaching and churches what has happened in our society today is with the event of social media There's all this access and ability to market right and I tell people all the time as as a sales and marketing person I my degree is in marketing marketing is mind control because you first study the behavior of people and then get them what they want I think what has happened or part of what has happened is that we have a lot of marketing focused ministers Wow who are studying what people want? Oh, they like this type of music They need this type of beat oh they want it and then going in the lab and putting together sermons and Christian music And I think what we've lost track of as believers is that there is a difference when you are carrying something That's sacred as the word of God, sir.
I You know if I'm right my little book whatever if I'm saying if it's not even gospel related, okay great Like bro, you're marketing you selling Reese cups great market away do what you got to do I think we've lost Kind of like this respect for the sacred nature of the word of God Where we have a reverence and a fear for it and I'm just curious like from y'all perspective How do we? Balance you know growth in popularity versus truth like and like do you have a perspective on like hey? I want to grow my church versus hey I'm cool if it's ten of us, you know and we just focus in on the word of God Like cuz I think that's what a lot of people struggle with in social media because we relate growth to success. Absolutely And a lot of people associate growth With you know success, you know look at him down.
He only got there many people you must say you know But this brother could be the most Annointed sincere brother, you know I'm saying and I guess I guess what I've learned because I'm I'm gonna be transparent. I love to sing and I love I like I love it all I mean, but there are a lot of that more times than not. I don't even as much as I've seen I love teaching Because I love seeing the results of of lives change You know a lot of times we can get so people so emotionally stirred Containing that they just they leave emotional They you know, that's all about was emotion. They man we man.
We I'll tell you man We shout it and we I'm telling you man. He told up, you know He told it up, but when you and your private time on when you going through something I ain't gonna save you you know we Especially when I learned in this in this pandemic is and especially in this generation is people need Jesus They need the word of God. Mm-hmm. We can't dress it up.
We can't we can't make it up We have to give it to people straight whether they like it or not You know, I think for so long We've tried to as you said we tried to package the gospel as this pill that you take, you know You got it. You got a king of back take this bill. You know, I'm saying you got a big deal take this bill come back next Sunday You got a king of foot take this bit. No, that's a heck of a skit though.
I'm not gonna hold you up, bro That's a good idea Skit though the gospel Tyler know that is hilarious like that not look I I'm curious because you also touched on something else and All right, so since the pandemic there has been like this huge focus on mental health, right? And one of the things that I always am intrigued with and sometimes cautious about is like something becomes super popular in the world And in the church is kind of like right behind it in the same way now. Let me say this I'm pro mental health But I believe just like we talked about like hey your wife need to be on board first like there's an order that things need to happen in part of my concern now is that Christians are seeking non-Christian mental Wellness and things and so it's like we got a lot of Christian therapists gave I know your wife is in that industry Christian psychologists And I think what has happened is that the pandemic ran a number on us like we just got to be real like the pandemic ran a number on The world I was walking in the grocery store back in 2020 and I remember when people were losing their mind in the grocery store They want all the tissue is people right now that ain't have a Stations you want to have your tissue out of date like bro. I don't see you get moded So my point though is like the pandemic ran such a number on people that now people need like mental health health and health But they're running away from the church to get it and now the enemy has opened the door to give people all these solutions outside Of the word of God so gave if I could start with you What is just some thoughts where some advice we can have around properly seeking mental help?
For our depression or stress or whatever that's the type of stuff. I'm talking about not nothing deeper than that I'm talking about just the things you deal with on the everyday level What's the proper way that we should be seeking that versus being careful not to follow the world because the world talk all about self-love Self-care and I'm like yeah, but we got that self-love doesn't turn into lovers of themselves Yeah, I think I think your question is more has more layers and is more complex than it may come off as Some people do need a therapist, you know, and I'm and this is coming from my wife being a Christian therapist, you know But one thing I would say is For us to identify to effectively identify how to approach the answer. I think we have to identify where we went wrong One thing that the pandemic showed us or should have shown a lot of us is that word of faith theology and the present the prosperity gospel Word of faith theology does not work It did not work and and actually a lot of people left the church because they realized it didn't work The problem is many of the people that left the church There's they're leaving the church saying the Bible doesn't work the Bible isn't true and the church is fake How can you say that when you weren't taught the Bible correctly? And so you have a lot of people leaving church when they weren't even taught the Bible correctly when they weren't in a A discipleship making focus culture Where they were in a church that was entertainment driven or personality driven and so now we leave and I'll tell you this I can call on one hand.
I got five people up to about five people that I've done ministry with in the past Some of which I even served under in ministry who now identify as Hebrew Israelites calling the white man in devil It's like how did you get this far gone and and and really um, I think what we have to realize is like Have we led people to straight or have I? Learned christ wrong. Have I been shown a bad example of who he is and things that I nature and then secondly I do believe some people need actually need like we have to be honest with how what we've been through has affected us Um think about it when during the pandemic while we were on lockdown We were at one of the highest racial tensions in our country since the civil rights I think you know with the george floyd stuff that stuff did a number on a lot of people You know what I'm saying and and how the church approached the divisions in our country between race and stuff and people being Standing on their political parties more than they standing on the word of god It opened up the door for people to be like, you know what the church is fake They don't got the answer and and a lot of people still wanted wanted some type of spirituality a lot of these people left and went into um African religions and witchcraft and Hebrew Israel like doctrines and different things A lot of people started in the church and so I think I think that um You know somebody else can piggyback. I don't want to talk too long But I think you know properly diagnosing and being honest with what the issues are like man We just experienced this trauma and went through something hectic some of us lost Family members and absolutely, you know we stuck in the house and some of our house Some people's house situations aren't healthy, but you stuck in the house all day.
How did that affect you? What are you you know I'm saying and so yeah, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was powerful past the gave and just to tack on to that I think that when it comes to mental health The bible gives us the answers and again this doesn't mean that someone may or may not need a therapist or not But the bible does tell us great peace have they which love that law and nothing shall offend them The bible tells us that he will keep his mind in perfect peace whose mind is staying on him What what has happened? I think it one of the things anyway is that we have taken the attention away From the thing that gives us wholeness of mind the thing that truly brings that shalom that completeness and we've turned to systems and things of that nature For example, you know even church itself.
You all know all of us. You know come up in the church where man You you may not get out and I'm not saying go back to that now, but you know, we You know And leave and come back absolutely three services in one day and all and again I'm not necessarily saying we need to return to that extreme But what I am saying is that I think we've done things we've eliminated things that I think that were important christian education sunday school programs Teachings you've got people in the church that can't quote 10 scriptures They can't quote the books of the bible that you understand what I'm saying So I think that from a leadership standpoint as pastors we've got to check this the Biblical gauge of our congregation. How much do we really know? You know what I'm saying?
They're not even in the church today, right? They're not many people that can explain the trinity Right, and that's just you know and really because we have it, you know, and we all have to look ourselves in a mirror Have we truly taught it? Have we truly emphasized on education? You know bible class is what do they still do those nine days in someplace?
It's like no these things are what keep your mind Spaithful attendance and again, we've eliminated things and we've we've took programs so you got certain celebrity ministers bringing in over What in the world are you thinking when you bring in an Oprah Winfrey again? No, nothing personal towards Oprah I want over to be safe But what I'm saying is we you got some spiritual mind that people you could have brought in that will give you the word of God And so when we put the word of God back in his rightful place and we emphasize the teaching and preaching of true biblical scripture in context I think we'll see mental health come back to where it's supposed to be right and I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna let you jump in jarad and At we have to stop separating things Outside of guys church. Here's what I mean.
These things are a part of ministry God will raise up christian therapists Guys will raise up christian artists We like try to carve things out and make it seem like it's something separate than the word of God Like no, like God will give us therapists that will point to there's a young lady selena deal She's been a she's out of Chicago area. She's been a guest on the show. She has a blog called the taste of man Tastin seers why I can't think of the name of it exactly and I just wrote some for it Sorry selena, but she is a christian therapist That will point you to the word of God as part of this process And I think that's part of the piece that we miss that we don't have to leave God to get the answers We need but jarad jumping well, no Um, this this might be kind of shifting the conversation you can shift it direction, but um, I'm finding that We were more accountable Before social media got you know big Um, why would I come to bible class when I can just you know scroll to the I can just I can just you know I can just put it on and somebody else teach and if I don't like what you take it teaching I'm gonna go to somebody else church, you know, and uh, I'm finding it even even at my church like we have um, we have a Facebook bible class, but it's a private Uh, like a webinar sometimes man. I have more I have more viewers on the on the jet than I do in the actual sanctuary You know, and you know, that's that's one struggle that uh, as a pastor during this pandemic, you know People they don't they don't want to come to church.
You know, they don't they don't feel that that that is necessary or you know But it's something about being among believers, you know, yes, sir. Yeah, it is The sanctuary and Been learning having hands on like man. I love preaching on Sunday for my favorite time of the week is bible study You know, that's that's the time, you know, and then what I find is a lot of the same people who have issues in their life Are the same people who don't come to bible study Listen, I'm not and I'm not and I'm not knocking and I you know You know, we know what you mean. Yeah, I'm giving the answer.
I'm literally telling you what does In bible study for in the teaching and then You're going through something and and and and and sometimes us as pastors I'll just be obviously be feeling like minimum Like what like what do we have to do but we can't be weary and well doing we have to realize that this is a work And that people you know that I mean this this has been happening since Moses. I got I don't want to cut you off your arm, but I need to go to two comments real quick and thank you to everybody in the comments I haven't um because I want to keep the questions in the panel for when I haven't been addressing all of them But I got a couple of comments that um have you served authority here? The first one is from angeli brooks and she says I think the problem is too many in the christian society Has treated the church as a social club or organization and not an organism No more to die is life. So the church should be full of life.
Shout out angie Sir, why it's wife but type in a word while he was speaking of words. Look, she's did I don't want us to miss like we treat any church like a social club or organization and not a organism what you got on that gate So this has been an interesting conversation Um that that I've been having with people close to me and within leadership in my christian community My church community I should say um Especially being a new church being a new church, um depending on how you're launched and you know There's different situations. You have some situations where you have organizations back in you and they got them They got the brink truck back enough to push you That is so funny. God in most cases that ain't the case for most people.
Um, and so um one of the things that I found is The people we've been talking about I've been talking about individualistic thinking a lot of people Not just approach ministry that way, but they approach attending church that way. Yes, sir They approach church with a mentality of not what can what offering can I bring to the body? But they approach church like it's a movie in a sense. Okay.
How are you going to entertain me? How are you going to make me feel how are you going to serve me and not how am I going to serve? God serve the body as unto the lord. What do I bring to the table?
Um, I heard somebody say something so Profiling about worship, but I think it applies to church as a whole because us gathering amongst saints edifying one another It's a form of worship as unto God, right? They said We make worship about us too much. We make church so much about us. We ask how was church today?
Or how did you how did you how was your experience at church today as opposed to what did you bring? Like church isn't about us. It's about us edifying each other in glorifying God. Worship is about God Yes, sir.
We found even ways to make worship about us It's crazy. And so and so I think um um to to answer the question I think We have to decrease That he be increased and that is Something that should not be foreign to the life of a believer This is why we have all of these mental health issues and stuff We're we're so self-absorbed and and one of the things that I found is when you're full of yourself you'll always be left empty Jesus said if you If you're gonna deny yourself You got to pick up your cross and follow me for who so ever will save its life We'll lose it and who so ever will lose its life for my sake shall find it When the prophet and to gain the world will forfeit himself and so I think people are looking for Heaven's solutions while not denying themselves for the god of heaven and so I The word of god should be the foundation that should be the crux of what Dictates and and determines how we live our lives But a lot of times we want god solutions rooted in fleshly desires and that's not how it works Yeah, I think That was also great. Like what I'm sitting here thinking about is we've been flashing a light on the wrong theme But the end of the day it's a it's a net in the studio that's throwing me off man I'm right like crazy on camera. Just like he's getting the spirit He clapping and everything like no it's a little net that got in the brain That's what I'm saying here thinking about man is like so much of it of the mental pressure in the stress Gerard you talk about how this introduction of social media sometimes we forget like it's only it hasn't been here that long It's really been a good 10 years that people been strongly into it and yesterday We were out the dinner well multiple times, but you know for Father's Day, but one of the dinners with Um, you know, my wife's parents shot off to my back end daddy dinner Um, we were at dinner with them And my mother-in-law talked about like how irritating it is when you're out with people And everybody is just on their phone and it's just whether it's this or whether it's this like we were all just like Society moves so fast that we just pick up things as believers in it's almost like you know how like how we say with black people You know I'm saying much love to my white people his fanning is everybody else, you know, but some stereotypes are kind of true and kind of funny Um with black people in one person run we all run, you know, and I think sometimes in society Hey, everybody start doing this.
No, I'm just it's like some people you can't go nowhere without taking a selfie And I think everything that y'all just talked about is actually oddly Reflected in our social media behavior. Where's like I can't go to church without it being about selfie I can't you know being my marriage without it being about selfie art It's like our old view of the world is about ourselves And I think we need to find a way to shine the light back on the word of God because then it's the opposite It's about humbling yourself. You need to improve yourself. You need to develop yourself You need to grow and there's all these things in the Bible that causes me to change but in the world It's just about me getting more of whatever I want.
So um you say you say a repent and it's almost like repent has become a bad Word. It's offensive. It's offensive like like one of the things we've been talking about in church and our church is The Samaritan woman right at the one as she's at the well And she gets to a point where she acts jesus for this living water. She like give me this this sound good Give me this living water She just comes out and asks him for and of course We know jesus is talking about the holy spirit, but she says give me this living water The the very next thing that jesus does is he deals with her sin Go get your husband I don't have a husband.
Right. She said you you said right You have five and the one that you've been with five people and you're with right now is not your husband What am I saying? Whenever we want some really want something from god He always deals with what's in the way of us getting what he has for us People want heavens results while living for hell And you say that one more time sir People want heavens results while living for hell And jesus was and look how she did like please read the story when you get some time it the woman in samaritan woman The moment that jesus exposes her sin Instead of her repenting she eventually repented but instead of her repenting she immediately gets religious Yes, she got spirit. She got religious and was like I perceive your profit We worship in the mouth.
She goes and she's talking about something that don't even matter Instead of just saying you know what you're right. How do I get this right? So I can get this living water And so many times people instead of just repenting they get religious They hide behind forms of godliness and they're they're singing in the choir and preaching even preachers You know, this is why the church is messed up a lot of churches are messed up Because the leadership is messed up and a lot of them are like the samaritan women Instead of repenting they just keep covering up with sin They deflect and cover up their sins with their gifts because god knows my heart Right. Yeah, so I'm a shout.
So I don't have to change Yeah, I'm crazy that he is like some sometimes we we start shouting and making a lot of noise Because we don't actually want to hear that we got to change so it's like hold on like And I'm all good with shouting. I'm not saying that shouting is wrong But sometimes we start pulling heavy on one side On the entertainment emotional side and we don't get any word out of it. Come on. Yeah, I want to I want to touch on one thing before we go Um and shout out to everybody in the comments.
Jordan McLeod says everything rising falls on leadership. That's uh, john Maxwell I appreciate everybody. I'm in j bail saw you in there as well Um in tranese I want to talk about one thing before we go respect for everybody's time This is one of those things. Um, we definitely have to do a part two of this because there's so so much we can we can say And I don't want to try to jam everything in and try to um, you know Talk about things quickly, but I do want at least y'all to speak on this because somebody brought it up earlier like in the pandemic There was this huge focus on race and racial tension in particular As pastors and we're all sitting here as black man Um, I've done a lot of podcasts.
Um, if people you know, I always advise people go on apple podcast and spotify Look at what I was talking about while it was happening more christian and black a couple weeks ago We did improving your blackness. It has been strongly on my heart throughout this time of racial divide So proactively speak about the unity of christ in the church and why the world is trying to divide us say no We are united by faith if this yo daddy jesus and i don't be calling god my daddy It's kind of a joke. I just want to say that but that's your daddy and that's my daddy then you my brother You must just it's like so Anything you all the say as kind of a last word on this divisiveness and how the enemy is using race Any encouragement to believers black white brown blue whatever color you are They're like yo, we not enemies the world is like trying to make us enemies. How you how you my enemy and you saved?
Yes, sir. Anybody want to touch on that at all? I'll jump in I'll just simply say, you know, I think that The bible tells us that in christ there's neither jew nor greek nor bond nor free You know no male no people in other words as you stated bro, we are unified and I think that a lot of this racial divide is simply a distraction From say to himself to to divide the church to divide the nation To divide home pastor gay pit on something a little earlier that was powerful as well And so satan has taken advantage of this ethnic pride and this is what has been the success of some of these cults Hebrews are like groups, you know, because it's about look how they've treated us Look how they did us so bad and yours kings and your gods and your and that's appealing to somebody who feels oppressed That's appealing to somebody who who doesn't understand his identity in christ and seeking personal gratification But we have to get back I think to recognize and who we are in christ All have seen And come short of the glory of god That's whether you're black white yellow green purple all of us need it christ and he is the unifying factor I love the end of the book in book of revelations It says that there was a number that no man could number of every tribe tongue nation and people and those people gathered around and say Worthy worthy is the lamb that was slant And he brings us together and so I don't know I'm never with the help of the lord even even some of the groups Even when it came to you know, we mentioned george boy thing and all of this and that was of course That was tragic and horrific and nobody come down's that racism is seen so all seeing should be condemned But at the end of the day we can't allow certain scenes to make us blind to the rest of the scenes So now we teaming up with groups that push all kind of ungodliness, but because they pro black We team up with them, but they pro black though, but they can they can support abortion they can support homosexuality They can support all this other stuff, but if they pro black they're our friends. No, we have to be pro bible Pro scripture when we are pro scripture then we can give god glory and that'll bring us all together because when we look in the mirror and I'll stop here I'm sorry, you know All of us are sinners that need god's grace All of us and so and when we allow christ to get back where he belongs in our lives and our culture and our society in our homes Then we can see each other for that and then we can be restored to where god wants us to be And i'm gonna say this the thing about it and I see mj bell had a Dope comment on youtube.
Yes one thing i've seen in a lot of predominantly predominantly black churches I can talk is that they always speak on you know us black and brown people and I think the reason that is important for us to talk about this is Hey, you know I am we are proud to be black you can be proud to be black you can just like you can be proud to be Hispanic white Anything else but here's the problem that I think with black people we miss Talking about all the we go so deep into the pro black stuff It actually pushes people away from christ because the message of christ does not resemble that the message of christ is a unifying message Where just like um white people misused it in slavery? It doesn't make the word of god wrong just because uh slave masters and people misused and abused the word of god But our solution should not be to go and create the opposite end of the spectrum It's like no if you do that You just in a parallel universe creating this world of black supremacy or whatever else and again That is not the message of the bible. That is not the message of jesus christ so Gabe or uh joraraj y'all got anything to say about that before we get out of here Yeah, um It's to the point where we worship our blackness as opposed to just Be in black and worshiping god and so we as pastors We you know we have to undo all of that Teaching and then bias this and so we we have a we have a difficult job But with god on our side, you know, we can we can I mean like sound please shaded But you know we can we can make it man and yes We that's the only thing that's going to because I find myself You know having to get up and and say that because so many people were were very much affected by the black lives matter and uh, you know, this this candidate and that candidate and if you if you're not if you're not a democrat and you you're crazy You can't you know, it's like you can't think for yourself and you know My thing is this man as as pastors we have We have to be bold and we have to declare what god's word says Yeah, so what society says It's a social media says the media all of those things and we we when you look at the that the prophets and the preachers Back in the days of old they didn't even care about their life You know, they had Folk burning them at the stake cutting the head off Because of something that they said and so in this day and time especially during this pandemic I'm praying that god would give us the boldness to declare his truth because people need the truth and the bible says to know the truth And the truth will make you free and so come on man, you know, I give I give a shout out to those pastors who are You know putting their neck out on the line. I If my pastor always taught me if everybody's patting you on the back all the time Some drama Yeah, just to piggyback on that passage awry.
I think too like I think the church Missed a huge opportunity I think the church missed a huge opportunity a lot of churches in a sense missed a huge opportunity During the racial tension is not saying that we can't still address them But I think one of the reasons why we see so much division or saw so much division and And all of us coming from a black church context Um, most of the people who left the church They left screaming the church don't have the answers or the church don't you know They don't have the answers to who you really are African religions we were people of African religion and we you know We pray to our ancestors or or do you know that you are the people of the church ain't telling you that? So it was like two extremes and it's like christ wasn't enough and one of the reasons why I see The division existed and still exists in some areas is because we don't really understand the gospel And you don't really understand the gospel if you don't understand love Because love is it's the foundation of our faith for God so loved The world that he gave his only begotten son, right? And so we we we we don't really understand love I want to read first Corinthians 4 through 7 real quick and it talks about love it says love is patient In kind love does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude It does not insist on its own way It is not irritable or resentful It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but it rejoices was true Love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things And Paul I believe in Philippians. I don't have the scripture right off He talks about love and how we ought to forbear one another See love love isn't just love when there's no conflict Love is love even in the midst of conflict Some of us who have been married for years, we know when we have disagreements and stuff Sometimes we don't feel like loving each other come on preach up, but love but love is not feeling To the good part, not with my work in it But seriously see see see we've allowed the world to define love for us love is love No love is not love.
God is love We've allowed the world to define love for us and what the world has done is they've made love an emotion Yes I didn't say emotions aren't involved in love But we've defined love by an emotion and so when we no longer feel love We just move on to the next thing. That's why divorce rate is up and I'm done with you Everybody nobody has staying power love is not an emotion. It's a choice That even when I don't feel like loving you. I'm gonna love you.
I'm gonna stay I'm gonna sacrifice of myself because it's not about me. Love it seems its brothers more than itself And and so we don't know how to forbear with each other and what I witnessed in a lot of the pandemic and racial tensions Um, it's people just cutting people off the moment. I don't agree with you. I'm done with you Yeah, we're gonna be worshiping and having together And that's that's a big deal because I'm telling you like And that's how the enemy has silenced people because it's almost like yo Well, I gotta be careful what I say to gay because if I say one wrong thing to him If he disagreed with me that his favorite kick cat is the white one and mine is the chocolate like He's done with me off of anything.
I want to it's one comment. I want to um Pastor Mike if you could speak on this um and this be the final word because I want to be respectful all your time Um, jordan mclouch. I'll join um, he's had some dope comments in here This one is how should we engage our communities with a gospel without watering down the gospel? Um Elder mike I specifically want you to speak on that because you did so much work during the pandemic engaging challenging communities It's talking about man.
I was you don't understand like It's a lot of us that look at you like bro. This is like and not the you know like we don't want to overdo it But but in all seriousness like it is so at my way you navigate these worlds. So as a final word I think that's a final a great way to end it a question of like all right with everything that's been said today Yeah, how do we engage our communities with the gospel to talk about things like mental health and ours? ethnic pride and all these challenges that are complex to navigate with the gospel without watering down the gospel What would you say is kind of a final word in jarada and gave if y'all have something to touch on after that And I will definitely let y'all do that and we'll get out here Yes, sir.
Um and to God be the glory man and I appreciate all the work all of you have done Man, I've been blessed by each of your ministries in tremendous ways but man, certainly I think and this was hit on I think pastor gave it this earlier that We got to know what the gospel is. That's part of the problem. We think the gospel is he loves you Just come it's all going to be fine That's not that gospel the gospel is that christ jesus died to save sinners And so and so you can't really understand the gospel to we identify the fact that we fall in short of it And that we've not pleased him and that we were far away from him through our own scene our own Iniquities our own shortcomings see we've been trained in some church circles to just lift them up Tell them how special they are but in actuality without him We're not special and we've proven that over the course of our lives when we've seen time after time after time Because if you don't preach against seeing properly there can be no true repentance That's right and when we're and when you repent truly that's acknowledging my sin I'm acknowledging my shortcoming knowledge that I've displeased God I've frustrated the grace of God I've displeased the Holy Spirit and when I acknowledge that I recognize that I then you can know you need a savior Because most folks don't even know they need a savior because they think they're doing good Especially you know, and this is how they think well, I'm good You know, I'll join the church because it's nice But no we all need a savior and when you recognize that you need a savior Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Then you can trust in the saving worth of work of Christ who put himself in our state and died on our behalf He was hung up for our hang ups. He died He bladed right for the sins that we committed and when we put our confidence in him That's not how the story ends but on the third day a passage route on the Friday He got up He got up with all power in his hand and now we can rise out of the situation We're no longer slaves to sin unto unrighteousness But we're slaves to Christ slaves to Christ to righteousness because he makes us righteous and our righteousness only comes through faith in him That's the gospel and right when sins are preached against and when we understand the saving worth of Christ We understand the true message of the gospel and people can truly be delivered And we can't be scared of it You know, we we have to you know, and and I believe we have to Preach the gospel and we have to be honest.
Yeah, we have to be honest. We can't you know because Preachers have done a great job Of you know, it's the pie in the sky and you know, you don't have any trouble all you need is faith in God And I got trouble I am in trouble And and our responsibility is to point them to God our responsibility is to preach the gospel with no compromise I was I just told somebody today. I know that what I said was hard and I know that what I said was tough But if I didn't love you, I wouldn't say nothing You know sometimes love love is it, you know, I'm just gonna just you know, caress your problem and give you sometimes love is tough Love is not an enabler. Yes.
Yes. I love you enough to tell you man. That's why what you do I don't want to see you go in the direction that you're going because the bible says that the wages of sin your baby for your sin is there The god is eternal life and if we just preach the gospel and know the gospel And and and also one last thing I want to say, you know, we have to keep sowing You know, we have to go in the seat of the word and it's not this girl I've never seen a seed just grow overnight You know, but you have to keep sowing the seed you got to keep watering seed you got to keep cultivating it And it's going to grow eventually. So amen gave you got to find a word for us, bro No, they just did a phenomenal job, man.
That's something amen. Well, I look I appreciate all y'all brothers man taking time Um out of y'all busy schedules to have this conversation We'll have to do this again sometime soon because I think there's definitely more for us to unpack, you know, to the listeners out there I'll make sure all of y'all information is in the in the description of the show if they're watching on youtube But if you're on there later and apple podcast when you um in a spotify for all yo, but this has been an amazing time I've gotten a lot out of this, you know, what I would say to the listeners out there man But you know as we um, you know wrap this up It's just like You know the gospel is the key Like that that's what we need. It's not the likes it's not the camera not the action And i'm telling you as a believer No matter what you're doing don't don't ever allow the flashy things to become the goal because I could tell you when i'm Transparent way with this podcast Working so many years for a fortune hunter um organization working in sales and marketing Like I know exactly what to do if I wanted this podcast to like go crazy Like I know how to do it But the problem is like it's the conversation is like these that I want to have like i'm trying to think how can I bring people things that can help Their lives like I was a class clown. I know how to make people laugh I know how to I can go do all the skits and the parodies with the best cameras and stuff But that stuff doesn't save souls and so at the end of the day god gives us a gift to bring interest to the body of christ Like I hate to break it to you like this whole memeing society like god didn't get you to give so you can go get a ferari The ferari might be the fruit of the labor it might be the thing that was added But that just kind of happened because you did something that god told you to do as a believer So this whole idea of chasing the things first We got to find a way to get out of that And it's not gonna lead to where you want to go So look appreciate y'all brothers man.
Thank you for listening Please like share subscribe check out these brothers churches channels and all the all the things that they're doing as well Tell somebody about this show because I think it can inspire somebody to their core. Thank you all and have an amazing amazing amazing Yeah