What's up, people? 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.
This is episode 215. God is building something new again. Oh, I got some sound coming through. Yo, what up, man?
Y'all feeling this? It's 2020, four people. You know what I'm saying? I ain't really, I ain't went live since forever.
So we here, we back with a new episode. It's late if you're watching this live. And you're gonna talk about God, talk about God building something new. I actually like revisited this sermon that I spoke and wrote it whatever a couple years ago back in February 2022.
So it was called God is building something new. That's why this episode is called God is building something new again, because I want to revisit that. You know what I'm saying? There's some ideas and some thoughts there that will comfort you in times of newness and transition, right?
And I'm gonna talk about New Year's resolutions and whether or not I rock with them. You know what I'm saying? Like, do I rock with them or not? If you listen to the show, you probably already know where I stand.
And I'm interested to know if you all rock with New Year's resolutions as well. And see how you doing on them? Because we a couple of years, I mean, a couple of days into the New Year. And hopefully y'all then gave up on your New Year's resolutions already.
And we gonna talk about how to get started. You know what I mean? So this episode today is, as always, for people who are looking to find their purpose, walk in their purpose, get closer to the Lord. In this crazy world, you feel what I'm saying?
It's a wild world out there. But I know that some people are focused on self development and really trying to better themselves, you know what I'm saying? And get some real results in the world in your life today because look, in the world we live in, it's all kind of get rich, quick sneeze and people promise you that could change overnight. I don't really rock or believe in all that.
I believe in a process and building brick by brick. And waking up every day, trying to see what the Lord wants me to do that day, what can I change, what can I do better? Overcoming victim mentality, laziness, all these things that sent us all in some way, shape, or form in this world today. So this episode today, 215, yeah, you gonna grow.
You know what I'm saying? You gonna grow, you gonna be inspired, you gonna be encouraged. And we gonna go to the Bible for some of these parts to like, you know what I'm saying? Like here what the Lord has to say about this because look, let's be real, this is not always an easy time of year for everybody as you look for think about the New Year and trying to get started.
And you know what I mean? Like everybody might look like they're killing it and you might feel like you left behind. So this is about pulling everybody together. So if you enjoy or think you gonna enjoy it, share, like, comment, let me know how you feel and do you Rockwood New Year's resolutions, all those good things and how you feel about, you know what I'm saying, 2024 so far, like it's a New Year fam and y'all know me, I really rock with New Day.
So let's jump right into this whole idea of whether or not do I Rockwood New Year's resolutions, you know what I'm saying? Tell me, do you Rockwood New Year's resolutions or not? And why, you feel me? All right, so first things first, I don't.
I'm not knocking New Year's resolutions though. So this is not like to bash anybody that got all their New Year's resolutions written down on the wall or whatever, you know what I'm saying? Like I ain't here to hate on that. I think that there's a way for us all to do things.
If you growing and you doing better and you self-development and getting close to the Lord, however it works for you, you do that. I don't really do New Year's resolutions, all right? And here's why. First and foremost, it's because I believe in a New Day mentality.
So I'm a person that's being on mindset, you know what I'm saying? Like if I allow my mind to think a certain way, then like it can just take me in a different direction. So New Year to me is like, I like to chop it up into smaller pieces, you know what I mean? And live like that way.
New Day, New Mercy's, that's what the Bible say, you know, every single day. So in my mind, if I have a New Day mentality, you know what I'm saying? Let's say I didn't get it right today. Let's say I, you know what I'm saying?
I slipped up on some of my goals. Then I can have the mentality that tomorrow, I get, okay, we get a fresh start. But also, I don't wanna wait. Let's say we in like April or May and I didn't fill off.
You know what I'm saying? I don't wanna wait till the next year to start having a New Year mentality and always be thinking of my goals in 12 month increments. So for me, this is not working like that. Like I have to be able to say like, yo, like day one, day two, month one, month two, quarter one.
Like I like to look at it in the totality. And then yeah, we can look at the year, but I have more of a new day mindset. You know what I'm saying? Tell me how you feel about that.
I don't know, y'all might be mad at that. What's up, Brittany? How you feeling? Good to see you, good to see you sister.
But that's just me. Again, I ain't hating on nobody. They got a New Year mentality. The second thing is the New Year feeling only lasts about two weeks.
Let's just be real. Like what are we, I don't know what it is January 6th or something like that or 7th? Maybe it's the 7th. I think it's the 7th.
So like at the end of the day, like in 7 more days, by next week, it ain't gonna feel like New Year no more. You feel me? Like the end of the year, I'm gonna be real. I don't know if y'all can relate to this enough.
For me, the last week of the year and the first week of the year, those are weirdest two weeks on earth to me. Like super weird. I don't, it feel like the end and the beginning at the same time. Like Christmas is over, New Year's coming, work is slow.
It's a weird time to me. Yeah, I might be on my own on that one, but it's a weird time. But my whole thing about New Year's resolutions, just rock with me, follow me on this. Let's say I got all these New Year's resolutions.
New Year's resolutions. You know how people like, they say Happy New Year or whatever, ain't you tired of hearing that already? It's your, it's day seven. Are you already kind of tired of hearing Happy New Year?
That's how I feel about if I have a lot of New Year's resolutions. I really feel like I can only brand it that way in my mind for about two weeks. Like it's no way in the world, I could be in March talking about New Year's resolutions. So my whole thing, and again, you might be like, he tripping.
I ain't even mad at you if you think I'm tripping, because maybe I get too deep in my mind on certain things. So my thing is like this, like I'm a mindset driven person. So it's like, nah, that ain't how I want my mind to be programmed. Because once that we're off, like then I might fall off.
So I'm thinking like, New Year resolution really, after two weeks, you about done with that whole brand. And your mind, like you can't even think like that no more. So you gonna have to find a way to rebrand it to keep going because let's be real, this stuff is tough. Like junk ain't easy fam.
Like junk is not easy. Like, I don't know, to me anyway, most popular times of the year, why not just live a good? See what I'm saying, Britt? That's how I feel.
Like I feel like, yo, let's have a new life. Like new day, new, new, new, new Grace, new mercy, every single day. That's my mentality just because it's like, bro, like, okay, I'm not really into trends either. So I kinda feel like, you know, a lot of people are super trendy, the gym is packed.
I don't like to be a part of that kind of stuff. So again, I'm not knocking nobody who really rocks with New Year's resolutions because if it's working for you, it's working fam. And I'm not here to change that. But for me, it's kind of like, ugh, that's trendy.
So here's the other thing I like to do, to be honest. I also like to get started. Like I start thinking about the new season of my life around October. I'm already thinking like, okay, how has this year gone?
What are the things that I need to change? Where do I need to grow? I start doing that to like, again, get ahead of like, I don't wanna be a part of the trend really because I think that's, that just wears off, right? So that's how I feel about that.
The other thing I would say, the last thing about New Year's resolutions for me to be honest is like, that's just too much change at one time. Like I'm gonna be real with you. Like trying to change like 10 things at the same time. Like my mind just can't even process it.
So I like to really focus on, you know, a couple of things at a time. I'm one of those people that kind of feel like, bro, like I can't change the whole world and do 500 things and like at once. I need to focus. Like what am I doing right now?
Oh, we working on this? This where we looking to grow and I like to do that thing before I just jump into something else. So again, that's a big thing for me as it relates to New Year's resolutions. It's like, I don't know, sometimes we're doing too much stuff on the list.
It's like you trying to change five things and be real. When's the last time you ever changed one thing? Cause change is tough. Like, you know, reprogramming your mind and trying to get yourself to think differently about something that's, that's pretty tough.
You know what I'm saying? So for me, again, you know, if you feel different, it's all love telling me if you love New Year's resolutions or if you have a different approach to the New Year and the new mindset and all those things. One thing is for sure, I do rock with New. I definitely have the mindset and my mindset that like change and growth is good, especially as it relates to our relationships with Christ.
And I like to evaluate and observe and be introspective about like my progress. Like where am I, where am I slacking? You know what I'm saying? Cause it's always somewhere that I need to grow.
Like, like I don't know, we live in this world. Everybody try to act perfect and stuff like that. Like, no, I don't believe it. It's always somewhere that we need to grow.
And the reality is I might have blind spots. You might have blind spots. So it might be somewhere that you need to grow that you don't even know yet, right? So we need to be mindful at those type of things.
The seasons of life is enough to focus on daily. I really, that's kind of how I feel. That's really how I rock with it. So we in the same mindset, Brittany, you know, like thinking about the seasons and day to day, life in general, where we at in our relationship with God.
But again, all enough to somebody who writes from New Year's resolutions. All right, look, here's the second thing. Let's jump into something else. I want to talk a little bit about just getting started anyway, right?
Cause again, we seven days into the year, some people might be getting off to a sluggish start. If you off to a good start, then you feeling it. Like you feeling good and you're going to have to try to act yourself, how do I keep this momentum to keep going? But if you a person that's struggling or like, just like, where do I start?
Like, if we being real, sometimes you feel like that. You're like, I want to change. Like, okay, I believe, like I want to change. But you don't know where to start.
And a lot of times it's because you may be overwhelmed with the idea of knowing that you have to change so many things. And again, that's why I like to kind of chop things down, do things in step by step processes one thing at a time. So like let's just say, if I got three things, I'm trying to change about myself. Like I want to stop doing this, stop doing this and start doing that, right?
When you think about change, a lot of times it's really, what do I want to stop doing it? and what do I want to start doing? As an example, somebody might want to stop smoking, right? Somebody might want to start working out.
Somebody might want to start praying every day. You get what I'm saying? Somebody might want to stop cussing. So when you think about change, it's really about what do I want to start and what do I want to stop?
But again, you can be overwhelmed. If you got three things you need to stop and two things you need to start, trying to do five things at one time is just not realistic. So my advice is start where you are. Now, there's this concept like that I always think about, you know, you've ever been in a mall or something.
And I remember I was in the mall of America, me and my wife, probably like, we probably went there like nine, 10 years ago, maybe. We've got went to the mall of America in Minnesota, whatever, at the time, it's like, all right, this mall is huge, whatever, I don't know how it is now. But it's a huge mall, right? At least it was or whatever.
So we have this mall and I was trying to look for lids, I think, I was looking for lids. And I'm like, how do I get there? And when you look at the directory in the mall, like it tells you, it shows you, it's usually like a star or something that says you are here. Now, what's my point with this?
A lot of times we try to figure out where we're going before we actually know where we are. And in order to get where you going, you have to know where you are. You give it up, so in order for me to get to lids, I had to understand where I was in the mall so that I can get guided there. And so the thing I want to tell you today is like, a lot of times we're trying to change things and we haven't even really self-assessed where we actually are.
You feel me? And so you are here. Like, you need to start where you are. When you thinking about where do I start, starting life?
Do I start reading the Bible, start praying? Do I stop cussing, stop drinking, whatever? You are here. So the first thing you need to do is you do need to understand.
Take a self-assessment of like, these are the five things I need to work on. And then look at those five things. Like if I was looking at the examples I just gave, I would start with prayer, because that's you talking directly to God, right? And I probably would go from prayer to reading his word, because that is God talking directly to you.
And then as you talk to God by praying, and then God talks to you through his word, then you will start being guided and understanding, oh, okay, I need to stop talking like this. His word is gonna guide you. And then you can take those steps one by one and allow yourself to go through the process. Again, I think one of the problems is that, we try to change ourselves in a snap overnight, and we actually want everybody in the world to just become extremely better overnight.
Like you're just gonna go a complete 180. And look, man, that's cool, but that's not reality. You feel me, Britt? Thank you, thank you.
Understand where you are to get where you going, man. You really, you really, really, really have to. So all right, that's that. You have to start where you are.
And in this life, there's always gonna be pressure. There's always gonna be people that you compare yourself to and all those type of things. And my advice, man, is like, look, if you got a chill on social media, or you might just have to kind of like be purposeful and intentional about social media. So maybe it ain't about you, like not being on here at all, but maybe it's like, all right, these are the five pages I wanna watch or listen to.
These are the three podcasts. I'm gonna tell you something like, everybody's an expert, right? So one thing that I've learned, and you might feel this and you might not. So I ain't telling you you gotta do it, but one thing that I learned from my life is like, let's say I'm reading a book on finances.
I'll realize like, okay, Robert Kiyosaki has a strategy on finances. Dave Ramsey has a strategy on finances. They're totally different strategies. Warren Buffett has a strategy on finances.
He focuses on stocks. I might read somebody else that focuses on real estate. So one of the things that happens to us is that we're getting so much information. Like we just got like sensory overload of information in the world today.
Sometimes you gotta cut that stuff off, bro. Like sometimes you legitimately have to chill on, like you can't watch every podcast. You can't consume all of the information because what's gonna happen is you start getting conflicting messages and you gotta make a decision on which route do I wanna go. That is where I say you are here, and you have to start where you are, but then you have to make a move.
One thing in this life that I think a lot of people want, a lot of people wanna just feel like, all right, somebody tell me what do I do? And sometimes it's like, no, my man believes is go left. He believes go right. They both have final success and one and one left, one and one right.
But you have to figure out what works for you. Where's God leading you? Because if you're Moses, you may be called to free your people. If you're Joshua, you may be called to lead your people into the promised land.
You see how God like calls different people for different purposes. And a lot of times what we're doing in social media is we looking and saying, okay, I see how God is using this person. That must be what God wants me to do. And it's like, oh, God might want just them to do that.
And he got something completely, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, anything, no. He got it all, he got something new for you. And that's what we gonna talk about today. We gonna talk about this idea of God is building something new again.
Cause I do want you to understand that as we are in this life and we go through the ups and downs and in betweens that God don't just bless you one time. And we gotta really understand that God might have took you, like, freed you delivered you from something six years ago. Like, okay, he can do it again. God can literally do it again.
We gonna go in his word and we gonna actually look at the idea of God building new things. But there are some things that you have to do as my point. You have to make a move. And you can't make a move sometimes when you're listening to too many people, too many people that believe too many different things.
And now you don't even know where to start. You're like, well, what do I do? My man over here said, Stock's is the most important thing. My man over here says that real estate is the most important thing.
This person says, get term life insurance. This person saying, get whole life insurance. And who do you believe? This is in life where you are going to have to make a move for you.
The beautiful thing about this life, I do want you all to understand, is God gives us free will to use our gifts and talents and make decisions. Like God isn't just forcing you, and you're not just a puppet and he's just forcing you to do everything. You have to make decisions and choices. And you might delay them.
You might try to, you know what I'm saying, resist them. And it's the word I'm looking for. Man, I can talk family. I can't talk people.
Dang, I can't even think of the word I'm looking for. But you know what I'm saying? Time to move on. Let me take a sip.
But my water fires. Man. All right, so now we're gonna jump into the word of God. We gonna talk about this idea of God building something new again.
Let me kind of, let me say this to you first. You know what I'm saying, family. All right, so I don't know if you all rock with HGTV or not, right? But I like HGTV.
I like real estate. That's where my love for HGTV comes from. You know what I'm saying? I've bought property, so whatever, whatever.
I'm not like a real estate mogul or nothing like that. But real estate is something that I've like dipped my toe in and continued to learn more and more about. So with that love of real estate comes a love for HGTV, right? Cause let's just be honest, they do it right.
They get it right with their shows a lot of times. So on HGTV, one of the shows I really like is Love It or Listed, right? And Love It or Listed is dope to me because it has two dynamics to it. It has, it's usually a husband and wife and usually one of them, one person wants to stay in the existing house, but they want to remodel it.
Okay, cool. Like you want not a new house, but you want new elements in the house. And then typically a person is just done with that. And they like, bro, I just want to go to a whole new crib.
And so you have, you know, one person, one agent that is working with contractors to remodel the existing and refurbish the existing house, flip it, whatever you want to call it. And then another agent that is taking the couple out to show them something new. Now I love this show because at the end of the show, they choose, do you want to love it, the existing crib? Or do you want to list it, sell it, and go and get something new?
All right? So we're going to dig into that. Let's see what a single man, what up fam? I know you proceeded with the topic, but one of the verses I live by my life by there are many plans and a man's heart, nevertheless, the Lord's Council that will stand Proverbs 19, 21.
Thank you for sharing. You can never go wrong, never grow wrong, either with the word of God. I love that. Many plans in our heart, nevertheless, the Lord's Council will stand.
I think that's super important because, you know, as we think about New Year and resolutions or goals or whatever, I also believe strongly, we need to see these things through the lens of God and the purpose he has for our lives. And that's why I think we have to monitor the content. Again, everybody, you grown. You do what you do.
I like to monitor and maybe filter what I'm watching, what I'm doing because it's too much, man. I'm sorry. It's just too much information out there. People share stuff every day.
I'm going to tell you what's crazy. And I'm going to get back to the point. I didn't forget where I was at with HGTV, by the way. So I've been on a social media kind of break for about going on two months now, right?
And people that I'm cool with, like my family, I tell people, they know I'm not on social media. I'm on here, like just with my podcast, but I'm not on social media. You feel what I'm saying? Like I deleted the apps off my phone or whatever.
I upload them to whatever, make a video, do whatever. And then I get off of there. Like just for now, I didn't put no time under nothing. I just need to chill on all that.
But what's crazy is I told like my brother, some of my friends, I'm like, bro, I'm not on there. You know what's crazy? People still share videos and memes and stuff with me every single day. Like I have an inbox full of stuff that I refuse to look at because I'm like, I told you all, I'm not on there.
Even if you see me on there, I'm not really on there. My point is this, for me in this season of my life, let me be transparent with you all. One of the things, because it's about sharing, right? We talk about, you know, this ain't a New Year's resolution.
I started this back in November, like just praying for clarity about the next steps in the next phase of my life, right? Like God has blessed me to grow in some areas and, you know, like whatever, reach some of my previous goals. And I'm like, all right, now that I'm here, I need to reassess. Like make sure that I'm doing what God called me to do.
I'm sure I got some blind spots, whatever. And during this time where I'm praying and seeking clarity, I can't really even jokes. Like I haven't been watching videos and jokes and stuff that people say every day. Because I'm like, they probably don't understand it.
They probably think, oh, this innocent, just a little joke. Because my friends and people share stuff that's cool. We ain't really getting too deep into no wild stuff. But at the same time, it's still a distraction for me.
So it's like, I'm praying for clarity. You can't be praying for clarity in the end, distract it. For me, it just can't work like that. I'm like, I'm asking God for clarity on some things.
So I need to be mindful of everything that I'm consuming and taking in. And that's just one of those things that I mean. When you talk about wanting the Lord's counsel, it's like I'm praying to God. I might have to hold off on everybody else, even if it's just a joke that my brother or my cousin or somebody thinks it's funny.
You feel what I'm saying? That's what I'm on right now. Blessings, what up? Thank you so much.
Dusty, Dusty. I think I can remember the day I was trying to figure out how to say your name, but good to see you. Single man, much love. Thanks.
All right, back to the point where HGTV. I did not lose my train of thought. So on this show, Love It or Listed, you have this concept going on where one person wants to remodel the existing thing and another person wants a new crib. Just give me the whole new house, right?
And I love this show because they always go through the new remodel home and they make a decision to do you want to love it or Listed, right? And I'm always intrigued. It's times that people choose to love it. And I'm like, I'm almost every single time I'm like, Listed, I'm going to tell you a couple reasons why.
Number one, when they remodel the house, they never remodel the whole house. So they might remodel the kitchen and it look crazy in the master bedroom. And so you got a new kitchen and a new master bedroom, but your basement is still ugly. You feel what I'm saying?
I'll be peeping stuff like, I'll peep like, oh, they ain't redo the basement fam. They ain't redo the living room. So those refurbished remodel cribs, again, I'm sure it's people out there remodeling homes at the best level. So take this example within the context of what I'm saying because one thing about social media, some of it's not, like, especially when I do shorts.
Oh my God, the comments I get in my YouTube shorts are like insane. I can't even read them all because people are just people. Ignorant, can I say that? Can I call y'all ignorant?
Hold on, let me stay. Why are you calling people ignorant, Jay? You about to stop listening. What's wrong with you, bro?
Take a sip of this water. I need a five second break before I say something crazy. Just say. Okay, I got you, I got you.
Tracy, what up? All right, so now we're talking about God is building something new again. You feel what I'm saying? You said you called crazy folks crazy.
Listen, bro, I get the calling people stuff, man. I got to watch myself on the internet because I get to talking crazy. All right, so this idea of remodeling versus some new, right? Here's the crazy thing to me.
Like when you remodel something, sometimes you kind of hold it on to stuff. So I'll be watching HGTV and I'm like, she kind of holding on to that crib. He kind of holding on to that crib and can't let go of some stuff. And I believe that in order for God, a lot of times to do the new thing in your life, you got to allow him to tear down the existing thing.
And so many of us, we want to remodel our existing self. Like it's like, you know what? I don't want to completely change God. Like I'm going to stop doing this, but I'm going to still do that because I kind of like that part.
And what happens is God is like, no, I'm trying to do everything new. And I see this so much with people with myself sometimes, with people in my family and my life, they can't let go. Like it's something better that God got for them, but they can't let go of that old crib. They keep trying to remodel it.
Instead of just listening to them moving on to something new, right? All right. So look, I'm going to read the word and then I'm going to read the word and I'm going to come back to something. Oh, yeah, Brittany, you two.
Oh my gosh, you two comments are like, they disrespectful. I'm going to just keep it all the way 100 with you two. Two comments is disrespectful. Half knew it don't even sound right.
I feel that. All right. So let's go to the word. I want to read Isaiah 43 real quick, like five verses and then I'm going to come back and make a couple of other points about this.
But I think it's important to actually look in the word. Now, I want you to understand what we're about to look at. Isaiah 43, I think Isaiah 43 and 44 are called the prophecies of comfort. So this is Isaiah really prophesying about how not just that this is, all right, it's not just like, okay, y'all going to exile, but this is now he's prophesying.
And he's saying that prophecies of comfort about how God is going to deliver you from something in the future, right? Talking to Israel. So again, when I look at stuff like this, I think it's important to understand exactly what's happening. You know what I'm saying?
So that we're not like taking a word and twisting it and trying to make it mean something weird. It's like, I like to look at exactly what's happening and then understand what God is saying to them and the principles of God. So we're going to look at what God is saying in the word and then we're going to try to look at the principles of God and see how it can apply to our lives. You feel what I'm saying?
So we're going to go to Isaiah 43 and we're going to look at this where God is talking about doing something new. And I'm telling you, this is going to be life-changing. This is going to be life-changing. This is going to be life-changing.
This stuff like this, I love it. It's like, I'm so much. I love the word of God. I can't see my screen.
Yeah, y'all see the screen. All right. So the Lord's promise of victory, this is Isaiah 43 verses 15 is really where I'm going to I started 14 in the new living translation. So let's see what it says.
This is what the Lord says. You're a redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. For your sakes, I will send an army against Babylon, force in the Babylonians to flee in those ships they are so proud of. Okay.
So he's talking about how he's going to free them once they are held captive, right? So it's kind of a prophecy of comfort because it's like, all right, I'm telling you how I'm going to deliver you from it. You might go through these ups and downs. This is going to happen, but you're going to be free to deliver, right?
So verse 15, this is really God just saying who he is. He's him. I know people like to say, I'm him. I don't know.
That's, I don't know, man. People just say stuff. Maybe if I was super right now, I would say that I doubt it. But people be saying, I'm him.
That's weird. I'm the Lord, your Holy One, Israel's creator and king. All right. That's just God telling you he got, right?
I'm the Lord, all right. Who opened a way through the waters, making a drive after the sea, right? So this is God now, telling the people of Israel through this prophecy, like, yo, like, I'm him. I'm the one that did this for Moses and like, I did this, right?
So I'm the Lord who opened the way through the waters, making a drive after the sea. 17, I call forth the mighty army of Egypt with all of its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves in a drown. Their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candle wick.
But forget all that. All right. Oh, God. Wow.
What are you feeling? God said, forget all that. It is nothing compared to what I'm going to do. All right.
Hold on. I got to stop sharing real quick. I got to stop sharing real quick. We got to take a quick moment to understand what just happened.
God is so dope to me. He reminded you of like all this dope stuff he did. Like, yeah, I did that. I'm him.
And then told you forget it. I think this is a tricky thing. Life is so interesting to me. It's so detailed and nuanced when you get beneath the surface.
Always say, nuanced. Somebody pointed that out. God is like, on my hand reminding you that he's him. Because that must mean he wants you to know, he wants you to like, yeah, be mindful.
I'm him. And then figuratively kind of telling you, but forget all that. Why would God want you to forget what he did? All right.
Let's go back to the word of God to understand why you want me to forget God. You don't want to tell me to remember. He said in 18, it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. All right.
19, here we go. For I'm about to do something new. See, I've already begun. Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. The animals in the field will thank me, the jackals and owls too, for giving them water in the desert.
That's wild. A river in the desert, fam? Yes, I will make rivers in the dry land. So my chosen people can be refreshed.
All right. Cool. Now let's dig into this a little bit. Let's dig into this a little bit.
In Isaiah 43, God has given his prophecy of comfort to the children of Israel. And here's a couple of things that we just learned. God is him. He reminded you like I'm him.
Then he telling you why he's him. Like these are all the things I did to be him. Then he tells you, forget all that. Like, yeah, I did some dope stuff, but forget that.
Because that stuff ain't going to compare to what I'm about to do because I'm about to do something new. Then God goes and tells them these things he's going to do new. And one of those things is he's going to put a river in the desert. Like see, I don't know.
It'd be certain, this certain lines in the Bible where God really be having bars. Like, and we skip over it. Rivers in the desert is wild. You feel what I'm saying?
But I love where he ended it. And it was because he said so that his people can be refreshed. So when I look at the characteristics of God and talking to the children of Israel and how can these principles relate to me today as I'm trying to ask God for clarity and we are in a new year and we saying we want everything new, new mindset, new faith, new this. Like, all right, now we look at this and what do I say?
First of all, in my own life, excuse me, I can look and say, all right, God, you did this. Let me take a sip of this water. You did this guy. You did that.
You did that. You are him in my life. Can you like, let's take a moment. Let's just take you feel me.
You feel me, you feel me, Brit? Like, let's just take 10 seconds real quick and really think about I really want you to think about your own life and like, tell me, is God him? Like is he him in your life? And I'm not just telling you to say it, just to say it.
I'm saying really think about it. Like has God done anything? I really want to know. Has God done anything in your life?
Like at any point in your life, has there been something that God did? No matter how small or how big that you was like, I know that was God. I feel like that doesn't happen for most of us. You can't give coincidence credit for Christ.
Like sometimes we give coincidence, like, oh, that's a coincidence. No, I'm telling God really be doing stuff. Trust and believe in him. Let go of the old so I can bless you with this new.
Yes, that's it. Shalandra. Thank you for watching. For sure.
I have nothing I have now without him. No one can convince me that God isn't real. That's right. So that's the first thing when I look at the scripture in Isaiah 43 and at 15 through 20 and I look at my own life, I'm like, is God him?
Yes, he's him. I have so many examples. I'm not even going to start talking. I got so many examples of God literally showing himself in my life, blessing me, opening doors, God's favor.
Have you ever experienced the favor of God? The favor of God is wild because a lot of times this is when God causes someone else to bless you or open the door or create an opportunity. And sometimes I'm like, I don't even know if they really even realize what's happening. You get what I'm saying?
Like God is God is God is man. I love it. I had an appointment that was scheduled three months from now. He opened the door and I got it two days later.
I love that Cornelius. What's up, bro? Scheduled three months from now. You got it two days later.
That's what I'm saying. So God is him. So we can all, at least a few of us have openly publicly said it. God is him in our life.
All right. So imagine if God tells you, let me say this before I say this. No, I'm going to say it then I'm going to explain it. Imagine if God tells you, yes, I'm him.
I did all those things in your life, but forget all that because I'm about to do something new. And what I'm about to do now, the old stuff won't even compare to it. I'm about to put a river in a desert. Now, like, wow, I'm about to put a river.
Like you got to understand, I'm about to bless you somewhere that's desolate, that don't even seem like it should belong there. A river in a desert is wild. Like a river in a desert. God, like, I don't know, it's scriptures like that.
Like I can't just, even for sake of social media, I can't just go past, like, I'm sorry, I can't just go past that because I got to think about my life. You got to say, like, look at your own life. Come on, we are, I'm saying, take off the mask for social media. I know you Q, I know you fly, bro.
Like, I know, ladies, I know, okay, you got your hair done. I don't know what you doing. You're all off-fly, you're all off-killing it, right? Let's take off these masks right quick.
We all got some dry places in our life. We all got some deserts in our life, whether it's in our mind, whether it's our doubt in our faith, whether it's, you know, slipping in our walk, whether it's trouble in our marriage, troubles beefing our family, lost loved ones. We all got some deserts in some dry places, man. Like, for me, it's like, I'm gonna be real, I'm trying, like, I really be on social media looking for the real people.
Can I be real with y'all? Like, I really be on here looking like, what are real people that? Like, I don't really want to talk to avatars, like, because all of the avatars, Q, all of the avatars, the background of pitch, like, I be really looking for the real people. I know y'all out here.
I know y'all out here. I know y'all are real. And I appreciate y'all for rocking with the show because y'all encouraged me. You know what I'm saying?
Coincidence can't take credit for me. You feel me, Brit? And so my whole thing is like, we all got some dry places in our life. If we stop all this fronting, like, I don't know, I ain't really, I don't know, man.
Social media be having people. It's like, everybody's so fake. Everybody's trying to front. And I ain't saying y'all fake.
I'm just saying, generally, right? And so it's like, we can't even be real about the fact, like, bro, I got some desolate places, like, I hit up my boy LaVille a couple weeks ago with something in the Bible. I was struggling with it, but not a couple weeks, couple days ago. And we were kicking it and it was just like, we got off the phone.
I was like, I appreciate, I appreciate a friendship where I could hit somebody up on something real that I'm struggling with and like, we could talk through it. And I'm just telling us, like, I'm just saying, like, we got some dry places in our life and God can bless you in those dry places. He can throw a whole river in a dry place. But you have to accept him.
You got to hear his word. Now, this is a part that a lot of times when we hear certain messages like this, what we do is people are selling them to us as like some fake, get, get faith, quick scheme, God can do it. Like, I ain't selling you no, no, no, fake stuff. Like, what I'm saying is like, there is a work, like faith without works is dead.
Just like I said earlier, you got to make a move. Accepting Christ is a move. Accepting your calling is a move. Accepting your purpose is a move.
Walking in your purpose is a move. Changing the behavior is a move. Looking in the mirror and saying, I need to stop doing this. Repensing, it's a move.
Like, and what I'm saying is that if we do these things that God is calling us to doing his word, he can put a river in a desert. Like God can't build something new. Again. All right, let me see what y'all saying over here.
Jen, what up? Speak to the dropout. You feel what I'm saying? What up?
Jen coming in here dropping bars. All right, so now I want to talk a little more in depth. I just want to talk like practically about some of what we talked about a little bit today. I got one more example.
I am an example man for the people who listen to the show. I literally have examples for days. I can pull examples out of my back pocket. I don't know why I can do that, but I can't.
All right, so let's see. What? Wow, 10, 11 years ago now, right? 2013.
Wow. 11 years, I guess. Man, we were building our first house, right? And so, and I've told this story on the show before, before we were in video.
So if you've been on the audio show, you heard this story. But we were building our first career, and at the time for us, I'm like, I know y'all probably all build houses every other day now. But like for me, that was a big deal. Like coming from where I come from, building our credit, saving money, doing everything, me and my wife.
Like, so we were building our new house. So we moved in this new house and whatever it may be. And I remember finding out what it used to be. Whoo!
Let's be real, sometimes when we get new stuff, we don't really ask what it used to be. So like, you know, cause I'm like, all right, they building 200 houses on this land. What did this used to be? And I found out that it used to be a school.
And I was like, okay, I started thinking through it. I'm like, this is interesting. This whole property where they came and built 200 houses, it used to be a school. And I think about this.
I know it might have been a good school. I'm sure the teachers were blessed. Like, God bless you. I hope that, you know, like, I hope they got better jobs, a new job, new opportunity, got put in a better school, whatever it may be.
Like, I'm sure that the janitor was good. Maybe the basketball team was good. The cheerleaders, they were the best, whatever it may be, right? It could have been a good school, but it had to get told down so I can get a new house.
All right, I know that don't sound fair yet, but I'm gonna make it make sense. Sometimes we can hold onto one thing so long because it's good that we can't get to God. You have to let go of good to get to God. And some of us are looking at a good thing that's good in our natural eyes as a human being in a natural realm.
We look like this is too good to let go. But God is saying, if you let that go, I'm gonna build something new in this place. All right, now take this, don't be taking this and trying to apply it. I go get a divorce or something.
I ain't talking about that. I'm about to let my wife and kid know I ain't telling you to do that fam. Don't put that on me. Yes, let go of good to get the God, God and make room to receive more.
All right, y'all are feeling me. But it's something else too, which I got to sit in my water before I say this. This is so amazing to me. Other part is when the school was there, man, it was just one address, which means I'm sure they had one water bill.
That means the mailman had one address to deliver the mail to. It was just the school. When they tore the school down, they built 200 and something houses right there. That mean that it was 200 addresses now.
So not a mailman had more work. Maybe they put a new mailman there to help with all the new work. It was the gas company got 200 more residents with 200 gas bills. The internet companies had 200 new internet customers.
The lawn companies, I'm sure the home improvement stores was selling stuff. What's crazy is when God builds something new, he don't just put the same thing back there. Like, God will put something when you get new from God. I'm talking about from God, like in his will and his purpose.
I ain't talking about like, oh, you won't God to bless you with something that you ain't supposed to have. I'm talking about when you get new from God. It comes with other new stuff. Like, oh, we got new addresses, new phone numbers, new, like it's like new.
Don't just come with a replacement. It comes with a bunch of new stuff. This is wild. So when I think about God and what he did for the people of Israel, the last scripture in the near and verse 20, it says why he did it.
Abundance. I love that. God said he did it to refresh his people. Now, why would you need to be refreshed?
Because you got dry places in your life. And so the first thing I want to tell you, man, it's okay if you have dry spots in your life and you're not always feeling your best or doing your best and you human, right? But it's not okay to stay there. So I get it.
I feel you. We're not here to judge you. We all have our ups and downs. I'm human just like you.
Please don't put me on the pedestal. Please don't think because I'm on your screen on the internet that I am like floating away when I leave here like, oh, I'm floored. I'll float too. No, bro.
I'm human. I ain't never trying to tell nobody otherwise, like I'm a human being. And so God wants to refresh us. God wants to give us what we need to be made new.
But in order to receive what God has for us, we have to let him tear down the old thing. Now tearing something down feels bad a lot of times, but that's just because you don't know what's coming new. You feel what I'm saying? And then here's the best part.
When God reveals, He makes Himself the cornerstone. Now you're built on a more solid foundation. See, a lot of times we're holding on to something just like those houses on HDTV. People be holding on to houses that got bad foundations, the roof, bad, like it's just like all kinds of stuff.