Death to Life podcast
A podcast that tells the stories of people that used to be one way, and now are completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Jesus.
Death to Life podcast
#191 Dustin Barker: Discovering Freedom in Christ's Image
Could understanding your true identity in Christ be the key to breaking free from the struggles that bind you? Join us as we welcome Dustin to the Death to Life podcast, who shares his transformative journey of faith, starting from a small-town upbringing with strong Christian roots. Through Dustin's powerful story, we challenge the idea of being merely a "sinner saved by grace" and explore how recognizing our identity in Christ can lead to true liberation and transformation. We discuss Dustin’s early spiritual moments, his father’s resistance and eventual acceptance of faith, and how these experiences shaped their paths toward deeper spiritual enlightenment.
As we navigate through the complexities of addiction, Dustin's personal battles with pornography and alcohol reveal the profound role of faith in overcoming these challenges. Through candid conversations, we examine the societal impacts of addiction and how technology today exacerbates exposure, while also highlighting the fulfillment that comes from meaningful relationships and a stronger spiritual connection. Dustin’s story acts as a testament to the power of divine intervention and the significance of faith in leading a more enriching and purposeful life.
Listeners are invited to explore the liberating transformation that comes with understanding one's identity in Christ. By embracing the belief that we are created in God's image, we discuss how this realization can impact daily life and help break free from limiting mindsets. Through biblical teachings and personal anecdotes, there's a focus on the power of words and speaking life into one's circumstances. We conclude by announcing an exciting opportunity to deepen one's faith through a new Bible study group exploring the book of Ephesians, offering a chance to connect and grow spiritually with others on the same journey.
Chapters:
0:00 - Journey of Transformation Through the Gospel
12:40 - Freedom From Addiction Through Faith
22:56 - Power of Words in Transformation
29:21 - Understanding Identity in Christ
39:37 - Discovering Identity in Christ
46:37 - The Transformational Power of Faith
56:12 - Transformation Through Faith Stories
1:03:36 - Made New Bible Study Announcement
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The world doesn't think that the gospel can change your life, but we know that it can and that's why we want you to hear these stories, stories of transformation, stories of freedom, people getting free from sin and healed from sin because of Jesus. This is Death to Life, yo. Welcome to the Death of Life podcast. My name is Richard Young and today's episode is with a new friend of mine. His name is Dustin and Dustin's story is a common tale, but true. But then the life, the life, the understanding of his identity, that thing, that freedom. You're going to love it. It's a beautiful story and Dustin is an awesome guy who explains the gospel so beautifully. So this is Dustin.
Speaker 1:This is not for kids, just be aware where you're listening. But this is Dustin. Buckle up, strap in, love y'all, love y'all, appreciate y'all. All right, dustin? Uh, I came across your stuff, I don't know on. No, somebody sent me one of your videos and I was like huh, anytime I see a video and I forget if it was you're not a sinner or something on. Anytime I get one of those. I kind of look into it and I don't even know. Maybe I reached out, or. But here we are on the death of life podcast. And how I want to start is where do you start your story, your spiritual life story? Where? Where? Where would you start that thing? If you're saying my spiritual life or how I believed about God starts, where would you start that thing?
Speaker 2:if you're saying my spiritual life or how I believed about god starts. Where would you start it? Yeah, no, I appreciate you, uh, inviting me on here. We had a good conversation yesterday. My guest is. We got connected through uh.
Speaker 2:One of the videos I did was a sinner saved by grace isn't in the bible and just really trying to poke people at the mindset because most Christians what's their view of themselves? I'm a sinner saved by grace, so I try to poke at people. Sometimes you need to poke and provoke people to think, and Jesus did that. Jesus poked people. He prodded the one time everyone walked away and he looked at his disciples and he said are you going to go too? So sometimes we need to poke people to go do their own research and it's not always comfortable on this side because you get attacked. But sometimes people need to be poked.
Speaker 2:So my spiritual journey, as you asked, I pretty much grew up in a I say normal, but it's only normal because it was mine, I guess. I grew up in a small town of 500 people. My grandparents lived right down the street. My uncle lived on the other side of town. My other grandparents lived right outside of town. I mean, I grew up in an area where people don't move you pretty much. You grow up in the town and then you move down the block or move outside of town and your kids, kids and your grandkids go to the same schools. It's just kind of the area I'm from. But I grew up in a really good family. My parents have been married 38 years. I have one sister. She's 38. All four of my grandparents are still alive, which is amazing. God's been really good to us, but really good family.
Speaker 2:My dad worked really hard. My mom worked hard. My mom was a Christian as long as she could remember, so she knew God from maybe an early age. My dad not so much. In fact, I like to share this story about kind of identifies where he was at, and it's wild to think when he was my age he was 35 years old. Where he was at, and it's wild to think when he was my age he was 35 years old. When he was my age, someone died and you're probably familiar with this. Do you prefer Richard or Rich? I see Rich on the bottom. Rich is cool, rich is cool. So my dad, at 35 years old someone died and you probably know this. People are more likely to talk about God, when bad things happen than good things.
Speaker 1:This People are more likely to talk about God when bad things happen than good things.
Speaker 2:Right, you know what I'm saying. Like the world, something bad happens, is now we want to talk about God, but if they get a raise at work, it's like, oh, whatever, I did this on my own, but someone close to my dad had died and they were talking about God and my dad got up and walked out of the room. He wanted nothing to do with God. Shortly after that, he did give his life to Jesus. He got born again, and so that leads you leads you up to my spirit, where my spiritual journey started. I was 10 years old and I still remember my dad kneeling at my bedside, leading me to Christ, basically saying that We've all sinned, we need a savior and without Jesus we're lost. So my dad led me to Christ at basically 10 years old. So that's where my journey started.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a beautiful story. And so who was God Like at 10, 11, 12, growing up, going through high school? Was he out to condemn you, or was he just like in the sky? Like who was he?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's a really good question. I think at 10 years old I don't think I knew anything. Anything and I used to struggle with can children really make? Can children really give their lives to Jesus? As a Christian, our belief system is the only way to God is Jesus dying on the cross. For us, every other religion says do enough, be enough, give enough and maybe you'll get in. Christianity is the only I don't like calling it a religion, is the only religion where it was done for us and we just have to receive it. But for me I used to struggle with can kids really grasp this? Can kids really become saved? Can they really give their lives to Jesus?
Speaker 2:But now I look back at my story. I didn't have a clue. I didn't know what I was doing. I couldn't have told you anything. I knew I was saved, without a doubt, because through my teens I always knew I was a Christian. But, to answer your question, god really was. How do I word this? God was not nothing, but God was not a part of my life. I gave my life to Jesus at 10. If I died at any point, I knew I was going to heaven, because we get in one way by calling upon the name of Jesus. It's not based on our works, not based on how much we pray, how much we do anything. I hated going to church. So my teens was basketball and girls Like I was a college basketball player. I didn't care about it. So God to me was back of my mind. I'm going to heaven. Now let me do my life. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:Hmm, yeah, that makes that makes perfect sense. So when? When would God come into view? Like, was your morality based on God? Or or like, if you messed up, did you consider his thoughts towards you? Or like, how did you reconcile all that stuff? Because if you're into girls and basketball and all this stuff, I mean just like anybody I'm sure life went sideways at some point. How did you reconcile that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I appreciate that. It's a really good question. So for me my foundation was thankfully, I had a really really good family. All four of my grandparents have been married 50 years. My great grandma was a godly woman. I grew up with her. She died when I was 18. I knew in college I was again college basketball player. I wanted to get diamond earrings. That was like a thing when I was 20, like white guys walking around with diamond earrings. You know basketball player.
Speaker 2:I could never get my ears pierced and I don't want a tattoo. Now, I'm not against tattoos. My wife got some, had some tattoos before we got married. I personally will never get one. I don't feel like God wants me to. But to answer your question, I could not pierce my ears and I could not get tattoos because I knew what it would do to my mom. So for me I had such a good family, even though things weren't perfect. I think I had more fear of my mom and dad than a fear of God. That's not bad. I think I had enough, because God works through our conscience. Right, the Bible is clear that God gives us a conscience.
Speaker 2:I was raised in a family where I understood enough that, for example, in high school we were ranked in the state. My junior year we were very good and some of my friends and my teammates were seniors and they were out drinking and this was just kind of how naive I was. I was a popular kid, but here's how naive, how much. I kind of grew up in just kind of not a sheltered home but again a kind of a Christian home. My friends were out drinking and the local school, who was very competitive with us people would tell on each other to try and get the other teams busted. I went to our coach and I told him our guys were out drinking not to get them in trouble but trying to help them. And that was just kind of so.
Speaker 2:I didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't encounter that stuff until college and if we get to that grade, but again I was just kind of a good kid. I didn't really cuss. Obviously I wasn't perfect, like again, god wasn't a priority, but I had enough understanding from my family that I didn't drink, didn't cuss, didn't smoke. No, I didn't make mistakes with girls. I was not perfect there, but I think my morality didn't necessarily. I mean, again, I kind of knew God was watching but I don't think I cared so much more than my family. What would happen if they caught me? You know like I got, I was addicted to pornography. My parents caught me many times.
Speaker 1:I never thought God's watching me. I thought, man, my parents are going to kill me, you know, yeah. So when you went to your coach and you're like the guys on the team are drinking, was he like shut up, man, I don't want to know anything about that. Like, don't tell me about that. We have a good team. We're going to go to state this year.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't really fully remember. What I do remember is I told him and he didn't slam me, I think he just listened, I think he knew what kind of kid I was. But he told what ended up having a tough season in my life. Actually, he ended up because his nephew was one of the seniors and word got back to them that I had told again, I didn't tell to get them in trouble. These were my friends, these were my teammates, and I lost all my friends. They made fun of me. It was a really tough year because I went from trying to help them and protect them to there's this one story. I still remember this.
Speaker 2:I called my friends at the time it was a Friday night, this was my low point point in high school Called my friends, I said, hey, is anybody doing anything tonight? And they said no, no one's not doing anything. And they thought they hung up and then I heard them all laughing and that was really tough for me. So I lost all my friends for a season, but it was so again. I just I answered that simply because my morality didn't come so much from God, even though there were foundations from my parents. It came just came through and that's why parenting. So parenting is so important. It's crucial Parenting is so important.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, um, you said you had developed. Maybe we have a lot of stuff in common. Uh, basketball, high school, college, just like so many of us, had a porn problem. I think I'm a little older than you, I know I'm a little older than you, so the Internet wasn't as as good for me. So then when I got to college, that's when pornography became more of an issue. So then when I got to college, that's when pornography became more of an issue. Praise God, because if I would have had like a smart device or whatever when I was like I feel really bad for these kids now, like it's just harder, it's just going to be worse, Could I jump in there real quick.
Speaker 2:So I was in a similar like I wasn't far from you, Like when I was younger Internet was just becoming a thing. I remember in my similar like I wasn't far from you when I was younger, internet was just becoming a thing. I remember in my teens the dial-up. I never had a smartphone so, yeah, it is much more challenging. I remember for me, my parents going to bed and turning on HBO, which was blocked on the channels if you clicked through but you knew the number. Things like LimeWire being able to download music Back then again, I had so many issues with that but I'm thankful I did not have the access that kids do now. But in college I was so addicted I couldn't go a day without watching pornography. I couldn't go a day. I was addicted, addicted.
Speaker 2:And God set me free and I have not looked at pornography in 14 or 15 years, Mercy. I don't drink alcohol, period, but I have kombucha every once in a while it's got some alcohol, so I can't say I've never had alcohol, but I basically had no hard alcohol for 14 to 15 years. God completely set me free. You know I said I grew up in that. You know I said I grew up in that great Christian home. Well, when I went to college, I got into a dorm with a guy who the other every other word was the F word, so naturally I started to cuss. Um, my girlfriend broke up with me. I got so drunk in college. But just to forget it, I started going to parties. I didn't like drinking, I just wanted to be around people. I really preferred beer pong, Like that was my thing. I would have played beer pong with water. I didn't just want, I was competitive, Like I didn't care about the drinking, I cared more about the social and the competing. Um, so, yeah, I addicted, completely addicted to pornography. We'll probably get to it, but God started becoming real to me and he completely set me free. We know pornography, we know the studies. Pornography ruins people's lives. It's not just like an escape, it actually ruins lives. It ruins marriages. It ruins, it ruins people. In fact, this is wild. I don't, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:The serial killer, he. He basically points back to, he points back to soft core. Not that you may have to I don't have to blurt the p word out I, a lot of people do but he looks back at soft core corn as what started causing all his issues. So it's just it. It's terrible. Do you think that's legit? I do. I think that that is a doorway.
Speaker 2:The Bible says in Ephesians 4.27, to give the devil no opportunity. Here's what I've learned. The devil comes for three reasons. He comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. I think a lot of times when people think of sin they just think of it like well, God's just trying to keep something from me and I want to party, I want to hang out, and it's just innocent. They don't realize Satan is not out just to get you to sin, Like, look, I got you to sin, you giddy two-shoes. He's out to destroy your life. So when he brings you sin, he's not thinking necessarily about the sin like you doing the bad thing. He's thinking about how it gives him access to destroy your life. So I do believe that things like that give door to other spirits. And is that the only reason? No, but he literally said he grew up in a quote-unquote christian home, started getting access to porn. Who knows what kind of things that welcome. Do you start getting more fantasies?
Speaker 1:um, you know I'm not there to I agree that it certainly. I mean obviously it's evil and it's not good. You look at Ted Bundy, who ended up blaming porn right before he got elected.
Speaker 2:Sorry, it was Ted Bundy.
Speaker 1:But I think Jeffrey Dahmer had mentioned it as well and where, in 2024, I think there's probably 15 or 16 year olds that have seen more pornography than Ted Bundy did, or that, jeffrey Dahmer? And just because of the technology, it's a combination of, I mean, sin that enslaves you, and if you have some stuff from your family or I mean, we don't have to go super deep into that. What I want to say is, if someone who's struggling with pornography I don't think there's a million reasons to stop If you're afraid, like I'm going to become a serial killer, listen, god has already done that thing and he can free you from that thing. Um, because he's already done it. So talk to me about that. Where you you say he set you free. All this stuff is going on.
Speaker 2:Tell me that story so, um, let me backtrack I so I'm in brand new house. God got us this house. I have a wife that I was believing for. I wanted to get married when I was 18. I waited 10 years. I still remember going to a. I'm going somewhere with this, I promise.
Speaker 2:I remember going to a friend's giving. I was about 24 years old. I went to a friend's giving. It was all my old high school friends and I did make up with all those people by the way, you don't feel bad for me, I mean, I'm not friends with them really anymore because now it was weird, people didn't like me in high school because of that and then we all reconciled. I was very popular in my late teens and early 20s but then, when I really started pursuing God, I lost all those relationships. But I have better ones now, so it's worth it.
Speaker 2:Jesus said anything you give up for my sake and the gospel, I'll reward you a hundredfold. Everything you give up for him, he'll give you much more. But I wanted to be married when I was 18. Went to this Friendsgiving. I was the only single person there. Everyone was either married with kids or had someone dating, and I struggled with singleness in my life. I struggled, being single and being happy. So where I'm going with that is long story short. I got married to my wife. We met on Instagram. She loves Jesus. We met and married in less than six months. It's a wild story, but where I'm going with that is we moved into this brand new house that God gave us and a few months ago I was reflecting on my life just looking back, going. God, you have been so good to me. Every piece of my life has aligned. You're like everywhere. How could I ever doubt you? Like everything has flowed together. You've been so faithful. So I say that to go back, because you asked about the start of that journey.
Speaker 2:When I went to college, I was dating a girl for about three years at that time two and a half years and I was not like a like some guys are just trying to hook up and you know, whatever I was, uh now I made mistakes. Uh, I did things with women I never should have done. I wish I didn't do, but I was at least a faithful guy to the relationship, like I had to. At least. Again, it's perverted. It's not understanding marriage in the context of what real love is, but at that point. The only time I got intimate or I would be with a person was if I was actually dating them and I was serious, I was not just out hooking up. So I at least understood that part, that you don't You're faithful to one person. You date a person. I'd watched faithfulness in my grandparents and parents.
Speaker 2:But I dated a girl for three years in high school and I at least I thought I did. I thought I loved her. I didn't know love back then. But she broke up with me my first day of college and it shattered me and I went and I got absolutely obliterated, so trashed Like again I didn't really drink, but I got trashed.
Speaker 2:I called my mom. This was my relationship with my family. My mom was so disappointed but I called my mom and said Mom, I'm drunk. I can only imagine she got off that phone. She started praying but it did a number on me and it was the first time I ever opened my Bible. When she broke up with me, it made me go open my Bible. I had a teen Bible at the time and I still remember crying tears over my desk onto my Bible, first time I ever opened it in my life. That I remember.
Speaker 2:So what that did, god didn't do that. God didn't break my heart. A girl did, and I never should have been in that relationship in the first place. But God used it because he uses all things for good. He doesn't cause all things, but he uses anything we'll give him. He used that breakup to draw me at least to a place where I started to. I looked his way. Do you know what I'm saying? It was the first time I can remember actually looking to God. I didn't. I didn't ask him to go to where, to go to college. I didn't ask him to give me scholarships. I did not understand prayer one bit, but that breakup drove me. I'm going to tell everyone listening bad things in your life will do one of two things. There's only two responses they will push you away from God or push you to God. Those are the only two responses. If you go through a breakup, you're either going to get angry that God went through it and you're going to walk away, but then you're in a bad position because you have no help, or it's going to draw you to him. Thankfully, my testimony is every time I faced a challenge, it draw me closer to God. So, went through that breakup, god started to come real. I met another girl who was a Christian. I'll fast track and then come back.
Speaker 2:I went through four or five breakups before I was 25 that were very hard for me. And guess what? Every one of them I look back. God drew me a little bit closer, a little bit closer, a little bit closer. And then, thankfully, I was single for about three or four years. I got really healthy. God dealt with some things in me that I need to deal with. Before I got married, met my wife and now I have a woman who loves Jesus more than she loves me. That means I trust her and money can't buy trust and I'm thankful for it.
Speaker 2:But the story of pornography was I was addicted to it. Freshman year that's when that first breakup happened. Addicted sophomore year Kept going through that Junior year. That's where I went through the next big breakup and that's where God drew me closer again. And I read a book it's actually right over here Changed my life. It's called what you Say Is what you Get, and I was 21 years old and that, I would say, is where my journey with God really began. At 21, I was called into ministry. At 21, I took my last drink of liquor At 21,.
Speaker 2:I quit watching pornography. I started actually praying. I started actually listening to sermons. I decided I want to be free from pornography is where we kind of went with that and I remember desiring to be free. It was the first time I desired to be free.
Speaker 2:I was 21 years old. I had a desire to be free, and for anyone trying to get free some people, it happens like that it's just boom it like bitter to their taste, like I want nothing to do with that. For me it was a journey. Uh, I don't know your story, rich, but I remember I would watch porn and then I'd go two weeks and I'd watch porn and I'd go three weeks and I'd watch porn and I went through this like I could go, and then I and I still remember I'll tell you this story and then I'll pause so you can jump in.
Speaker 2:I would go like four months and not look and then I'd watch it and I remember where before God was not even in my mind. I didn't care, I didn't think about God. God was growing me. I would watch porn after three or four months and I remember after doing it I felt so dirty I would put the blanket over my head and I'd say God, don't even look at me. And I would go downstairs and I'd look in the mirror I remember and I would chew myself out. I'd say you know better. So that was my journey. I had a desire to be free. So that's where it starts you have to desire to be free. You're not going to get free if you don't have a desire. And then from there you just walk out and yeah, I'll pause and let you jump in there, because I just I downloaded a lot to you.
Speaker 1:So what were the main ideas from this book?
Speaker 2:What you see is what you get that jumpstarted this in you, so it's, it's, it's called. What you say is what you get.
Speaker 1:Or what you say is what you get, my bad.
Speaker 2:What it showed me was. It showed me, number one, how much God really loved me, how much God really wanted to be involved in my life and that I wasn't a victim. Most people kind of have this view that que sera sera, whatever happens, you know we're on this boat of life and just whatever. And when you realize that Jesus really died and really gave us authority and we really can resist the devil and we really can win in life with Jesus, where he calls us to be victorious, the big thing that triggered for me is when I realized that the power of life and death is in the tongue. That was the trigger. When I realized that God truly created the earth with his words, made us in his image and he said if you'll speak to the mountain and we're supposed to model Jesus. He spoke to blind eyes. He spoke to ears. He spoke to Lazarus. He spoke to the tree. He said speak to the mulberry tree.
Speaker 2:That understanding that I could imitate my father and bring his will into my life if I would just say what he says changed my life. That was the whole premise of the book. It taught me about righteousness. It taught me about healing, how Jesus took stripes on his back so I could be healed, that God wants to bless me financially, not so I can love money, but so I can serve God with my money. All those things. It just changed my life and that's actually why I wrote this. I wrote Change your Words, change your Life because I learned so much in that book and it's from 1970, so it reads a little older. I was like man. I got to share this with other people, so I wrote this book simply out of what I learned from this book and changed me so much, much.
Speaker 1:I think that to be impeccable with your word for what you say over yourself, what you say over people, if it has no sin in it, you're just speaking life how powerful that can be. So at 21, there's this moment you start seeing all of this stuff. When did these ideas that you've been sharing on YouTube? They get people so mad at you? Because you know, the main idea is that God has brought us, through Jesus, from death to life, or from sinner to saint to life, or from sinner to saint, and we kind of just think, oh, he's forgiven me of all this, but I'm still a like you were saying at the beginning, a sinner saved by grace. We're still identifying, we're still speaking that over. When did you start questioning that or get that idea like perhaps this is, in a way, I should be identifying myself?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the big trigger for me is and actually so, the whole concept of this. Well, let me backtrack. So in the Bible if you're watching and you're not familiar with the Bible there's a story near the beginning where Israel is stuck in Egyptian bondage. Israel is God's chosen people and they're in Egypt, they're in bondage and that's a picture of slavery, meaning they're in a place where they're being just driven, where they have no freedom, they have no life, and God delivers them out of Egypt and it's a picture of being delivered out of sin. And he takes them through the wilderness.
Speaker 2:And in Deuteronomy 1.8, god says I've set the land before you go in and possess it. So God's basically saying I have this promise for you, I want you to go in and get it. And the big thing I'm coming to, the center thing for you was God kept telling them go in, go in, go in, you can take it, you can possess it, right, and there were giants in the land. So if God knew there were giants in the land and God was telling them you can take it, he obviously saw them as giant overcomers. He could see them taking it, because God never tells you to do something that you're not able to do. But if you don't know the story well, in Numbers 13, they basically come, they spy out the land and they come back and they said we're grasshoppers, we can't do it, we can't take it, we can't take it, we're too small. And God says, well, you're not going in. Then, not because of me. Numbers 1428 says I'm going to give you exactly what you've been saying. You've been saying you're going to die in the wilderness. You're saying you're grasshoppers, it's not what I want for your life, because I want you to go in and take it, but I'm going to give it to you because it's what you want and you're saying it. So that was a big realization for me that they missed out on the promise, and not because of God's will, not because of God's decision, but because they saw themselves as grasshoppers, which is what the devil was telling them, and they were listening and they were agreeing with it. And that was the realization they missed out on a promise, rich, because grasshopper was there. I'm a grasshopper. I'm a grasshopper Rather than, if you remember Gideon, gideon's like I'm small, I'm the lowest, I'm the least, and God says you're a mighty warrior. So you have to understand.
Speaker 2:God often doesn't see us how we see ourselves, and if we don't change our picture of ourselves to how God sees us, we will miss out on things he wants us to have. I'll use another example. In the garden, god said let us make man in our image, just like us. Adam and Eve were just like God, just like him. What did Satan do? He came and said if you want to be like God, you have to do. Tell me, that's not religion. If you want to be like God, do this. Work at it. No, it was already a gift. They were already like God. But because she bought that lie of her identity, oh, I'm not already like God, I have to do something to be like him. We know what happens there. So the whole premise of the sinner saved by grace thing.
Speaker 2:In my early twenties I tell people this I did not pay attention in church. I grew up in church but I didn't pay attention. So because I didn't pay attention, I didn't have to unlearn things. We talked about this yesterday. There's confirmation bias out there. The reason most people will never switch from Democrat to Republican or Republican to Democrat is not because the other side doesn't have ideas. It's because they're. So. People are looking for people to confirm what they already believe.
Speaker 2:Thankfully, I had zero religion, like I didn't pay attention in church, so I didn't have like I didn't have any religious mindsets. I know I'm just dumping a lot on you, but Jesus said you make the word of God no effect, no power because of your tradition. We actually nullify God's word in our life because of our. We hold up our tradition One. What is one of those traditions? Well, we're all sinners. We're all just sinners saved by grace.
Speaker 2:So in my early twenties I started hearing real Bible truth and because I didn't have any religious tradition, it didn't, it didn't, it wasn tradition, it just came in. It was like that's truth, I'm righteous. He became sin so I could be made righteous. It's a free gift of righteousness. Isaiah 54, 17,. I've given them my own righteousness.
Speaker 2:So for me, I didn't have this religious mindset that we're all sinners, we're all losers, we're all pathetic. Now we've all sinned. Yes, when I was taught that it's a free gift, you've been given righteousness, it just came into me because I didn't have to debate. So my heart is wanting other people to get free from powerless religion and I make these videos to help challenge people to really see what the Bible says, really see what God really says, to really see that you aren't a sinner in Christ. You may sin, but as long as you see yourself as a sinner you're going to miss out on the promise. And because you see yourself as a grasshopper, when God sees you as a giant, overcoming, righteous person and I don't know if that kind of answers your question, but I just downloaded a lot to you- no, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1:So what kind of impact did not believing that you were filthy rags, but believing that you had been actually transformed what impact did that have on you in your day to day?
Speaker 2:For me understanding. So so I share this illustration a lot with people. Our nature, right, everything is an attack on our identity, everything. Think about what's going on in the culture right now. He's trying to get boy. Satan's trying to get boys to think they're girls, girls think they're boys. He's trying to get boys to think they're girls, girls to think they're boys. He's trying to get boys to think they're dogs and cats. That is all identity issues.
Speaker 2:Satan is after people's identity because humans were made in the image of God. Satan hates God. So what does he do? He attacks the identity of humans. So, basically, there is a sin nature. We were all born into it, we had all sinned. Jesus died and became sin to deliver us from that sin nature, to make us a new creation, to bring us back to where we were supposed to be, as righteous in the image of God. So people struggle with that because they're like well, I still sin. Therefore I'm a sinner, so I use this illustration to help people. I'm a sinner, so I use this illustration to help people.
Speaker 2:I'm a human. Whether Satan wants to tell you you're a tree or a dog, too bad, you can, never. You're a human. That's your nature. You're a human Main image of God. If I get down on my knees right now and I bark like a dog, if I eat dog food for the next two weeks, if I crawl into a dog kennel and I said, hey, look at me, am I a dog? No, I'm a human acting like a dog. No matter how much I act like a dog, I can't make myself a dog. I'm a human by nature.
Speaker 2:So I tell people this you were a sinner. You were a sinner. You couldn't save yourself. You could give to the poor, you could pray, you could go to church, you could do a bunch of righteous things, but none of your works could recreate who you are because you were. You're a sinner by nature. You can do righteous things, but you are a sinner. Your actions didn't define who you were.
Speaker 2:So then I tell people, when you call upon the name of Jesus, jesus, romans 5 says he gives you a free gift of righteousness. You're a new creature. You're remade in his image. He's in you, you're in him. You're delivered out of that sin nature into a new nature. So now that you've been given the free gift, you couldn't earn it, the free gift of righteous nature.
Speaker 2:When you sin, just like before. Your sin doesn't make you a dog, it doesn't make you a sinner. You just messed up and you made a mistake. Your nature is right with God. So what did it do for me?
Speaker 2:The realization that righteousness it just means right with God, the fact that I'm right with God all the time, that God's always with me, always going to help me, never going to leave me, lives on the inside of me.
Speaker 2:The big verse for me is come boldly to the throne of grace. If you believe you're a sinner, even if you believe you're saved well, I'm a sinner, but I'm still still. I'm saved, but I'm still a sinner You're going to have this mindset of I'm not good enough to go to God. So righteousness for me made me so confident in my relationship with God that he'll never leave me. He'll never forsake me. He's pleased with me forever. Yeah, I mess up, or yeah, I may mess up, but it doesn't change the fact that I can come boldly to him and confess my sin and I'm always in right standing. He always loves me. He'll never leave me. I think it's just this identity that if we're grasshoppers, we're not good enough to go into the promised land. If we're sinners, we're not good enough to lay hold of what everything Jesus paid for us, but if we're righteous, we get access to all of the inheritance everything Jesus paid for, not because of our works, but because of what he did.
Speaker 1:So help me with this. Someone hears this in their life, but that's not humility. We need to be humble. Paul calls himself the foremost of sinners. What do we do if someone pulls the humility card?
Speaker 2:Man so good so I have been hit with every argument. Ephesians 2.8,. For it is grace. You've been saved through faith, and I always tell people it doesn't say anything about sin there. It's highlighting that you are saved and, if you like, why do you need to call yourself a sinner? Saved by grace, just say I'm saved. Think about it. Why are you so emphatically needing to say that? That is the devil wanting you to keep you small and seeing yourself small. Just say I'm saved. So the whole thing of Paul. There's another verse people often use as a debate. Well, paul, you know, actually I want to go read, I think it?
Speaker 1:is it 2 Timothy 1.15 or 1 Timothy 1.15? 1 Timothy 1.15 is when he calls himself the foremost of sinners.
Speaker 2:You said 1 Timothy, yep, 1 Timothy. Okay, I always tell people to start reading at verse 13, yeah, so if you study the context of this verse, yeah, if you start in verse 12, I think christ jesus, our lord, who has enabled me because he has counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, look at, listen to verse 13, although I was formerly a blasphemer. See, here's what people argue with. People say if you drive, you're a driver. If you lie, you're a liar. If you steal, you're a thief, if you sin, you're a sinner. The problem with that is did Paul murder? Okay, then he's a murderer. My question for you is when does his nature change? Because to you, when is it? Like? Five years have passed now. He's not a murderer, so it's all natural reasoning. He said I was formerly a blasphemer, I was formerly a persecutor, I was formerly an insolent man. I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, and this is the verse they always use. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Okay, first and foremost, if we study the context, paul is very clear that he says I was, I was, I was formerly, I was formerly.
Speaker 2:I understand I've struggled with this verse. I don't just assume I'm right. We talked about this yesterday. I don't just again confirmation bias. Assume I'm right, we talked about this yesterday. I don't just again confirmation bias. I don't just look at that and go I'm right. I don't understand that. I actually look at this verse and I go Lord, this doesn't make sense to what I believe. It looks like Paul's calling himself a sinner. Here's my understanding of the verse. Paul says the grace. He said I was formerly this. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That word chief is the word protos in the Greek and it means foremost or first.
Speaker 2:So my question to you is is this verse highlighting Paul as a sinner or highlighting his need to be saved? Which one is it really talking about? Is it talking about well, I'm a sinner, I'm pathetic. Or is it highlighting Jesus, who saved me? He's trying to talk about Jesus saving him. So if he says I was first, what was he first? He goes I was the worst sinner, I was formerly this. I was a murderer, I was first in line needing to be saved because I was the first sinner that needed to be saved. So I tell people my view of that is Paul's not necessarily calling himself a sinner. He's saying I was first in line, I'm chief of needing to be saved.
Speaker 2:And I tell people, even if you want to use that one verse to say, well, we're still sinners because Paul said it, I'd say this you can't make doctrine off one verse. The Bible says Judas went and hung himself. You're't make doctrine off one verse. The Bible says Judas went and hung himself. You're going to make a doctrine on that? Should we all do that? We know you can't make a doctrine on one verse. So even if you're so tied to Paul calling himself a sinner, I go find me more verses where Paul called himself a sinner. You won't find it. What you'll find over and over again is Romans 3, righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, righteousness. Romans 5, righteousness.
Speaker 1:You know, I think he's highlighting his blaspheming and persecution of Christ. That's why he's the foremost, that's why he's first, because it's not like he was like I was sleeping with someone who wasn't my wife. He was literally blaspheming the son of god who came to save the world. So, and he says it's out of ignorance. And so, yeah, I'm first in line because my sin, like the ultimate sin, is unbelief in jesus christ. Yeah, and so if he's literally blaspheming christ and and persecuting, uh, followers of christ, yeah, man, the saying is true, I'm number one. I was there holding the coats where stephen's getting stoned, yeah, but god, because of his richness and kindness, of his mercy, he saved me. So I think that's what it's saying yeah, that's my.
Speaker 2:So you've seen, no, good, good, good good.
Speaker 1:So you have seen that understanding your identity and believing and taking God at his word and being humble enough to receive that has actually transformed people's lives. Is that what your testimony is? That when people receive this?
Speaker 2:thing. I had a. I had a, so there are so many. Again, religion stagnates Because, for example let me use an example If you believe again, I don't know your belief system on all these things because we haven't chatted about that Personally and there's lots of debates across Christianity the one we have to end on is Jesus is the only way to the Father, that one we have to be solid on.
Speaker 2:There's other ones that people disagree. One we have to be solid on, there's other ones that people disagree. For me, what I see through the Bible is I see Jehovah Rapha, psalm 103, forget not all his benefits, heals all your diseases. I see in Isaiah 53, jesus taking stripes on his back so he could be healed. So for me, I see healing as a promise from God. Some people don't agree. Okay, if I struggle to see it as a promise, I'm going to struggle to receive it, because there's going to be unbelief. James 1 literally says let the double-minded man expect to receive nothing from God, not because God's withholding from him Double-mindedness will keep you out, because people don't like talking about it, but faith is how you lay hold of God's promises and fear is how you lay hold of what Satan says over you. So you're asking.
Speaker 2:I had a lady. I see this with a lot of older people who've been taught religion. They struggle with these things because they've been hammered with this stuff so long. I had a lady walk up to me after she read my first book and I'm not trying to give plugs, but these are my story. I wrote it all down. But basically this book is my story from 21 to 27. This was everything God taught me about my identity and I wrote it down. This is my story at 21, from 35, studying about the power of my words. Everything has changed my life. So chapter one in this book is the identity in Christ is righteousness, not sinner. This book is the identity in Christ is righteousness, not sinner.
Speaker 2:I had a lady. She was probably 60 years old. She came up to me in tears, crying, thanked me and she said I read chapter one of your book. She goes I never understood righteousness until I read it from you, like she had heard in our church for years you're the righteousness of God in Christ. You're the righteousness of God in Christ.
Speaker 2:But I meet these older people who they know they're like I don't want to use her name, but I have an aunt and she'll never see this Probably. I have an aunt who loves God with all her heart, loves him, but she is stuck in so much bondage because she still sees herself as a loser. I just barely got in. I can't believe. God even saved me. I'm so pathetic and it holds her back Now. You shouldn't think. Paul said don't think of yourself more highly than you ought, but we should think of ourselves highly in the fact that Jesus was willing to sacrifice his blood for me. The most expensive price was ever paid for you and I. We should think highly of ourselves because God thought highly of us. So I've seen when people can get God's identity in them. It unleashes them from the chains of holding them back to a small life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, that's powerful. Is this the number one thing on your heart to share with people, this identity thing?
Speaker 2:For me, I've got people like well, I meet with pastors and they say well, what's your core message? My core message, I'd say, is twofold. I want people. This is twofold, and everything I do falls into these two categories. I want people to know who God is, the real God, not the religious God like his character, and who God says we are. That's my who God is, who God says we are. So everything falls within the identity of God, or the identity of who God says we are. So that's, and righteousness falls in this category, like I said 31 days in here, of names of who God says you are. So that's, and and righteousness falls in this category.
Speaker 1:Um, like I said, 31 days in here of names of who God says you are. That's awesome, man. So let me uh wrap this section up here with uh. If you could go back to to Dustin who, uh, you know, got broken up with you know first day of college and you could minister to this kid who hasn't really cracked open his Bible yet, but you just have a chance to just take him out to eat, put your arm around him. What would you minister to this guy who is struggling and suffering through this hurt?
Speaker 2:So my passion. Actually it's wild. He just texted me. One of my best friends I passed. He was there as a pastor. There they seem to be few, but relationships where you can actually have a friend Like if people don't know pastoring, pastoring people will leave you like that and sometimes it's hard to actually be friends with people that you lead. But I have a friend he actually literally just texted me and he's about a 34-year-old dad. He has four kids. I won't share his story, but my passion is young men and, as you asked that, I almost got tears in my eyes thinking about myself at 20 years old, 18 years old.
Speaker 2:If I could go back and talk to any 18-year-old, 24-year-old, dustin, even a 34-year-old guy who's like just went through a breakup, is struggling with pornography, feels like his life sucks. I mean, I remember going for a walk one day and the devil gave me a thought to go walk in front of a train. I knew I was a Christian, I knew I was going to heaven, but it's like man, life sucks. I'm ready to leave and go be with Jesus. Christian. I knew I was going to heaven, but it's like man, life sucks. I'm ready to leave and go be with Jesus.
Speaker 2:If I could go talk to myself at 18, I'd say this seems so cliche, but I'd say it's going to be okay, like if you do your best just to keep walk, like if you could just keep. If you just keep walk, do your best to walk with God. You do not have to be perfect. God does not expect perfect perfection. If you expected perfection, jesus is never necessary. I would say, dustin, just do your best to keep following God. It will be worth it. He will give you all the desires of your heart. He will take good care of you. He will bless you. You'll enjoy it, you'll have good friends, you'll have a good marriage. He'll give you, he will take care of you. Life is not about things Run after it's. Matthew six seek first his kingdom and he'll add everything. God. God has blessed me, and it's not because I've been perfect. I've made a lot of mistakes, but I can say my testimony is this I have done my best to follow God. And so I would tell the young man do your best to make God a priority. I don't know what that looks like for you. Just try. If you mess up, the Bible says the righteous man falls seven times, but get back up. So for me I would tell 18 year old Dustin it's going to be okay, it's going to work out, god's going to take care of you. Just don't let go of him.
Speaker 2:I'm so thankful there were so many opportunities when I dated at 20, 21 years old again, like I said, god became closer every relationship. God became nonexistent in my life when I got a girlfriend and I'm so grateful he was so patient because it was almost like God, I need you, god, I need you. We're all. We've all been guilty of this. God, I need you, god, I need you, god, I need you. Oh, you bring me this, see you, god, and then break up. God, I need you, god, I need you God. And that was my relationship with him for a while, until this was the number one thing I was looking for in my wife.
Speaker 2:I said this before. I wanted to find a woman who loved Jesus more than she loved me. I never could have said that at 20. Because men, we want to be number one. Jesus became number one in my life and now I enjoy it. I live a life of purpose, I'm blessed, I'm healthy, I'm whole, I got a wife who loves me and I give God all the credit because, like the Bible says, while we were sinners, christ died for us. While I was still running from him, while I was smoking marijuana, I didn't do it a lot, but while I smoked marijuana, I was smoking cigarettes, while I was going after girls and drinking and watching porn, god was still there with a purpose for my life, coming after me. So I just tell you, just do your best to follow God. Just do your best. God doesn't look for perfection, he just wants you to try.
Speaker 1:Last question man, jesus is the end of all religion, right? When somebody hears that, they're like what are you saying? You know, are you talking about not going to church? Define religion for me and tell me why Jesus is the end of that.
Speaker 2:So religion for me is a list of do's and don'ts to hopefully be made right with God. It's if you pray, god's happy. When you give, god's happy. When you go to church, god's happy. When you do the right things, god's happy. That's religion. Religion is if you do something, maybe you please God, maybe God will like you. But when you understand, while you were a sinner and extremely far from God, he was already singing over you. He already loved you, he already pursued you.
Speaker 2:What changed for me? It's like with my wife. If my wife only likes me when I do the dishes, when I mow the lawn, I'm not in a real marriage. I'm in a works relationship where I have to earn her love every day. But when I realized I want to do the dishes like I did the dishes for her yesterday, she came home. She thanked me. I didn't do them to make her like me. I did them because I was like man. This is going to really bless her. She already likes me. I want to do something for her.
Speaker 2:So when I realized that I don't go to church for God, I go to church for me. And when I worship, I don't worship to try and please him. He's done so much for me, I want to give something back to him. It's like if I, it's the law of reciprocity. People see this in business all the time If I give you something, you're going to immediately want to do something for me when you realize that Jesus gave his life for you.
Speaker 2:It doesn't create this. I have to do stuff. It's like man I want to tithe. Why would I want to keep 10% of my income when you gave your blood for me? Why wouldn't I want to go to church? It creates, creates this. I get to mindset rather than I have to and I have to. It can only carry you so long I have to go to church. I have to pray. It can only carry you so long I get to wake up and talk to God. I get to get wisdom. I get to get the. I get to give some of my income. I get to do this. So that's the difference Religion is. I have to a relationship. As I get to, I get to do this. I. I get to be in relationship with the god who created the heavens and the earth, and he'll help me. What an honor man.
Speaker 1:Thank you, uh, so much for uh, for answering my direct message and going on a random podcast with a stranger man. This has been a blessing to me. Give us your info where we can find you, the names of those books. I want you to plug yourself so if someone is listening to the pod and they've never heard you, never heard of you where can we find you? What's you up? To Plug yourself real quick.
Speaker 2:Yeah, could I read? Let me find this. Could I read this quick testimony to you? Absolutely Cause this will explain. Come on, where are you at? Have you ever heard of mini chat? Mini chat is amazing, by the way, I don't need to get off topic.
Speaker 1:it sends so many messages for you yeah, I use it for uh, the podcast I I use it to to. If people want to get a direct, I probably will use it for this episode. Say uh, type dustin in the comments and I'll send you the episode sorry I was.
Speaker 2:You got me emotional there so my nose was running. I apologize for that. Um, so I got. I got. This is why I do what I do, and God will give you a life of purpose. Money is not purpose. God will bless you with money, but chasing money is not purpose. That's why so many billionaires are unhappy. Now I'm all about getting getting the wealth in the hands of godly people, because we can use it for good rather than the evil people. But if you make something else, your purpose you'll be miserable. But this is why I do what I do.
Speaker 2:I got this message. This is a testimony I want to read. You asked me before Well, I'll wait. Oh, there you are. You asked me if I could tell myself something. I actually had that really happen to me recently.
Speaker 2:So this young man messaged me on Instagram. This is why I do what I do, and God will give you a life of purpose. So he told me later. This young man is 24 years old. This is exciting to me because I've learned this If you can teach dad, if you can teach the man, the wife will follow. If you can teach dad, the kids will follow. If you can disciple dad, it'll just naturally get in the kids. That's why I love discipling young dads.
Speaker 2:This was you know how messages go to requests first, so you can't see them. So I get this message request about a week and a half ago. Please read I just finished your book. Change your Words, change your Life and man. It has impacted me greatly. Sorry for the long message, but I just felt I had the need to share this with you.
Speaker 2:The past few months I've been going through a lot of hardships. It's honestly seemed like one bad thing after another kept happening to me. I would say all day long. Things like bad things keep happening to me. I'll never get through this. I don't know if I'm ever going to get through this. He said that twice and things along those lines.
Speaker 2:I've always been a follower of the Lord similar testimony 10 years old but recently, in these past months, I've tried to grow closer to him. I started talking to him more, reading my Bible every day and making it a point to go to church, no matter what I thought, since I was getting close to God, that magically all my problems would go away. But they didn't. Now, because it was a message, request I go. Is there more to the story, question mark. I said sounds like you left me on a cliffhanger. He said now that you answered, I can answer more. He said no, I realized that it was because of what I was repeating every day. Can you understand? You're repeating what your identity is in your heart, he says.
Speaker 2:I realized my problems were because of what I was repeating every day, after crying out to God for weeks and asking why he would let these things happen to me now I know he wasn't the one doing these things to me in quotations I started doubting in him. I began to get angry with him and would say things like you have abandoned me. You are nowhere near me, like you say you are. You aren't listening to me. Why won't you talk to me?
Speaker 2:Well, this last Saturday I went home to visit my mother she's very close with the Lord and I began to sit there and tell her that I felt like God has completely abandoned me. I told her I felt like he wasn't listening to me and that he didn't care about me anymore. That is when she told me that she heard you speak at her church the previous Sunday, because we do traveling and speaking. She heard you speak the previous Sunday and she got your book. She sat there and reassured me that God was right next to me and that he indeed was listening. I honestly this is funny. This is a young man for you, right? I honestly didn't pay much attention to it and I still felt abandoned. Here we are today. This would be a few days later. Here we are today and I've read your entire book in a couple hours and let me tell you, it has completely reassured me that God is here and he is listening and that he isn't the one causing all my pain within these last few months. I just think it's a miracle that my mom got to listen to you a week ago and God put you in that place to preach to my mom because he knew that she would pass that book along to me. As soon as I started reading the book, it's like God himself was reading it to me and I could feel his presence like I've never felt it before. I wrote sticky notes of the daily Bible declarations and put them everywhere I can see them every day and speak them out loud. This book has completely opened my mind on the way I need to be living and what I'm saying. Thank you so much. God bless you.
Speaker 2:We had a few more text exchanges, but here's why I shared that. First and foremost, you said you were a college basketball player. I was a college basketball player. Sadly, god loves all people, right. But sadly, when I was in college, I thought christianity was kind of lame because I all the people that are christians okay, I'm not judging anyone, I love all christians but sometimes when you see christians they did not look like the bunch I wanted to hang out with. It's like, oh, those guys look like losers. Listen, god loves everybody. But I'm just, I'm being natural here and I struggled because it was like the cool people didn't want God. And here's why I say that God loves all people right.
Speaker 2:Sometimes when you get the testimonies, they're from people who are a little stranger. If you go to his profile, it was this super normal again, not that God chooses based on man, looks at the outward appearance, not God. But I'm like it blessed me because it was this very normal, good looking guy. Normally you'd think like, wow, this is probably someone who nobody likes and has no friends, and I was like man. That blessed me. That's a real testimony from a real person who really is walking through challenges and it reminded me of 20. This is why I said this. It reminded me of 20 year old Dustin. If I could go back and talk to me. It was like I wrote this book to myself younger and a 24 year old 24 year old young guy got it and it changed his life and to me, that's going to change his kids. That's why I do what I do. That's why I wrote the books. So, as you brought that up, that was in my heart.
Speaker 2:I didn't write books to make money. I didn't write books to make money. There's two reasons you should do something to help. Oh goodness, two reasons you should do something. Number one to obey God and number two to help people. That's the only reason you should do anything. Money is a byproduct of those two things. He said cast your nets over there. They obeyed God, fish came. That's money. So don't chase money. Chase God's purpose for your life, chase helping people, and money will be a byproduct. So I wrote books to simply get out of my heart what God had taught me, and books can go further than me. That is so cool to me. I was discipling that 24-year-old kid while I was sitting in my house here in Ohio.
Speaker 2:So as far as the books, if you want them, this is just my journey of identity. This has been our most popular. Well, actually I think this is our most popular now. But Hello, god Says my Name is. It's a 31-day devotional on identity. I write super easy. You heard that guy. He said he read it in a couple hours. I write super easy books because we all know the feeling of having a book set on our nightstand and every night it sits there and tells us how big of a loser we are because we don't read. So I write books to the point where small chapters easy to read. It's going to make you feel like you're not a loser, like Hello, god Says my Name is devotional identity. It's really good. You got to know who God says you are or you'll never live out your purpose. This is my most popular book. If you're only going to get one, this is the one. It'll change your life, change your words, change your life. It changed my life. It changed that young man. I just wrote this this year. This was just a fun one.
Speaker 2:Five faith habits for highly successful Christians. I meet people who are like what do I do? How do I grow closer to God. I have no clue what to do. This does not give you a religious to-do list like do this. It gives you some guidelines of hey, if you want some ideas of how to grow closer to God, do these things. Like if you want healthy teeth, you can floss your teeth. It'll help.
Speaker 2:To connect with me. Go to Instagram. It's just dustinbarker. I'm super personable. I try to answer all my messages. We're on YouTube, but go send me a message on Instagram If you watch this and you get anything out of it. I'm a very normal person. I know that as we grow in ministry, I always kind of want to be a somewhat normal. I don't want to be untouchable. So send me a message. I'd love to hear from you. I'll message you back. Rich, I'm super thankful. I really appreciate our texting back and forth yesterday. I love your heart. I'd love to stay connected. It seems like we have a similar heart and you've got a great mustache. Mine would be. You'd barely see it. You'd barely see it if I shaved all this off.
Speaker 1:Well, man, great to meet you in the chat and I'm sure that this episode will bless a lot of people. So thank you for coming on today and for blessing us with your story.
Speaker 2:Thanks, man. It's an honor. I hope it encourages someone else that it'll work out. I know it's this cliche If you just hang on to God, if you just stay with Jesus I tell young guys this all the time. I said if you just pursue Jesus, if I can tell my 20-year-old self, it's going to be worth it. Even things that looks like you gave up it's going to be worth it. I promise you Stay with it.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen. Man, this identity thing, this is the thing that changed my life Understanding who we are in Jesus Christ, understanding what we have our inheritance as sons. If you're listening and you're getting close, but you just can't go there, this prayer is for you Father, open the eyes of my heart so that I can see my inheritance, that I am your son, that I've always been your son, that I may have been lost but I am now found in Jesus. Thank you for doing this for me. I receive it and I believe it in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, everybody, make sure. What am I going to talk about today? I'm going to talk about the. The? Uh made new bible study. It's on Wednesday mornings 9 30 central. Right now we're going through the book of Ephesians. It's awesome. Go to the circles tab at loverealityorg and join us. It's fun. You'll get a blessing uh. So until next time, love. Y'all. Appreciate y'all. Bye.