Richman Priestly – Discovering the Joy of Truly Knowing Jesus

Many people grow up around faith, attend church, and know about God. But there is a huge difference between knowing about Jesus and truly knowing Him personally.

In this encouraging and heartfelt conversation, John Martin sits down with Richman Priestly to share a story of faith, family, and discovering the life-changing reality of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Richman grew up in a Christian home where the Bible, prayer, and the work of the Holy Spirit were a natural part of everyday life. Raised by parents who passionately pursued God, he was exposed from an early age to powerful examples of faith, worship, and hearing God's voice.

Yet despite that strong foundation, Richman realized there comes a point when every person must encounter God for themselves.

For him, that defining moment came during his freshman year of college.

After changing his summer plans and attending a Christian discipleship program, Richman experienced a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit during a worship service. As he worshiped, he felt overwhelmed by the presence and love of God in a way he had never experienced before.

During that moment, God began revealing His purpose and calling over Richman’s life.

What started as a single encounter became the beginning of a deeper journey—one marked by intimacy with Jesus, a love for God's Word, and a passion to help others experience God for themselves.

Throughout the conversation, Richman emphasizes that Christianity is not merely about religion, church attendance, or good behavior. At its core, it is about knowing Jesus personally.

He points to the words of the Apostle Paul:

“I count everything as loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus.”

For Richman, this has become the pursuit of his life.

He also shares an important message for those carrying shame, guilt, brokenness, or feelings of unworthiness. No matter your background, your failures, or your past mistakes, Jesus is still pursuing you. His love is not reserved for perfect people—it is available to everyone willing to receive it.

One of the most powerful themes discussed is the fear of the Lord—not fear rooted in terror, but a deep reverence and love for God that causes us to desire what He desires and turn away from what separates us from Him.

Richman explains that true transformation happens when we begin to care about what God cares about and allow our hearts to become aligned with His.

This conversation offers practical encouragement for anyone wanting to grow closer to God:

Spend daily time in God's Word.
Develop a personal prayer life.
Get connected to a Christ-centered church.
Surround yourself with believers who encourage and strengthen your faith.
And most importantly, pursue a genuine relationship with Jesus.

God is not looking for perfection.
He is inviting you into relationship.

You are loved.
You are wanted.
And no matter where you are today, Jesus is still calling you closer.

What would change in your life if your greatest goal became simply knowing Jesus more deeply?

Contact Richman Priestly:
📧 [Add email/contact information here]

For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

0:01

Well, hello, friends. It's John back here on Road to Redemption. So excited to have a good friend of mine with me today, Richmond Priestley. Richmond, how are you, buddy? Thank you. Thank you, probably. My friend from Birmingham, Alabama. What a great place. And you get to come down here to Miramar Beach because you have some, I know some relatives that have property here. So you get to visit. It's all always nice. So thank you for coming in. Of course. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's exciting, and and I know for for those of that that may not know you, um, would you give just a little background on you?

Richmond’s Story And Young Family

0:38

Sure. Yeah, so I am 24. I work in ministry, full-time ministry for a ministry called Tribe of Hope. Joy and Honor in my life to get to serve with what God's doing. Um, but a little bit of my background is I'm the youngest of seven boys. So similar to I think Joseph might have had seven boys. I was reading that recently, but youngest of seven boys. I'm originally from Birmingham, Alabama. And um, I'm married to Mar to the love of my life. Her name is Gracie. She is the best thing in my life outside of the Lord, and we have a daughter named Joy, and she is absolutely fulfilling the name and what the Lord has declared over her life. So her name's Joy. We had a son on the way in July. So starting a family young. Wow, that's what that's awesome. I love it. We should do that. Children are such a blessing, as I know. I have a lot of them, and I love them. Uh well, well, cool. Um, so talk to us a little bit about how you were you always a Christian, always a believer in Jesus. Tell us a little bit about that.

Growing Up Hearing God’s Voice

1:41

Yeah, so um I was incredibly fortunate to grow up in a home that not only loved the Lord, but had such a rich value for the Holy Spirit and um also for the Word of God. Um, the way that my parents brought me up was incredible. It's to the to date the biggest blessing of my life. And I've haven't realized until the just the past couple years how big of an impact it had on me. But my parents, in in short, what they would do was they wanted us to be comfortable in every single environment spiritually that there was. So what they would do growing up is they would put us in the car and they would take us just to random places across the country where God was moving in unusual ways, sometimes uncomfortable ways. And my my parents would always tell us, I want you all to be comfortable wherever God's moving. So from when I was little, I would see God move in really crazy ways. Um, hearing God's voice was a completely normal thing in my household. Um, the things of the spirit, dreams, visions, uh, encounters, stuff like that. And so um, I grew up, I was very fortunate to grow up with a version of Christianity that was here and and that bypassed the mind and went to the heart. And so it didn't really become real for me because my dad flowed in the things of the spirit and loved the Bible. And beyond that, he just had a really personal relationship with Jesus. The way that God would talk to him, he would talk back, and it was it was almost as if they were friends, um, as it says about Exodus and Moses and Exodus 33. But um, it didn't really become real for me until later on in my life because I would always think growing up, okay, maybe I'll have that type of relationship with the Lord when I'm in my 50s or 60s. And what I what what I guess I didn't realize was how much more passionate God was about me than I would ever be for him. And um, it was uh my freshman

The Worship Night That Changed Everything

3:32

year of college. I was uh had all these crazy summer plans. I was gonna go to Spain, live there for a month or two, I was gonna be a scuba ivy intractor in Belize. I was working at a really nice clothing store, and here I am at a Bible study one night. One of my friends says, Hey, you should quit all your summer plans and come out to this place called J T Tranch with me. And I was like, Great, but I'm good. Uh that that doesn't sound it sounds all right, but I have all these crazy travel plans because I love travel. I love seeing the nations of the world. It's a desired God place to me. And basically, three days, about maybe a week later, I'm out at J Tranch. I cancel all my summer plans and because I was all I was able to think about. And I went out there and God began to move in my life in an extraordinary way. And what happened was the very first night of worship there, um, I had and I had my first personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. And that's something that I'm praying for the people listening. That's something that our ministry is actively praying, is that people would have a real deal encounter with the God of the Bible. And that first night of worship, what happened was um they were singing the song called Waymaker, and all of a sudden, as they were singing it, um, I felt just what what the only way I know I'll describe it is the presence of God came over me so powerfully and so tangibly that I actually couldn't could no longer stand up. It was as if, like Daniel says in Daniel chapter 10 and 11, he says, My strength left me. I just fell to the ground. I was so overwhelmed with the love of God, and I just started sobbing, crying on my face. And in that, uh, it was like a movie reel was happening in front of my eyes where I saw the nations of the world and I saw people worshiping Jesus. And the Lord spoke to me, what I now know was the Lord, but it was almost like this internal audible voice where the Lord said to me, Um, you'll be a part of this one day. And he called me within a minute into ministry within a moment. And for the rest of that summer, God began to move in my heart and my life in unusual ways. He began to speak to me. The word became began to be real to me. And um, ever since then, it's kind of just been a journey of of God becoming more and more real to me in an

Hope For Shame And Feeling Unworthy

5:41

exciting way. So I love that. And and Richmond, talk to a little bit because a lot of our you know, folks just generally out there today, they didn't grow up, you know, in a Christian home. Um, you know, a lot of abuse, a lot, a lot of just um brokenness in families. A lot of people out there just don't feel worthy, you know. They they they live in shame and guilt, and they're like, you know, yeah, that, yeah, you know, he grew up in a Christian home. That's great, but you know, that's not you know for me. I'm I'm too far gone. Or, you know, talk talk to people out there, you know, that are maybe they feel like they're not, you know, worthy. Sure. Yeah, and um, what a beautiful question. And just I what I love is that that sure we all have different translations, but this Bible applies to every single person on the face of the planet. And with the story of this Bible, it all points to the person Jesus. And what it tells us, you see, in the gospels, is that Jesus he came to this earth. If you've never heard of Jesus, he came to this earth as a man and humbled himself and took on flesh. He became a man and had skin and walked and faced all the same same temptations we did, yet he didn't sin, and he died on the cross. And the Bible tells us this agonizing story of Jesus who died on the cross. And it says that he died on the cross for the joy that was set before him. And of course, we now know that that was the people listening that that was that he died for us. And um it's it's just incredible this love story of how God sent Jesus, and through that, the scripture says that he draws all people unto himself. And so maybe you're listening, maybe you've had a really hard life. What the Lord does is he brings you into this place where you begin to experience his love for you in a profound way, and I believe that's the hope that the that our work and word needs. I know, yeah, it really, really does, because it's you know we have when we accept Jesus in our heart, we have eternal life. But but also here while we're here on earth, it's it's it's a tough life. There's a lot of trials, but we can have joy and peace in this world through a personal relationship with Jesus. So talk a little bit more about how does someone go about knowing Jesus.

How To Know Jesus Practically

8:00

About knowing Jesus. It I I love that question, John, because that's probably my favorite topic on in the world and um out of everything outside of just the simple gospels. Um in the Bible, in the book of Philippians, Paul wrote two-thirds of the New Testament in Philippians chapter three, verse eight, he says, probably my favorite thing in all of the Bible, where he says he gives a little bit of his ministry resume, and he says, I've done this for God, I've done this for God. And then he goes on to even say, I've been prisoned, I've done, I've done all these things. And he gives his resume, and he goes on to say in verse eight, he says, I count everything as garbage compared to knowing Jesus. And that's what that's what I've experienced these last few years is God that summer, when I had that encounter with the Holy Spirit, what he did was he placed an addiction to him inside of me. And that's what I believe the greatest gift that God could give any of us is a passionate addiction, not for church, not for ministry, because I think many people stop short of an exciting relationship with Jesus because they settle for a mere liking of their church. And so we have access to that same type of relationship that Paul experienced that led him to say, you know what? My job's great, uh, money's great, my family's great, but everything else pairs in comparison to knowing Jesus. And I I I like to make things as simple, as practical as possible. I believe the best way to get to know Jesus and to experience that is by spending alone time with him. As simple as that. We've we've talked a lot about that on our show, Richmond. Our three key pillars of road to redemption are first to get into the word of God. This Bible, Richmond's Bible here, you'll see get a written hardback Bible, really, you know, is the best. And read it every day. Spend alone time with the Lord, and he will speak to you through these scriptures. That's the main way he speaks to us. Uh, and then is to get into a a Christ-centered Bible-believing church because we we can't do this alone. God wants us to come around other people in relationships. The way we do that is get into a a good, solid Bible-believing church in your local community, and and then get into a group, you know, get into a small group with other um people that can hold you accountable in the season of life that you're in. You know, it might be a men's group, women's group, a marriage group, but just go get into a group. Um and God will will transform your life if you do those things. And you that's how you know getting to know him, spend time with him. Um cool. Richmond, what does the Lord put on your heart? You know, really to to speak to someone out there, you know, that might be listening. If you know, there's one thing or might be a few things, but just is there anything, you know, someone listening today that you feel like the Lord's put on your heart to say?

The Fear Of The Lord Explained

11:02

Sure. Yeah, um, I guess what what would I I can really only speak about the things that God's doing in my heart and the things he's done in my heart personally. And in this, this is a little bit of a it's a little bit of a kind of a challenging topic and a little bit of uh pretty unpopular, I would say, but honestly, I've just been recently I've just been out of and studying the word and just being in prayer, getting to know Jesus, which is my highest goal in life. Um, I've been experiencing the fear of the Lord. And that's probably what I would say um to to talk about is discussing the fear of the Lord. Because when you say that though, a lot of people think, oh, fear of the Lord. Like we're not touch explaining that a little. What is the fear of the Lord? It's it's such a it's such an interesting topic that because if you if you have a distorted or skewed perception of it, it'll actually cause anxiety, it'll call genuine fear, and you don't want that. But pretty simple, uh, Proverbs 8 says this it says, the fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil. And so that is a pretty clear definition. There's other definitions throughout scripture, but I think it's so much more important when we read scripture to look at God's heart behind something rather than just taking something at what you would see to be face value. And so it says the fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil. So what does that mean? The fear of the Lord is hating what God hates, but it's not just that, it's also loving what God loves. And it's important that we look at it through the lens of what I believe the fear of the Lord is. The fear of the Lord is being in tune with the emotions of God. It's feeling the way he feels about things. And what I've found personally through spending time with God and through seeking him these past few years is that the heart of God is incredibly sensitive. That the heart of God is incredibly sensitive. And I don't mean that as in he's emotionally unstable because the scriptures say the psalmist writes that God is our rock. So God, it isn't just stability, isn't just something that God provides, it's actually who he is. So God isn't emotionally unstable, he's also not insecure at all. He's completely secure in his identity, he's completely emotionally put together, but his heart is sensitive. And Ephesians 4 30 tells us that we can actually grieve his heart. And so the fear of the Lord is finding out what God doesn't like in life, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, avoiding those things. And what the Proverbs also says is that the fear by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil. And so if there's people listening that maybe they're struggling with the same sins over, over and over again, it's causing them discouraged, it's causing them shame. What I would actually, it's an unpopular thing, but what I would actually say is you need a fresh touch of the fear of the Lord. Wow. That's really strong. And and I know too a lot of the you know, talking about the fear of the Lord, it's really um it's fear of not being in union with the Lord. Okay. You know, of having separation from the Lord, having him in your heart through the Holy Spirit, uh, which is often caused by sin or maybe just caused from not spending spending time with him, you know, just pushing him out of your life. That's really a you know, feel a fear of the Lord is being away from him. Yeah. Wow, that's so good. Richmond, as we're coming to the end, it's been so good. Is there anything else that um Lord put on your heart to share before we go? It's been so good. I mean, you're what I love about you is it's a simple it's a simple gospel. You know, I don't I don't really feel like we're supposed to talk a whole lot, you know. I think we're supposed to pray, read the word, um love people. Um you know, and I think we're in a world where people want to talk and talk and talk. So I I I I love that just you've you've brought such a great, you know, encouraging message. It's really blessed me. Uh I really thank you. Thank you for coming on. Of course. Thank you for having me, John. Richmond, would you mind praying before we go? Of course.

Closing Prayer And Blessing

15:17

So wherever you are, if you're just watching, just give your attention to the Lord, and we're just going to pray over you that God would meet you in a powerful way in this next season. So, Lord, we love you and we thank you for your kindness, for your patience, for your mercy. We thank you that your ways are higher than our ways, that you see our situation so much different than we do, Lord. We thank you for being such an encourager, for being such a warrior in our lives, for fighting our battles for us, Lord. So I pray over all the listeners watching, Lord, that they would experience you in a powerful and tangible way. I pray for a deposit, a deposit of the fear of the Lord into their life. I pray for a deposit of a love for the Word of God, for a love for alone time with God. I pray, Lord, that you would place people in their lives that love you wholeheartedly, that would encourage them, that would help edify them, that would help sharpen them for the calling and mission that is on their life. So I bless these listeners in Jesus' name, and we thank you for this podcast. Amen. Amen. Thank you.