Queued4Christ
Queued4Christ
The Queued4Christ Show with Marcus J. Little: "No More Excuses: How Discipline Births Determination"
What happens when God keeps waking you up through unimaginable loss, health battles, and personal struggles? Marcus J. Little discovered it means destiny is attached to your life.
In this soul-stirring conversation, Marcus shares his remarkable journey from seeking church notoriety to discovering authentic purpose. With disarming honesty, he admits his initial ministry motivation was simply wanting to be a "local celebrity" before God refined his heart through profound trials. After losing five family members in 2019 and battling COVID hospitalizations where he "woke up mad" each day, Marcus found himself at a crossroads of belief.
The turning point came through an unexpected encounter when a young man from "the hood" told him, "Mr. Marcus, I could listen to you talk all day." This divine appointment revealed his calling to reach people who might never enter church doors but desperately need hope. Marcus explains how God positioned him to speak life into people from all walks of life—"from the church person to the person in the club."
Marcus offers transformative wisdom about gifts, explaining that "your gift will make room for you" isn't just about external opportunities but creating internal space for God to pour more in. "If I'm full, there's nothing to be poured in because there's no room," he shares. This perspective challenges us to release our gifts generously rather than hoarding them.
The conversation builds to Marcus's powerful framework of the three Ds: discipline, determination, and destiny. "Determination doesn't get birthed until discipline is conceived," he explains, encouraging listeners to take one small step daily rather than attempting everything at once. His rallying cry of "No More Excuses" has become both personal mantra and ministry focus.
Ready to move past what's holding you back? Follow Marcus @Iammarcjai on social platforms and visit Iammarcjai.org to learn about his upcoming "No More Excuses" experience in November.
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Thank you. I just thank God, lest, as I can be, therefore, I'm gonna lift your name high. We just kicking it and having happy conversation. Cute for Christ. I'm so very grateful for the journey. Brought me a mighty long way as I praise and I pray, give thanks for your grace and your mercy. See, I'm a living testimony. Went from living vagrant phony Full of acrimony. Dang had to get right when Christ God came.
Speaker 2:We'll see you next time, thank you hey, hey, hey everyone, this is Kiana, your creator and the host of Q for Christ, and I want to get on here first. I want to say thank you to everyone that has liked, you shared, you commented, whatever you done. I'm so excited and I'm so happy, and I tell you I do not take this for granted, because this is something that I take very serious, right, and it's not a punishment. Being a vessel for Christ, it's a privilege, and so one thing I try to tell people is that make sure that whenever God calls you, you do it to the best of your ability, right?
Speaker 1:So, anyways, I don't know who that's for, but anyways, I'm so excited tonight.
Speaker 2:Make sure you go ahead on and share you like this. Share this with someone that may need this. We are queued for Christ tonight and this is another success on purpose and I'm super excited to be here. Make sure you are going to the website at wwwqforchristcom. Okay, you know I got something big coming up so you do not want to miss it. All right, and I promise you you're going to be blessed, all right. So, anyways, I'm super excited about tonight. Like I said, we are back, right. I'm telling you when I say season four of Q for Christ, that is consistency in you know, at his best right. When I tell you that the enemy wants to come and he wants to come steal and kill. But I have prevailed and kept going. And so we are back with season four of the Success on Purpose and the Cube for Christ show and I'm so excited. And tonight I have such an incredible person that I'm telling you you don't want to miss this, okay. So, anyways, anyways, I'm going to go ahead on and bring him in Tonight.
Speaker 2:I have the special honor and privilege to have Marcus J Little on here. How are you, Marcus? I?
Speaker 3:am amazing, Kiana. How are you this evening?
Speaker 2:You know what, like I said a few minutes ago, I can't complain, you know. I can but it ain't going to change a thing, absolutely. It's still going to be hot outside. It's still. I can complain about the heat. It's still going to be hot, I can complain about it?
Speaker 3:It's definitely going to be hot. You know that Georgia heat is different. It's different. Georgia heat is different.
Speaker 2:Look, if you ain't been to Georgia, child, I'm telling you, the weather is definitely definitely different. We could have well, not lately, but usually it'd be winter in the morning and spring in the evening, and there's something like it just goes.
Speaker 3:Right, right, exactly. And then it's been there's rain. Lately it's trying to seem like it wants to rain every day now at least for 10 minutes, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Like you know, that's that Florida weather, though you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Like Florida, would rain at any given moment.
Speaker 3:At any given moment. It was like that when I lived in Jacksonville they said anytime between 4 and 6, just know it's going to rain, so plan accordingly, right.
Speaker 2:Right, so that's what I'm saying. So, anyway, as I said, all that to say that I'm doing okay. So I'm super excited to have you on here. I can tell y'all a little bit about how we met. We've been knowing each other for years and years and years and years. I'm telling you we both sung in this choir called Young Choraleers.
Speaker 2:And you know about the Young Corleas, right, especially if you're around our age, like in the 40s. You know who the young Corleas are and I'm telling you, you know, matter of fact, the young Corleas have birthed some very, very incredible people out of it. You know, and anyways, we've been knowing each other since I'm like teenage, like I was a teenager. I'm super excited to have you on here and to be able to catch up with you, and so why don't you just kind of let everybody know who Marcus is? Because I can tell you a little bit about him, but I know he can do it better for himself. So if you just let everybody know who you are, Well yeah, marcus Little, actually born in Seattle, washington.
Speaker 3:I tell people that, even though I came back, I came to make when I was a kid, so it doesn't really count. I said that one time to somebody and they was like, oh well, I got some family. I'm like, no, don't ask me anything about Seattle. I was just born out there, right, but grew up in Macon, georgia, pk to the core. Both parents and preachers Graduated from the amazing Central High School, the only high school in Macon that matters. Hold up, hold up.
Speaker 2:You're not going to do that.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I just thought I'd put you up my school is not here anymore.
Speaker 2:We're not going to do that.
Speaker 3:Oh, never mind. Yes, you went to that school, I got you, but from a family of six, five boys, one girl. Pretty much all of the children are, you know, church raised. So but just came, came out of a church family, been in church pretty much all my life. Literally went off to school, played basketball at Alabama State One of the pivotal parts of my life. Just really enjoyed being a sports fanatic and now currently have stepped out into that gift. That's always been there and so I'm currently still here in Warner Robins in middle Georgia. Lived in Jacksonville for a while while lived in Charlotte for a while. Shout out to Mecklenburg County.
Speaker 2:I lived in Charlotte too, for about three, three and a half four years.
Speaker 3:Love me some Charlotte, love me some Charlotte. And so here back in middle Georgia, you know, for the time being, just see what God says with that and just enjoy life. I am at a point now just had a birthday in June, so turned 53. Feel real good about that. You know, 25 years ago I felt, you know, by the time you're 53, you'd be rode in a wheelchair looking crazy. But thank God that it was not my lot in life. So, yeah, just enjoying life and, oh man, just I enjoy every minute at this point. So I'm in a great space right now. So, and I thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of q to christ, I just love what you're doing. So, yeah, that's, that's me in a nutshell well, you are welcome.
Speaker 2:You know, after you said 53, I was like wait a minute, Hold on. I don't look 53 at all, but no, I'm excited to have you on here because being able to display the people that have been around me, I'm excited about it, like literally. So, anyways, anyways, we are not going to hold you all alone.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say a quick prayer before we go further, because you know I like to always usher in the Holy spirit. And and then, once we go any further, before we go any further, and then then we'll go dive into the interview and see how Marcus have been cued for Christ, how he's been cued to be able to do what he has been called to do. So, anyways, I'm going to say a quick prayer. All right, dear Heavenly Father. God, I say thank you for this time that you have carved out. God, I say thank you for allowing us to be able to just have the beings of our life, god, to be able to move and be able to just say thank you for everything that you're doing, god, we know that it's all you.
Speaker 2:God, we thank you now for allowing us to be here. We thank you now for even allowing Marcus to be able to sit with us, god, and we ask you to touch him, god, anything that he is doing, god, we ask you to turn it into gold. God, god, we know that you are leading and guiding him, and so we thank you for what you are doing in his life and even the people that are surrounding him. God, we ask you to just go with his family, his children, god, and so we just thank you for everything that you're doing, god. We ask you for the ones that are here, god, that are watching God, to touch them in a mighty special way.
Speaker 2:God, we know that you know the needs, god, that your people need, and we ask you now to be able to say something that will allow them to ask what they must do to be saved. So we thank you for everything that you're doing. We thank you for all the love that you have given us, god, and shown us, god, because it could be different, but we are here, and so we thank you for just being in our lives and in our presence, and so we just love you. We honor you, god, for the rest of this evening, and we are going to give your name to praise. It's in Jesus' name that I pray, amen.
Speaker 3:Amen Amen.
Speaker 2:Amen. Look, I'm a prayer warrior. Look, I love you.
Speaker 3:I love you. That's one of my things I'm telling you I'm about to say we're about to have a moment of intercession, let's go then.
Speaker 2:We're going to walk there. If we have, to Come on now let's go, then we're gonna walk there.
Speaker 3:If we have to come on now you don't you know?
Speaker 2:yes, absolutely no. So, anyways, I'm super excited to um to have you on here. I just want you um to just kind of tell everybody um about you know, when you um decided, how did you get to this point where you were like you know what, I'm ready to step into my calling. What cued you to say let me, let me get up and do this?
Speaker 3:yeah, um, I, I was one of those where there was this expectation with me all my life, from being a kid coming up. You know, I was that kid. You know where, if there was 20 children that got in trouble, they'll fuss at all the children. Then they'll get to me and say well, you, you of all people, you should know better. You know, and that was irritating because I'm like I want to be bad just like the other kids. I got to be different, you know.
Speaker 3:And so, growing up in, growing up in church, you know, my father had a very impactful ministry, so there was always that spotlight and so I was that, that child that was like, yeah, no, I don't want to do that and I'm gonna try to rebel on purpose, um, you know, and so it became. It became a piece for a while, um, and then got into ministry, um, and I knew it was a part of me, because my approach to ministry initially had ill intent. I initially got involved in church because I wanted the notoriety, I wanted to be a local celebrity and I embraced my ministry, calling in Jacksonville back in 1996. God, that's so long ago, jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:I was 19.
Speaker 3:As soon as it came out, I was like wait a minute. But yeah, and it was really because I was just fascinated. You know, at the church I was at, I was just fascinated by everything that went along with it. So initially it wasn't genuine, and I tell people that, you know, sometimes people don't like to hear that. I was just fascinated by everything that went along with it. So initially it wasn't genuine, and I tell people that, you know, sometimes people don't like to hear that. But yeah, it wasn't. I'm like no, I just I just wanted to be popular and as time progressed, you know, I went through a lot of things in reference to just God kind of tugging on me, and so it got to the point where, just in the last couple of years, you know, being a part of church, being a part of ministry whether it's musician, whether it's preaching, whether it's teaching, whether it's administration I always had this heartbeat of providing hope for people. And so, you know, but it was kind of a but I don't know if I want to be a pastor. You know, I'm like God, I know that you called me to pour into people and sometimes I feel like people rush into what they consider that box. And so you know, like, well, I got to get behind a podium and let me go get this building here, and you know, get me, you know, some signs and some flyers, and I'm going to be a pastor, you know.
Speaker 3:So, in that, in the midst of ministry, I began seeing that there were people that would never, ever come to the located building of our church. Wow, but there was still a calling on my life to be an encouragement to them. Right, and you know, and there were people who would probably immediately turn off their receptor as soon as you say anything. You know what they consider religious, consider religious. And so God just kind of positioned me in different spaces to where I would be an encouragement to people in all aspects.
Speaker 3:And so I'll never forget walking a friend of mine. Her and her companion, her boyfriend, came by the house and they wanted to go swimming, that was the thing, and he came to the house to get the food, and so, as they were leaving, I was just walking them to the car and he was a young man that was, you know, you could tell he's from the hood. So we was just having small talk and this was about three, four years ago and I'll never forget him looking at me and saying man, mr Marcus, I'm going to tell you, bro, man, I could sit and listen to you talk all day. I said, okay, I'm just saying, you're just so encouraging man. He made a statement. Then he was like man, you should be a motivational speaker. I kind of laughed it off.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Over time, I started recognizing that God started putting me in position to speak to people who were probably never done the church doors, you know, but yet he gives me that ability to give them hope. And so lately I've been hashtagging all of my posts with this phrase no more excuses. Because that's kind of what I noticed I was doing and it just came. That's kind of what I noticed I was doing. And um, and it just came. And then, being at work, you know, we do what we call a beginning of the shift huddle, and um, it got to the point where other team members from other departments would come and be a part of our huddle. And God brought the exact same phrase back to me when another young man who works out there walked up to me and he was like hey, bro, I ain't gonna lie, man, I had to ask my supervisor, can I be a couple minutes late? Because, man, here you talk, man, and how you talk to your team bro, hey bro, for real, man, bro, you got it, man.
Speaker 3:You know, I was just like, okay, god, I said you just, you just brought this full circle, and so it just encouraged me to just say, okay, it's no longer about the notoriety. It's no longer about trying to be a local celebrity. It's about being able to provide hope for people and being in tune with what God wants me to say, because I don't want them to feel like they're coming to a church service, but they're going to always hear you. They're going to hear who God is through me, because that's the essence of who I am. So it just became, it became a thing that was birthed out of that young man's statement right when he walked, when I walked him and his girlfriend to the car, um, to this point now, where this is, and it is, you know when I say a passion and a heartbeat for me. I love it, I absolutely love it.
Speaker 2:I, you know, I love that. You know because, um, one thing that you said is that a lot of people are some people may not even step foot in a church you know what I'm saying and some people, um, you can be that people will only see, you know what I'm saying, you know?
Speaker 2:and so sometimes we have to realize that our calling is not just behind a pulpit. And that was one of the things that I had to realize is that, oh, I do have a calling, but it's uncommon, as, as my pastor would call it uncommon, because it's not behind the pulpit. Everybody don't have to be behind the pulpit Now. Granted, you know, we might end up there every now and then.
Speaker 2:But that is not our calling. Our calling is to be out in the marketplace or out telling people about how you could change your life. Right, because that is the main thing. We don't want to, you know, just hit them upside the head with the Bible, but we want them to be able to know that it's there, right?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And I love that. I love that what you said, because a lot of people don't realize that. And when you said that, that was so transparent about you saying that you wanted to be just the local celebrity.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Because there's a lot of people that are in ministry for the wrong reason.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:They done got that they done, got that that 501c3 and they just like yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3:I said sometimes it's unfortunate. I came across so many people that and I remember the first time I said it it really hit home for me. I said sometimes you'll have people that will start a church only because they have no level of authority in any other aspect of their life. Wow, and now they want to be that person. You know I have four members and three of my members are armor bearers. Right, you know. I mean you know, because I want to be that person, I want to be acknowledged as that guy. You know and we know, especially the African-American church.
Speaker 3:That's one of those pieces where you know, because when I grew up you were supposed to, man, don't do that. That's the pastor you know and that's I mean that. You know meeting people. Yeah, you know, like I have people. I have people sometimes try to correct me because I would introduce myself as, hey, I'm Marcus Little. Oh, you should tell him you're Reverend. My mom called me Marcus and when God talks to me he don't come and be like Pastor Little. Oh, he says Marcus. That's what I hear in my spirit. But, yeah, it's one of those pieces where I was guilty of that. I was, I was guilty of that. So I'm thankful God allowed me to live long enough to be pulled out of that stigma and that mindset.
Speaker 2:Man, that is so good, like literally, you know, because, like I said, it's a lot of people that won't even acknowledge the fact why they started ministry you know what I'm saying, right, you know it's because people, you know, anyways, it's just, it's people out there that is just really really leading people the wrong direction and you're not doing they doing a whole bunch of lip service. So, anyway, were there anybody that I mean besides that young man, because I know that being able to get in, in in your calling and being able to do what God has called you to do Sometimes you have to be around someone Were there any kind of mentors that say you know what, let me, you know, you were like, this is what you know I want to be like, or or whatnot? Were there any kind of mentors that that you could say?
Speaker 3:Were there any kind of mentors that you could say yes. So I have a very close and closed circle of people that I really call friends. My brothers are just unreal. They are always reminding me. You know of who I am Jason, steve, my brother David, you know, they just they're really. They're really impactful because we could be playing golf, me and Steven can be playing golf, and he'll just say something like hey, man, you know, this is what you should be doing, know these type of things? Um, I have some ministry mentors that I can tell really laid a solid foundation dr walter scott thomas, who is a retired pastor from new psalmist church in baltimore, maryland okay membership of thousands of people and I can call him and he will just act like I just made his day.
Speaker 3:You know, Um, but he was really one of the ones that always kept me in a space of don't keep yourself in a box.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, he kept saying Marcus.
Speaker 3:Marcus, you are different. He said you're different. He said and don't be pressured. There were moments where there were churches that wanted me to really come and serve as their pastor and I would talk to him and he just blatantly said no, that's not it. He said don't get stuck. He said that's not, that's not for you. And so he was definitely one. And then, when it comes to social media presence, I got to give a shout out and I've never had a chance to talk to him. I don't know if God will ever ordain for me to meet him, but there's this guy named Eric Thomas. He calls himself ET.
Speaker 3:The hip hop preacher is what he calls himself man, the Kiana. The first time I came across that man's videos, he just he. He broke the mold. You know he wasn't the. You know shout outs to tony robbins and les brown when they get up with the suit song. But et was one that I listened to more every morning. He he's very animated, but it just kind of helped me. I kind of started studying his background. I started studying just his approach. There's people like that, whether they have a personal touch to me. I would probably say if I had to make that list. It would probably be Jason Steve, dr Walter Thomas, eric Thomas, et. And I got to give a shout out to my homeboy. I do, I got to give a shout out to him. He's a little unique way. We have a local pastor here in middle Georgia, christopher Cadmus. That's my guy. That's my guy, I tell people.
Speaker 2:You know Chris. We've been knowing Chris for years.
Speaker 3:Right, because he played a drum for the Young Corleas Local pastor here, who's been through a lot, hasn't done a lot, but he has his way. You know he's unique. Hey bro, hey bro, listen, Make sure that you don't be afraid to step out. Step out, bro, Step out. You know he's an actor too?
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 3:Let me think about this so, yeah, those would be the people that I would truly say that in the last few years have really been a major piece for me in stepping out and doing this.
Speaker 2:I love that because you know, like you say, it's some people that we may not never meet. You know what I'm saying, that we can unite with and just say you know what I unite with this ministry because it helped us, it grows us right and the thing about it, you know, for me, when I went through the pandemic and I started watching, you know we had to watch it online and that helped me to the point where it was like, oh, it's more people out here in the world, more people in the world, and you know, and it drew me closer and instead of taking me further, and so that is one of the things that I, when I understood where God was taking me Right, one of the things that I, when I understood where God was taking me right. So how, how did it look when you, um, when you got to that point, how did you understand where God was like, oh, okay, how did that understanding look when you say you know what? This is what I'm going to do.
Speaker 3:Scary.
Speaker 2:I can imagine.
Speaker 3:Scary Um.
Speaker 2:Scary. I can imagine Scary. Why is it scary for you? You get up in front of all of us and go hey.
Speaker 3:Kiana, if this was a script, if this was a scripted conversation, you said exactly what you would have said in the script, because that's what everybody says about Marcus. You know they say oh, it's just so, it's so flawless for you, like you could talk to. You know thousands of people Like it's nothing. But I think the part you know I am big on and the reason I wanted to use that word was to give a sense of connectivity to people, because I do stand on the scripture that say God has not given us a spirit of fear, okay, um, so, without being preachy, the etymology of that word in that statement was to be controlled by the enemy's presence. When it said he does not give us that spirit of being controlled by the enemy's presence because God gives us the emotion of fear and concern, that's an emotion he gave us. So when I said scary, you know the super holy people like oh, oh, no, no, no, god is not giving up the spirit of fear. Okay, but if there's a gun being pointed at you, you're going to feel that.
Speaker 3:So the the anxiety of me walking in my purpose with a genuine desire to please God, it it feels different than me saying, hey, I could take a text, set up my introduction, relevant question, three points at a close, and tap into the emotional status of people and make them holler, preach, boy, right.
Speaker 3:But that's not what I know. God has really gifted me and purposed me to do so. When I come into this, understanding that, okay, god, you have now placed me in this space to be a vessel and a voice of hope for people from all genres, from the church person to the person in the club, to the plant manager at the job, to the CEO, to the board of directors, you have given me a platform where I can speak life into them, and it's something that I want to do and I want to make sure I please you. Now I take my conversations different. I approach my conversations different because I know I'm really representing you now, because I'm in line vertically and I could not be effective horizontally until I got in line vertically and it became a new thing to where I'm in my fifth decade of living. And now, oh, this is what you anointed me to do. This feels different.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And that's where now, when I start seeing how, in all these years, I tried to make things happen.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:But then when I get in line, things just start happening. And now there was a statement at the end of Job's life. I think a lot of people skip over because we celebrate the double for his trouble.
Speaker 3:Right, but Job made a statement he said all my life I had heard of you Right, but now my eyes have seen you for myself. Meaning Job had already gotten the teachings about who God was, but when he experienced God for himself, oh, this is different. This is different. This is not just what hearsay is. So all my life I've been hearing oh God, I do this and he'll open up the windows of heaven. Right, you know he be there before your child but then when I right exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:So when I came into that space, where now I start seeing him say Right, grab it.
Speaker 3:Like you know what I'm saying, grab it Exactly, exactly. So when I came into that space where now I start seeing him say, yeah, now here you will experience Mark, the I'll do exceedingly and abundantly. Before, above all, you could ever ask or even think, and stuff just starts coming Right. So now, when I say scary, it's like scary in a way, like wow, this is it, like I'm here, okay, I got it now. So let me make sure I handle it appropriately and handle it in the way he ordained. So, yeah, it. When it did that, that was the feeling, that was that, that was that feeling like, ooh, okay, I'm here now, yeah, man, I don't think y'all heard this like like dude.
Speaker 2:I'm over here trying not to scream because because that you know, literally I talk about that, because it's different when you get that touch. You know what I'm saying, like it's just and the thing about it.
Speaker 2:You know, we've been in church for years and years and years, and now to get to this point, and it's like, oh, it's real, you know what I'm saying. And and, man, like I'm over here trying not to run because that's exactly how I feel. It's like I want to be pleasing in this. Yeah, I done went to church, I done did this, but now it's different, because I want to make sure that I'm staying in alignment, like you said, with him and not just saying okay, you know what I'm doing, it I'm giving, I'm doing what you said to do. God, you know what I'm saying, but it's different, whew.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like, I'm like it was.
Speaker 3:It was. He gave me a different perspective on the scripture of your gift. Will make room for you. He gave me a different perspective on the scripture of your gift. Will make room for you. He gave me a different perspective. And I'm careful when I say those things because I don't want to say it's a revelation, because normally we'll say God gave me a revelation, which sometimes gives the impression that whatever was said before was wrong, and that's not the case. He gave me a different perspective. But what he gave me was he said well, mark, what do you do with gifts? Because we made it seem like okay, if I my gift, my ability to sing, will put me in position to go sing in different places right, so your gift make room for you, you know.
Speaker 3:but in essence what he said is so, with a gift, I give it out, I present it to someone, and he said the room that it's making is because the gift is inside of us and sometimes we'll try to harness it. I don't want to release this. If I'm full, there's nothing to be poured in because there's no room. But the more I release this gift that's why I tell people all the time you can't just sit back and be like I don't know what I want to do with this, I'm just going to stay here Then there's no room for God to pour, there's no room for God to replenish. So now my ability, just tonight, in this setting, I'm making room because God has given me the opportunity to release some stuff. So now, when I get ready to lay down, he can bring his angel and say, okay, pour some more. Which is why I wake up tomorrow and certain things are now available to me that would not have been available if I was full. I would not have been available if I was full, I would not have been able to take advantage of them, because I decided I'd rather stay full to keep this to myself.
Speaker 3:Gifts are meant to be given out. And that's what really puts me in this space of appreciation is you're really allowing me to just keep pouring out so you can pour in, just keep pouring out so you can pour in. Right, and I'm experiencing that now. I'm experiencing, oh, I would have never made that phone call that's because he was walking around heavy and full. You, you wouldn't be able to have the presence of mind to even make that contact because you're heavy and full. That's why when you before you get up for work and go home and go to sleep because you're full, but when you before you get up for work and go home and go to sleep because you're full, but when you start pouring out, you get off of work and you got energy. I'm gonna stop by this place because god ordained this ram to come up the other side of the mountain for you to meet and make that connection. So I just love it. I love when he communicates with us in that, in that way, and opens up our perspective on things.
Speaker 2:Right, look, let the church say Well, it's time to pass the collection plate.
Speaker 3:Well, the preachers say everybody's standing over the building, everybody's standing across the building, right, I'm sorry, is standing over the building.
Speaker 2:Everybody's standing across the building, right, I understand. You know we got nobody, I'm sorry. No, but that was so good. You know, because you know a lot of people, like you said, when they see that scripture or hear that scripture, you know your gift will make room for you they thinking that it's going to take them in different places, like you know, know how you did it is, of course it's different perspective perception.
Speaker 2:I mean perception of that um you know, and and in different types of settings, of course, but, at the same token, the way you put it and broke it down, oh, I never heard it broken down like that. You, you know what I'm saying, and so we have to make sure that we, you know the gift that God has given us, we are giving it back to his people so he can continue to pour into us, right, and that is that is just, you know, incredible how you, how you put that, because a lot of people don't understand that, and you know, and I know, that we have to continue to keep that, because, on that other side, that's where that excitement comes from when you want to work and you want to do everything that God has called you to do, regardless of how you keep your excitement when you see the storm coming right.
Speaker 2:Because? So how do you keep that excitement when now you're stepping into that, calling um to say you know what, here I am yeah, my, why my?
Speaker 3:why my? Why um? So I think you probably see it, um, as my name. My birth name is marcus um. My mother always called me mark when she talked to me. Hey, mark, mark, can you come um? If she introduced me or was talking about me, she she would say well, that's my son, marcus, but she's my wife. The middle name, my middle name, is actually just the letter J without a period. It's Marcus J Little. And when I was a kid, I was like I want a middle name and I used to tell her make up middle name. My middle name is Jareel and she's like I'm on a middle name. I used to tell makeup middle names. My middle name is Jarell. She's like I just made a unique baby. I just did. I spell it now J-A-I. There's two connections to that.
Speaker 3:In 2019 was the year that I was supposed to literally commit the suicide that I kept planning. In 2019, god took my mother in January. He took my uncle in March. He took my godmother in June. He took my grandmother, which was my mom and my uncle's mom, in September and he took who would have been my first grandbaby in November. Wow, all of that in 2019, my grandbaby's middle name was going to be J, but she was going to spell my daughter was going to spell it J, a, I, hence the two names put together, which I go by Mark J and and the why is because my mother, I went through a phase where I was like God, why didn't you allow her to see this, marcus Right, why didn't you allow her to see the fulfillment of what she spoke?
Speaker 3:And he calmly said oh, she did. I showed her all of it. She saw all this, which is why she said this on that date, which is why she said this on that date. And so my why, right now? And then, when it comes to my granddaughter, who would have been my first granddaughter, god spoke to me and said I'm creating a healthy legacy for you.
Speaker 3:Wow, because, keona, I have every reason, you know, to say this is why I can't do it. Every reason from being a convicted felon in 1998, you know to being, you know, in and out of jail, to going down the road 12 years later for a probation violation and spend two years in prison. You know, and I would. I could easily say well, this is why I can't do it Right, but in essence, I switched that and said this is why I must do it Right, because there are men and women out there who have had an ugly past. Right, you know.
Speaker 3:And one thing about the church and I love the church to life. However, one thing about the church they'll be quick to say, well, god will forgive you. We just don't feel like he can use you because of what you did. Right, we celebrate David as a murderer, we celebrate Noah as a drunk, we celebrate all these dysfunctional people. Oh, but yeah, but God used him in the end. Yeah, but you got this guy over here that you're not letting be used because he had attained it past or she had attained it past.
Speaker 3:So my why? Is because of the legacy that's over me and the legacy that pushes me. So when I don't feel like doing it, I have an event coming up Saturday and the whole tone of it is get up. That's the first thing we've got to do. We've got to get up. When we don't feel like it, we've got to get up when we feel like this. You know, and's a why am I getting up? Why do I get up? When I get up in the morning to go to work, the biggest hurdle is getting my feet on the ground. That's my biggest hurdle, because once I do that, I'm off and running the biggest hurdle is coming from this horizontal position and holding up, getting in my 90 degree position.
Speaker 3:And getting up, getting in my 90 degree position and get these feet on the ground. You know, um, but that's my why, my level, my excitement is my why. That's what, that's what pushes me and I encourage everybody that, if you have not taken time to be able to identify your why, it's going to be difficult to go through those storms. Right, because we, we, we do what we do. When we're driving through a storm, we pull over right and we wait for it to pass. And in the natural, because of the way the earth works, storms pass. That's why the song came out the storm is passing over right.
Speaker 3:In the spirit realm, storms don't move. They're set. It's our job to move through them. So we can't pull over in the spirit realm, we can't sit still and be like let me just wait till this get over. I'll do this and I'll push this conference back because now I got to deal with this. No, god's like. No, marcus, I got you equipped to move through this. So that's what my excitement is, my why. Every time I don't feel like it, I'm like, nope, legacy, nope, I got to push. I got to push Because there's going to be my great-great-grandchildren that may never meet me because God may take me home, but they'll hear the story like yeah, you know your great-pa-pa, mark. Yeah, that's him. That's his picture right there. Yeah, that Mark.
Speaker 2:I love that. Literally one thing that you said is you wish that your mom would see this. I often think about that. We're living our parents, our grandparents and parents um prayers right now yes, you know what I'm saying. Yes, um and like, and one thing that used that stuck out to me. And you say that god said she saw this. Yeah, she saw this. That's why she was praying for it right but now we're stepping into those prayers, the amen.
Speaker 2:Those prayers answered that our grandmother and our grandfather and you know, and even my dad prayed for us and to say you know what, now we're able to step into those that call it, and I love how you, you know you put that. And even when I was thinking about, when you're talking about the storm, we cannot stop when the storm comes Right. And even though sometimes the storm, like you know, and I'm going to say I went through a hailstorm Right and I and I pulled to the side and I say you know what, god, I'm going to make it through here but and kept going slow and sometimes you have to go slow?
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely. It doesn't matter. And sometimes you have to pay attention to when God tells you to stop, because sometimes there is a time where you need to stop and reflect and refocus and stuff like that. But you have to keep going, regardless of what the storm is, regardless of what the situation is, regardless of how it looks. And you know, like even you said in 2019, where you know you had multiple of death, you had reasons why you could stop. You know it's always a reason. You know what I'm saying yes, but it's not an excuse. You know what I'm saying, but it's not like you say right, right, I love that. You know how you, um, and you even kind of show your determination in that, um, you know going forward, but going forward now, even, how more, much more are you determined to get to that legacy or get to that goal which you're trying to get to?
Speaker 3:No excuses. No excuses, you mean to tell me, god, you kept me alive through all of this? Right Determination man, that's it. I'll use Kobe Bryant's phrase when a young athlete, kyrie Irving was real young, he's like man when I put $10,000 in, I can beat you one-on-one. And Kobe's response was easy money. Just easy money. Determination is easy for me now.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:It's easy for me now and because I've seen too much, I've seen God bring me through too much, mm, hmm, and that's the piece that I think the other D in my alliteration is I couldn't get to get into determination if I didn't have discipline, determination if I didn't have discipline. I think that's what a lot of us miss. We want to be determined, but we don't want to be disciplined.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:It sounds good that I'm going to get up at 3 o'clock every morning and go to the gym, or 4 o'clock in the morning and go to the gym before I go to work. When the long clock goes off, I have every reason. I didn't get enough sleep, so I'm going to eat this food. But when I got to get up and go, get showered and go to work, I'm going to go to the gym after work. But now I got the agenda after work so I miss the whole day. And it's the only thing about this Monday thing, like I'm going to start on Monday. What Monday? Monday never comes, monday never comes. I'd have had so many Mondays, oh my goodness. And so the determination. For me it's a no brainer right.
Speaker 3:I'm all in. I have literally jumped off the boat with no life jacket, Mark, you got to swim. You have literally jumped off the boat with no life jacket, Mark, you got to swim. Right, you chose to jump off this boat. No, I don't need a life jacket, I'm going to swim. And so that's what drives me to where God. You kept me through all of this 2019. You kept me through COVID and hospitalized and wishing for death. Wow, because I hit COVID in January, so my granddaughter dies in November. I catch COVID.
Speaker 3:I'm laying up in the hospital and I'm mad when I wake up. Why do you keep waking me up? And I'm literally saying this doctors, I really don't want. Is there anything? Y'all? I know it's unethical, but quit giving me well, just send me home. I really I wanted to call my brothers and say hey y'all. Jason, you know you're my beneficiary. You know you got it. I'm done. I just can't do this, no more. But God kept waking me up every day and people ask how did you get through that? I don't know. I just woke up every day. But now I realize destiny was attached to me.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Right. So in order to get to that, my discipline had to be in place, determination had to exist so that destiny can occur.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Right. And so determination right now. If for those of you guys watching I sound like I'm tele-imagining, but for those that are watching, the determination doesn't get birthed until discipline is conceived. You've got to put that in place and start. Start, that's it. Start One minute.
Speaker 3:Do one thing better today than you did yesterday. Don't try to paint the whole painting. Don't try to put the whole puzzle together. Find the edges. That's how we used to put puzzles together when I was a kid. Find the edges. Quit trying to bring off. If you put any two pieces together, you will drive yourself crazy. Where's the piece that fits? Find the edges, get them all together. That's the first step. We get them all together. That's date. That's the first step. We put them all together and then we go from there. So that's the thing that I want to encourage people to take that first step, one step. Do one thing better today. Get one percent better than you were yesterday, whatever it is. Write five sentences in your book, put it together, have a sense of accomplishment so you can see yourself moving forward. That's the determination. So that discipline has to exist, it has to be conceived before you give birth to determination. My discipline took years of consistency before I get to this point of determination.
Speaker 3:So that's where I am mentally when it comes to that.
Speaker 2:Right, that's, I love that and I need, I need my notebook, I should, I should write my notebook. I need some notes. You know what I'm saying. You know. I think that that is. That is that you know, like you say about about discipline. You need discipline because in order for you to be able to do or stay consistent in anything, you got to be disciplined. I don't care what nobody say. You know people, I get up here on the podcast and I'd be.
Speaker 2:It'd be days where I'd be like, oh, I don't feel like doing that Right right, especially, you know, even now, you know, being that I do this and get on social media, I'd be so sad, I'd be like Lord, I don't feel like, but that is how I'm reaching people, right, Right right.
Speaker 2:I have to continue to do that before you know and stay consistent at doing it. You know what I'm saying, so I can be you know, get to that determination or get to that destiny that God is calling me because in order for me to get there and like I often say, destiny is not a place, it's a journey, because you're going- to keep moving towards something you ain't going to never get there, I'm telling you You're just going to get to a certain level and then you start over at the next level and keep moving.
Speaker 2:That's one thing that I like to say to people. I just want to ask you one more question. If you had to leave your 18-year-old self something, what advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Speaker 3:Believe who God says you are. Believe, believe. My 18-year-old self was Believe who God says you are. Yeah, believe, believe. My 18-year-old self was gifted beyond measure Right Basketball star. You know, I was that guy. But when I got to that next place, my belief system was contaminated. And I say this in church a lot the enemy doesn't care anything about you coming to worship. He don't care about you singing. He don't care about you shouting, running, sweating, falling out. He cares nothing about. He'll stand right next to you and be like there. You go, shout, holler, yeah do that.
Speaker 3:The one thing he does not want you to do is wake up one morning and believe, once you believe you're who God says you are. He has been disarmed. He has been disarmed, and that's his daily arsenal is to keep you in doubt, to keep you second guessing, to keep you giving excuses, to keep you blaming. And so that would be what I would say Is believe you are who God says you are. Believe what you heard, because they were telling you since you were six You're different, you're special. You just don't believe it yet, and if you get to this point where you can start believing, things will really, really be different for you.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:But the last thing I would tell him, though, is but don't change it, because I like the 53-year-old.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:You're going to catch hell. You're going to catch hell, but I like where the 53-year-old ended up. I love that he's that guy, he's love that he's that guy, he's that guy. He's that guy. Okay, people tell me they say at work they be like ooh, when I grow up I'm going to be just like you. Back in the day he's like ooh. No, don't say that. You know what I say to him now.
Speaker 2:I'm a hell. I'm him. Oh, my goodness, that is just. You know what you were talking directly to me. You know about belief. You know we have to know because a lot of people have imposter syndrome, right.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:They are doing something and they don't feel like they are supposed to be doing it, but God has brought you there for a reason. So don't, don't, don't worry, don't care about the imposter syndrome. Believe in who God has created you to be. Believe where God has put you and in rooms that God has put you in and in places that God has put you before, has put you in and in places where God has put you before. So I'm so excited that you have been here. Like you have really, really blessed my soul, like I literally have learned more about Marcus than I've learned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm so excited that you've been here. Just let everybody know where they can reach you at. If you have anything else left to say, do that and then you can pray. Go ahead on prayers and then I'll end us out.
Speaker 3:Okay, you can reach me on. I am Mark J. I've just got into the Instagram, so, yeah, that part. But I do have an event coming up in November. You can go to my website I've just created as a landing page right now, exclusively for the November event, but it's IamMartJorg.
Speaker 3:We have a no More Excuses experience November 15th here in Warner Robins, bringing a bunch of motivational speakers together to speak life into people from different genres as well as preach. You know speakers and pastors, but it's going to be a day of just celebrating, you know, celebrating who we are. But, yeah, you can reach me on I am Mark J, across all platforms. And yeah, and I would just want to encourage you guys, get up. Get up, no more excuses. Get up, take that one minute and change. Do something better. Do something better Tonight, you still got time. If you're watching this live, you still got time. Do something better today than you did on yesterday and keep progressing. God got you. God got you. We'll pray, father.
Speaker 3:God, we thank you so much for this amazing day that you have blessed us to see. You have given us life and you've given us life more abundantly, regardless of what the enemy tries to portray as not where we want to be. We are definitely right where we were ordained to be. You knew this day would come. You knew we would be right here before you even said let there be light. So, god, because of that, because you're sovereign, because you know all things, we trust and we thank you for where you have us.
Speaker 3:God, I thank you for Kiana. I thank you for this gift that you have deposited into this space for this season. God. I thank you for what she is doing. God, I thank you for this gift that you have deposited into this space for this season. God, I thank you for what she is doing. God, I thank you for everything that you have in store for her. Lord, I thank you for blowing her mind. I thank you for releasing into her life those things that she could not even imagine, she didn't even put on her vision board. She didn't even put into her vision board that she didn't even put into her plans.
Speaker 3:Thank you for releasing that and for everyone that has the opportunity to hear this prayer, whether now or recorded, god, I thank you now, lord, for giving them that place of peace and comfort and confidence in knowing that you got them, that they are in your hands, god. Lord, I speak into those visionaries to give them the desire to take that first step, to get up. To get up. Let the alarm clock in their minds go off and do not let the enemy convince them to hit the snooze button, but to put their feet on the ground, get up and walk in their purpose. God, we love you, we praise you and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen, amen. Amen.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're about to have me tearing up over here. I don't want to be crying. So I'm so excited, lord. I tell you I'm so full right now. Tell you I'm so full right now.
Speaker 2:I thank you so much thank you, I enjoyed it anytime we get together, I do enjoy it because, I tell you, god has really, really, like you said, he planned this time years ago and so, anyways, I thank you all for tuning in. Like I often say, if you want to give your life to Christ, you can ask, you can acknowledge that you are a sinner, you can confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, you can turn from your ways, and then you can seek after a Bible-based church, a church that is teaching the word and not changing the word. Ok, so, anyways, I thank you again. Thank you again.
Speaker 2:You can always, if you want to be a blessing in this ministry, you can always scan the barcode, go to buy, buy me a coffee and and go, and you know, buy me as many coffees as you want. You know, and don't forget about the book. You can always scan the barcode, go and get the book. Why Not Me? It's a blueprint from brokenness to breakthrough. I guarantee you it is going to transform your life. So, anyways, I thank you again, mark, for being on here. I'm so excited and please, please, please, just thank you for Christ. All right, bye, y'all.
