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Noble Conversations
Faith, Legacy, and Culture | A Noble Conversation with S.O.
Can food bring people together? Nigerian-born rap artist Oluwaseun Otukpe also known as S.O., now based in Texas, believes it can. With dreams of opening a Nigerian restaurant, he shares how food and cooking, inspired by his father, tell stories that connect cultures. Join us as we explore the communal power of food and the rich traditions it carries from Nigeria to Texas.
S.O.’s journey goes beyond the kitchen. From Nigeria to the UK, and eventually the U.S., his experiences in London’s music scene and San Antonio’s community have shaped his sound. He opens up about the challenges of moving at a young age, staying grounded in his culture, and a life-changing loss that led him to faith in Jesus Christ, transforming both his music and message.
Family, faith, and legacy define S.O.’s story. He reflects on the strong women who raised him and his commitment to a gospel-centered legacy, offering insights on building a spiritual foundation for future generations. Tune in for an inspiring conversation full of personal stories, life lessons, and a call to join in spreading these important messages.
Hmm, today we have a good one. I mean, I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Today we have Oluwaseun Oluwatosin Otupe, popularly known by his stage name, and he is an international rap artist based in Texas with over I mean 40 million streams, as well as collaboration with artists like KB Lecrae, andy Mineo. His most recent, or one of his recent works in 2019, I know 2019 is not like really recent, but Augustine's legacy focused on his dad, his late dad and his first child gathered, I believe, 45 million or 20 million streams alone on Spotify and also features from Essence, forbes, rapzilla and more.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've been looking forward to this conversation for a while because I relate a lot to his music. I mean, he is like his heart shows in his music. I mean, if you look at his different projects, his most recent is Now or Later, but I've really, really, really, really enjoyed it. This is one of the few people that I can say I've listened to almost all their albums back to back, like multiple times, and just different singles here and there. But this man was born in Nigeria, moved to the UK when he was nine years old and then moved to San Antonio, texas. His music really focuses on pointing back to Jesus Christ as the source of everything all, and I've really, really, really connected with him. I mean, I'm really looking forward to this conversation. I think there's a lot of value that you will be able to get from this.
Speaker 2:And yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean stay tuned, let's go. So let me ask for you If you weren't doing music, what would you do?
Speaker 2:That's a good question actually, I think obviously I love teaching. I used to be a school teacher at some point in my life, so I would probably try to do something like that, or that's pretty obvious, or I would go be a chef, Chef, okay, Interesting. I love cooking, I love cooking.
Speaker 2:I really enjoy it, actually go to um like I would open a nigerian restaurant, like I have the name and everything I've got the name I've got like how I would like it to look, the feel, all of that stuff like I would go and do that um and just like integrate. Because to me, like I just think that food is like just a part of not just my African culture but, culture in general. If you think about Jesus, the Bible says that one of his missional strategies was eating and drinking Like the son of man came eating and drinking and you call him a drunkard and a glutton.
Speaker 2:And you call them a drunkard and a glutton, so like what. One of the ways he engaged with people was through food, um, right to, to get them to open up to, to have conversation around the dinner table, um so on and so forth. And so I just I just feel like that is something that our culture kind of misses out on because we're so busy, we're so individualistic, so on and so forth. If you can set a space around the dinner table or in a restaurant and just make it a safe space, people to come and have conversation, to share their stories, to share who they, who they really are, um, like that, that's just like a space of like ingenuity, I think. So like it's to create opportunities for people to be open and to be honest, um, but also create opportunities people to really enjoy good food, and I think nigerian food is the best food in the world, so that's that's that's why I would, that's why I would probably do that.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm saying oh no, that's yeah, I would never have guessed that.
Speaker 1:um, actually wait, I think I I think because one of your songs, I think you said tell the wife to go get the jalal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I listened to that yesterday, so yeah, man, I love cooking, man, you know, and I didn't have a choice but to learn how to cook, you know like when I grew up, my dad was always cooking, so I grew up with men in the house cooking food, and you know. So when I grew up and I wanted to eat certain foods and my mom or my aunt weren't there to cook it for me, I had to learn how to make it, you know.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, man, like you know, me and my wife, we shared the cooking load in the house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that, I love that, I love that.
Speaker 2:It's an open door for people to come and experience a culture that they wouldn't necessarily normally experience.
Speaker 2:And taste palates, food palates sorry that they wouldn't normally experience. And then to be able to share the story around the food I used to think about, like my Ethiopian brothers and sisters, right, who like as they're eating their injera, and like the raw meat, semi-raw, all of that good stuff, right, there's a story behind it, there's a communal like story and conversation around food that allows for like, just man, like, okay, tell me more about why that is or why did you do it like that. And then, before you know it, you're moving and branching away from your old cultural blind spots and just norms and being introduced to other cultures, and that is a way that you can start to appreciate other cultures as well, just through food.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying yeah, it gives you an insight into who someone. Someone is, to an extent, exactly exactly yeah, because so growing up I I didn't know how to cook until I was 16. Um, I was like, yeah, I was 16 at the time and I was about to leave nigeria for college in the us yeah, and so my mom said we will keep you in this kitchen for three months. I will teach you and so like taught me how to cook different soups, different dishes, like jollof, you know, I mean plantains are easy, but like uh yeah, you know different.
Speaker 2:And now, because of YouTube, we just follow the recipe on YouTube with Sissy and me, and and all of them yeah, if I want to make ayamashi, I just go to I mean I just, you know, I'm saying, and so yeah, you know no ccme has saved us.
Speaker 1:She's saved y'all she has saved uh, thank you. Thank you, ccme, for saving us, you know I say yeah, yeah, man, I've been looking forward to this for a long time because, I mean, you're like, arguably one of my favorite artists. I mean like your music. When I, when I listen to it, especially like now or later, or you know so, it ends like there is a level of connection that I feel. So that's why I like yeah, yeah, I was like I need to talk to this brother yeah, yeah, I appreciate that man.
Speaker 1:So, but before, before we move on, I have another one of my questions for you so? If I'm doing an episode with eso, right, and we're about to begin the conversation. What do you like? What do you call that like? How do you introduce that like? How do you?
Speaker 2:man, you know, as simple as conversations with eso, like you know. I mean, I just think, um, maybe that's something you know, just like it's a trick question, though it is a trick question. That is a trick question. Why are you asking me that? Why? Why? Why are you asking?
Speaker 1:so I would, I would, I would start by saying so it begins. Ah, there you go. Yeah, so it begins so it begins.
Speaker 2:Man, so it begins you get the joke yeah, I do get it. I do get it, man. I think you know I was. How old was I when I made that album. It's like 21.
Speaker 2:I was 21 when I made that album, 35 now it's a long time ago, um, and so just experiencing life and wanted to get everything out the way. The way it kind of came out was like was special man, that was a, that was a moment, um, and christian, christian hip-hop uh, that was a moment in our lives, me and my, my good friend, stephen, when we made that, that album, um, we were basically at some points of that project, living together. So I wasn't you know, sometimes I just leave the studio, go back. No, I was just staying in this house, bruv, and then we crafted that thing together.
Speaker 2:And yeah, man that's a special album right there, bruv. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Man, I love it. I love it. So okay to set the stage. You moved from nigeria to the uk at nine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was nine years old.
Speaker 1:Then you moved from uk to san antonio yes, what prompted your move to san? Antonio um.
Speaker 2:So let's, let's start from the beginning first, so, obviously, born in nigeria, lived there enjoyed it, lived in idju, lived in ikeja, you know I mean so, like I was kind of in around, my mom was working in vi, my dad had a, um, an advertising company, alicia virgins, um, and things were good. Man, you know, I always kind of like tell people now that had we known what we knew now we probably wouldn't have moved. You know, cause like there was probably like a time when people unfortunately bought into the colonial, like just mindset of like oh, over, there is better, right, when in reality it's like, nah, bro, stay where you are, continue what you're doing, um, and then maybe for college or whatever it is, come, come and do that so we moved when we were nine, um, and it was cold, man, I just remember being cold, bro, cold and rainy in the uk, bro, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Um, but I was excited, you know, like I'd never left the country ever in my life. And so from about nine up until 18, I spent, you know, majority of my life, majority of my time in the UK, in London, sorry. And then at 18, I went up five hours away. I went five hours away to Durham University, to a college up there up north, near Scotland. So I was there for like three years and then I can't remember what kind of prompted the move to America. Really well, what prompted the move to America? As I started doing more and more music, I started realizing that my audience, my fans, people who actually listen to my stuff, the majority of them lived in America, and so I was getting booked for shows here in the States, um, and so I would come, come, you know, in and out of America. And then me and my wife were about to get married and I was like, well, even before that, I was like, babe, you know, I think I need to move to America to really like take this thing, um, where it needs to go and to like, have the life that I think we can both have, so on and so forth. And so that's kind of what prompted it, the move to the States.
Speaker 2:So before I officially moved, I was coming in and out of America. I was living in Philadelphia with my uncle in his basement sleeping on his uncomfortable futon but I'm grateful for it and I was, you know, going to the studio, doing shows, shooting videos, so and so forth. But then, after I got married, I came to San Antonio the reason why that's all God, because the church I'm a part of now. They used to book me for concerts. Yeah, I'm saying so, they used to book me for concerts.
Speaker 2:And then, when it was time to move, I kind of told my pastor son like, hey, man, you know I'm thinking about moving to America. I don't really know where I want to move to yet. And he was like, oh, come to san antonio. I was like, ah, no, thank you, um, but for whatever reason we ended up going. Well, there's actually a duplicity of reasons, um, but whatever reason, we ended up going here. And um, yeah, man, god has been really good, god's been really faithful and we've seen his hand, move um in, in and just bringing us here, you know, to be a light to um, to serve the people here, to love on the people here and to be loved by the people here too.
Speaker 1:You know I'm saying so you've lived in these three places right nigeria, l London and then San Antonio in the US. Yeah, how have these three places influenced your sound?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question, man. Obviously London, I wouldn't say. I think San Antonio let me start backwards. San Antonio has probably grounded me more, um, because prior to moving here, I was quite literally on the move all the time, um, and there was no communal aspect of my life. And I say that to mean that I wasn't grounded in the solid, I wasn't grounded in the church, I wasn't around community as much as I would have liked to be, just because I wasn't around. You know what I'm saying. Like, I just I was traveling.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. I was like on the road doing this, doing that, you know. So, being here, being able to like, share life with people and to open up my doors and have my doors open to me, have other people's doors open to us, um has allowed me to see what people are going through, to hear their stories and then to allow that to inform my music, right, right, um, so I want to say the city necessarily informs my sound. Um, I would say the people in the city inform the content in the music. Um, so that's kind of what san antonio brings. Uh, london, probably more so than anything, informs the sound, right, it informs.
Speaker 2:If you think about like drill, if you think about like some of the slang that's used, and like the influence of hip-hop culture and garage and grime, and wanted to like input, all of those things and like mesh it into whatever we call my music, um, that's been the influence. Now, nigeria, of course that's. That's like the, the beginning, that's the foundation. You know, I started rapping at my grandmother's 60th birthday when I was six years old, um, and so I I said my first rap in ibadan in in my grandma's house you know, and so if there wasn't no Nigeria, there wouldn't be no rapping Esa.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. There won't be no like Afro influences and stuff like that and things of that nature. My dad took me to my first studio session in Nigeria and so, like I learned a lot of the foundational stuff that I then took to the UK in Nigeria. And so, like I learned a lot of the foundational stuff that I then took to the UK in Nigeria I learned, I learned how to engage a crowd and audience it wasn't an audience with a mic, but there were people around and I had to figure that out you know I'm saying and learn how to do that. So Nigeria for me laid the foundation and learn how to do that.
Speaker 2:So Nigeria for me laid the foundation. London, england, all of those things. Well, you know theology, everything that I learned, I built on that in the UK, even the relationships, so on and so forth. And then now San Antonio, more really the US, philly, all of those places as well. Allow me to continue building on that and to take stories, stuff that I'm, people that I'm interacting with, things that I'm going through, so on and so forth, and then to then input, that in the music you know um and so that's kind of like how I would say the trifecta works okay, so it sounds like nigeria laid foundation UK really informed.
Speaker 1:The sound, yes, and the content too.
Speaker 2:I would say, I would say the content as well, like the sound and the content, just because you know, like my main producer, stephen GP, before he passed, like he was, you know, we were in the UK man, like we were obviously influenced by US stuff, but we were all around like UK stuff you know what I'm saying Like all around it, um, and so that influenced, like the slang that we would use, the conversation, the, the need for some of the stuff that we were saying to be said in music, um, cause I got my, my secondary start in music in the UK and so you know, when I kind of look back at that, like 2010, 2011, part of time, we were influenced by us stuff, for sure, um, but we were also kind of like thinking how can we make this, um, what we're doing here as well? You know what I'm saying, which?
Speaker 1:isn't to say like I was making grind music.
Speaker 2:Of course I wasn't doing that. Um wasn't doing that. Um, like now I would probably say it's more leaning uk stuff like drill, all that good things, um, but still like the content, um, the conversations that that needed to be had were from from from the uk as well okay, okay, and now that you're in the us, like you're taking different stories um from people and that's in influencing the content of your music.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure absolutely, just because I think um, anything you make, any art you make, right you want to, you want it to speak to people you want people to see themselves in the art that is being made.
Speaker 2:And so, yes, as I have conversations with people, as I interact with people, as I hear people's stories, people's struggles, people's lows and highs, their joys, their hopes, their fears, I want to speak to that and I also want to show how Jesusesus, uh, and, and the gospel and the bible how does that speak to that?
Speaker 1:as well, you know, I'm saying, um, yeah, like yeah, so that's that's what I would say okay, so jesus and you know, basically, pointing back to jesus is something that's consistent in your music, um, you know, from when you were in the uk to now. So let's, let's talk about faith. How did you come to jesus? What's that story?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's a good question, man. Um, yeah, I just remember growing up in nigeria. You know, typical church family redeemed. I was there, bruv, I was there singing church rccg I was live, live there.
Speaker 2:Um, and yeah, when we moved to the uk we went to a redeemed church victory house. They started in a, in a, in a school cafeteria, um. And now you know, shout out to pastor leke and, um, the whole team there. They're doing really good things, great things for the kingdom, um, but even even all this, you know, like growing a church being exposed to Christian things. You know all of the hullabaloo that happens at redeemed churches. I still wasn't a Christian.
Speaker 2:I still wasn't there. I was a part of the youth group, integral part of that, but I still wasn't a Christian. You know, I was living my life. One of the things about being a Christian is that Jesus Christ is not just Savior, but he's also Lord he's Lord of your life. He definitely wasn't that for me. One of the reasons why he wasn't that for me is I just thought I had more time. I thought that, oh, you know, I can give him everything of mine when I'm older, because now I'm young. I just want to live my life. You know, I want to go do what I want to do. I want to go to Ibiza. I want to go to the party. I want to be with as many women as I want to be with. I want to do whatever. It is right.
Speaker 2:Like I wasn't killing anybody, or you know I was. I was technically quote, unquote a moral kid, um, but I was heavily sinful, you know, um, and what happened was I had a really good friend. Her name was Sunita um. At 15, 16, she was maybe like a year or two older than me. She was like my, like you know, my best friend, um. And yeah, man, one day she went to get her exam results and, for whatever reason, I was in her house. I don't even know why I was there, but I was in her house in her dining room.
Speaker 2:And she just looked at me and said what are you doing about your relationship with God? Like, just straight Out of nowhere, out of nowhere, out of nowhere, just out of the blue. And I was taken aback because I was like one. We never talk about this. Like what does this have to do with anything? Two, like what are you doing about your relationship with God?
Speaker 1:What are you doing? Let's turn it back to you. What are you doing about your relationship with God? What are you doing? Let's turn it back to you. What are you doing, uh, you know, did you actually ask that question? I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't think I did ask that, but okay, like maybe in my head I was thinking that.
Speaker 2:But anyway, she asked me that and it really struck me because I think she had been reading revelations and I just just look, the God was working in her heart, but we I didn't know that because we weren't having those conversations he was, he god was doing something privately to her that she now wanted to publicly talk to me about. Um, to cut a long story short, a week after stanita passes away like she dies in her sleep, um and of course nobody was expecting that. I want to say a week or two, I you know, I'm not sure, but it was very much shortly after that conversation, um, that she died in her sleep. She just got her results, man.
Speaker 2:She was planning her life. Think about this. She was planning her life. Think about what college and university she was going to. She just had a kid wasn't my kid, but she just had a child, a daughter, and she was trying to figure out what she was going to do, how she was going to be a good mother to her child, and, for whatever reason, death just came and changed everything, removed all her plans, everything she had thought about that she was going to do as an adult. Death just swept it away in that moment and when that happened, I had to ask myself what am I doing about my relationship with God?
Speaker 2:Because, if that can, happen to my good friend Sunita, who was to say it can't happen to me, like who was to say that I can't just wake up, like I won't just wake up tomorrow, like nobody can say that.
Speaker 2:And so, as I started to wrestle with that, as god was kind of wrestling with me in my heart, reminding me of the truths of the gospel that I was hearing in my church, um, there was one sunday I don't even know what that Sunday was, I just remember it very distinctly that God, god arrested me with the gospel man Like, and he, he woke me up, he, I was dead and he made me alive. You know, I'm saying I was in my sins, in darkness, and he transferred me to the kingdom of his son. I was once his enemy and now I'm. I was, I became his friend, and so it was really because my friend passed away and, even prior to that, her asking me that question and me having to wrestle with if I die today, where would I stand, where would I be before god? Just looking at god's moral law? Looking, looking at that and saying, man, what would happen to you today? Are you, are you actually a Christian or are you a play Christian? Are you just saying it Cause it sounds cool? And church is now this social gathering for you.
Speaker 2:It was, it was fun, it was amazing. All my friends were there. You know what I mean. We would hang out, battle, rap off the church before church. We would go to a party on a Saturday and do all sorts of madness, and then the whole youth group would come to church on a Sunday. After sinning on Saturday, we'll all come on Sunday not caring about what we've done and think that God is okay with that. No, he's not.
Speaker 2:And so I started to just survey my life. Man, I was like, man, you are a sinner, bro, like you need a savior. And thankfully, jesus met me, like he met Paul on the Damascus Road, and he saved me, you know. And so, yeah, I was 15 when I became a Christian, when the gospel was real to me, and I'll probably say like I've heard the gospel before multiple times before then, but in that moment it became very real. And I responded and I said to my mom okay, what do I do now? Because I don't. You know, like I know I've been doing this thing, but I also don't know what to do. And in the best way she could, she, man, go read the book of John, go read the gospel of John, and the rest is history. And here we are.
Speaker 1:So, from when your best friend passed away to when God arrested your heart in church, how long was that? Two weeks, three weeks.
Speaker 2:It was a few months, a few months, a few months, a few months okay, a few months, a couple of months, it wasn't even that long, bruv.
Speaker 2:Because, like, my whole foundation of not wanting to, not wanting to go all in as a christian was because I thought I had time, okay, like just the illusion of it. Like a rapper once says that we'll unborrow time all the time, and all the time we've got is all the time we've got. But one day all that time will stop. And so I thought I had all the time in the world, like I thought, oh, yeah, 35, 40, yeah, bro, of course, but sunita died at 17. Like she died at 17, her whole life was ahead of her.
Speaker 2:And so, really, I'm not, I'm not, I don't, I don't control time, you know, I don't control my life. Like I'm not, I'm not sovereign in that regard, you know, I'm saying like, essentially, what it was is like I'm god, like I'm thinking I'm god, I control my life, I control my destiny, I control my will, it's me who determines when I wake up, when I go to sleep. I'm not saying this, but I'm living that way, right, um, and so I just like I just god, just kind of pause, put the pause of him in me and said let me show. Nah, nah, bro, you're not. And actually what happened from her passing is that not only did I get saved like the majority of the youth group got saved Like we all woke up, which?
Speaker 1:is an encouragement to somebody who may be thinking. Did she ask them the question too?
Speaker 2:No, no, no, too. No, no, no, no, no. She did it. But think about it like if this is somebody you're seeing every week like you're seeing them every week, bro, like you're hanging out, you're this that that's gonna have an effect on you and it's gonna make you think man, am I really, am I ready to die? That was really it like. Am I ready to die? That was really it. Like. Am I am I ready to die? Like, not, like, do I have all my ducks in a row? Am I ready to see god? You know I'm saying. And so yeah, to answer your question, it was maybe like a few months after, and on top of that, I was the last person in my family to become a christian. Like I think everybody kind of had like a spiritual encounter, like my sisters, my mom, my dad. Then I was the last person Like, nah, man, I ain't really doing that stuff, I want to live my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which really.
Speaker 2:The illusion.
Speaker 1:Go on. Oh no, I was going to say, like, the idea that we have time is, I feel like that's something that plagues a lot of people. I mean, you know, I was in church yesterday, right, and um pastor preached from matthew 25 about the 10 virgins, right, yeah, um, five of them were ready with, you know, enough oil, um, and the other five were not. Um, yeah, and basically he tied it back to like, if you still, if you're still around now, meaning if you're still alive now, that means god is giving you time to change and come to him, right, yeah, and repent, um, and I think that's you know, around when I was 15 or 16, more like 16, 17 was when I came to Christ as well. So I think that's that's something that people don't really like. People think, oh yeah, how about the time in the world? But you don't, you don't have any idea what's happening around you when you're sleeping, like you, you could just go in a second and does it, yeah, and you know, the truth of the matter is it isn't.
Speaker 2:It isn't this it. It isn't to. To make us be afraid, yeah, like, it's not like, oh man, you're on borrowed time, be fearful. And now you know it's to. One to sober us up, like, and to make us realize that we are on borrowed time, so we can't live like we're going to live forever. Like two, to make us realize that we're not sovereign.
Speaker 2:God is Like. God is the one who sovereignly orchestrates everything. And then, last but not least, it pushes us to serve, right. So it sobers us up, it lets us know that we're not sovereign, and it pushes us to serve, to serve other people, to, to, to give our life. Our life should be spent in the service of other people, because that's what jesus did, right, um, and so it's not like oh my gosh, one borrowed time. We have to now be scrambling for these things. No, no, it's no one borrowed time. We have to now be scrambling for these things. No, no, no, it's no one borrowed time.
Speaker 2:How can I be spent while I'm on this earth? How can I not live for myself or for things, but for others, to the glory of God, like that's what it's meant to do. It's meant to actually push us further and further into the arms of God and say, hey, I don't have all the answers. It's not for me to have all the answers anyway, but it's for me to trust that you do, because you are God and you've given me this time. You've given me all my tools in my tool belt. You've put me on earth in this moment for a purpose. So how can I live my life that best pleases you with the time that I have? Right? So not not. People shouldn't hear and be like oh, don't be afraid, just be sober minded.
Speaker 2:Um, be, sober, minded of the reality, you know what I'm saying, and then use the time that you have to serve other people um, and to be spent in that you know what I'm saying, for the glory of God.
Speaker 1:You people, um, and to be spent in that, you know, I'm saying for the glory of god, you know, I mean yeah, yeah, which I mean that's something you've done a lot through your music, um, I'd like to shift gears a little bit to music, um. So, with music, you mentioned that. Well, first of all, you mentioned that you were one of the last people in your family to actually like come to jesus.
Speaker 1:You know your dad your mom um, and with music, right, you talked about your dad a little bit. Um, you said he was one of. He was the person that took you to your first like studio recording session yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah I have, I have the the cd somewhere in this, in this house okay, okay, uh.
Speaker 1:So I, I have a question about that because I know, you know, coming from a nigerian family, like when I, when I told my parents that I want, I wanted to do, uh, I want to go play like professional, like football, right, my?
Speaker 1:mom, said, no, your dad got injured playing football in high school, so you can't do it. So I said, okay, I want to be a lawyer. And she was like no lawyers lie. I was eight at the time, right. And then I said, okay, I want to be a doctor. And she was like yes, yes, so I don't know what your you know um like how your parents approached it. So when you decided you wanted to go do music full-time, how was that received? I'm I know it might be different for different people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for you. Yeah, so remember, remember, give backstory. My mom's an accountant, my dad's. You know um advertising marketing, so my dad's my dad's a creative.
Speaker 2:You know, my mom's like more my numerical, all of that good stuff, um, so I'm probably like somewhere in the middle of that and I think I think from early they could see it in me that yo, my, you know, my son wants to go and pursue music. Um, right, me and my mom just had an agreement. So my dad passed away when I was like six, seven, sixteen, seventeen, um, but I was already doing music. So when I became a christian I took like a year not doing anything, just kind of like grounding myself in my faith, wanted to know what I believed and why. And then after that I started meeting like other christian artists in the uk new direction, afg, nexus, beatitude, a whole bunch of them and, yeah, just start interacting with them, hanging out with them, going to the studio with them, now, you know, and seeing going to concerts. So my mom and dad, they had like a foundation of like, oh okay, he's really doing this music thing, like he's trying to take it seriously. So my dad passed away. I don't think I ever. I was just still doing music.
Speaker 2:I went to school, I did a degree in theology and my mom was like sure, you know, go, go do what you're doing. So our agreement was go get your degree, you can do whatever you want. That was the agreement. That was the agreement. That was the agreement. Go get, at least go get a degree and then you can go do whatever you want and kudos to my mom for doing that, because some African parents would have not allowed their son to do that Even a theology degree. You know it's like what are you going to do with that? You know what I mean. What are you going to go?
Speaker 1:do with that.
Speaker 2:At. You know it's like what are you going to do with that? You know what I mean. What are you going to go do with that? At that point I didn't have no plans to pass or nothing like that. You know what I'm saying. I just wanted to go and study, that you know. So, yeah, she said go do a degree.
Speaker 2:And then I think by the time it was time to do full-time music, music was already kind of going full-time. So it wasn't like okay, you know, it was like you know, just go go do it, man, just go figure it out, go do it. Um. And you know she was, she allowed that to happen and no, she gave me her, not allowed to say, she gave me her blessing for that. Um, because at that point, when I started doing music full-time as a job, I was 24 years old, so I'd already dropped like two albums, she had already seen itunes charts, she had already been yeah, I'd already been traveling to america. So she's like it to her, like it makes sense, you know it wasn't like I'm just gonna go blindly and do it.
Speaker 2:It was like, oh look, mom, these things are already kind of taking place anyway, let me go and do what I'm doing. And so she was, you know, but I think I think now was a bit different because of the internet. Man, like mom, I want to be at this. Oh, let me just show you. Look at what, look how much this person's making oh, go on, do it now.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, I'm saying so as long as long as there is some uh, yeah, yeah, as long as there's money, man, man and I think my mom really also, I think my mom also was hearing the stories of how the music was impacting people and so, like she wasn't, like she would have never discouraged me from it. My mom and dad, they always encouraged me to do music. They always encouraged me to do it, you know, because they saw that it's something that I enjoyed, it's something that brought me joy, it's something that served other people, and I was good at it. So I wasn't just trash, I was actually good. No, because some people are like hey, I want to do X, y and Z, but you're not good, and so that's one of the reasons why your parents are like hey, I want to do, I want to do X, y and Z, but like you're, you're not good.
Speaker 2:Um, and so that's one of the reasons why, your parents are like nah cause you're not good, um, but they could see that they could see that you know, I was, you know, good at it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I talked about, so it Ends right, yeah, and some of your other projects so like because the different themes so so it Ends. My understanding, like when I listened to the project, was this is someone who is learning how to put his trust in God, and not necessarily in himself or relationships.
Speaker 2:Right, yes, I mean, I think a lot of songs like, like satisfy.
Speaker 1:I've had that song on repeat Cause anytime, anytime, I find myself in a place where it's like oh, I really want to get this job or I really want to get married. You know, I'm like go back play that song, even wait as well.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm like okay, go back, play that song, even Wait as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another project I've also enjoyed is Augustine's Legacy. I mean, this is focused on your child, but also your late dad. Yeah, so I lost my dad as well when I was about 13. Wow, sorry bro, no, thank you, thank you. And so sorry, bruv, no, thank you, thank you. So, um, how did his influence, you know, when it comes to being around supporting you to move forward with what you actually, like you know, want to do? Like, how did that shape you as a good question?
Speaker 2:um, as a good question um an artist, but also like as a person. Yeah, I would say that you know, and I think my dad would say it too.
Speaker 2:Um that, I'm probably like the 2.0 version of him like you know, like he's, like he's the beta, you know like. Um, yeah, my dad, my dad, taught me the upgrade. Most of most of what I know, you know. I'm saying, like how to love people, how to keep family first and um serve your wife, serve your kids, um be spent at work for the, for the good of others. Um, there were times when my dad, my dad, wouldn't pay himself but would pay his workers. Um, you know. So, just just the idea of like sacrifice and um making sure others eat, even though you know, even though you're the boss, you deserve to eat, but like you're here not to serve yourself but to serve other people.
Speaker 2:Um, and so seeing that being around the, the advertising, the marketing company, and like just seeing how their desire to tell stories, like through music, through through film and media, like it's at a time where, like that wasn't like the norm, you know, like not to, not to toot his horn, but he was, you know, kind of thinking about that now, like he was really ahead of that curve. Um, like the socials and like like using like video to tell stories and stuff like that. So you can literally google my dad right now, like maybe you won't find google an ad right now and he's he's in a coca-cola ad as a kid, um, it's like a young, maybe like 20 something year old. So he, he was in theater, um, when he was in college. Uh, and you know, my uncle, my uncle often tell me that I'm doing what him and my dad wish they could do when they were young, like so I'm living their dream, I'm, I'm doing everything that they, that they sought to do. Um, you know, and so miss, miss him every day. Just think about like the, the stories and like the memories we could be making right now and, yeah, man, big, big influence, you know. You know, when you lose somebody like that, like at the age age that we lose our fathers, like that, that's a very critical age, you know. It's a very, very like 13, 16, 17. Like you're really learning what it means to be a man. Yeah, like you're learning how to like navigate life.
Speaker 2:There's a bunch of questions that you have that you can't get answered now. That you have that you can't get answered now, um, but I want to. I want to shout out my uncle, um, who kind of stepped in, you know, in that, in that role. You know, um, I remember my uncle in philadelphia, like just, you know, one day, just looking at me, and you know I'm thanking him. You know I'm doing the nigerian thing. Thank you for all these things you've done for me. Yada, yada, yada. Thank you for treating me like your son. He said what do you mean? You are my son, you know what I'm saying. And I cried, I wept, just because, yeah, the man's taught me you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:He's taught me, you know. So I would say those two men you know, my dad and then my uncle, just played a critical role in what it means, like my dad kind of taught me, you know, this is how you it's the foundation man, family faith and the future. And then my uncle's like okay, cool, how do we build on that? Here's how you grow your credit. Here's how you buy a house. Here's how you go and do this and this and this. Coming from london, you're starting from ground zero like quite literally, you're starting from zero.
Speaker 2:You don't have, you know, zero credit score, zero done, it's nothing. You know you have no social security, but you need someone to help you navigate and learn about those type of things. Um, also navigate and learn about like relationships and and and marriage and seeing how him and my aunt how they navigated and stuff like that. It's just an open book man and an open house and my uncle, along with my wife, like just showed me like hospitality. You know my uncle's a super hospitable person. Um, people coming to the house and like loving on people and serving people, like setting time aside to have conversation with people and hearing their stories. It doesn't help that he's a psychiatrist as well, so that's probably also why you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:That makes sense.
Speaker 2:But you know, I think about my father every day, man, I think about my dad every single day. I just think he'll be so proud of what we've all achieved me and my sisters and my mom and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah bro.
Speaker 1:My dad, bro, it's crazy. So your dad built the foundation and your uncle built on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then obviously there were other men and women. You know I was raised by a lot of women too. So, like my mom, my aunt, you know, like I just just think about their strength and their willpower to go on and persevere and show me the love of jesus, show me the power of prayer, show me, um, like, how to like push forward when things look bleak. You know I'm saying with all, all hope is lost. I saw my mom get up and continue. You know I'm saying, um, where it would have looked like she wouldn't have been able to, but I saw her do that. Well, all through the power of the holy spirit, of course, um, yeah, I, my aunt, opened her home to me and my sister, like when we were young, and you know, so like I've been raised by great women too. Like I don't want to, I don't want to take that away. Like my sisters, tiwa, rachel, like, um, but you know like I love my dad man, and I love my uncle, and like, yeah, yeah, bro, I just wish more men would be able to have those type of men in their lives, that men that they can go to, be honest and cry with, like, who would set time aside and give them the game in a real way. Like I just wish more men had that aside and give them the gain in a real way. Like I just wish more men had that.
Speaker 2:Um, examples of praying for men, men who are in their word. Um, men who want their lives to be governed by the scriptures. I just wish that more men would have that as an example, because I did Um and that that's kind of what has led me, uh, on the path that I'm on. Now, you know I'm saying, um, yeah, like think about loving my mom and loving the women in my life. I saw my dad do that, you know, I saw my uncle do that, so my uncles and my aunts and them do that. So, like that, I'm just, I'm just living. I'm living, I'm living their legacy out.
Speaker 2:You know, and so I want to leave my kids and um the same principles and legacies and just build on that.
Speaker 1:You know I'm saying, yeah, I like that. I mean legacy is huge, because when you, when you've seen examples right, yes, whether it's from individuals or communities being raised by you know those people, it influences to an extent how you raise your own children Absolutely. And speaking about legacy, one of the things, or one of the, I remember I think this was in Now or Later the song he said you know, child of a village, my daddy was part king and so he showed you how to serve, even as a leader.
Speaker 2:Yes. What does leaving a legacy look like for you? That's a good question. Um, I would say the main thing that leaving a legacy looks like for me is leaving a spiritual legacy, like to show my children, um, and and, and those around me that what matters most isn't what you have. Um, you know, I'll say, my dad taught me that and he, he learned that from jesus what matters most isn't what you have.
Speaker 2:Actually, when you die, people will remember you for what you kept, for what you gave, and so you want to give as much of yourself, your time, your talent and your treasure as you can to other people, and so, like instilling that in my five-year-old and my two-year-old. Obviously they're kids, so it's just simple principle stuff. Like, okay, cool. Like you know, in this house we serve one another, even if it's not our mess. We go pick it up, you know I'm saying, and then we ground it in the gospel. You know why? Because jesus did that for you. It wasn't his mess to save you. You know, like that's your mess, you're the one who sinned you. You go figure that out. No, no, he didn't do that, though. He came and figured it out for you. He came to die for you.
Speaker 2:And so grounding the moral foundation in the gospel for me is critical, because what it does is it doesn't raise moral kids who are just good. It raises gospel-centered kids who know that everything they have is a gift from God and they do what they do, not so that they can try to get into God's good books, because that can never happen, but because they've been fully accepted by Jesus and because Jesus has done the same thing for us. He calls us to do what he's done for us in a way for other people, to serve other people to, to love sacrificially for other people. So my legacy is to give them Jesus. It's to obviously to live. A monetary legacy, yeah, make sure everybody's good in that regard.
Speaker 2:But at the core of everything, if I left my kids a billion dollars and they don't know Jesus, I haven't succeeded. I've just left them with money that they can then go and squander and go and live a licentious life. I don't know what I need them to be grounded in. Is this? First of all, it's the bible. I need to be grounded in that. I need them to know that jesus loves them wholeheartedly and their life, if they grasp that and understand that fully and they live in reality. Of that not just I know it in my head, but I'm living it in my heart and it's working its way through my hands everything else will kind of fall into place.
Speaker 2:What that does also is that when life starts to life by that I mean when bad things begin to happen- life they also have a firm foundation to stand on, so that they're not standing on sinking sand right, their hope is on the solid rock of jesus christ. Meaning if there, if, if something happens like we just lost a friend, right, my, my steven. He just passed away this year february. We just lost a friend and I'm trying to encourage his kids and and his wife's trying to encourage his kids too, like, hey, man, we have a hope in the gospel of the resurrection of jesus christ that one day we will see your dad again, I will see my friend again, um, or if their dad suffers and something happens, to me trying to encourage my kids and say, listen, we have a hope that what we go through isn't only for us, and when God compass us with what we through, what we go through, he, he wants us to take the comfort we've received and then to give it to other people.
Speaker 2:So we are always going through something for a reason God is sovereign, god knows what he's doing and anything that has happened in our lives, anything that will happen in your life, if you know that, if you hold to that, if you know that you are known by God and God loves you, he cherishes you, he values you, he sees you. Anything that life decides to throw at you, you can face why? Because the worst thing that life could throw at you has already been dealt with. He's already dealt with the sin and death and hell and the wrath of God, so that's the worst thing that can happen to you Doesn't mean that anything else you go through won't be difficult, but it means that if you live life through a framework by which you see life as man, god has dealt with the worst. Now I can just live in his reality and his love.
Speaker 2:Anything else that comes when life starts to life, if it's up, if it's down, my hope is not in my circumstance but in Jesus himself. So my legacy, my hope and my desire is to leave them with a love and display to them a love of Jesus that when their dad dies, they say that this man was a Christ follower and a family man. He loved his family, he loved his wife. Look how we loved mom, look how we loved us, but also look at how he loved jesus and he showed him. Um. So that's what I'm hoping my legacy would be so leaving them with the love of christ that they could then use to share with other people and comfort other people as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, leaving with the love of christ. They can share that, comfort them with other people, but also they can have a foundation on which to stand. Oftentimes we want to leave our kids with monetary foundations to stand, educational foundations to stand, sports foundation to stand. But when life begins to life, no amount of money you have is going to wipe those tears away. If your identity is in your sports, your identity is in your career, your identity is on your sexuality, your looks or whatever it is when things begin to happen which, by the way they in, they will inevitably happen. I just don't know. I don't know any human who has never suffered or gone through some sort of hardship. I just don't know anybody. I just don't know. It could be the loss of a dog, I don't care what it is. Your goldfish died, but you were so attached to that goldfish so you felt something. No, no, that's a real thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When that happens, your career can't do anything for you in that moment, just can't. That piece of paper that you have can't do nothing for you. No, it can't speak back to you, it can't give you hope you know what I'm saying. It can't give you peace that surpasses all understanding. But you know who can jesus. And so I want my kids to know that. I want my kids to, to love that and to, to, to, to live in that reality. That's, that's that's what my wife and I are pushing for as we build the other things career, job, money, all of that, all of those good things. But at the core of everything is Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Speaker 1:How do you balance building all those things? And you know, because you're building all those things, you also want to show your kids the value of hard work, but also the value of loving christ and having that foundation, yeah, for you. How do you keep yourself from getting prideful with all those things and the successes? And yeah, and you know, how do you, how do you manage that?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. Well, one. I think I think the way you you avoid pride, um, I think the way you avoid pride Is just to know that nothing you have is yours. Nothing you have, you've done it, I've done it me, you know, it's just, it's just wild man.
Speaker 2:If you know that, like James says, every good gift we have is given by the father of light, like God has given it to us this home, this, these, these kids, my wife, every, everything, everything. It's God who has given it to us and he's given it to us to be stewards over it. We don't, we don't own it. It belongs to him ultimately. But he's given it to us to say, hey, I want you to steward this, I want, I want you to have it and steward your kids. I want you to show them Jesus, your wife, I want you to show her Jesus at your job, your music, your career, whatever it is that you're doing. I want you to show Jesus and I want you to live in such a countercultural way that when they see your good worksesus says, they glorify god, your father in heaven.
Speaker 2:Um, so, one, realizing that we're stewards over what we have, um, two, not becoming too attached to the things, um, I would, I would say, I would say is a thing like just not not becoming too attached to it, knowing that, hey, man, like your career could end tomorrow, like, and if it ends tomorrow it doesn't belong to you, it doesn't belong to you and follow the example of Jesus. In the kingdom of God, the way up is down in the. In the kingdom of God, jesus loses to win. So, what, what? We are called to do that, what, what, what call to lose to win? Well, we're called to walk in humility, go to poses of pride and give grace to the humble right.
Speaker 2:jesus christ, it says in philippians that he didn't count equality with god or someone to be grasped actually left it. He gave it up. Why? So that he can come and die for our sins and he can come and live for us so we can now have his righteousness. Um, and so I think the way you build that man is just to remember, remember the gospel, like, remember the, the, the. The at the core of the gospel is somebody who wasn't trying to build up their name or their brand, but somebody who was living for other people, living, living for other people Before Jesus died. In John 13, I believe, he picks up a basin and some towels and starts to wash the feet of his disciples. Like that's what he starts to do. And they go nah, peter's, like bruv, what are you doing? Like, nah, dawg, like you ain't washing my feet, bro. Like, just like, listen, you don't even know if, if you knew what I was doing for you, bruv. Like if you knew, oh, what's my whole body? No, someone to relax relax.
Speaker 2:Then the end he says you now do for for one another, like this, which is to say go and serve one another. Meaning, what you have, use it for the service of other people. Because we're, because we're so individualistic, we don't do that, we skip over that, or we think what, we think, that what we do is enough, where christ is always calling us to do more and more and saying listen, what you're doing is good. You know yes and amen, but how else could you serve other people? Do your neighbors know you? Sure you're a rapper and and you're all of these good things, but are you serving your neighborhood? Are you serving in your church? Like, are you giving your life to people?
Speaker 2:Like all of that stuff is cool, but I have found the most reward in when I'm walking with people, and walking with someone who doesn't know Jesus or know just a little bit about Jesus, and then in a year's time they are on fire for the Lord, like that's my joy in that, and so I hope I answered the question. I just think you steward it. Oh, you did you serve other people? Um, you just remember, like man, it's not your own bro, like it's just, it doesn't belong to you. It doesn't like it doesn't belong to you.
Speaker 2:Um, there's a rapper, the uk, and his instagram handle was like not real life, it's this. It's not real life, bro. You know, I'm saying social media is not real life, like it's just. It's just everyone's putting up a facade showing you the highlight reels, um, or if they're not showing you the highlight rails, and they're like they're, they're putting their camera in the middle and they start to cry that's still like, that's still weird to me. Like you set up a camera, you start to I don't know how people do that. Yeah, I don't know, but amen, you know I'm saying so that's that's what I would say.
Speaker 1:Okay, man, I think that was so profound. I mean leaving a legacy by, you know, showing the love of Christ to your kids, but also helping them show it to other people, while at the same time being reminded that everything you have is not yours and it could be gone tomorrow.
Speaker 2:And let me add one more thing you have is not yours and it could be gone tomorrow. But let me add one more thing the things that we are building for, like the money that we want to have, the homes that we want to have, the, the, this and the, that, those things don't satisfy us. Yeah, to borrow eso song, you know, only christ can truly satisfy um, and that that's the whole idea in john, chapter four, that jesus is saying that I am the living water, like those who drink of me will never thirst again. By the way, money can never say that to you. The the more money you have, the more money you want, like the more. We just want more, more, more, more. Just a suit, we want a surplus of it in abundance.
Speaker 2:Jesus says man, once you have me, you never thirst again. And so those things that we build, we, we long for we that we sometimes make there are good things that we sometimes make that are good things that we sometimes make. Good things were never designed to become our god, they were never designed to be worshipped, they were never designed to satisfy us, and once we put them in that position or in that place, they actually lose their original design intent, which is to be used for the glory of God. Right, it's to be used and to be stewarded for the glory of God. So, if, if we start to look at marriage, relationships, money and all of these things, as this is what's going to fulfill me, this is what's going to make me feel more like a man. Just think about that. As a man, I just need more money so I can feel more like a man. Listen, god has already given you the identity that you need. That can never be removed from you.
Speaker 2:Christianity is the only religion that offers an identity that is received and not achieved. All right, everything else keeps saying you got to achieve it, you got to get it, you got to go out and get it, you got you. Better go out and go, go, go, go, go go. Christianity is so antithetical to that that jesus comes and says that once you were not a people, but now you're a people. Once you didn't have nothing, but now you have everything you need. Once you were not a son of god, but now you're a son, a co-heir with christ. And so if we keep that at the foundation, if we keep the gospel, the truths of adoption, the truths of being people of god.
Speaker 2:Anything else that we're building over here on this side pales into insignificance. It doesn't compare, sorry, to what we already have on this side, because god has given us everything we need, so anything else is just dip on a chip, icing on the cake. But it doesn't mean that we don't build we still need to eat but it just means that we are working for a different purpose, that we're grinding for a different purpose. We're not trying to find our identity in what we have and in the abundance of things, because we know that if we do that, we are building our lives on sinking sand and not the solid rock.
Speaker 2:You can ask billionaires who have all the money in the world and are still super depressed why? Because money doesn't satisfy. You can ask all the, all the stars who thought that getting married would make them happy and then they divorced and then now they're just looking at each other like, oh my gosh, like why? Because they didn't build on the core foundation. You know all the people who have all the best jobs in the world, working for google and apple and all those things, just statistically unhappy because they're looking to their job to give them something that only jesus can give them, which is full satisfaction, full fulfillment, full joy, full peace. Only j Jesus can do that. No other religion makes this claim. Only Christianity does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's extremely profound Because, okay, foundation right, that's the foundation of all life, jesus and faith in Jesus. Yes, I want to go back to another foundation you talked about, which was Nigeria, that being the foundation for your music. Do you ever see yourself going back to live in Nigeria? Going back to live. Yes, is that something you would consider doing, maybe in 20 years, 30 years?
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:I would say if it was just me and my wife.
Speaker 2:No kids maybe. But yeah, I just think, unfortunately, you know, we're just so used to Western life man, yeah, like we're just so used to it that we would literally be fish out of water, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to like man. Like how do what? Where do?
Speaker 1:you go for this.
Speaker 2:How does that work? And so, at this juncture probably not. But who knows, man, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, god may have other plans. I'm not opposed to visiting, though I will say that.
Speaker 1:I'm not opposed to visiting. Remember when you said you wouldn't live in San Antonio.
Speaker 2:Well, now you're living there. I did say that Now I'm living there. It's true. It's true. You never know. You never know man. God can do anything. God can do the impossible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, thank you. Before you leave, I have one last question.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So what's on your mind, or what's the number one thing on your mind in this season of your life? Wow.
Speaker 2:It's a good question. Um, I think that, well, outside, I like I'm preparing for a sermon so I'm not gonna talk about that. That doesn't seem fair. Um, in james not in james in galatians it says for freedom, christ set us free. In James, not in James in Galatians, it says for freedom, christ set us free.
Speaker 2:Sometimes people think that Christianity is all about rules and regulations, do's and don'ts. Oh, don't do this, don't do that, don't go to a club, don't smoke, don't drink, don't have sex before you're married, before married X, y and Z. But Christ literally comes to set us free, for freedom. He, no, no, not to say he comes to set us free, but he also comes to give us freedom, right? So it's not necessarily, it's not only sorry what we don't get, but look at what we do get.
Speaker 2:And I think sometimes people forget that Christianity is all about freedom. It's all about the freedom, the joy that we have in Christ, the new relationship that we have in him. People assume that freedom is just I can do whatever I want. That's not freedom, that's enslavement. You are now enslaved to your liberties liberties if you think I could just do whatever I want. That's not freedom, the freedom that god calls us to and calls us for is a freedom to live for him and to enjoy him and so on.
Speaker 2:My mind right now is I'm kind of like talking to people and interact with, like some of the young adults in my church and stuff is that people get so bogged down in what they don't get to do as a christian that they forget what they do get to receive as christians, that the joy that they get to receive and the restrictions that god puts on our lives are actually for our good. Like people just people just be forgetting that. Like they forget that the things that he tells us not to do actually benefit us. Like hey, don't sleep with somebody who's not your wife. Why, well, bro, you might catch a disease. How about that?
Speaker 2:Man don't lie, don't lie, but why? Who wants to be around liars? Who wants to trust lies? You know what I'm saying. Like, the things that God actually restricts us to do is actually for our good, it's actually for our joy, it's actually for our benefit. I think, if people, if, if people saw Christianity not just as a not just as a rule system of do's and don'ts, but as something that gives us freedom, real freedom that we're longing for and that we need, how different, different they would view Christianity, how different they would view a relationship with Jesus.
Speaker 2:Just talking to somebody the other week, and he was talking about man, like it's just not fair that they can do this and this and I'm like bro, like they're not free, that's not freedom, like that's do what I want and it doesn't really matter what other people think. First of all, nobody lives like that because everybody cares what someone thinks. No, nobody in reality is like I'm just don't care, we're not. Everybody cares what someone thinks, even if it's themselves. And so the reality of what God has called us to and what has God called us, not just from has called us to, and what has God called us not just from, but what God has called us for, for a relationship with him, for a renewed mindset of walking in his glory. Walking for his glory, for his will, for our joy and our good, for the betterment of our family and our communities and those people around us. For for solid marriages and children growing up not fatherless but with fathers and with mothers in their home. Four families and husbands and wives and single people to steward what God has given us. Four not being bogged down by whether you're single or you're married, but having joy in Jesus Christ, not that he's your boyfriend or none of that nonsense stuff, but knowing that he's the one who satisfies you, he's the one who gives you joy, actually realizing that the church, the body of believers, can go beyond just play cousins to actual family, like. For that, he saved us for that and so much more that if we just started to realize, man, that this is what he's called us, not just from, but called us for, we can live a true life of freedom.
Speaker 2:Freedom for freedom. Christ has set us free, he saved us for freedom not to now be man. I can't do this, I can't do it, I can't do no. No, freedom, you're free. You're free from from sin. You're free from wanting to care only about what other people think about you and allowing that to enslave your mind and causing you to not. You're free from the anxiety. You're free from that now. You have freedom to walk in light of what he has set you free from and free for um. So that's what's on my mind, uh, as along with a myriad of other things.
Speaker 2:But I will say, at the core of everything, man is that like man, like, just think about what christianity is, and, and I think one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about it is that people have co-opted and taken Christianity out and made it into something that it's not so that when people see Christianity, they think, oh, it's just a bunch of rules and regulations, man, they don't want you to have fun. No One, we have to redefine what fun is, but two, no, no, no. Essentially, what the world is offering you is not freedom. That's the real enslavement, that's the real thing.
Speaker 1:The thing is, you're going to be slave to something regardless.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Do you want to be slave to Christ or do you want to be slave to your passions?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and listen to this Jesus is the only master that if you fail him, he won't abandon you. Everything else that we decide to make masters over our lives if we fail them, they will abandon us. They will leave us in a heartbeat oh, oh. You don't do that, stocks well, your money gone. You don't do good in school, you're not going back. But if you fail Jesus today, he doesn't abandon you, he doesn't leave you. He doesn't leave you or forsake you. In fact, he calls you to draw closer and closer to him. So when he calls us to say, hey, I'm now your Lord, I am your master over your life, it isn't to say, oh, now I'm just boom. It's to say I'm actually giving you freedom. Think about it.
Speaker 2:When the prodigal son comes back and he realizes that the thing that he thought would give him freedom actually enslaved him, this joint is actually not for my good he comes back into his father's house, meaning he has to abide by his father's rules and regulations. But what does he meet there? He meets freedom. He meets a party. He meets a father running out to him with a robe and a ring saying come back home. That is the core of Christianity, right there, that when God calls us home, calls us to himself, when he calls us to be Christians and to follow him, what awaits us actually in his kingdom is a party us actually in his kingdom is a party. That's the freedom that we get. We get to enjoy ourselves, we get to enjoy God, we get to enjoy one another and we get to live in his rule and his reign. That is actually for our good.
Speaker 2:But what Satan wants us to believe is that what God wants for us is not for our good but actually to hold us down. That's the great deception that he's been doing since the garden. Oh, did God say that if you eat a fruit? Did God really say that? Did God really say that you shouldn't go and sleep with people? Yeah, nah. He did say, actually, marriage between one man and one woman nah, man, if you do that, you really enjoy yourself. But what he's not telling you is that if you do that, you're gonna catch a disease and you may die of aids. You know, like just the real ramifications. And so god calls us to freedom, man. God calls us to enjoy him and to enjoy the things you know. So, yes, he is our master, but he's the only master, that when you serve him, he won't overbear you, and if you fail him, he won't leave you he won't leave you.
Speaker 1:So if, if you, if I were to summarize that, I would say what's on your mind in this season is restriction, is freedom in christ yes, yes that's it yeah okay, yeah, oh yeah, come, come, come, come.
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