Who Do You Love?

Join Joe, Kelly and Ashlyn as they discuss Who Do You Love?  

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Transcript

Episode 10: Who Do You Love?

Kelly: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Blessings on Hope Road podcast, where we talk about life, family, and what it all looks like through the lens of our walk with God as we step into our calling as his children.

Welcome to episode 10. 

Ashlyn: That's two whole hands this time. 

Kelly: That is two whole hands this time. That is title is. Who do you Love? You love me? 

Ashlyn: Me. You guys love me. 

Kelly: Of course. We love you. She's your daughter. 

Ashlyn: I made him laugh. I've won. I won. A win is a win. It is a win. Is a win. Small 

Joe: winnings. Oh my gosh. It's like a final lottery ticket.

Hold on. I need to mute myself 'cause I need to crunch the mice. 

Ashlyn: Okay. It's like winning, winning a lottery ticket. Okay. Like, you know how like some people, some people do, some people like win the lottery and they win big. Yeah. And [00:01:00] then sometimes you, you scratch off and you win like five. I'm not endorsing, no playing the lottery, but you win like $5.

I just had that $5 win and I was super excited. 

Joe: So my laughter is only a $5 win, 

Ashlyn: that's all. It's a $5 win. Maybe more like a $50 win. 

Joe: Yeah. Don't, don't try to sugarcoat it. 

Kelly: Don't try. Okay. Back to the topic of who do you love? Back to the topic. 

Ashlyn: Your laughter is the worth. All the money in the world. We've talked, 

Joe: oh my gosh.

 so last episode, we, you and I talked about staying in love. Staying in love. Yeah. Um, we've covered. A lot of that was loud topics. It was, it was a little bit loud, but it's okay. Um, we've talked, we've covered a lot of stuff we've done, but this, who do you love? Yeah. Um, it's kind of an odd question to ask.

It is to a degree. Um, and I, I don't typically, when we sit down and do this, I have a outline. 

Kelly: We're not outlining this 

Joe: time we put together, we're not here, [00:02:00] we're just kind of off the cuff. We're just kind of letting it rip. Flying by the seat of our pants. Yeah. Yeah, because it, it, what? I won't go on that side ramp.

Yeah, you're not going to. Um, but where this comes from over is just kind of,

it just seems like we, we say this a lot or at least, well, maybe it's, maybe it's just me. When you see everything going on, like stuff is just constantly amping up. Sure. Like, you, you keep thinking, okay, well we've reached this new level, and then it's like the next day it's, it's another level. It's another level.

And you're like, are you serious right now? Like, oh my Lord, I like my level. Um, and just talking about all the chaos, all the crazy right. That we see going on. I mean, and at this point in time, there's. Stuff that I never thought I would hear. Yeah. Spoken of me. That's accurate. Who in the world? [00:03:00] Um, but I don't want to get, because if I go down that road, I will sidetrack.

Kelly: Yeah. You're trying to go down that rabbit 

Joe: hole. So, um, because I get very fired up about that. Um, so let's put this but don't want to, but with all that, it kind of draws all that to say it, it very easily draws our attention Yeah. Away from what's important. Um, And we know, you know, when you, when you pose the question, who do you love?

You know, husbands and wives, hopefully, hopefully you would think of your spouse. I would hope you married spouse, the person that you love. Yeah. I mean, husbands, if you're listening to this, hopefully you think of your wife wives saying, um, And, you know, young people who have significant others, you know, dating, seriously, dating somebody.

Yeah. With the intent to marry. Hopefully that's the person that you love. Um, yeah, yeah. As you're dating, but I, I, that's not what I'm talking about. No. When we pose, pose this question. Yeah. It's a little bit deeper than that. [00:04:00] Yeah. Because who you love actually determines. What and why you do the things you do.

Yeah. Right. And that's, that's what we're getting at here. This, this, this whole episode came, um, kind of from and roundabout the ways of. Jeremiah, Jeremiah Jerem. Joshua. Joshua. Joshua. Joshua. Sorry. I was reading in Jeremiah most of the week, so. Well, you're in Joshua now. I know. I'm in Joshua now. Joshua. And we'll read it.

Um, 24 15. This is, um, Joshua speaking, who now Moses has died. Um, and Joshua is leading the Israelites and they have crossed over. And this is what Joshua says, because the Israelites, you know, when you read through the Old Testament, It, it's kind of insane. We, we look at the stuff that's going on now and it's like, oh my gosh, things have gotten so crazy now.

People were just as [00:05:00] ridiculous. Yeah. Then absolutely. I mean, here you have a group of people in the Israelites who have been led out of Egypt. Mm-hmm. They have just seen the plagues happen. Yeah. They've all, the Red Sea has been parted. It's swallowed up Pharaoh's army. They walked across the Red Sea and dry like all these things, and they get in the wilderness and they're like, oh, we just should have stayed in Egypt.

We're gonna die. Like, are you serious right now? You've seen all this stuff. Just got through all of that. And this is me saying, are you serious right now? Knowing that I would be one of those people, oh, absolute. Oh my gosh. Maybe we should have stayed there. Like did we mess up? But. They're in this place where they constantly question right?

Everything, even though we see all these things. And Joshua comes to a point, says, this is what he's saying in uh, 24 chapter 24 verse 15, and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods, which your father served, that were on the other side of the river, were the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

But as for me and my house, [00:06:00] We will serve the Lord. So a lot of people quote that part, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But there's a whole lot of stuff Joshua's posing this to them. This point. Yeah. Like, and like who are you gonna serve? And nobody says right there, if it seems evil to you Yeah.

To serve the Lord. So in other words, it there's, you should be serving the Lord otherwise. Yeah, there's something messed up with your perspective there. Mm-hmm. And that is largely when we look at the stuff that goes on now when you hear people talk about like, God, there's all these misconceptions and Right.

I look, religion does. And I'm talking about religion now. I'm not talking about a, I'm talking about stuff that oppresses a, a belief system that seeks to oppress people and just make them do what certain leaders want them to do. Right. Um, [00:07:00] I kinda, I had a little.

My wife is giving me a terrible look right now in the sense of, whoa, what are you doing? Yeah, I just had a complete brain fart, but I'm not, it's the Holy Spirit 

Kelly: telling you to 

Joe: shut up. There's religion now. Holy hush. It wasn't a holy hush, but religion, it was just a look that mom had on her face. It kind of threw me for a little bit of loop for a second.

Sorry. Um. But religion has jammed up a lot of people. 

Kelly: Oh, sure it has. Um, because they feel like there's rules and restrictions. 

Joe: Well, I, I, no, God is a God of order. Yeah. He is a god of order. But there's, let me, maybe I'll go this route. For some unknown reason, we tend to view leaders within the church. As they should be.

Perfect. Mm-hmm. Right. There's still people. Yes. Yes. Scripture tells us that we need to live a life above reproach. Right. That does not say that we live a life of [00:08:00] perfection. Mm-hmm. Right. It's again, It's the heart behind what we're doing. Yeah. So, but there seems to be this terrible misconception that Christians are bigots and we're racist and we think a certain way.

Right. And we hate everybody if you don't think the way we think, which is kind of ironic. Because they couldn't be further from the truth. Yeah. It's, we watch a whole society who does feel that way. Yeah, right. Who does hate you and thinks that you're completely ridiculous and you're the enemy if you don't think the way I think.

Yeah. That couldn't be the, that could be further from the truth. The truth for a Christian. Like when you really dig into how we live and what we believe, we realize that the majority of the world does not believe and think the way we do. Yeah. Well, it's because 

Ashlyn: religion, especially in our country, has been taken and called Christianity, and what religion does is takes the grace out of the things that God has said for us, if you really think about [00:09:00] it, because if you wanna look at the rules aspect, like Mom was talking about, Religion says, okay, you, I, you have to do this, this, this, and this for God to love you.

Mm-hmm. And if you do any of these things well then you're a lost cause and you're going to hell. You know what I mean? Right. Literally the thing they got Satan kicked out of heaven. God looks at us and goes, it's okay. Come on. Come back. It's okay. Yeah. 

Joe: You just repent. Yeah. Repent from it. He's done it.

It's it's, 

Kelly: but true repentance is you have to turn away and not do it away and do it again. Right. And that's, you can't keep on doing the same thing. That's something people struggle with. Yeah. 

Ashlyn: Absolutely. 

Joe: Well, and that there again, who do you love? Yeah. Yeah. It's when you take the time and look, this is something, it, it doesn't, as we talk about this and that, that's what I'm saying.

It's, it's only the love of God that can carry you and help you to love on people when they act the way they act. Um, when they're angry, when they're hurt, when they're right. When they're 

Kelly: lashing out at you, you're 

Joe: just being completely nasty and you're [00:10:00] like, wow, what the heck is going on here? Right. Like, but he, he gives you eyes to see beyond Right.

The surface. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's not just like, you know, when somebody gets nasty and, I mean, it's getting completely ridiculous over something minute. Yeah. Right. Like, you know, instantaneously it's like, okay, there's something more going on here. Like, yeah. You aren't just like the super fun body just reacts like this because they thought to themselves, you know, I wanna be, they woke up and chose violence.

Yeah. Well, yeah, you can sometimes. Oh, absolutely. But it's because of something that's happened that, of something that's 

Kelly: going on, 

Joe: but in, in not just because feel like it with everything that goes on now, like we have such an antagonistic government. Like they want, they want us to hate each other. They want us to picket each other.

They want us to think that we are the enemy. 

Ashlyn: Well, and in [00:11:00] turn, it's created a society that's like that as well. Yeah, 

Joe: yeah, for sure. Unfortunately. Um, but it's just taking a deep breath and taking a step back and saying, okay, well why am I doing what I'm doing? Yeah. Like, why do I do this? Why do I say this?

Why do I act like this? Why? And that word love gets thrown around a little too casually. Yeah. And we've talked about that, like yes, we 

Kelly: have. We've definitely talked about that. People say that they love something. You don't love that you like it a lot. Yeah. But 

Ashlyn: you know, I really like coffee. I really like caffeine.

I do not love. 

Joe: Yes. Yeah. And it's something we have to be mindful of. Absolutely. Yeah. You cannot, so who, what is the why? What is the why behind what you are doing? Right. And that's really what this is all about. This episode is, and it's what Joshua was saying. It's what Joshua was saying. Mm-hmm. To the Israelites.

Like, choose, choose wisely. Yeah. What it is, what you're doing. Yeah. Like if it, if you think it's wrong to [00:12:00] serve God, that's fine. And you want to go serve all these other dead idols and, and gods that your fathers and the people and the land we do. If that's what you wanna do, that's fine, but this is what we're doing.

Right. We're gonna serve the Lord. Yeah. Because we know who he is. We've seen him, we know him. We, we love him. Right. That's where we're going. That's. Yeah. That's the why behind even why we're doing this podcast. 

Kelly: Yeah. Podcast. We've seen the blessings that he can provide when we follow what, and we're obedient to what he's asked us to do.

Mm-hmm. So we're gonna continue to be obedient to what he's asked us to do. 

Joe: Yeah. It doesn't, and I mean, literally our sermon, this is, you know, we're, we're, we are recording this on a Sunday evening. We sat in church this morning and listened to our pastor. Mm-hmm. Kind of just. In verse by verse, jump into, I think it was Second Kings.

First King. Kings First. Kings 17. First Kings first King. 17. Yeah. Is that what it was? Yeah. First King. 17. I don't have my notes with me. But [00:13:00] talking about Elijah. Yeah. When he went to the widow, and, I mean, the widow just had the, the little, the little bit of flour and the little, very little bit of oil.

She's ready to die, right? Yeah. Yeah. She literally said she had just enough to make herself and her son a cake food, and then they were gonna sit there and die and they were gonna split the cake. Eat it, split it, you know, die, go die. Die. Yeah. Elijah rolls on the scenes like, Hey, well, okay, that's, I hear what you're saying, but I want you to take some of that and first make me some food.

Yeah. And then make yourself some food. Yeah. But she did it. She did it. Mm-hmm. Even though it didn't make sense, she was obedient. Mm-hmm. She was obedient. Yeah. She chose in that moment. Mm-hmm. Okay. I'm not gonna rely on what it looks like. Yeah. Yeah. And the blessing came on the other side of the obedience.

Come on. Yeah. So who do you love? Like, why are you, and this has been a big thing. This is, uh, a lot of the growth I think has been happening, especially in our home. With each one of [00:14:00] us. And I, I can't speak for anybody else, but I know for me personally, like it, it's been a, um, I don't wanna say a drawing back to, but it's been a reminding, the Lord has been reminding me of just how much he loves me and just how deep that love.

Runs. Right. And it, it literally is, it's shifting as he, excuse me, as I'm mature. You're 

Ashlyn: struggling tonight. I don't know what is in my throat. 

Joe: My, that's my first time. I know I'm over here. Like, yeah. Don't, don't be pulling me into your struggle, pal. You can Anyway, but it, it's been a reminding, don't be offended for, it's been a reminding and it, it's of how much he loves me and it's.

Because it's different, because when he first got ahold of me, that's all it was, was the love aspect. Mm-hmm. Right. And I mean, I can, I will, I don't think I'll ever forget, you know, just [00:15:00] trying to walk into, I think it was Aubrey and Logan's birthday party over in Smyrna. I can't remember if it was expos or where it was they that, uh, Ashley and Kev.

Had the party, but I had just gotten back from that first Celebrate Recovery summit. Mm-hmm. And I mean, I hadn't been walking with the Lord very long. It was right around maybe a year. Yeah. Right. When all that went down and I, that was the first time I'd been with a crowd of more than like 30 people. Yeah.

To worship the Lord in a service. And I mean, you go from that to like 3000 people and some of the most incredible worship at that point in my life I'd ever been a part of. Right. And I was completely undone. Yeah. To the point to where I will never forget walking into that place and I just started crying.

Yeah. Like, I just started bawling like a baby when I saw my family because I was just, all the love that he had poured into my heart and that time that we were there and it, it's, it was beautiful. It was necessary at the [00:16:00] time, but it's different this time. He's, it's like, it's like a fresh outpouring of that love.

Right. But it's different. Because now it's not that, oh wow, he loves me. It's like, yeah, he loves me, but oh my gosh, look at how incredible this is. Like, and you start to see things through a different lens, right. Of that very same love. Mm-hmm. And it's, it's wanting, it's no more about just you and that love.

It's about, I want other people to know that love. Yeah, I want other people to experience that love. This has nothing to do with trying to get you to believe what I believe or think the way I think, or act the way I act. I don't want you to do any of those things. I don't. You're your own person. God made you to be your own person.

That's why we're different because he has something for you to do, but that love. You need to experience that love. Mm. And when Joshua talks about that, that's what, [00:17:00] that's, yes. He didn't put it in that many words, but what he's saying is you need to decide who it is you're gonna serve. Yeah. Like who is it that you're going to serve it?

You can't, you don't get, it's not a la carte. You don't get to say, I want the love of God, but I'm not gonna be obedient. Yeah. Right. And I'm not gonna serve him. And, but I want all the benefits of it. Mm-hmm. No, no, 

Ashlyn: not at all. And that's deeper than that even, because I feel like a lot of people today want God to be a la carte.

They pick and choose outta the Bible, how, what fits them, what suits them in that moment. And they disregard the rest. 

Joe: Yeah. And it, it's not, and listen, when we talk about this stuff, this is not anybody No calling anybody else out. Not at all. It's just, it is observations and it's the things that we have learned.

Yeah. Makes little voice crack. Yeah. [00:18:00] You 13. Yeah. Right. Um, but it's stuff that we have learned and that we've found and seen in ourselves, like, man, there's certain areas where I've tried to just. Have this, but leave out that Absolutely. Right. And it doesn't work like that. And it's, um, I don't know if we touched on it when we did the, um, when we talked about the obedience and submission, but that, that's the heart of submission.

Mm-hmm. The heart of obedience is submission and the heart of submission is love. Yeah. Because it's, it, it makes you want to do all of a sudden, and it, it completely blows things wide open. Yeah. Like in John 15 when Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commands right. Well, if I love him, and this is something just like, I literally mean just in recent weeks have come to fully understand that if I love him, [00:19:00] I'll start keeping him gladly.

And I don't even, it's not because I'm trying to keep them. But because of the love that he's poured into my heart, I start doing it by default. Yeah. Because he's loving me and I'm loving him. And when that happens, there's, there's an abiding that takes place and you choose to do that. So it, it's, but what does that look like today?

Like, what areas does, what area? What areas does That's good English. But in what areas do we struggle with that? In what areas do we, you know, get distracted, get caught up? What areas do we stumble in? Well, 

Kelly: I think a lot of people, you know, a lot of people stumble just by, they put work ahead of God, they put money ahead of God, you know, and that's what they're looking up to, right?

And making their love. It's their love of money, their love [00:20:00] of. You know, being top at their job. Yeah. Or whatever it is. Like they put that well above God and they're willing to do just about anything and sometimes whatever it takes. Yeah. Sometimes crossing lines that are not, or not to be crossed. Yeah.

They should not be crossed. They're not morally or ethically correct. 

Ashlyn: And as long as it makes 'em a dollar. 

Kelly: That's right. And that's, you know, it's so hard to see people going down those roads and I mean, Mm-hmm. I admit I was there at one time. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Because I thought that's how I had to provide for my family, but God will provide.

Right. You know, he'll be faithful if I'm walking where he wants me to walk. Yeah. He'll be faithful to do that, to take care of us. And that's what 

Ashlyn: he does. And that's, that's been my big thing the past couple months, is he's always been faithful. He's never not come through. Mm-hmm. Show me one situation in.

My life in the Bible, [00:21:00] wherever, where God has not showed up in some way. Right. Even if it's not what it, I need to stop turning my head while I talk. Yes. Even if it's not what I thought it was supposed to look like. Right. Or what I thought he told me it was gonna look like. Yeah. He still showed up. Sure.

And getting older, getting to an age where adulthood and bills and college are. Real things in the front of mine. They're there. They're, it's not something that's far off anymore. And oh, I'll worry about it when I get there. Like I'm going into my senior year of high school. I'm getting to a place where I have to start thinking about going to college.

Yeah. I, at that point, I need to start thinking about moving out. I, I am gonna have to start thinking about getting married. That, yeah. That it's a lot that, that, that brings bills, that brings a whole different aspect of life. And when you, I never understood people's struggle with finances because I never.

Had like things that I absolutely like, Hey, bills don't stop coming because you don't have money. [00:22:00] Yeah. They're still there. Think that's not how the world works. You can't, they still do. You can't call your mom and be like, mom, I don't have money right now. Can I pay you back later? The debt collector's gonna go, no, I need the money by 5:00 PM tomorrow.

Or I'm coming to repo your car. Yeah. Like, that's not how that works. So when you don't see that in your finances, it's. Him bringing to remembrance. Yeah. Hey, I've always been faithful. Yeah. You, you tithe. There's no reason that I'm not gonna come through. 

Joe: Yeah. As long as you're doing your part, as long as as like saying you're having and you're working, you're not, you're not tithing, you're 

Ashlyn: not money that mommy 

Kelly: daddy gave me.

Yeah. And you're not sitting on your butt like doing nothing. Like Right. You're, you're working, you're doing what he's called you to, but as long as you're obedient to what he's called you to, if you are just going out there and not doing what he's asked you to do, and Yeah, that's a big thing because 

Ashlyn: then when that's you and I just had that conversation, like, because I have been.

Hearing from the Lord [00:23:00] and walking with the Lord. I say, as long as I have, like I've been doing it my entire life. I have not, no. Even when we were in church mm-hmm. I did not love the Lord. I actually strongly disliked him for a long time. For a, for the, a better part of my life at this point. Yeah. But once I started walking with him and where I'm at now, Knowing that people my age, like are making decisions on where they wanna go to college and what they wanna do with their lives without consulting the Lord, like, blows my mind.

Yeah. Like you can just make a decision based off what you want to do. I want to go to college out west. God said, no, you're gonna go down south and go to college. And I was like, w why not? 

Kelly: Yeah. So it just doesn't seem like your thing. But he's like, no, you're going to go here. You're, you're gonna go, gonna go.

So if that's where he's telling you to go, then. 

Ashlyn: I have to be obedient to it. That's where I can't, you have to be obedient because I know there's gonna be bus 

Joe: help of love. 

Ashlyn: Yes, yes. Mm-hmm. Not because I have to. Yeah. Because I want to, because I know that [00:24:00] just like you guys have my best interests at heart, as my dad, he has my best interest at heart.

Yeah. And there's a, there's a reason he's sending, he's not gonna do it because, He wants to or because failure, he's not setting you up. Failure sure would Dar at a map for a failure and that's where he hit, you know, he has a plan for your life and he has a plan and I have a purpose. Yeah. And that's been something that's been resonating with me too, other than his faithfulness.

Mm-hmm. Faithfulness fifth food 

Kelly: fuck Dash. 

Ashlyn: His faithfulness is him telling me all the time, just like he told me for a long time, whenever I would ask him questions. For, I know the plans for, I know the plans. Yeah. And now I ask him questions about those plans. Sounds like he's told me some of them. And he's like, I have a plan and you have a purpose.

Yeah. Okay. But you could tell me what that plan is and what my purpose 

Kelly: is. But he's only gonna give you the first step. Exactly. He's not gonna give you the whole plan because as we found out, he gives you the whole plan. You probably can't handle the whole plan and you'll Yeah, you'll talk yourself out of it and be like, well that's what David 

Ashlyn: was talking about today.

Yeah. And [00:25:00] you know, when he opened up the was like, if you need answers, I was like, I'm gonna go up there. Pastor David, sorry, pastor David. He, I was like, I'm gonna go up there and get my answer on when I'm supposed to go to college. And God was like, I'm gonna tell you when to go and when I tell you to go, you're gonna go.

Yeah. I was like, or you could tell me now. And he's like, no, you're gonna wait for my cue. 

Kelly: Yeah. I mean, it might not be next year and I'm year. Yeah. And maybe the year after. We don't know. So 

Joe: you can't, it might be tomorrow. 

Ashlyn: Well, and that was my thing. I was like, okay, so realistically, if you've told me to pack up and leave tomorrow, 

Joe: You don't, you can't give it a look and go.

Yeah, but I don't think so. It doesn't, no. Yeah, I know. But, 

Kelly: but there she has, she has to complete two classes before she can graduate High 

Ashlyn: school. God's gonna make it. He graduated without taking a language. 

Joe: So think you don't have to give that. What are they gonna do? Revoke Revok his? Yeah. Revok my diploma.

20 years 

Kelly: post. What are they [00:26:00] gonna do still? Dunno how 

Joe: you got out that one. I'm gonna get a phone call. 

Ashlyn: Hi, is this Joey Boyles? This is Queen Anne County. Board of 

Joe: Education. Board of Education. So we pulled open your records. Anyway. Anyway, so, but, but all which, which begs. The question. So, and it it, well, I shouldn't say it begs the question, it draws to light, um, really what it is that's behind the question.

Who do you love? So if you don't love the Lord and it's not him that you're choosing what? Is it in fact, yeah. That's behind what you're doing? Yeah. Like what is it? Money, 

Ashlyn: fame, a relationship? Yeah. What's, et cetera, et 

Kelly: cetera. What is making those choices for you? Like what's making you choose that? Choose that thing.

Joe: You know, I think it all goes back to one [00:27:00] place, month hard posture, all of it. Money. I don't care how many different things you throw at it. It all goes back to one thing. Okay. Self-centeredness. Oh, it's all self-centeredness. Well, yeah, because you have something that needs to make you feel complete. Right?

Kelly: I can 

Joe: see that. I need to make money. I need to make money. I need to make money, even if it, and I don't care what angle of money you throw. Yeah, I don't care. 'cause you have the angle of, well you, you have people that have to have so much in the account to feel secure, right? Mm-hmm. Then you have to have people, or then you have people who have to have enough money to buy enough things to look good.

Yeah. Right. To appear good. Then you have to have, rather than, there are people, excuse me, who have to have enough money to basically be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Right. It doesn't matter. It's all to fill something that's missing inside of you. Yeah. If it's career, even if you don't care about the [00:28:00] money, you just want a title, you just want a status as far as, look what I did, look at all these achievements, look at all these trophies, look at all the whatever, what's really behind that.

Ashlyn: Yeah, and I think there's another aspect to it as well, especially for me, and something that I've struggled with is people pleasing. Yeah. Everything I did was to please somebody else. And I think especially with the age that I'm at, People my age, especially I, I've said especially like six times, but when you look at college decisions, a lot of people are going to certain colleges to either please other people or please their parents because mom and dad have told me that they've wanted me to go here since I was knee high to a grasshopper.

So that's where I have to go, and that's what, whoa, what 

Joe: was that? Which goes back to what? E even people pleasing, I mean, people that, uh, pride. I wanna please people so people will like me. It's self-centeredness. 

Kelly: Yes. [00:29:00] Yeah. 

Ashlyn: It all, it's that stung. When I realized that when people, pleaing was a form of 

Joe: pride, it's not.

It's not confusing. We make things confusing because we try to rationalize and we try to justify and we try to explain away. Yeah. But at the end of the day, and I, believe me, I'm not saying this in a judgmental or critical way. I'm saying this is the, these are things I have to look myself. Right in the mirror on a regular basis.

Well, I think we all do. 

Kelly: Yeah. Like we all Absolutely. 'cause our flesh has a tendency to just want to be self-centered. Mm-hmm. And not focus on God. But you have to, like, he has to be your priority. That's where you have to be looking at all times. 

Ashlyn: Mm-hmm. And I think focusing on God takes your focus off the now and onto the, okay, God is telling me this because of X, Y, and Z.

That could happen. Right. For my own good, not for what's good right now. Yeah. Because when you are in your flesh and you're in that place of self-centeredness, it turns into, [00:30:00] okay, what am I gonna do that's make, gonna make me look good? What am I gonna do that's gonna make me feel good right now in this moment?

Yeah. 

Kelly: And people get caught up in those feelings, like they just want. 

Joe: Well that, that's the tricky part. Yeah. Fleshly decisions. Fleshly decisions will make you feel really good for about five minutes for a very short period of time. Yes. Short period of time. But what sometimes we don't always realize. The flip side of that is what feels good for five minutes carries eternal weight.

Five months, right. Worth of fallout. Yeah. Not even getting, you know, and you're right, there is internal weight. There is an internal weight that goes behind every decision you make. But that aside, just looking at the natural. Mm-hmm. You know? Okay. And I'm, I'm gonna go right. And I'm, 'cause I'm not gonna point a finger at somebody else.

I'll look at my own mm-hmm. Nonsense things that I deal with. Okay. I, I can't sit back and say I want to [00:31:00] lose weight and I want to be more in shape. And later and thinner, and then turn around and go get a bowl of ice cream. Right. I need a whole bunch of ice cream. Yeah. I, I can't because okay, in this moment, this is what I want.

Right. I want this right now. Okay. But that's not helping me long term, so I need it. I'm gonna feel really bad about myself. It tastes really good as I'm eating it. But then five minutes later it's like, It's like, I really 

Kelly: shouldn't have done 

Ashlyn: that three weeks, man. When I gained 10 pounds, 

Joe: I did it again.

Yeah, yeah. Like, what are you, and that, that's, that's the big thing. And I, I want, as, as we touch on all these different things, man, if, if there were, and that's the thing with God, there's, you have to experience it for yourself. I can sit here and tell you and [00:32:00] explain to you all the live long day. That everything he tells you is for your good.

Yeah. Everything is for your good. It's for your benefit. It's, you know, as you brought up Jeremiah and Jeremiah 29 11 for the, I know the thoughts I think towards you, some translations. I know the plans I have for you, but it's plans or thoughts to prosper you. Yeah. Yeah. Hope for hope. A future and a future.

Yes. Like it's, there's nowhere in scripture I was even reading and I'm trying, man, I turned off of it. I wish I would've kept it there. I can't remember if it was in, I think I wanna say it was in Ezekiel that I was reading and it, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and he was, he was prophesying the gospel that if any man would choose righteousness mm-hmm.

Over his evil and wicked ways. I'll receive him because it's not my heart's [00:33:00] desire for anybody to perish. Right. For anybody to die in their iniquity. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's God in the way and everybody has this and God was, he got right in the Old Testament. Yeah. As far as, you know, seeing judgment and wrath carried out.

But because that wrath has been poured out and it's done, it got poured out on Jesus. I, we don't have to see that. Yeah. Right. It's been poured out, but it hadn't been poured out in the Old Testament like you People were witnessing it. Yeah. Wouldn't that be true? Happen as people were acting a fool? You know, God had to deal with things.

You could go so far, but then when God drew the line, that was it. You're done. But here is God's saying in that place to Ezekiel like, I don't want, I, I wish. And you go to Deuteronomy, I've said before, you ble or life and death. Yeah. I wish that you would jar, I, I want for you to choose life. Right. Not so everywhere through there.

He wants you to choose life. Yeah. And life [00:34:00] quite simply is found in one place. Jesus. Yes. Yeah. He said, so I am the way, the way, I am the truth. I am the life. Mm-hmm. So that's choose life. Choose Jesus. Yes. Like he is the embodiment of it. And you can't get any more plane than that. No, not at all. Hmm. Sucks.

So many different 

Ashlyn: ways I could take this. Thoughts and feelings? Good, kindness, time. Good. Good time. 

Joe: Yeah. Good. Kind. Yeah. I, I, I don't, I just, 'cause I can, I can get on a tangent and roll, but it's passionate and that is, that's as I was saying, when we do these things, I want people to know. Yeah. And it's not because I want you to be like me.

I don't Don't, nobody says that. No pastor, at least that I know of says that like, we want you to know Christ. Because to know Christ [00:35:00] is to Yeah. It's to live. Yeah, it is. To truly live like I did it, there is no, there's no word in the English language to properly. Capture what it is to walk with him, to have him do things that just for no other reason.

Don't make sense. Yeah. Yeah. For no other reason to pour out blessing on you because he loves you. Yeah. Because you chose him. Yeah. Like are you serious right now? Like all this, like we're, all he wants is a 

Kelly: relationship with you. That's, that's all he wants. Just 

Ashlyn: show up. Yep. Bring your butt and your brain will follow, 

Joe: but bring it daily.

Yeah. You don't, not just to church once a week. A successful marriage isn't saying, I love you and I do on your wedding day. And then, okay. Are we good? Yeah. So I can go back and do my thing 

Kelly: now. Check in like once a month or when things get bad, be like, but 

Ashlyn: yeah, no it doesn't. You it was after a big fight.

Yeah, it does. That's [00:36:00] not 

Kelly: how works. No. Yeah. 

Joe: It's daily. It's, I'm gonna set aside time. Have to choose to love the person to spend Yeah. With you. And just be with you. Yeah. Yeah. And listen. Read why? Well, it's 'cause I'm what I'm supposed to do. Well, yeah. It might be what you're supposed to do, but do you want to do it?

Yeah. Oh, I want to do it. I want to know my heavenly father. Yeah. I want And and, and he wants me to know him. Oh, absolutely. So if he wants me to know him and I want to know him, he's gonna be faithful to show up. Yes. And say, watch this. Yep. It doesn't have to be this dull, rigid. Cold, no series of events that you have to do for God to love you.

Mm-hmm. It doesn't hate the, if you're alive right now, if you can hear this, if you're breathing, you're there because he loves you. Yes. And that [00:37:00] means if. You're breathing, you're alive. And if you're alive, he's got work for you to do. Yes. Yep. And I don't care where you're from. I don't care what things look like.

He's got work for you to do. And if you say yes to him, watch If you're not dead, he's not done with you. Watch as he means. He's not done things in ways that you never thought possible. Yeah. To bring it to pass. Because there's nothing that can stop his plans for you. Zero. Nothing. Yeah. There is another, the devil tried to stop the plans.

How'd that work out for him? And it didn't got himself kicked out. It wasn't even, he thought I could get rid of the Christ. Yeah. Get rid of him. Get in the heads of the Pharisees and he still got his butt kicked. Yeah. And didn't realize the very plan that he wa ha ha saw played out. Mm-hmm. Was the very plan that stripped him.

Rat spoiled again of all of his power and authority. Yeah. Yep. Stripped him of every last bit of it. And now here we sit, punk Little Christs. [00:38:00] Yep. Literally, that's what Christians are. We're little Christs. Yep. Co-heirs with Christ. Same power. Yes. Same authority that Jesus had. We have. Yep. Same spirit that Jesus walked in, we walk in, we have it.

Yeah. Greater things is what he has for us to do. Jesus told his disciples that. Yeah. Truly. I say to you, you've seen the works that I've done, but greater works you will do. Yeah. Sign me up. The man who walked on water. The man who raised the dead. The man who made the blind to see, mm-hmm. The deaf to hear, the lame to walk.

I'm gonna do what he did and greater sold. I'm in all the way in. Okay. Well, you need to leave everything and follow me. Oh, I don't know if I can do that. No, [00:39:00] no. Who do you love? Yep. I know who I love very much. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't, I, I, I don't say that arrogantly, please don't misunderstand. It has been quite a journey over the last 10 years.

Quite a journey. It has, you know, it's funny. That's. I don't want that to go by the wayside. If you're listening to this, if you just tuned in and you haven't heard, like, this is not, this is not the way I have always been. No. This is a work that the Lord has done in my heart. I for sure, because there was a time where I did not love him.

I only loved what I wanted. Yeah. But he was faithful. He was and met me in that place. And started a work in my heart. You know, he delivered me from the alcohol he had. He delivered me from the addiction in the blink [00:40:00] of an eye. Yeah, it was gone. But there was a whole lot of stuff that had to be worked through.

Yeah. To get to where we are now. Yeah. And that's the stuff that he has been faithful. He stripped, and I didn't realize it at the time. I didn't, it didn't make sense to me at the time, like, why? Why did that get taken away? But all the rest of this garbage, why is it left? Why wouldn't you just clean it all out?

Well, you can do that. Sure he could. He could have done that. He could have, but he stripped away the things that were making it impossible for me to walk with him. Yeah. And left an open road. Yeah. Give me an opportunity to grow my faith in him because when you have to walk out that road and you have to walk through some of the things that we've walked through, it's not easy.

Kelly: No, it's not. It's not easy at all. But what's on the other side of walking through that muck and obedience Meyer [00:41:00] is 

Joe: well worth it. Hmm. It's so, and it grows. All of it is a process that grows. Oh, absolutely. Not just you, it, it doesn't just grow your family, but it grows your love for him. Yeah. And that's like literally through all this, there used to be phases where I would question like, yeah, I don't know.

Yeah. Man, I don't know. But I like, and just this morning, just this morning, undone again. Yeah, by his love and I mean, undone. Jack Lacey was trying 

Ashlyn: to talk to you at one point, and you were on a different planet, man. Like I saw, I kept looking over 

Joe: at you like, no, uh, it was just him and I this morning in that building.

There was nobody else there For a stretch. Yeah, nobody else. It was just him and I, and it's overwhelming. It's, and it's overwhelming in a good way. [00:42:00] In a very good way. Sure does. But I really, really, really want people to get to that place as well. And you can do it. You can do it. It's just saying, yes, you can 

Ashlyn: do it.

Joe: And I say, I don't know. I don't know if we were on air when you were talking about John three 16. Mm-hmm. Mom was recording. Yes, we were. Yeah. I don't know if it actually. I don't know if it was part of the, we can 

Kelly: always cut it and put it in, 

Joe: but yeah. Yeah, it was part of 

Ashlyn: the other thing. But even the giving God your Yes, because when Evangelist Nick came mm-hmm.

He asked if he could pray over me, and he told me, he said, God has a call on your life, but he's waiting for you to say yes. So I'm sitting here, I'm shaking my head. I'm like, God, yes, I'm ready for what you have for me. And this is something I've only shared with mom. Mm-hmm. And I [00:43:00] got this revelation a few months ago.

Giving God a yes isn't just saying, okay God, I'm ready. It's kind of like saying sorry, and not changing your actions, which is one of my pet peeves. You can run your mouth and tell me that you feel bad and you're sorry all the live long day, but if I don't see your actions lining up with what you're saying, I don't believe a word that's coming out of your mouth.

And I realized that I had told God verbally, physically, yeah, I'm ready. I'm, I'm ready for what you have for me. Right. But it wasn't until I started. Living the way that he called me to live. Yeah. And doing the things that he had told me to do, and putting my flesh under every single day, even in the little things.

Mm-hmm. Did I really give him my guess? So it's not just looking to God and going, okay, I'm ready. Because until that change happens [00:44:00] in the way that you live and the decisions that you make, you're not really giving him a yes. 

Joe: And guess what changes That? Your love for him. Yep. Yeah. Like it all goes back to that.

Everything always draws back to love. Sure. It does. Everything does. Because when you love him, you do it willingly. You wanna do it exactly like you said. Yeah. It's not just saying yes. Yeah. There's love to it. Yes. Is lip service. Yeah. And telling somebody, I'm sorry. The difference between telling somebody I'm sorry and then changing how I do it.

And just saying it because I got caught, right? Yeah. I'm saying I'm sorry because I'm supposed to, because I know what I did was wrong. I really don't feel sorry, but I'm gonna say sorry, but I'm gonna say it then I, 'cause I 

Kelly: need to say 

Ashlyn: it. Is you Sorry. Because I'll you not because 

Joe: I, yeah, I'm sorry.

Because I got caught. Yeah, exactly. I'm sorry. Because you're hurt. That sucks. That you're hurt. Yeah. But whatever. It's love. Love is the difference. Sure. It is. Yeah. Love is what changes it. [00:45:00] Everything. And that's the difference between just going to church on Sunday. We're living your life as part of the church.

Right. Every single day. All day. Yeah. And you do it willingly and you do it be And you don't care. You don't care how people look at you, what they say about you. That's something else too. It could, it really, at the end of the day, it doesn't amount to a hill beans. No, not at all. Whatever. You can say what you wanna say.

Now. I am storing up, I am laying up for myself. Treasure in heaven. Yeah. So go for it. Because you're gonna get everything that you want right now, and that's all fine and well good on you, but I'll wait. I know. I'm gonna hear that. Yeah, well done. Good and faithful servant and are into the joy of the, of your Lord.

Yeah. Like that's what I want. I've already got a man waiting for me. Yeah. Yeah. And it's gonna be awesome and I'm gonna invite people over and we're gonna hang out and it's gonna be cool. Maybe, we'll, maybe we need to do, have a big old [00:46:00] party. We need to do. That might be one. Maybe we have our pastors in on.

Yeah. Like I, I look forward to talking about, you know, 'cause heaven is not the cartoon. No, it's not floating up in the clouds. And we've all got white robes, halos and harps. That's not heaven. No, it's not what it looks like. But I don't wanna get too far. No. Off subject. So love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

And if you do not know the Lord, If you're listening to this right now and you're saying to yourself, what in the world are these crazy people talking about? Hmm? We are talking about Jesus. He is very real. He loves you, and he wants to be a part of your life. Yeah. So if you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and you want.

Two. All you have to do is say, Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I want you to be Lord of my life. Please [00:47:00] forgive me for the sins that I have committed. Wash me clean. Make me yours. You are Lord of my life. I will follow you. I want to go to heaven. Thank you Lord for cleansing me, and it's that simple. Hmm. It is that simple.

It doesn't have to be a pretty prayer. It doesn't have to sound eloquent. No. That's literally a admitting of your guilt or repentance. Yeah. Forgive me, I've sinned. We, we've all been there at one point or another. Yeah. And just like that. Guess what? You're part of the kingdom of heaven. Poof. You now have the ability to be a child of God.

Yeah. And walk with him. And talk with him. Glory to God, if you prayed that prayer, uh, blessings on hope road.com. I think that's what it's blessings on Hope bro.com. Is that what it 

Kelly: is? Well, the email address is Blessings on Hope [00:48:00] road@gmail.com. Um, website is blessings on hope road.com. See if this is why I have help and the website will be active very soon, so hopefully by the time this one comes out, yeah, very soon it'll be active.

Joe: So, but thank you so very much for tuning in. We hope that this episode blessed you immensely, and we hope that the Lord begins to do a mighty work, or if you already know him, continues to do a mighty work. Yeah. And your life, and we will come back very soon. Yeah. For episode 11, we're gonna talk about putting your roots down.

Mm. Ooh. Yeah. Sounds like a good one. I'm excited. But until then, 

Ashlyn: there's a flip side to that too. Sometimes you gotta uproot some stuff. Deal with the big 

Joe: ones. Yeah. And we'll dig in and if you wanna know more, you gotta tune in. 

Ashlyn: Don't make it sound like doomsday. 

Joe: No, it's all good. It's all good. We'll talk to you next time.

Bye. [00:49:00] 

Kelly: Thanks for listening to the Blessings on Hope Road podcast. If you'd like to support the show, click on the link in the description and don't forget to follow the show to get notifications whenever there's new content.